Canadian Film Weekly (May 1, 1957)

ee AS oem gL, _ omy a nc aR es er y ri \ a Se era b May 1, 1957 CANADIAN FILM WEEKLY Page 3 ROYAL ALEX (Continued from Page 1) has always drawn the support through patronage or sentiment of those who sought to save the legit from the onslaught of the movies. It has also drawn the steady patronage of motion picture industry people, for, as the former manager, Ernie Rawley used to ask: “If it wasn’t for the Royal, where would the movie people go?” What many people don’t realize is that the Royal Alexandra, while mainly a legit stand, has an important record as a movie theatre also. In fact, it has a special place in local motion picture history through establishing that every film has an audience if shown in an environment favored by that audience. There’s no doubt that the Royal, now managed by Ed DeRocher, Rawley’s long-time aide, could validly claim certain types of records for Toronto movie exhibition. The RA was a great place for Roadshow presentations ahead of popular runs; Way Down East, Abraham Lincoln, The Great Ziegfeld and The Good Earth were among the films that bowed in locally there. Nor is its place in the movie scene comparatively new. Beginning May 3, 1909—which was during the theatre’s second season— Lyman H. Howe’s moving photography, featuring a runaway train through the Alps and travelogues, ran for five weeks! In May, 1912 Kinemacolor films of the Durbar in India played a two-week engagement and in 1915 Birth of a Nation tied the theatre up for several weeks. Fantasia, Walt Disney’s animated cartoon color feature illustrating well known music classics, highlights the RA’s movie life in the last couple of decades. From 1941 to 1953 it played 11 engagements for a total of almost 18 weeks and probably hung up a world record for gross from a single theatre. The RA showed the way locally into the art house and special-attraction field for theatres, for it offered every kind of motion picture that the average exhibitor would have no truck with, as well as giving engagements to films after they had played pop-patronage situations. People came who otherwise didn’t bother with movies, since the average fare in the average theatre was not to their tastes. Sometimes the RA management was the exhibitor, other times the theatre was rented. Always the public’s appreciation of the theatre’s fine reputation was a major factor in the success of an engagement. By the way, the projection equipment, rendered useless by electrical changes, has been removed and portable equipment will be employed in the future. The theatre has a number of film highlights. The Great Handel News Notes BIGGS' NFB CREW TO EUROPE A National Film Board crew headed by Julian Biggs, director, just landed in Europe to shoot a series of sequences for inclusion in the Perspective program of 39 30-minute shorts for CBC telecasting. With Biggs are Johnny Foster, cameraman; Don Wilder, assistant director; Clark Daprato, sound recordist; and Ray Jones, assistant cameraman. Among the subjects to be filmed are Canadian students at Britain’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, Oxford University’s impact on Canadian Rhodes Scholars, and circumstance and problems involved in a Scot’s decision to emigrate to Canada with his family. The first will be written by Bill Weintraub, who was in England earlier this year, and the other two by Charles E. Israels, now there. Perspective producer David Bairstow is considering the sending of a crew to Ghana, Africa, formerly the Gold Coast and now the newest member of the Commonwealth of Nations. FOUR CANADIANS WIN PARA TRIP Four Canadian newspapermen were among the 50 whose names were drawn by Paramount to appear in the studio’s production, Teacher’s Pet, now in work. The four, who will be flown to Hollywood for a week’s stay as the guests of Paramount and will receive standard Actor’s Guild wages for their parts in the film, are Ken Johnson of the Toronto Telegram, Ron Johnson of the Toronto Globe and Mail, Bob Shields of the Calgary Herald and Jacques Laroche of the Montreal La Presse. Originally Paramount circularized 200 editors, critics and reviewers in the USA and Canada asking how many would be interested in a junket to Cinema City to appear as newspapermen in the film. Affirmative replies came from 156 and the 50 winners were drawn by Doris Day and Clark Gable, stars of Teacher’s Pet. SIG NEUFELD TO HOLLYWOOD Normandie Productions, which recently completed The Last of the Mohicans near Toronto, will probably get under way with a second series in July. Executive Producer Sig Neufeld, in Hollywood just now, has been looking at three stories and agreement on which is to be used will likely be arrived at while there. Another outdoor story, this one with a Canadian theme, is favored. The Normandie productions will reach sponsors and TV stations in Canada through Horace N. Stovin & Company, which now represents Television Productions of America, USA distribution company which financed Mohicans and will do the same for the coming series. Film Industries of Canada will again provide facilities. Ev Palmer was recently appointed sales manager for TPA in Canada. Film division head for Stovin is Bill Byles, executive vicepresident, but the TPA branch will operate on its own. played five engagements in four years—1944-5-6 and 1948. Ecstasy, weeks), Lucia di Lammermoor, Shoe Shine, Mourning Becomes which made a star of Hedy Lamarr, racked up almost $9,800 for one week of two-a-day at 25-50 cents for matinees and 50-75 cents for evening showings in 1942. Warsaw Concerto, wartime story of a concert pianist turned flyer, played three engagements. War pictures, most of Russian origin, featured 1944 and 1945—The Fall of Stalingrad, Ravaged Earth, Girl 217 and Samuel Goldwyn’s No Greater Love among them, A weeklong film festival, offering a different attraction each night, was held in 1945. A different type of festival was offered in 1948—that of opera films. Here are some of the films: 1946 —St. Francis of Assissi, Theirs is the Glory; 1947—The Roosevelt Story, Colonel Blimp, Moonlight Sonata, Men of Two Worlds, New Wine (two weeks), Moonlight Sonata, The Stone Flower (two weeks) and The Barber of Seville; 1948— Sins of the Fathers (four weeks), The King’s Jester, Furia (two Electra (two weeks) and Henry V (two weeks); 1950—Carnegie Hall; 1952: Long Is the Road, Catskill Honeymoon and Eroica, the first two in the Yiddish language and the other, from Austria, in German. A good number were in Italian. The Royal Alexandra has no films booked at the moment nor has it a rental for a showing on its books at the moment—but no doubt it will get to a film now and then in the future. OUR BUSINESS (Continued from Page 2) offers the promise of a good evening’s entertainment for those who want to get out of their homes. And we must not assume that everyone has a TV set or wants to watch it all the time. An exhibitor may well coin the slogan, “Gimme the gimmicks but don’t put the stops on the pops.” ITALIAN INDUSTRY (Continued from Page 1) doubts, confusion and errors, a problem reached maturity—a problem of ideas, a problem of costs and capital, a problem of personnel. Today the problem demands a solution, at times in dramatic tones, but the prior conditions for its solution are all in being already, starting with the new law on the film industry.” The new law, which applies until June 30, 1959, guarantees all producers a state contribution of 16 per cent of gross receipts for every feature, instead of the former ten per cent and the possibility of an eight per cent bonus after approval has been given by a technical committee. Other measures to spur production include the raising of the compulsory time for showing Italian films from 80 to 100 days annually; a refund of 20 per cent of the fiscal tax for exhibitors showing domestic films; quality bonuses of 25 million liras each for five films annually, based on their technical, artistic and cultural merits, with 20 million liras going to the producer and five million to the technical personnel; and proceeds of the 5,500,000 tax on foreign films dubbed in Italian to go to national production. In order to benefit from these new regulations and subsidies an Italian producer must prove that he is financially sound and can and will complete a film once he undertakes it. In this way the Government hopes to eliminate fly-by-night speculators and shoestring operators. Particular care has been given by the State to the study of films for children and these have been broken down into two categories— those made especially for children under 16 and those which have not been made especially for children but are suitable for them and have exceptional educational values. Producers of films in the first category are eligible for a bonus of up to 20 million liras. Exhibitors showing the special children films will get a 40 per cent rebate of the fiscal tax and those showing the educational features 30 per cent. Marinucci concludes his article with his opinion that all these moves will help stabilize the Italian film industry, which he figures will turn out about 100 pictures annually. He does not expect many big-budget films costing over 200 million liras will be produced but he believes that most pictures will have a budget geared to their expected returns. He states that most producers have started to economize, especially where salaries are concerned, but he points out that as long as the industry has new men coming along with the same great talent and initiative as their predecessors there need be no fears that it will not be able to pull out of the doldrums into which it has lately fallen.