Alco Films, established as Alco Film Corporation, was a short-lived American
film distributor established in New York City during the
silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized Sound recording and reproduction, recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) ...
era in 1914.
It was co-founded by
Al Lichtman
Alexander Lichtman (April 9, 1888 – February 20, 1958) was a film salesman, occasionally working as a film producer. He was president of United Artists in 1935. He proposed the process of block booking to Adolph Zukor, which became industry sta ...
.
The company worked to establish exclusive distribution deals with
movie theater
A movie theater (American English), cinema (British English), or cinema hall (Indian English), also known as a movie house, picture house, the movies, the pictures, picture theater, the silver screen, the big screen, or simply theater is a ...
networks for its films.
It entered bankruptcy proceedings in 1915 after internal strife,
but the shareholders reorganized as
Metro Pictures
Metro Pictures Corporation was a motion picture production company founded in early 1915 in Jacksonville, Florida. It was a forerunner of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The company produced its films in New York, Los Angeles, and sometimes at leased fac ...
in January 1915.
Selected filmography
* ''
The Nightingale'' (1914)
* ''
Salomy Jane'' (1914)
* ''
Tillie's Punctured Romance'' (1914)
* ''
Shore Acres'' (1914)
References
{{reflist, refs=
[{{cite book , last = Eyman , first = S. , title = Lion of Hollywood: The Life and Legend of Louis B. Mayer , publisher = Simon & Schuster , year = 2008 , isbn = 978-1-4391-0791-1 , url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Jid5xNh89wgC&pg=PA43 , access-date = 24 June 2018 , page = 43]
[{{cite journal , title = "The Nightingale" and the Beginnings of the Alco Film Corporation , first = Steven , last = Phipps , date = 16 May 1990 , journal = Film History , volume = 4 , issue = 4 , pages = 323–335 , jstor = 3815060]
[{{cite book , last = Slide , first = A. , title = The New Historical Dictionary of the American Film Industry , publisher = Taylor & Francis , year = 2014 , isbn = 978-1-135-92554-3 , url = https://books.google.com/books?id=KnzsAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA4 , access-date = 24 June 2018 , page = 4]
Film distributors of the United States