“The inmates have taken over the asylum,” the head of Metro Pictures reportedly declared on hearing that Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, D. W. Griffith, and Charles Chaplin had founded their own company, United Artists, in 1919. The idea of a “studio without a studio”-a company that functioned primarily as a distributor, without the enormous overhead of a conventional Hollywood production/distribution/exhibition conglomerate-might have been crazy, but it stuck, and by the mid-fifties, UA was one of the most important forces in American cinema. Over the years, the company formed fruitful partnerships with independent producers like Samuel Goldwyn and the Mirisch brothers, and released films by such independent-minded artists as Buster Keaton, Billy Wilder, Stanley Kubrick, Robert Altman, Woody Allen, and Martin Scorsese, among many others. This anniversary tribute surveys UA's illustrious and eclectic roster from the silent era to the eighties, sampling everything from low-budget gems to blockbuster classics, including many gorgeous new prints.