Motion Picture Herald (Nov-Dec 1946)

Short Product in First Run Houses NEW YORK— Week of October 28 CAPITOL: Sure Cure MGM Solid Serenade MGM Feature: No Leave, No Love MGM CRITERION: Rural Rhapsody Universal Silent Tweetment Columbia Feature: Dark Mirror Universal GLOBE: Enric Madriquera Warner Bros. Of Thee / Sting Warner Bros. Feature: Angel on My Shoulder UA HOLLYWOOD: Battle of Chance .Warner Bros. Rhapsody Rabbit Warner Bros. Feature: Devotion Warner Bros. PALACE: Purloined Pup RKO Feature: Sister Kenny RKO RIALTO: A Peep in the Deep Paramount Feature: The Raider English Films, Inc. R1VOLI: Musica-Lufu Paramount Be Kind to Animals Paramount Double Rhythm Paramount Feature: Two Years Before the Mast. . . .Paramount ROXY: Electronic Mousetrap . .20fh Cent.-Fox Winter Holiday 20th Cent.-Fox Czechoslovakia, the Soviet Neighbor 20th Cent.-Fox Feature: Margie 20th Cent.-Fox STRAND: The Big Snooze Warner Bros. Adventure in South America .. .Warner Bros. Men of Tomorrow Warner Bros. Feature: Cloak and Dagger Warner Bros. WINTER GARDEN: Wacky Weed .. .Universal Feature: The Killers Universal CHICAGO— Week of October 28 GARRICK: Football Fanfare .. .20th Cent.-Fox Feature: The Strange Love of Martha Ivers Paramount GRAND: Skating Lady RKO Feature: Notorious RKO ORIENTAL: Misto Fox Columbia Feature: Mr. Ace United Artists PALACE: Follow That Blonde RKO Radio Characters Columbia Feature: Black Angel Universal ROOSEVELT: Army Football Champions Columbia Old Sequoia RKO Feature: Three Little Girls in Blue. .20th Cent.-Fox UNITED ARTISTS: Jasper in a Jam. Paramount Brooklyn. I Love You Paramount Feature: The Searching Wind Paramount WOODS: Ten-Pin Magic Columbia Mouse Menace Warner Bros. Feature: The Dark Mirror.... Universal MPEA to Step Up Films to Korea Prospects of Motion Picture Export Association increasing its distribution in I the South Korean market loomed as an early j possibility following a survey of that teri ritory by Charles Mayer, MPEA's managI ing director for Japan and Korea. Mr. Mayer inspected MPEA offices in Seoul, capital of South Korea, and .made visits to theatres there as well as in Fusan, number two city of the country. Mr. Mayer's report disclosed that in Korea, which had been Jap territory since 1905, and has been given back to the Kori eans, 98 per cent of the theatres which were formerly Jap-owned have been taken over by the U. S. Army Custodian and Korean managers placed in charge. Most of them are inexperienced with many resorting to questionable business practices, he said. In Fusan, managers of eight houses have formed a "society" which demands a lucrative split of the receipts as a condition of their purchase of any motion picture they i exhibit in the theatres. While MPEA is distributing films on a limited basis, Mr. Mayer found in circulation many new and old sound pictures which were smuggled in from Japan as well as antiquated silent films. In an attempt to round up contraband prints belonging to MPEA's member companies, rewards have been offered. The survey revealed that there are 96 theatres in South Korea, many in bad shape, j Of Seoul's 16 houses, no more than half I are in good condition. Despite poor showj man ship, demand for American product is intense. Mandell, Goldhammer Join Eagle-Lion Sales Staff Harry L. Mandell, formerly with the sales department of Warner Brothers, and L. E. Goldhammer, formerly with RKO and Film Classics, have been appointed special sales representatives for Eagle-Lion Films, it was announced this week by A. W. Schwalberg, vice-president and general sales manager. Mr. Goldhammer, who was to join the company November 1, will headquarter in Los Angeles and supervise Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, Denver, Portland, Seattle and San Francisco. Mr. Mandell, who joins the company November 11, will headquarter in Chicago and supervise the exchanges in Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Detroit and Indianapolis. Their first assignments will be "It's a Joke, Son !" starring Kenny Delmar, and "Bedelia," based on the Vera Caspary novel and starring Margaret Lockwood. Paramount Club Installs First Woman President Mrs. Agnes Grew, Paramount purchasing agent, was installed as the. first woman president of the Paramount Pictures Club (formerly the Paramount Pep Club) last Friday night at the organization's annual banquet in the Hotel Astor, New York. Attending were executives and employees of the home office, the New York branch, Paramount News and the film laboratory. California House Burns The American theatre, Chico, California, burned down October 24 with the damage estimated at over $100,000. The fire, of undetermined origin, occurred about 2 A. M. The 1,000-seat house is owned and operated by T. & D. Jr., Enterprises. See Low Booking Cause of Mexico Films 9 Poor Yield by LUIS BECERRA CELIS in Mexico City Insufficient exhibition time for Mexican features and lack of theatres are cited as the prime reason for the scant yield of Mexican pictures by Jose L. Campos, manager of the industry's own bank, Banco Cinematografico. He believes that to make Mexican pictures profitable they must be assured of at least 85 per cent of the playing time as against the 50 per cent they receive now. More and better American and British pictures, Mr. Campos finds, are cutting in heavily on Mexican pictures both in Mexico and in Central and South America. He reports that in many Latin American companies there are not enough theatres for the product offered. As a consequence Mexican product suffers. Many Being Reorganized This is just one evidence of the current reorganization of most local production companies which are attempting to produce higher quality pictures — and so offer stiffer competition — and which, further, seek to eliminate all "foreign adventurers'' in the business. The depression the film industry is experiencing and the numerous reorganizations are alarming industry labor. Clasa Films Mundiales, for example, has asked the Federal Board of Conciliation and Arbitration for authorization to dismiss 22 of its employees. Labor fears that other companies will prune their staffs on a similar scale. Guillermo Carter has replaced Salvador Elizondo as general manager for Clasa. Mr. Elizohdo now heads theArs-Una advertising agency which handles the Clasa account. Plan Cooperative Units The announced reduction in production costs and of production by frontline picture companies has so disconcerted second line figures of the industry that some of them plan to found cooperative production units. These planners believe that their opportunity for this has come with the reorganization for quality pictures that practically all the big companies are undergoing. Clasa Films Mundiales, for example, is to limit its production next year to six pictures. These companies have decided not to take chances on the Mexican or foreign market with pictures about which they have any doubts. They are seeking to avoid having pictures frozen for indefinite periods. They are concentrating on pictures that are sure to pay. This streamlining program, however, is not pleasing to the two big film labor unions — the National Cinematographic Industry Workers, that controls directors and other technicians, and the Picture Production workers, whose members comprise players, scenarists, etc. MOTION PICTURE HERALD, NOVEMBER 2, 1946 37