Canadian Film Weekly (Aug 19, 1942)

August 19th, 1942 Champs Show in Warner Short Joe Louis, Jack Dempsey and . Gene Tunney will be seen on the screen together for the first time in a two-reel National Defense short subject titled ‘Champions Train Champions.” Warners has completed negotiations with the U.S. Army, Navy and Coast Guard to assign the three great heavyweight champions of past and present to the filmnig of the picture, which will show how they are performing their current task of helping condition Uncle Sam’s fighting men. * * Richard Fraser, recently signed to a long-term contract by Warner Bros., has been cast in the important role of Pastor Aalesen in “Edge of Darkness,” film adaptation of the William Woods novel about Nazi-dominated Norway. Ann Sheridan and Errol Flynn will co-star in the production. Other new names announced for the cast include Morris Carnovsky, important player in many New York Theatre Guild productions, and Roman Bohnen, who recently played at Warners in “The Hard Way.’’ Lewis Milestone will direct “Edge of Darkness,” and the producer is Henry Blanke. * * * Purchase of an important unproduced play property, ‘One More Tomorrow,” in the screen version of which Olivia de Havilland is to be starred, is announced by Warner Bros. Dennis Morgan, currently engaged in the starring role of “The Desert Song,” will appear opposite Miss de Havilland in “One More Tomorrow.” The picture will be directed by Curtis Bernhardt and produced by Mark Hellinger. ‘A9th Parallel Barred in S.A. (Continued from Page 2) record crowds to Buenos Aires’ largest theatre for more than a week. Audiences always loudly boo and hiss the Nazi characters and the pro-democratic press had hailed the picture. German and Italian protests last year stopped the showing of Charlie Chaplin’s ‘The Great Dictator.” Hundreds of Buenos Aires residents crossed the Platte River to Colonia, Uruguay, where its showing was allowed: of Independent theatres, Canadian FILM WEEKLY Laxer Indies Booklet Blasts Chains, Distribs (Continued from Page 1) construction closed, the Chains have turned to the independent territory for extension in Canada, “The weapon now employed by the Chains for absorbing Independent theatres is that of taking away their pictures, or as it may be otherwise stated, worsening the theatre by depriving them of the pictures of certain producers, by selecting top bracket pictures, leaving the poorer pictures to the Independents, by taking away their runs of particular producers—in short, by overbuying.” Laxer, in his foreword, charged that, ‘‘there persists, on the part of certain sections of the industry an effort to alter the original regulations from their true intent and purpose.” This claim crops up again in the Memorandum, dated March 26th and signed by Henry Falk as president of the National Council. “The attitude and conduct of the Distributors and Chain exhibitors,” it states, “appears to be one of disregard of the Government’s plan and purpose as shown in its Wartime Prices and Trade Board measures . . The seeming intention of the Distributors and Chains is to pursue their business as if no Wartime Board had come into being.” Quoting the Dominion Government’s Bureau of Statistics to qualify the charges of attempted acquisition of Independent theatres, the Memorandum states that the growth of the number of theatres under the ownership of chains with more than four theatres grew from 18 per cent in 1930 to about 50 per cent of Canada’s 1250 theatres in 1942. The percentage of total revenue of the chains, it was further stated, increased during the same period Assoc'd Screen News Handles NFB Films Two French subjects were recorded for the National Film Board at Associated Screen Studios, both with Gerard Arthur supplying voice for the narration. “Radio Canada” and the French version of ‘Women as Warriors” were the two short subjects recorded. * at * Norman Hull of Associated Screen Studios has been in the Canadian Rockies for a few weeks shooting color motion pictures. W. J. Singleton, sales manager, was in Ottawa on business. Ld a x Recent visitor to Montreal and Associated Screen Studios was J. W. Pechet, of Canadian Screen Publicity, Winnipeg. from 40 per cent to about 75 per cent in 1942 out of a total of $38,000,000 taken in at the boxoffice. Also contained in the booklet are two more Memorandums reviewing the policies and rulings applied to the motion picture industry, as stated by R. G. McMullen, director of the Theatre and Film Section, and the Hon. J. L. Iisley. Some are criticized mildly, others vigorously. Three Appendices, ‘‘A”’ and “B” dealing with the general and particular policy respectively of the Wartime Prices and Trade Board; and “C,’’ a reprint of a monograph on overbuying by a Congressional committee, are included. There are also two Exhibits, “A” and “Bb,” the first being a letter from H. G. Stevenson, president of the Alberta Independents, to James Stewart, Administrator of Services, and “B,” 2 table showing the increased revenue of the distributing companies. The reason tor the issuance of the booklet, as explained therein, is that the theatre chains and distributors had made representations regarding the degree of control outside the channels of the Motion Picture National Advisory Council, an act contrary to a plan agreed on at the time it was formed. Those whose names were attached to the Memorandum to Mr. Stewart were A. J. Mason, Nova Scotia; Henry Falk, Ontario; B. E. Laxer, Ontario; R. McTavish, British Columbia; B. R. Johnson, Saskatchewan; H. G. Stevenson, Alberta; A. A. Fielding, New Brunswick; and H. Schulman, Manitoba. The booklet, in effect a bombshell, may result in the most violent ruckus ever experienced in the Canadian motion picture industry. Maybe the Film Was Too Interesting Enoch Edmonson, 76, sitting in a theatre in Quitman, Ga., got up with the rest of the crowd to see what had happened when a pistol shot sounded. No one discovered the source of the shot, the show went on and presently Edmonson left the theatre. Several blocks away he discovered that a pistol he carried in his pocket had been discharged. But he was not aware he had been wounded. In a hospital after, attendants said the bullet coursed upward through Edmonson’s back, punctured a lung and lodged in his neck. He was in a serious condition. Page 5 TRevivals in |New York i Algiers—1938 romantic drama; C. Boyer, H. Lamarr, S. Gurie. Buccaneer, The—1938 semi-historical romantic drama; F. March, F. Gaal. Cat and the Canary—1939 comedymystery; B. Hope, P. Goddard. Doctor Takes a Wife—1940 romantic farce-comedy; L. Young, R. Milland. Drums Along the Mohawk—1939 Technicolor melodrama; Fonda & Colbert. Farewell to Arms—1932 revival of Hemingway’s famous story; G. Cooper, H. Hayes. Grapes of Wrath—1940 dramatization of Steinbeck’s novel; H. Fonda, Jane Darwell. Great Victor Herbert—1932 musical; W. Connolly, M. Martin, A. Jones. Joy of Living—1938 comedy; I. Dunne, D. Fairbanks, Jr. Long Voyage Home—1940 nautical drama from 4 O’Neill plays; T. Mitchell, I. Hunter. Love from a Stranger — 1937 psychopathic melodrama; A. Harding, B. Rathbone. Love Me Forever—1935 operatic film, G. Moore, L. Carrillo. Milky Way—1936 comedy; Harold Lloyd. Night Train—1940 melodrama; R. Harrison, M. Lockwood. Only Angels Have Wings—1939 aviation melodrama; C. Grant, J. Arthur. Philadelphia Story —1940 comedy from the B’way play; K. Hepburn, C. Grant, J. Stewart. Primrose Path—1fg30 drama; G. Rogers, J. McCrea. Road to Zanzibar—1941 farce comedy; Bing Crosby, B. Hope, D. Lamour. She Married Her Boss — 1935 comedy; Colbert, M. Douglas. Storm in a Teacup—1938 comedy; V. Leigh, R. Harrison. Submarine D-1—1937 drama; G. Brent, P. O’Brien. Tovarich—1937 comedy; C. Boychuk, C. Colbert. Sussman Quits Fox William Sussman has resigned from 20th-Fox and will announce a new affiliation following a short vacation. Sussman was eastern sales manager of 20th-Fox for many years and was recently appointed a home office sales representative. Complete Theatre Equipment and Supplies COLEMAN ELECTRIC CO. 258 VICTORIA ST:, Toronto, Ont.