Canadian Film Weekly (Jan 25, 1956)

Page scan 0007 from Canadian Film Weekly

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Film Weekly
Date:
Jan 25, 1956
Volume:
Canadian Film Weekly (Jan 25, 1956)
Leaf #:
0007
Language:
English
Collection:
Global Cinema, Canada, and Hollywood Studio System
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
Something wrong or inaccurate about this page? Let us Know!

Thanks for helping us continually improve the quality of the Lantern search engine for all of our users! We have millions of scanned pages, so user reports are incredibly helpful for us to identify places where we can improve and update the metadata.

Please describe the issue below, and click "Submit" to send your comments to our team! If you'd prefer, you can also send us an email to mhdl@commarts.wisc.edu with your comments.




We use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) during our scanning and processing workflow to make the content of each page searchable. You can view the automatically generated text below as well as copy and paste individual pieces of text to quote in your own work.

Text recognition is never 100% accurate. Many parts of the scanned page may not be reflected in the OCR text output, including: images, page layout, certain fonts or handwriting.

THE PICK OF THE PICTURES || REVIEWS INFORMATION RATINGS Page 8 REVIEWS FROM THE FILM DAILY, NY Vol. 21, No. 4 THE NIGHT MY NUMBER CAME UP with Michael Redgrave, Sheila Sim, Alexander Knox, J. Arthur Rank 94 Mins. SOLID ENGLISH SUSPENSE DRAMA CONCERNING A DREAM OF AN AIR TRAGEDY WHICH ALMOST COMES TRUE. GOOD FOR ART HOUSES, SOME GENERAL VALUE, TOO. The English tradition of fine suspense dramas is upheld in this J. Arthur Rank import based on a factual article originally published in the Saturday Evening Post. In this case, the suspense centres around the fate of an English government plane flying between Hong Kong and Tokyo with an interesting and varied passenger list. Director Leslie Norman builds the suspense quietly almost from the first scene, holding back his power until final pins-and-needles sequences, and has the aid of a literate, often witty script contributed by R. C. Sheriff. Michael Redgrave plays a stolid air marshal, Alexander Knox a frightened diplomat, Denholm Elliott a sensitive pilot who has been the victim of a bad air crash several years before, and Sheila Sim provides the sex appeal as a pretty secretary. This should be rewarding fare for art house boxoffices and may have some general market possibilities, too, in view of its values as a straight thriller. CAST: Michael Redgrave, Sheila Sim, Alexander Knox, Denholm Elliott, Ursula Jeans. CREDITS: Direction, Leslie Norman; Screenplay, R. C. Sheriff; based on a magazine article by Sir Victor Goddard; Photography, Lionel Banes. DIRECTION: Very Good, PHOTOGRAPHY: Capable. 20th-Fox' ‘Do Re Mi' Tom Ewell and Sheree North have been teamed again for 20thFox’ Do Re Mi, which will be produced and directed by Nunnally Johnson. Columbia Purchases New Faulkner Book Soldiers’ Pay, a new novel by William Faulkner, American literary titan who has won both the Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize, has been purchased by Columbia Pictures and assigned to William Fadiman to produce by executive producer Jerry Wald. Raphael Hayes will start work immediately on the screenplay. Though no castings have been made to date, the script is contemplated as a vehicle for Columbia’s fast-developing “new faces,” with eight principal roles provided by the novel. THE PRISONER with Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, Raymond Huntley. Columbia 91 Mins. DEALS WITH THE IMPRISONMENT AND DEGRADATION OF A CATHOLIC CARDINAL IN A _ TOTALITARIAN COUNTRY. HIGHLY IMPRESSIVE PERFORMANCES AND DIRECTION. A new Alec Guinness is on display in this superb English film, a Guinness whose straight performance must be taken into account in any awards to best actors of the year. The film itself is one of the finest to come from England in many a year, a fascinating, suspenseful, moying tale of the imprisonment of a Roman Catholic Cardinal in a totalitarian country. This is a subtle, highly intellectual picture, but on one level it is a movie which can be enjoyed by a wide audience. In some ways, Bridget Boland’s exceptional script reads like a detective story, and director Peter Glenville has succeeded in spinning it out in such a taut manner that at moments the suspense is unbearable. Add to this the timely aspects of the theme, plus the boxoffice phenomenon which is Guinness, and you have a film which might be successful beyond its predestined art house runs. Apart from Guinness, Jack Hawkins is excellent in the complex role of the interrogator; Raymond Huntley likewise as a sinister member of the military tnd Kenneth Griffith impressive as a sniveling underling. An incidental touch of romance is sensitively played out by Jeannette Sterke and Ronald Lewis as, respectively, the wife of a political opponent of the regime and her prison guard lover. Vivian A. Cox has turned out a production which is top-drawer in every respect, recreating nicely the feeling of a Central European city. Reginald Wyer’s photography is noteworthy and Benjamine Frankel’s score furthers the mood of the film at every point. CAST: Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, Raymond Huntley, Jeannette Sterke, Ronald Lewis, Kenneth Griffith. CREDITS: Executive producer, Sidney Box; Producer, Vivian A. Cox; Director, Peter Glenville; Screenplay, Bridget Boland; Photography, Reginald Wyer. DIRECTION: Fine. PHOTOGRAPHY: Excellent. Columbia's "Sons & Lovers’ Montgomery Clift will star in Columbia’s Sons and Lovers. "And Suddenly You Run’ Scott Brady and Joan Vohs star in Republic’s And Suddenly You Run. THE DEEP BLUE SEA with Vivien Leigh, Kenneth More, Eric Portman, Emlyn Williams, (CinemaScope-De Luxe Color) 20th-Fox 99 Mins. PROVOCATIVE, ADULT DRAMA BASED ON CONFLICT OF HUMAN EMOTIONS. SHOULD APPEAL TO MATURE AUDIENCES. Terence Ratigan has authored a provocative screenplay that showcases some exceptionally good performances by Vivien Leigh, Kenneth More, Eric Portman, Emlyn Williams and Moira Lister. An adult drama, it should find its mark in special situations where the more sophisticated type of fare is wanted. Anatole Litvak’s production is an attractive one, photographed in De Luxe color and CinemaScope. As a matter of fact, Jack Hildyard’s easy-on-the-eyes lensing is the first British production made in that process. Litvak’s direction is smooth and well-defined, drawing on the range of human emotion for effective portrayals from his characters, a distinguished judge, Emlyn Williams, his éstranged wife, Vivien Leigh, and the irresponsible, ex-RAF pilot she’s living with, Kenneth More. A London Film Production presented by Alexander Korda. CAST: Vivien Leigh, Kenneth More, Eric Portman, Emlyn Williams, Moira Lister, Arthur Hill, Dandy Nichols, Jimmy Hanley, Miriam Karlin, Heather Thatcher. CREDITS: Producer, director, Anatole Litvak; Screenplay, Terence Ratigan; Music composed by Malcolm Arnold; Conducted by Muir Mathieson; Production designed by Vincent Korda; Photography, Jack Hildyard. DIRECTION: Excellent. PHOTOGRAPHY: Very Good. "Goodman Story’ Day & Date In Toronto The Benny Goodman Story, eagerly awaited U-I production being released by Empire-Universal Films, is responsible for an innovation that may become a policy if warranted—the dayand-date showing of the same feature at Loew’s Yonge Street and Loew’s Uptown. Following in the category of The Glenn Miller Story, it was necessary to evolve an exhibition policy in keeping with the fantastic boxoffice impact of that picture. The Benny Goodman Story, right after its early USA dates, indicated that it would be another smash. Loew’s officials worked the deal out with A, W. Perry, EmpireUniversal president, and Mark Plottel, general sales manager. News Clips Walter Lantz will represent the Animated Film Producers Association on the committee to gilamorize both Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street. One hundred cartoon characters will be part of the decorations .. . John Allen, Thorold, Ontario exhibitor, has become district representative for Draper Dobie & Company, Toronto brokers .. . Joshua Lieberman, theatre circuit executive, was elected president of the Congregation Shaarei Bedek for his ninth consecutive term. The NY Variety tent recently installed Chief Barker Harold J. Klein and his Crew at a luncheon in Toots Shor’s...Konezakowski Theatres of Buffalo is asking $32,100,000 in the U.S. District Court from nine distributors for operating an alleged illegal monopoly, which affected the earnings of its five theatres ... Net income of Walt Disney Productions for the year ended October 1, 1955 rose to $1,352,576 compared with $733,852 — or $2.07 a common share as against $1.12. Jean Carson, a Rank Organization star whose latest film is An ‘Alligator Named Daisy, has just been voted the Most Promising New Star of American Television in a poll conducted by Motion Picture Daily. She has starred ina number of NY TV “spectaculars” and will return in July to the UK for more films... Tent 7, Variety Club of Buffalo, presented the Children’s Hospital with $28,405 for it Cerebral Palsy Centre at the recent installation of officers, which saw Elmer Lux take over from W. E. J. Martin as Chief Barker. Canadian Premieres For ‘Helen Of Troy’ Seven Canadians cities are scheduled to join with 13 USA and 114 foreign ones in the global premiere of Warner Brothers’ Helen of Troy on January 26. An audience of more than halfa-million persons are expected to be present at the first night of the film, a CinemaScope-Warnercolor production starring Rossana Podesta and Jack Sernas. Other cities may be added later to those already booked. The Canadian cities are Toronto, Edmonton, Montreal Winnipeg, Calgary, Vancouver and Ottawa. o é { ?