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In April 1946, thrill seekers were looking forward to the release of The Catman of Paris. The gruesome mystery melodrama involved a man suffering from a loss of memory who was accused of being a feline killer operating in Paris.

The tagline read: “Walks like a man. Attacks like a cat. Who is the Catman of Paris.” The plot involved author Charles Regnier returning to 1896 Paris after exotic travels, having written a best seller that the Ministry of Justice would like to ban. That very night, an official is killed on the dark streets . . . clawed to death! The prefect of police suspects a type of cat, but Inspector Severen thinks there is nothing supernatural about the crime and thinks Regnier is responsible for the murder. Regnier denies he had anything to do with the crime but begins to doubt himself when he has a hallucinatory blackout during a second killing.

Vienna-born stage actor Carl Esmond played the troubled author Regnier. Lenore Aubert, the female lead in the movie, was also from Vienna. The press packet Republic Pictures circulated to theaters and media across the country contained plenty of information about the film as well as background information about the picture’s stars. Aubert’s story of how she made it from Vienna to Hollywood could have been a movie on its own.

According to the November 8, 1946, edition of the Mount Carmel Item, the actress had just finished making her third movie when the Nazis occupied her homeland. She and her mother fled to France where they hoped to begin a new life. There she continued studying and acting for a year until the downfall of Paris.

“The experience Miss Aubert underwent in getting from France, through Portugal, to Spain would alone defeat most people,” the Mount Carmel Item article read. “However, Miss Aubert realized her one hope for happiness could be found in America. After six months of ceaseless efforts, she was able to get a priority on a Portuguese boat.”

Critics were complimentary of Aubert’s performance and the film itself, calling both “satisfying” and “entertaining.”

Chills, thrills, suspense, and murder awaited moviegoers who dared to see Valley of the Zombies starring Republic’s contract players Robert Livingston and Lorna Gray. Debuting in May 1946, the film was about a prominent brain surgeon who is killed; law enforcement suspects the culprit was his associate Dr. Terry Evans. Doctor Evans and his sweetheart nurse embark on a quest to prove his innocence. In trying to clear himself, the doctor and his girlfriend visit hospitals, morgues, embalming establishments, and an eerie estate where a few more murders have been committed for good measure. While searching the estate, the doctor and nurse happen onto a gruesome figure that is a zombie. The zombie’s condition can only be reversed with large quantities of blood. The caretaker of the undead individuals traverse the woods and mental hospitals at night looking for unwilling blood donors.

Directed by Philip Ford, nephew of award-winning western director John Ford, Valley of the Zombies was void of any valleys and, apart from one undead creature, any zombies. It was a picture that was produced quickly to cash in on the zombie craze.

 

 

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A popular character Republic Pictures was allowed to introduce in one of its chapter plays was Captain Marvel. Also known as Shazam, the superhero was created in 1939 by artist C. C. Beck and writer Bill Parker for Fawcett Comics. Captain Marvel was the most popular comic book superhero of the 1940s. He was also the first to be adapted into film. The film was entitled Adventures of Captain Marvel.

In an interdepartmental memo passed from various executives at Republic to Herbert Yates, the project was touted as having “massive potential to be a box office hit.” The twelve-part series premiered in March 1941. The plot of the chapter play was described in the following way:

To a remote section of Siam, jealously guarded by unconquered native tribes, comes the unwelcome Malcolm Scientific Expedition seeking knowledge of the ancient Scorpion Dynasty. Billy Batson, assistant to a radio expert, is the only one of the party who does not enter a forbidden chamber. As a result he is awarded the power to transform himself into a superman, Captain Marvel, upon uttering the word “Shazam.”

After a dozen spine-tingling chapters, Billy is bound and gagged so he cannot utter the word. He tricks the Scorpion into releasing the gag in order, as he pretends, to explain to him the secret of his invulnerability. Once released, he cries, “Shazam” and becomes Captain Marvel. He is able to free himself and his friends and expose the Scorpion once and for all.

Adventures of Captain Marvel was a huge success for Republic Pictures. Critics called the production “roaring good entertainment.” Many film aficionados consider the serial to be the best ever made.

The collaboration between Republic Pictures and Fawcett Comics continued after the release of the Captain Marvel serial. In 1942, the two entities brought the character Spy Smasher to the screen. Spy Smasher is a costumed vigilante and freelance agent who battles a Nazi villain known as the Mask. The Mask heads a gang of saboteurs determined to spread destruction across America. According to author and film historian Alan G. Barbour, the Mask was the first in a long line of stereotypes that pictured hard-faced Nazis as propagandist tyrants.

Spy Smasher was a twelve-part serial that was shot in thirty-eight days. Production began on December 22, 1941, just a few days after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. The Spy Smasher wore a cape, leaped from bridges onto fast-moving cars, outgunned Nazi devils, and escaped from all types of death traps, from burning tunnels to compartments slowly filling with water. Spy Smasher used a number of gadgets, among them being various laser beams and his fire-resistant cape, to foil the Nazis’ plans.

Daredevils of the Red Circle was a twelve-part serial that included a cape-wearing villain. The suspenseful, spine-tingling, mystery film told the tale of diabolical mastermind Harry Crowel, a.k.a. Prisoner 39013. Crowel escapes from prison and, aided by a seemingly endless supply of henchmen, sets out to destroy all holdings of industrialist Horace Granville, the man who put him in prison. One target is an amusement park, home of three Daredevils of the Red Circle who perform death-defying stunts. When head Daredevil Gene’s kid brother is killed in Crowel’s attack, the three heroes swear to capture Prisoner 39013. Unbeknownst to them, he is holding the real Granville captive and, with a near perfect disguise, has taken his place. A mysterious cloaked figure known as the Red Circle aides the daredevils in their crusade.

 

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Between 1936 and 1956, Republic released a string of unique horror serials that promised audiences they would quake with fear when they came face to face with the studio’s terrifying lineup of ghouls, freaks of nature, and the walking dead.

Drums of Fu Manchu premiered in the spring of 1940. The creepy chapter play featured a race of bald-headed, fanged slaves known as “Dacoits” who had been lobotomized into doing the bidding of the immortal and insidious Doctor Fu Manchu. Fu Manchu hopes to conquer Asia and subsequently the world but needs specific artifacts from the tomb of Genghis Khan to achieve his goal. In Los Angeles, California, he convenes a meeting of the S-Far, an international conspiracy group that helps him draw up his plans. When archeologist Dr. James Parker is killed so Fu Manchu can obtain rare scrolls in his possession, his son Allan joins forces with Sir Denis Nayland Smith of the British Foreign Office to avenge his father’s death.

The sixteen frightful-looking “Dacoits” who contributed many of the thrills to Drums of Fu Manchu were a product of the makeup artist Bob Mark’s wizardry. The normal-looking people became grotesque monsters in Mark’s hands.

Rubber caps entirely covered their hair, giving them the impression of baldness. These caps, which could be worn only once, were especially manufactured at the cost of five dollars each. They were fitted tightly over the “Dacoit’s” heads, and heavy, theatrical grease paint was applied over them. The scars, which represented the incisions where Dr. Fu Manchu had removed the frontal lobes of their brain, were made of a special rubber composition and were held in place by rubber cement. The makeup of Fu Manchu himself, an elaboration of the “Dacoit’s” makeup, took exactly 2.5 hours each day to apply.

The fifteen-part Fu Manchu serial was directed by William Witney. He considered Fu Manchu to be his finest work. Sam Rohmer created the character of the insidious Fu Manchu in 1913 for a series of adventure novels. Rohmer’s books were best sellers, and he used a portion of the profit made from the sales to develop a product he believed needed refining—mothballs.

There was a time in 1935 that Republic Pictures’ development department believed there was nothing left on dry land to scare the wits out of moviegoers, so they decided to seek out stories from the depths of the darkest oceans. Undersea Kingdom was a 1936 serial thriller that starred Ray “Crash” Corrigan.

Before becoming a costar in a number of Republic westerns, Corrigan was a bit player and stuntman who frequently donned a gorilla costume to act as a crazed ape whenever the studio called for one. Corrigan even had his own gorilla costume.

Corrigan’s character in Undersea Kingdom is a lieutenant right out of Annapolis whose assignment is to stop an evil tyrant ruler from taking over the world. Corrigan’s character is recruited for the job when a series of mysterious man-made earthquakes threaten to destroy civilization. He leads an expedition to the ocean floor in a rocket-propelled submarine and discovers the Undersea Kingdom of Atlantis. Soon the explorers find themselves caught between two warring factions led by the peace-loving High Priest of Atlantis and the evil warlord Unga-Khan, whose diabolical plans include conquering the surface of the world.

Corrigan’s super-human athletic abilities combined with the genius of the rocket-sub inventor make them targets in an action-packed battle for survival against ray-guns, tanks, and robots.

 

 

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Moviegoers throughout the 1930s and 1940s enjoyed film adventures from heroes on exotic animals to those in space crafts. Such was the case with The Purple Monster Strikes, the original Republic Martian invader serial. The Purple Monster was actually not a monster at all, nor was he purple. The villainous character was in reality a Caucasian, Martian space soldier. He was part of the advance guard preparing a vast invasion of earth, dressed in a blue, tight-fitting outfit, trimmed with scaly gold metallic material, and wearing a matching gilded hood. Among the Purple Monster’s alien abilities was the power to become a transparent phantom and enter the body of another, controlling his actions, thereby donning the ultimate disguise.

The Purple Monster Strikes was the first post-war serial of 1945. Republic was prohibited from using the term “rocket ship” when referring to the spacecraft the Purple Monster used in the film. Universal Studios had a copyright on the word which was used quite extensively in their serial Flash Gordon.

Billed as 1941’s “sensational serial surprise,” Republic introduced a chapter play that combined monsters designed to take over space with earthly fiends. Entitled The Mysterious Doctor Satan, the villain is a mad scientist who wants to rule the world and planets from other galaxies with an army of mechanical monsters. Audiences were treated to fifteen shivering, shuddering, surprising episodes of Dr. Satan manipulating the hideous robots he creates to rob and terrorize the nation into submission. Dr. Satan’s sworn enemy is a beefy man in a copper mask appropriately known as Copperhead. Copperhead assumes the identity from his deceased father who was a fugitive from crooked justice in the Old West. The misunderstood hero is determined to protect society from the depredations of Dr. Satan, and, at the same time, wipe out the stigma attached to the name Copperhead.

According to Jack Mathis’ book Valley of the Cliffhangers, The Mysterious Doctor Satan was intended to be a series that would feature Superman as the fighter against evil. At the last moment, DC Comics, the owners of the Superman character, refused to let Republic use the radio and comic series star. Instead of abandoning the project, the writers replaced Superman with Copperhead, a character of their own creation.

A popular character Republic Pictures was allowed to introduce in one of its chapter plays was Captain Marvel. Also known as Shazam, the superhero was created in 1939 by artist C. C. Beck and writer Bill Parker for Fawcett Comics. Captain Marvel was the most popular comic book superhero of the 1940s. He was also the first to be adapted into film. The film was entitled Adventures of Captain Marvel.

In an interdepartmental memo passed from various executives at Republic to Herbert Yates, the project was touted as having “massive potential to be a box office hit.” The twelve-part series premiered in March 1941.

 

 

 

 

 

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The serial work producer Nat Levine was doing was extremely popular. Audiences flocked to theaters each week to find out how cowboy heroes like Johnny Mack Brown, Ken Maynard, and Tom Mix fared against the bad guys and to learn if equine stars like Rex, the King of Wild Horses, and canine actor Rin Tin Tin managed to save their pal Smiley Burnette from the villainous Harry Woods. Levine wanted to expand his moviemaking and looked to acquire the Mack Sennett production lot and facilities in order to make it happen. He approached Monogram Pictures’ executives Trem Carr and W. Ray Johnston about a merger. Neither was interested in combining his resources to purchase Mack Sennett. Both men felt the cost to run such a business would be too much to sustain. Yates heard about Levine’s proposal and offered to finance the deal. With Yates’ considerable wealth behind the enterprise and the promise that the two could share the responsibility of studio chief, Carr and Johnston decided to participate. The owners of Liberty and Majestic Studios also agreed to merge with Mascot and Monogram. The talent and resources of each small motion picture company were pooled and a distribution arm was also added to the corporation.

Republic Pictures was born in June 1935. As the money behind the venture, Yates wasted no time in asserting his authority. Although Johnston and Carr were installed as managers, Yates made it clear that he would make all major decisions regarding the company. The two executives were outraged by the mogul’s behavior but were compelled to stay with the new studio because they now lacked the means to start their own business. Nat Levine clashed with Yates, too, but chose to keep quiet in favor of making movies. He churned out a number of modest yet successful films during the first four years Republic was in operation.

Undeterred by the conflicts with his managing staff, Yates announced in a press conference with his top personnel that Republic Pictures would produce fifty-two films a year. Edward A. Golden, general sales manager for the studio, added that the company would strive to make exceptional pictures and cited problems with finances in the industry as a whole for the reason some companies delivered inferior products. Johnston shared his belief that not only financing played a part but that the lack of quality material was a contributing factor to bad movies being made. Johnston outlined Republic Pictures’ program to produce classics and the works of famous authors and urged American authors to “write better stories for screen production.”

Throughout the summer of 1935, Republic Pictures and its qualified staff made news. Stories about the ambitious independent studio’s line of pictures and the controversial comments about the industry appeared on the front pages of the newspapers. Johnston, an actor in his early days in Hollywood and a member of Franklin Roosevelt’s motion picture code authority, had definite thoughts about the salary lead actors at Republic should expect to earn. “Stars of today are paid according to their drawing power,” he told the Associated Press. “What they get is all right if they bring it back through the box office. Many of them don’t do that, however. We at Republic Pictures will pay according to the draw.”

 

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On August 17, 1958, Herbert Yates stormed out of a meeting with the principle shareholders of Republic Pictures and headed into the streets of New York. He was too mad to talk and hoped he could walk off some of his fury. Studio executives and stockholders had gathered in the city, 2,917 miles from the capital of the motion picture industry, to discuss the financial affairs of the company. The situation was dismal, and the blame for the current state of affairs was placed squarely in Yates’ lap. In fact, the frustrated executives accused the head of the studio of running the business for the private enrichment of himself and his family. Insulted by the claim, but unable to refute it, Yates slammed his fists on the boardroom table and stomped out of the room.

Abraham Meltzer, one of the studio’s backers who owned more than 540 shares of the company’s stock, contacted the state supreme court when Yates left and informed them of the board’s findings. Meltzer and the others were seeking an order to place Republic Pictures into receivership. The executives charged Yates with misappropriation of funds. According to Meltzer, Yates drew fifty thousand dollars a year for five years plus bonuses. That was in addition to his $150,000 a year salary. He further accused Yates of bringing Republic’s business to a standstill and trying to unload his shareholdings for a premium over the marketplace.

The studio executives also blamed the troubles Republic was encountering on Yates’ preoccupation with producing films to star Vera Ralston. The head of Republic Pictures had greenlit twenty films featuring the Czechoslovakian skater, and all but two were commercial failures. Yates had let his personal feelings for Ralston cloud his judgment, and the stockholders and the courts were compelled to make him answer for it.

A short twelve years prior to Yates’ confrontation with Meltzer and the other shareholders, the studio leader and Republic Pictures were the talk of the industry. Under Herbert Yates’ management, the company had brought comic book characters to life and sent them soaring through the skies. Daring cowboys thundered across the plains and brought evildoers to justice. Airplanes dropped down from the clouds and careened into buildings and bridges in spectacular explosions. Ticket buyers craving action and adventure found satisfaction in Republic Pictures’ productions. The New York Times proclaimed Yates’ studio the “little acorn that grew” and predicted the motion picture company would soon be an industry giant.

The February 2, 1941, edition of The New York Times read,

A far cry from those struggling days when it was the film industry’s stepchild and Hollywood’s flea circus, little independent Republic is today the happiest of picture companies. Republic is in the chips; its spacious lawn is rapidly disappearing under the hammering of carpenters busily building new sound stages, projection and recording rooms and other studio appurtenances. These improvements are being paid for by the substantial profit Republic tucked away in its bank account last year. Considering that Republic has been in business only five years and that the odds against its success were great, the fact that the company has a bank account of substantial size and description bears investigation.

More than just a knack is required to successfully manufacture low-cost movies. Good management in the executive department and showmanship in the productive division are the prime requisites.

Republic has risen out of the talents of entertainer such as Autry, Canova, Rogers, and Burnette and on the strength of their perennial popularity which will endure for always.

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There were many talented female contract players at Republic Pictures. In the mid-1940s, the studio had more than 120 actors in its stable of gifted individuals. Some of those actresses became household names because of their work in front of the camera, and others rose to fame as a result of their off-screen exploits. The following is a look at a few of the studio’s most recognizable and popular women thespians, their careers, and the roles that made them stars.

One of Republic Pictures’ most popular actresses was one of the motion picture industry’s most troubled. Her name was Gail Russell. Russell, a beautiful brunette with dark, blue eyes, was a gifted talent who dreamed of becoming a commercial artist. She was born Elizabeth L. Russell in Chicago on September 21, 1924. Throughout her childhood, she was painfully shy and often hid under her parents’ piano whenever guests came to their home. The young girl only felt completely comfortable when she was sketching various people and places in her sphere of influence. She began drawing at the age of five years old and was considered exceptional by most who saw her sketches and paintings.

When she was in her late teens, her mother, Gladys Russell, encouraged her to set aside her drawing pencils and venture into films. Russell was fourteen when her parents moved to Los Angeles so their daughter could pursue their dream of her becoming a star. She attended Santa Monica High School, and as soon as she graduated, she auditioned for Paramount Pictures and signed a contract with the studio for fifty dollars a week.

Russell’s shyness followed her as she began her career. Acting instructors were hired to help her overcome her timidity, but it never completely subsided. It did add to her haunting persona, and she was cast in roles where that part of her personality could be highlighted. As her star rose in the industry, her fear of performing became more pronounced. With each film it took more effort to overcome her lack of self-confidence and commit to the part. While filming The Uninvited in 1944, Russell chose to deal with her paralyzing self-doubt by drinking. Alcohol did not quiet her nerves; it merely made her more anxious. By the end of the production, she had become dependent on liquor and was on the brink of a nervous breakdown. The Uninvited was a critical success, and the film was nominated for an Academy Award. Russell became even more popular thanks to the film. She went on to work with such stars as Alan Ladd and Joel McCrea, Jane Wyatt and Adolphe Menjou. The work was continuous and the pace grueling. Russell dealt with the frantic schedules the same way she did with her shyness, by drinking.

In 1946 Russell starred in the first of four films she made for Republic Pictures. John Wayne co-produced The Angel and the Badman and specifically requested Gail Russell to play opposite him in the western written and directed by James Edward Grant. Wayne was moved by her quiet, unassuming personality. He treated her with the respect and kindness she’d not known from many other leading men or producers. The two became good friends while working on the film. Wayne was protective of Russell. He recognized vulnerability in the actress some could have taken advantage of. He was a father figure to Russell, and she considered him to be a fiercely honest individual.

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About two hundred miles north of Hollywood is the small town of Lone Pine. Almost at the dawn of motion picture making, the Eastern Sierra hamlet became a popular outpost for location filming. It offered scenery ranging from Sierra peaks to sand dunes. The mountain scenery there could double for the Himalayas, and the desert landscape could double for Salt Lake Valley. Lone Pine has proven to be as versatile as some of the most gifted actors performing on screen.

Movie cowboys from Hopalong Cassidy to John Wayne and Gene Autry to Rex Allen chased innumerable bad guys in the hills around Lone Pine. The cry of “Hi-Yo, Silver, Away!” still echoes through the canyon where the masked marvel and his sidekick Tonto rode. The songs sung by Roy Rogers can still be heard in the hills on quiet nights, and the report from shotguns fired by hundreds of celluloid outlaws ricochet off the ancient rocks.

Films requiring a foreign country’s rocky, desert landscape have been shot at Lone Pine. Even films depicting lunar landscapes have been shot on location there. Lone Pine has served as a supporting player of sorts for more than fifty studios for more than ninety years.

The first movie production came to Lone Pine in 1914. It was a William S. Hart western, but the name of the project has been lost to time. Historical records note that the town’s elders recalled only that it involved “a lot of riding and shooting” and that practically every able-bodied male in the community was pressed into service as either a member of law-abiding vigilantes or as one of the bad men being chased by Hart.

The 1920 silent film The Roundup, starring Rosco “Fatty” Arbuckle and Wallace Berry, was the first commercial production shot at Lone Pine. Locals loaned horses, wagons, and talent to make the movie. Lone Pine evolved from being a mining community when it was founded in 1865 to being one of the most favored spots to shoot motion pictures. Owens Valley in which the community is situated is regarded as one of nature’s masterpieces. Surrounded by massive ranges, it is not only one of the most richly endowed scenic areas in the world but also one of the most compelling.

Most of the actual filming at Lone Pine was either done on the desert bed of the valley, which is rimmed on all sides by towering mountains, or in the hills. From Lone Pine itself can be seen seven peaks more than fourteen thousand feet high, with Mt. Whitney reaching 14,496 feet into the sky. Nearby Death Valley, on the other hand, is 287 feet below sea level. There is snow all year on the mountain tops, and Palisade Glacier, the most southerly glacier in the United States, is less than sixty miles away.

Republic Pictures’ president Herbert Yates was enamored with Lone Pine and suggested the setting to film John Wayne’s first feature for the studio, Westward Ho. Wayne plays a character named John Wyatt who, at a young age, saw his parents killed and his brother kidnapped. Wayne’s character is leading a wagon train west when he meets up with his brother now working for the people who murdered their mother and father. The movie received high marks, and one of the reasons cited is that it was filmed on location and not on the studio’s backlot.

An article in the September 6, 1935, edition of The Times Recorder noted:

A saga of the Old West filled with wagon trains, herds of cattle, marauding bandits, and singing vigilantes, Westward Ho has all the ingredients needed for a successful outdoor, action picture. The story deals with a group of “Singing Riders” led by a young Westerner who protects the slow moving covered wagons against the onslaught of vicious desperados. Romance has its full share of the plot of Westward Ho. John Wayne, as the leader of the “Singing Riders,” fights successfully against terrific odds, but succumbs to the charms of lovely Sheila Manners.The photography of Archie Stout and the direction of R. N. Bradbury are outstanding. So too is the landscape where the magnificent film was made. Long after the movie has ended theatergoers will want to seek this idyllic spot out and linger in its beauty.

 

 

 

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A pair of frantic, disheveled riders race side by side down a dusty, sun-scorched path. Suddenly they plunge into a wooded area. Branches slap at them, but neither dares slow his mount’s gait. They break through the other side, each still jockeying for lead position. The rider barely lagging behind now extends his arm out to grab the young man inches from him. The young man spurs his horse along faster and pulls away from the man trying to catch him. Ahead in the near distance, the crude path ends abruptly, giving way to a rocky cliff with a raging river far below. The two riders continue on fast, unaware of the danger. The young man is the first to leap off the precipice, his horse still under him. The rider behind him doesn’t hesitate but pushes his roan harder. The two fly off the cliff with great speed and plummet into the water.

The daring riders find their way to the surface. They’re dazed, but alive. The animals are alive as well, and they scramble to the water’s edge and hastily step out onto dry land.

After fighting the river’s strong current, both men manage to reach a sandy bank and drag themselves out of the water. They are exhausted and drenched. The young man struggles to stand up and, once he finds his footing, hurries off after his horse. The cowboy that was chasing him hasn’t any strength left. He lies flat on his back on the bank staring up at the cliff where he dropped, contemplating how he could have survived such a fall.

That particular stunt was executed by legendary rodeo champion turned stuntman Yakima Canutt for the film The Devil Horse starring Harry Carey. Canutt was one of the most well-known members of the group of dedicated men and women who were willing to risk their lives for little pay and no screen credit—the stunt person. When a script called for rough and tumble action such as a fistfight, car crash, or jumping off a seventy-two-foot cliff into a ravine without a net or soft landing pad, a stunt person was required.

Republic Pictures had a stable of daredevils who lived to perform death-defying feats that kept audiences on the edge of their seats. Yakima Canutt and the other stunt staff revolutionized the art and helped make Republic features and serials some of the most exciting and profitable works in the motion picture industry.

Canutt appeared in more than two hundred films during his on-screen career, but he didn’t start out wanting to be in the movies. He broke horses and for a while was content with the work. Canutt was born in Colfax, Washington, in 1895. He attended school until he was twelve, and then he went to work full-time on a ranch. He won his first world championship cowboy award in 1917. Canutt became one of the best-known saddle and bareback bronc riders on the rodeo circuit. He was often among the top money winners in what was then the roughest of all competitive sports.

In between rodeos, he managed to break horses for the French government’s use in World War I. He then dropped the rodeo circuit temporarily to enter the Navy and served aboard a minesweeper. In 1919, he regained his world championship crown, the second of the five total he earned.

Canutt headed for the movies in 1923. He did forty-eight silent westerns before talkies took over. He didn’t have a voice for talkies, so he made the leap to stunt work. He excelled in the field. He and John Wayne developed a way to stage on-screen fights to make them look more realistic. Prior to the development of the choreographed screen brawl, the good guy and the villain threw unrealistic punches at one another and wrestled and flailed around. A Canutt screen fight involved positioning of the camera at angles to the participants, rather than straight on, and the camera would often face one of the participants. That camera angle gave the perception of bone-crushing punches landing on the jaw.

Not only did Canutt perform amazing stunts for the numerous pictures he was in, but he also choreographed stunt sequences for many movies in which he wasn’t a part of the on-screen talent. Some of the movies Canutt choreographed stunt sequences for included Flying Tigers, Spy Smasher, and Jungle Girl.

Canutt became a second-unit director in addition to stuntman and stunt coordinator. In that capacity he directed breathtaking action sequences of some of Hollywood’s most spectacular films; Spartacus and Ben Hur were two of those films. He also directed a number of low-budget westerns.

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Cowboys, Creatures and Classics: The Story of Republic Pictures