Variety (December 1954)

Werinreday, December 15, 1954 PICTURES 21 MEXICO’S GLOBAL SALES PUSH Amusement Stock Quotations (H.Y. Stock Exchange) For Week Ending Tuesday (14) 80 FEATURESFROM Stocks Display Stamina (III PRnniinr RR As Street Sells Off Generally Over-the-Counter Securities Chesapeake Industries • Cinerama Inc Official Films Skiatron (Quotations furnished by Dreyfus A Co.t * Actual volume. Kazan: Studios Still In Rut copped an Academy award—and ‘‘Pinky," among others. ‘Lost Audience “If a picture has something to gay, and says it well, then the in- dustry c^n stop wondering about the ‘lost audience/" Kazan re- ported. “That audience isn’t lost, it's just waiting. “A few' years la^er ‘The Iron Hon se’ broke the western tradition and a lot of attendance records. ‘Horse’ dared to make human be- ings of the automatons the western stars had been. Since that time, with a few rare exceptions—possi- bly ‘High Noon* and ‘Shane’—the western continues to revert to type. And any exhibitor will tell you which westerns do the best: those that stand for something or those that stand for nothing. “Warner Bros, had the courage to make ‘Public Enemy’ and the imitators leapt in. ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ showed that men, live human beings, also are soldiers. ‘Home of the Brave’ dem- onstrated that some of these hu- man being soldiers were even colored. “Let some producer make ‘Grapes of Wrath’ today, making it as well as did John Ford, and see if his releasing company isn’t in the embarrassing position of having a smash on its hands. ‘Bigger and Better’ “Leaders of the industry are al- ways making speeches about big- ger and better pictures. Sure, a lot of bigger and better pictures «re done by some talented w'riters, producers and directors in Holly- wood. but for the most part bigger means wider screen and better tneans improved projection or hot- ter popcorn. ‘Tve got nothing against Cine- mascope or any of the other wide- screen processes. Just to indulge in a platitude, it still isn’t how you Put it on the screen, but what you P 0 * on the screen that counts. Audiences don’t have a 12-year- 0(1 mass mind. Look at the suc- cess of ‘Hamlet’ and ‘Henry V.’ Audiences have minds just like writers, producers, directors and setors and they respond to quality Just as readily. Let our talented Continued from page 3 ——. vard—and people in the industry hit some- thing more than the Pump Room in Chicago or 21 in New York and ... „ . they’ll learn a lot more about the .'thing to , ma J ss mind . “John Huston, William Wyler, \azan re- George Stevens and the other tal- isn’t lost ented creators of Hollywood touch ’ the people. They don’t look down T on them. They’re willing to do . 6 j V-° n things different. To try. To i tradition create ?. luman^be- Speaking of “Waterfront,” le western Kazan declared, “Sure, this picture that timp was set against the background of ins poss iI the docks. But Terry Malloy could liane* the ^ ave 136011 a salesman, farmer, car- revert to P enter » studio grip or prop man. will tell He was a universal character and the best- that s w hy audiences respond to nettling or o im * hing. “Marlon (Brando) is great, but so ie rouraee is Buddy’s (Schulbergi story and ’ and the that ’ s the reason why audiences Quiet on are happy to see this picture that that almost every major studio rejected • ai«n arp a * one t* me or another. ‘Too dif- rave’ dem- ferent *’ the y said - The P roof is in these hu- the S^es." vere even Kazan’s future plans in the in- dustry appear indefinite at this pr make time ’ although he has single- v making picture commitments with both FerH and 20th-Fox and Warners. He returns nanv isn’t to N Y ‘ lo slart P re PP in * for a 2 nn February staging of Tennessee osit on ot wiUiams . «. Cat on the Roof ” Hollywood, Dec. 14. Mexican film producers, backed by their government, have organ- izezed Cimex, something like Holly- wood MPAA, aimed at improving the quality of their pictures and invading the world market. This was disclosed by Alfonso Pulido Islas, whose job is similar to that of Eric Johnston, on a visit here to promote the expansion of Span- ish-language films in this territory. Of the 90 Mexican producers, Islas said, 55 are members of Cimex—short for Cinematografica Mexicana. Mexico, he added is turning out between 90 and 100 features a year out the Cimex idea is to reduce the number to 80 and improve the quality in order to compete with films of other na- tions. Producers will be financed by Banco Nacional, the govern- ment’s motion picture bank. Mexican Distrib Setup Takeover of Azteca, Uie Mexican film distributing outfit, by Cimex, the Mexican producer cooperative, has observers in N. Y. wandering about the future of Clasa-Mohme, the other distributor of Mexican product in the U. S., which is seen having to fight for top films. Cimex, which has been joined by more than half of Mexico’s 90 pro- ducers, acquired Azteca in a deal reported to run to about $2,000,- 000. According to Alberto Zaca- rias, Cimex U. S. rep, in N. Y. last week, Azteca will have a call on between 80 and 90 of the pix turned out annually in Mexico. This w'ould leave only 10 for Clasa- Mohme which, however, is said to be interested in entering Mexican production. According to Max Ehrenreich, Clasa-Mohme general sales man- ager in N. Y., his outfit isn’t wor- ried. “We finance films in Mexico now through advances to pro- ducers,’’ he said. “We handle about 52 pictures a year, includ- ing Argentine and Spanish pro- ductions. We’ll get pictures. I’m not at all worried." It’s understood that Cime^, which is government-supported and works on a non-profit basis, has already expanded into the world market by buying out Peliculas Mexicanas, a Southamerican distri- bution channel extending also to Europe. Purpose of the Cimex combination is to improve Mexican films and push their global circula- tion. There may be expansion, too, in the U. S. where Aztec has spent $15,000 on new quarters. The en- tire Aztec personnel has been taken over by Cimex. Ruben Cal- deron is staying on as general man- ager. Eastern U. S. sales are han- dled by Egon .Klein and Arturo Sanchez. According to Zacarias, Azteca under its new management will seek to expand U. S. outlets for Mexican releases. Some may be dubbed. Total of some 500 to 600 houses now are playing Mexican pix on a full or parttime basis. About 25% of Azteca’s income comes from Spanish-language houses in the N. Y. area. Azteca’s annual biz is put at between $3,000,000 and $4,000,000 a year. Protestant Version National Legion of Decency has taken mild objection to “Day of Triumph.” indie re- ligioso film distributed by George J. Schaefer. Catholic reviewing group classifies the pic as “morally unobjectionable for adults" but adds this comment: “This film, a representation (in part fictional) of a period in the life of Christ, is based upon a modern interpretation of a Protestant version of the New Testament. While presented in a reverent and inspirational manner, it edntains variances from and omissions of Scrip- tural and theological truth." Rhoden, in Reactivated Circuit House Organ, Warns of Other Media Hollywood, Dec. 14. Elmer C. Rhoden, head of Na- tional Theatres, lays stress on the vital functions of theatre man- agers in the current issue of the circuit’s publication. National The- atres Showman, which has been re- activated after a hiatus of six years. “Today,” the president writes “the motion picture business is ex- periencing competitive forces far greater than at any time in the past. To get our fair share of the amusement dollar we must do a better selling job.” Pointing out that $500,000 is being allocated for research in advertising and pro- motion, he adds, “I feel the re- search projects that come to our attention must originate with the theatre manager. He in turn should talk to the district manager and the two of them should decide on detailed plans. Then the proposed project should be submitted to this office and the money will be fur- nished to find out if your new idea is practical and will get results.” Next year, he predicted, NT will be in a position to expand, either by buying or building theatres on the west coast and other areas where populations are increasing rapidly. Metro Prints Continued from pace 5 ft. of the 2,800.000 is allocated to rushes, negatives, etc. Even though the processing equipment is built on the M-G lot, there is no indication that the cost of the color C’Scope prints made at the studio is any lower than it would be, were the work to be handled by an outside lab. It’s still figured that the prints cost M-G around 6%c. to 7c. per foot. Since the Eastman color stock has to go through 22 baths, and the rawstock price is the same for everyone, both items are fixed. Only hope to bring costs down is when Eastman reduces the price of the rawstock. Vet WB New England Field Man Art Moger discourse* humorously ou how ‘A Scar Is Born 9 • * * « bright byline piece in the forthcoming 49th Anniversary Number of ISAKltfY OCT SOON ‘U.S. Rule’ Continued from page 7 ness with no authority over his sell- ing price." Hanson wrote: “We have sin- cerely tried over a period of fhree and a half years to present our case to the Department of Justice; the Federal Trade Commission, and the Senate Select Committee on &mall Business. We had great hope that the Senate Select Com- mittee on Small Business and the Congress, which are the representa- tives of all the people, would gen- erate sufficient pressure to create action by the Department of Jus- tice through which we could obtain relief from conditions which are Un-American and illegal." Vogue, Bronx, Antitrusts Eight principal distributors. Na- tional Theatres, Skouras Theatres and Metropolitan Playhouse were slapped with a $1,800,000 antitrust suit in N. Y. Federal Court yes- terday (Tues.). Plaintiffs are the present and predecessor operators of the Vogue Theatre, Bronx, N. Y., who allege a conspiracy depriving them of an equitable crack at product. Hoff Again Omaha Barker Omaha. J. Robert Hoff was reelected chief barker of the Omaha Vari- ety Club. Others named are Max Rosenblatt, first assistant barker. Don Hammond, second assistant barker, Walter Creal, property master and Henry McGrath, doughguy. * By MIKE WEAR Surprising strength in the amuse- ment group In the face of dwin- dling prices and irregularity marked trading in Wall Street last week. In fact, the stability ot motion picture shares was out- standing as numerous stocks sold off. This stamina enabled four film company issues to hit new highs while 11 of the amusement shares displayed plus signs and eight showed losses. Two were un- changed. The irregularity was as expected after such a sharp climb by the stock market since the No- vember elections plus the custom- ary selling to grab profits or show losses in December for tax pur- poses. Both Republic common and pre- ferred were run up to new peaks on news that the company was of- fering more recent product for use on television. And that this was expected to add millions to the company’s net profits. Common stock’s new 1954 high was $7. with the stock showing a gain of 1% at the closing price of 6Vi. The pre- ferred went into new high ground at 1494 for a net gain of 75c oil the week. Technicolor also was taken in hand and whirled upwards in lata Thursday as well as Friday trad- ing, to register a new high quota- tion of 16% and an advance of ona point for the week. It was gen- erally expected Thursday after- noon that a 10c extra would be de- clared, and publication of this ex- tra melon cutting plus the usual 25c quarterly prompted the ad- vance. Techni was “all over the tape” Friday morning in large blocks. Tips that its earnings were greatly improved, and that they might be better in 1955 may bring further demand for the shares this month. The 16*4 price is equal to 32% on the old stock before the two-for-one split about a year ago. RKO Theatres’ New High RKO Theatres was the fourth to hang up a fresh ’54 high, edging to 9% for a 25c gain on the week. Stanley Warner (unchanged on the week), National Theatres (no change) and ABC-Paramount The- atres also stayed near their best prices of the year to make a very strong film theatre group. Last- named wound up at 2314, only an eighth away from the best 1954 quotation. Aside from 20th-Fox and Uni- versal, both of which were down better than a point," film issues were mostly off minor fractions or ahead in like degree. Columbia Pictures was an exception being ahead one point to 32%. In the ease of U and 20th-Fox, it ap- peared to be a matter of traders taking their profits. Zenith led the radio-tv group with an advance of two points to 92%. This compares with the ’54 peak of 96. Of the lower-price shares. Trans- Lux showed a gain to 3% where it was only three-eighths from the highest ground of the year. Same was true of Allied Artists which climbed to 494 for a gain of 25c on the week. The preferred went to 10, or just 75c from the year’s peak. Allied Artists product has been showing some excellent gains lately, returns from “Human Jun- gle” alone being bigger than even the most optimistic official had expected. • Also in the lower-priced bracket, Skiatron, on Over-the-Counter, has held very steady in the past month at 2 Vi bid and 3 asking price. Shares are considered in a strategic position to cash in on indicated promising developments in the pay-for-viewing television, particularly compared with other higher-priced issues which would benefit with the arrival of such type of tele. Although it showed a loss on Hie \jeek, RCA continued high, clos- ing price of 37% being little more than a point below the 1954 high I mark. I J