Born in Oklahoma in 1915, Witney broke into the business in 1933, working at Mascot, the leading producer of low-budget serials. After Mascot and other small companies merged in 1935 to form Republic, Witney graduated to director (at 21, he was Hollywood's youngest). Witney teamed with director John English on many of the era's best serials, most of them highlighted by kinetic fight and chase scenes that helped change the face of action moviemaking. Witney also directed many features and much TV. Retired since the late 1970s, he has authored two books, "In a Door, Into a Fight, Out a Door, Into a Chase" (about his serial directing career) and "Trigger Remembered" (about Roy Rogers ' famed movie horse). - IMDb Mini Biography By: Tom Weaver
Member of the "American Society of Cinematographers (ASC)" Brother-in-law of Colbert Clark . In the closing credits to Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003), Quentin Tarantino pays tribute to several movie-making people, including Witney. Witney acted as uncredited second unit director for the fox hunt sequence in Alfred Hitchcock 's Marnie (1964). When work on Republic Pictures' Der singende Pfeil (1937) fell far behind schedule because of incessant rainfall and director Ray Taylor 's alcoholism, Republic fired Taylor and the youthful Witney was given his first directing job. Witney began the practice of filming fight scenes in segments rather than continuously from start to finish. By changing methodology, the stunt men and actors were able to maintain a high energy level throughout the fight as opposed to th older method in which they showed obvious exhaustion by the end of the sequence. While a teenager Witney began his film career at Mascot Pictures as an office boy, a janitor, prop boy, guide and electrician. After two years he moved to the newly-formed Republic Pictures as script clerk and film editor, the job that eventually earned him his first screen credits. During World War II Witney served as a lieutenant in charge of a Marine combat photography unit. When he left the service four years later, he had acquired an aversion to violence. He delayed returning to Republic Pictures until the last day of the window that allowed him to reclaim his old job under the GI Bill. Late into his career Witney conducted two-week summer courses for aspiring young filmmakers at the University of Portland. After the death of his first wife from throat cancer, Witney married a Mexican woman and temporarily moved to Mexico.
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On a scientific expedition to Siam young Billy Batson is given the ability to change himself into the super-powered Captain Marvel by the wizard Shazam, who tells him his powers will last only as long as the Golden Scorpion idol is threatened. Finding the idol, the scientists realize it could be the most powerful weapon in the world and remove the lenses that energize it, distributing them among themselves so that no one would be able to use the idol by himself. Back in the US, Billy Batson, as Captain Marvel, wages a battle against an evil, hooded figure, the Scorpion, who hopes to accumulate all five lenses, thereby gaining control of the super-powerful weapon.