Editing Irving Allen

{{Short description|American film producer (1905–1987)}}

{{distinguish|Irwin Allen}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Irving Allen
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1905|11|24}}
| birth_place = [[Lemberg]], [[Austria-Hungary]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1987|12|17|1905|11|24}}
| death_place = [[Encino, California]], United States
| resting_place = [[Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills)]]
| awards = '''[[Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film|Best Short Subject, Two-reel]]'''<br />1947 ''[[Climbing the Matterhorn]]''
| occupation = [[Film producer]]
}}

'''Irving Allen''' (born '''Irving Applebaum''', November 24, 1905 – December 17, 1987) was an Austro-Hungarian–born American theatrical and cinematic producer and director.<ref name=NYT>{{cite web|title=Irving Allen|url=https://www.nytimes.com/movies/person/79368/Irving-Allen/biography|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140724090346/http://www.nytimes.com/movies/person/79368/Irving-Allen/biography|url-status=dead|department=Movies & TV Dept.|work=[[The New York Times]]|author=Bruce Eder|date=2014|archive-date=2014-07-24}}</ref>

He received an [[Academy Awards|Academy Award]] in 1948 for producing the short movie ''[[Climbing the Matterhorn]]''. In the early 1950s, he formed [[Warwick Films]] with partner [[Albert R. Broccoli|Albert "Cubby" Broccoli]] and relocated to England to leverage film making against a subsidy offered by the British government. Through the 1950s, they each became known as one of the best independent film producers of the day,<!-- "The making of Dr. No" comment by David Picker, then a vice-president at United Artists (Eventual president) ---> as the two men would sometimes work in tandem, but more often than not on independent projects for their joint enterprise producing multiple projects in a given year.{{citation needed|date=June 2014}}

==Biography==
Born in Lemberg (Austro-Hungary), Allen entered the film industry as an [[Film editing#Film Editor|editor]] at [[Universal Pictures|Universal]], [[Paramount Pictures|Paramount]] and [[Republic]] in 1929. During the 1940s, he made a sequence of shorts, including the [[Academy Awards|Academy Award]]-nominated ''[[Forty Boys and a Song]]'' (1941), which he directed.<ref name="Oscars1942">{{Cite web|url=http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1942 |title=The 14th Academy Awards (1942) Nominees and Winners |access-date=2013-06-25 |work=oscars.org}}</ref> His short films often won more acclaim than his low-budget features. He later said "for two years after that Oscar I was out of work. Then I decided there was no profit in being a genius."<ref name=“allen”>{{cite news|newspaper=Evening Standard|date=25 March 1959|page=8|title=‘I can’t afford to be a mouse in the rat race’|first=Thomas|last=Wiseman}}</ref> 

In the late 1940s, Allen started concentrating more fully on being a [[Film producer|producer]].

===Warwick Films===
In the early 1950s, he led [[Warwick Films]] as the 'name producer', making films in both the US and England, with [[Albert R. Broccoli]] something of a junior partner. In 1957–1958, his partnership with Broccoli was strained both by Broccoli's family health crises (his second wife became terminally ill, soon after adopting one child and with a newborn) and to a lesser extent their disagreement over the film potential of the [[James Bond]] novel series. Broccoli was very interested, believing the novels could lead to a high quality series of films, and Allen was not, eschewing the potential of Broccoli's vision of Bond in favor of older established forms. The partners met with Bond author [[Ian Fleming]] separately in 1957, Cubby from New York where he'd retreated to care for his wife, but in the London meeting with Fleming arranged by Broccoli, Allen all but insulted <!---(according to various accounts, including documentaries on Bond movie [[DVD]]s)--->Fleming, declaring that Fleming's novels weren't even "good enough for television". Broccoli mired in his troubles in New York, only knew that no deal had occurred until pre-production meetings with Fleming which resulted in the decision to make the ''[[Dr. No (film)|Dr. No]]'', as the first film project by [[Eon Productions]].

In 1959, captivated by the historical importance and a good script Warwick undertook the risky project of producing, funding, and distributing ''[[The Trials of Oscar Wilde]]'', which was released in 1960. Ahead of the times, its frank unprejudiced depiction of homosexual issues ran into a ratings stone wall in the United States all but preventing any sort of advertising, and the company lost its large investment, Broccoli and Allen fell out, and the partnership became moribund, being dissolved officially in a 1961 bankruptcy liquidation.

Thus the two partners each turned into solo producers in late 1960. Broccoli went on to found [[Danjaq, S.A.]] and Eon Productions with [[Harry Saltzman]] beginning the Bond films on a shoestring budget, and Allen occupied himself with other projects.
===Other Allen Projects===
Without Broccoli, Allen produced ''The Hellions'' in South Africa and ''The Long Ships'' in Yugoslavia.

In 1965 he announced he would make ''Clive of India'' with director Terence Young but it was not made.
===Matt Helm===
Some years later, Allen cast about for his own spy series. He acquired the rights to [[Donald Hamilton]]'s Matt Helm series. Allen was responsible for the [[Matt Helm]] series, ''[[The Silencers (film)|The Silencers]]'' (1966), ''[[Murderers' Row (film)|Murderers' Row]]'' (1966), ''[[The Ambushers (film)|The Ambushers]]'' (1967), and ''[[The Wrecking Crew (1969 film)|The Wrecking Crew]]'' (1969).

In July 1967, Allen said "At this stage I"m only interested in making money. I'm not interested in kudos or getting good reviews - I've had all that. I'm just concerned with getting the greatest number of people into theatres."<ref name="allen">Allen at Helm of Production Thomas, Kevin. Los Angeles Times 6 July 1967: e14.</ref> "I've done practically everything," he said. "There's no place I haven't been in the business. The only thing I can't do is write."<ref name="allen"/>

Allen's Helm series had one major effect on Broccoli's Bond movies (produced at the time in partnership with [[Harry Saltzman]]). To get [[Dean Martin]] on board as Matt Helm, Allen had to make the actor a partner in the enterprise. Dean Martin ended up making more money on ''The Silencers'' (1966) than [[Sean Connery]] made on ''[[Thunderball (film)|Thunderball]]'' (1965). This did not go unnoticed by Connery.

Other Allen films included ''The Desperadoes''.

Allen was buried at the [[Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills)|Forest Lawn Memorial Park]] in Hollywood, California.

==Filmography==
*''Forty Boys and a Song'' (documentary, 1941) - director
*''[[Avalanche (1946 film)|Avalanche]]'' (1946) - director
*''[[Strange Voyage]]'' (1946) - director
*''[[Climbing the Matterhorn]]'' (documentary, 1947) - director, producer
*''[[High Conquest]]'' (1947) - director, producer
*''[[Sixteen Fathoms Deep#16 Fathoms Deep|16 Fathoms Deep]]'' (1948) - director, producer
*''Chase of Death'' (short, 1949) - director, producer
*''[[The Man on the Eiffel Tower]]'' (1950) - uncredited director, producer
*''[[Slaughter Trail]]'' (1951) - director, producer
*''[[New Mexico (film)|New Mexico]]'' (1951) - producer
*''The Return of Gilbert& Sullivan'' (short, 1951) - director, producer
* ''[[The Red Beret]]'' (1953) - producer
* ''[[Hell Below Zero]]'' (1954) - producer
* ''[[The Black Knight (film)|The Black Knight]]'' (1954) - producer
* ''[[A Prize of Gold]]'' (1955) - executive producer
* ''[[The Cockleshell Heroes]]'' (1955)
* ''[[Safari (1955 film)|Safari]]'' (1956) - producer
*''April in Portugal'' (1956) (short) - producer
* ''[[Odongo]]'' (1956) - executive producer
* ''[[Zarak]]'' (1956) - executive producer
* ''[[The Gamma People]]'' (1956) - executive producer
* ''[[Interpol (1957 film)|Interpol]]''/''[[Interpol (1957 film)|Pickup Alley]]'' (1957) - producer
* ''[[Fire Down Below (1957 film)|Fire Down Below]]'' (1957) - producer
* ''[[How to Murder a Rich Uncle]]'' (1957)
* ''[[The Long Haul (1957 film)|The Long Haul]]'' (1957)
* ''[[High Flight (film)|High Flight]]'' (1957)
*''A Day in Trinidad'' (short, 1957) - executive producer
* ''[[No Time to Die (1958 film)|No Time to Die]]'' /''[[Tank Force (film)|Tank Force]]'' (1958) - producer
* ''[[The Man Inside (1958 film)|The Man Inside]]'' (1958) - producer
* ''[[Idol on Parade]]'' (1959) - producer
* ''[[The Bandit of Zhobe]]'' (1959) - producer
* ''[[Killers of Kilimanjaro]]'' (1959) - producer
* ''[[Jazz Boat]]'' (1960) - executive producer
* ''[[The Trials of Oscar Wilde]]'' (1960) - executive producer
* ''[[In the Nick]]'' (1960) - executive producer
* ''[[Johnny Nobody]]'' (1961) - executive producer
*''[[The Heillions]]'' (1961) - executive producer
*''[[The Long Ships (film)|The Long Ships]]'' (1964) - producer
*''[[Genghis Khan (1965 film)|Genghis Khan]]'' (1965) - producer
*''[[The Silencers (film)|The Silencers]]'' (1966) - producer
*''[[Murderers' Row (film)|Murderers' Row]]'' (1966) - producer
*''[[The Ambushers (film)|The Ambushers]]'' (1967) - producer
*''[[Hammerhead (film)|Hammerhead]]'' (1968) - producer
*''[[The Wrecking Crew (1968 film)|The Wrecking Crew]]'' (1968) - producer
*''[[The Desperados]]'' (1969) - producer
*''[[Cromwell (film)|Cromwell]]'' (1970) - producer
*''[[Eyewitness (1970 film)|Eyewitness]]'' (1970) - executive producer
*''[[Matt Helm (TV series)|Matt Helm]]'' (TV series, 1975) - executive producer

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb name| id=0002164| name=Irving Allen}}
* {{webarchive |date=2013-01-25 |url=https://archive.today/20130125092321/http://www.hollywood.com/celebs/fulldetail/id/186117 |title=Biography at Hollywood.com}}
{{Irving Allen}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Irving}}
[[Category:1905 births]]
[[Category:1987 deaths]]
[[Category:Film producers from California]]
[[Category:Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills)]]
[[Category:Emigrants from Austria-Hungary to the United States]]
[[Category:People from the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria]]
[[Category:Film people from Lviv]]
[[Category:20th-century American businesspeople]]
[[Category:American film production company founders]]
[[Category:American film editors]]