Canadian Film Weekly (Mar 7, 1956)

March 7, 1956 Vol, 21, No. 10 March 7, 1956 HYE BOSSIN, 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 WAlInut 4-3707 Price $3.00 per year. FILM DAILY POLL (Continued from Page 1) choice was also the same—East of Eden, which was ranked fourth in the Canadian Film Weekly list, since The Country Girl, a 1954 film in the USA but a 1955 release in Canada, was picked ahead of it. The Canadian Best Ten had two pictures in it that were in the previous year’s USA list. Seven of ten Film Daily choices were also chosen for the Canadian Film Weekly poll. As in Canada, the race between Mr. Roberts and Marty was very close—281 against 270. Here is how they ran in the USA poll by The Film Daily: 1—Mr. Roberts (Warner Bros.), 2—Marty (United Artists), 3— East of Eden (Warner Bros.), 4 — The Blackboard Jungle (MGM), 5—Bad Day at Black Rock (MGM), 6—A Man Called Peter (20th Century-Fox), 7— Trial (MGM), 8—Love Me or Leave Me (MGM), 9—Summertime (United Artists) and 10— Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (20th Century-Fox). Two pictures which have received Academy nominations as the best films shown last year were not made eligible for The Film Daily Poll— Paramount’s The Rose Tattoo and Columbia’s Picnic. Both were released too late in the year to qualify for the Oscar voting and the critics hadn’t seen them, They will be voted on in The Film Daily’s 1955 Academy nominees. To Star In UA's ‘Bandido' Robert Mitchum and Gilbert Roland will star in UA’s Bandido. C'Scope 55 Showings Supervised By GTS All the technical details of 20th-Fox’ successful CinemaScope 55 demonstrations in Canada, including the first showing on February 1 in Toronto, have been handled by General Theatre Supply Company. Mike Reidy supervised the Toronto screening, W. Forward the Vancouver one, H. B. Grimes those in Calgary and Regina, C. Maybee the one in Winnipeg, H Burko that of Montreal and Cecil Johnston the Saint John one. CANADIAN FIM WEEKLY ‘Mr. Roberts’ Chosen (Continued from Page 1) ly for her performance in Paramount’s The Country Girl, a film which was released in the USA in 1954 but was not generally shown in Canada until almost a year later and therefore was not eligible for last year’s Canadian Film Weekly poll. The Country Girl finished third in the picture poll and another film released later here, Warner Brothers’ A Star Is Born, ended up fifth. Both were strong contenders in the 1955 Academy Awards. Runnerup to Miss Kelly was Glenn Ford for his performances in The Blackboard Jungle and Trial, two MGM features that finished sixth and ninth respectively in the picture poll. Surprisingly, the star of Mister Roberts, Henry Fonda, did not make the first ten, although James Cagney, his co-star, finished fifth—mostly because of his fine work in Love Me or Leave Me. Ernest Borgnine, the star of Marty, was third. Mister Roberts was produced by Leland Hayward and directed by John Ford and Mervyn LeRoy. Included in the cast were William Powell, Jack Lemmon, Betsy Palmer, Ward Bond, Phil Carey and Nick Adams. Marty was a Hecht-Lancaster production directed by Delbert Mann and included in its feature players were Betsy Blair, Esther Minciotti and Joe Mantell. Six of the ten films were in CinemaScope and color, while last year four were in color and one in CinemaScope. All films were produced in the United States, the first time since the inception of}the poll that a British film did not make the first ten, although three J. Arthur Rank pictures— Mr. Hulot’s Holiday, The Divided Heart and Romeo and Juliet— were among the five closest to the top ten. The other two which just missed were MGM’s The Tender Trap and Empire-Universal’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Altogether there were 146 eligible pictures and the critics voted for 91, as compared with 157 and 80 last year. This seems to show that, while there were fewer films, the quality had improved considerably in the critics’ estimation. Votes were cast for 109 players as against 106 in 1955. In the first ten pictures and not mentioned above were Warner Brothers’ East of Eden, 20thFox’ Carmen Jones and A Man Called Peter and MGM’s Bad Day at Black Rock. Following the first three stars were the late James Dean for East of Eden; William Holden for The Country Girl, The Bridges at Toko-Ri and Love Is a Many Splendored Thing; Frank Sinatra for The Tender Trap and Not as a Stranger; Judy Garland for A Star Is Born; Julie Harris for I Am a Camera and East of Eden; and Katharine Hepburn for Summertime. Warner Brothers, which for several years did not have any films in the first ten, made up for it with three this year, tying with MGM for the lead among the studios. Twentieth CenturyFox had two, United Artists one and Paramount one. MANNITONA'S PUBLIC STOCK ISSUE Mannitona Pictures Corporation Limited, organized by Melburn E. Turner, Gerald A. Scott, John E. Cliff and A. Gerald Woodley of Gananoque, Ontario, is offering a stock issue of $72,500. First preference shares at $100 have a six per cent yield and carry a bonus of Common Shares at the rate of five each. The Preference Shares, at six per cent interest, are cumulative and redeemable. Capitalization is $200,000 for Preference Shares and there are 20,000 Common Shares without nominal or par value. The company is “to meet the need for a truly Canadian feature-length motion picture industry” and boost tourism in the area through its productions, Turner, president and general manager of Mannitona, recently produced The Little Canadian, now being distributed in Canada by Astral Films. McCULLEY ON ‘FORD TV GRAPHIC' Ford TV Graphic, Canadian television,” “the biggest venture yet undertaken by will have Joseph McCulley, Warden of Hart House of the University of Toronto, as permanent host. The 30-minute CBC-TV show, which is slotted on Friday at 9 p.m. and began on March 2, will be mainly live but use film when necessary. McCulley was chosen over Bruce West, Toronto Globe and Mail columnist, and Gordon Burwash, former National Film Board actor-writer, the three having remained of 30 applicants. Sydney Newman will produce the show for CBC, with Peter McFarland sharing the direction with others. Louis Applebaum, musical director of the Stratford Festival, will lead the 20-piece orchestra. The agency representing Ford is Cockfield Brown, of which Alan Savage is Radio-TV manager. McCulley and Applebaum were introduced at a luncheon in the Seaway Hotel, at which the guests were the press and CBC, Page 3 ()PTIMISM and confidence in the future are important requisites of any business. In our business in particular the excitement generated by new potential = boxoffice attractions has often been a bridge of hope over the stream of poor releases — and poor business — which we encounter from time to time. What lies ahead for those theatres which survive the changeover period depends quite importantly upon the quantity, quality and boxoffice draw of the films released. Such theatres may look forward with a feeling of increasing confidence. More features are presently in production than has been the case for several years. But more specifically, more important films are now scheduled for release in the next few months. These are the type of attractions which will bring people back to motion picture theatres, and a. satisfied patron is always a potential repeater. It is not to be assumed that all these pictures will be of help to all the theatres in our country. Some of these “big grossers” may lose a great deal of their value by the time they are available to the small theatres, or such theatres may be forced to buy them at terms which do not necessarily result in a profit. However, in the overall picture the increase in the number of films produced and released generally will not only make a better choice of programming possible for a great many theatres, but it will also mean a lessening of the present day seller’s market. With this increased availability of product in number and quality apparently just around the corner, it is safe to assume that first-run theatres in key and sub-key locations maye hope for a higher level of prosperity. Based on increased attendance and grosses they can generally afford to pay the terms now being demanded by distributors for some of these so-called super-dupers and-come out with a reasonable profit. But what about. the small town exhibitor? Where is his cushion? Everyone agrees that he should be kept in business, but everyone seems to want the other fellow to pay the shot. On the other hand, distributors claim that many exhibitors who are doing all right are climbing on the “crying wagon” and seeking reductions to which they are not entitled. Thus continues (Continued on Page 4)