Boxoffice barometer (1954)

by IVAN SPEAR MANY names may be applied to 1953. It could be termed “the year of the gimmicks,” or “the year of the awakening giant.” But, regardless of how chroniclers choose to dub it, none will gainsay that it will go down in motion picture history as one of the most important in the industry’s annals, second to few, if any, in significance — including that milestone which witnessed the birth of sound. Nineteen-fifty-three saw the coming of age of 3-D photography, the debut of Cinemascope, the advent of the corollary stereophonic sound systems, a definite and readily discernible upswing in the quality of product and, above all, general and widespread renewed optimism about the fiscal future of the movie trade. How much of the last two developments is traceable to the former three is a moot question — and the correct answer, if there is one, is of relatively small consequence. Nonetheless, because of the juxtaposition of the above-named factors, unavoidable it is that a survey of what 1954 may spawn, productionwise, must accord primary attention to those innovations that made 1953 the turning-point stanza it was. 3-D DOWN AND UP AGAIN At about mid-point of last year the crystal-gazers began to sound the deathknell of 3-D, and it was rather generally predicted that stereoscopic photography and projection were just about reaching the end of the trail. However, during 1953’s latter months the technique gained a new lease on life as boxoffice takes shot upward with the respective distribution of such 3-D bonanzas as MGM’s “Kiss Me Kate,” Warners’ release of the WayneFellows production, “Hondo,” the Hal Wallis documentary about the Korean war, “Cease Fire,” being released by Paramount, Columbia’s “Miss Sadie Thompson” and RKO Radio’s “The French Line” (which last-named, of course, had other controversial facets to help stimulate its revenue potential). STILL VERY MUCH ALIVE The successes scored by all of these gave promise that the theretofore somewhat vague plans of filmmakers to continue applying 3-D to some of their output might be crystallized before the new year was well under way. Far from dead, stereoscopic photography was listed as part and parcel of an impressive array of upcoming releases, including Columbia’s “The Mad Magician,” RKO Radio’s “Son of Sinbad,” Universal-International’s “The Creature From the Black Lagoon,” Warners’ “Dial M for Murder,” the Edward Small production, “Camels West,” for United Artists, and the Pine-Thomas entry for Paramount, “Jivaro,” to name but a few. Meantime Cinemascope, pioneered and perfected by 20th Century-Fox as a later arrival on the depth-illusion front, needed no such shot in the arm to launch itself on a rosy future in 1954. Nothing short of fabulous was the public interest in and patronage of “The Robe” and “How to Marry a Millionaire,” 20th-Fox’s first two releases in the widely-touted anamorphic wide-screen process, and such acclaim and custom apparently was extending to the same company’s “King of the Khyber Rifles” as well as to MGM’s “Knights of the Round Table,” first Cinemascope feature to be made by a film unit other than the Spyros Skouras-Darryl F. Zanuck organization which nurtured the technique. By year’s end almost every major production firm, as well as several of the industry’s more important independent picture-makers, had secured Cinemascope commitments, and in volume sufficient to allay, at least partially, the fears expressed by many exhibitors that, despite all of its merits, there might not be enough Cinemascope to go around in 1954. CINEMASCOPE FILMS ON RISE Space does not permit a complete tally, title by title, of all the properties thus far announced for Cinemascope treatment. At 20th Century-Fox, of course, the lineup is 100 per cent in that process, save for the celluloid being turned out by its recently-formed subsidiary, Panoramic Productions. Over at Warners, at least 15 subjects have been announced — leading off with the nearly-completed “A Star Is Born” and the soon-to-be-released “The Command.” For distribution by that company, Wayne-Fellows Productions will supply “The High and the Mighty” and “Ring of Fear.” MGM will follow up “Knights of the Round Table” with a minimum of six more CinemaScopers, including “Rose Marie” and “The Student Prince.” Allied Artists has secured a commitment from 20th-Fox to utilize the process on “The Black Prince,” while Universal-International’s initial employment of the technique is on “Sign of the Pagan” and “The Black Shield of Falworth.” Planned independently by W. R. Frank for United Artists release, “Sitting Bull” also will be in Cinemascope, as will Walt Disney’s live-action entry for RKO Radio, “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.” NEW PROCESSES ON HORIZON While these two already-proven developments— 3-D and Cinemascope — undoubtedly are destined to dominate that part of the 1954 product output which leans toward the use of new photographic and projection developments, others are looming on the horizon which, if advance ballyhoo is to be believed, will represent even greater strides into the fertile field of revolutionary filmmaking methods. Among such, probably garnering a lion’s share of the limelight is the Todd-AO system, conceived by Mike Todd, veteran stage and screen impresario, and developed by the American Optical Co. Todd-AO and the Magna Theatres Corp., formed as a holding company for control of the process, claim a multiple-dimen sional effect through the employment of 65mm color film, a full-stage curved screen with a single projector, and a directional six-channel sound track. The process has been leased initially to Rodgers and Hammerstein for the film version of their fabulously successful stage musical, “Oklahoma!” on which a mid-1954 production start is planned. As concerns celluloid subject matter, whether it is to be conventionally photographed or garnished with any of the various new depth-illusion techniques now available, one factor seems to be strikingly apparent: That film fabricators are going to be much more exacting in their selection of themes and/or story properties than has been customary over a period of many seasons past. Most especially does this appear discernible in regard to the vehicles being treated to any of the above-listed new processes; almost without exception, their respective sponsors seemingly feel that spectacle, scope and lushness are requisites if full advantage is to be derived, both from the production and boxoffice standpoint, from the 3-D or wide-screen corollaries. SELECTIVITY TO REDUCE OUTPUT Comparably well-documented is the probability that 1954 will see the manufacture and distribution of fewer features — a pruning of schedules which undoubtedly is the end result of the intensified selectivity cited above. And, accompanying that expected curtailment of output among the major filmmakers, is a visible renaissance of activity among members of the independent production fraternity, within which group there is strongly evident a determination to step up their flow of celluloid to meet the demands of theatremen who otherwise might be confronted with a shortage of marketable merchandise. Otherwise, an analysis of specific picture-making plans indicates that the current year will be characterized by a supply of product containing representative proportions of time-tested categories — ranging from such staples as westerns, musicals and romantic dramas to comedies, historical costumers, biographies and all-out action subjects. That the Broadway stage and published novels are still considered among the primary sources for screen material is evidenced by a gander at forthcoming schedules, which list plans for turning into celluloid virtually every recent or current stage hit from the above-mentioned “Oklahoma!” right along the line. Columbia has both “Pal Joey” and the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Picnic” on its docket, while an impressive array at MGM includes “The Glass Slipper,” “Hit the Deck,” “Victoria Regina” and “Kismet.” The Paramount lineup includes “Sabrina Fair,” “The Country Girl” and “Living It Up” — the latter the screen title for Broadway’s “Hazel Flagg.” The phenomenally popu (Continued on page 17) BOXOFFICE 15