The Film Daily (1948)

bdnesday, August 4, 1948 etter Hollywood PIx uiet Norge Squawks ashingfon Bureau of THE FILM DAILY Washington — Improvement in the -ality of recent Hollywood offerings eened in Norway has "co^nsiderly„ --^pered the former adverse le '^t^most Norwegian critics tord nlms produced in the United ates," Nathan D. Golden, Comjrce Dep't film chief, said in Oldies of the Scandinavian area resed today. Golden noted that the regard 'for British pix has fallen off because of poor quality of some recent British releases. Public ownership of the Nor |;gian industi-y is growing, it was vealed. The government is about become a shareholder in Norsk Im to the tune of 203,000 kroner, irjid to put out 250,000 kroner to help e company enter educational film induction. A loan of three million 'oner to the company to aid in deiloping new studios at Jar has also lAen proposed — with one-third of tills amount to be used for produci'n of entertainment films. llfSecurity for this loan is the decision by .ny municipalities to set aside one per cent ^ the gross revenues of municipally-owne* ■ aters for the purpose. Of the 364 theaters listed for Norway in ff%7, 160 were municipally owned. 99 assotion-owned and 62 privately owned. In■mation on the others was lacking-. Of the '3,589 .seats reported. 68.054 are said to be I municipally-owned houses. ' U. S. Pix in Sweden On the basis of a report from the U. S. ibassy in Stockholm, Golden reported that 318 features presented for review in 'eden last year 190 were American (of lieh seven were rejected), 43 were Swedish, were British (of which three were rented), 24 were French and eight were issian. Of the 394 features accepted by irwegian censors last year, 64 per cent ■TO American, said Golden, 15 per cent were Ijjitish, 14 per cent Swedish and ten per cent lench. A total of 209 Hollywood films were reused in Sweden in 1945. compared with 164 [) 1943, 191 in 1944, 168 in 1946 and 183 ijiit year. Golden pointed out that there are 2,463 eaters in Sweden, seating 716.000, on the 1/^sis of flgT.ires up to January of last year. tijmual gross amounts to abotit $22 million. M eggs Take Theater Safe Chicago — Yeggs carried off the '.'lO pound safe from the Elmo The•er containing the day's receipts. Filipino Guerilla Fighter Set For Pic Manila, P. I. (Via Air Mail) — Newest sensation in Philippine film circles is the announcement that Luis Taruc, until recently a man with a price on his head, will write and star in a film based on his exploits as a guerilla leader in the Hukbalahap tribe, which recently departed the hill country and made peace with the Government. Producer Luis Nolasco will give Taruc a free hand and advance ads call attention to the forthcoming film as "a daring exposition of the biggest conflict of our times." WOLCOTT VIEWS THE MILLENIUM THE MILLENIUM is here! The kids used to cry to go to the movies. But now, with ' baby sitters so expensive and kid admission so cheap, the parents get rid of their brats — so obnoxious even their parents can't stand them — at the show for a full 3 hours for a thin dime, while the parents go out and beer up at the country club. Makes a good deal — for them! Oh sure, the parents of these untrained and uncontrollable junior gorillas seldom, if ever, come to your show. What do you want, cake AND pie, both? Haven't they sent you their little darlings to run and raise hell, pop and smear their bubble gum all over the seats, throw popcorn sacks, swing on the drapes to the restrooms every 5 minutes, play in the fountains and toilets, and cause $1 damage for every dime admission? I'll never forget how sore these same parents got when we cut out the second Saturday and Sunday matinee, and another two hours of kid tending, because the kids made so much noise the second matinee wasn't grossing a quarter. But, all is not well in heaven! This last week I have personally seen three of these mama's boys joy-and-prides bawling all-out, yelling, "I don't wanna go to the show, I wanna go with you," kicking and bucking like the wild broncs they are! Well, the kids didn't win that round; two of them got sound spankings right out on the sidewalk and their little britches, and all three came to the show anyway, while the fond parents beat it like old Nick was after them! But something interesting is happening, that's sure. The moral of this story? Oh, I dunno; does it have to have a moral? And the cure? Well, if any be necessary, looks like the kids are taking care of that! Maybe the whole thing is the infuence of the Lone Ranger coming on television! — LEO F. WOLCOTT, board chairman of the Allied ITO of Iowa and Nebraska, writing in the organization's latest bulletin. .Buermeles' Co-op Takes Over "Fireball Circuit" Detroit — Major switch in the operation of the reissue group of a dozen Detroit houses organized last Fall as the "Fireball Circuit," under the leadership of the Broder Circuit, was made last week, with General Theater Service taking over general operation of the circuit. General is a cooperative booking group headed by Carl W. and Robert Buermele which had normally booked for some of the same houses in the past, but will now handle the general selection of reissues and the cooperative advertising program for all houses as well. The four Broder houses in the "Fireball" group will continue to buy and book independently, but will cooperate fully with the Buermeles, who will handle their advertising, for instance. Some dissatisfaction had arisen among some of the "Fireball" owners over having the operation headed up through the Broder Circuit offices, and it was decided that a separate booking organization would be more satisfactory. Metro and 20th-Fox Set Two for U.K. Production H^cst Coast Btircuii of THE FILM DAILY Hollywood — Metro will send "The Conspirators" into production at its Elstree studios in Britain in midOctober, Arthur Homblow, Jr. producing and Victor Saville directing, with Elizabeth Taylor playing Humphrey Slater's heroine. Metro wants Ray Milland for the male lead. Twentieth-Fox also has set another pic for British production. It's Rory Hopkins' "Inside Scotland Yard" which Sam Engel will make as a semi-documentary, possibly with Rex Harrison as the heroic Yard inspector. Rig'hts to the book, to be published this Fall in Britain and later in New York, were snared by Darryl F. Zanuck, now abroad. Canada Trims Excise Taxes on Cameras and Projectors Ottawa — With repeal of many of the Dominion excise taxes imposed last Nov. 18 as part of the Government's program to conserve U. S. dollars, the impost on cameras, projectors and photographic films and supplies is reduced by 15 per cent to the 10 per cent rate which previously applied. rr U" (ommitmeni for 12 Rank Pix Dropped (Continued from Page 1) American market, the two companies getting an even break as to quality. During the recent London conferences between Rank and his toppers on the one side and William A. Scully, U-I distribution chief, and Maurice A. Bergman, the company's Eastern ad-puiblicity director, on the other, the arrangement was washed out. As a result of the talks, Universal will handle an indetermdnate number of Rank pix, with marketability on this side to be governing factor. It follows that before a picture is turned over to "U," it will be carefully appraised in terms of the American box office. In this connection, it is understood that the suggestion has been made to Rank that all his British pix for this market be catalogued into three gi'oups — ^pictures which rate the treatment given "Henry V" and which "Hamlet" shortly will get, features which have "class" appeal and do well with certain limited' audiences, and pictures, finally, which have a fair chance of sale for the American mass audience. Loot Drive-in of 5,000 Hammond, Ind. — Bandits looted the Griffith Drive-in Theaters here of $5,000, and fled by auto. '-n. »r. A beautiful woman is frozen with terror as she overhears plans for her own murder in Hal Wailis' thriller for Paramount — ^^^^"^