Boxoffice barometer (1954)

Slew Season Current and Coining Features t?' Essential Data on Films: in Release from Beginning of Each Company's Season Through December 1953; Completed or in Production for Release After January 1, 1954. Title, Cost and Other Changes Will be Published in the Feature Chart and the News Section of BOXOFFICE. (For 1952-53 Releases, See Feature Index, Page 91.) LOOKinG mm ALLIED ARTISTS (September 27 through December 20, 1953) FIGHTER ATTACK (War Drama). Stars: Sterling Hayden, Joy Page, J. Carrol Naish. Producer: William Calihan )r. Director: Lesley Selander. Original Screenplay: Simon Wincelberg. • A squadron leader in the air war over Italy in 1944, Sterling Hayden volunteers to blast out an enemy supply dump so that a major ground attack can succeed. He is shot down and rescued by the Italian underground, falls in love with a girl guerrilla, makes his way back to his base and returns, after the war, to marry her. Nov. 29, 1953. JACK SLADE (Western). Stars: Mark Stevens, Dorothy Malone, Barton MacLane. Producer: Lindsley Parsons. Director: Harold Schuster. Original Screenplay: Warren Douglas. • Mark Stevens, division manager of a stage line in the 1850s, has a reputation as a killer — on the side of the law. Forced in a gunfight to kill a boyhood friend, Stevens is overcome with remorse, begins drinking heavily, wrecks his marriage and is slain while trying to elude capture and a fair trial. Nov. 8, 1953. JENNIFER (Suspense Drama). Stars: Ida Lupino, Howard Duff, Robert Nichols. Producer: Berman Swarttz. Director: Joel Newton. Original: Virginia Myers. Screenplay: Richard Dorso, Bernard Girard. • Ida Lupino secures a job as caretaker of a vacated estate last occupied by a woman who mysteriously disappeared. Ida unearths evidence leading her to believe the woman had been murdered, but it is revealed the missing woman actually had gone insane and that her family had spirited her away to avoid unwelcome publicity. Oct. 25, 1953. PRIVATE EYES (Comedy Melodrama). Stars: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Joyce Holden. Producer: Ben Schwalb. Director: Edward Bernds. Original Screenplay: Ellwood Ullman and Edward Bernds. ® (Bowery Boys Series.) Huntz Hall is hit on the nose and develops a mystic mind-reading power. Cashing in on this, the Bowery Boys buy a detective agency. Through first client Joyce Holden, they find crooks operating a health farm as a blind, uncover their activities, and turn the farm into a boys' club. Dec. 6, 1953. ROYAL AFRICAN RIFLES (Drama). Stars: Louis Hayward, Veronica Hurst, Michael Pate. Producer: Richard Heermance. Director: Lesley Selander. Original Screenplay: Dan Ullman. a In 1914, a shipment of machine guns is stolen from a British war vessel. Louis Hayward, assigned to get them back, learns thief is selling them to the Germans and recovers the guns after attacking native village where they are hidden. In Cinecolor. Sept. 27, 1953. TEXAS BAD MAN (Western). Stars: Wayne Morris, Frank Ferguson, Elaine Riley. Producer: Vincent M. Fennelly. Director: Lewis D. Collins. Original Screenplay: Joseph F. Poland. ® Texas desperadoes move in on a small mining town, plotting to take over a gold shipment. The situation is complicated for the young sheriff as his outlaw father heads the desperadoes. Dec. 20, 1953. VIGILANTE TERROR (Western). Stars: Wild Bill Elliott, Mary Ellen Kay, Myron Healey. Producer: Vincent M. Fennelly. Director: Lewis D. Collins. Original Screenplay: Sid Theil. ® Masked vigilantes terrorize a frontier town and plant suspicion on store owner after a gold robbery. Wild Bill Elliott is appointed sheriff but Myron Healey, crooked saloonkeeper, nearly has him hanged before Mary Ellen Kay produces evidence of the gang's guilt and helps him and her father escape. Nov. 15, 1953. THE YELLOW BALLOON (Suspense Drama). Slars: Andrew Ray, Kathleen Ryan, Kenneth More. Producer: Victor Skutezky. Director: J. Lee Thompson. Original Screenplay: Anne Burnaby, J. Lee Thompson. • This British-made feature concerns young Andrew Ray who, shocked by the accidental death of a playmate, is picked up and made the tool of a petty crook Involved in murder and other horrors, Andrew is rescued by the police, sobs out his story to his bewildered parents and becomes a normal little boy again. Oct. 4, 1953. Coming THE ANNAPOLIS STORY (Drama). Stars: not set. Producer: Walter Mirisch. Director: not set. Original Screenplay: Dan Ullman. • This story of the U.S. naval academy at Annapolis will be photographed in Technicolor. ARROW IN THE DUST (Western). Stars: Sterling Hayden, Coleen Gray, Keith Larsen. Producer: Hayes Goetz. Director: Lesley Selander. Original Screenplay: Don Martin. ® Sterling Hayden, a cavalry trooper deserting his command, hooks up with a wagon train that has been attacked by Indians. Despite raid after raid by the redskins, Hayden lashes the emigrant party ahead and rides on his lonely way as the train gains the safety of the fort. Filmed in Technicolor. BATTLE STAR (War Drama). Stars: not set. Producer: William Calihan jr. Director: not set. Original Screenplay: George Waggner. • A story of helicopter crews in rescue and assault operations, this will be filmed in color. THE BLACK PRINCE (Historical Drama). Stars: not set. Producer: Walter Mirisch. Director: not set. Original Screenplay: not set. • The company's first CinemaScope venture, this story of Richard the Lion-Hearted is planned for filming in Technicolor, on location in England, with Associated British Pictures participating. BOMBA SERIES (Jungle Dramas). Stars: Johnny Sheffield, Leonard Mudie and others. Producer: Ford Beebe. Director: Ford Beebe. Originals: Roy Rockwood. Screenplays: Ford Beebe and others. ® There will be a minimum of two jungle adventures starring Johnny Sheffield as "Bomba." The series for the season will include "The Golden Idol." BOWERY BOYS SERIES (Comedies). Stars: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Joyce Holden and others. Producer: Ben Schwalb. Directors: Edward Bernds, William Beaudine and others. Original Screenplay: Edward Bernds, Ellwood Ullman and others. • Titles of the upcoming "Bowery Boys" comedies, toplining Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall, include "Private Eyes," "Paris Bombshells" and "Meet the Monsters." CRASHING TIMBER (Action Drama). Stars: Barry Sullivan (incomplete). Producer: Lindsley Parsons. Director: not set. Original Screenplay: Warren Douglas. • A story of the logging camps, to be produced on location in California's High Sierras. DRAGON WELLS MASSACRE (Western). Stars: not set. Producer: Lindsley Parsons. Director: not set. Original Screenplay: Oliver Blake, Warren Douglas. • This galloper is based on the massacre of Butterfield stagecoach passengers in Apache country in Arizona in the 1860s. DRAGONFLY SQUADRON (War Drama). Stars: John Hodiak, Barbara Britton, Bruce Bennett. Producer: John Champion. Director: Lesley Selander. Original Screenplay: John Champion. ® A story of the training of South Korean pilots by members of the U.S. air force. EAGLES OF THE FLEET (Drama). Stars: not set. Producer: Hayes Goetz. Director: not set. Original Screenplay: Horace McCoy. © Which deals with the training of U.S. navy air cadets at Pensacola, Fla. THE GREEN HILLS OF IDAHO (Outdoor Drama). Stars: not set. Producer: not set. Director: Ford Beebe. Original Screenplay: Ford Beebe. • This romantic outdoor drama will be filmed in color. HAJJI BABA (Costume Drama). Stars: not set. Producer: Walter Wanger. Director: not set. Original: James Morier. Screenplay: Francis Swann, Richard Collins. • Adapted from the novel, and planned for filming in Technicolor, this is a story of Persia at the turn of the 19th century. HIGHWAY DRAGNET (Mystery Drama). Stars: Richard Conte, Joan Bennett, Wanda Hendrix. Producer: William F. Broidy. Director: Nathan Juran. Original: U. S. Anderson, Roger Corman. Screenplay: Herb Meadow, Jerome Odium. • Joan Bennett, magazine photographer, and Wanda Hendrix, her model, meet Richard Conte, just discharged from the marines, in Las Vegas. Conte is pursued by police who suspect him of murdering a girl with whom he was casually acquainted, but is cleared when Joan is revealed as the slayer. In 3-D. HOLD BACK THE NIGHT (War Drama). Stars: not set. Producer: not set. Director: not set. Original: Pat Frank. Screenplay: Walter Doniger. • A story of the Korean war. JOHN BROWN'S RAIDERS (Historical Drama). Stars: not set. Producer: Edward. Morey jr. Director: not set. Original Screenplay: Arthur Orloff. • An action drama built around the activities of John Brown, the American abolitionist, in the era just preceding the Civil War. KETCHIKAN (Action Drama). Stars: Barry Sullivan (incomplete). Producer: Lindsley Parsons. Director: not set. Original Screenplay: Warren Douglas. • This drama of Alaska's salmon-fishing industry is slated for production on location there, in color. LOOPHOLE (Melodrama). Stars: Barry Sullivan, Dorothy Malone, Mary Beth Hughes. Producer: Lindsley Parsons. Director: Harold Schuster. Original: George Bricker, Dwight V. Babcock. Screenplay: Warren Douglas. • Barry Sullivan, a bank teller, is discharged when it is discovered he is $50,000 short in his accounts — a theft actually perpetrated by one of the bank examiners. At the risk of his life, Sullivan manages to trap the criminal, recover most of the money and clear his name, following which he is reinstated in his job. THE POLICE STORY (Drama). Stars: not set. Producer: not set. Director: not set. Original Screenplay: William Sackheim. • This crime drama is based on the activities of a metropolitan police force. PRIDE OF THE BLUE GRASS (Action Drama). Stars: Lloyd Bridges, Vera Miles, Arthur Shields. Producer: Hayes Goerz. Director: William Beaudine. Original Harold Shumate. Screenplay: not set. • A story of horse-racing in Kentucky. RIOT IN CELL BLOCK 11 (Prison Drama). Stars: Neviile Brand, Leo Gordon, Emile Meyer. Producer: Walter Wanger. Director: Don Siegel. Original Screenplay: Richard Collins. • A riot spreads through a state penitentiary, during which eight guards are overpowered and held as hostages. Prison authorities are forced to bargain, and violence increases to the point where state militia is called in. Finally the riot subsides, the men go back to their cells, and prison life continues. THE ROCKETS' RED GLARE (Historical Drama). Stars: not set. Producer: William Calihan. Director: not set. Original Screenplay: Albert Van. ® A biography of Francis Scott Key, who composed our national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner." SWEET VIOLENCE (Crime Drama). Stars: Richard Conte (incomplete). Producer: William F. Broidy. Director: not set. Original Screenplay: Peter Brooke. • A murder mystery. UNTITLED (Melodroma). Stars: Richard Conte (incomplete). Producer: William F. Broidy. Director: not set. Original: Joe Pagano. Screenplay: not set. • To be made on location in Berlin, this deals with the experiences of a U.S. criminal investigation department sleuth assigned to trap a counterfeiting ring in Germany. WANTED BY THE F.B.I. (Crime Drama). Stars: not set. Producer: William F. Broidy. Director: not set. Original: John McLaughlin. Screenplay: John Rich. • A cops-and-robbers melodrama. WAYNE MORRIS SERIES (Westerns). Stars: Wayne Morris, Virginia Grey, John Kellogg and others. Producer: Vincent M. Fennelly. Directors: Lewis D. Collins, Thomas Carr and others. Original Screenplays: William Raynor, Joseph F. Poland and others. • Gallopers in which Wayne Morris will star during the season include "The Fighting Lawman," "Cheyenne Crossing," "Texas Bad Man," "The Great Southwest" and "Hell Wind." WILD BILL ELLIOTT SERIES (Westerns). Stars: Wild Bill Elliott, Mary Ellen Kay and others. Producer: Vincent M. Fennelly. Directors: Lewis D. Collins, Thomas Carr and others. Original Screenplays: George Waggner, Milton Raison, Adele Buffington and others. • Sagebrush sagas starring Wild Bill Elliott on the season's program include "Bitter Creek," "The BOXOFFICE 75