The Woolner Brothers were an American film releasing company formed in 1955, made up of Lawrence (April 22, 1912 – July 21, 1985), Bernard (June 9, 1910 – February 21, 1977), and David Woolner.

History

After US Army service in World War II, Lawrence started a New Orleans drive-in theatre in 1948. His brother Bernard had previously opened the first drive-in theatre in Memphis. Like other drive-in owners, the Woolners advanced money to low-budget B picture producers to finance their product. Their first release was Roger Corman's '' Swamp Women'', followed by Corman's ''

Teenage Doll ''Teenage Doll'' is a 1957 film noir directed by Roger Corman, starring June Kenney and John Brinkley. It was financed by Lawrence Woolner, who had previously made ''Swamp Women'' with Corman. One writer called it Corman's "most impressive teen f ...

'', both released through Allied Artists. Bernard Woolner produced but financially successful '' Attack of the 50 Foot Woman'' in 1958. The company moved to California in the early 1960s. The Woolners directly financed films made in Italy, and though they released several of Mario Bava's films in America, Bava turned down a contract to make films directly for them in 1965. The pair produced a pair of

sword-and-sandal Sword-and-sandal, also known as peplum (pepla plural), is a subgenre of largely Italian-made historical, mythological, or Biblical epics mostly set in the Greco-Roman antiquity or the Middle Ages. These films attempted to emulate the big-budget H ...

films featuring Reg Park as Hercules, a film based on

Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...

's '' Five Weeks in a Balloon'' shot in Puerto Rico, a trio of giallo films, a pair of Eurospy films and two science fiction films and two hillbilly films filmed in the US. Woolner Brothers' final release was '' The Sin of Adam and Eve'' filmed in Mexico that was released in 1969. Lawrence later became a partner in Corman's New World Pictures in 1970 as President in charge of Sales and Distribution, but left with two other members of New World to join Kinney National Company, which would later become Warner Communications, and form

Dimension Pictures Dimension Films is an American film production company owned by Lantern Entertainment. It was formerly used as Harvey and Bob Weinstein's label within Miramax, which was acquired by The Walt Disney Company on June 30, 1993, to produce and relea ...

in 1971.

Woolner Bros. releases

* '' Swamp Women'' (1956) * ''

'' (1957) * '' Attack of the 50 Foot Woman'' (1958) (produced by Bernard Woolner) * '' Hercules Conquers Atlantis/''Hercules and the Captive Women'' (1961) * '' Hercules in the Haunted World'' (1961) * '' Flight of the Lost Balloon'' (1962) * '' Castle of Blood'' (1964) * '' Castle of the Living Dead'' (1964) * '' Blood and Black Lace'' (1965) * '' The Human Duplicators'' (1965) * '' Mutiny in Outer Space'' (1965) * ''

The Las Vegas Hillbillys ''The Las Vegas Hillbillys'' is a 1966 American country music comedy film directed by Arthur C. Pierce and starring Jayne Mansfield and Mamie Van Doren. The 1967 sequel film ''Hillbillys in a Haunted House'' soon followed with a similar cast. ...

'' (1966) * '' Hillbillys in a Haunted House'' (1967) * '' Lightning Bolt'' (1967) * '' Red Dragon'' (1967) * '' The Sin of Adam and Eve'' (1969)

References

External links

Woolner Brothers
at the Internet Movie Database Film production companies of the United States Film distributors of the United States Mass media companies established in 1955 American companies established in 1955 1955 establishments in Louisiana Mass media companies disestablished in 1969 1969 disestablishments in California {{US-film-company-stub