Samuel Goldwyn Productions

Last updated
Samuel Goldwyn Productions
Company type Independent
Industry Film
Founded1923;101 years ago (1923)
Founder Samuel Goldwyn
Defunct1959;65 years ago (1959)
FateDefunct
SuccessorsLibrary:
Warner Bros.
(United States only)
Miramax
(internationally)
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
(U.S. rights to The Hurricane only)
HeadquartersUnited States
Products Motion pictures
Services Film production

Samuel Goldwyn Productions was an American film production company founded by Samuel Goldwyn in 1923, and active through 1959. Personally controlled by Goldwyn and focused on production rather than distribution, the company developed into the most financially and critically successful independent production company in Hollywood's Golden Age.

Contents

History

from the trailer for The Hurricane (1937) Samuel Goldwyn The Hurricane Trailer screenshot.jpg
from the trailer for The Hurricane (1937)

After the sale of his previous firm Goldwyn Pictures, Samuel Goldwyn organized his productions beginning in February 1923, initially in a partnership with director George Fitzmaurice. (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, created by merger in April 1924, bears Goldwyn's name, but he did not produce films there.) Goldwyn Production's first release, Potash and Perlmutter , successfully opened in Baltimore on September 6, 1923. [1]

Some of the early productions bear the name "Howard Productions", named for Goldwyn's wife Frances Howard, who married Goldwyn in 1925. In the 1920s, Goldwyn released films through Associated First National. Throughout the 1930s, Goldwyn released most of his films through United Artists. Beginning in 1941, Goldwyn released most of his films through RKO Radio Pictures.

With consistently high production values and directors like John Ford and Howard Hawks, Goldwyn consistently received Academy Award for Best Picture nominations: Arrowsmith (1931), Dodsworth (1936), Dead End (1937), Wuthering Heights (1939), and The Little Foxes (1941). In 1946, he won best picture for The Best Years of Our Lives .

Through the 1940s and 1950s, many of Goldwyn's films starred Danny Kaye. Goldwyn's final production was the 1959 version of Porgy and Bess .

Elements for many films produced by Samuel Goldwyn Productions between 1929 and 1955 are held by the Academy Film Archive as part of the Samuel Goldwyn Collection. [2]

Filmography

Poster - Winning of Barbara Worth, The 01 Crisco restoration.jpg
Roman Scandals 1933.jpg
Lobby card for Roman Scandals (1933)
Poster - Nana (1934) 02.jpg
Poster for Nana (1934)
Poster - Little Foxes, The 02.jpg
Lobby card for The Little Foxes (1941)
Spitfire-Poster-1943.jpg
Poster for Spitfire (1943)
Release DateTitleDistributorNotes
September 6, 1923 Potash and Perlmutter First National
January 24, 1924 The Eternal City
April 3, 1924 Cytherea
September 29, 1924 In Hollywood with Potash and Perlmutter
May 3, 1925 His Supreme Moment
June 18, 1925 A Thief in Paradise
September 27, 1925 The Dark Angel
November 16, 1925 Stella Dallas United Artists
February 15, 1926 Partners Again
October 14, 1926 The Winning of Barbara Worth
January 27, 1927 The Night of Love
September 18, 1927 The Magic Flame
November 3, 1927 The Devil Dancer
March 23, 1928 Two Lovers
November 17, 1928 The Awakening
January 12, 1929 The Rescue
May 2, 1929 Bulldog Drummond
June 22, 1929 This Is Heaven
November 3, 1929 Condemned
July 24, 1930 Raffles
October 5, 1930 Whoopee!
December 20, 1930 The Devil to Pay!
January 14, 1931 One Heavenly Night
September 5, 1931 Street Scene
October 3, 1931 Palmy Days
October 28, 1931 The Unholy Garden
December 17, 1931 Tonight or Never
December 26, 1931 Arrowsmith
February 13, 1932 The Greeks Had a Word for Them
November 17, 1932 The Kid from Spain
December 24, 1932 Cynara
September 3, 1933 The Masquerader
December 29, 1933 Roman Scandals
February 1, 1934 Nana
November 1, 1934 We Live Again
November 10, 1934 Kid Millions
March 8, 1935 The Wedding Night
September 8, 1935 The Dark Angel
October 13, 1935 Barbary Coast
November 22, 1935 Splendor
January 24, 1936 Strike Me Pink
March 18, 1936 These Three
September 23, 1936 Dodsworth
November 6, 1936 Come and Get It
December 25, 1936 Beloved Enemy
May 7, 1937 Woman Chases Man
August 6, 1937 Stella Dallas
August 27, 1937 Dead End
November 9, 1937 The Hurricane
February 4, 1938 The Goldwyn Follies
April 15, 1938 The Adventures of Marco Polo
November 17, 1938 The Cowboy and the Lady
April 7, 1939 Wuthering Heights
August 18, 1939 They Shall Have Music
September 29, 1939 The Real Glory
December 29, 1939 Raffles
September 20, 1940 The Westerner
August 29, 1941 The Little Foxes RKO Radio Pictures
December 2, 1941 Ball of Fire
July 14, 1942 The Pride of the Yankees
January 27, 1943 They Got Me Covered
June 12, 1943 Spitfire [3]
November 4, 1943 The North Star
February 17, 1944 Up in Arms
November 17, 1944 The Princess and the Pirate
June 8, 1945 Wonder Man
March 21, 1946 The Kid from Brooklyn
November 21, 1946 The Best Years of Our Lives
August 4, 1947 The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
December 9, 1947 The Bishop's Wife
October 19, 1948 A Song Is Born
December 11, 1948 Enchantment
August 18, 1949 Roseanna McCoy
December 25, 1949 My Foolish Heart
July 27, 1950 Our Very Own
August 2, 1950 Edge of Doom
December 22, 1951 I Want You
November 25, 1952 Hans Christian Andersen
November 3, 1955 Guys and Dolls Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
June 24, 1959 Porgy and Bess Columbia Pictures

Distribution

In 2012, the distribution rights of Samuel Goldwyn films from the library were transferred to Warner Bros., [4] with Miramax managing global licensing; the latter was handled by StudioCanal as part of a deal with Miramax until 2021, when Paramount Global (then ViacomCBS), under its flagship studio Paramount Pictures, acquired a 49% stake in Miramax and worldwide distribution rights to its content library. [5] U.S. rights to The Hurricane , which had since reverted back to United Artists, are currently owned by its parent Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Studio Distribution Services, LLC., a joint venture between Warner Bros. Home Entertainment and Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, distributes the entire Samuel Goldwyn catalog on home video, including The Hurricane, via a distribution deal with MGM Home Entertainment.

See also

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References

  1. Goldwyn: A Biography, A. Scott Berg
  2. "Samuel Goldwyn Collection". Academy Film Archive. 5 September 2014.
  3. "Of Local Origin". The New York Times. June 9, 1943. Retrieved 2015-12-14.
  4. "Warner Brothers Acquires Rights to Films from the Samuel Goldwyn Library".
  5. "Miramax to Manage Films from Samuel Goldwyn's Library". 2 April 2012.