Samuel Bronston Productions was an independent American film production company, founded by Samuel Bronston in 1943.

History

1943–1945: Origins

1955–1959: Return from dormancy

1960–1964: Successful releases and bankruptcy

The company produced several

epic film Epic films have large scale, sweeping scope, and spectacle. The term is slightly ambiguous, sometimes designating a film genre and at other times simply big-budget films. Like epics in the classical literary sense, it is often focused on a her ...

s, the most notable of which are, ''

John Paul Jones John Paul Jones (born John Paul; July 6, 1747 – July 18, 1792) was a Scottish-born naval officer who served in the Continental Navy during the American Revolutionary War. Often referred to as the "Father of the American Navy", Jones is regard ...

'' (1959), ''

King of Kings King of Kings, ''Mepet mepe''; , group="n" was a ruling title employed primarily by monarchs based in the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent. Commonly associated with History of Iran, Iran (historically known as name of Iran, Persia ...

'' (1961), ''

El Cid Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar ( – 10 July 1099) was a Castilian knight and ruler in medieval Spain. Fighting both with Christian and Muslim armies during his lifetime, he earned the Arabic honorific ("the Lord" or "the Master"), which would evolve i ...

'' (1961), '' 55 Days at Peking'' (1963) and '' The Fall of the Roman Empire'' (1964). The films were made in Spain in the company's newly created studios in Las Rozas, near

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

. Due to financial difficulties, the company ceased its business activities in 1964. During the ensuing

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...

proceedings, Bronston's answer that the company had once had a bank account in

Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

in response to a question under

oath Traditionally, an oath (from Old English, Anglo-Saxon ', also a plight) is a utterance, statement of fact or a promise taken by a Sacred, sacrality as a sign of Truth, verity. A common legal substitute for those who object to making sacred oaths ...

about whether he personally had had a Swiss bank account led to his prosecution for

perjury Perjury (also known as forswearing) is the intentional act of swearing a false oath or falsifying an affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to an official proceeding."Perjury The act or an insta ...

. He was convicted, and the case was ultimately appealed to the

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...

, which ruled in '' Bronston v. United States'' that literally truthful, but technically misleading, answers cannot be prosecuted.

List of Samuel Bronston Productions films

List of unproduced films

References

Works cited

* * * * * * * * * * * * * 1943 establishments in California American companies established in 1943 American companies disestablished in 1964 Entertainment companies established in 1943 Entertainment companies based in New York City Film production companies of the United States Samuel Bronston Productions films Long stubs with short prose {{US-film-company-stub