The box office check-up of 1935 (1936)

WHAT MADE THE BOX OFFICE CHAMPIONS [Continued from page 7] acceptable to all. Champions of the past, and of this year particularly, convincingly demonstrate that such an argument is contrary to fact. The Champions tabulated in the following pages embrace every form of screen entertainment, in all phases commonly believed to be of interest to every kind and class of theatre-goer. Class pictures, supposedly only of interest to the intelligentsia, were sources of amazement to producer and showman alike as they witnessed the eagerness with which the masses supported them. Similarly, pictures calculated to appeal only to the average patron, somehow or other possessed the mysterious quality that appeals to the critical. If there were no such thing as universal appeal, it would be interesting to hear some learned psychologist explain the success of such Champions as "Barretts of Wimpole Street," "Count of Monte Cristo," "White Parade," "Little Minister," "Copperfield," "Scarlet Pimpernel," "Les Miserables," "Oil for the Lamps of China" and "Anna Karenina," among others. Generally, they were rather seriously toned; pictures presumed to engage the attention of that class preferring to do a little sober thinking while being entertained, yet they clicked with the majority of theatre patrons. It is not so difficult to explain the Will Rogers or Shirley Temple pictures. Here were two personalities that were the absolute essence of human interest. To a much lesser extent, the same thing is true of several other stars — Clark Gable, Joan Crawford, James Cagney, Claudette Colbert, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Joe E. Brown, Dick Powell, Wallace Beery and others. Whereas in the case of the above named class pictures, certain conditions were established, the same apparent difficulty was not encountered in the majority of the Champions. One can readily understand why the operatic or ragtime musical like "One Night of Love," "Naughty Marietta," "Kid Millions," "Golddiggers," "Flirtation Walk," "Gay Divorcee," et al, became successes. So one can appreciate the many romances, dramas, comedies, the topical G-man cycle, and thrill action Champions. But it is another case entirely when one considers "Sequoia." Here Mother Nature was the "star"; a deer and a mountain lion were prominent "personalities." Nev ertheless, the picture had that quality of understandable, believable human interest. Other oddities crop out as one analyzes the Champions, all of which are not "showwindow pictures." There are several of them which on production schedules were termed "Class B." Yet for the investment made, they turned in profits compensating for more elaborately staged features which failed. "Hideout," with Robert Montgomery, and "The Gilded Lily," with Claudette Colbert, had the advantage of well known names, but how can "Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch," featuring an unknown and a cast of stock players, be accounted for? Ftomespun, down-to-earth comedy-drama, it played on every one of the seves elemental human emotions. In stripping their features of any false pretenses, producers demonstrated by their Champions that they have a controlled working knowledge of fundamental human nature. Showmen, as demonstrated by the intelligent manner in which they marketed the Champions, demonstrated that they too, having a similar knowledge, both understood what the producer was aiming at and how the public wanted their efforts called to its attention. The public, appreciative of and sympathetic to both, and also assured that it would get what it wanted, responded. These three forces combined to make the Champions. BOX OFFICE CHAMPION DIRECTORS [Continued from page 15] moulian, "Becky Sharp" and Tay Garnett, "China Seas." Of the 65 Box Office Champion directors, 14 produced two films during the annum that built up record grosses. They are as follows: Victor Fleming, with "Treasure Island" and "Reckless"; Leo McCarey, "Belle of the Nineties" and "Ruggles of Red Gap"; Clarence Brown, "Chained" and "Anna Karenina"; Victor Schertzinger, "One Night of Love" and "Love Me Forever"; Gregory LaCava, "Affairs of Cellini" and "She Married Her Boss"; Michael Curtiz, "British Agent" and "Front Page Woman"; Henry Hathaway, "Now and Forever" and "Lives of a Bengal Lancer"; Sidney Franklin, "Barretts of Wimpole Street" and "Dark Angel"; Mark Sandrich, "The Gay Divorcee" and "Top Hat"; Irving Cummings, "The White Parade" and "Curly Top"; Frank Borzage, "Flirtation Walk" and "Shipmates Forever"; Richard Boleslawski, "The Painted Veil" and "Les Miserables"; Wesley Ruggles, "The Gilded Lily" and "Accent on Youth"; Edward JAMES WONG HOWE CAMERAMAN BOX OFFICE CHAMPIONS VIVA VILLA MANHATTAN MELODRAMA THE THIN MAN POWER AND THE GLORY M S M 144 THE BOX OFFICE CHECK-UP OF 1935