Metro Pictures
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| Metro Pictures | |
|---|---|
| Name | Metro Pictures |
| Founded | 1915 |
| Founder | Richard A. Rowland, Louis B. Mayer |
| Defunct | 1924 |
| Fate | Merged into Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| Headquarters | New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Key people | B. P. Schulberg |
| Industry | Film |
| Products | Motion pictures |
Metro Pictures. Founded in 1915 by Richard A. Rowland and Louis B. Mayer, it was a significant American film production and distribution company during the silent film era. The studio became a cornerstone of the burgeoning Hollywood studio system, producing popular star vehicles and launching the careers of several major performers. Its assets and name were pivotal in the 1924 merger that created the entertainment giant Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
History
The company was incorporated in June 1915, with its primary offices located in New York City and production facilities soon established in Los Angeles. Early leadership under Richard A. Rowland focused on acquiring lucrative distribution rights and financing major productions, while Louis B. Mayer operated a successful affiliated exchange. A key strategic move was the 1916 signing of a long-term contract with the powerful Orpheum Circuit of vaudeville theaters, guaranteeing exhibition for its films. The studio aggressively recruited talent from other companies, notably luring actress Francis X. Bushman from Essanay Studios and director John H. Collins from Edison Studios. Financial backing was secured through connections with Wall Street, including the investment firm of Marcus Loew. By the early 1920s, facing intense competition from rivals like Famous Players-Lasky and First National, the company's inconsistent production output made it a target for consolidation, leading to its acquisition by Loew's, Inc..
Notable films
The studio's output ranged from popular melodramas and comedies to major spectacles. Early successes included the World War I propaganda film To Hell with the Kaiser! (1918) and a series of society dramas starring Ethel Barrymore. It produced several vehicles for Rudolph Valentino, including The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921), which catapulted him to international stardom and was a massive financial success. Other notable releases featured emerging stars like John Gilbert in He Who Gets Slapped (1924) and Lon Chaney in The Unholy Three (1925). The studio also distributed the influential German Expressionist film The Golem: How He Came Into the World (1920) in the United States. Many of its later productions, such as Ben-Hur (1925), were completed and released under the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer banner after the merger.
Key personnel
The founding executives, Richard A. Rowland and Louis B. Mayer, provided the initial business acumen, with Mayer leaving in 1917 to form his own independent company. Production head B. P. Schulberg was instrumental in developing the studio's slate and discovering talent. Director Rex Ingram emerged as a major creative force, helming prestigious films like The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and The Prisoner of Zenda. The studio's roster of contracted actors was a key asset, including early film stars like Francis X. Bushman, Viola Dana, and Bert Lytell. Alla Nazimova served as both a leading actress and a producer for several of her films. Cinematographer John F. Seitz contributed to the visual style of many productions, while art director Cedric Gibbons began his career there before moving to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Impact and legacy
Its most direct and enduring impact was as a namesake and contributing entity to the formation of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1924, a merger orchestrated by Marcus Loew and his lieutenant Nicholas Schenck. The studio's national distribution network and library of films provided immediate infrastructure for the new conglomerate. It demonstrated the commercial power of the star system in silent cinema through its promotion of Rudolph Valentino and John Gilbert. The company's practices in talent recruitment and vertical integration reflected the consolidating nature of the American film industry in the 1920s. While its corporate identity was subsumed, many of its contracted artists, executives, and ongoing projects became foundational to the "More stars than there are in heaven" era of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Film historians often cite it as a prime example of the transitional studio that bridged the early film companies and the classical Hollywood era.