Variety (November 1954)

Wednesday, November 17, 1,954 PICTURES 7 NIPPONESE FILMS’ BIG NIP-UP This Year’s Best Bets Defied Prophets—‘Hulot’ (French) and ‘Happiness’ (Swedish) Standout Foreign film biz in the U. S-, always a hit-or-miss-proposition, this year has taken on even more puzzling aspects. Out. of generally mediocre field, two dark horse foreign lingualers are emerging as the best bets of 1954: The French “Mr. Hulot’s Holiday'’ and the Swedish “One Summer of Happi- ness.” Neither had Outstanding, critical reception, and “Happi- ness' hasn’t eVen had a N; Y. preem. “Hulot,” starring the French comic Tati, is a surprise winner if ever there was one. When ; it was first shown abound, nd one would touch it. Foreign Comedies, with the exception of the British, have/i’t been b.o, in the U. S. and the “Hulot” type of ' slapstick in particular- seemed a poor bet. It now looks as if the film should be good for'* distrib take of. around $250,000. “One Summer of Happiness,” handled by Times Films, had troubles, with the N. Y. censor at the. stark-—it's now been passed—: and -opened out-of-town in what, hot so long ago, would have been considered a cardinal violation of the rule book. It’s had a wide playoff, including many circuit bookings, according to William (Continued on page 28) STUDIO WANTS $4,000 OF ACTRESS' WAGES Los Angeles, Nov. 16. Columbia Pictures, filed an at- tachment proceeding for $4,000 against Evelyn Keyes, claiming that amount is due under terms of a contract signed in 1950, Plaintiff claims that under the exclusive pact Miss Keyes was to pay the studio 25% of her earn- ings if she worked on any other lot. Complaint adds that . she collected $16,000 from Bon-Xir Pictures, Inc., in 1951 and refused to pay $4,000. Judge Won't-Dismiss Drive-In Renege Case A N, J. judge last week refused to giant a defendants’ motion to dismiss in a suit brought by Walter Reade Jr. against Eastern Drive-In Theatres and William A. Scully , Monroe E. Stei and James J. Thompson and their wives. The defendants had cited the "statute of frauds” iri arguing for dismissal of the action. Ordering trial, Judge John Drewen observed he could hot allow the statute to be^ used to cover up a possible fraud. The Reade complaint stated that Scully, Stein and Thompson had promised to sell him six N. J; drive-ins and that, following some written commitments, they had re r neged on the deal. Furthermore, he charged, promise of the deal had been used to get him to grant certain concessions to the defend- ants. The judge said he had studied .the pleadings, affidavits arid briefs and that the Controversy didn’t end with the, application of the statute of frauds which requires the con- tract to be put on paper. “There are allegations of fraudulent in- ducement in the reply which, if true, and were the court to do no more about them than the'defend- ants Would have it do, would show that the statute of frauds has here been made the means of defend- ants' acquiring wrongful and po- tent advantage,” he stated. Hollywood, Nov. 16. Production activity will be resumed on the Republic lot the day after Thanksgiving with a pro- gram of five features set to start. At present the company’s only pic- ture in action is “Magic Fire” in Germany." Oppose Compulsion Hollywood, Nov. 16. . Members of-the Screen Ex- tras Guild have been asked by its executive board to vote against compulsory attendance at Guild meetings. A special committee recently recom- mended, fines for absentees. “Experience with such pen- alties in other unions,” the board said; “shows that many members recent such compul- sion. We do not believe that fining members for non-attend- ance at meetings ds in keep- ing with the democratic prin- ^ ciples on which the Guild Was ' founded.” Keeps Up Tests Of New Methods Nobody is Willing to lay any bets on this, but the industry’s technical brains are convinced that the next technological step forward in the film industry will be the adoption of wide-gauge, negative for all or most of the top pix. At the same time, they’re con- vinced that CihemaScope is here to stay, mostly because it is still a good deal cheaper than any proc- ess involving wide area film. It does not, however, provide the same, sharpness and definition, The experts who have seen print samples of the Todd-AO system with its 65m film are impressed With the clarity and the- great sharpness of the “Oklahoma” images. Latter compare with the definition of Paramount’s Vista- Vision system which uses regular 35m film but exposes a negative area two and a half times the nor- mal frame size. Many of the studios are experi- menting. with either wide-gauge film or else with systems pointing in the direction of VistaVisidn,. Latter either reduces the wide image into a standard 35m frame or else can be projected horizon- tally from the expanded^ framed 2dth-Fox has acknowledged It is working With an improvement on. the old Grandeur Wide-guage sys- tem. Metro also is working with wide-gauge film. Question is .being asked what Todd-AOi for one, will do to Ciner- ama which requires three synchro- nized projectors to give the full image. Those, who have seen sam- ples of the Todd-AOed “Oklahoma” say it’s as good as. Cinerama and, with the proper optical adjust- ments, could also be presented on a. curved screen. Advantage, of course, is two-fold: 1. It requires only a single projector. 2. Stand- ard prints in any dimension can be reduced from the original nega- tive without any difficulties. Observers see every indication that, with the emergence of the wide-gauge systems, a new type Of roadshow biz:' will emerge, accent- ing size as well as content. They say this makes sense since only a comparatively limited number of houses are capable of Installing screens wide enough to make this aspect still a special attraction. Technical experts at the film companies feel that the period of industry advancement at the op- tical technological levels is far: from oveir. Wide-area negative processes still require a good deal of improvement and so do contin-. gent area of color, sound and pro- jection. A “continuous” projector, pulling down the 1 film at a steady rate rather than with a frame-by- frame movement, is being experi- mented with. Aftd new lenses are in the offing. Ij lilt I UlUl Yankee film execs are shaking their heads in wonder at the way the Japanese picture industry has projected itself into prominence within a relatively short time. Al- though the Nippon state has had very few features to warrant play- ing time in U, S, theatres, the Japs have copped wide attention on the press and public relations front. Their ultimate aim, of course, is to slant at least a small part of future production for worldwide marketing; the present promotional buildup is figured to pay off via making the western world more conscious of, and re- ceptive to, the product turnout in general; First reactions to “art” films from Tokyo were favorable a year back. Then during the past sum- mer Japanese features, and three Japanese femme stars, very nearly stole the whole show at the Venice Film Festival at the Lido in Italy, Eyebrows went up. Two weeks ago, Time mag did a piece In its business columns on Jap picture-making. Current issue. of Life does the subject up big with a six-rpage report, four of- the pages in color. Life's coverage, centers ob three films produced by Masalchi Nagata, head of Daiei Studios, Tokyo. These are “Ugetsu,” which recently opened in N. Y., and “Hell’s GateV and “Golden Demon,” Life‘sees significance in the Jap product to the extent that it will have “a profound "effect on the technique of Hollywood producers, who will find much to learn and to follow In the Japanese films’ un- surpassed use of color' and their clear, delicately composed pic- torial images.” In the past few months a number of Jap industry reps, including Nagata and execs linked With Shochiku CO., which Is the largest pie'eriterprise in Japan, have been in the U. S. studying Hollywood techniques. They’re on the prowl for clues on how to broaden the appeal of their pix without actu- ally aping Hollywood’s filmmakers. Japan is drawing closer in other respects.. While on a recent Far East swing, Arthur B. Krim, president 'Of United- Artists, and Arnold Picker, that company's foreign department v.p., set up machinery for coproduction: deals involving Nippon interests and American indie producers. As a followup, Anatole Litvak is now set to make a film on location in the Far East. This is to be part of a new arrangement which Litvak has with UA, under which he’s to make three pix in all for distribu- tion by that company. He’ll start on the trio after finishing “The Deep Blue Sea,” for 20th-Fox. In a second tieup, invloving Jap- anese government cooperation, Co- lumbia producer Fred Kohlmar, writer-director Richard . Murphy and cameraman Burnett Guffey wing over the Pacific the first week of December to begin shooting of “The Gentle Wolfhound.” Lensing will be in and around Osaka. The .story, based on a New Yorker article by E. J. Kahn Jr., concerns a Yank army sergeant Who at first hates the Japanese and later has a change of heart, begins to take care of orphaned children and marries a Jap girl. Steinberg Cops a Ph.D. It’s Dr. Charles S. Steinberg now, making the Warner Bros, as- sistant eastern publicity director probably: the only film publicist to carry the imposing title, Stein Derg nabbed a Ph.D. degree this week at NYU, winning his doctor of philosophy card for a study of communications media, Steinberg’s also a Phi Beta Kappa and Summa Cum Laude graduate. Before becoiqing a pic- ture ballyhoollgan some 10 years, ago, he taught English at second- ary schools and colleges. DaIa<ii»a a( CvaiiaIi DvAlllinfr Fun Sans Films . Los Angeles, NoV. 16. Film theatres in this town didn’t get any fun’ out of the front page box titled “Week- End Fund Guide” in Satur- day’s (L.A.) Mirror. It listed night clubs, television and other sources of fun but en- tirely overlooked its most im- portant amusement advertiser —motion pictures. Film house Operators demanding future recognition. Thurman Arnold last Week ex- pressed the. view that Government antitrust suits should carry indict- ments on criminal charges, that the corporations and Individual officers involved should be tried by a jury and that the individuals should be subject to jail sentences if found guilty. Arnold, who repped the Ameri- can Theatres Assn, (now Theatre Owners of America) in the indus- try trust suit, said this approach would have the effect of discourag- ing violations of the antitrust stat- utes, He brushed off as invalid the frequently-heard argument tljjat defendants in trust Cases .were un- aware they were violating the law by their business practices. Arnold was among the partici- pants in ah open meeting on anti- trust sponsored by the Federal Bar Assn, of N. • Y., New Jersey and Connecticut. • Possibility of a truly internation- al releasing outfit, handling pix from three or four nations, Was en- visioned by observers in N.Y. this Week following disclosure in Rome by Eitel Monaco, italo industry head, that Italian Films Export would in the future accept French as well as Italian films for release. Monaco statement, which fol- lowed a Paris powwow with Jacques Flaud, head of the Centre National de Cinematographies took foreign film circles in N.Y. by sur- prise. IFE execs said they were completely unaware that such a move had. been planned; (In Paris, both Flaud and Lou- rau were ■ noncommital re the Monaco disclosure: In Rome it Was confirmed that. IFE bylaujs had been changed to allow the distribution of French pix. IFE topper' Renato Gaiilin ' ‘ due in the. U. S. next Week, presum- ably to set details:) John G. McCarthy, the U.S, rep for George Lourau, the leading French producer, indicated that lie had had no word at all from his Paris office re the IFE integration. Some months back, consideration was given to an IFE release of some of the Lourau pix, specifical- ly “Wages, of Fear.” However, it's understood the proposition was eventually nixed by . Lourau. Monaco’s Denial When Monaco was in the U.S, two months ago, the : question of a possible release, of French pix by IFE was put to him and he denied any. such plans were afoot. He ex- plained at the time that IFE was in . a position to take on only Italo- French coproductions. Earlier in the year, the French were considering the opening up (Continued on page 26) ‘MOBY DICK’ LOCATION NEEDS WARM WATER LIGHTMAN MOVES FOR A1. Lichtman, 20th-Fox director Of distribution and member of tne governing board .of the Council of . Motion Picture Organizations,, told a N.Y. meeting of COMPO leaders: Monday (15) he’d talk to film com- pany presidents in an effort to set up an industry huddle on trade problems, including exhibitor-dis- tributor Relations. Exhibitors, dis- tribs and producers will sit in if it goes through. Lichtman said he’d do this on his own, meaning it’s not to be construed as a COMPO project.-' Allied Artists First New AMPP Member Since 1941 Hollywood, Nov. 16. Allied Artists resigned from, the Independent Motion Picture Pro- ducers Assn, and became a member of. the Assn, of Motion Picture Producers the Hollywood branch of the. MPAA. Steve Broidy, A A prexy, resignned as head of the independent group and Was ■ suc- ceeded by Edward Finney, former IMPPA secretary. Explaining his resignation from the indie group, Broidy said: “Al- lied Artists hak embarked on a pro- gram of expansion production-wise, which is in direct contrast to what it has formerly undertaken. In line with this development we have found it advisable to.aply for mem- bership in the other body.” Allied Artists is the first com- pany admitted into AMPP Since Republic in 1941. Seven other members are Columbia, LoeW’s, Paramount, RKO, 20th-Fox, Uni-, versa! and Warners. New IMRPA officers, In addition to Finney, are; Lindsley Parsons, John Champion and Jack Broder, veepees; William F. Broidy, treas- urer; John Burrows, assistant treasurer. London, Nov. 16. At the completion of studio work here, John Huston will move his “Moby Dick” cast and crew to South Africa for two' weeks of concentrated location shooting. The additional outdoor footage is nec- essary because Of the delays caused earlier by bad weather in Ireland and Wales, Originally it had been intended tp move the unit to Madeira for the final fortnight’s location, but the action calls for several members of the cast to be in, the Ocean for long periods. There Was some doubt that the Waters around Ma- deira would be warm enough at this time of the year. The added location work-" has upped the budget of Moulin pro- duction for Warner Bros, release an extra $1,000,000, making the total cost of the picture $4,000,000. United Artists Extends With Italy’s D.E.A.R. United Artists releases Will con- tinue to be distributed in Italy by D.E.A.R. Films under a long-term 'extension of a pact negotiated in Rome over the past weekend, by Arnold M. Picker, UA’s foreign, chief. Italian organization was repped by Angelo Rissoli and Rob- ert Haggiag. Latter two execs have been financially interested in indie pix lensed in Europe for UA.. ‘Toko-Ri’ Into Music Hall “Bridges of Toko-Ri,” starring William Holden, Grace Kelly and Fredric March, has been booked* for N.Y.’s Radio City Music Hall. It follows Metro’s “Deep in My Heart 0 which goes in after the current “White Christmas.” “Bridges” will be the first Par pic from the William Perlberg- George Seaton production unit to [ play the king-sized house.