Film Ventures International. So many of their films ended up on MST3K. Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster (1966), Cave Dwellers (1984), Pod People (1983), Stranded in Space (1973), Master Ninja I (1984), Master Ninja II (1984), Space Travellers (1969), City Limits (1984), Being from Another Planet (1982), and Season 13’s H.G. Wells’ The Shape of Things to Come (1979). Their title credits alone are etched into our heads. Often having NOTHING to do with the movies themselves. Those bookends live on. When you hear FVI, what springs to mind?
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I am sincerely grateful to FVI and Edward L. Montoro’s (RIP?) questionable sense of business ethics and movie production, for without the FVI “copyright” treatment (done after he absconded, but still) , many of those movies never would have become MST3K episodes.
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1000 percent agree. Their actions brought attention to these pictures. And without it Best Brains may not have noticed.
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If it “was a now-defunct” company does that mean it’s no longer a now-defunct company?
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@moviegique Not my wording. MST3K.fandom.com chose those words. I merely passed on the link.
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Yes, sorry, didn’t mean to imply that it was.
What we can say about FVI is that the '70s & '80s would not have been the same without them. So many…movies!
The riffing timeline, too, would be drastically different. The link lists:
Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster
Cave Dwellers
Pod People
Stranded in Space
Master Ninja I & II
Space Travelers
City Limits
Being from Another Planet
But wait, there’s more!
The Shape of Things to Come (S13!)
The Dark (RT)
The Last Shark (RT)
Kill and Kill Again (RT)
Gamera vs. Barugon (Classic)
Day of the Animals (RT)
You could really just go through their list to find fodder for riffing, except some of it’s real nasty. (Don’t Go In The House, e.g.) That said, I’ve been looking at getting the Vinegar Syndrome disc for Alley Cat. Love me some Karin Mani.
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So much of what I fell in love with as a teen regarding MST is their response to FVI’s approach. Without FVI, I may not be here today.
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I want to know what the weird homoerotic barbarian stuff going on in the Cave Dwellers credits was all about. What movie did that come from anyway?
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Edward Montoro’s private home videos.
Was a big reason his wife filed for divorce. 
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It’s from a film called Taur the Mighty. It’s available here on YouTube:
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And is Taur mighty? Does it fulfill its bold premise?
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Hm. IMDB isn’t convincing me there’s nothing homoerotic about this movie:
The warlike men of Kixos murder the king of Surupak and abduct his two daughters, Jia and Tuja. Jia’s bridegroom Syros asks the mighty warrior Taurus for assistance. Taurus faithful companion Ubaratuta will give Taurus a hand to defeat the warlike tribe.
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Well, he’s no Hercules, but he could give My Cheesesteak a run for his money.
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IMDB also said it was originally going to be Tarzan the Mighty but for some reason there was a threat of a lawsuit.
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I’m actually a little surprised that the threat of a lawsuit scared an Italian knock-off filmmaker.
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A mis-translation. “We’ll issue a cease and desist” got turned into “We’ll hire the mob for a hit”. That’s what scared 'em.
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Film Ventures International’s front credits to Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster (1966).
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From MST3Kinfo.com:
"Q: I’ve noticed that the FVI movies would show clips of entirely different movies during their title sequences? Has anyone ever figured out what movies they were?
A: So far three have been identified. They used clips from a movie called Galaxy Invader for the titles to Pod People. They used clips from a movie called Prisoners of the Lost Universe for the credits of Stranded in Space. And clips from Son of Godzilla was used for the opening credits of Godzilla vs the Sea Monster."
I discovered the first two (both of which have since shown up on Rifftrax).
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I never liked them using unrelated movies for the opening and closing credits.
That always confused the hell out of me.
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