Canadian Film Weekly (May 15, 1957)

CANADIAN FILM WEEKLY May 15, 1957 Incorporating the Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Founded 1915) Vol. 22, No. 20 May 15, 1957 HYE BOSSIN, Editor Assistant Editor Ben Halter Office Manager Esther Silver CANADIAN FILM WEEKLY 175 Bloor St. East, Toronto 5, Canade 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. CONTINENTAL (Continued from Page 1) made for physical offices and for hiring personnel.” Canadian distribution execs couldn’t see it. The territory, the release said, would be under the direction of Carl Peppercorn, v-p in charge of sales, who was Canadian general manager of RKO a couple of years ago. The “‘joint statement” by Frank Kassler and Walter Reade Jr., respectively president and chairman of the board, read: “It has long been apparent that Continental’s expansion program required offices in Canada and we are convinced that now is the time to do it. Not only will we handle sales and distribution for our own product, but for outside producers and distributors as well. We have concluded negotiations for several important motion pictures and specific titles will be announced shortly.” "The Brothers Karamazov’ Maria Schell, noted Swiss actress, has been signed by MGM for the role of Grushenka in The Brothers Karamazov. Carrol Baker, previously announced for the part, was unable to fill the role due to an earlier commitment. MGM's 'The Hired Gun’ Rory Calhoun will star in MGM’s The Hired Gun. Catholic Knighthood For J. J. Fitzgibbons J. J. Fitzgibbons, president of Famous Players Canadian Corporation, was one of 23 leading Catholic laymen of Eastern Canada on whom knighthood in The Equestrian Order of the Sepulchre of Jerusalem was bestowed in St. Michael’s Cathedral last week by Cardinal McGuigan, Archbishop of Toronto. The Order was started in Jerusalem in 1099 by Godfrey de Bouillon, a Crusader who set up a company of knights to defend the holy places. Cardinal Canall, Patron of the Order, sent his secretary, Rev. Bede McEachen, from Rome to conduct the ceremony according to prescribed ritual. The title of Lady was bestowed on the wives of the knights in a ceremony immediately following the first. Annual NFB Report (Continued from Page 1) $302,391. Of this revenue the NFB spent $188,063 to help finance TV production and $99,142 “‘to meet contingencies in the main _program,” leaving the $15,186 referred to earlier. Here is how the report broke down 1955-56 NFB film production: Cvricstonenl Piva. ee renceras e-ansone 62 Griginal: TV." Files: ...) iets 39 Versions and Revisions .................. 64 TV Versions and Revisions ......... i ae 205 English Originals (TY and non-TY).. 79 French Originals (TY and non-TY).... 22 English Versions and Revisions (IN ends non-lV). 25. Sade. 42 French Versions and Revisions CHV: aad onete IV) oe ae 49 Cther JgWGUdnES eee eee 13 205 During the year 39 foreign-language versions in Spanish, Dutch, German, Portuguese, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Italian, Greek, Hindi, Urdu, Arabic and Bengali were produced — 26 under contracts outside the NFB. Thirty NFB newsreel stories were used for TV and other purposes; 53 film strips on many aspects of Canadian life produced, 44 of them for government departments, and many stills made by the Still Photography Division. Of the 79 films for TV, 39 were original productions and the others revisions of these for French-language and other uses. The NFB made 39 theatrical films — two originals each in English and French in the Canada Carries On one-reel series, 11 original Eye Witness sequences in English and 11 in French; the rest of the total being revisions. Theatrical bookings fell to 7,294 from 10,719. The NFB’s non-theatrical production, including governmentsponsored films and language versions and revisions, totalled 105. Canada’s 496 Film Councils provided the major outlet for these. Following are the NFB’s breakdowns of production, distribution and administration costs, after which comes figures indicating how much it got in revenue from each area of activity: PRODUCTION OF FILMS AND OTHER VISUAL MATERIALS (1955-1956 Expense) Films for Theatrical distribution— Pp [Rea pair on Renee Een te $173,672 ES a area Oe Se Pa eae 49,041 International Newsreel ........ 41,127 General Program ................673,396 Adaptations and Revisions of existing films into other languages and lengths for further distribution .... 38,304 Films for television ......... bred 577,919 Filmstrip production 34,746 Photo services ................005 66,533 1,654,738 DISTRIBUTION OF FILMS (1955-1956 Expense) Administration Canadian Non-Theatrical .... 751,280 Commercial: 6238 oes 55,533 Infernationals s.e)o 03 voces. 275,860 Catalogues and other Informational materials ............ 108,906 1,352,285 ADMINISTRATION AND GENERAL SERVICES (1955-1956 Expense) Executive 228 ee ees. $ 45,042 Administration ....................... 214,842 General Services .................. 214,028 473,912 RENTALS AND ROYALTIES (1955-1956 Income) NonTotal TheatTheat Tele trical trical vision Canada$152,375 — 4,189 148,186 USA 54,346 37,200 10,518 6,628 UK 10,242 1,741 5,845 2,656 Other Foreign 15,534 2,883 11,815 836 232,497 41,824 32,367 158,306 The Board’s regular staff totalled 561 and during the year seven scholars from various countries, who came through Unesco, the Colombo Plan and other sponsors, were given training. In the motion picture laboratories film processes totalled 13,166,844 feet including in 35 mm. black and white, 4,141,838 feet; in 16 mm. black and white, 6,738,887 feet; and in 16 mm. color, 2,286,119 feet. Films processed in outside laboratories came to 1,176,314 feet of 16 mm. black and white and 622,139 feet of 16 mm. color. Paramount's ‘Obsession’ George Cukor will direct Paramount’s Obsession. MONTREAL THEATRE VENTURE A live theatre organization headed by Gratien Gelinas and dedicated to the presentation of Canadian plays in French and English will begin operation in the Radio City Theatre, Montreal, after alterations are complete in October. The organization, Le Theatre de la Comedie Canadienne, will be supported by private and government grants and Premier Maurice Duplessis of Quebec has announced that it will receive $25,000 per year for the next four years. The Dow Brewery of Montreal purchased the theatre for $250,000 and will spend $50,000 renovating and altering it for its new purpose. The stage is 64 feet wide and 32 feet deep and the theatre, for many years a burlesque house called the Gaiety, will seat 1,450. Prices will be held down to make it possible for students and others with low incomes to attend. First news of the project came from Premier Duplessis at his weekly press conference, which was attended by Gelinas and the Honorable Wilfred Gagnon, chairman of the board of the Dow Brewery. Our Business MATa WHY doesn’t our business promote a Canadian Movie Week — or even a Movie Month? The Radio Industry has just declared a Canadian , Radio Week. The Canadian Restaurant Association annually sponsors a Restaurant Month. Toronto has just announced a Music Week and other organizations of various types regularly announce _ similar events in order to call to the public’s attention whatever they are sponsoring. In the formative years of our business it was generally felt that moviegoing was, to a great extent, a habit—and it was. As time went by an increasing segment of the public became more selective and only attended movies when something was being shown that they really wanted to see. The advent of TV and its replacement of movies as a time-waster further diminished the regular moviegoing habit. Nevertheless, we are keenly aware of the wonderful entertainment that so many people miss by not attending the movies. A Canadian Movie Week or Month could be the springboard for a terrific splash of publicity and promotion which would colorfully draw to the attention of the public the strong entertainment values of motion picture theatres. This could conceivably result in attracting some portion of the so-called lost audience. All theatres could specially select their programs and generally put their best foot forward to attract the public, with the hope that they would thereafter return more frequently. The possibilities of such a plan are without limit and the cost does not have to be high. A suitable time would seem to be the early Fall, when our business faces revitalized TV opposition. As showmen, we have always considered ourselves better merchandisers than those engaged in any other business. Unfortunately this is no longer true. We are aware that the public has the money today and the time to spend at motion picture theatres but, notwithstanding this, audiences are far below what they should be. We know that we have a plethora of good entertainment to sell and we keep talking about selling it harder. We fail (Continued on Page 6) | i a