Astor Pictures

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Astor Pictures was a motion picture distribution company in the United States from 1930 to 1963. It was founded by Robert M. Savini (29 August 1886 – 29 April 1956). Astor specialized in film re-releases. It later released independently made productions, including some of its own films made during the 1950s.

History

Savini had worked in the film industry, including his own Savini Films in Atlanta, Georgia, that his brother took over. He worked in film exhibition for Columbia Pictures, then Sono Art-World Wide Pictures, then the KBS Film Company (Burt Kelly, Samuel Bischoff and William Saal) with World Wide handling the releases, then Tiffany Pictures. Savini teamed with Saal to form Amity Pictures in May 1933 that released films by Tiffany and other Poverty Row studios as well as producing their own films. In October 1933 Savini left the position of sales manager with Amity to start Astor Pictures.^[1]

During its first decade, Astor, located at 130 West 46th Street in

Subsequently, Astor began limited production of a variety of B-films, including a few

• Acquired the non-
  Grand National Pictures films for movie theater re-release after GNP's liquidation.^[2]
• Acquired the re-release rights of many films originally released by
  RKO Radio Pictures
  .
• Acquired the re-release rights of
  short subjects, such as Shirley Temple's Baby Burlesks
  .
• In addition to showing many of
  Road to
  film series.
• Packaged three 1930s Betty Grable RKO shorts as the film Hollywood Bound (1947), three of Danny Kaye's EP shorts as the film The Birth of a Star (1944), and four EP shorts starring Bob Hope, Milton Berle, Bert Lahr, and Willie Howard as the film It Pays to Be Funny (1947).
• Re-released William S. Hart's Tumbleweeds (1925) in 1939, with music and sound effects added and Hart speaking a prologue (his only sound appearance on film).
• Acquired an unfinished 1940 Cornel Wilde film, added new sequences, and released it as the feature Stairway for a Star. (1947)^[3]
• Distributed many
  Beware! (1946).^[4]
• Obtained the rights to many of Sam Katzman's Monogram Pictures East Side Kids features for re-release at the same time Monogram was releasing its Bowery Boys films.
• Distributed Sunset Carson's post Republic Pictures Westerns.
• Distributed many of the early
  Hammer Films
  in the US by an arrangement with Hammer's parent company Exclusive Films.
• Released many low-budget science fiction films, such as Cat-Women of the Moon and its later remake, Missile to the Moon, during the 1950s.^[5]

Subsidiaries

• Started a subsidiary, Atlantic Television, to distribute films to television in the late 1940s.
• Operated a subsidiary, Comedy House, which released cut-down versions of Bing Crosby and other Educational Pictures comedy shorts for 16mm home viewing use.

Art House releases

After Savini's death, Astor and Atlantic Television were acquired by George F. Foley, Jr. and Franklin Bruder, who released European films in the US. It is probably here the Astor name is best remembered, for in three years they brought several cinematic classics to theaters in the early 1960s. Astor's biggest success was undoubtedly