Canadian Film Weekly (Apr 14, 1954)

pages or April 14, 1954 CANADIAN FILM WEEKLY Page 13 News Clips Berthier Theatre, Berthierville, Quebec is now the Royal . Aberdeen, Saskatchewan movie has closed ... . M. Drul is now operating the Shoal Lake, Manitoba situation and Don L. Roberts the Crescent, Toronto ... Women’s Canadian Club of Montreal heard NFB head A. W. Trueman last week . . . Seventh Canadian International Trade Fair, at which some _ theatre equipment companies exhibit, takes place at the CNE, Toronto May 31 to June 11. Ottawa Citizen surveyed the National Film Board’s work and claimed that its film could have been made anywhere in Canada, so the move to Montreal wasn’t necessary ... The move to draft Roy M. Brewer, former Hollywood IA representative, to run against Richard M. Walsh for the presidency is gaining strength. Brewer resigned after differences with Walsh and is now aide to Steve Broidy, president of Allied Artists. Welsh Sunshine Home _ for Blind Babies got a donation of £10,000 from the Variety Club of London . . . Province of Saskatchewan will spend $20,000 on a picture for its jubilee in 1955... Howard Hughes paid for his recently-acquired RKO stock with a personal cheque for $23,489,478 ... Harry J. Takiff and Marvin Kirsch were elected to the board of the Motion Picture Pioneers, USA... Associated Screen News has completed its film of Toronto’s subway system. CBC press and _ information service, which has 55 employees, cost $370,584 to operate last year and trips abroad for the Corporation’s personnel amounted to $86,583.57 .. . Arrow Films has opened an office in Vancouver ... Roy Thomson will print his Canadian sub list of The Weekly Scotsman in Canada from mats flown from Edinburgh .. . AGVA-AFM fight in Toronto is developing strongly Sarde Walter O’Hearn of The Montreal Star goes after Hollywood’s. libelers in ‘Throwing Mud At the Stars.” Cast In MGM's 'The Cobweb‘ Robert Taylor, Lana Taylor and Grace Kelly will star in MGM’s The Cobweb. Col.'s 'Pushover' Pushover is: the title under which Columbia will release the Fred MacMurray Kim-NovackPhil Carey starrer known in work as 322 French Street. Richard Quine directed the film and Jules Schermer produced, 35th UA Anniversary (Continued from Page 1) Pollyana, starred Mary Pickford, These began the succession of great motion pictures that won an immediate place in the hearts of the public and an everlasting place in the history of the art. So much so that the Museum of Modern Art, New York, is staging a festival of the classics which UA gave to the world as its part in the celebration. As time went on Joseph M. Schenck bought into the company, becoming chairman of the board, then came Samuel Goldwyn as a stockholder. Disney first released through UA in 1932 and in 1985 David O. Selznick joined it as a producer, the latter year being. the one in which Alexander Korda came in as a stockholder. United Artists sailed along blithely until 1946, when postwar problems were too much for it and every effort to give it an assured future failed. Then in 1951 Miss Pickford and Chaplin, recognizing the need of youthful leadership and energy, welcomed Krim and his associates: Robert S. Benjamin, Matthew Fox, William J. Heineman, Max E. Youngstein, Arnold Picker and Semour Peyser. Their victory was almost miraculous and they were rewarded with the right to acquire 8,000 shares of stock, with a ten-year voting control over the remaining shares, which are owned by Miss Pickford and Chaplin. The feeling of the group must have been the same which the founders and their first general manager, when it became obvious that they had proved to the world their business adventure was a success. The pictures that began to arrive as a result of the new faith of Independent producers got a tremendous job of selling by Heineman, as_ distribution v-p, and Max Youngstein, v-p for ads, publicity and promotion, who gave up a vice-presidency at Paramount to join the group. The first territory to recognize the merits of the new UA management was Canada, where Charles S. Chaplin, the district manager, did so well so quickly that the country was made a division. UA opened in Canada in September, 1919 with Charlie Burman as manager. Burman, from Boston, brought a salesman, Haskell Masters, with him. Later Masters became general manager and the late Sam Glazer took the post when Masters left to join the new Odeon theatres setup as general manager in 1941 under the late N. L. Nathanson. Glazer resigned to join Columbia and David Coplan left Columbia to succeed him, Hiram Abrams, felt When Coplan was made managing director for Great Britain Charles Chaplin, Montreal branch manager, who joined the company in 1930 as a clerk in Toronto, succeeded him. Chaplin has Cc. S. CHAPLIN the support of some of the outstanding branch managers in the industry: George Heiber in Toronto, Sammy Kunitzky in Montreal, I. J. Davis in Saint John, Abe Feinstein in Winnipeg, Robert Radis in Calgary and Harry Woolfe in Vancouver. The rejuvenation of the company is now a fact and the 195354 schedule shows how powerful UA’s comeback actually is. It included such films as James A. Michener’s Return to Paradise, directed by Mark Robson and starring Gary Cooper, who had won his second Academy Award for his performance in High Noon; The Moon Is Blue, starring William “olden, David Niven and Maggie McNamara, and directed by Otto Preminger; Mickey Spillane’s I, the Jury and The Long Wait, produced by Victor Saville; and John Huston’s Beat the Devil, starring Humphrey Bogart, Jennifer Jones and Gina Lollobrigida. Also, Anatole Litvak’s Act of Love, starring Kirk Douglas in an adaptation by Irwin Shaw of Alfred Hayes’ best-selling novel, The Girl on the Via Flaminia; Joseph L. Mankiewicz’ The Barefoot Contessa, romantic Technicolor drama starring Humphrey Bogart and Ava Gardner; Apache, Technicolor adventure drama starring Burt Lancaster; Robert Rossen’s production of Alexander the Great; Stanley Kramer’s production of Not as a Stranger and Paul Gregory’s The Night of the Hunter, Short Throws (Continued from Page 1) Legion wants the Dominion Command to demand a ban on it. Alberta will also make a 45minute color film showing its progress for exhibition during its jubilee in 1955. NATIONAL Film Board made 214 subjects, including newsreels and clips, in its 1952-3 year— one more than in the previous 12 months. Previous years: 1945-6, 310; 1946-7, 214; 1947-8, 189; 1948-9, 166; 1949-50, 177; and 1950-51, 187. IN 1953 the Manitoba Board of Censors for Motion Pictures, headed by M. B. Newton, passed 2,681 films, 18 of which had eliminations. Of two rejected, one was passed after a second review. The figures were provided in the legislature by Public Utilities Minister C. L. Shuttleworth in answer to a charge by a member that foreign films passed in other provinces were being -banned in Manitoba. ALBERTA amusement tax may be turned over to the larger cities, Provincial Secretary Gerhard told the legislature, since the province doesn’t need the $1,100,000. Liberal Leader Prowse suggested the tax be wiped out. SENTENCE of 20 years in prison was meted out to Roland Dumont, 37, Rouyn theatre manager, when he was found guilty by a jury of manslaughter in the slaying of a 53-year-old local farmer. Dumont pleaded that he had shot in self-defense when the dead man had attempted to rob him but the Crown Counsel had asked for a murder conviction. directed by Charles Laughton and starring Robert Mitchum. A record 48 films were included on the 35th Anniversary year schedule of release. Fortified by this array of pictures, United Artists is commemorating its first 35 years of corporate existence with a worldwide celebration. An indication of exhibitor sentiment where United Artists is concerned is the testimonial dinner to be tendered the company by Tent 13, Philadelphia Variety Club, on May 5. Jay Emmanuel, exhibitor and trade paper publisher, is chairman of the dinner committee. "Strange Lady In Town’ Greer Garson will star in Warner’s Strange Lady in Town, Which Mervyn LeRoy will prod ge and direct. \ > oe »