Republic Pictures was an independent film production-distribution corporation with studio facilities, operating from 1934 through 1959, and was best known for specializing in westerns, movie serials and B films emphasizing mystery and action.

The studio was also responsible for financing and distributing one Shakespeare film, Orson Welles' Macbeth (1948) and several of the films of John Ford during the 1940s and early 1950s, and for developing the careers of John Wayne, Gene Autry and Roy Rogers.

Created in 1935 by Herbert J. Yates, a longtime investor in film and music properties and founder and president of film processing laboratory Consolidated Film Industries, Republic was the result of a union of six smaller Poverty Row studios.

In the depths of the Great Depression of the 1930s, Yates' laboratory was servicing many Poverty Row studios. In 1935 Yates saw a chance to become a studio head himself. Six established Poverty Row companies (Monogram, Mascot, Liberty, Majestic, Chesterfield and Invincible) were all in debt to Yates' lab. He prevailed upon these studios to merge under his leadership (or otherwise face foreclosure on their outstanding lab bills). Yates' new company, Republic Pictures Corporation, was established as a collaborative enterprise focused on low-budget product.

Sunset Carson, born Winifred Maurice Harrison (November 12, 1920 - May 1, 1990) was an American B-western star of the 1940s.

Born on November 12, 1920 at Gracemont, Oklahoma to Maurice Greely Harrison and Azalee Belle McAdams. He moved to Plainview, Texas as a child (1930 US Census Hale County, Texas). Carson became an accomplished rodeo rider in his youth. For a time he worked in a western show owned by early cowboy actor Tom Mix. In 1940 he traveled to South America, where he competed in rodeos for two years. After his return to the U.S., he played small parts in the 1943 film Stage Door Canteen, and the 1944 film Janie, both having him billed as "Michael Harrison". Catching the attention of Republic Pictures executive Lou Grey, he was signed to a contract and given his own series of B-westerns, along with having his name changed to "Sunset Carson".

Within two years, Carson was on the top-10 list of money makers for western stars. He was given a horse named "Cactus", and starred in a string of semi-successful western genre films. In 1944 he starred in Bordertown Trail, Code of the Prairie, and Firebrands of Arizona opposite Smiley Burnette. 1945 was by far the peak of his career, with his first film of that year being Sheriff of Cimarron. He followed that up with Sante Fe Saddlemates, Bells of Rosarita, Oregon Trail, Bandits of the Badlands, Rough Riders of Cheyenne and The Cherokee Flash.