Canadian Film Weekly (Apr 3, 1957)

Vol. 22, No. 14 VOICE of the CANAD ig t MOTION PICTURE Incorporating the CANADIAN MOVING PICTURE DIGEST (Founded 1915) INDUSTRY Toronto, April 3, 1957 SEATING DOWN 36,832 IN 12 MONTHS CMPDA REPORTS 1,655 AUD CINEMAS, 230 OZONERS There are 1,656 35 mm. standard motion picture theatres and 230 drive-ins, a total of 1,886, operating in Canada, states C. J. Appel, executive director of the Canadian Motion Picture Distributors Association, Toronto, who has compiled them for Boards Of Trade Pick Presidents Three of Canada’s six Film Boards of Trade chose new presidents in recent elections, while two returned the same head and one has still to hold its election meeting. The Film Boards of Trade are made up of the managers of each branch of the Canadian film ex (Continued on Page 3) Choices Win Out In Acad Awards Hollywood’s 29th annual Academy Awards produced no major surprises, with the top Oscars going just about as expected. The ToddAO film, Around the World in 80 Days, Yul Brynner and Ingrid Bergman, considered the outstand _ ing pre-voting choices, won out for (Continued on Page 4) HIGHLIGHT of World Film Week, to be held June 3-9 in conjunction with the Festival of Cork, will be the presentation by Otto Preminger of his recently-completed film, St. Joan, which he will screen and discuss. The UA film stars Richard Widmark, Richard Todd, Anton Walbrook, John Gielgud and Jean Seberg in the title role. RECIPIENT of the first Oscar Cahen Memorial Award will be Norman McLaren of the NFB, it was announced in Toronto by the Art Directors’ Club. The award, which will commemorate Cahen, artist and illustrator killed in a car accident last December, will go to McLaren for producing a number of films which won international honors. TORONTO GLOBE & AAIL FILM CRITIC Grant McLean Now NFB Production Director Grant Mclean has been officially confirmed as Director of Production for the National Film Board, succeeding Donald Mulholland, recently promoted to a newly-created post, Director of Planning and Operations. The 36-year old Maclean, who was born and grew up in Saskatchewan, has been on the NFB staff for 15 years. He has been Director of Photography and has worked as a writer, director and producer. Last year he was the producer of the Perspective TV series. He directed many Canadian information films during the war and his work has taken him throughout Canada, including the Arctic, and five European countries. He was on loan to the UN in China and Korea and 16 of his films have won national and international awards. Among these are Farewell Oak Street and High Tide. TESTIMONIAL dinner was tendered to Isadore Shapero, Allied Artists’ Toronto branch manager, at the Town and Country in Toronto recently on his resigning from the company to move to Los Angeles. Over 70 guests saw Douglas V. Rosen, AA general manager who acted as emcee, make the presentation in behalf of those attending and heard a number of speeches by Shapero’s associates and friends from all segments of the film industry. Particular tribute was paid the guest of honor by Rosen, Jack Bernstein, AA general sales manager, and Raoul Auerbach, v-p of Twinex Century Theatres. TOTAL items submitted for the approval of the MPAA Advertising Code Administration during 1956 (Continued on Page 6) Film critic of Toronto’s only morning paper, The Globe and _ Mail, is Ron Johnson, who fills a post vacant for the past few months. The last critic was Alex Barris; who came off the chore a few weeks before he left to join The Telegram, Yy the private Directory of the member companies, soon to be issued again. The Directory will also list 267 theatres indicated as closed. The seating capacity of Canadian theatres was reduced in the past year by 36,832, dropping the total in operating houses to 886,865. It should be noted that many theatres in Canada have passed out of existence permanently. In Ontario alone 19 houses were demolished or converted to other purposes in the past year. Six theatres in Canada were destroyed by (Continued on Page 3) 20th-Fox To Sell Own 16 Mm. Pix Effective November 1 Twentieth Century-Fox will resume the sale of its 16 mm. versions, which have for the past decade been marketed in Canada through General Films, it was announced by Peter Myers, Canadian general manager. Cecil Black, in charge of circuit sales, (Continued on Page 4) New BC Theatre Ralph Pomeroy, Clem Brooks and Bradin Herron, who operate the 396-seat Fort, the only theatre in Fort St. John, BC, have purchased a site in the community and plan to erect a new 600-seat house to replace the Fort. "THE WORLD IN ACTION’ FOR TV The National Film Board’s new TV series, The World in Action, will get under way on April 25 at 10.30 p.m. on the CBC network. The first 13 subjects take an up-to-the-minute look at the Commonwealth of Nations, with Edgar W. MacInnis, president of the Canadian Institute of International Affairs, as narrator. Research by Ron Dick, veteran NFB writer-director, who was assigned by N. J. Balla to make a 20-minute film on the subject, started three years ago and developed into the present project. Next in The World in Action will be The Nature of Work group, which Morten Parker is producing. BALABAN UNVEILS PAY-SEE TV Paramount will sell its product for the best financial return, Barney Balaban, president, suggested at a Hollywood press unveiling of International Telemeter’s coin-box method of wired pay-see TV for home viewing. The franchise will go to the best payer in the particular area, since ‘“‘we must increase our revenue from whatever source.” The system, to cost $40,000, will be able to feed three channels at the same time when available to franchise holders six months from now. Pay-as-you-see TV ‘“‘will accelerate some theatre closings,” Balaban said, but it will also provide producers with more money to make pictures for theatres. In Canada the Telemeter franchise has been assigned to Famous Players Canadian Corporation for 25 years and will be exercised through Transcanada Telemeter, of which Eugene Fitzgibbons is president. Columbia's 'The Mad Ball’ Kathryn Grant will star opposite Jack Lemmon in Columbia’s The Mad Ball. Warners’ ‘Darby's Rangers’ Charlton Heston and Etchika Choureau will star in Warner’s Darby’s Rangers. where he turns out a daily column which appears in the | amusement section. Johnson, with the Globe and Mail since October, came to Toronto from Winnipeg, where he worked on The Tribune. He was on rewrite when given the film stint. Cot MMO ty