Canadian Film Weekly (May 1, 1957)

Incorporating the Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Founded 1915) Vol. 22, No, 18 May 1, 1957 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 WAlnut 4-3707 Price $5.00 per year. TRADE, BFI REPS (Continued from Page 1) are vanishing and the sense of urgency just adds to the frustration. However, the Canadian Association for Adult Education, the Canadian Film Institute and Dr. W. Kaye Lamb, head of our National Archives, have interested themselves and are working toward the time when the Archive can be established. There has already been catalogued many films of other days, a goodly number of them among the paper prints held by the USA Library of Congress, that belong in such an Archive. Two features made in Canada and showing phases of Canadian life are being held by the National Film Board for the Archive. They are Carry On, Sergeant and The Viking. There has existed for some years a Canadian Film Archive committee made up of leading industry figures but it has never been asked to do anything. Preservation of films was the subject of a recent meeting in London, England between trade representatives and officials of the National Film Archive, a department of the British Film Institute. The Archive representatives, Basil Wright, J. H. Collingridge, Sir Arthur Elton, Frank Hoare and Ernest Lindgren, said they hoped that ‘‘the industry would be able to extend the fullest possible cooperation towards the archive, which was concerned to preserve a careful selection of important films for the future.’’ The trade representatives said they would report back to their associations. They were Robert Clark, Anthony Havelock-Allan, Sir Arthur Jarratt and, J. P. H. Walton of the British Film Producers Association; Sir David Griffiths, Frank Hill Montague Morton and R. C. B. Ellis of the Kinema Renters Society. The chairman was Sylvester Gates, chairman of the BFI. To Direct 'The Bravados' John Huston will direct 20th-Fox’ The Bravados. Montgomery's ‘Black Patch’ Montgomery Productions’ first film for Warners will be Black Patch, starring George Montgomery and Diane Brewster. CANADIAN FILM WEEKLY Roberge NFB Chief (Continued from Page 1) administrative head of the Canada Council two weeks ago. Roberge, who assumes office on May 1 for five years, was admitted to the Quebec bar in 1937 at the age of 22 and was a Liberal member of the Quebec Legislature for Lotbiniere from 1944 to 1948. A member and former director of the Canadian Bar Association, he was legal adviser to the Royal Commission on the Arts and Sciences which was headed by GovernorGeneral Massey. His first official meeting with the Board of Governors will take place May 6 in Montreal. Removal of the National Film Board from Ottawa, where the chairman has his office, to an $8,000,000 location near Montreal has caused a lessening of public attention to it. Many consider that to a great extent it is subject to the whims of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, which inherited television under its Act and resisted all suggestions that its sister agency share its power. Some consider that the Board has a doubtful future but its executive insist that it is going along more strongly than ever in interpreting Canada at home and abroad. There seems to be a steady resignation of trained personnel. But information about the NFB is notoriously hard to get. It never makes its program and _ policies known at the beginning of a new fiscal year. It doesn’t follow the ordinary pattern of motion picture publicity about pictures in production. It goes along in its quiet way, using up its allocation, and making the results of its activity known only when ready to release a completed film. Recently NFB and CBC representatives have been meeting, no doubt to try for the elimination of duplicate activities undertaken because of lack of liaison. The fact of the two government agencies meeting was never made _ public W. W. (Billy) Dineen Passes In Toronto William Wallace (Billy) Dineen 34, one of a crew of four from Showcase Film Productions stricken with hepatitis in Northern Ontario, died in Sunnybrook Hospital, Toronto, last week. There was an epidemic in the mining area where the crew under Jack Chisholm, general manager of Showcase Productions, was working. With Chisholm also were Ernie Kirkpatrick and Jim Kennedy. Mr. Dineen, whose late father was the Tivoli electrician for many years, was a lighting expert and was well known and highly regarded in the live theatre as well as in many of the important segments of the motion picture industry. Surviving are his wife, Iris, and their three children. officially, nor what has come from such meetings. In Toronto the most outstanding press critic of the NFB is Stanley Helleur, editor of Mayfair and columnist of the Weekend Telegram, who was its chief information officer for a time. Wrote he recently: “My own serious dispute with Board policy, when I was there, was over the feverish desire to get into television, at the sacrifice of the original and primary role, even duty, which was to produce ‘documentary films which would interpret Canada to Canadians and to the rest of the world.’ It seemed to me ridiculous that one government agency should desert its proper field to make television films and then proceed, hat in hand like any private producer, to another government agency (the CBC) and try to peddle its product for whatever handout it could get, in money and playing time. “But this is what has happened and the result has been a serious loss of prestige for the NFB not only at home but in other countries where, ironically, it has always been more respected. What one sees from the NFB on TV is a far, far cry from what the Board could do if it stuck to making films, as films.” The rumor of the Roberge appointment has been around for quite a time and it is likely that the new NFB chief had a chance to do some thinking about his new responsibilities before he undertook them. Whether he thinks that the NFB is doing right nicely or is floundering in film-TV_ crosscurrents isn’t known. Mason, Rank Men To Hit The Road Charles Mason, publicity director of Rank Film Distributors of Canada Limited will tour Western Canada for three weeks beginning April 29. He’ll visit Fort William, Winnipeg, Regina, Saskatoon, Edmonton, Calgary, Victoria and Vancouver. Mason says the object is to publicize the company’s films and contract stars—but primarily to strengthen friendly ties with exhibitors. His trip is a forerunner to many such by Rank publicity personnel, Frank Lawson, Mason’s assistant, will handle things at head office while he’s away. Diehl Walsh Aide Assistant president of the IATSE is now Walter F. Diehl of Local 182, Boston. His appointment by President Richard F. Walsh was approved by the general executive board. Diehl attended the Northeastern University School of Business Administration and in 1927, at 20, became a projectionist. May 1, 1957 Qur Business WE continue to talk about the necessity of bigger and. better attractions to lure people away from their TV screens and into our theatres. Yet we are frequently confused by the large. grosses garnered in certain theatres by what are obviusly cheaplyproduced films of the gimmick a type. This is today an interesting facet of our business. It is now obvious that the ceiling of grosses for top films is continuing to rise almost as fast and comparatively as high as that for airplanes. On the other hand, the gimmick film now occupies an increasingly important place in our economy. What is a gimmick picture and why does it draw? Presently offbeat subjects such as Rock and Roll and Science Fiction may be considered in this category. Coming up shortly will be a whole series seeking to cash in on the present rage for Calypso music. Other unusual themes have been tried with varying degrees of success. Producers are constantly on the alert for novel themes, especially if they lend themselves to alluring or shocking titles and, preferably, the possibility of minimum production budgets. The search is for a maximum profit potena with very little chance of OSS. There is still a good segment of the public in younger and teenage brackets which continues to regard the motion picture theatre, to some extent, as a-time-waster. Films which offer novelty and the promise of some thrill and excitement can attract a good portion of this group, even though lacking in some of the important attributes we associate with first-class production. They do, however, shun what they feel can be seen on TV. It is not uncommon to hear someone glibly state that only the big productions or the gimmick pictures can today get any money. If we accept this statement without thought we overlook the fact that there is still a large waiting and potential audience for the color action Western, the familytype story and other well produced entertainment which, though Obviously not in the multi-million dollar class, still (Continued on Page 3)