United Artists, Volume 2, 1951-1978: The Company That Changed the Film Industry

by Tino Balio

Overview

In this second volume of Tino Balio's history of United Artists, he examines the turnaround of the company in the hands of Arthur Krim and Robert Benjamin in the 1950s, when United Artists devised a successful strategy based on the financing and distribution of independent production that transformed the company into an industry leader. Drawing on corporate records and interviews, Balio follows United Artists through its merger with Transamerica in the 1960s and its sale to MGM after the financial debacle of the film Heaven's Gate. With its attention to the role of film as both an art form and an economic institution, United Artists: The Company That Changed the Film Industry is an indispensable study of one company's fortunes from the 1950s to the 1980s and a clear-eyed analysis of the film industry as a whole.
This edition includes an expanded introduction that examines the history of United Artists from 1978 to 2008, as well as an account of Arthur Krim's attempt to mirror UA's success at Orion Pictures from 1978 to 1991.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780299230142
Publisher:	University of Wisconsin Press
Publication date:	03/02/2009
Edition description:	With an expanded introduction
Pages:	472
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Tino Balio is emeritus professor of film studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is author of Grand Design: Hollywood as a Modern Business Enterprise and editor of The American Film Industry, also published by the University of Wisconsin Press.

Table of Contents

Illustrations
Acknowledgments
lntroduction
1 Prelude at Eagle-Lion
2 Gambling on Independent Production
3 The Company in Place
4 Making Them Big
5 The Studio without Walls
6 Selling Them Big
7 lnternational Operations, Part 1: Of Art Films and Great Britain
8 “007” A License to Print Money
9 International Operations, Part 2: France and Italy
10 Life with a Conglomerate
11 To MGM and Beyond
Appendix 1 United Artists’ Domestic Releases, 1951-1978
Appendix 2 United Artists’ Principal Producers, 1951-1978
Appendix 3 United Artists Collection Addition, 1950-1980
Notes
Index of Motion Picture Titles
General Index

Editorial Reviews

"Balio's [two] volumes are the finest economic and production history of an American studio yet written."--Scott Simmon, Film Quarterly

"Tino Balio's superb narration of events and personalities is must reading for anyone fascinated by the motion picture industry and behind the scenes stories of one of the true corporate giants in the heyday of the movies!"--Bookwatch: The Midwest Book Review

From the Publisher