Variety (December 1954)

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« ~ln«d«T. Peeemhtr 29, 1954 PICTURES 17 % OF FILMS LACK CODE SEAL Foreign Films Indexed in N.Y. Following is a comparative listing of foreign film imports re- viewed by the office of Hugh M. Flick, the N.Y. censor, for the neriod of Nov. 30. 1953 through Dec. 1, 1954. It shows a drop of 48 in the number of pix submitted, bringing the total for 1954 to 485: Country 1954 1953 Difference Britain ** « 7*> Mexico ™ *0 -2 Spain 30 —18 Russia 3® 28 + 8 485 533 —48 Inside Stuff-Pictures In commenting about rising payoffs to Hollywood talent. Columbia president Harry Cohn disclosed in N.Y. last week that he had offered a flat payment of $300,000 “plus a percentage" to Tyrone Power to star in a film. Power turned it down, he added. Actor, incidentally, recently completed starring work in “Long Gray Line” for Columbia. Film, Cohn reported, tvas brought in at a negative cost of $1,750,000. The prez further revealed that Columbia is negotiating a new deal with Rita Hayworth which will be unusual in that it doesn’t give Miss Hayworth a participation in her pictures. Miss Hayworth had been in partnership with Columbia via Beck- worth Corp., outfit under whose banner her films were produced. Beckworth has a suit going against the company which asks for an accounting and it’s presumed this is to be settled. T IGNORES SETUP Of the 1,190 foreign and domes- tic features and shorts licensed by the N. Y. censor between Dec. 1, 1953, and Nov. 30. 1954. a full 550 pix—or 47%—did not carry a pro- duction code seal. Compilation made by the office of Hugh M. Flick last week also showed a drop in the number of films submitted by the eight major producing countries abroad. Total went down from 533 in 1953 to 485 in the 12-month period in ’54. However, it’s slightly higher than the 467 pix okayed by the censor’s office in 1952. Statistics of the N. Y. censor aren’t 100 % 20th s Foreign Take Up By $3-MiI; Skouras Lines Up European Studios URUGUAY'S CRITERIA South Americans Only On of Film Festival Exact methods and standards by which an international festival jury arrives at its conclusions in award- ing prizes have always been some- thing of a mystery to the American r , . companies. The new regulations _ t 0 1 ur _ a8 ___ for the Punta del Este, Uruguay, film festival narrow dow r n the choice of the winners via a tangi- ble yardstick: “The Gran Premio De Sud Amer- ica 1955, to the feature film that Ronald Neame, British film producer-director, who scrapped his plan to film Michael Croft’s book, “Spare the Rod," when he was warned by the censor that the pic would receive an “X” certificate 'adults only), wrote to the London News Chronicle last week that that category should be scrapped. Pointing out that the idea of the certificate was to encourage the production of ifdult films, the British filmmaker as- serts most of these come from abroad and had already recouped their cost in their own countries and what they earn in Britain is all profit. But a British film, he argues, must earn the greater part of its revenue in Britain and an “X” certificate precludes that. “The censor board.” he says, “admits that irresponsible showmen are using the ‘X’ category to advertise sheer sensationalism but that, they say, is nothing to do with them. Rubbish!" John Ireland and his wife, Joanne Dru, agreed to an out-of-court settlement of their damage suit against producer Jack Broder involving the film “Hannah Lee," in which the pair acted and which Ireland directed. Plaintiffs contended that Broder had promised to release the fllm through a major studio but took over the distribution himself, thereby lessening the gross receipts. Settlement called for the couple to receive a lump sum in return for relinquishing all interest in the picture. 1An ,, . . .. .will best meet the preference of aien t 100 o accurate as to the t h e South American public," reads " Un L be _L® f . £ore,gn hlms b r ought lpart of Article 8 of the rules. The seven-man jury will be composed exclusively of South Americans. In addition to the Grand Prix. each participating country will win a prize for the best picture submit- ted and there will be a special Gran Premio for shorts. It’s specified that the winner of the main prize will promise to men- tion the full title of his award in publicizing the picture. in during any one year since a good many Chinese, Mexican and other productions enter the coun- try' via the west Coast. However, the vast majority of pix imported do go through Flick’s office and are destined for exhibition since few' importers would undertake the expense of getting the censor seal unless they intended to release the product. Flick's figures dramatically em- phasize the unwillingness of produ- cers abroad to apply for a code seal. Of the 492 foreign films ap- proved by the censor in 1954, only 25—less than 5%—carried the code seal. In contrast, of the 698 American features and shorts li- censed, 615 had the seal, whereas 83 did not. There are instances where distribs of foreign pix have (Continued on page 55) New device, developed by Paramount, will enable theatres that are not equipped (or anamorphic projection to give the illusion of a curved screen picture and a near three-dimensional effect at a low cost. New development is adaptable to theatres of any size. Demon- strations on a 60-foot screen have been made with a dimensional effect and without distortion. Producer Sam Katzman can’t see that trend toward fewer pictures. One of the most active filmmakers in Hollywood, so far as numbers are concerned, his Clover Productions unit at Columbia is set with a program of 15 features to be lensed in 1955. Properties which Katz- man has lined up include stories on juvenile delinquency, oil strikes In Texas, a science flctioner on flying saucers and a western desperado. ■ i ■ i — Litvak Beats Tai Rap; Court Nixes Treasury ‘Wrong Number’ Bid Washington, Dec. 28. Santa Claus wore judicial robes here yesterday (27) for screen di- rector Anatole Litvak. Internal Revenue was trying to collect $50,- 000 additional Income taxes for 1947. Matter revolved about Litvak’s •ale of “Sorry, Wrong Number” to *“ al Wallis Productions for $ 100 ,- 000 . Litvak reported the transac- tion as a capital gains item, but ine tax collectors contended it was •ubjeet to the considerably higher •Haight income tax rates. Tax 1 itvak ^ rno ^ R* um agreed with Litvak, who now resides in Paris, bought the script from radio au- Lu T cille Fletcher for $15,000 in ,. , . ** had become a broadcast classic.” Court agreed that buy- 'g and selling of story was in Lit- as s normal line of business. Stripes for Bryan, Weber Frank Bryan and Louis M. Weber i\e been named veepees of ,„ k r ° ur * 8 Theatres Corp. At the - . e * prexy Spyros S. Skouras Pi ointed Irving Palace to the post °f comptroller. 4 : rj * n wi H also continue the du- np s ® [ treasurer, and Weber of cor- ^on counsel, assistant treas- j ' anc * assistant secretary. I David Wayne on Sound For ‘Finian* Cartoon Hollywood, Dec. 28. * David Wayne, who created lep- rechaun role in original Broadway company of “Finian’s Rainbow,” has signed after extensive nego- tiations to recreate voice record-, ings of character in producer Mau- rice Binder’s feature cartoon film version for Distributors Corp. of America. Binder agreed to make sound- track in N. Y. to permit Wayne to bicycle between legiter, “Tea House of August Moon" and new video show, “Norby." All other recordings by leading artists are to be made here. Tal- ent includes Frank Sinatra, Ella Logan, Ella Fitzgerald, Barry Fitz- gerald, Louis Armstrong, Red Norvo, Jim Backus and Jerry Hausner. With 20th-Fox’s foreign gross in 1954 hitting $41,400,000. an in- crease of more than $3,000,000 over , , 1953, the company’s world gross y , this year will show an improvement I over last year, Spyros P. Skouras, 20th prexy, reported in N. Y. yes- terday (Tues.) on his return from a six-week European jaunt. Domes- tic rentals in 1954 ran to $65,000,- OOO. a drop from last year but. in a remarkable achievement” in view’ of the lesser number of pix released. He said 20th’s 1954 net would be anywhere between 75% and 100% over 1953 profits. While in Europe. Skouras dis- cussed CinemaScope with pro- ducers in Rritain. France. Italy, Sweden and Spain and also re- ceived accolades from exhibs .for his C’Seone contribution. He said that, in 1955, European producers could be expected to contribute be- tween 50 and 75 CinemaScope pix. At the moment, between 12 and 15 *>re in production and 15 to 20 are in preparation, including four in Britain. 20th next year will have .an interest in four or five European C’Scope features. One of them is “Oasis” a French-German copro- duction that loeationed in Morocco. European C’Scope Installations are ahead of original estimates, Skouras disclosed. There are now' 3 000. By the end of July, 1955, ♦ hat number should grow to 7.500, ith 500 total is Tweqtieth-Fox last week mailed ! expected to go up to 1.500 by next out 50c. per share dividend checks julv. Skouras stressed every one for the fourth quarter of 1954. of the 18 C’Scope films released by bringing to $1.60 the total amount 20 th so far was profitable, and that per share paid out by the company [ »atcr C’Scope releases were actual- Comparisons, Prophecies To 20th Stockholders Along With 50c Dirvy during the year w'hich has been one of the most successful on record. The fourth quarter divvy con- sisted of the regular 40c. per share plus an extra 10 c. per share. 20 th’s divvy payments during the first two quarters ran to 35c. per share. Third quarter brought 40c. Earn- ings for the 39 weeks ended Sept. 25, 1954, had been previously put at $5,732,063, or $2.17 per share. ly doing better than the early ones, a circumstance which he saw' as a tribute to the attraction of the medium. Asked whether he thought there were enough pix available, Skouras answered with an emphatic “no.” In 1955, 20th expects to have 30 top C’Scope releases, the studio contributing between 22 and 24, Skouras said. He added “w’e shouldn’t have any more 2-Ds” but This compared to $1,433,037—the j agreed that the sales department equivalent of 52c. per share—for 1 might take on some. the same 1953 period. In his message to the stock- holders, prez Spyros P. Skouras said CinemaScope installations in the U. S. and Canada numbered 10,200 and are expected to rise to 12,000 by the end of March. By the end of the year, he said, more than 3,000 C’Scope installations (Continued on page 54) OUT NEXT WEEK! The 49th Anniversary Number Of Forms closing shortly Usual Advertising rates prevail Special exploitation advantages Copy and space reservations may be sent to any Variety office NEW YORK 34 154 W. 44th St. HOLLYWOOD 2S 4311 Yucca St. CHICAGO 11 412 N. Michigan Ava. LONDON, W. C. 2 t St. Martin’s Place Tra f algar Sqaara Regarding 20th’s attitude to- wards the sale of pix to tv, Skouras emphasized that “ti e theatres must be be protected.” He said this thinking also extended to toll-tv. Demonstrations of the industrial Eidophor models for 20th execs are set for the near future. Compensation Contracts Of Stanley Warner Execs; $130,000 Paid Kalmine Total remuneration of $526,262.27 was received by the officers and directors of Stanley Warner Corp. for the fiscal'year ending Aug., 1953. Sum is revealed in a proxy statement calling stockholders to the company’s annual meeting in Wilmington, Del., on Jan. 13. Breakdown of compensation to I officers and directors reveals that ! prexy S. H. (Sfl Fabian and execu- i tive v.p. Samuel Rosen received an aggregate total of $196,744.77. ! This is payable to Fabian Enter- l prises Inc. under a deal between it ! and SW providing for the services of Fabian and Rosen as chief ex- ecutives of SW, yvlth Fabian Enter- prises receiving $3,000 weekly plus a percentage of the annual consoli- dated net profit of SW. Harry Kalmine, v.p. and general manager, received $130,000; Mau- 1 rice A. Silver, zone manager in I charge of operation of the Pitts- burgh and Cleveland zones, $44,800, and David G. Baird, chairman of the finance committee, $36,400. There were no pension, retirement, or other payments to officers or directors. Set for consideration at the an- nual meet is a proposed amend- ment to the certificate of incor- poration, requesting that the selec- tion of director conform wifh the . method approved in the by-laws. (Continued on page 14)