Canadian Film Weekly (Jan 5, 1944)

Page scan 0002 from Canadian Film Weekly

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Film Weekly
Date:
Jan 5, 1944
Volume:
Canadian Film Weekly (Jan 5, 1944)
Leaf #:
0002
Language:
English
Subjects:
Motion Pictures, Film Industry Trade Magazine",Canad
Collection:
Canada, Hollywood Studio System, and Global Cinema
Format:
periodicals
Contributor:
Media History Digital Library, Canadian Picture Pioneers, Paul Moore and Jessica Whitehead
Coordinator:
Media History Digital Library
Description:

Canadian Film Weekly

  • Editor: Hye Bossin (1942-64)
  • Renamed Canadian Film & TV Bi-Weekly (1965-69, editor: Stan Helleur)
  • Renamed Candian Film Weekly(1970, editor: Ed Hocura)

Canadian Film Weekly (1942-70) was edited by Hye Bossin and published by Film Publications of Canada, Ltd., wholly owned by leading exhibitor, Nat Taylor. In the late 1930s, Taylor was head of the Independent Theatre Association and his Toronto-based chain, Twinex-Century (Twentieth Century), was the largest independent circuit in the country. In 1941, however, he negotiated for chain affiliation with upstart Canadian Odeon before leveraging a better deal and greater booking control with nationally-dominant Famous Players Canada, Ltd. No longer independent, he took ownership of the Independent Theatre Association’s semi-monthly magazine, The Canadian Motion Picture Exhibitor (1940-41), installed Hye Bossin as editor, and laid plans to relaunch in January 1942 under a new name, Canadian Film Weekly. This enduring key publication was no longer solely focused on independent exhibitors but instead covered the entire industry on a national scale–exhibition, distribution and production–with some attention given to studio news from New York and Hollywood.

Bossin was a vibrant writer with a canny way with words, admired in the industry in the United States as well as Canada. He was one of a large family who lived above their father’s secondhand shop in the Jewish “ward” downtown in Toronto. His older brother was a bookie with ties to the underground; his younger brother was a famous journalist, protégé of Walter Winchell, and Hollywood screenwriter. In contrast, Hye spent nearly two decades learning the publishing trade in a printers’ shop before trying a stint as a Hollywood publicist, then writing a column for the Toronto Star Weekly before taking Taylor’s offer to edit the Film Weekly. Bossin was central to the creation of the Canadian Film Archive, the Canadian Film Awards, and he wrote some of the first histories of early cinema in Canada, published in the first volumes of the annual Canadian Film Weekly Year Book (1951-70).

In 1957, the Film Weekly had incorporated the rival Canadian Moving Picture Digest (1917-57), and began dating its start to that paper’s earlier start as the Canadian Universal Bulletin (1915-18). Subsequent variants of the Canadian Film Weekly and its yearbooks always claimed their roots all the way back to 1915 and the origins of the film industry trade press in Canada. After Bossin died in 1964, the Weekly’s new editor, Stan Helleur, renamed the magazine Canadian Film & TV Bi-Weekly, scaling back the pace of publishing but adding a purview for television and broadcasting. The annual was renamed similarly, its subtitle amended to “Year Book of the Canadian Entertainment Industry.” An attempted renewal to weekly format in 1970, edited by Ed Hocura, was short-lived and Nat Taylor decided instead to relaunch under an entirely new title, Canadian Film Digest (1971-77) and Canadian Film Digest Yearbook (1971-86).

– Paul Moore, March 2024

Further Reading

  • Bossin, Hye. “Canada and the Film: The Story of the Canadian Motion Picture Industry.” In Canadian Film Weekly Year Book of the Canadian Motion Picture Industry, 21-41. Toronto: Film Publications of Canada, 1951.
  • Moore, Paul. “Chronicling a National History: Hye Bossin’s Canadian Film Weekly and Year Book.” In Eric Hoyt and Kelley Conway, eds., Global Movie Magazines. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2024.

Date Added:
August 08, 2024
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THE PICK OF THE PICTURES | REVIEWS INFORMATION FP RATINGS i Vol. 9, No. 1 REVIEWS FROM FILM DAILY, NEW YORK January 5, 1944 ‘Around The World’ with Kay Kyser and His Band RKO 81 Mins. MUSICAL BINGE HAS A WORLD OF ENTERTAINMENT TO OFFER THOSE WHO RELISH LIVELY RHYTHMS, “Around the World” is a field day for the younger generation. For the hep cats it’s sheer ecstasy. For the grown-ups it is likely to be too much of the same thing. However, being deliberately aimed at young tastes, at those who go in for the Kay Kyser brand of entertainment, the production is certain to get a lively play at the box office. The film is nothing more than a succession of musical numbers following one another breathlessly. Most of them are of the jive school. The entertainment keeps going furiously from first toot to last. A lot of comedy of the obvious sort that appeals heavily to unsophisticated people is thrown in to lend variety. Plot or story there is none. The Kyser fans will not be concerned about this, for the musical items are strictly in the groove as far as they are concerned. Certainly the production is a conglomeration of corn, but that’s the stuff that goes solidly with the young people. Jimmy McHugh and Harold Adamson have knocked out a load of tunes for the film. All of them are peppy and quite singable. The performers in the films are Supposed to be members of a troupe entertaining the service personnel overseas. We follow them from hop to hop. Kyser works like a beaver to keep the entertainment sizzling. He domInates the film, although Joan Davis and Mischa Auer are several of the other players who take the ball away from Kyser whenever they are around. Marcy McGuire, Wally Brown, Alan Carney and Ish Kabibble are some of the others who add to the fun. Allan Dwan produced and directed with a loose hand. Georgia Carroll, Harry Ish Kabibble, Sully Mason, Julie Conway, Diane Pendleton, Kay Kyser’s Band, Jack & Max, Little Fred’s Football Dogs, Robert Armstrong. DIRECTION, Okay. Geed. PHOTOGRA ‘Women in Bondage’ with Gail Patrick, Nancy Kelly Monogram 79 Mins. PIC ABOUT NAZI TREATMENT OF WOMEN SHOULD DO NICELY IF GIVEN RIGHT EXPLOITATION. In this offering the Nazis’ brutal treatment of women is dramatized. Properly exploited the picture should play to excellent returns at the box office. It marks Herman Millakowsky’s debut as a producer in the United States and has been well directed by Steve Sekely. Jeffrey Bernerd served as associate producer and Trem Carr functioned as executive director for Monogram. The acting is uniformly good and is highlighted by the work of Nancy Kelly as a maid who cannot marry her sweetheart, Bill Henry, because of the rule that only physically perfect women can marry SS soldiers, and she has been rejected by the Reich because of near-sightedness. Gail Patrick is co-starred with Miss Kelly, while Gertrude Michael, Tala Birell, Anne Nagel, Mary Forbes, Maris Wrixon, Gisela Werbisek, Rita Quigley, Alan Baxter, H. B. Warner and Roland Varno are among the important principals. Miss Patrick, married to Varno, an officer on the Russian front, returns after 10 years to wartorn Germany. She is forced to serve as a section leader under Miss Michael, district leader in the youth movement. Miss Patrick’s group includes Miss Kelly, who, when prevented from marrying Corp. Henry, denounces the government. Miss Kelly is arrested and declared insane. She is shot as she attempts to rejoin Henry. Miss Michael, hating Miss Patrick, because of her leniency toward her charges, orders her examined under the ruling that all women must bear children. Miss Patrick’s husband, wounded beyond hope of recovery, is home from the front, and the woman is horrified when Miss Michael tries to compel her to become a mother by her brotherin-law, Baxter. Learning of the situation, Varno commits suicide. At this juncture, an American air raid is announced, and Miss Patrick manages to reveal to the planes the Jocation of the hidden munitions werks nearby. CAST: Gail Patrick, Nancy Kelly, Gertrude Michael, Anne Nagel, Tala Birell, Mary Forbes, Maris Wrixon, Gisela Werbisek, Rita Quigley, Francine Bordecux, Una Franks, Bill Henry, H, B. Warner, Alan Baxter, Felix Basch, Roland Varno, Ralph Lynn, Frederic Brumn. DIRECTION, Good, PHOTOGRAPHY, Geod, ‘Jack London’ with Michael O'Shea, Susan Hayward UA 94 Mins. BRONSTON’S FIRST UA EFFORT IS FINE BIOGRAPHICAL FILM WITH EXCELLENT BOX OFFICE POSSIBILITIES, Samuel Bronston’s first production for United Artists is a highly creditable screen version of the life of Jack London bristling with showmanly qualities. It places in the theatreman’s hand a property of considerable box office value. Bronston could hardly have chosen a better subject than London, robust figure of American literature, for his United Artists bow-in. The imagination stirring life that the writer led is the stuff guaranteed to command Iively public attention. The showman’s job of selling the attraction has been made easier by the fact that the film kas been brought close to the events of the present by playing up London’s views of the Japanese menace, based on his personal experiences. London in the picture is made to see the shape of things to come. This treatment of the subject gives point to the film, besides adding to the entertainment value of the offering. The picture takes London from the early days when he was trying to find himself to the height of his fame as a writer of life in the raw. Much time is devoted to his romance with Charmian— a romance that has its quota of moving moments. Because of the kaleidoscopic and eventful life that London lived, the picture could not have escaped being episodic. A lot of the London life has been crowded into the footage. The film is peopled with so many characters that many of them are necessarily sketchy. However, the characters of London and Charmian are well realized. Michael O’Shea plays the author vividly and forcefully. Charmian is enacted charmingly by Susan Hayward. Other players to be noted are Osa Massen, Harry Davenport, Frank Craven, Louise Beavers. CAST: Michael O'Shea, Susan Hayward, Osa Massen, Harry Davenport, Frank Craven, Virginia Mayo, Ralph Morgan, Louise Beavers, Jonathan Hale, Leonard Strong, Paul Hurst, Regis Toomey, Hobart Cavanaugh, Olin Howlin, Albert Van Antwerp, Ernie Adams, John Kelly, Robert Homans, Morgan Conway, Edward Earle, Arthur Loft, Lumsden Hare, Brooks Benedict. DIRECTION, Good, PHOTOGRAPHY, Goed, ‘His Butler’s Sister’ with Deanne Durbin, Pat O’Brien Franchot Tone Universal 4 Mins, NEW DURBIN PICTURE A SHEER DELIGHT; MUSIC AND ROMANCE SUPERBLY BLENDED; STAR AT HER BEST. in “His Butler’s Sister’ Deanna Durbin finds romance again. The exhibitor need tell his patrons no more than that to assure the success of this booking. Fine as the production is for all types of audiences, it is the women particularly who will lose their hearts to the charm of Miss Durbin’s latest offering. The film is rich in that warm, human quality in which all the Durbin pictures abound. Here are romance and music in a mixture that is always in the finest of taste and never less than supremely entertaining. The music has been selected carefully and given a presentation that is effective and classy as it is show manly. In the process of surrendering her heart to the man she loves Miss Durbin lifts her lovely voice in four musical numbers. Her most impressive exhibition is her rendering of an aria from the Puccini opera “Turandot.” A departure for the young lady is the singing of a Russian medley. Two other numbers complete Miss Durbin’s musical chores. The man in Miss Durbin’s life this time is Franchot Tone, a famous composer. Miss Durbin is a small-town girl who comes to New York determined to land on the stage. The plot resolves around her efforts to get Tone to hear her sing. It is her good luck that her half-brother, Pat O’Brien, is Tone’s butler. She welcomes a maid’s job in the Tone menage in the hope it will advance her ambition. Nothing happens, however, until Tone hears her sing st the butler’s ball. By that time she and he have fallen passionately in love. Miss Durbin, O’Brien and Tone give first-rate performances. Favorable enactments are given also by Evelyn Ankers, Elsa Jansen, Walter Catlett, Akim Tamiroff, Alan Mowbray, Frank Jenks and Andrew Tombes, CAST: Deanna Durbin, Pat O’Brien, Franchot Tone, Evelyn Ankers, Elsa Jansen, Walter Catlett, Akim Tamiroff, Alan Mowbray, Frank Jenks, Sig Arne, Franklin Pangbern, Andrew Tombes. DIRECTION, Excellent. PHOTOGRAPHY, Excellent,