Canadian Film Weekly (Jun 18, 1947)

lei ee ie ee ee Page 8 M. P. MORPHY Following a general sales conference of Dominion Sound Equipments Limited, held in Montreal recently, a meeting of the board of directors took place and the election of M. P. Murphy as president was announced. Murphy, assistant general manager (commercial) of the Northern Electric Company and vice-president of Amalgamated Electric Corporation, replaces M. K. Pike, formerly vice-president of Nor— thern Electric, who resigned as chief executive on retirement, Other Dominion Sound changes announced included the appointment of D. E. Daniel as district manager in Winnipeg, and W. F. Graham as manager, Calgary office. J. E. Tagg was appointed manager at Saint John; NB, and A. T. McCormick, formerly of Winnipeg, has been transferred to Montreal for special duties. ‘Driftwood’ Shooting Republic’s “Driftwood,” starring Walter Brennan, Ruth Warrick, Dean Jagger, Charlotte Greenwood and Natalie Wood, has gone before the cameras. Stephen Dunne Cast Stephen Dunne will have one of the male leads in Columbia’s “When a Girl Is Beautiful,” to be directed by Frank McDonald. Third Dick Tracy Set By RKO “Dick Tracy’s Dilemma” will come to the screen as the third in RKO’s series of screen thrillers woven around the exploits of the square-jawed sleuth, his girl-friend Tess Trueheart, his assistant Pat Patton, and his pal, Vitamin Flintheart, the broken-down old actor, Canadian FILM WEEKLY Documentaries Grow In Theatre Favor (Continued from Page 1) great relief. The rest from years of that sort of thing since the end of hostilities is beginning to have a good effect and it was noted by bookers a while back that feature films with war backgrounds, dead at the boxoffice for so long, had begun to come back. Such films as “G.I. Joe,” “Objective Burma,” “A Walk in the Sun” and others suddenly turned out to be more than acceptable to sub-run audiences, after being comparatively ignored for quite some time. Probably the greatest beneficiary of this switch in taste was United Artists. -Charles Chaplin, UA chief, kept ‘Way to the Stars,” British film with a war background, on the shelf for a year after its USA reception indicated indifference because of its subject matter. When released for its first-run at the International Cinema in Toronto the picture hung up a recordbreaking seven weeks, then fol . BOOSTS BOXOFFICE PRESENTS THE THEATRE'S GNEATEST MONEY MAKEN CREATING, AND SUSTAINING BOX OFFICE, RECORDS Head Office NOW LOCATED IN NEW ENLARGED PREMISES Suite 702 21 Dundas Sq. EL. 7796 Quebec & Maritimes QUEBEC CINEMA BOOKING REG’D. 754 Sherbrooke West Montreal Western Canada FOTO-NITE DISTRIBUTORS, Inc. 1246 Burrard St., Vuncouver, lowed with two weeks at the Hollywood. Not the smallest indication by any means of the growth of interest in documentaries is the fact that bookings of the National Film Board’s Canada Carries On series have increased by 35 per cent during the past year. The March of Time series, distributed by 20th-Fox, continues to maintain interest and RKO has entered the field with a series, Today and Tomorrow. So has J. Arthur Rank with This Modern Age. Addition of these series is not affecting seriously the bookings of older ones, which indicates an expansion in exhibition possibilities. Latest entry into the Canadian short and feature documentary field is the United Kingdom Information Office. Films from this agency, dealing realistically with many subjects from music to espionage, are being distributed through Astral Films and are capturing much screen time. “Children on Trial,” a UK 63minute semi-documentary dealing with juvenile delinquency, and in which the actual characters appear, played such theatres as 20th Century’s Midtown, Toronto, and Odeon’s Savoy, Hamilton. Featured in the advertising as half of a double bill, it attracted much interest, staying a week at the Midtown and four days at the Savoy. Circuits as well as Independents have -played the film in many situations. Other feature semi-documentaries which Astral claims are doing well in bookings and business are the 65-minute underground training film, “School for Danger,” a British Information subject, and the 63-minute National Film Board record of the army’s Arctic trek, “Exercise Muskox.” A documentary, due for release soon, which will likely attract much interest is the Italian-made “Story of the: Pope,’ featurelength film with narration by Monsignor Sheen. It will be offered in Canada by PRC. Radio City Books New RKO Film “The Bachelor and the BobbySoxer,’”’ RKO Radio’s most ambitious Dore Schary Production to date and the picture that was a contributing force in his appointment to head the studio’s production activities, has been announced by the Radio City Music Hall for an extended engagement early this summer, It’s stars are Cary Grant, Myrna Loy and Shirley Temple. — | fw, BILL GEHRING Appointed assistant general sales manager of 20th Century Fox Film Corporation. RKO Sales Talk Set For Gotham RKO’s district managers, branch managers, salesmen and field men from the various exchange centres across Canada will attend the company’s 16th annual sales meeting, according to an announcement by Robert Mochrie, vice-president and general sales manager. The sessions will take place in the WaldorfAstoria Hotel in New York from July 7 to 9, inclusive, and close to 500 delegates are expected, including some from RKO’s foreign offices. Evidence of RKO’s expanding sales operations is shown by the fact that three separate sales divisions will be represented at the sales conferences. The newly-created North-South division, headed by Charles Boasberg and which takes in Canada, as well as the Eastern and Western sections, under the supervision of Nat Levy and Walter Branson, respectively, will hear production plans that will forecast the most ambitious schedule of top product in the history of the organization. Members of RKO’s producing affiliates will also be in attendance including Walt Disney Productions, Samuel Goldwyn Productions, Sol Lesser, Robert Riskin, Argosy Films, Independent Artists, Rainbow Productions and Frank Ross Productions. Winners of the 1947 Ned Depinet drive will be announced at the meeting and prizes awarded by Ned E. Depinet, executive vice-president in whose honor the campaign was launched. N. Peter Rathvon, president of the company, and Dore Schary, head of production, wil) come from Hollywood to be present.