National Telefilm Associates

Background
National Telefilm Associates, Inc. (commonly known by its initials, NTA) was a distribution company established by Ely A. Landau and Oliver A. Unger in 1954 as the successor of Ely Landau, Inc. It owned the libraries from U.M.&M. Television Corporation, Republic Pictures, and NBC Films, and distributed the library of 20th Century Fox. Later in 1956, NTA launched a syndication arm known as "NTA Film Network" to distribute the film and live programs to television stations not affiliated with main broadcasters, especially with ABC, CBS, and NBC, closing the unit in 1961.

In 1982, it formed a home video subsidiary, NTA Home Entertainment to distribute their library (including the original Republic Pictures films and Paramount Cartoons) on home video. Two sub-labels were formed during its home video run, which include Spotlite Video, which released works that have fallen into public domain, and Inspiration Video, dedicated to religious material. The division released material from it's catalog and later released other material. After Republic's purchase by Spelling Entertainment in 1994, they merged their existing home video unit Worldvision Home Video into Republic's, allowing the business to release Spelling material as well. By 1996, the home video unit was the only operational part of the then-renamed Republic Entertainment, Inc. after Spelling shuttered the theatrical division.

On December 28, 1984, National Telefilm Associates was renamed Republic Pictures Corporation.

1st Logo (1955-1957?)
Logo: Three frames of film are in a row, with the letters "NTA" individually placed inside the frames. Behind the frames is a reel of film, with a portion of the film out of the reel and curling down the screen. Also there are wavy lines as a background. The words "Times New Roman" are in all capital letters, with the "N", "T", and "A", in larger letters and the texts "An" and "Release" (or "Presentation") above and below in italics respectively.

Variants:
 * An animated version of the logo exists where the background is colored, the letters appear one by one and in and the text is in.
 * For cartoons, a color version of the logo exists, with the wavy background tinted, and the text is colored.
 * On film rereleases, the text below reads instead as "PICTURES, INC. presents" or "PICTURES, INC. presentation".
 * A version exists where there’s a different background, the Filmreel is removed, and there’s a text that says “An N T A  Pictures Incorporated Release”.

Technique: None.

Music/Sounds: A bombastic theme. Sometimes, the opening and closing themes of the show or movie play over the logo instead.

Availability: Extremely rare. Appeared on NTA's prints of pre-1948 20th Century-Fox films, on which the '30s-'50s Fox logo cross-faded into the NTA logo halfway through. When NTA's syndication rights to the library ended, the films returned to Fox, who either made new prints from the original materials or "reverse-plastered" the classic Fox logo over the Fox/NTA combo. (for example, the fade-out of the NTA logo is briefly glimpsed after the Fox logo on the current print of Laura.) The Fox/NTA combo has been sighted intact on the current print of Les Miserables (1935), FXM's print of The Gay Deception, and at the end of Phantom From 10,000 Leagues; it is currently unknown if it appears on any old Fox films released by Magnetic Video Corporation. The color version appears on public domain prints of pre-1950 cartoon shorts from Paramount have this logo present (excluding the orginal Popeye shorts, which were distributed by A.A.P.). It's a lot more common than the logo of U.M.&M. (which had distributed them since January 1956 before being bought out a year later), most likely due to the prints being easier to find. Many public domain DVDs and VHS's of old cartoons still contain this, usually due to them using older prints.

2nd Logo (1956-1966?)
Logo: Superimposed in the credits, we see the text "Times New Roman". Above is "Times New Roman" and below it was the text "Times New Roman", both of these were in a serif font.

Technique: None.

Music/Sounds: The closing theme of the show.

Availability: Rare. Seen mainly on television programs that were aired over the syndicated NTA Film Network, which lasted from 1956-1961. such as How to Marry a Millionaire, Sheriff of Cochise/U.S. Marshal, and The Third Man.

3rd Logo (1957-195?)
Logo: On a background, we see a film projector. Next to it, is a rectangle with the words "Times New Roman" over the projector. Below it was the text "Times New Roman" in a serif font.

Technique: None.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Seen on a rerelease of Wilbur the Lion.

4th Logo (1957-195?)


Logo: On a black & white gradient background, we see a filmstrip. The filmstrip has the letters "NTA" vertically arranged on them. Next to the letters, we see that they stand for "National Telefilm Associates". Above this is the letter "A," and the word "RELEASE." All text is seen inside a white TV tube-like shape with a black border.

Technique: None.

Music/Sounds: The closing theme of the show.

Availability: Extinct. Might have appeared on shows by them, but they may be considered lost.

5th Logo (1959?-1962?)
Logo: Superimposed in the credits, we see three black diamonds. Inside it was the letters "Times New Roman". Above it was "AN" and below it was the text "PRESENTATION". Copyright info appears below the logo.

Technique: None.

Music/Sounds: A drumroll, followed by a bell church.

Availability: Seen on several Play of the Week episodes from the era.

6th Logo (1966?-196?)


Logo: On a black & white background with filmstrips, we see three ellipses appearing and moving to the center of the screen: the topmost ellipse moves in from the top of the screen, the middle ellipse moves from the left of the screen, and the bottom ellipse moves from the right of the screen. After the ellipses move, the vertically arranged text "An NTA RELEASE" appears one-by-one, with "NTA" arranged vertically on the ellipses.

Variant: It has been said that there is a variant of this logo having the map from the 5th logo instead the filmstrips on the background. Probably there is a color version too, since the colors of the ellipses are different.

Technique: Traditional animation.

Music/Sounds: An ominious orchestral beat. Sometimes, it uses the opening or closing theme of the show or movie.

Availability: Rare. Seen on some public domain video releases of Gammera the Invincible, and surprisingly seen on TV prints of Lone Star movies, most notably Texas Terror, plastering their logo. Appeared at the beginning of a RaiPlay print of The New Frontier (1939).

7th Logo (1970s?-1984?)
Logo: It's almost the same as the Commonwealth United logo, except once the map is completed, the screen freezes, and the styled text "nta" zooms-out of the screen instead. Then "RELEASE" appears under the "NTA" lettering.

Variants:
 * There is a still variant for mid-60s prints of classic Paramount cartoons.
 * A B&W variant exists for films in said colors NTA distributed.
 * A print version of the logo exists, where the logo is and the full name is shown below the logo.

Technique: Motion-controlled 2D animation, or none.

Music/Sounds: An abridged version of the Commonwealth United Entertainment jingle. In most cases, the opening and closing themes, a generic theme, or none.

Availability: Extremely rare. It was spotted on a print of The Devil Bat's Daughter, along with a WPIX airing of Flame of Barbary Coast. Also seen on public domain cartoons. The print version appears on Search and Rescue: The Alpha Team.

8th Logo (1982-1985)


Logo: It's basically the same as the NTA Home Entertainment logo, except when all zoom out, the logo freezes. Then the word "presents" flies from the bottom of the logo and sets place under the NTA letters.

Technique: Same as the NTA Home Entertainment logo.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Extinct. Shown on some movies and TV shows syndicated by NTA on the mid-'80s on TV.