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Republic Pictures, an historic movie label founded in 1935 and shuttered in 1967, has been revived by parent company Paramount Global. The banner will function as an acquisitions play, releasing titles acquired by Paramount Global Content Distribution.

“We’ve chosen to revitalize the Republic banner given its storied history of delivering popular movies to a global audience,” said Dan Cohen, Paramount chief content licensing officer and newly named president of Republic Pictures. “With our best-in-class global distribution teams working to identify the best homes around the world, we aim to continue that legacy by offering audiences great entertainment across all genres.”

Two films have already been set as Republic Pictures releases. The first is “Winter Spring Summer of Fall,” the feature directorial debut of Tiffany Paulsen. It will star “Scream VI” and “Wednesday” supernova Jenna Ortega and Percy Hines White as two teens who fall in love over four days spread out across the calendar year.

There are few pettier on this Earth than an actor who chased a coveted role and received little to no consideration from the director. Sure, some have thicker skin than others and can handle rejection with little bruising to their ego. And then there are guys like John Wayne, who didn't like losing anything. Ever.

The Duke had slugged it out in poverty row Westerns throughout the 1930s before landing his breakout role in John Ford's 1939 triumph, "Stagecoach." After the success of that film, Wayne had zero interest in groveling for a part ever again. But he made an exception for Cecil B. DeMille, the master of the Hollywood epic who, in early 1940, was casting "North West Mounted Police." Despite the yawner of a title, this was a big-deal motion picture — Gary Cooper was set to star as a Texas Ranger who joins forces with Canadian lawmen to track down a fugitive outlaw.

The ‘other’ Hollywood studio version of the Alamo story is quite good, with strong production values, exciting stunt battle action and something Republic Pictures didn’t manage very often, a solid screenplay. Sterling Hayden is Jim Bowie, this version’s central hero, with great backup from Anna Maria Alberghetti, Ernest Borgnine, J. Carrol Naish, and Ben Cooper. But best of all is that old hay-shaker Arthur Hunnicutt, as the movies’ best and most natural Davy Crockett.

The Last Command

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1955 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 110 min. / Street Date December 11, 2018 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Sterling Hayden, Anna Maria Alberghetti, Richard Carlson, Arthur Hunnicutt, Ernest Borgnine, J. Carrol Naish, Ben Cooper, John Russell, Virginia Grey, Jim Davis, Eduard Franz, Otto Kruger, Russell Simpson, Roy Roberts, Slim Pickens, Hugh Sanders, Morris Ankrum, Argentina Brunetti, Robert Burton.

Cinematography: Jack A. Marta

Film Editor: Tony Martinelli

Original Music: Max Steiner

Special Effects: Howard...

This February, Herbert J. Yates's Poverty Row powerhouse Republic Pictures will be on full display in the Museum of Modern Art's Titus 1 and Titus 2 theaters in New York. The first half of a 30-film series devoted to the studio that loved westerns, noirs, serials, and all that any and every B-movie could offer is packed with treasures, all selected by Martin Scorsese, and few, if any, that are seen inside a movie theater these days. Many of the films have never been on DVD or even shown on the Turner Classic Movies television channel. Everything screening is either a new preservation courtesy of Paramount or an archival 35mm print. Over the past year, through working on the series and cutting the series trailer, I've become deeply familar with the program and was so glad to be asked by the Notebook to introduce viewers to the 14 films that will be screening starting February 1st.

By John M. Whalen

In the opening scene of Republic Pictures “The Man Who Died Twice,” (1950) a car drives along a mountain road and two cops in a patrol car remark that it’s nightclub owner T. J. Brennon (Don Megowan) passing by. Next thing you know the car goes off a cliff and explodes in flames. Then a woman (Vera Ralston) gets out of a cab in front of her apartment building and looks up at the balcony where two men are fighting. She shrieks in horror as one of the men comes plummeting down and lands on the sidewalk at her feet. Splat! She watches as the other man climbs up a fire escape ladder to the roof. But not before a third man appears on the balcony and the guy on the fire escape shoots him. Vera Ralston faints from all the excitement and falls on the...

Olive's new branded line reissues the Nicholas Ray classic with a full set of authoritative extras -- plus a never-before-seen widescreen transfer, in all of its Trucolor glory. Joan Crawford and Sterling Hayden never looked better -- we can all compare theories about la Crawford's color-coded costumes. Just how masculine is Vienna supposed to be? Johnny Guitar (Olive Signature widescreen edition) Blu-ray Olive Films 1954 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 110 min. / Street Date September 20, 2016 / available through the Olive Films website / 39.95 but heavily discounted Starring Joan Crawford, Sterling Hayden, Mercedes McCambridge, Scott Brady, Ward Bond, Ben Cooper, Ernest Borgnine, John Carradine, Royal Dano, Frank Ferguson, Paul Fix, Rhys Williams. Cinematography Harry Stradling Film Editor Richard Van Enger Original Music Victor Young Written by Philip Yordan from the novel by Roy Chanslor Produced by Herbert J. Yates Directed by Nicholas Ray

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Wow, it's already been four years since Olive released a...

I don’t know if The Sun Shines Bright (1953) is John Ford’s most neglected film—there are numerous candidates on the Old Master’s résumé—but it is the one he cited as his personal favorite. Now it’s available on Blu-ray and DVD in a sparkling transfer from Olive Films. Unlike its forerunner Judge Priest (1934), the Will Rogers vehicle that fell into the public domain, this film is seldom revived. What’s more, Olive is offering the complete 100-minute version as Ford intended it, not the one that Republic Pictures’ Herbert J. Yates cut by ten minutes back in 1953. (Some twenty years ago Republic stumbled onto the uncut negative, which was meant for overseas distribution, and used it...

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