Variety (November 1954)

PICTURES A Nation’* Metropolis Usually Take* Reviewing of. The Art* Seriously—Hence New York’* Lead Civil Liberties Issue Wednesday,' November 17, 1954 Variety’s roundup, last week of comments and angles on American film critics has provoked a con- iderable reaction. “It proves/' writes one critic, “that most ^re- viewers and most' industry people don’t know what .film criticism is or does.” Did Variety neglect the New York critics, in general? In stressing the peculiar preeminence of the N. Y.. Times and of its by- liner, Bosley Crowther, it was not •pointed, out,., or .up;' that N,. Y. is ■unique in having so many fiistrate critics. Partly this is because New York is New York. Consider the circula- tions. Each N. Y, film critic has an enormous potential audience; Although circulation is not the basis on which Manhattan review- ers’ influence can be rated, viz., the Times and the Herald Tribune; competition for readership and the ' metropolitan flavor of the big town do combine to make publishers ap- preciate criticism. It is perhaps, pertinent that the film critic exists ide-by-side with the legit critics,, some of the latter being scholars di intellectual standing. , This,may rub. off. The same situ- ation is scarcely duplicated on the staffs of other, cities- sheets. It will be recalled that drama critic Richard Watts Jr, of the N. Y. Post. served a long apprenticeship .on the screen.. circuit. Another twist: Al- ton Cook became film critic of the World-Telegram after exporting on radio programs for many years. New York is, in brief, headquar-. ters for nearly all the best criticism published—stage, screen, air, lit- erary^ music. This is natural. The metropolis of any country usually is the centre of the arts—Paris for France, London for Britain, Mexico City for Mexico, and so on, al- though Milan rather than Rome is the theatre and music (but not-the film) nerve centre of Italy. Heavyduty Highbrowing A certain amount of heaVyduty highbrowing on the arts finds out- let in the univefsity-sponsored quarterlies around the country, quarterlies around the country. Films are given the “eineplastic analysis test and measured by oth- er criteria largely unintelligible to mere filmmakers and totally, but totally, unrelated to the boxoffiqe. But back to the New York film critics. First of all, the full list of principals on each sheet: Kate Cameron, News, Alton Cook, .World-Tele-Sun Jane. COrby, B’klyn Eagle. Bosley Crowther, Times Otis Guernsey Jr., Herald Tribune Rose Pelswick, Journal American Frank Quinn, Mirror Archer Winsten; Post All of these writers have con- siderable experience and status. No other American city has such a roster On film criticism. But the dailies are only part of the corps of reviewers of the cinema in the big burg. Other important'names, in the film companies’ books, are magazine connected. Arthur Knight of the. Saturday Review, John Mc- Carten of the New. Yorker, Florence Somers of Redbook, Ed Miller , of Seventeen, John Morris of Ladies Home: Journal, Tom Pri- cleaux of Life. Jess Zunser of Cue. and Mrs. Jess' Bader of the Chris- tian Herald, have standing. REACHES CHI JUDGE Hoffman last Week when, he denied motions made by two of the de dendants. Suit' was filed by James Jqvan, owner of the Monroe The.* atre, against Balaban & Katz, Warner Bros,', Paramount, Univjpr- sril, United Artists, Columbia, and RKO. Chicago, Nov. 16. A suit for damages, which has been oh Federal District Court in Minneapolis, Nov. 16. Federal judge G. H. Nordbye has granted the Minnesota branch of the American Civil Liberties Union’s petition to appear as “a friend of the court’- intervener on the ‘‘free speech” issue involved in Columbia Pictures’ application for a temporary injunction to re- strain North . Central Allied’s pick- eting of the company’s film ex- change here. The Union, voluntary non- profit unincorporated association erties’ protection, alleges 22-page brief, which the court ac- cepted, that the restraining order, if granted,, “would be a substantial infringement of the defendant’s civil rights.” Taking up the cudgels for the Minneapolis, Nov. 16, North Central Allied’s current bulletin includes the usual “our wn reviewing stand” section with its unique one sentence or less appraisals of current releases: ■ ,. "Suddenly” OJA) ybuTl decide you are not very bright when you count the receipts on this one.” "Black Night” (Col) indeed! That is just what you will have.” "Beau Brummel” (MGM) died in the 17th century; still dying.” "Vanishing Prairie” (Disney) is the story of the vanishing dollar; It is doing 30% less than “Living Desert,” arid you know what they wanted for "Desert” and how you came out.” independent exhibitors’ orgamza- ..... . , . *1 * i' lion, Lee Loevenger and G. E. Jovan s: case is that he had asked j ^ a g ntlS0 p t the Union’s counsel, make clear in their brief that the Union is not concerned as to whether there is in fact an unlaw- ful Allied conspiracy or boycott, as alleged by Columbia arid denied by Allied Its concern, they state, is simply civil rights which they : claim the injunction would violate. > Allied. employed pickets to march in front of the Columbia exchange carrying banners de- nouncing the company as “unfair to independent exhibitors.’* This was in protest against the terms demanded for “The Caine Mutiny.” for fii*st runs in 1947, and only by the following May was permitted to bid by Loew’s. A few. months later, 20th-Fox offered firstr.un pix to the house, hut. Jovan claims damages from the other majors for hampering the theatre’s effective- ness by limiting, its supply of fresh product. Paramount subsequently mo- tioned: for summary judgment on the grounds it had sold its pix to B&K which it. Owned during that period arid which actively was; legal at. the time. B&K motioned to be dismissed, from the case on the basis that it had entered into an agreement with the Monroe in 1947 whereby the house was moved up from second “B” week to first B.” Judge Hoffman nixed both motions and will hear the case in a few weeks. Sez Mrs. Dawson BISHOP OF Albany, Nov.. 1(5. A powerful figure in the Na- tional Legion of Decency and in all Catholic questi ' volving motion pictures, became seventh bishop of. tli Albany Catholic Diocese last week! He is the Most Rev. William A. Scully, previously coadjutor bishop. His predecessor, the Most Hey. Edmund F! Gibbons, is retiring at the age of $6. Bishop .Scully has been chairman of the. motion picture committee of the Catholic bishops in the United States, and as such, is intimately acquainted.with the film field. He numbers influential friends within the industry. His bishopric includes 300,000 Catholics... Albany, Noy. 16. In a speech here Mrs. Marjorie Dawson, of the Motion Picture Pro- ducers Assn., checked off these points: The Hollywood production code reflects American ideas, ideals and attitudes. It renders: censorship unnecessary. Since the adoption, of the code no state has adopted new censor- ship laws. Foreign producers claims of “dis-. crimination” against their product was nonsense and U. S. distribs do not fear, such' competition. Ameri- can audiences are, simply riot al- ways “educated up to” foreign 5 themes and emphases. We are a people addicted to happy endings; Europeans are not. Horatio Alger sagas are popular with Americans because they be- lieve that* 'big dreams can come true, but these sucess stories on the screen often strike Italians and Frenchmen as sheerest fantasy. The United States has a perver- sive “Puritan” influence. Mrs. Dawson buried verbal har- poons at Lloyd Binford, Memphis’ 88-year-old. censor, and at the.Bos- ton ; “Sunday Show” board. She rapped states which climb the “gravy.” trai ,. via film censorship —a considerable source of reve- nue to them. A detailed consideration of re- cent.film censorship caSes taken id | the U. S. Supreme CouftyT-^Gurly,” “Pinky,” “The. Miracle,” “M” and “La Ronde”—brought from. Mrs. Dawson the Statement that three grounds: for denial. of license had been “knocked out,” Only “licen- tious, obscene and inddeent” are left; police laws can cope with them,, Her reviewing board, on which 13 oi ganizatioris, including repre- sentatives of three major ' faiths, are represented, functions with great harmony. The Catholic rep rCSentatiVes—Mrs. Dawson called Mrs. James F. Looram, of the In- ternational Federation of Catholic Alumnae, a “delightful, person”— haye gone along except where “I suppose you would call it a Church rule or dogma” interposed. ; Mrs. Dawson expressed no criti- cism of this; thought that members of every faith have a right and a duty to withhold patronage from pictures they do not like or think offensive. St. Paul Critic Chides Frank for Retaliation Minneapolis, Nov. 16. St! Paul Pioneer Press-Dispatch film editor-critic ! Bill Diehl has taken umbrage at a statement made for . publication by local cir- cuit owner and Hollywood pro- ducer W. R. Frank that the critic’s employer “spanked” and “repudi- ated” Diehl for panning Frank’s current release; "Sitting Bulk” . The "spanking” and “repudia- tion” occurred, in Frank’s opinion, when the Dispatch published in. its news columns a letter from Frank assailing Diehl arid refuting the bad things he had said about the picture.' Diehl now lights out against the producer and the film again and deriies that his newspapers have taken him to task.. “My bottom ‘ain’t*, warm at all and at no time has any of my edi- tors altered a word of any review under my byline,” wrote the critic, adding: . "I have watched With in- terest the picture’s reception by other reviewers and I’ve heard ex- hibitors’ comments on it. . I can understand, charitably, Frank’s at- tempt to protect an lnvestrrient even to the* extent of teeing off on critics, but the continuing flow of opinion on the film further sad- dens me when I reflect that What others are echoing caused, my hon- esty and fairness to be attacked by jFrank.” GOOD TASTE, GOOD BIZ CAN KEEP COMPANY / New York. Editor, Variety: Your roundup on film critics last issue reihinds this exhibitor of Mark Twain’s comment on the weather: everybody talks about it, but nobody does anything about" it! Certainly the critic isn’t some- one you can either predict or change. He reacts according to his own personality, taste, prejudices, knowledge,. experience and some- times; emotions. But how else could it be, assuming that all critics are people just like the rest, of us.. /Perhaps the most important funo- tion of the critic is not only that he evaluates, but that he serves is an elixir in-helping the public to understand and appreciate the finer. points of a film in its com tent and treatment. ... This is prob- ably why the critic is so effective in attracting audiences: to art films, some of which need mere than sub: titles to be intelligible! As in the other arts, music, the- atre and literature, the film qritic makes for . more appreciative audience, By the same token, the public, not the industry, judges the critic.. How often can he go wrong? How often cbn he love a picture the public hates—or vice versa? If Variety were to keep a box- score it would probably indicate that the ratio between hits and raves - ’ Very close indeed, al- though discrepancies do exist* and probably aljyays will. It does not follow, however, that good taste precludes good business; nor that good business implies poor re- views. More often than not, the reverse is true. Lillian Gerard (Vice Pres.* Paris Theatre). Allied Leader Sees Time Not Ripe Yet For Union Of Exhibitor Bodies „ Minneapolis, NoV. 16. Back from Europe, Bennie Berger, North Central Allied: presi- dent, lost no time replying to Wal- ter Heade Jr., TQA officer, who in effect rebuked him for failing to use influence as Allied States director to bring about merger of two organizations so that better united front could be effected. If anything, charged R^ade at exhibi- tor meeting in Minneapolis, Berger has worked in opposite direction. In his reply, Berger said he doesn’t think present time is ripe for such an Allied-TQA merger, but he hopes for it eventually. He realizes that in ion there is strength. “But, prior to combin- ing,” Berger stated, "there must be removal of certain present Ob- stacles* Allied must be assured here’ll. be a proper setup and program for all exhibitors and TOA must back away from the policy! of not helping little fel- lows.” Monaco Continued from page 7 Minneapolis, Nov. 16. In a brief filed in Federal Dis- trict Court at Minneapolis, S; D. Kane, North Central Allied execu- tive counsel, argued that Allied is legally empowered to picket local Columbia film .exchange because of company’s allegedly excessive “Caine Mutiny” terms.. Contesting company's application for tempo- rary restraining order, Kane cofi- 91 Continued from page 4 the process of forming multi- million dollar film financing com- pany. The National Bank of Bos- ton, which has been active in film financing, has been appointed to act as depository for the TOA group. According to Sam Pinan- ski, who heads a five-mart board of trustees, incorporation papers for the financing company will be completed shortly. This will be followed by a meeting of the trus- tees* TOA officers, and other inter- ested exhibitors to outline future y.‘ p j£ llclty , offlce * or l tended U. S. Constitution’s free speech provision confers upon his organization right to inform inde- pendent exhibitors via picketing re- garding Columbia’s attitude toward them. He denied . Columbia's charge of conspiracy ip violation o anti-trust law. Allied ernployed pickets, who marched for three days In front of Colurnbia exchange, carrying ban- ners accusing company. When Go-, lumbia's suit was filed,. Allied with- drew pickets voluntarily and agreed not to resume picketing un- til after court’s decision. David Sheerer, Columbia, coun- sel, argued that picketing consti- tuted an illegal effort to. injure company, no labor dispute being involved. No group- is privileged to picket a business concern be- cause it objects to latter’s, selling prices. Whether or not Columbia appli- cation for temporary injunction is granted by Judge G. H. Nordbye, case will go to trial to determine if permanent injunction should be issued. thei~ industry. These plans even- tually fell through, primarily be- cause it was felt <by Flaud and his colleagues' that insufficient funds Were available for such an under- taking. The French are getting $375,000 from* the Motion Picture Export Assn, over a two-year pe- riod. However, the coin has al- ready been allocated. Opinion /in N!Y. this week was that the Italo-French. move re IFE wasn’t altogether surprising due to the close working cooperation that exists between those two indus- tries. it was felt, however* that— if the arrangement works but sat- isfactorily—IFE may well consti- tute the nucleus of a much more ambitious undertaking, with the : Germans and possibly some British producers joining in. The Germans have been talking some time in terms of “united ac- tion” in the U.S, market which they have been. unable to crack to any considerable extent far. Only move so far has been a local one, with Muriio Podhorzer setting up his United German Film Enter- prises to push the German indus- try and negotiate deals for Ger- man producers. IFE, which has been struggling in the red due to a poor run of product so far this year, is picking | year, but hasn’t been able to pick up considerably and expects great | up anything to suit its sked. Foreign governments. as well as film men abroad* are ready to con- tribute partial financing on co- production arrangements. Both sources have been willing to ! pro- vide all below-the-line costs in re- turn for Eastern hemisphere rights to- the films. Picture men in Eng- land, France, Italy' and Spain con- tinue to make overtures to U, S. producers; The governments of Israel, Portugal, Turkey and Yugo- slavia also want to talk deals. Major studio wooing of “hot” independent production packages is taking on a competitive angle. Warner Bros, yesterday (Tues.) made its pitch on the .heels of Columbia’s announcement of a $10,000,000 pool arid technical aid. In a statement issued by Jack L. Warner, v.p. and executive producer, WB reaffirmed its “open door” policy to talent and ideas arid claimed that the company is “now financing an industry record number of independent produc- tions, has many special deals progress, and stands ready at any tirne to give careful consideration to others.” ' ' Warner said that the financing of indies is nothing new to WB, and that at present the company has 21 top-budget independent pictures completed* in production# or in preparation: things from its two . current re-, leases, “Aida” and “Bread, Love arid Dreams.” The outfit is. angling for four or five indie U.S. pix a Lectures Continued from, page 4 participate later in a q. and a. forum. Audience reaction to the SDG’s attempt to provide a “dif- ferent slant on Hollywood” has been excellent, he feels, for queries from the floor have been, intelliy gent and interest keen, “Moreover,” Mamoulian noted, “there's an. extra, advantage in speaking before' university groups for students come from all parts of the U.S. and a number of for- eign countries. Thus, when they return home we gain from word of mouth in their own communities.”