Boxoffice (Jan-Mar 1962)

’TtMycomd By WILLIAM HEBERT Edward Dmytryk Schedules Four Films for 1962-63 Director Edward Dmytryk has scheduled four films for 1962-63 for Dmytryk-Weiler Productions, independent company of which he is producerdirector. First, to start in early spring, is “Day of the D a m n e d,” to be filmed in its locale, Vienna, with Montgomery Clift and Susan Kohner starred. The remaining Edward Dmytryk three wiU be shot in Hollywood. They are “The Following Day,” suspense story by Charles Schnee to be made in late 1962 or early 1963, “The Courageous Coward,” original comedy by John Fante. The fourth property is being negotiated. Releasing plans have not been announced. Merle Oberon Back in Films; To Star in 'Forsaken' Merle Oberon, after several years absence from the screen, resumed her acting career last week starring in “The Forsaken,” costarring Steve Cochran and being produced by a new independent company, New World Film Corp. The latter is financed by Joseph M. Schenck Enterprises. To be filmed entirely in Mexico, locale of the story, it began shooting in Acapulco and will move to Cuernavaca and Mexico City. Richard Rush is directing, Victor Stoloff producing. The story, which bears assorted credits for original and screenplay, concerns a mature woman, rather dissolute, who falls genuinely in love with an American mining engineer several years younger than she. The Arthur L. Wilde Co., Inc., of Los Angeles, has been signed to handle the publicity and exploitation. Freddie Fields to Produce 'Great Race' With Mirisch Freddie Fields and his Project III company has activated “The Great Race” in association with the Mirisch Co. on a onepicture deal. The story, being scripted by Arthur Ross, concerns an auto race from New York to Paris via Asia, promoted in 1901 by two doctors, named Leslie and Fate. Fields, a personal management specialist and financial adviser for numerous top stars, has recently branched into developing feature film projects in which stars, not necessarily his clients, can appear as well as participate on percentage or other profit-sharing arrangements. He is reportedly talking to Paul Newman to play Dr. Leslie, Jack Lemmon and Danny Kaye for the role of Dr. Fate. “Race,” first feature for Project III, is a joint undertaking with Blake Edwards’ Homeward Productions, which Edwards will produce and direct with Fields as executive producer. Audrey Hepburn, Shirley MacLaine and Natalie Wood are being negotiated for top femme roles. Production is scheduled for spring, 1963. Saul Swimmer, Allen Klein To Coproduce in Mexico Saul Swimmer and Allen Klein, partnered with Tony Anthony in Three Task Pictures, Ltd., have disclosed preparations of a Mexican coproduction on “Conquest of Mexico” for the end of this year. Klein will produce, Swimmer will direct and Anthony will star in the feature, to be financed by the Mexican government. Swimmer and Anthony are currently completing the original screenplay. The partners’ recent film, “Force of Impulse,” starring J. Carroll Naish, Robert Alda and Jeff Donnell, will be released by Sutton Pictures, a subsidiary of PatheAmerica. Also on Three Task Pictures’ schedule is “Sowbelly,” an original by Swimmer and Anthony, slated for an August start, and “Wounds of Hunger,” Luis Spota tome, on the drawing boards for a February start in Mexico. The trio has just finished “Without Each Other,” an original by Swimmer and Anthony, in Florida, toplining Anthony and Brud Talbot. Goldwyn Studio Announces Production Help Plan The Samuel Goldwyn Studio, mainly leasing its facilities to independent producers with Goldwyn currently not in production, has announced a new system of controls to check on hiring of all production personnel. The system is aimed at cutting costs for the producers by preventing so-called “feather-bedding” and is said to have the cooperation of the unions, all concerned with the problem of “runaway” production and consequent reduction of jobs for their members in Hollywood. Daily checks will be made by Goldwyn execu Nominations for Oscars To Be Announced Feb. 26 Nominations for the 34th annual Oscar Awards will be announced February 26. The Academy, headed by Wendell Corey as president, is alternating the time of the announcement each year to accommodate worldwide press, television and radio outlets. This year the announcement will be made on Monday, above date, at 10 a.m. PST. Starting this year, the announcement will be made in mid-morning one year and mid-afternoon the next, PST. The plan is designed to give newspaper, TV and radio outlets an equitable break, in alternate years, to meet their deadlines, which vary as to time of day and night from coast to coast and around the world. fives, under the plan being instituted, to see that no more help is engaged for each day’s shooting than is actually required. Other independent studios leasing space are reported to be following suit. Dimitri Tiomkin Is Scoring 'How the West Was Won' MGMCinerama’s “How the West Was Won,” starring 15 top actors and actresses, has completed shooting with principals and Dimitri Tiomkin has commenced scoring of the big production. Geared for July 4 premiere presentation, the film was directed by John Ford, Henry Hathaway and George Marshall. Bernard Smith produced from a screenplay by James R. Webb. Involved in the filming was over 200,000 miles of travel. Among the stars in the spectacle are Carroll Baker, Brigid Bazlen, Walter Brennan, Henry Fonda, Hope Lange, Karl Malden, Henry Morgan, Agnes Moorehead, Gregory Peck, George Peppard, Robert Preston, Debbie Reynolds, James Stewart, John Wayne and Richard Widmark. Kenneth Darling to Make 3 Films Independently Producer-writer Kenneth Darling has formed Maydale Productions under which banner he will produce three independent features. Initial venture will be “Ring and the Spur,” an original by Darling to star James Coburn, Noah Beery, James Griffith and Wallace Ford. The film, slated to roll this week, will be lensed in Arizona in Panavision and Eastman Color on a $400,000 budget, with Harold Knox as associate producer. Second production scheduled is “George,” blueprinted for a May start, followed by “The Last Resort.” Recently completed by Darling was “Ballad of Dancers,” which he filmed under Gray-Mac, toplining Warren Stevens and Martin Landau. Frankenheimer to Produce 'Lie Down in Darkness' John Frankenheimer will bow as a solo producerdirector with “Lie Down in Darkness,” post-war novel by William Styron, for which he is personally financing the writing of the screenplay. Frankenheimer plans to secure a top young star for the leading role, then submit the package to a studio. Meanwhile, he will direct “The Manchurian Candidate,” starring Frank Sinatra, as a partnership production in association with George Axelrod under their M. C. Productions outfit, in a coproduction deal with Sinatra’s Essex company for United Artists release. Maurice Duke Preparing Three New Productions Maurice Duke, producer of “The Continental Twist,” starring Louis Prima, has leased space at the Goldwyn Studio to prepare three more features for production. First is currently titled “Look Who’s Laughing” and is scheduled to star June Wilkinson, who is in “Twist.” William J. Hole jr., who directed the latter, has been signed to a multiple pact by Duke. 18 BOXOFFICE :: January 22, 1962