Motion Picture Daily (Jul-Sep 1960)

day, July 29, 1960 Motion Picture Daily 5 IE VIE W S ^ ^ Will Take Figh t on Pay TV to Congress ie High Powered Rifle fh-Fox — Capri Hie screen droops with fresh bodies the end of "The High Powered le," and although Willard Parker, ■ hero, himself is bleeding, it is not death, only a flesh wound. Dead, iveVer, are his double-dealing, tenive girl friend, Allison Hayes, and sometimes boy friend, Clark wat. Violence cuts into this picture acutely that when someone simply :s for a drink or a cup of coffee provides comic relief. Parker is a private detective whom neone is trying to kill— and kill and for the job is bungled time after ie. First he is wounded by a rifle (let, and then some character ows a bomb at him, and later the ninals arrange a rendezvous at a ■ pond but Parker is too clever for an. At the end of the picture, when ss Hayes is about to scram with 50,000 received by Howat for a •oin shipment, she shoots Parker, n is shot and killed by Howat, who turn is finished off by Dan Simns, a police lieutenant. Life was ;er cheaper in the motion pictures. \iaury Dexter produced and direct"The High Powered Rifle." Joseph tz wrote the screenplay for the pri production. nning time, 60 minutes. September ;ase. Saul Ostbove nd Quiet Flows the Don ' -Gorky Hartford, July 28 irhis first part of a Soviet film tri y, based on Mikhail Sholokov's pel about the Cossacks of the Don, being distributed by United Artists ler the United States-Soviet motion Jture exchange plan. ergei Gerasimov, one of his native > d's top film men, both adapted and t?cted the property, culling dra(;ic highlights from what was obvi|ly a lengthy work of fiction on life |:>ng the Don Cossacks before the i break of World War One and the : ;sian revolution. lis central character is Grigory ;ayed by Pyotr Glebov), a freelaking young man who leaves the >ie his parents have selected for him i favor of an initially care-free ex•Ince with a married woman, Aka (Ellina Bystritskaya ) . The lterous relationship produces a d, but it succumbs when he is \ i the Army forces, bounded, Glebov returns to his llian setting, finding to his conI nation that Miss Bystritskaya has ijn dallying with the heir to an es|: where he works. The much[]Stened Glebov returns to the preMn^ed marriage with Zinaida KM HO o Id. is a work of Soviet cinema art, it io be engrossedly watched by the <'ous screen aficionados. As a vast (Continued from page 1) ACE at the convention here, also reported to the exhibitors on the new production company being sponsored by ACE in a move to help overcome the product shortage by adding to the sources of supply. Describing ACE's activities in opposing the inauguration of pay-TV, Frisch said that details of the plan to petition Congress will be announced "in the very near future" and urged his exhibitor listeners "to carry out its provisions to the very last degree" at that time. "At the present moment there is not one person in any community in the United States who has to pay money for what he sees on television. We hope to keep it that way and we are determined to do so," Frisch said. Predicts 'Decisive Blow' "If theatre managers will devote their time and energy in carrying out the instructions they will receive with the forthcoming announcement, we would be able to deal a decisive blow against the people who would destroy your business. You can help defeat pay-TV. We urgently need every one of you to defeat this dangerous threat to your very existence as theatre owners or managers," he told the convention. Frisch said the action to petition Congress is but one of several measures being undertaken by ACE's Joint Committee Against Toll TV, headed by Philip Harling. Another move, he said, is a request to the Federal Communications Commission for a public hearing in Washington on the pending application of Zenith Radio-RKO General for a three-year over-the-air pay-TV test in Hartford, Conn. Sees All People Affected "We plan to bring before the FCC, leaders of civic groups to tell this august body what the effects of paying for television can mean to all kinds of people in this country. We think we can present a valid case against this system by which the American public would be compelled to pay its hard-earned money for what diey now get for free. A grass roots campaign to inform the public about this menace has been started, but it needs to be greatly extended. All of this takes money, incidentally, and if you, who will be so direly affected should pay TV get a foothold in this country, have not sent your contribution to the committee, please do so as quickly as possible. Your amount is modestly scaled in accordance with the figures sent to all of you on this red card. "While our immediate goal in the panorama of a not-so-long ago era, it is sketchily entertaining, a situation attributable to its status as part of a trilogy. Running time, 107 minutes. Release, July, 1960. -A.M.W. battle against pay-TV is to halt the experiment in Hartford, we also are trying by every means to bring out of committee two bills that have been reposing with the House interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee. These are No. HJR 130 and HR 6245, both of which would forbid by law any form of pay television as being contrary to the public interest." Blames Decrees for Shortage Frisch said that serious as the pay TV threat is to exhibitors "it is certainly not more so than die ever decreasing supply of pictures to show on our screens." He attributed the declining volume of production to theatre divorcement imposed by the federal court decrees in the Paramount case. "Why did this happen?" Frisch asked. "Why has production cut to half of what it used to be in the prime years of our business? "Before divorcement the integrated studios were under complusion every season to produce 50 to 70 features each to make certain their own dieatres had enough product to stay open. And the companies without theatres also needed a sizeable year's program to compete in a block booking market. Recalls Exhibitors' Apprehension "I well remember that many prominent theatre owners with no studio connection whatever, predicted that great harm would come to all exhibitors if the studios were separated from the theatres. They foresaw that the studio policies would change when they no longer had to keep on feeding features to their own theatres. "Now that diey don't own any theatres they feel no obligation to produce so many features. "How do die studios justify these shortages as a business policy? "They think they can insure success by increasing the production budgets. That bigger budgets mean bigger box-office; therefore, the same annual investment on fewer pictures means bigger profits— and if some exhibitors have to shut down and go broke— they're sorry— but that's progress. Says Sales to TV Resulted "With that kind of thinking they sold die pre-'48's to TV; forgetting that the old films might keep die customers at home and cut the boxoffice revenue of their current features. "And now they're selling their post-'48 libraries— still discounting the fact that theatre rentals, not TV revenues, are keeping them in business. "How far production will rebound from the effects of the recent strikes is anybody's guess, but these disastrous effects will be felt by theatres for months to come," Frisch said. He reviewed progress in developing ACE's exhibitor-sponsored production company, pointing out that the five national circuits have contributed $2,000,000 to it and that "substantial progress" has been made toward raising die diird million, and a start is expected to be made soon "in accumulating subscriptions to die fourth million." "By that time, the details of plan, organization and financing will be ready and we can present the prospectus to the whole country. Every exhibitor will be invited to invest in helping to save his own business." A further plea for the support of ACE was voiced by Sumner Redstone, official of the Northeast Drivein Theatre Corp. Boston, who emphasized its value to the industry as a whole and the necessity of immediate aid from all exhibitors. Local Theatre Is Public's Image of Industry, Says MPA Aide VIRGINIA BEACH, Va., July 28. —Pointing out that to die average citizen, "the industry" is his home town theatre, Margaret G. Twyman, director of community relations for the Motion Picture Association of America, told the annual convention of Virginia Motion Picture Theatre Assn. here today that it is important for every theatre to develop a favorable image in the minds of the members of die community. "Community responsibility," she said, "like public relations, is an accepted practiced art by most industries today. And, the film industry cannot be an exception. Assuming this responsibility involves production, distribution and exhibition. Feels Personal Contact Is Vital "But, exhibition seems to have a lion's share, in my opinion, because it is you who come in contact with the customer face-to-face! So, it is you who must help build a worthy image of our industry, without which none of us can ever build a successful business." Rives Brown, of Marlinsville, and Harley Davidson, of Washington, were named members of the directorate of die Virginia group. The two-day convention closed tonight with a banquet and entertainment. Another Industry Union Aids Anti-Pay TV Fund Anodier projectionists's union has contributed to the Joint Committee Against Pay-TV, it was announced yesterday by Philip F. Harling, chairman of the industry group which is seeking to ban pay-TV by Congressional legislation. Harling said diat a check had been received from Local 611, Motion Picture Operators Union, IATSE, of Watsonville, Calif. His committee is seeking funds to retain legal, public relations, economic and engineering help in its campaign for Congressional passage of the Harris Bills— HJR 130 and HR 6245, which would ban cable as well as broadcast pay-TV.