Canadian Film Weekly (Dec 8, 1943)

OF CANADA LTD. 277 Victorias St. Toronto For 1943-1944 LADY LET'S DANCE Starring the lovely BELITA in a gorgeous skating and dancing spectacle. To be followed by a 2nd BELITA picture as yet unnamed. * WOMEN IN BONDAGE (formerly “Hitler's WV omen’) The degradation of women under Nazi rule. * WHERE ARE YOUR CHILDREN Youthful waywardness laid bare. * GROUND CREW starring JACKIE COOPER in & mighty drama supercharged with battlefront action. * FIGHTING QUARTERMASTER A booming saga of the Service of Supply * the fastest-growing Company in the industry MONOGRAM PICTURES Toronto Montreal St. John Winnipeg Calgary Vancouver Canadian FILM WEEKLY HH On SQUARE A Gun at My Feet I stood in the middle of a busy intersection a few days before the first snow fell and looked down at a revolver. It was an oldfashioned six-shooter type, like those used in cowboy films. My shoe had struck the barrel, for the weapon was imbedded in the asphalt. Dropped on a hot day, it had been slowly pressed into the sun-softened roadway by the wheels of many vehicles. Then my eyes were drawn away by a nearly gleam and came to rest on a number of small objects shining dully against the black asphalt. Lost or discarded, they had been imprisoned. It was a common city scene. That might easily be a symbolic picture of urban life before the war. Ways of life, like the objects in the asphalt, seem to have been ground into familiar patterns by the ever-whirling wheels of the machine age. There is still a sameness about large cities, though the varied garb of the armed services has given novelty to the dress of the people and flags have brightened up the ogres of stone and steel that hover over everything. Old channels of thought, too, have been made livelier by the flow of new mechanical, scientific and . social ideas. But the impression of general conformity is still strong. This like-mindedness has conditioned people to accept ideas on a2 large scale, without examining their soundness or the source of them. The means of entertainment and communication are a part of this pattern. But entirely new conceptions are finding their way into them and the post-war world may see more individual thinking than has ever been known before. The desire of people and nations to retain and develop their individual characters has brought forth the most heroic resistance in the history of the world against those who would press everything into a single mold called the New Order. We are inspired by a fear of obvious regimentation and the hope of a truer, more humanitarian civilization. Such principles have more appeal to the soul and will of mankind than conquest for the sake of conquest, as our enemies have found out. An Infinite Variety Something stops my train of thought. A key. Wonder to what it opened the way and what the people were like who lived or worked there? Look here, a brass button off a soldier’s uniform. In what far off battlefront is its owner now? There’s a hub cap, a screw, a bottle cap, part of a lipstick tube, a watch gear—oh, all kinds of stuff. That commonplace picture has become new and interesting. That’s where sameness ends and variety begins—in the individual character of every Kame or person. For each has a unique story. By now drivers are imnpatiently sounding thelr horns and people on the pavement are staring curlously at a man standing in the middle of a roadway apparently preoccupied with something on the ground. As I turn to go about my business I take a last look at the revolver. It’s a toy, the loss of which caused some imaginative youngster some unhappy moments. He, too, dreamed of an interesting future while only playing at life. 2 & = Fast Changeovers Belleve it or not, I got the best of Harry Price in a deal the, other day. Harry was wearing a tie I liked and I conned hint’ into changing with me—right on Yonge street at 12:30 noon. The flaw is that Harry still thinks he swindled me so don't wise him up... The flu had quite a few film fellows down—J. J. Fitzgibbons, Ben Geldsaler and Jim Nairn among them... I got a laugh out of 2 gag pulled by Oscar Levant at a Harpo Marx party. No napkins were provided so Levant explained to the guests that! “from time to time a woolly dog will pass among you.” December 8, 143 Board of Trade Studies 16 Mms (Continued from Page 1) should not be used by distributors in any way that may assist in the promotion or rental of 35 mm. films. Any dispute in respect to competition arising out of the showing of 16 mm. films will be referred to the Industry Relations Committee. W. A. Perry moved the resolution, which was seconded by N. A. Taylor. The discussion arose out of a recent declaration of the Motion Picture Theatres Association of Ontario, which protested such practices. R. W. Bolstad was elected chairman for the coming year, succeeding Louis Rosenfeld, and Sydney Samson became vice president. With the exception of the Industry Relations Committee, to which William Redpath was added, the personnel of all committees will be the same. Samson assumed the duties of ‘chairman during the latter part of the meeting. A committee consisting of Leo Devaney, S. B. Taube and Nat Taylor was appointed to discuss Order No. 332, which curtails advertising, with the chairman of that section of the Wartime Prices and Trade Board. A resolution of condolence, to be forwarded to the families of three deceased members, was adopted. During the year N. L. Nathanson, J. P. O’Loghlin and C. M. Robson passed away. The report of the year’s activities was presented by Louis Rosenfeld and accepted by the meeting. In behalf of the Motion Picture Branch J. J. Fitzgibbons presented F. D. Tolchard, secretarytreasurer, with a Victory Bond as a token of appreciation for his help. Tolchard expressed his thanks, saying that being associated with the motion picture industry gave him a great deal of personal pleasure. Important War Aid Post to Salamis Mr. B. C. Salamis, owner of the Fairyland and Laval Theatres, and Secretary of the Greek War Relief Fund, has been appointed Canadian Representative of the Greek Red Cross in Foreign Countries, which has headquarters in London. He will act as Haison officer among the Greek Red Cross, the Greek War Relief Fund and the Canadian Red Cross Society. All are collaborating in the dispatch to occupied Greece of food and medical supplies, financed by Canadians’ subscriptions to the Greek War Relief Fund. ©