The Film Daily (1948)

Thursday, July 29, 194 DAILY Hint U.K. to Adjust Quota Hardship Cases (Continued from Page 1 ) clared, "I am trying to ascertain if there are such hardship cases, and if so, report them to our Government. Surely we can get together on them." Britain, Blond said, must increase her dollar volume and to do this he believes the U. S. could absorb considerably more British whisky, ■ china, earthenware, furniture, carpets and automobiles. Showmanship Emphasized At RKO Regional Meeting San Francisco — Fifth and final of a series of RKO zone sales meetings was concluded in the St. Francis Hotel here yesterday with Robert Mochrie, vice-president in charge of domestic distribution, emphasizing the need for showmanship to hypo the box office. Harry J. Michalson, short subjects sales chief, spoke of the ever-increasing need for one and two reelers as part of the motion picture theater's program. Also addressing the meeting was Walter E. Branson, Western division sales manager. ' Allied Will Hold Summer Board Meet in Minneapolis (Continued from Page 1 ) liberation at the local session with the national group expected to adopt it, according to Berger, if the plan is still in good working order by the time of the meeting. Settlement Out of Court Likely in Liberty Suit Chicago — Seymour Simon, attorney for the Liberty Theater, Michigan City, reports suspension of taking depositions from film row executives in this case, as settlement may be made out of court. 20th-Fox Appeals FCC Denial Washington — An appeal to the FCC for a reversal on its ruling rejecting 20th-Fox's request that its plan for an auxiliary tele station at Oakland, Calif., be placed in evidence as part of its application for a video channel in San Francisco, was filed yesterday by the company. ^tn-Bettveen' Age B. O. Scale Ashed in iotva Des Moines — Iowa CIO is urging theaters to adopt an "in-between" age admission price for children between 12 and 15 years of age. Resolution adopted by its policy committee said the children between 12 and 15 should not be asked to pay adult prices when they are not yet wage earners. CT. JC Gov^t Distribution . . . €1 shadotv is cast before (Continued from Page 1) It is that high quota which now has provided the peg for the financing scheme devised by Wilson and Sir Stafford Cripps, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and his predecessor as 807 president. Witness, please, Wilson's assertion, in reply to Winston Churchill, leader of His Majesty's Loyal Opposition, in Commons that he could agree that the financing of British independent production was hazardous because the high quota meant "a safe and assured home market." DUT TO GET BACK to the Screenwriters Association proposal that the Government ■"' control distribution of independent British pictures both at home and in the American and Canadian markets. The point already has been made in a preceding critique, published Tuesday, that the failure foreseen for the initial move to socialize, or nationalize, the British film industry wiil bring, not a retreat, but a further advance on the same front, with either direct Government production or direct Government distribution, or both, instituted. There was a reference, too, to the Government's embarkation upon theater operation, as desired by i Parliamentary Labor Party sub'committee. Wilson, in revealing the financing plans in Commons, told the crowded benches that, "Later, it may be practical to help in financing other experiments in methods of production and distribution." That will bear a bit of stressing a second time, in the light both of the early 1947 screenwriters proposals and another Wilson remark which thus far has received only casual attention on this side. A GAIN REPLYING to a Churchill question, the BOT president referred to the British ** film industry as "Absolutely essential if we are to solve our long-term balance of payments problem." It is only too obvious that Wilson had in mind dollars, and it is reasonable, certainly, to conclude that in pouring $20,000,000 — a "provisional" figure which may. be greater or smaller when the enabling measure reaches Parliament in September — into British independent production, Wilson expects the pictures so financed to earn dollars for exchange purposes in the United States and its good neighbor, the Dominion of Canada. For a helluva lot of reasons which certainly require no elaboration here, the British distributor/distributors who may be the middleman/middlemen under the Wilson plan, funneling the $20,000,000 to the independent producer and then distributing the pictures they make, will have a tough row to hoe in the American market. J. Arthur Rank, no less, could tell them all about that, if necessary, which assuredly it is not. (Parenthetically, our British cousins would do well — very, very well, indeed — to consider what Eric A. Johnston, MPAA-MPEA-AMPP president, had to say about the American earnings potential of British pictures when production quality gives way to quantity under pressure of the 45 per cent quota. Getting down to brass tacks, under the existing circumstances the worst foe of British pictures in the United States is . . . the British Government itself!) But what happens when the British distributors committed to handle the sale of the Government-financed features report the foreseen failure? It could be the creation of the Government controlled distribution agency proposed by the screenwriters, and that makes pertinent a second quotation from that cable story of Jan. 30, 1947: "It is also proposed independent producers should be entitled to call upon the U . S. and Canadian Government-controlled distributor organizations for an amount equal to one-third of U. K. receipts." Play around with that one for a while, pal! A ND NOW to backtrack to a point previously made, that the British Government is ** rushing in to subsidize where the shrewd British trader feared to invest. In the Financial Times of London of last Friday you find these highly revealing paragraphs: "Mr. Churchill, Leader of the Opposition: 'Why does not the City (London's Wall Street) subscribe the money? Is it some wicked scheme of theirs or because the public demand will not be sufficient to sustain the profitable chances of the industry.^' "Mr. Wilson: 'The channels of finance were badly bitten before the war through lending money on terms which the Finance Corporation would not offer"." A ND LATER this from the same Financial Times: *» "At various times, he (Wilson) said, during the last 15 weeks it had appeared likely that the variotis financial institutions with whom the industry was in close touch, were going to finance the proposition, but at the last moment they had finally decided that the film industry was not one they would like to he associated with." Note, please, that the reference is to the entire British filmi industry, and not a segment of that industry. Note — and it is interesting, even enlightening — that counting back 15 weeks, you get to mid-April, or just about the time that the American industry was beginning to discover that the Anglo-American film agreement's "permitted uses" provisions were open to more than one interpretation. Coming events sure do cast a bit of a shadow before, what? TOA Warns Against Copyriglit Violations (Continued from Page 1) is emphasized, does not elimina the requirement of theater operatoij to pay for performance rights Onl the opinion of the Court If ■ )ee' rendered, it is pointed out, ^ .n tl injunction not yet issued, and nc anticipated before Fall. Reminding of the possibility of a appeal by either side, TOA recom mends that exhibs. not stop payiii: ASCAP until such time as the oi ganization is finally enjoined froi the collection of license fees or unti the judgment becomes final. "The ASCAP decision promise neither — rather it changes t>i method of collection that in th long pull can be more costly thai the current method of paying foi performance rights. The end resul for the exhibitor can be stated sim ply — ASCAP, by any other nann will cost the same — or more." Urges Industry Keep Pix On Czechoslovakia Screer (Continued from Page 1) said to have borne down on the nt cessity for a strict control by thti industry on the films made availablffl in Czechoslovakia. The wrong kin"' of screen reflection of American lii can hurt, he inferred. Among those pictures which hi is said to have advised against ex porting there are those which in an; way ridicule American politic While these can be digested by thi American sense of humor, the envoj indicated it could be another storj insofar as Czechs were concerned "The quality of American motioi pictures released in Czechoslovak! during the past two years," observe( the ambassador, "has shown shari improvement over those released dur ing the period immediately after thf end of the war." Int'l Union May Step Into Cooling Impasse strike by Local 30 of the Operat ing Engineers Union, AFL, will en ter its sixth day today with manj theaters in the Loew and RKO cir^ cuits operating without cooling syS' tems. Union spokesmen said therf was a possibility of the unit's Inter national stepping into the impasse. London Variety Tent Anticipated Shortly London (By Cable) — Widespread interest in the proposed formation of a Variety Club Tent here is reported among film industry men. J. C. Latta, now located in London for Warners, is a second assistant international chief barker for Variety and will spark formation of a tent. It is expected that an application for a charter will be forwarded to Dallas before the end of the year.