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Liberty Films was an independent motion picture production company founded in California by Frank Capra and Samuel J. Briskin in April 1945.〔"Screen News", ''New York Times'', April 27, 1945, p. 22. A third incorporator was attorney David Tannenbaum.〕 It produced only two films, ''It's a Wonderful Life'' (1946), originally released by RKO Radio Pictures, and the film version of the hit play ''State of the Union'' (1948), originally released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. ==History== Capra had made two previous attempts at independent production. He formed Frank Capra Productions in 1939 and produced ''Meet John Doe'', but dissolved it when he joined the U.S. Army Signal Corps in December 1941. Later during World War II he unsuccessfully sought a production partnership with director Leo McCarey. All four eventual partners in Liberty Pictures had spent most of World War II as officers making motion pictures for the Army Signal Corps, and were hesitant to return to working under the Hollywood studio system.〔"William Wyler and His Screen Philosophy", ''New York Times'', Nov. 17, 1946, p. 77. Frank Capra, ''The Name Above the Title'', W.H. Allen, 1972, p. 372. ISBN 0-491-00349-8.〕 Capra explained his dissatisfaction in an article for the ''New York Times'': :Had the motion picture been a product which demanded uniformity as its ultimate goal, the results would have been highly satisfactory. But unfortunately it was, and is, a combination of mechanical perfection and creative endeavor. And in applying the mass-production yardstick to both the mechanics and creative side of film-making, the latter became molded into a pattern. The efforts and achievements of the individual producers and directors had to meet with the approval of each studio's chief executive.… Producers and directors working under him found that instead of creating as they pleased, letting their own imagination and artistry have full rein, with the public the final judge of the worth and merit of their efforts, they were of necessity obliged to make pictures for the approval of the one man at the top. Thus the creative side of film-making, from the selection of the story, the writers who would put it into script form, the casting of the players, the designing of their costumes and the sets which provided their backgrounds, the direction, the cutting and editing of the final film was tailored (consciously or unconsciously) to the tastes of the studio's head man.〔Frank Capra, "Breaking Hollywood's 'Pattern of Sameness'", ''New York Times'', May 5, 1946, p. SM10.〕 Briskin had been production chief at Columbia Pictures, where Capra had worked since 1927. Within months of Liberty's incorporation, directors William Wyler and George Stevens became partners.〔"Wyler Set to Join New Film Concern", ''New York Times'', July 6, 1945, p. 8. "News of the Screen", ''New York Times'', Feb. 20, 1946, p. 35.〕 Liberty was capitalized at $1,000,000, and it had a standing bank credit of $3,500,000, for which the four owners were individually and collectively responsible.〔"Unrest in Hollywood", ''New York Times'', June 30, 1946, p. X1. "Massey Is Signed for O'Neill Movie", ''New York Times'', Jan. 7, 1947, p. 33.〕 The ownership was divided unequally among the partners: 32 percent to Capra as president and organizer, 18 percent to Briskin, 25 percent each to Wyler and Stevens. But their voting rights were equal.〔Capra, ''The Name Above the Title'', p. 373.〕 By dissolving Liberty a few years hence, as the partners planned, they would pay only a 25% capital gains tax on the profits instead of the 90% income tax they would pay on their high salaries at a studio.〔("The Price of Liberty" ), ''Time'', May 26, 1947.〕〔(Top US Marginal Income Tax Rates, 1913–2003 ).〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Liberty Films」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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