(re)search my Trash

<body> <div align="left"> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" width="800" cellpadding="0" height="100%"> <tr> <td width="100" rowspan="3" background="../stylepix/square.gif" valign="top">  </td> <td width="4" rowspan="3"></td> <td width="592" height="1%" valign="top"> <p align="center">  <a href="../research/resultdirlinks.shtml?William Witney">Films directed by <b>William Witney</b> on (re)Search my Trash</a> <p align="center">   </td> <td width="4" rowspan="3"></td> <td width="100" rowspan="3" background="../stylepix/squareright.gif" valign="top">  </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="592" valign="top" height="99%">  <ul> <li><b><a href="#early">Early Life, Early Career</a></b></li> <li><b><a href="#serials">William Witney, Serial Director</a></b></li> <li><b><a href="#western">William Witney, Western Director</a></b></li> <li><b><a href="#tv">William Witney, Television Director</a></b></li> <li><b><a href="#aip">Comeback (of sorts) at AIP</a></b></li> <li><p align="left"><b><a href="#fade">Fade-Out</a></b></li> </ul> <p>Rarely is a director viewed as differently by the different fractions of cineasts as William Witney: For mainstream-critics and -movielovers he doesn't even seem to exist, while B-movie afficionadoes (including Quentin Tarantino by the way) claim he has practically invented action cinema as we know and love it today.<p>The truth, as usual, is somewhere in-between: William Witney has been an incredibly productive movie director in his time, but his output was mainly genre fodder of the B-variety. His films and serials, always focusing on action, had a certain polish and tended to feature greatly staged, filmed and edited action, and he is credited with taking the traditional fight-scene to the next level, yet his way of moviemaking wasn't something that he developed overnightbut slowly assembled during his formative years doing second unit work at <i><a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?Mascot">Mascot</a> [<a href="mascot(9-05).shtml"><b>Mascot</b> history - click here</a>]</i>, where he learned his trade - which however does not mean that he wasn't a versatile, inventive action director all the same, it just puts the man into a proper context ...<p>  <hr size="1"> <p> </p> <p align="center"><b><a name="early"></a>Early Life, Early Career</b></p> <p>  <p>William Witney was born in Lawton Oklahoma in 1915, but his family soon moved to California, where he visited Coronado High School. Originally, he was planning to join the Navy later in life, but in 1933, while already preparing for his entrance exams for the US Naval Academy, he paid a visit to his sister and her husband Colbert Clark in Hollywood - a visit that should have a big effect on 18-year old Witney.<p> </p>  <p>Clark, you see, was working as writer, producer and director for <i><a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?Mascot">Mascot Pictures</a></i> at the time, a studio that despite being relatively small, was one of the leading serial producers in the 1930's <i>[<a href="mascot(9-05).shtml"><b>Mascot </b>history - click here</a>]</i>. Among others, Clark was responsible for <b><a href="../movies/threemusketeers(1933).shtml">The Three Musketeers</a></b> (1933, Colbert Clark, Armand Schaefer) starring a young John Wayne <i>[<a href="johnwayneinthe1930s(12-06).shtml"><b>John Wayne</b> in the 1930's - click here</a>]</i>, <b><a href="../movies/whisperingshadow(1933).shtml">The Whispering Shadow</a></b> (1933, Colbert Clark, Albert Herman) starring Bela Lugosi <i>[<a href="belalugosi(3-08).shtml"><b>Bela Lugosi</b> bio - click here</a>]</i>, and <b><a href="../movies/fightingwithkitcarson(1933).shtml">Fighting with Kit Carson</a></b> (1933, Colbert Clark, Armand Schaefer) starring Johnny Mack Brown. In <b><a href="../movies/fightingwithkitcarson(1933).shtml">Fighting with Kit Carson</a></b>, Witney got a job as an extra, and he quickly fell in love with the filmmaking process, and (apparently) especially the way serials were made at <i><a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?Mascot">Mascot</a></i> - which at the time was responsible for some of the most exciting serials and was pretty much the first company that turned the making of serials (and action flicks as such) into sort of a science.<p> </p>   <p>After <b><a href="../movies/fightingwithkitcarson(1933).shtml">Fighting with Kit Carson</a></b>, Witney's plans to join the Navy were quickly forgotten as he found employment with <a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?Mascot"><i>Mascot</i> </a>in various functions, from messenger boy and bit part player to editor and, most importantly, assistant director. In that capacity, he worked also worked on the serial <b><a href="../movies/phantomempire(1935).shtml">Phantom Empire</a></b> (1935, Otto Brower, B.Reeves Eason) starring Gene Autry, by now regarded a sci fi classic and <i><a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?Mascot">Mascot</a></i>'s most successful serial as it is. <p> </p>  <p>When in 1935, <i><a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?Mascot">Mascot</a></i>, <i><a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?Monogram">Monogram</a></i>, <i>Liberty</i>, <i><a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?Majestic">Majestic</a></i>, <a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?Chesterfield"><i>Chesterfield</i></a>/<i><a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?Invincible">Invincible</a></i> and the film developing outfit<i> Consolidated Film Laboratories</i> joined forces to form <i><a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?republic">Republic</a> </i><i>[<a href="republic(3-09).shtml"><b>Republic</b> history - click here</a>]</i>, Witney stayed on board, and continued doing assistant directiing work on <b>The Vigilantes are Coming</b> (1936, Ray Taylor, Mack V.Wright) and the classic <b><a href="../movies/dicktracy(1937).shtml">Dick Tracy</a></b> (1937, Alan James, Ray Taylor) starring Ralph Byrd (and which Witney also edited), besides working as script supervisor on serials like <b><a href="../movies/darkestafrica(1936).shtml">Darkest Africa</a></b> (1936, Joseph Kane, B.Reeves Eason) starring real-life wild animal trainer Clyde Beatty, a today unfortunately largely forgotten jungle-chapterplay. <p>Working as diligently as William Witney did, it was only a matter of time before opportunity would strike, but when it struck, it was unexpected still ...<p>  <hr size="1"> <p> <p align="center"><b><a name="serials"></a>William Witney, Serial Director</b> <p> </p>  <p>Originally, William Witney was merely hired to do second unit work on the 1937 Western serial <b><a href="../movies/paintedstallion(1937).shtml">The Painted Stallion</a></b> starring Ray Crash Corrigan <i>[<a href="raycrashcorrigan(9-05).shtml"><b>Ray Crash Corrigan</b> bio - click here</a>]</i> and Hoot Gibson, which was to be directed by veterans Alan James and Ray Taylor, but according to reports, Taylor's well-known drinking problem got out of hands during the filming of <b><a href="../movies/paintedstallion(1937).shtml">The Painted Stallion</a></b> - so much so that he was unable to finish his part of the assignment and young Witney was called in to replace him ... and at only 21 years of age, William Witney reportedly became the youngest director of Hollywood, a record he held for quite a time.<p> </p>  <p>Now with three directors involved, and two of them being veterans, it's hard to actually tell the impact Witney's participation had on <b><a href="../movies/paintedstallion(1937).shtml">The Painted Stallion</a></b>, but the bosses of <i><a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?republic">Republic</a></i> were obviously impressed enough by the young man's work to give him another assignment pretty much straight away: <b>S.O.S. Coast Guard</b> (1937), a serial for which he was once again teamed up with Alan James and which starred Ralph Byrd and Bela Lugosi <i>[<a href="belalugosi(3-08).shtml"><b>Bela Lugosi</b> bio - click here</a>]</i>.<p>Following that, Witney made his first feature film, <b>Trigger Trio</b> (1937), an entry into <i><a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?republic">Republic</a></i>'s <b><i><a href="../research/resultserieslinks.shtml?Republic's Three Mesquiteers">Three Mesquiteers</a></i></b>-series, which is remarkable first and foremost because it's the only one starring Ralph Byrd (replacing Bob Livingston, who had to bail out due to health reasons).<p> </p>  <p>However, it was Witney's next serial, <b><a href="../movies/zorroridesagain(1937).shtml">Zorro Rides Again</a></b> (1937), that would be a turning point (of sorts) in his career - though not so much for its inherent quality (though it was a great Western-action serial for sure) but for its co-director: John English. In John English - like Witney a relative newcomer to the directing chair -, William Witney had found the (plot-oriented) Yang to his action-oriented Yin.<p>Pretty much from day one their collaboration worked like a charm: While English would be busy directing dialogue scenes and the like - pretty much everything that helped to move the narrative as such along -, Witney was in charge of the action - the raison d'être of any good serial - and handled the stunts ... and because the two men were such a great team, the shift from one man's work to the others and back was pretty much seamless.<p>(It has to be noted here: Witney and English were not the first directors to handle serials in tandem, this was actually common practice since pretty much the early 1930's - and especially at <i><a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?Mascot">Mascot</a></i> - it was just that Witney and English worked together especially well.)<p> </p> <div align="center"> <center> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="80%"> <tr> <td width="25%">  </td> <td width="25%">  </td> <td width="25%">  </td> <td width="25%">  </td> </tr> </table> </center> </div> <p> </p> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" align="right"> <tr> <td width="100%">  </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%"><img border="0" src="../stills/phantom5x5.gif" width="5" height="5"></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%">  </td> </tr> </table>  <p><i><a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?republic">Republic</a></i> was of course quick to discover that with Witney and English, they had created a dream-team, so it took the company no time to bring them back to direct another (Western-)serial, <b>The Lone Ranger</b> - with Lee Powell as the titular character and Chief Thundercloud as Tonto - in 1938. <b>The Fighting Devil Dogs</b> (1938) followed hot on its heels, a science fiction/war serial featuring Lee Powell and Bruce Bennett alias Herman Brix, as did the <b><i><a href="../research/resultserieslinks.shtml?Dick Tracy">Dick Tracy</a></i></b>-sequels <b>Dick Tracy Returns</b> (1938), <b>Dick Tracy's G-Men</b> (1939) and <b>Dick Tracy vs Crime Inc</b> (1941) starring Ralph Ryrd, the <b><i><a href="../research/resultserieslinks.shtml?Lone Ranger">Lone Ranger</a></i></b>-sequel <b>The Lone Ranger Rides Again</b> (1939), again with Chief Thundercloud as Tonto, but Robert Livingston taking over as the title character, the <b><i><a href="../research/resultserieslinks.shtml?Zorro">Zorro</a></i></b>-sequel <b>Zorro's Fighting Legion</b> (1939) with Reed Hadley in the lead, the crime serial <b><a href="../movies/daredevilsoftheredcircle(1939).shtml">Daredevils of the Red Circle</a></b> (1939), with Charles Quigley, Herman Brix and David Sharpe as a trio of heroic circus daredevils, <b><a href="../movies/drumsoffumanchu(1940).shtml">Drums of Fu Manchu</a></b> (1940), the jungle serials <b>Hawk of the Wilderness</b> (1939), starring Herman Brix, and <b><a href="../movies/junglegirl(1941).shtml">Jungle Girl</a></b> (1941) based on a novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs and starring Frances Gifford, the Western-serial <b>Adventures of Red Ryder</b> (1940) starring Don 'Red' Barry, and the sci-fi serial <b>Mysterious Doctor Satan</b> (1940) - and that's to name just a few of the serials Witney and John English did with each other ...<p> </p>  <p>Arguably though, the best effort to come out of the Witney-English team-up is <b><a href="../movies/adventuresofcaptainmarvel(1941).shtml">Adventures of Captain Marvel</a></b> (1941), which bears the title of being the first live-action depiction of a comicbook superhero on the silver screen <i>ever</i>. Based on a comicbook then published by <a href="../research/resultcrewlinks.shtml?Fawcett Comics"><i>Fawcett Comics</i></a>, the serial featuring a teen boy (Frank Coghlan jr) who turns into superhuman Captain Marvel (Tom Tyler <i>[<a href="tomtyler(10-06).shtml"><b>Tom Tyler </b>bio - click here</a>]</i>) might be a tad silly plotwise (at least for non-comic-readers), but its ingenuity is its simplicity - even more so than with most other serials: The plot of <b><a href="../movies/adventuresofcaptainmarvel(1941).shtml">Adventures of Captain Marvel</a></b> is extremely easy do understand - but its also the perfect hanger for an amazing number of action scenes, most of which easily combine suspense and tension with great stunts. <b><a href="../movies/adventuresofcaptainmarvel(1941).shtml">Adventures of Captain Marvel</a></b> was actually so well-made and influential that the Turkish superhero/supervillain film <b><a href="../movies/kilinkistanbulda(1967).shtml">Kilink Istanbul'da</a></b>/<b><a href="../movies/kilinkistanbulda(1967).shtml">Kilink in Istanbul </a></b>(Yilmaz Atadeniz) from 1967 uses the decades-old serial as a virtual blueprint.  <p>Also, it was a late boost to the career of B-Western hero Tom Tyler ... <p> <p>Basically, William Witney's many collaborations with John English were so rewarding because with English handling the plot elements, Witney could concetrate on developing the action sequences to their fullest effect - and his approach to action and especially fight scenes was rather unusual for the time: While in the fight scenes of most contemporary films, you just saw the opponents throwing themselves onto each other throwing punches left and right in one long take, with nobody taking control over the <i>actual </i>look of their fight on film, Witney took a few hints from master musical choreographer Busby Berkely and actually broke his fights into more than one set-up, this way giving the whole scene a more cinematic rhythm and flow, while at the same time giving his stuntmen time to recover between physically demanding scenes - which in the long wun meant getting more out of them without straining them more. Plus, as a director, he could this way always concentrate on just one aspect of the action without having to worry about the full sequence - and as a consequence, his fights became more comprehensible to the audience but also more exciting, because filming action like he did, it was much easier for him to include certain stunts and feature them to their fullest effect. Only eventually did directing action the Witney way become Hollywood standard ...<p> </p>  <p>(Having said all that, please don't make the mistake to compare Witney's action sequences with today's extravaganzas of spitfire editing - remember, Witney was doing his stuff at the beginning of a development which had come to full bloom only decades later.)<p>  <p>In 1941, after an amazingly industrious 4 years of working together - in all, they made 17 serials with each other from 1937 to 1941- the collaboration of William Witney and John English came to an end. Still, Witney was quick to push on, either on his own - <b>Spy Smasher</b> (1942), <b>King of the Mounties</b> (1942), <b><a href="../movies/perilsofnyoka(1942).shtml">Perils of Nyoka</a></b> (1942), the sequel to <b><a href="../movies/junglegirl(1941).shtml">Jungle Girl</a></b> - or in tandem with other directors -<b> G-Men vs the Black Dragon</b> (1943, with Spencer Gordon Bennet). <p>... and it looked like Witney could go on like this virtually forever - when he was drafted to serve in World War II, serving as a combat photographer in the Navy ... <p>  <hr size="1"> <p>  <p align="center"><b><a name="western"></a>William Witney, Western Director</b> <p> </p>  <p>It wasn't that William Witney served in the Navy especially long, he was drafted in 1943 and returned in 1945, but the few years he had spent away, the movie business had started to change. The audience's inerest in serials was already on the decline while <i><a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?republic">Republic</a></i> <i>[<a href="republic(3-09).shtml"><b>Republic</b> history - click here</a>] </i>- a company that could not afford a standstill just because its best serial director had gone to war - has developed a more formulaic way of serial-making without Witney, one that did not fit Witney's interests too well, as the formula depended more on standard plots and routine action than on extraordinary setpieces and the like - and thus in 1946, William Witney made just one more serial, the sci-fi-thriller <b><a href="../movies/crimsonghost(1946).shtml">The Crimson Ghost</a></b> (co-directed with Fred C. Brannon) starring Charles Quigley, Linda Stirling and Clayton Moore, before moving over to feature filmmaking, mostly of the (B-)Western variety.<p> </p>  <p><i><a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?republic">Republic</a></i> of course knew that a talented director like William Witney was someone to better be kept, so he was handed over the Roy Rogers-series of Westerns <i>[<a href="royrogers(3-07).shtml"><b>Roy Rogers</b> bio - click here</a>]</i>, one of the cash cows of the studio, starting with <b>Roll On Texas Moon</b> (1946), as the series was growing a little stale under its previous series director, Frank McDonald. <p>(Incidently, Witney's old partner John English had previously also handled a few Roy Rogers-films.)<p> </p>  <p>Witney is often credited with giving the Roy Rogers series a darker, edgier look, but this change was only gradual. True, Witney abandoned Rogers' fanciest cowboy outfits and did tone down the Western-revue format, but then again, he couldn't change the series formula around completely, and after all, the series was about a singing cowboy who was too good to be true and whose horse was usually second-billed on the posters (and thus had to have a big enough role). Sure, some of Witney's Rogers-Westerns like <b><a href="../movies/heldorado(1946).shtml"> Heldorado</a></b> (1946) still managed to pack a punch, but when the series started its colour-period with <b>Apache Rose</b> in 1947, serious efforts to make Western movies more and more gave way to camp, reaching its peak probably in 1950's all-star Western <b><a href="../movies/trailofrobinhood(1950).shtml">Trail of Robin Hood</a></b>, Rogers' last colour Western (within his series) incidently. Still, at least the action always looked great in the Roy Rogers-films, and thus it comes as little surprise that Rogers called Witney his favourite director ... <p> </p>  <p>During his days with Roy Rogers, William Witney strayed from the series all too rarely (just for a few documentaries of <i><a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?republic">Republic</a></i>'s <b><i>Land of Opportunity</i></b>-series), but just like his romance with the serial, his affiliation with Roy Rogers had to come to an end eventually - which was in 1951, with <b>Pals of the Golden West</b>, incidently also the last-ever Western Roy Rogers made for <i><a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?republic">Republic</a></i>. <p> </p>  <p>Rogers' decision to leave <i><a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?republic">Republic</a></i> and B-Westerns behind was a wise one actually, because in the early 1950's, the B- or series-Western was quickly falling out of favour with the audiences who were just becoming accustomed to television which delivered Western entertainment for freethey would have to pay for at the theatre (and thus, Rogers got his own TV-show before long).<p> </p> <p>After Roy Rogers' departure from <i><a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?republic">Republic</a></i>, Witney stayed aboard and soon the company teamed him up with another singing cowboy, Rex Allen, who had also been in <b><a href="../movies/trailofrobinhood(1950).shtml">Trail of Robin Hood</a></b>, and with whom Witney made in all 9 consecutive Westerns, from <b>Colorado Sundown</b> in 1952 to <b>Shadows of Tombstone</b> in 1953, only interrupted by the (disapointing) comedy <b>The WAC from Walla Walla</b>. The Rex Allen films were still competently made, but nothing to get too exciting about either, and it soon was evident that the B-picture of old was coming to an end. Sure, Witney kept making B-pictures for the next few years, everything from Westerns to crime dramas to action flicks, and for <i><a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?republic">Republic</a></i>, too, but eventually, he went to where his audience has gone ... television.<p>  <hr size="1"> <p>  <p align="center"><b><a name="tv"></a>William Witney, Television Director</b> <p>  <p>As noted above, the move to television was only a logical one for a B-movie director like William Witney. True, especially, in the 1950's, when television really exploded in America, many a bigtime director wouldn't touch the new medium with a stick, risking to tarnish his reputation ... but despite all his accomplishments, Witney wasn't a bigtimer, despite his merits and talents, filmmaking was basically a 9-to-5 job for him, and he had to go where the money was. <p> </p>  <p>Fortunately for Witney, his mother company <i><a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?republic">Republic</a></i> <i>[<a href="republic(3-09).shtml"><b>Republic</b> history - click here</a>] </i>moved to television as well in the mid-1950's, and launched a Western-series, <b><i><a href="../research/resultserieslinks.shtml?Stories of the Century">Stories of the Century</a></i></b>, in 1954. The series was centered about Jim Davis as railroad detective Matt Clark, who met a different character from American history (mostly outlaws to keep things moving) every episode (and it didn't matter much that in an actual historical context, some of the episodes had to be set apart as much as 40 years).<p>Witney, who directed 30 of the series 39 episodes, gave the show some polish and action setpieces, and massive Western stock footage from the vast <i><a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?republic">Republic</a></i>-film library helped give it scope.<p>The series <b><i><a href="../research/resultserieslinks.shtml?Stories of the Century">Stories of the Century</a> </i></b>was well-recieved by contemporary audiences and in 1955, it actually won an <i>Emmy</i> for <i>Best Western or Adventure Series</i>. And even nowadays, the series stands the test of time much better than most Western series from back then, simply because veteran that he was, Witney focused on action much more than his contemporaries.<p> </p>  <p>After <i> <b><a href="../research/resultserieslinks.shtml?Stories of the Century">Stories of the Century</a></b></i> had come to an end, <i><a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?republic">Republic</a></i> was quick to assign William Witney to another television series, <b><i><a href="../research/resultserieslinks.shtml?Adventures of Dr. Fu Manchu">The Adventures of Dr. Fu Manchu</a></i></b> (1956), a series based on Sax Rohmer's supervillain Witney had previously handled in 1940's <b><a href="../movies/drumsoffumanchu(1940).shtml">Drums of Fu Manchu</a></b> - but unfortunately, the TV-series pales in comparison to the serial, mainly because as a cost-cutting measure, <i><a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?republic">Republic</a></i> toned down the action of the show to feature more on plot - not a good idea, since the plots were usually less than great. <p> <p>Though <i><a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?republic">Republic</a></i> was one of the first studios to open itself up to television productions, it did not fare too well in this business in the long run, and it soon switched from television production as such to merely renting out studio space, and slowly but surely drove down feature production as well, until it ceased film production (not distribution) in 1959 altogether.<p> </p>  <p>Witney, who had been with <i><a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?republic">Republic</a></i> since its birth in 1935 (and had been with one of the studio's founding company's, <i><a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?Mascot">Mascot</a></i>, before that), stayed on with the company until the very end, though in the mid-1950's, he abandoned all exclusivity and worked for other companies as well ... and while <i><a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?republic">Republic</a></i> had its problems making content for television, Witney didn't, and over the years, he directed episodes of many a well-known and not so well-known series, including <b><i>Rescue 8</i></b> and <b><i>Special Agent 7</i></b> (both 1958), <b><i>Lassie</i></b> (1959), <i>Disney</i>'s <b><i>Zorro </i></b>(1958 - '59) staring Guy Williams - another character Witney had previously handled in serials -, <b><i>Sky King</i></b> (1959) starring Kirby Grant, <b><i>State Trooper</i></b> (1959) starring Rod Cameron, <b><i>Frontier Doctor</i></b> (1958 - '59) starring Rex Allen, whom he knew well from his B-Western days, <b><i>Mike Hammer</i></b> (1959) starring Darren McGavin, <b><i>M Squad</i></b> (1960), <b><i>Overland Trai</i></b>l (1960), <b><i>The Tall Man</i></b> (1961), <b><i>Tales of Wells Fargo</i></b> (1961 - '62), <b><i>Laramie</i></b> (1960 - '63), <b><i>The Alfred Hitchcock Hour</i></b> (1964), <b><i>Wagon Train</i></b> (1963 - '65), <b><i>The Wild Wild West</i></b> (1965), <b><i>Branded</i></b> (1966), <b><i>Daniel Boone </i></b>(1966 - '67) starring Fess Parker,<b><i> Bonanza</i></b> (1961 - '67), <b><i>Hondo</i></b> (1967) starring Ralph Taeger, <b><i>Tarzan</i></b> (1967 - '68) starring Ron Ely, <b><i>The High Chaparral</i></b> (1967 - '68), <b><i>The Virginian</i></b> (1962 - '69), <b><i>The Cowboys</i></b> (1974) and <b><i>Kodiak</i></b> (1974) starring Clint Walker ... among others.<p>  <hr size="1"> <p> </p> <p align="center"><b><a name="aip"></a>Comeback (of sorts) at AIP</b></p> <p> <p>In the 1950's, the B-picture of old (B as in accompanying an A-movie) was quickly becoming a dieing breed, and thus, traditional B-companies like <i><a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?republic">Republic</a></i> <i>[<a href="republic(3-09).shtml"><b>Republic</b> history - click here</a>] </i>saw themselves faced with all kinds of difficulties ... but there were other companies that found out that there was still a market out there for quickly and cheaply produced genre fare: The teenage crowd which would rather escape home for some hours to experience some cheap thrills in a movie targeted directly at them than to spend time with the family in front of the television. And the company that understood that way better than all others was of course <i><a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?AIP">AIP</a></i>, the company that helped invent drive-in cinema.<p> </p>  <p><i><a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?AIP">AIP</a></i>-films of the mid- to late 1950's might have been cheap and pulpy, but they were also quick-moving and featured plenty of action to keep their young audience interested - and in their way, they were not all that different from the cheaply made but breathtakingly paced serials William Witney had made some 15 to 20 years earlier. Good thing then that Witney was still around!<p>The point about Witney was that he was probably much less than any other director married to a certain genre, he was neither a serial-director as such nor a B-Western-director, his strength was dynamic action, and while the audience's tastes may change, action is something that never goes out of style, especially well-handled action. And with <i><a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?AIP">AIP</a></i>, Witney once again had a studio behind him that knew what the audience wanted, and thus gave Witney scripts that would attract the teenage crowd and he could just do his stuff with.<p> </p>  <p>Witney's first few films for <i><a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?AIP">AIP</a></i>, <b><a href="../movies/bonnieparkerstory(1958).shtml">The Bonnie Parker Story</a></b>, <b>The Cool and the Crazy</b> (both 1958) and <b>Paratroop Command</b> (1959), were amazingly energetic films as a result, that added the necessary drive to their teen-oriented scripts, and while they are nowadays largely forgotten, they are still prime examples of drive-in features as they <i>ought to be</i>, be it of the juvenile delinquency/gang flick (<b>The Cool and the Crazy</b>), the period gangster movie (<b><a href="../movies/bonnieparkerstory(1958).shtml">The Bonnie Parker Story</a></b>) or the war film variety (<b>Paratroop Command</b>). <p> </p>  <p>In fact these films were so good that <i><a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?republic">Republic</a></i> asked their erstwhile regular director back to make two JD-films for the company starring the charismatic lead of his <i><a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?AIP">AIP</a></i>-films, Richard Bakalyan - the two films in question being <b>Juvenile Jungle</b> and <b>Young and Wild</b> (both 1958).<p>  <p>With a later assignement for Witney though, <i><a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?AIP">AIP</a></i> proved to have less of a lucky hand: The Jules Verne-adaptation <b><a href="../movies/masteroftheworld(1961).shtml">Master of the World</a></b> (1961) starring Vincent Price <i>[<a href="vincentprice(4-11).shtml"><b>Vincent Price</b> bio - click here</a>]</i> and a young Charles Bronson was a big budget production by <i><a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?AIP">AIP</a></i>-standards, but Witney's personal style somehow got lost between the period sets and costumes, intentionally old-fashioned dialogue and its retro-futuristic gadget-laden source-material.<p>  <hr size="1"> <p> <p align="center"><b><a name="fade"></a>Fade-Out</b><p> </p>  <p>From the early 1960's onwards, Witney's theatrical output gradually declined (while he continued going strong on television - see above). First, he hooked up with <i><a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?20th Century Fox">20th Century Fox</a></i> for a few films - the crime dramas <b>Valley of the Redwoods</b> and <b>The Secret of the Purple Reef</b> (both 1960), the Westerns <b>The Long Rope</b> (1961), and <b><a href="../movies/apacherifles(1964).shtml">Apache Rifles</a></b> (1964), and the crime-espionage hybrid <b>The Cat Burglar</b> (1961).<p> <p>Many of these films were produced by Gene Corman, who also produced Witney's rather ill-adviced take on the beach party-genre for <i><a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?Paramount">Paramount</a></i>, <b>The Girls on the Beach</b> (1965), featuring performances by the Beach Boys, the Crickets and Lesley Gore - while Witney was an incredibly versatile and dynamic director, teen comedy in beach settings was clearly not his cup of tea.<p>  <p>For <i><a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?Columbia">Columbia</a></i>, Witney made two Westerns starring Audie Murphy, who also played the lead in <b><a href="../movies/apacherifles(1964).shtml">Apache Rifles</a></b>: <b>Arizona Raiders</b> (1965) (this one also features a late performance by Buster Crabbe <i>[<a href="bustercrabbe(8-06).shtml"><b>Buster Crabbe</b> bio - click here</a>]</i>) and <b>40 Guns to Apache Pass</b> (1967), while Gene Corman and his brother Roger <i>[<a href="rogercorman(11-08).shtml"><b>Roger Corman</b> bio - click here</a>] </i>produced the US-Mexican <b>I Escaped from Devil's Island</b> (1973), a violent prison movie that showed that Witney, by now aged 58, was anything but old school yet.<p> </p>  <p>However, the real surprise in Witney's filmography came 2 years later (with Witney being 60 by then): The Gene Corman/<a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?New World"><i>New World</i></a> production <b><a href="../movies/darktownstrutters(1975).shtml">Darktown Strutters</a></b> (1975), an incredibly and enjoyably wacky mix of blaxploitation, biker flick, musical and pure surrealism that marries a <i>black biker chicks vs white supremacists</i>-plot to song and dance-routines and <b><i><a href="../research/resultserieslinks.shtml?Keystone Cops">Keystone Cops</a></i></b>-like comedy ... and the outcome is one of the weirdest films there is, simply put, and also great entertainment that has (despite being firmly rooted in the 1970's) aged incredibly well.<p> </p>  <p><b><a href="../movies/darktownstrutters(1975).shtml">Darktown Strutters</a></b> would have been a great coda to William Witney's career, as it shows one of the innovators of the action genre still at the top of his game after almost 40 years in the business. <p>However, Witney made one last, little-known film in 1982, the Western <b>Showdown at Eagle Gap</b> (in which he also played a small role by the way). <b>Showdown at Eagle Gap</b> unfortunately was little more than a routine genre film indistinguishable from films by other directors, made at a time when Westerns were going out of fashion.<p>Still, after a 45-year career that started with the Western-serial <b><a href="../movies/paintedstallion(1937).shtml">The Painted Stallion</a></b> and included many more Westerns along the way, maybe it's only fitting that Witney's last film before retirement would be a Western as well ...<p> <p>William Witney enjoyed a long retirement, he died in 2002 after complications from a stroke just months away from his 87th birthday. During his retirement, he has written two books, <i>In a Door, Into a Fight, Out a Door, Into a Chase</i>, about his days as a serial filmmaker, and <i> Trigger Remembered</i>, about Roy Rogers' famed movie-horse <i>[<a href="royrogers(3-07).shtml"><b>Roy Rogers</b> bio - click here</a>]</i>.<p> <p>With William Witney, the filmworld has lost not only an innovator, but also a man who knew how to direct simply exciting material, and when watching for example his serial-work for <i><a href="../research/resultprodlinks.shtml?republic">Republic</a></i>, one can't help but notice how fresh (within limits) his work has remained to this day while comparable work by other directors often looks incredibly dated, and even in today's highly kinetic cinema, a drive like William Witney's seems amiss most of the time, which often makes today's multi million Dollar action extravaganzas much staler than anything Witney has done on a limited budget ... <p>  </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="592" valign="top" height="1%">  <SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript"> currentyear = "2009"; </SCRIPT> <SCRIPT language="JavaScript" src="../scripts/endcreditsart.js"></SCRIPT> <SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript"> dosworsdonn(); </SCRIPT> </td> </tr> </table> </div> </body>