Film Weekly year book of the Canadian motion picture industry (1951)

NEWSREELS A REGULATION of the Motion Picture Censorship and Theatre Inspection branch of the Ontario Treasury, issued 15 years ago by its chairman then and now, O. J. Silverthorne, requires newsreels to carry Canadian or British content to the ex¬ tent of 25 per cent of their length. Once made up to meet that requirement, which is asked only by Ontario, the newsreels are exhibited in that form throughout Canada. The regulation came about through a desire by Cana¬ dians to see something beside foreign news on their screens and because do¬ mestic cameramen needed opportunities. Ontario charges $1 per reel for censor¬ ing newsreels, compared with its usual $6 per reel charge, and this has helped producers make available more prints for faster and broader exhibition. Sequences of a news or news maga¬ zine nature are filmed by Associated Screen News and the National Film Board. One newsreel has a Canadian editor, another a resident cameraman and a third a Canadian commentator. Newsreels CANADIAN MOVIETONEWS Issued weekly by Twentieth Century-Fox Corp. Ltd. Edited by Horry Lowrenson, Movietonews, Inc., 460 W. 54th St., New York City and printed by Associated Screen News, Montreal. CANADIAN PARAMOUNT NEWS Issued weekly by Paramount Film Service. Edi¬ tor and commentator: Winston Barron. Edited at Paramount News, 544 W. 43rd St., New York City and printed by ASN. EYE WITNESS and COUP D'OEIL English and French-language newsmagazines of same subjects. Made by the National Film Board in nine issues yearly, six of which are distributed to theatres by Columbia Pictures of Canada, Ltd. and the rest by the NFB's own non-theatrical distribution service. Producer: Gor¬ don Burwash. JARO WORLD WIDE NEWS Canadian edition of Gaumont-British newsreel, issued weekly by J. Arthur Rank Film Distribu¬ tors (Canada) Ltd. Edited by Castleton Knight, Gaumont-British Newsreel Co., London, England, with special commentary by Austin Willis, print¬ ed by ASN. NEWS OF THE DAY Issued weekly by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pic¬ tures of Canada, Ltd. Edited by M. D. Clofine, 450 56th St. New York City, and printed by ASN. UNIVERSAL-INTERNATIONAL NEWSREEL Issued twice weekly by Empire-Universal Films, Ltd. Edited by Thomas Mead, E. 106th St., New York City and printed by ASN. WARNERS PATHE CANADIAN NEWS Issued weekly by Warner Bros. Pictures Dis¬ tributing Co., Ltd. Edited by E. C. Buddy, Pathe News, 625 Madison Ave., New York City. Cana¬ dian cameraman: Felix Lazarus. Printed by Film Laboratories of Canada, Toronto. CHECKING Confidential Reports Regd. 5975 Monkland Ave., Montreal 28, Can. (EL. 0133) Genera! Manager . Mrs. Irving Sourkes FILM RENTALS FILM rentals for Canada in 1949 rose to a record high, topping the previous year, which also reached a new peak, by over 15 per cent. The gain in rentals kept pace with that of receipts, which increased 15 per cent in also setting an all-time mark. Rentals for 35 mm. films totalled $23,310,421 in 1949, as against $20,215,527 the year before, and for 16 mm. it was $1,684,953, compared with $1,444,872, giving a grand total of $24,995,374 — an increase of $3,334,975 over the previ us year’s $21,660,399. A minor part of the gain was from the inclusion for the first time of Newfoundland, distributors get¬ ting about 30 per cent of the $857,982 taken in by its 45 theatres. The $3,334,975 gain is the greatest increase chalked up by film exchanges in any 12-month period in the history of the film industry in Canada. In 1933 the rental figure began to climb out of the doldrums it had fallen into during the depression. In 1930, the first year of the depression, the figure was $9,536,200 and by 1933 it had dropped to $6,797,600 — a loss of about a third. From that year on it has been a steady climb, increasing about an average of $1,000,000 a year until 1948, when the gain over 1947 was a record up to then of $2,195,693. In 1930 there were 907 situations in Canada and these declined to 762 the 120