“The Incredible Mr. Lippert.” “Lippert the Lion.” “Oh, no.” “Robert Lippert? Oh, yikes.” “What, what is this?” “King Dinosaur.” “It’s a Lippert film.” “AHHHH!!!” “Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We know.” “Pretty sad, huh?” “Oh my gosh!” Owner of 139 movie theaters, founder of Screen Guild Productions which became Lippert Pictures in 1948, and head of Regal Pictures that produced CinemaScope B movies for 20th Century Fox in the late 50s, Lippert casts a shadow even past his contributions to MST3K. Sam Fuller, James Clavell, Burt Kennedy, they all worked for him and got their start on his productions.
130 Lippert features were made and released between 1948 and 1955. Jungle Goddess (1948), Last of the Wild Horses (1948), I Shot Jesse James (1949), Radar Secret Service (1950), The Baron of Arizona (1950), Rocketship X-M (1950), The Steel Helmet (1951), Lost Continent (1951), Project Moon Base (1953), King Dinosaur (1955). In 1956, Darryl F. Zanuck began a specialized production unit under Fox and led by Lippert that focused on producing B movie product for the studio. Slated to supply 20 films a year for 7 years, each release was to be shot in 7 days and cost no more than $100,000 each. Stagecoach to Fury (1956), The Unknown Terror (1957), Ambush at Cimarron Pass (1958), The Fly (1958). In 1959, Lippert renamed Regal as Associated Producers Incorporated and eventually moved overseas owing to increased costs of working in Hollywood.
Return of the Fly (1959), The Alligator People (1959), Five Gates to Hell (1959), The Rookie (1959), A Dog of Flanders (1960), The Secret of the Purple Reef (1960), Tess of the Storm Country (1960), The Canadians (1961), Thunder Island (1963), The Last Man on Earth (1964). By 1967, Lippert retired from producing after managing 250 films for Fox. A large career and an even larger name to those who know his work. Big Name or Big Pain?
