Canadian Film Weekly (Feb 16, 1944)

Page scan 0002 from Canadian Film Weekly

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Film Weekly
Date:
Feb 16, 1944
Volume:
Canadian Film Weekly (Feb 16, 1944)
Leaf #:
0002
Language:
English
Subjects:
Motion Pictures, Film Industry Trade Magazine",Canad
Collection:
Hollywood Studio System, Global Cinema, and Canada
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 01, 2024
Something wrong or inaccurate about this page? Let us Know!

Thanks for helping us continually improve the quality of the Lantern search engine for all of our users! We have millions of scanned pages, so user reports are incredibly helpful for us to identify places where we can improve and update the metadata.

Please describe the issue below, and click "Submit" to send your comments to our team! If you'd prefer, you can also send us an email to mhdl@commarts.wisc.edu with your comments.




We use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) during our scanning and processing workflow to make the content of each page searchable. You can view the automatically generated text below as well as copy and paste individual pieces of text to quote in your own work.

Text recognition is never 100% accurate. Many parts of the scanned page may not be reflected in the OCR text output, including: images, page layout, certain fonts or handwriting.

a1 we | i JL BRE | Ee | THE PICK OF THE PICTURES REVIEWS INFORMATION RATINGS Vol. 9, No. 7 REVIEWS FROM FILM DAILY, NEW YORK February 16, 1944 ‘Murder on the Waterfront’ with John Loder, Warren Douglas Warner ; 49 Mins. ACCEPTABLE FORMULA MELODRAMA IS MARKED BY _ FAST ACTION AND COMPACTNESS OF STORY. “Murder on the Waterfront” is a compact melodrama which packs plenty of action in its limited footage. The film has high speed, which is due primarily to the direction of B. Reaves Eason, and story with wellsustained suspense, for which much of the credit goes to Robert E. Kent, who did the screenplay from a play by Ralph Spenser Zink. Kent obtained good results with formula material. Although the cast has little marquee power, it performs competently. The strongest name in the line-up is that of John Loder. Among the other players are Warren Douglas, Joan Winfield, Ruth Ford, Bill Crago, Bill Kennedy, William B. Davidson, Don Costello and James Flavin. The story revolves around the murder in a waterfront warehouse of the inventor of a vital thermostat for use on planes. Many persons are suspected of the crime, each with a logical motive. Among them are Loder, a naval surgeon; Miss Winfield, a showgirl; Costello, a knife thrower; Ruth Ford, his assistant. Douglas plays a young sailor, Miss Winfield’s husband, who almost becomes a victim of the killer. The murderer turns out to be a ship’s officer working for the Nazis who wanted the secret of the thermostat. The character, played by Bill Kennedy, is disposed of by Costello with a bayonet after an exciting set-to with the authorities. This film makes a good short filler on double bills on which the top feature is extra long. CAST: Warren Douglas, John Winfield, John Loder, Ruth Ford, Bill Crago, Bill Kennedy, William B. Davidson, Don Costello, James Flavin, Bill Edwards, Ross Ford, DeWolf Hopper, John Maxwell, Phil Wan Zandt, Frank Mayo, Fred Kelsey. DIRECTION, Okay. PHOTOGRAPHY, Okay. Albert Holloway Dies Was Projectionist Albert Holloway, 52, projectionist of the Arcadian Theatre, Toronto, died suddenly of a heart attack last week. Interment was at Port Elgin, Ontario. Surviving are his widow, two daughters at home and two sons with the Canadian army in Italy. ‘Happy Land’ with Don Ameche, Frances Dee 20th-Fox 75 Mins. EMOTIONAL THUNDERBOLT IS ONE OF THE BEST FILMS OF THE YEAR; BIG GROSSES INDICATED. From the Mackinlay Kantor novel Kenneth Macgowan has produced a film that can be recommended unqualifiedly. “Happy Land” is a human document that speaks in universal terms. Its emotional power is such that tremendous grosses will be realized everywhere. Done with rare honesty and sincerity, the picture is one of the finest screen achievements of the year. That it brings to the eyes tears of which one is unashamed is one of the greatest tributes to the film. The film attempts to answer in simple and eloquent language the question that has tortured the minds of many parents who have Jost sons in the war. While the answer may not always be clear to some minds, it has been given in a manner that brings a tightening of the throat and overwhelms one with compassion. The picture may make it possible for parents of fallen sons to face their loss with a new courage and greater understanding. The picture takes the case of a Midwestern drugstore proprietor to convey its thought. Notified of the death of his boy, the man withdraws from the world to brood in. solitude. His wife and his friends are concerned about him. One day his grandfather, long dead, reappears on earth to clear away his doubts and to explain the son’s death in terms that will make his loss bearable. “Happy Land” is a triumph of direction. Pichel has obtained superb results from his cast. Don Ameche is the druggist; Florence Dee, his wife; Harry Carey, the grandfather; Richard Crane, the son; Ann Rutherford, the boy’s sweetheart. All are fine. CAST: Don Ameche, Frances Dee, Harry Carey, Ann Rutherford, Cara Williams, Richard Crane, Henry Morgen, Minor Watson, Dickie Moore, William Weber, Oscar O'Shea, Adeline De Walt Reynolds, Roseanne Murray, James West, Larry Olsen, Bernard Thomas, Terry Masengale, Edwin Mills, James J. Smith, Mary Wickes, Walter Baldwin, Tom Stevenson, Aileen Pringle, Matt Moore, Darla Heed, Richard Abbott, Lilllan Bronson, Ferris Taylor, Larry Thompson, Paul Weigel, Ned Dobson, Jr., Jackie Averill, Joe Bernard, Housley Stevens, Elvin Field, Juanita Quigley, Milton Kibbee, John Dilson, Leigh Whipper, Marjorie Cooley, Robert Dudley, Pass Le Noir, DIRECTION, GRAPHY, Good. Superlative. PHOTO. ‘Standing Room Only’ with Fred MacMurray, Paulette Goddard Paramount &3 Mins. WASHINGTON HOUSING SITUATIO INSPIRES A COMEDY THAT IS HEADED FOR SPANKING GROSSES. The Washington housing shortage has been treated with devastating results in this romantic comedy. The film spares no satire in making its point, going all-out in its determination to provide the kind of entertainment sought by the public at the moment. Things happen fast and furiously in a script that is packed with snappy and intelligent dialogue and situations that are loaded , with Jaughs. The title should give the exhibitor a hint as to what to expect when he plays this one Fred MacMurray and Paulette Goddard comprise the romantic pairing in “Standing Room Only.” The former is a toy factory executive; the latter, his secretary, Miss Goddard, who really knows nothing about secretarial duties, gets her job through sheer gall. She wants to be near MacMurray, and she can’t think of any better way than to be his secretary. Matters start humming when MacMurray is sent to Washington, by his boss, Edward Arnold, in an effort to obtain a war contract. It is imperative that he beat a competitor te the punch. In Washington MacMurray has a tough time finding a place to stay and trying to see the proper goyernment official The only way MacMurray and Miss Goddard can get a roof over their heads is to go to work for Roland Young as butler and maid. The situation creates no hilarity. Darrell Ware and Karl Tunberg have devised a cockeyed screenplay from a yarn by Al Martin. Sidmey Lanfield has given their material fine direction. He hasn’t allowed the interest to sag for an instant. Paw’ Jones well deserves the associateproducer credit. MacMurray and Miss Goddarc play the top roles strictly for laughs, of which they get plenty. Young nearly steals the show from the stars. Others who arc good are Arnold, Anne Revere Hillary Brooke, Kolb, Porter Hall, Isobel Randolph. CAST: Fred MacMurray, Paulette Goddard, Edward Arneld, Hillary Brooke, Roeland Young, Anne Revere, Clarenc: Kolb, Isobel Randolph, Porter Hall, Marie McDonald, Josephine Whittell, Veda Anna Borg DIRECTION, Geed, PHOTOGRAPHY, Good, end of ‘The Sultan’s Daughter’ with Ann Corio Monogram 64 Mins. WACKY COMEDY SHOULD GARNER NEAT HARVEST OF LAUGHS IN POP HOUSES. This wacky offering is designed solely for laughs—and gets a nice quota of therm. The chief laughwinners are Tim and Irene Ryan, with Charles Butterworth also scoring with his droll efforts. Fortunio Bonanova is also another laugh getter, while Freddie Fisher and his novelty orchestra amuse with their corny playing. Although Ann Corio plays the title role, she is used chiefly for cye-filling purposes. Edward Norris does good work as Tim Ryan's fellow vaudevillian stranded in Egypt. Jack LaRue, Chris-Pin Martin and Gene Oliver are among the supporting players. Oliver, a Nazi agent, and Bonanova, who poses as a friend of Butterworth, seek rights to oil lands controlled by Ann, Butterworth’s daughter. Oliver and Bonanova try to have Ryan and Norris pose as wealthy oil men to gain the oil rights for Oliver and Bonanova, but the Americans refuse to work with them. Of course, justice prevails in the end, and Oliver and Bonanova’'s plans are thwarted. Arthur Dreifuss turned in a good job of directing, CAST: Ann Corio, Tim and Irene Ryan, Charles Butterworth, Fortunie Bonaneva, Edward Norris, Jack LaRue, Chris-Pin Martin, Gene Oliver, Joseph H. Greene, Freddie Fisher and his orchestra. DIRECTION, Geed. PHOTOGRAPHY, Geed. Durbin Signs New Universal Contract Deanna Durbin last week signed a new exclusive six-year contract with Universal, the studio announced. Miss Durbin signed on the dotted line as she finished her 14th film “Christmas Holiday.” UA Sets 'Mayerling’ For Technicolor Seymour Nebenzal, who produced the original ‘Mayerling’ in France some years ago with Charles Boyer and Danielle Darrieux as its stars, will handle the production of the forthcoming United Artists Technicolor remake of that film. The new “Mayerling” goes before the cameras in April.