Vanguard Films


Vanguard Films, Inc. was an American film production company, established by producer David O. Selznick in 1943, after the dissolution of Selznick International Pictures. The company's president was Daniel T. O'Shea; Dore Schary was the head of production. The company was liquidated in 1951.

History

After the dissolution of Selznick International Pictures, David O. Selznick established Vanguard Films, Inc., in 1943 and Selznick Releasing Organization in 1946. Vanguard was created to continue his productions, while the Selznick Releasing Organization was made to distribute output by Vanguard. Previously, Vanguard released through United Artists, of which Vanguard owned one-third of its stock. As with Selznick International, Vanguard was located at the RKO studio.
Vanguard Films took over the three films still in production—Since You Went Away, I'll Be Seeing You and Hitchcock's Spellbound—and delivered them to the distributor United Artists, thus fulfilling Selznick's contract with UA.
After the agreement with United Artists was completed, Vanguard films were distributed by RKO Radio Pictures or Selznick Releasing Organization. Notable films among those are Hitchcock's The Paradine Case and King Vidor's Duel in the Sun.
Vanguard Films was dissolved in 1951.

Filmography

Release DateTitleNotes
May 18, 1944Reward UnlimitedShort film distributed by the Office of War Information
July 20, 1944Since You Went AwayProduced with Selznick International Pictures; distributed by United Artists
January 5, 1945I'll Be Seeing YouProduced with Selznick International Pictures; distributed by United Artists
December 28, 1945SpellboundProduced with Selznick International Pictures; distributed by United Artists
February 7, 1946'Produced with RKO Pictures; distributed by RKO
May 8, 1947Duel in the SunDistributed by Selznick Releasing Organization
January 8, 1948'Distributed by Selznick Releasing Organization
December 24, 1948Portrait of JennieDistributed by Selznick Releasing Organization
October 14, 1950Walk Softly, StrangerProduced with RKO Pictures; distributed by RKO
May 28, 1952Produced with London Films, distributed November 6, 1950, by British Lion Films, titled Gone to Earth
Reshot and re-edited for Western Hemisphere release, distributed by RKO

Library

Like most Selznick productions, films made by Vanguard are now owned by The Walt Disney Company through ABC. The notable exceptions are The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer and Gone to Earth.