The Woolner Brothers were an American film releasing company formed in 1955, made up of

Lawrence Lawrence may refer to: Education Colleges and universities * Lawrence Technological University, a university in Southfield, Michigan, United States * Lawrence University, a liberal arts university in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States Preparator ...

(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 World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Lawrence started a

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

drive-in theatre A drive-in theater/theatre or drive-in cinema is a form of movie theater, cinema structure consisting of a large outdoor movie screen, a projection booth, a concession stand, and a large parking area for automobiles. Within this enclosed area, c ...

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 A B movie, or B film, is a type of cheap, low-budget commercial motion picture. Originally, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, this term specifically referred to films meant to be shown as the lesser-known second half of a double feature, s ...

producers to finance their product. Their first release was

Roger Corman Roger William Corman (April 5, 1926 – May 9, 2024) was an American film director, producer, and actor. Known under various monikers such as "The Pope of Pop Cinema", "The Spiritual Godfather of the New Hollywood", and "The King of Cult", he w ...

's '' Swamp Women'', followed by Corman's '' Teenage Doll'', both released through Allied Artists. Bernard Woolner produced the 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 Mario Bava (; 31 July 1914 – 27 April 1980) was an Italian filmmaker who worked variously as a director, cinematographer, special effects artist and screenwriter. His low-budget genre films, known for their distinctive visual flair and stylish ...

'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), is a subgenre of largely Italy, 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 ...

films featuring

Reg Park Roy "Reg" Park (7 June 1928 – 22 November 2007) was an English bodybuilder, businessman, and actor. His first title was Mr. Britain in 1949. He then won Mr. Universe in 1951, 1958, and 1965. He went on to star in five films. Later in lif ...

Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the Gr ...

, 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 ''Five Weeks in a Balloon, or, A Journey of Discovery by Three Englishmen in Africa'' () is an adventure novel by Jules Verne, published in 1863. It is the first novel in which he perfected the "ingredients" of his later work, skillfully mixing ...

'' shot in Puerto Rico, a trio of

giallo In Italian cinema, (; : ; from , ) is a genre that often contains Slasher film, slasher, thriller (genre), thriller, psychological horror, psychological thriller, Sexploitation film, sexploitation, and, less frequently, supernatural, supernat ...

films, a pair of

Eurospy Eurospy film, or Spaghetti spy film (when referring to Cinema of Italy, Italian-produced films in the genre), is a genre of spy films produced in Europe, especially in Italy, France, and Spain, that either sincerely imitated or else parodied the ...

films, 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 New World Pictures (also known as New World Entertainment, New World Communications Group, Inc., and New World International) was an American independent production, distribution, and (in its final years as an autonomous entity) multimedia com ...

in 1970 as President in charge of Sales and Distribution, but left with two other members of New World to join

Kinney National Company Kinney Services Inc. was an American conglomerate company that existed from 1961 to 1972. Kinney Services was established as a holding company and originated from a joint venture between a funeral business and parking company. After Mergers and ...

, which would later become

Warner Communications Warner Media, LLC (doing business as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate owned by AT&T. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City. It was established as Time Warner ...

, and form Dimension Pictures in 1971.

Woolner Bros. releases

* '' Swamp Women'' (1956) * '' Teenage Doll'' (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 ''Hercules in the Haunted World'' ( Italian: ''Ercole al centro della terra'', lit. "Hercules at the Center of the Earth") is a 1961 Italian sword-and-sandal film directed by Mario Bava. British bodybuilder Reg Park plays Hercules while Briti ...

'' (1961) * ''

Flight of the Lost Balloon ''Flight of the Lost Balloon'' is a 1961 film produced, written and directed by Nathan Juran and starring Mala Powers and Marshall Thompson. The film was inspired by Jules Verne's 1863 novel ''Five Weeks in a Balloon'' and beat the major Irwin ...

'' (1962) * ''

Castle of Blood ''Castle of Blood'' () is a 1964 gothic horror film directed by Antonio Margheriti and starring Barbara Steele, Georges Rivière, Margarete Robsahm, Arturo Dominici, Silvano Tranquilli and Umberto Raho. It was an Italian-French co-production ...

'' (1964) * '' Castle of the Living Dead'' (1964) * ''

Blood and Black Lace ''Blood and Black Lace'' () is a 1964 '' giallo'' film directed by Mario Bava and starring Eva Bartok and Cameron Mitchell. The story concerns the brutal murders of a Roman fashion house's models, committed by a masked killer in a desperate ...

'' (1965) * ''

The Human Duplicators ''The Human Duplicators'' is a 1965 American science fiction film by Woolner Brothers Pictures Inc. Produced and directed by Hugo Grimaldi and Arthur C. Pierce (the latter uncredited as director), the film stars George Nader, Barbara Nichols, G ...

'' (1965) * ''

Mutiny in Outer Space ''Mutiny in Outer Space'' is a 1965 black-and-white independent American science fiction action film, written, produced, and directed by Hugo Grimaldi and Arthur C. Pierce, although Pierce was not credited as directing. It stars William Leslie, ...

'' (1965) * '' The Las Vegas Hillbillys'' (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 IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

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