Woolner Brothers
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The Woolner Brothers was a film distribution enterprise from the United States, established in 1955 by siblings Lawrence Woolner (April 22, 1912 – July 21, 1985), Bernard (June 9, 1910 – February 21, 1977), and David Woolner.
History
Following his service in the United States Army during World War II, Lawrence opened a drive-in theatre in New Orleans in 1948; prior to this, Bernard had inaugurated the first drive-in theater in Memphis. Similar to other proprietors of drive-ins, the Woolner brothers provided financial backing to producers of low-budget B films. Their initial distributed titles included Swamp Women and Teenage Doll, both directed by Roger Corman and released via Allied Artists. Bernard took on production for the commercially notable Attack of the 50 Foot Woman in 1958.
In the early 1960s, the company moved its operations to California. The Woolners directly financed productions made in Italy and were responsible for distributing several films by Mario Bava within the American market, although Bava declined a direct contract offer in 1965. Their catalog featured sword-and-sandal epics starring Reg Park as Hercules, a Jules Verne adaptation filmed in Puerto Rico, numerous giallo thrillers, Eurospy genre films, science fiction entries, as well as domestically shot hillbilly-themed movies.
The final film they released was The Sin of Adam and Eve (1969), which was shot in Mexico. Subsequently, Lawrence assumed the role of President of Sales and Distribution at Roger Corman's New World Pictures in 1970 but departed alongside colleagues to join Kinney National Company, which later evolved into Warner Communications. In 1971, he co-founded Dimension Pictures.
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 (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 (1966)
- Hillbillys in a Haunted House (1967)
- Lightning Bolt (1967)
- Red Dragon (1967)
- The Sin of Adam and Eve (1969)