Canadian Film Weekly (Oct 28, 1953)

Page scan 0009 from Canadian Film Weekly

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Film Weekly
Date:
Oct 28, 1953
Volume:
Canadian Film Weekly (Oct 28, 1953)
Leaf #:
0009
Language:
English
Collection:
Canada, Hollywood Studio System, and Global Cinema
Format:
periodicals
Contributor:
Media History Digital Library, Greig Dymond in memory of David Dymond, 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:
May 23, 2024
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THE PICK OF THE PICTURES | REVIEWS INFORMATION RATINGS Page 10 REVIEWS FROM THE FILM DAILY, NEW YORK October 28, 1953 FOR IMMEDIATE SALE | 1—Automatic Curtain Machine, with 1—'% HP GE 25-Cycle Motor ALSO 1—Autodrape 60-cycle Curtain Machine ALSO (48”) Screen Draw with Required SilTrack 2 prs. —5 width Curtains, ent Steel (These items may be purchased separately.) ALL IN EXCELLENT CONDITION Biltmore Theatres Ltd. 221 Victoria St., Toronto UA To Distribute Welles’ 'Othello’ Orson Welles’ film version of William Shakespeare’s Othello, produced, directed and starred in by Welles, has been acquired for release by United Artists. Othello, a Mercury production filmed in Italy, the original setting of the Shakespeare tragedy, marks the first time in 30 years that the drama of the Moor of Venice has been brought to the screen. Featured in support are Michael MacLiammoir as Iago, Canadian-born Suzanne Cloutier as Desdemona and Fay Compton as Emilia. Femme Lead For Bomba Film Anne Kimball will star with Johnny Sheffield in AA’s next Bomba film, The Golden Idol. Columbia's ‘Kiss And Sword’ Robert Stack and Ursula Thiess will star in Columbia’s The Kiss and The Sword, to be filmed in Technicolor. FOR SALE 2 CYCLEX PROJECTION LAMPS (Volts—15-24. Amps—40-70) e CYCLEX POWER UNIT & 2 TRANSFORMERS e 1 STANDBY TRANSFORMER & 7 REFLECTORS e PRICES VERY REASONABLE FOR QUICK SALE es Write or wire RUSSELL THEATRE Glace Bay, N.S. LITTLE BOY LOST with Bing Crosby, Claude Dauphin, Christian Fourcade, Gabrielle Dorziat. Paramount 95 Mins. CROSBY PLAYING IT STRAIGHT DELIVERS A DEEPLY MOVING PERFORMANCE. THIS WILL VERY LIKELY PROVE ONE OF THE RICHER EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCES OF THE YEAR. FIRST RATE PERLBERG PRODUCTION. SEATON’S HANDLING EXPERT. Furnished with a straight story that permits little opportunity to display his familiar light suavity but considerable of his inherent dramatic talent and ability to handle a moving and touching narrative, in Little Boy Lost Bing Crosby scales a new height of accomplishment. Here is a deeply sentimental and poignant screenplay, expertly developed into film terms by George Seaton, derived from a work by Marghanita Laski. Set and filmed in and about Paris for full realism the tasteful production by William Perlberg is an emotion stirring performance that gets into the heart of the matter as it concerns Crosby, an American radio reporter, and his postwar search for his young son, born of his French wife. Latter was a victim of Nazi torture when her Resistance activity was uncovered. Directed with an expert hand by Seaton, the story factors are straightforward in their examination of a mature man and his feelings when a youngster is presented him whose recent history, since he was taken into a home for war orphans, matches somewhat the fundamental details as furnished by Crosby and the authorities. Yet there is a hesitancy. Crosby is given custody of the boy for a few days, takes him to Paris and the surroundings of his first few years of life. From that point the story takes off to notable planes of keen development as sights, smells and surroundings are visited. The youngster, appealingly and unaffectedly played by Christian Fourcade, responds. Crosby, even though he has found acute happiness with the youngster, is suspicious. In short order the truth comes out. The boy had been briefed to respond. It was a valiant, human endeavor on the part of a laundress who figured during the Occupation in smuggling infants out of harm, and the effort of the Mother Superior of the home, most artfully played by Gabrielle Dorziat. Bing takes the youngster back. Mlle. Dorziat admits her participation. Crosby, somewhat beat by the turn of events, decides to return home. He visits a local carnival while waiting for a train and tries the shooting gallery. He wins a stuffed toy. This proves a connecting link in the final sequences for the youngster recognizes it as a symbol of his earlier years and identifies it by name thereby clinching the relationship. The elements inserted in Little Boy Lost are rich in feeling and sincerely portrayed, maintaining a logical hold on the interest. It is not without smartly inserted musical relief which permits Bing to rise.a few times from the serious factors. The three tunes he handles, The Magic Window, Cela M’Est Egal—lIf It’s All the Same to You and Apropos de Rien, are by Johnny Burke and James Van Heusen. They hit the spot. Lending fine support in addition to Mlle. Dorziat, is Claude Dauphin. An excellent moment is permitted Georgette Anys as the laundress. Rest of the cast are competent, accomplished. Little Boy Lost shows a new Crosby. It stands to render one of the richer emotional experiences of the year. CAST: Bing Crosby, Claude Dauphin, Christian Fourcade, Gabrielle Dorziat, Nicole Maurey, Claudette Dereal, Georgette Anys, Henri Letondal, Michael Moore, Peter Baldwin, Gladys de Segonzac, Yola D’Avril, Bruce Payne, Jean Del Val, Adele St. Maur. CREDITS: Producer, William Perlberg; Director, George Seaton; Screenplay, George Seaton; Story, Marghanita Laski; Photography, George Barnes; Art, Hal Pereira, Henry Bumstead; Sets, Sam Comer, Ross Dowd; Editor, Alma Macrorie; Sound, Harry Mills, Gene Garvin; Music score, Victor Youna. DIRECTION, Expert PHOTOGRAPHY, First Rate. Next For Martin And Lewis Next film for Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis at Paramount will be Living it Up. National Kids’ Day Theatre co-operation for National Kids Day in Calgary, a Kiwanis project, enabled 6,000 boys to see free movies at four city theatres. Para's ‘Legend Of The Inca’ Charlton Heston and Nicole Maurey will star in Paramount’s Legend of the Inca. Campanella Stars Roy Campanella and _ other baseball stars will work in Roggie’s Bump for John Bash Productions, Inc., a picture about a 110-year-old pitching star. SO THIS IS LOVE with Kathryn Grayson, Merv Griffin, Joan Weldon. Warners (Technicolor) 101 Mins. GOOD SHOW ALL THE WAY. VIBRANT, HEARTILY ENTERTAINING BIOGRAPHY OF LATE, NOTED SOPRANO. A fresh and vibrant version of the success story has been secured in this biographical treatment of the early life and achievement of the late Grace Moore. The famous operatic singer who in the formative years of her promising career was also a noted musical comedy stage personage is aptly and charmingly played by Kathryn Grayson, a wise choice for the singing demands of the part. In his direction of the John Monks, Jr. script Gordon Douglas has expertly secured highly affecting moments of parental influence, the elements of headstrong character in Miss Moore’s makeup, the trials and tribulations of an artist’s life and the constant striving for a niche in the show business world. As related here the story of Grace Moore is one of determination to succeed and become recognized. From her childhood in Jellicoe, Tennessee, the singer first became interested in church singing and then for a brief moment in becoming a missionary because of a handsome, unmarried new minister. Her aunt was instrumental in her musical education. Following a period of study in Washington she met and was inspired by the kind words of Mary Garden. She made an unfortunate concert appearance as_ the guest of John McCormack the night the Armistice was announced. But she went on to New York and eventually induced her father to let her stay on. Her ensuing experiences were of the familiar type that beset young hopefuls and she finally lands a spot in an important show when the leading lady falls ill. From that part on there is fame and acclaim in the cards until she decides to quit the lighter musical for grand opera. She makes a bet with Otto Khan than in two years she will make her Metropolitan debut and she does, too, at the age of 27 singing ‘Mimi’ in La Boheme. This is a good show all the way. CAST: Kathryn Grayson, Merv. Grif fin, Walter Abel, Rosemary DeCamp, Jeff Donnell, Douglas Dick, Ann Doran. CREDITS: Producer, Henry’ Blanke; Director, Gordon Douglas; Screenplay, John Monk, Jr.; Photography, Robert Burks, DIRECTION: First Rate. PHOTOGRAPHY: Fine.