American International Pictures ( AIP ) Slow Start In Australia.
American International Pictures was formed in the U.S.A. in April, 1954 as American Releasing Corporation but within a short amount of time had a name change to American International Pictures. A surprising amount of the films released under the two names from 1954 to 1969 were not released in Australia, Some were banned from exhibition here but a lot appears were not picked up for distribution in Australia from a variety of distributors.. Film distributors that handled the 1950s & 1960s output in Australia included Ray Films, IFD, MGM, Columbia, Blake, Paramount & Roadshow. Some of the 1960s titles that were banned were finally released in the late 1960s with the majority in the early 1970s.
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I will attempt to list all American Releasing Corp. / AIP titles films released between 1954 and 1959 in the U.S.A. soon and their Australian release status.
Probably later than sooner.
Changed my mind about listing all the titles of films released by American Releasing Corporation ( ARC ) then American International Pictures ( AIP ) in the U.S.A. between 1954 and 1959. The reason for this change of heart is there were over 76 films involved here and at a rough guess only about 27% of the total films received a theatrical release in Australia. Of the remaining titles, roughly 73%, there were titles from the U.K. particularly from Anglo Amalgamated who owned the Australian distribution rights and a number of foreign films that AIP only owned the U.S. distribution rights to which I estimate to be around 13%. This makes a total of 40% leaving 60% of eligible films that could have been screened here that were never screened theatrically some of which could have been banned or just not picked up for Australian distribution. I believe none of the remaining films were banned in Australia or possibly only a few. From my select list of Australian banned films AIP titles only seemed to have started to be banned in Australia around 1960 when AIP started to produce and release films of a higher standard made in colour with a much higher budget and running time than the previous low budget mediocre double bill drive-In aimed black and white films that had been the bulk of their releases to date. Allied Artists low budget titles of similar quality appear on the banned list but not even one AIP title until 1960 which reinforces to me that nobody was interested in the AIP product to any extent until 1960, or if they were possibly interested in some of the horror titles they didn't bother to try to acquire them as they perhaps thought they would be banned anyway if submitted to the Commonwealth film censor who hated horror films. Apart from the horror and science fiction films AIP's other 1950s product was of any box office potential so distributors wouldn't have been stampeding to get to sign any contracts for the type of product available from AIP.
Of the around 27% of AIP product mentioned above they consisted mainly of war, westerns & sword and sandal films.I will get around to listing the titles of all the AIP released films and their Australian distributors at some point of time.
Films released by American Releasing Corporation ( ARC ) between 1954 and 1956 in the U.S.A. This was prior to the name being changed to American International Films ( AIP ) in 1956.
The Fast And The Furious ( 1954 ). Released in Australia by Ray Films in 1956.
Five Guns West ( 1955 ). Released in Australia by Ray Films in 1956.
Outlaw Treasure ( 1955 ). Released in Australia by Ray Films in 1957.
The Beast With A Million Eyes ( 1955 ). Not released in Australia.
Apache Woman ( 1955 ). Released in Australia by Ray Films in 1956.
The Phantom From 10,000 Leagues ( 1955 ). Not released in Australia.
Day The World Ended ( 1955 ). Not released in Australia.
Operation Burma ( 1955 ) ( Original U. K. 1953 release ). British documentary film that ARC acquired U.S. rights for and released in an edited version ). Not released in Australia.
The Oklahoma Woman ( 1956 ). Not released in Australia.
Female Jungle ( 1956 ). Released in Australia by Ray Films in 1956.
Gunslinger ( 1956 ). Released in Australia by MGM in 1960.
A list of the films released in the U.S.A. during the remainder of 1956 through to 1959 under the American International Pictures ( AIP ) name I have in mind to list but are well down in the queue at present of my things to do.
American International Films ( AIP ) name change takes place later on in 1956.
The !956 released in the U.S.A. AIP films are as follows.
It Conquered The World. Not released in Australia.
Girls in Prison. Not released in Australia.
Hot Rod Girl. Not released in Australia.
The She Creature. Not released in Australia.
Flesh and the Spur. Released in Australia by MGM in 1960.
Runaway Daughters. Not released in Australia.
Shake, Rattle and Rock!. Released in Australia by Ray Films in 1957.
1957 releases to follow.
1957 American International Pictures ( AIP ) U.S.A. releases., consisting of 21 films.
The Astounding She-Monster, Naked Paradise, Not Of This Earth, Attack Of The Crab Monsters, Voodoo Woman, Dragstrip Girl, Rock All Night, The Undead, I Was A Teenage Werewolf, Invasion Of The Saucer Men, Reform School Girl, Motorcycle Gang, The Amazing Colossal Man, Sorority Girl, I Was A Teenage Frankenstein, Blood Of Dracula & The Saga Of The Viking Women And Their Voyage To The Waters Of The Great Sea Serpent. None of these 17 listed AIP films were released theatrically in Australia.
Naked Africa was a documentary that AIP acquired the U.S.A. screening rights for. 9 years later in 1966 the film was released in Australia by Columbia Pictures. What is unknown is if the film was sourced from AIP, or from another film distributor. I can only find that outside of the U.S.A. the original release under this title was in Australia.
The remaining 3 films AIP had the U.S.A. rights but not the Australian rights for are as follows.
Rock Around The World. A British Anglo Amalgamated film released with the original The Tommy Steele Story title in Australia in 1957 by BEF.
The White Huntress. A British Associated British Pathe film released in Australia with the original title Golden Ivory in 1957 by Ray Films.
Cat Girl. A British Anglo Amalgamated film that was most likely submitted to the Australian censor by BEF, but banned here on horror grounds.
1958 American International Pictures ( AIP ) U.S.A. releases, consisting of 22 films.
15 AIP FILMS WERE NOT RELEASED THEATRICALLY IN AUSTRALIA; THE 15 TITLES CONSISTED OF -
THE SCREAMING SKULL, TERROR FROM THE YEAR 5000, THE COOL AND THE CRAZY, DRAGSTRIP RIOT, ATTACK OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE. HIGH SCHOOL HELLCATS, HOT ROD GANG, HOW TO MAKE A MONSTER, WAR OF THE COLOSSAL BEAST, HELL SQUAD, TEENAGE CAVE MAN, NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST, SHE GODS OF SHARK REEF, THE BRAIN EATERS & EARTH VS, THE SPIDER. OF THESE 15 TITLES I AM AWARE THAT WAR OF THE COLOSSAL BEAST WAS PASSED FOR EXHIBITION IN NEW ZEALAND.
7 only AIP films received theatrical releases in Australia, with the titles, year of release and distributor being as follows -
SUBMARINE SEAHAWK MGM 1961
THE BONNIE PARKER STORY RAY FILMS circa 1959
MACHINE GUN KELLY RAY FILMS circa 1959
JET ATTACK COLUMBIA 1965
TANK BATTALION COLUMBIA 1966
SUICIDE BATTALION COLUMBIA Circa 1966
DADDY-O COLUMBIA Circa 1966
It has been established now that Earth Vs The Spider ( The Spider ) ( 1958 ), mentioned above, was passed for exhibition in New Zealand.
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A follow up note regarding Operation Burma. The British documentary film was actually released in Australia in 1953 under the original U.K. title of Terror In The Jungle. The Australian release was by London Films / Universal International.
The following information is from Wikepedia.
''American rights to the film were bought by the American Releasing Corporation, the forerunner of American International Pictures in 1955. It was one of the first movies released by that company. Herman Cohen was credited as producer for this version.
John Humphrey
John Slater
Wynford Vaughan-Thomas''
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1959 American International Pictures ( AIP ) U.S.A. releases, consisting of 13 films coming soon, which will then complete my commitment to cover all AIP films released in the U.S. from 1954 til 1959 and to list their Australian release status.
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Very few did make it to Australia, with the majority of those that would have been distinct possibilities to have received a release here were mostly from AIP and Allied Artists.
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FINALLY
1959 American International Pictures ( AIP ) U.S.A. releases consisting of 13 films.
Paratroop Command. Released in Australia by MGM in 1960.
Operation Dames. Released in Australia by Columbia Pictures in 1965.
Roadracers. Released in Australia by Columbia in 1965.
Tank Commandos. Released in Australia by Columbia in 1965.
Diary Of A High School Bride. Released in Australia by Columbia in 1965.
Sign of the Gladiator. Released in Australia by MGM in 1960.
Goliath And The Barbarians. Released In Australia by MGM in 1960.
Ghost Of Dragstrip Hollow. Not released in Australia.
A Bucket Of Blood. Not released in Australia,
The Angry Red Planet. Not released in Australia.
Attack of the Giant Leeches. Not released in Australia.
The remaining two films that AIP had the U.S.A. rights for, but not the Australian rights are as follows.
Horrors of The Black Museum. A British Anglo Amalgamated film. It would have been a BEF release in Australia, but certainly it would appear the film was banned here on horror grounds.
The Headless Ghost. Another Anglo Amalgamated film. It also would have been a BEF release but it didn't reach our shores for whatever reason. As this film only received a 'U' certificate one would have to rule ot that the film was banned here.
To sum up some interesting facts.
Of the 74 films that American Releasing Corp, ( 1954 - 1956 ) / AIP ( 1956 -1959 ), released in the U.S.A. the vast majority that didn't secure an Australia release were horror, science fiction or juvenine delinquent genre films. It is possible that some of the horror films were banned, but I believe that the possible importers at that time due to their knowledge of the Australian censors stand on horror films and along with the poor quality of the product, didn't show much interest in attempting to import this product.
Of the toral of 74 films, if one removes the 7 titles that were U.S A. only releases this then this leaves 67 remaining. 44 eligible films ( 65.7 %, roughly two thirds of the overall total ) didn't make our shores. 23 only in total ( 34.3 % , roughly one third only ended up securing an Australian theatrical release. )
Due to the restricted censorship certificates that they had in place in New Zealand, and different N.Z. distributors there, it would appear that they released a large number of the AIP films that didn't arrive in Australia.
Distribution of AIP's product gained momentum in Australia during the 1960s with some other distributors Paramount, Blake and Roadshow getting involved. This decade of AIP releases in Australia is something for me to contemplate possibly covering one day.
Looking back at this thread I thought I would now add a little more informatithen and also sum up the decade's AIP involvement here in Australia,
For all the limited American Releasing Corporation ( ARC ) and then the altered to American International Films ( AIP ) name 1950's U.S.A. released films that were eligible for release in Australia, the following information you may find to be of interest.
A total of 68 films AIP had international rights for. Of the 68 only just slightly over a third ( 33.8% ) obtained a release in Australia. This left slightly under two thirds ( 66.2% ) not receiving a release here at all, with these films mainly falling into the horror, science fiction and troubled youth genres aimed to attract teenager audiences.
Possibly a small number of the unreleased films were banned in Australia, but even this is doubtful as I have never found any titles listed as being banned. from various listings and information that I have acquired over the years,, I believe that the vast majority of the missing films if not all, were rejected by Ray Films, then MGM and Columbia Pictures, and possibly any other film distributors AIP may have approached, due to the very poor quality of the films. Have you ever seen any of their horror and sci-fi films?
Peter
A major project to contemplate tackling for so little shown interest.
A possible long term , if at all happening project, at best.
Peter
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I do have a lot of information that is most likely not known to members in a lot or instances,
My dilemma though is thinking is there enough interest in some of my material to consider including it here.
Due to little or no feedback at times to some of my included material,, this often holds me back in introducing certain information that I had in mind to provide here on the forum.
Peter
Here is a handy checklist to help tell eMoviePoster.com apart from all other major auctions!
Sorry that you missed out on answering The Year of Living Dangerously entry. I agree it is a great movie.
Responding to your comment about having one thread, I don't know if you have noticed or not, but apart from adding to older threads, almost all my new added material where possible, and for many years now, I have included on my Hondo's This And That Thread.