Samuel Bronston

A film distributor turned production executive for Columbia, Bronston was associated with B.P. Schulberg in producing a number of films for the studio in the early 1940s, including "The Adventures of Martin Eden" (1942) and "City Without Men" (1943). In 1943 Bronston set up his own company, Samuel Bronston Productions, releasing "Jack London" (1943) through United Artists. Setting himself up in Spain, Bronston enjoyed his biggest period of success with his own company in the late 1950s, when he oversaw a series of flawed but nonetheless impressively lavish historical spectacles. These epics were often helmed by talented action directors, eager to work abroad or away from some of the constraints of the declining studio system. John Farrow made "John Paul Jones" (1959) for the producer, Anthony Mann helmed "El Cid" (1961) and "The Fall of the Roman Empire" (1964) for Bronston, and Nicholas Ray directed "King of Kings" (1961) and "55 Days at Peking" (1963). Although Bronston's credits at this time also include the more routine contemporary spectacle of "Circus World" (1964), his epic period pieces are admirably detailed and at their best present some interesting character studies.