Canadian Film Weekly (Apr 5, 1944)

Page scan 00014 from Canadian Film Weekly

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Film Weekly
Date:
Apr 5, 1944
Volume:
Canadian Film Weekly (Apr 5, 1944)
Leaf #:
00014
Language:
English
Subjects:
Motion Pictures, Film Industry Trade Magazine",Canad
Collection:
Global Cinema, Canada, and Hollywood Studio System
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
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April 5, 1944 ‘Song of Russia’ with Robert Taylor, Susan Peters M-G-M 107 Mins. LOVE TALE TOLD AGAINST A WAR BACKGROUND SHOULD APPEAL ESPECIALLY TO WOMEN; MUSIC IMPORTANT. In a Russian setting Joseph Pasternak’s newest production tells a dramatic love story that will prove a solid hit with the women despite its relation to the war. The film has been produced with all the classy trimmings that characterize a Pasternak offering. The producer has endowed the film with so many sterling production values that it can’t miss being strong popular entertainment. In this tender love tale Robert Taylor and Susan Peters are thrown together to the delight of the women. Taylor, a famous American conductor, meets Miss Peters, a Russian pianist, during a tour of the Soviet, They fall in love immediately and get married. Then suddenly war strikes to shatter their happiness. In the confusion of war, husband and wife are separated. The footage from then on recounts Taylor’s efforts to find Miss Peters. It is a touching, heartbreaking search. The windup finds Taylor and Miss Peters safely in America. Miss Peters’ fate is carefully kept from the audience until the very last scene of the film. The picture widens its audience by giving music an important place in the story. Nothing less could have been expected of a Pasternak film. The score consists of music from Tschaikowsky and modern Russian composers adapted for the screen by Herbert Stothart and conducted by Albert Coafes. Jerome Kern and E. Y. Harburg have augmented the musical appeal of the film by contributing a song called “And Russia Is Her Name.” Numerous orchestral scenes have been incorporated into the footage. Its music is one of the film’s most potent points. Taylor and Miss Peters enacted the leading roles capitally, the latter gives a sensitive performance that will bring moisture to many eyes. John Hodiak, Robert Benchley, Felix Bressart are a few of the others who perform stalwartly. . CAST: Robert Taylor, Susan Peters, Jehn Hodiak, Robert Benchley, Felix Bressart, Michael Chekhev, Darryl Hickman, Jacqueline White, California Junior Symphony Orchestra. DIRECTION, Good. PHOTOGRAPHY, Excellent, From Film Daily, New York ‘Action in Arabia’ with George Sanders, Virginia Bruce RKO 75 Mins. THIS MELODRAMA OF INTRIGUE DESERVES ATTENTION PRIMARILY FOR ITS ABUNDANCE OF ACTION. “Action in Arabia” certainly lives up to its title. This tale of Nazi intrigue among the sand dunes is a whirlwind affair that makes no pretense at plausibility. Audiences that relish blood-andthunder melodrama will not be disappointed much. The film is also not a bad attraction for admirers of George Sanders, who is starred in another of those familiar roles which call for Suaveness and that savoir faire of the man of the world. Sanders plays an American foreign correspondent who dallies in Damascus on his way back to the United States to run down a plot by Nazi agents to stir up the Arab tribes against the Allies. How Sanders achieves his goal is quite tortuous and complicated— so complicated in fact that outlining the plot would consume more space than the film deServes. Suffice it to say that Sanders, with the help of Virginia Bruce, a French girl; Gene Lockhart, her pop, and Robert ArmStrong, an attache of the American consulate, succeeds in crossing up the villains, who are routed in a furious battle with the Arab tribesmen. His preoccupation with the villains doesn’t prevent Sanders from having a romantic fling with Miss Bruce. The story has been told with extensive use of library shots. Philip MacDonald and Herbert Biberman used familiar ingredients in compounding their screenplay, which was directed by Leonide Moguy solely with an eye to action. Maurice Geraghty gave the yarn a_ perfunctory production. Sanders plays the title role in very much the way he did the Falcon. Miss Bruce does the best she can with a routine role. Gene Lockhart is the best of the supporting players. Also to be noted is Armstrong. Lenore Aubert appears as the daughter of H. B. Warner, desert chieftain. Alan Napier, Andre* Charlot and Marcel Dalio are the chief villains. CAST: George Sanders, Virginia Bruce, Lenore Aubert, Gene Lockhart, Robert Armstrong, H. B, Warner, Alan Napier, Andre Charlot, Marcel Dalio, Robert Andersen, Jamiel Hasson, John Hamilton, Rafael Storm, Mike Ansara, DIRECTION, Fair. PHOTOGRAPHY, Good, Canadian FILM WEEKLY *« MBeviews «x ‘Sing a Jingle’ with Allan Jones, June Vincent Universal 6Z Mins. MUSICAL COMEDY IS PLEASANT LIGHT ENTERTAINMENT DEVISED TO MEET NEEDS OF FAMILY TRADE, Here is another of Universal's modest melanges of music, comedy and romance concocted for the family trade. The film carries enough entertainment and is unfurled swiftly enough to make ene forgive the triteness of the plot. The main attraction in this production is Allan Jones, who is given plenty of opportunity to exercise his fine voice. He delivers his singing assignment in a manner that will win much attention from the femmes. His romantic vis-a-vis is June Vincent, who is considerably overshadowed by the vibrant personality of Jones. Jones is a popular radio singer who, when he is rejected for Army service, decided to do his bit by working incognito in a defense plant in a small town. The boss (Samuel 8S. Hinds) takes a shine to Jones, who repays the compliment by falling in love with his daughter (Miss Vincent). Complications arise when a rival (Edward Norris), a no-good guy, starts checking up on Jones with the idea of breaking up his romance with the boss’s dadghter. The villain almost succeeds in his purpose. It takes a bit of explaining on Jones’ part before everything is straightened out. ’ As any one with a nickel’s worth of brains is bound to suspect as soon as Jones makes his decision to toil in a defense factory for the duration, a show is put on by the boss to help the war effort in his community. Jones’ manly tones are the main lure and the show proves a huge success, Jones easily dominates the film. Also a standout is Gus Schilling, who supplies the comedy relief with the assistance of Betty Kean. Producer-Director Edward C. Lilley keeps things moving: snappily. Four writers, John Grey, Eugene Conrad, Lee Sands and Fred Rath, were needed to knock out the screenplay. CAST: Allan Jones, June Vincent, Edward Norris, Gus Schilling, Betty Kean, Samuel S. Hinds, Jerome Cowan, Joan Castle, Dicky Love, Vivian Austin, Lorin Raker, William Newell. DIRECTION, Okay. PHOTOGRAPHY, Geod. Page 13 OF CANADA LTD. 277 Victoria Street, Toronto, MONOGRAM Presents THREE HITS That Are Making MOVIE HISTORY * Lady, Lets Dance with beautiful, versatile BELITA Where Are Your Children? As Topical as Tomorrow's News with Jackie Cooper and Gale Storm Women In Bondage Gail Patrick, Nancy Kelly, H,. B. Warner A Gripping Story of the Women of Germany * DON'T GAMBLE BE SURE WITH MONOGRAM PICTURES Toronto, Montreal, St. John, Winnipeg, Calgary, Vancouver.