1944 Films

Background
1944 Films was a joint venture between Dunn Films, The Dickson Company and producer Jerry Sterns, created in 2002. The five producers involved with either venture previously worked together on the 1999 revival of Inner Sanctum. The name of the company is based on the number the first letters in their surnames are in the alphabet; S=19, D=4. 1944 was closely associated with producers Michael Cowan and Suzanne Lyons, who both helped co-produce many of 1944's films through their own labels. Their titleIs were sold internationally through Archlight Films. The company had faced constant issues, both of their films bombed financially; their last film received an NC-17 classification and was heavily cut for its limited American theatrical debut, and a lawsuit led them to file for bankruptcy and put the company up for sale. Entropy Films would acquire the company in 2007.

1st Logo (2003)
Logo: On a black background, we see a red slash get painted in, followed by a hand print slowly materializing before cutting to more streaks and a fist imprint materializing. It then cuts to moving tire-tracks and highway dividers before hitting a sketch of a brick wall. After more cuts including white splatters, a thin linked fence and close-ups of a male face, we see some streaks form into three circles, with the red number 1994 inside the one furthest to the right. "films" is below in white. The circles then draw out of view as the text disappears.

Variant: In 2005, the completed image zooms back a bit before the final animation plays.

FX/SFX: Too much to describe, what looks to be an illustration of a murder displayed through abstract imagery materializing

Music/Sounds: Various whooshes and other random sounds, ending with a clang.

Availability: It was only seen on Inch to a Mile. The aforementioned lawsuit led to future prints removing this logo, and it not appearing on their final film Field Trip. The only way to see this logo is on the Canadian VHS release of Inch to a Mile.

Editor's Note: The man whose face was featured in the logo was said to have been used without his permission. The man was said to be a practicing Christian who faced psychological trauma from seeing his face present on a logo depicting taboo content, and itself involved with films of a sacrilegious nature, and adding to this, in 1944's defense, stated they used him due to his face holding an underlying creepy appearance. The man won in a lawsuit relating to the logo and it was thus removed.