Poverty Row Studios, 1929-1940: An Illustrated History of 55 Independent Film Companies, with a Filmography for Each

The warning to be given is that this book does not include films of Monogram/Allied Artists (a separate book), Republic (two books - one for serials) or PRC, Grand National, Lippert (yet another combined book). To my knowledge, all other US poverty row studio info is collected here with an index which should segregate film names but does not and which sometimes appears woefully incomplete and inaccurate.

Not a book to read all at once. It's an encyclopedia of independent film making during the 1930s, mostly western movies.I used to think that those cheapie westerns were cut-down to run in an hour or less on local TV. But no, most of them were MADE to run in an hour or less. Not all films covered are westerns. Many are dramas and whodunits which I collect.I enjoyed this book immensly by reading a few chapters, then setting the book down for a day or two. It's packed with studio info, plot synopses, cast, and crew info. Only thing I didn't understand about the text is the authors' parenthetical (q.v.) notations which I didn't find in the index or glossary. The price put me off for a couple of years, but glad I finally made the purchase.

This book provides solid filmographies of poverty row studiosactive in the 30s' and good but brief histories of the studios. However Pitts omits coverage of perhaps the three most famous poverty row studios in this period: Republic, Monogram and Mascot. The book remains a good source for obscure but interesting companies like Majestic, Tiffany and Grand National.

Libro in lingua madre in ottimo stato. Curato nel dettaglio. dedicato agli appassionati di cinema. Ricco di dettagli e specifiche. Un buon prodotto.

Cet excellent ouvrage comblera les inconditionnels de la série B (la vraie, pas le cinéma Bis). Il est un outil indispensable pour qui veut un peu mieux connaître les arcanes du Powerty Row, cet ensemble de petites sociétés de production qui œuvrèrent surtout dans les années 30-40 à la durée de vie souvent éphémère et à la production à petit budget souvent importante mais de qualité très inégale. L'ouvrage est très documenté, bien illustré. Une mine de renseignements donc pour qui veut s'intéresser à ce pan entier du cinéma largement oublié de ce côté-ci de l'Atlantique.