Canadian Film Weekly (Feb 22, 1956)

February 22, 1956 CANADIAN FILM WEEKLY Vol. 21, No. 8 February 22, 1956 HYE BOSSIN, Editor —————— * Assistant Editor Ben Halter ffice 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. DR. LORTIE (Continued from Page 1) National Film Commissioner, on the production of French-language films and to act in the latter’s frequent absence from Ottawa. Dr. Lortie, 56, who will act as a consultant, has been since 1953 a member of the nineman Board of Governors, which is subject to the direction of Pickersgill. The Board is made up of four members from public service and five representing various geographical regions. The last NFB post which roughly corresponded to that of vice-chairman was Deputy National Film Commissioner, Ross McLean held this under John Grierson until he succeeded him in 1947. Soon after Ralph Foster —who had returned from Australia, to which country he had been loaned by the then Prime Minister, Mackenzie King, to become National Film Commissioner—was named Deputy. W. Arthur Irwin headed the NFB after McLean resigned in 1950 and in 1953 the former, on being named High Commissioner to Australia, was succeeded by the present Commissioner. There has been no Deputy Commissioner since Ralph Foster resigned soon after McLean. Dr. Lortie is well known in Canadian university circles. He was educated at St. Mary’s College and the University of Montreal and completed his studies at the University of Paris and Cornell University. He is the holder of an honorary degree in science from the University of Ottawa. Dr. Lortie is director of the Extension Department of the University of Montreal and a member of Montreal City Council, He was formerly professor of inorganic chemistry and the history of science at the University of Montreal. He was president of the Canadian Institute of Chemistry in 1942 and 19438 and president of the French-Canadian Association for the Advancement of Science in 1948 and 1949. 20th-Fox’ ‘The Proud Ones’ Walter Brennan has been added to the cast of 20th-Fox’ The Proud Ones, which will be filmed in CinemaScope. Big Fox Year Ahead (Continued from Page 1) The meeting was given a lift by the printed and verbal praise that followed the demonstration of CinemaScope 55 before 1,200 persons in the Imperial, Toronto. They saw excerpts from Carousel and The King and I. With a record 34 picture production and release program budgeted at $100,000,000 Fox has set 13 major attractions, of which 12 are in CinemaScope and color and one in standard dimension and color, for release by the end of June. The amplified program, announced soon after in New York by Spyros Skouras, president, and Darryl F. Zanuck, production head, will see two The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, the strong cast of which is headed by Gregory Peck, Jennifer Jones, Fredric March and Marisa Pavan. For April, Fox is lining up Hilda Crane, a filmization of Samson Raphaelson’s Broadway hit, starring Jean Simmons, Guy Madison, Jean Pierre Aumont and Peggy Knudsen. A Buddy Adler production, The Revolt of Mamie Stover, will be April’s second CinemaScope release. Shot on location in Hawaii, the picture was directed by Raoul Walsh and stars Jane Russell, Richard Egan, Joan Leslie and Agnes Moorehead. May will see the release of "SKOURAS APPRECIATION WEEK' Spyros P. Skouras Appreciation Week, honoring the president of 20th Century-Fox for his dedication and leadership in improying motion picture entertainment, has been set for the week ending March 31 by the film company’s United States and Canadian sales organization, it was announced last week. The salute to the film executive, the driving force behind the world-wide launching of CinemaScope in 1953 with The Robe and the introduction of CinemaScope 55 this year with Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel, has been timed to coincide with his birthday on March 28 as a double tribute. Programming of a 20th Century-Fox picture in every theatre of the United States and Canada during that pre-Easter week has been set as the goal and leading exhibitors, representing theatres of every type and size, will be invited to participate. CinemaScope productions released monthly, including Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel, the studio’s first picture in the revolutionary new CinemaScope 55 process. Carousel, starring Gordon MacRae, Shirley Jones, Cameron Mitchell and Barbara Ruick, had its gala world premiere in February at the Roxy Theatre, New York in a benefit for the New York Medical College. It will be released here on March 22. The first March release, The Man Who Never Was, in CinemaScope, is set to follow The Man With the Golden Arm at New York’s Victoria Theatre. Clifton Webb and Gloria Grahame are starred in the Andre Hakim production directed by Ronald Neame. ‘Already in release are The Bottom of the Bottle, starring Joseph Cotten, Van Johnson and Ruth Roman; and The Lieutenant Wore Skirts, starring Tom Ewell, Sheree North and Rita Moreno. March will also see On the Threshold of Space released. Not a science-fiction story, this William Bloom production is based on the work of men dedicated to aero medical research. It stars Guy Madison, Virginia Leith, John Hodiak and Dean Jagger. One of the most completely pre-sold films in the history of the industry is another release tentatively set for March, It is 23 Paces to Baker Street and The Proud Ones. The cast of the former is headed by Van Johnson, Vera Miles, Cecil Parker and Patricia Laffan. The second film, The Proud Ones, was directed by Robert Webb and stars Robert Ryan, Virginia Mayo and Jeffrey Hunter. The Sixth of June is, logically, Fox’ first release for the month of June. Based on Canadian writer Lionel Shapiro’s best-seller, it stars Robert Taylor, Richard Todd, Dana Wynter and Edmond O’Brien. The second June release will mark the first picture at Fox for James Mason as producer. Titled Ten Feet Tall, it was written by Berton Roueche and scripted by Richard Maibaum and Cyril Hume. In addition, 20th Century-Fox will release in April Edward L. Alperson’s production, Mohawk, a standard dimension picture filmed in color with a cast headed by Scott Brady, Rita Gam and Neville Brand. Derek Signs Contract John Derek has been signed to a non-exclusive, five-year, twopicture-a-year contract by BelAir Productions, which releases through United Artists. The star’s first film will be Chief Red Sleeves, which is scheduled to be produced by Howard W. Koch, new motion picture is not necessarily a good one; but an old one, unless outstanding, can lose value in the eyes of the public. This type of sit on the part of our paying audience | has grown because of TV. In this medium timing is a most important factor; indeed, in some cases the all-important one. For ™ ' example, a_ big apoctanilas is conceived and widely proclaimed to a potential viewing audience of millions. Those who desire to do so see it at the same time and they do not wait to get opinions from other viewers or critics. There was a time when moviegoing was a habit and people were satisfied to watch our entertainment, though not always of the highest standard, because it was something to do. Now they have to be drawn to the theatres and the best lure, next to outstanding quality, is the excitement generated by freshness. The public has come to expect to see old films on TV and, to some degree, resents going to a motion picture theatre to see old films. For this reason most reissues have very little theatre draw. This is a problem which our changing business must face and a new pattern is required. We can dream of closed-circuit TV whereby thousands of theatres can show the identical entertainment at the same time, or we can dream of an _ invention whereby prints would be as relatively cheap to manufacture as books. However, the reality of the situation demands that we think in terms of available prints and of censorship. Prints, particularly in color, are a_ sizeable expense for distributors. There is a limit to the number of prints it is economically feasible to bring into this country. Indeed, under the present conditions, it is doubtful that if print orders were doubled or even tripled any method of faster distribution could be evolved which would adequately take care of the many small theatres which would like to get their films earlier. In the United States prints are frequently shuttled from one branch to another in order to take care of saturation bookings. It is impossible to take advantage of this system in Canada because of the duty on prints. Similarly it is costly to ship prints from one province to another because of the censorship fees in each province. This, however, may be (Continued on Page 7)