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Twentieth Century Pictures
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Twentieth Century Pictures was an independent Hollywood motion picture production company created in 1932 by Joseph Schenck (the former president of United Artists) and Darryl F. Zanuck from Warner Brothers. Financial backing came from Schenck's younger brother Nicholas Schenck, president of Loew's, the theater chain that owned Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), and from Louis B. Mayer of MGM, who wanted a position for his son-in-law, William Goetz. The company product was distributed by United Artists (UA), and leased space at Samuel Goldwyn Studios.
Schenck was President of Twentieth Century, while Zanuck was named Production Chief and Goetz and Raymond Griffith served as vice-presidents. Their initial stars under contract were George Arliss, Constance Bennett, and Loretta Young; however the Goetz connection meant that talent could be borrowed from MGM. The company was successful right from the very beginning—out of their first 18 films only one, Born to Be Bad—was not a financial success. Their 1934 production, The House of Rothschild was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture. In 1935, they produced the classic film Les Misérables, from Victor Hugo's novel, which was also nominated for Best Picture.
In the winter of 1934, Zanuck began negotiate with the UA board to acquire stock of the company and become a board member, but became outraged by UA's co-founder Mary Pickford's refusal to reward Twentieth Century with the company's stock, fearing it would have diluted the value of holdings by another UA stockholder and co-founder, D.W. Griffith. Schenck, who had been a UA stockholder for over ten years, resigned from United Artists in protest of the shoddy treatment of Twentieth Century, and Zanuck; thus began discussions with other distributors, which led to talks with the bankrupt Fox Studios.
Filmography of Twentieth Century Pictures (16 films)
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Folies Bergère de Paris (1935)
, 1h23Directed by Roy Del Ruth, Marcel Achard
Origin USA
Genres Comedy, Musical theatre, Musical
Themes Films about music and musicians, Musical films, Children's films
Actors Maurice Chevalier, Merle Oberon, Nathalie Paley, Ann Sothern, Sim Viva, Eric Blore
Un artiste des Folies Bergère, Eugène Charlier, imite à la perfection un banquier célèbre, le baron Cassini. En raison de cette ressemblance, il est engagé par des associés du baron pour remplacer celui-ci lors d'une réception. Il s'ensuit naturellement un certain nombre de quiproquos.