Allied Artists Pictures Corporation

Background
Allied Artists Pictures Corporation started life as a subsidiary of Monogram Pictures that was established in 1946 as an outlet for films with more well-known cast members and higher budgets than films that Monogram Pictures produced. Monogram Pictures continued to produce "B" movies through 1952, while the studio's special attractions were released as Allied Artists Productions. In 1953, the company dropped the Monogram name and functioned as a single entity, Allied Artists Pictures Corporation. For better or for worse, one of its better known films today is Mitchell (1975) which was spoofed/reviewed in an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. Although the studio produced and/or distributed major films such as Papillon, Cabaret and The Man Who Would Be King, it met with financial catastrophe and filed for bankruptcy in 1979. Lorimar Motion Pictures purchased the former Allied Artists Pictures Corporation film library in 1980. With Warner Communications (now Time Warner) purchasing Lorimar-Telepictures in 1989, most of the Allied Artists Pictures Corporation library (including some Monogram Pictures films) became owned by Warner Bros. Pictures. The name Allied Artists Pictures Corporation continues to be used as the name of a film distribution and production company owned by an entertainment company called Allied Artists International (formed by Allied Artists Pictures Corporation in 1971 as Allied Artists Records before becoming a separate company and eventually acquiring the trademarks to the Allied Artists name).

1st Logo (May 1, 1949-1953)
Logo: The logo fades in and unveils a structure with two searchlights on the side and a slow-moving cloudy background. Then, the structure, consisting of "ALLIED ARTISTS" with the two "A"'s connected together, all in a concrete texture on a pedestal similar to the 20th Century Fox logo design, is illuminated. Shortly after, "Presents" fades in below the structure.

Variants:
 * On Stampede, the light illuminates the structure by wiping from the bottom of the logo, the sky background is lighter, and "Presents" is omitted.
 * A color version of this logo exists where the structure and searchlights are in a copper tint and the sky background is blue.

FX/SFX: The fade ins and clouds moving.

Music/Sounds: The opening theme of the film.

Availability: Rare, seen on some films distributed under the Allied Artists Pictures brand from this era which includes Stampede, I Was an American Spy, and The Highwaymen.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo (1953-1966)
Opening Variants

Nicknames: "Connected AA", "Twin As", "AA in a Box"

Logo: We see two connected A's engraved in a line segmented rectangle on a sky background. "llied" is seen next to the first A, while "rtists" is seen next to the A below the first. "PRODUCTIONS, INC" is seen below the logo and "presents" is seen farther underneath.

Variants:
 * The logo commonly appears as an in-credit emblem seen in the movie's opening and closing credits.
 * Early versions of this notice would simply exclude "PRODUCTIONS, INC" underneath the company's name. This text would be added to the logo sometime around 1955.
 * Closing variants would have this logo underneath "THE END".
 * Later versions of the closing variant has "Allied Artists Productions, Inc." appearing between "The End" and the logo.
 * On Never Love a Stranger, the logo is inverted and very small.
 * Colorized versions of this logo may vary, such as the logo being in gold and the box set to black in The Big Circus
 * The alignment of the logo may change in some films with The Tall Stranger and Love in the Afternoon moving this logo to the lower right and center right portion of the screen respectively.
 * On Tickle Me, the logo is seen without the segmented rectangle on a blue background with "Pictures Corporation" in the same font below. The emblem appears below the logo itself.
 * Another variant is shown where the Allied Artists Pictures Corporation text is laid out horizontally on a navy blue background. Also, "Presents" is in script.
 * On The Persuader, the emblem is seen with two lines coming out of the logo; a longer, horizontal line and a smaller, vertical line. "ALLIED ARTISTS PICTURES CORPORATION Presents" is positioned to the lower right of the logo and the background has light illuminating from the top left to the bottom right of the screen.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: The opening theme of the film.

Availability: The standalone version of the logo itself is rare, but the in-credit one appears on most films distributed and/or produced by the company.

Editor's Note: From 1966 to 1972, Allied Artists would use an in-credit notice. After the success of Cabaret, they would resume production on new films, resulting in a new identity.

3rd Logo (December 16, 1973-November 11, 1978)
Nickname: "The a's"

Logo: We see a green background shorten into a circle, with white surrounding it. After the white circle is small enough, we now see that the white figure is a large lowercase "a", with a backwards "a" the same size next to it zooming out to the from the left, and settling in the middle of the screen. When it's done zooming, it reads:

Emanuel L. Wolf presents db An Allied Artists Film

Variants:
 * An open-matte variant of this logo exists where the animation is cropped on a background using the same color as the standard version. A faint border between the cropped logo and the background can be visibly seen.
 * On older prints of Mitchell (1975), the logo is set on a blue background with light blue lettering.
 * There is a variant that is nearly the same to the aforementioned variant. The only difference is that there no credit for Emanuel L. Wolf and the logo appears to be zoomed in. It is possible this is a cropped version of the aforementioned variant.
 * On Papillion and The Internecine Project, the logo is on a black background and the double a is under the company name.
 * On Three the Hard Way, the logo (in red) just fades in on a black background, along with the text that reads "An Allied Artists Film".
 * Starting in 1976, the Emanuel L. Wolf credit is omitted from the logo.
 * On a 1978 VHS tape of House on Haunted Hill, the logo is in black and white.
 * On The Betsy, the logo is set to blue on a black background.
 * On fullscreen prints of Twilight's Last Gleaming, the logo is not only in lavender, but also more of the upper portion of the logo can be seen. Thanks to this, three holes can be seen punched through the logo's cel.

FX/SFX: The zooming out of the "a's"

Music/Sounds: Usually silent, or sometimes the film's opening theme accompanies it.

Availability: Rare. It is currently unknown when this logo made its debut. Allied Artists became a distributor after the release of Tickle Me, and did not become a producer again until Cabaret. Still intact on The Man Who Would Be King, Three The Hard Way, and The Internecine Project, among others. Sometimes, it is plastered with a WB shield on films such as Papillon, where the logo made its first appearance. It plasters the previous logo on the Allied Artists Video release of Tickle Me and House on Haunted Hill.

Editor's Note: None.

4th Logo (2000s- )
Nicknames: "The a's II", "a's in a Circle"

Logo: The two a's, in gold, move towards each other from both sides of the screen. The two then bounce off each other and a circle in the same color animates around it, the two then bounce off their side of the circle and come to a stop next to each other. The text "ALLIED ARTISTS" fades in under the letters. The registered trademark symbol appears next to the right-side "a".

FX/SFX: The moving of the a's, the a's bouncing off each other, the drawing of the circle and the fade in of the text.

Music/Sounds: When the letters are moving towards each other, there is a bombastic fanfare. After they make contact and the circle animates, a high-pitched xylophone plays.

Availability: Should be on any recent films distributed and/or produced by the company. It can also be seen before some videos on the YouTube channel alliedartists.

Editor's Note: None.