Boxoffice (Oct-Dec 1963)

ADVOCATES NATIONAL FILM SCHOOL Producer Carl Foreman Renews Plea For Government Film Subsidy Plan NEW YORK — Producer-director-writer Carl Foreman discussed three of his favorite subjects here last week when he (1) advocated greater support for the San Francisco Film Festival, (2) voiced the need for a national film school and announced he would push further for a government film subsidy of some kind. Foreman had arrived from London to deliver the print of his latest production, “The Victors,” which will have its initial openings in New York and Los Angeles in December. It will premiere at the Criterion on Broadway on December 19 and at the Fox-Wilshire on December 22. It is a Columbia Pictures release. Carl Foreman In announcing that “The Victors” would be shown at the San Francisco festival out of competition, Foreman said he believed festivals were helpful on the public relations and sales levels and that it was a mistake for the industry not to support the San Francisco event. He cited the Edinburgh festival as being the best because it was the least commercial and “phony” and the most honest of the European affairs. He said the San Francisco festival was in the same category and yet there had been a dearth of film stars assigned to that affair. The European festivals, he said, had captured world attention and it was a mistake to let Europe take the lead. URGES STOPPING RUNAWAYS Foreman will give impetus to his subsidy and film school proposals when he gives a series of lectures at various universities this fall. He said that there was a need for some sort of subsidy in this country, pointing out that producers were the beneficiaries of subsidies of foreign governments which were far-sighted enough to recognize the importance of their film industries, not only as a means of revenue, but as both an internal and external social force. He said that runaway production would continue to increase until something was done along the lines of government subsidy, as had been done for the oil, airline and railroad industries, as well as the farm bloc. The producer said that anybody who thought that the very survival of the American film industry was not being threatened by the lack of subsidies when they were so easily available abroad was just not thinking realistically. He said that everybody in the American industry should put aside individual differences and unite in this one effort because, he added, without it things could only get worse and not better. Foreman said he was particularly con cerned over the need for a national film school, a project he had been advocating for the last five years. This, too, would be under government subsidy and would be attached to the Hollywood studios where creators and craftsmen could be developed. Stressing that new creative people must be developed to take the place of the current producers, Foreman said that a large number of great filmmakers had passed on. He said he had been told constantly that “there are no good, new, young producers around,” but, he added, nobody has done anything about it. Foreman said that he was 48 years old and that the average age of the top Hollywood producers was the mid-forties, adding that “that doesn’t give any of us too much longer to go.” “I could very easily sit back and not give a damn who takes my place,” Foreman said, “but I happen to consider films a fine art form and I happen to care about the future of the American film industry. This is why I think that the national film school is not a matter of luxury but a matter of survival.” Foreman will give lectures at Ohio State University and Northwestern University among others. He spoke at Yale on October 11. Allied Artists Reports Loss For Year Ended June 29 HOLLYWOOD — In the annual report of Allied Artists Pictures Corp., mailed to stockholders Friday (11), Steve Broidy, president, disclosed that the consolidated operations of Allied Artists Pictures Corp. and its subsidiary corporations for the fiscal year ended June 29, 1963, resulted in a net loss of $2,747,000, equivalent, after payment of preferred dividends, to $2.97 per share on the 931,608 common shares outstanding at the yearend. This compared with a net loss in 1962 of $1,580,000 or $1.73 per common share after preferred dividends. The net loss, Broidy explained, included the following write-offs and yearend adjustments as indicated in the financial report: approximately $1,000,000 in picture inventory; unabsorbed studio overhead of $572,000. In addition to the $2,747,000 loss a reserve of $376,000 was provided covering claims of the Internal Revenue Service for additional federal income taxes for the years 1949 through 1957, which claims Allied Artists is contesting. He also stated that management believes that the first quarter of the current year will show good earnings. Myerson a Loew's Director NEW YORK — Bernard Myerson, executive vice-president of Loew’s Theatres, has been elected to the board of directors. Myerson joined Loew’s in September after 25 years in executive posts with Fabian Theatres. A Big Grosser! UNQUESTIONABLY One of the BEST pictures of the year the Sadist ..." 'SADIST . . . Looms big." — Variety "ARCH HALL JR. WHO PLAYS THE TITLE ROLE IS A REAL DISCOVERY." — Manila Mirror COMING! IN TECHNICOLOR • The TRAVELING SALESMAN • DEADWOOD • STRIGANZA IN RELEASE ★ WILD GUITAR ★ FALL GUY ★ EEGAH ★ THE CHOPPERS F airway-international Films 2221 W. Olive Avenue 845-6628 BURBANK, CALIF. WRITE OR PHONE BOXOFFICE October 21, 1963 11