Canadian Film Weekly (Sep 28, 1955)

$$ —$— A September 28, 1955 CANADIAN FILM WEEKLY Vol. 20, No. 37 September 28, 1955 —————— HYE BOSSIN, Managing Editor Assistant Editor Ben Halter Office Manager -~ Esther Silver CANADIAN FILM WEEKLY 175 Bloor St. East, Toronto 5, Canada Authorized as Second Class Mail, Post Office Department, Ottawa Published by Film Publications of Canada, Limited 175 Bloor St. East, Toronto 5, Ontario, Canada — Phone WAInut 4-3707 Price $3.00 per year. PIONEERS” AWARD (Continued from Page 1) Chairman of the selection committee was R. W. Bolstad, vicepresident of Famous Players Canadian Corporation, and those who served with him were Frank H. Fisher, vice-president and general manager of J. Arthur Rank Film Distributors (Canada) Limited; Hugh Sedgwick of Hamilton, vice-president of the IATSE and its chief Canadian officer; O. R. Hanson, president of Sterling Films Limited; Harold Pfaff, manager of Independent Theatre Services; and Hye Bossin, managing editor of the Canadian Film Weekly. Rosenfeld was selected, Bolstad’s letter to Taylor said, because he was one of the first persons “in our industry to build a national distribution system.” In 1912, when he joined the Canadian Film Exchange at its head office in Calgary as a shipping clerk, the physical problems connected with servicing a country larger than the United States — a country with comparatively a handful of picture houses — where many and involved. Business methods, trade practices and terms between the distributor and the theatre operator were still being evolved, since but a few years earlier films were sold outright at so much per foot, resulting in their personal exchange between exhibitors. Thus the term for the distribution office, “exchange,” came into existence —which, though outmoded, still endures. No one in Canada has contributed more to bringing about an economical system of distribution and a sound basis for dealings between the man who controls the film and the one who plays it than Louis Rosenfeld. His relations with exhibitors, Bolstad’s letter said, have always been fair and equitable and “he has throughout his career been most generous to all community enterprises and to those less fortunate than himself.” ‘The Wings Of The Eagle’ Robert Taylor will star in MGM’s The Wings of the Hagle, which will be based on the life story of the Late Commander Frank “Spig” Wead. News Yotes ANNUAL ASSOCIATION MEETINGS Several Canadian motion picture exhibitors associations will have their annual meetings next month, along with provincial or regional branches of the Canadian Picture Pioneers. On October 3 the Saskatchewan Motion Picture Exhibitors Association, with J. Duane McKenzie of Estevan in the chair, will meet in the Saskatchewan Hotel, Regina. On October 12 members of the Maritime Picture Exhibitors Association, in the Admiral Beatty Hotel, Saint John, NB, will hear the annual meeting called to order by A. J. Mason of Springhill, NS. On the evening of October 11 members of the Maritimes division of the Canadian Picture Pioneers will hold their annual meeting in the Admiral Beatty Hotel, at which L. A. Sprague will preside. C'SCOPE INSTALLATIONS NOW 25,283 On September 16, after two full years, the number of CinemaScope installations in the theatres of the world totalled 25,283 and is expected to reach 32,500 by the end of the year, it is claimed by 20th Century-Fox. It is estimated by the company that the 25,283 figure represents 62 per cent of all the possible installations. The total for the domestic market, made up of Canada and the United States, represented 77.2 per cent of possibilities as of August and this is expected to hit virtually 100 per cent by the end of the year. Production of CinemaScope films by major Hollywood studios this year is fully 50 per cent of the total and will be higher in 1956, 20th-Fox states. OTTAWA FIRM'S SCRIPT CONTEST Academy Film Productions of North America, Limited, an Ottawa firm recently incorporated by Fred Leavens, a local exhibitor, and Nicholas Kairez, a former Russian film maker, is, offering $6,000 in prizes for winning scripts, from which they hope to make feature-length movies. So The Ottawa Citizen reports. First prize is $3,000, second $2,000 and third $1,000. The company, with head offices at 1196 Wellington Street, has placed the contest deadline at December 31. Entries must be original, have from four to 12 characters, at least four dramatic conflicts and a plot “based on high moral and religious principles.” They must be submitted in complete shooting-script form. Themes must be drawn from Canadian or American life. If no screenplay meriting production as a motion picture is received, no prize money will be paid, Kairez says. All scripts become the company’s property and none can be returned. BUCHANAN TO NATIONAL GALLERY Founder of the National Film Society in 1936 and the person mainly responsible for developing the National Film Board’s rural circuits, Donald W. Buchanan, has been appointed director of the National Gallery, Ottawa, in charge of special projects. Born in Lethbridge 47 years ago, Buchanan was educated at the University of Toronto and studied art at Oxford and the University of Paris. He was co-editor of Canadian Art and wrote several books on Canadian painting. After founding the National Film Society, now the Canadian Film Institute, he joined the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in 1987 to organize the talks division. In 1941 he joined the National Film Board. He organized the Gallery’s industrial design division in 1948. CANADIAN WAR FILM SUGGESTED “A Canadian war film would have value both for students of history and for those interested in improving the qualities of citizenship in our country,” said The Ottawa Citizen, urging editorially that the millions of feet of wartime footage now in storage be edited to make one. It pointed out that the CBC had been televising British and USA war effort films. The editorial concluded: d “The National Film Board could no doubt do the job. It has a distinguished record in producing documentaries that are wellbalanced, factual, sober and yet dramatic. But there is no money in its budget for this purpose. Unquestionably, extra staff would be needed to examine the large amount of film in hand and to put the final documentary together. It is for the government to take the initiative and for Parlizment to vote the money for a project which would have lasting usefulness.” HE changing pattern in our business seems to cast an interesting shadow toward the immediate future. There is strong evidence that on the economic front conditions are improving. Unemployment is decreasing and generally there is a greater spirit’ of optimism than prevailed a year ago. Business conditions are improving in many places and this should lead the exhibitor to scan more boldly his admission price picture. The outlook for screen entertainment in the next few months appears to be quite bright. The quality of forthcoming product is higher and there is some increase in numbers. This does not mean that there will be sufficient pictures for the exhibitors to dissipate any, but certainly there will be more pictures than in the past years and some alleviation of the seller’s market, In some areas the TV storm has blown itself out because TV sets have been paid off and beCause a segment of the public at least has been satiated with TVtype entertainment and is again looking to the motion picture theatre for the diversion and pleasure they have come to associate with motion pictures and the new screen techniques. However, one must not discount the opposition of forthcoming TV shows. Never before has there been such concentration on the part of the big American networks on “spectaculars” and other attention-getting top talent and shows. All of these are not available in most Canadian situations, but there is enough for us to see and recognize that TV will always be a formidable competitor. The picture will not necessarily be brighter for those theatres which have been counted out because of the changing pattern, but those which are in business to stay can look to a future with brightening prospects. Only one more matter remains to make the picture a comparatively bright one. A recent article in Variety discusses the fact that our business is lacking in sales gimmicks. It points out that most businesses today, even though they are turning out or selling fine product, seem to find it necessary to have an additional lure in order to obtain the public’s spending dollar, While fine jobs of showmanship are being done by managers individually, nothing overall is being offered to lure the public out of their homes or away from competing mediums of diversion. There is no ancillary sales gim (Continued on Page 4)