Republic Pictures cutting continuity scripts, 1936-1959

Collection context

Summary

Creators:
Republic Pictures Corporation
Extent:
2 cartons 2.5 linear feet
Language:
English and Collection materials are in English
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Republic Pictures cutting continuity scripts, 1936-1959. [PFA--MSS--010]. UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, University of California, Berkeley.

Background

Scope and content:

61 cutting continuity scripts for Republic Pictures films (primarily Westerns) produced between 1936 and 1959. These scripts would have been prepared after each film was finished and describe each shot in a film, generally noting the footage mark and frame number at each shot change.

Biographical / historical:

Republic Pictures was a small production company based in Los Angeles, California, that specialized in "B" genre films (especially Western and crime films), film serials, comedies, and other low-budget films. It was one of the "Poverty Row" studios in Hollywood churning out mass-market films from the 1920s through the 1950s, but was noted for the quality of much of its output given the limited resources available and the occasional participation of higher profile directors (Frank Borzage and John Ford among others) and actors (including Joan Crawford and John Wayne). Herbert Yates, who owned the prominent film processing laboratory, Consolidated Film Industries, founded Republic Pictures after purchasing a handful of smaller production companies. Republic was also responsible for technical innovations including a color film process in the 1930s that was cheaper to produce than Technicolor and an in-house widescreen format in the 1950s. By the 1950s when Republic ceased production, the company still owned distribution and television broadcast rights to its library of hundreds of films, and Republic titles were frequently rebroadcast on television even as the studio itself ceased operations.

Arrangement:

Scripts arranged alphabetically.

Accruals:

No additions are expected.

Physical location:
UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Film Library and Study Center
Rules or conventions:
Finding Aid prepared using Describing Archives: a Content Standard

Indexed terms

Names:
Republic Pictures Corporation

Access and use

Restrictions:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Republic Pictures cutting continuity scripts, 1936-1959. [PFA--MSS--010]. UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, University of California, Berkeley.

Location of this collection:
2120 Oxford Street
#2250
Berkeley, CA 94720-2250, US
Contact:
(510) 642-1437