Canadian Film Weekly (Jun 13, 1945)

Page 8 — Canadian FILM WEEKLY June 18, 1945 J. Arthur Bank and Monopoly {Pee Regal Cinema, London, which looks over Tyburn into Hyde Park, recently came into the possession of J. Arthur Rank, Britain's nonconformist financier whom the Films Council a few months ago marked out as a potential dictator of the British cinema industry. Promptly questions were asked in the House of Commons about Mr. Rank’s latest acquisition. One of Britain’s £600 a year guardians of the interests of the people inquired whether the Regal deal was really democratic, or whether it conflicted with the assurance that Mr. Rank some time ago gave to the Board of Trade not to extend his film organization. The Government’s answer was that the deal was in negotiation at the time of Mr. Rank’s assurance, and permission was then given for it to be completed. It may therefore be taken that this further step does not bring Mr. Rank appreciably nearer to establishing a monopoly than he was before. * * * At what stage in his progress toward monopoly did Mr. Rank, with a warning from the Government in his pocket, voluntarily call a halt? Let us take a glance at the British film hierarchy, and see where Mr. Rank ranks in it. The British setup is roughly as follows: There are in Britain nearly 5,000 cinemas. Most of these are hole-and-corner places. The recognized first-run houses do not number more than 2,000. Of these, Mr. Rank controls 600. Altogether, there are 30 filmproducing stages in operation in Britain at the present moment. Of these, 13 are controlled by Mr. Rank, and 2 by the Two Cities Company, which is understood to be one of Mr. Rank’s subsidiaries. In the West End of London there are 12 first-run cinemas. Seven of these now belong to Mr. Rank. By no stretching of the meaning of the term, therefore, can Mr. Rank be said to have established a monopoly in the British film industry. Look at the matter from the opposite side. Consider the cinemas that Mr. Rank does not own. Yet even this is not all, That Mr. Rank might achieve a film monopoly is one thing; that free enterprise should continue in the British film industry is another. The real cause of uneasiness was not so much that Mr. Rank alone had established a monopoly, as that a monopoly had been established by two organizations of which Mr. Rank’s was the chief. Curiosity about the personal back. ground and motion picture activities of J. Arthur Rank has grown beyond the limits of the trade press in the last year and his first visit to this continent brought forth articles written for the readers of American and Canadian newspapers. Here is an article about Mr. Rank by Harold Hobson from a recent edition of the Christian Science Monitor, Boston. J. ARTHUR RANK Outstanding figure in the British film industry and partner with Paul L. Nathanson in Odeon Theatres of Canada. There is in Britain an organization known as Associated British Pictures. It is partly controlled by the Maxwell family, and part1y by the American Warners. Now if the interests controlled by A.B.P. be added to those controlled by Mr. Rank, the following situation emerges: Out of 2,000 first-run cinemas, only 950 are independent. Out of 30 producing stages, only 10 are independent. Suppose that an independent producer in Britain wishes to get a picture made. He has to find a stage on which to make it. Two-thirds of the available stages belong to two big organizations. When the film is made he has to exhibit it. More than half the principal cinemas in the country are controlled by these same two organizations. Obviously the independent producer’s way becomes easier if he comes to terms with these organizations. Then he can have a stage put at his disposal; and he can be sure of his film being widely exhibited. The obvious way, then, for the independent producer to prosper is for him to cease to be independent. * * * That is the case against Mr. Rank. Most observers agree that there is plenty of evidence that Mr. Rank was bowling merrily along toward monopoly when his exuberant career was checked by the Board of Trade. But when you begin to ask whether this monopoly was, or was not, a good thing, then opinions start to differ. Mr. Rank played the game always according to the strictest canons of private enterprise. The case against him assumes that he is restricting private enterprise; but actually he never threatened to do more than to practice private enterprise on a very large scale. Moreover, it is said on behalf of Mr. Rank, that he is a comparatively recent phenomenon. For by far the greater part of his existence the British film industry has enjoyed all the freedom of enterprise it could stand; and the result is that it has constantly been on the verge of extinction. The net result of the British film industry’s achievement during the years when it knew not Rank is that it now contributes one-fifth of the film programs of Great Britain, and practically nothing at all of the film programs of America and the continent. Split up into a multitude of separate organizations, it is alleged that not one of these was man-sized enough to stand up to and bargain with the big American interests on equal terms. His admirers think that Mr. Rank might have been the very champion the British cinema industry has been looking for. They are inclined to the view that the Board of Trade is sacrificing the economic welfare of the industry for the sake of an abstract principle. That is where the matter rests at present. The Board of Trade has said “Thus far, and no farther,” to Mr. Rank. And Mr. Rank is behaving rather more amenably than the waves did when King Canute said something of the same sort quite a long time ago. Davidson Manages Plaza, Victoria, BC. Alan Davidson has succeeded Jack Armstrong as manager of the Plaza ‘Theatre, Victoria, British Columbia. Davidson was manager of the Rio Theatre in Ladysmith, British Columbia, before his transfer to Victoria. Campbell River, BC. To Get Theatre Plans are being made for the building of a theatre at Campbell River, British Columbia. Announcement of the new showhouse comes from E. W. Bickle, owner and operator of the EW, Ilo-Ilo and Bickle theatres at Courtenay and Cumberland, British Columbia. Planning Theatre For Joliette, Que. Application for a permit to build a theatre in Joliette, Quebec, has been made by Roger Desmarais and Benoit Paul of Montreal. The theatre will be built at an approximate cost of $70,000. Final site for the showhouse has not yet been chosen and an architect has yet to be appointed. Eston, Sask. House Changes Hands S. Stone, of Outlook, Saskatchewan, has taken over the Eston Theatre, Eston, Saskatchewan, which he purchased recently from Mr. and Mrs. Kiser. Stone has been operating theatres at Unity and Outlook and has been in show business for over nine years. FP Lethbridge Post Goes to Ex-Airman FO Fred Levitt, recently discharged from the RCAF, has been named house manager of Famous Players’ Capitol Theatre. Lethbridge, by A. W. Shackleford, manager. The new houseman started at the Capitol as an usher before the war and he was head usher at the time of his enlistment in the RCAF in November, 1940.