Canadian Film Digest (Nov 1972)

ws, Page 2 | Domestic Notes Canadian Cablesystems has reportedly filed a preliminary prospectus for the sale to the public of 49 per cent of the common shares it owns in Famous Players Theatres Ltd. The approximate size of the issue will be 3.5 million Shares; the sale will return to Canadian Cablesystems about $28 million. The stock is expected to begin trading in mid-December. Gulf and Western, currently holding 51 per cent of the shares, declined to pick up the remainder, which would have given them 100 per cent ownership; Government disapproval is cited as a possible deterrent. Cambrian Broadcasting of Sudbury has purchased majority interest in Studio’ Centre, the Toronto film complex organized by Terry Dene a short time ago. Dene will rent space as independent .producer. Cambrian formerly held a minority share; it owns principally the ‘Sudbury CTV affiliate, plus a talent booking firm. Plans call for increased TV and film production, explaining that Toronto’s CTV affiliate, CFTO, can’t handle everything. The CFDC is moving right along with its new investments in films budgeted at under $100,000. Four properties have been approved, with the corporation spending $60,000 on each. In Toronto, Don Owen will film Rosedale Lady, and Jack Cunningham will make Peep. In Montreal Jean-Guy Noel will direct Tu Brules ... Tu Brules for the Association Cooperative de Productions Audio-Visuelles, and Andre Forcier will direct Les Bar Salon for Les Eteliers du Cinema. Over forty submissions were received; the main cause of rejection was the lack of scriptwriting. Also cited was that the films lacked substance or were uninteresting. There is an annual fund of $600,000 available; ‘the deadline for submissions for this year’s batch of goodies is December 15. Les Productions Mutuelles Ltee of Montreal _is now working on seven separate projects. In Montreal Denis Heroux is filming J’ai Mon Voyage with Dominique Michel, Jean Lefebvre, and Rene Simard; Rapheal Levy is working on Maggie in Paris with Bruce Robinson and Louise Marleau. In conjunction with David Wolper, the firm will film Brian Moore’s The Revolution Script. And using France and Canada, Marc Simenon will make Toronto office, headed by Doug McMaster, has been opened. ‘ Moving from companies to workers: IATSE Local 262 recently negotiated its first contract with Grimco Amusement Co. Ltd. of Montreal. Grimco operates nine theatres . . . Nabet is to hold elections this month for the office of Regional Vice-President in Rgions 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9... Gerard G. Graham, director of planning and research for the NFB, has been elected Editorial Vice-President of The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers at their annual conference in late October in Los Angeles. Graham’s duties will be to run a large department which publishes technical journals and books, organizes conferences and assists with development of technical programs. Centre Stage: ACTRA is in the midst of preparing its latest edition of Face to Face with Talent. Last year’s effort contained over 1,100 names, and the projection is for a 1972 increase The new talent associations, recent arrivals on the scene, report good progress in their beginning months. Select Talent and The Principals Office, both working out of Toronto, find that the hardest part is education: they are not agencies. They supply a package of the different skills necessary for a given project, but all business is left up to the individual member. Comments Principals’. Ted Follows: “People find it hard to believe that someone else doesn’t do negotiations. The person in the office simply makes sure the two parties are connected. Canadians are catching on, but New York can’t figure it out at all. They don’t have them there, I guess. Sometimes we discuss whether one or several of us should take a particular offer, but that’s all. We are an association.”’ Festivals: The Second International Festival of Cinema in 16mm was held in Montreal from October 24-29. Organized by the Cooperative Cinecastes Independants, the event was sponsored by the Canada Council and the NFB as a non-competitive, informational and cultural event ... The Federal Government has apparently set up an office to co-ordinate Film festivals in Canada. Where the office is or who runs it no one seems to know ... Speaking somewhat of Pelletier, he said recently that the NFB and Canada Council grants for film making are to be increased by 1972-73. . . JeanClaude Labrecque’s Les Smattes represented Canada at the International Festival Journee Cinematographique at Cathage, Tunisia. Labrecque attended .. . November 1972 More Festivals: On October 18 public screenings were held at Lawrence Park Collegiate in Toronto for the winners of the Third Annual Canadian Society of Cine Amateurs gathering. Over 100 entries from 24 countries were received. The State of the Canadian Film Industry Dept. La Vrai Nature de Bernadette played a highly successful run in Paris in September, joining a flock of other Canadian films enjoying success there. After its domination of the Canadian Film Awards,-plans are for a midNovember opening in Toronto ... The Poor Alex Theatre in Toronto held a festival of Canadian films lasting all summer. Each was shown for a week, and an audience questionnaire was tabulated. Those who attended were mainly 20-30 years old; 92 percent enjoyed the films; 89 percent said they would attend Canadian showings in first run theatres, and only 53 percent who came claimed to be frequent moviegoers. The Festival was named Naked Came th Maple Leaf, and was organised by the Film Makers Distribution Centre. Other Showings: Toronto’s New Yorker Theatre a pioneer in the showing of Bergman, Godard and other ‘art’ films, has changed its name to the Tivoli and become an exploitation. house ... Following the success of its Love Story opening in Italian, Paramount staged a gala premier of The Godfather at Toronto’s St. Clair Theatre. A nearby merchant donated flowers, and the manager wore a tux. Famous Players’ manager of the St. Clair, Pino Traversa, says the turnout was 1150 in the theatres 1400 seats. Many came because the jokes were coarser in the dubbed version. Censorship Jottings: Prima Films reports the usual inconsistencies in trying to get films passed by the various provincial boards. In B.C. Fritz the Cat is called obscene and O Calcutta is passed, while in Ontario Fritz is okay and O Calcutta is banned ... Ernie Jamison, PC MLA says that Alberta seems headed for classification rather than cen sorship. A special leg slative committee has been set up to investigate the situation, and has received 150 briefs to date. Public hearings ' began in Edmonton and Calgary on October 11 -and 12 ... Further in Alberta Events: In ‘TxeBPyg Without a Stitch and Portnoy’s Complaint, and-nixing A Clockwork Orange, Judge Lucien Maynard gave hs reasons as follows: Stitch was okayed by the censors but seized by Edmonton’s Finest. It was not obscene because other boards had allowed it and therefore it was it’s showing was representative of nommunity standards. People: Allister Graham of IATSE in Sidney: Glace Bay, was appointed to the Senate. He was Chief Steward for many years at Radio CJFX in Antigonish ... Jim Fustey, OdeonMorton Advertising Manager in Winnipeg, staged a successful campaign in an imaginative fashion for the opening of Columbia’s The New Centurions. He sold the opening night to the Police Association for a benefit, and most of the audience consisted of police and their wives. (They were very affected by the ending.) He arranged for author Joseph Waumbaugh to call a CJOB hot line show for ten minutes of air time. The whole effort prompted an editorial in the Winnipeg Tribune, written by the city editor. Awards: Jim Hanley’s profile of Jack Nicolson, made on a $1500 budget for ETV, has won the prize for Best Profile Documentary at the Hollywood Festival of World Television. A close runner-up was Hanley’s similar profile of Stanley Kramer, also made in Toronto. Competition included profiles of Harold Robbins and a noted black painter, and all were substantially higher in cost. At the screening, the seldom-heard sound of applause was very much in evidence. No Awards: To whoever removed one of the highlights of Milos Forman’s Taking Off: The Screwing Song. Sequence was notably absent from print which showed recently in Toronto, yet was enjoyed by all during its first run, And the recent showing was at a house frequented by those who would appreciate the real intent of the song. Back to Hanley: Another project for Hanley is the Searching for Values educational programs, made for Learning Corporation of America. Well-known movies are cut to twenty minutes to illustrate a certain social, English, or guidance theme. For example, Brando’s On the Waterfront places the question of duty to friends versus duty to society. About fifteen films have been adapted in such a way by Hanley’s visual Consultants of Toronto, —_ ——— ENTERTAINMENT STOCKS STOCK CLOSE CLOSE NETCHG. HIGHFOR72 LOW FOR 72 OCT. 272 OCT. 27 7 TORONTO STOCK EXCHANGE Baton 2112 (Split 10% 34 11 7s Bushnell Bm BN —y 9%, 7 CFCN 11 9%, —1% 141% 9 CHUM B 121% 12 —\y 13 8 Canadian Cable Systems 1834 20 +1% 231% 141, IWC Industries Ltd.3.40 3.20 — 20 3.50 1.75 Maclean-Hunter Cabie 154% 15\% = 18 812 Premier Cable 1874 1854 —M% 23 117, Q Broadcasting 6% 6 —% 954 5 Rank Organization 25 24°4 —% 2934 21% Selkirk A 25 ea 13 +1 14 9 Standard Broadcasting 1614 15 —1% 17 13's Western Broadcasting 15% 14% —l% 18% 12 MONTREAL STOCK EXCHANGE Astral 1.90 2.05 +.15 2.60 1.45 VANCOUVER STOCK EXCHANGE All Can A 4% 5M%4 +1 5'b 1.00 All Can B 514 4.85 —.65 618 1.15 NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE Columbia Pictures 95% 10% “+ 147% 914 Walt Disney _ 180 1881 +814 20134 132%4 Gulf & Western 35% 3434 — 443, 28 Lowes "46 473% +15, 60! 4614 MCA 26 2434, = 454 35% 23) Metromedia 343% 34% +34 39 271 MGM 212 19% —2Y% 221% 1634 National General 285% 30 +13, 343.4 21'2 Transamerica 18% 17'% — 2315 1614 20th-Fox i 9% 9M —5e 17 RB, Warner Communications 40% 40 —ly 50% 3114 AMERICAN STOCK EXCHANGE Allied Artists 4M, No. Tr. 7M ho Cinerama 2h2 2M —Y, 374 214 Filmways | 435 No. Tr. 8 354 General Cinema 43% No. Tr. 5512 31!2 MGM Brass Visit To Inaugurate Metrovision in Toronto Holiday Inns Sake cous & & SNR, From left to right: Twinex President N.A. Taylor, MGM , a sere hg ae Bae tt ne a a) = ef = “= 4 Executive V-P Doug Netter, Mrs. Taylor, MGM V-P in Charge of Sales Bill Madden Astral Announces Purchase of Contro! Block of Shares The control block of shares, formerly owned by the family and estate of Astral founder Jerry Solway, were officially transferred on October 24, 1972. Purchasers were a group of investors including company President Martin Mockner and Vice-President Lawrence Fein. Other purchasers include Edper Investments (controlled by Edward and Peter Bronfman of Seagrams lineage), Bellevue-Pathe President Harold Greenberg, Austin Beutel of the Montreal investment counselling firm of Beutel, Goodman and Company. At a meeting of the Board of Directors of the company, held following the purchase, Toronto lawyer Trevor Eyton, Harold Greenberg, and Austin Beutel were elected to the board, replacing Joan Solway, William Rosenfeld, and Alfred Schwartz. Beutel was elected chairman of the board. Astral is distributor of foreign art films, American International product, and has recently been financing Canadian Productions, including Another Smith for Paradise. The company also controls Mustang Drive-Ins. The Canadian Film Digest photo: Bob Mickleboro i } t j t ; | 2 ee