Canadian Film Weekly (Jul 10, 1957)

Incorporating the Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Founded 1915) Vol, 22, No. 28 July 10, 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. Rank & Eisenhower (Continued from Page 1) troops aboard the assault craft would have to come ashore, be housed, etc. Eisenhower had decided that theatres offered the best solution — the troops could be brought into all the movie theatres from Dover to Bristol. “But if Eisenhower had to ask the government to commandeer the theatres, the involved red tape might reveal the secret, ‘Take the cinemas,’ Rank offered. ‘ll be personally responsible to my boards of directors, even though | couldn’t tell them anything.’ ” ‘15 Bullets From Fort Dobbs’ Clint Walker will star in Warners’ Fifteen Bullets from Fort Dobbs. "The Shadow In The Wild’ First assignment at Columbia for Boris Kaplan, formerly associate producer of TV’s Omnibus and recently signed to a long-term contract as a producer by the studio, is The Shadow in the Wild. THEATRE FOR SALE The Capitol Theatre, Paris, Ont., is offered for sale on a fully equipped basis for $35,000.00. i ae * The owners will also consider renting the theatre, fully equipped, at a moderate rental for a short term. * * * Apply H. E. Roberts, Famous Players, 1200 Royal Bank Bidg., Toronto 1 or J. B. Appleby, Paris, Ontario. CANADIAN FILM WEEKLY 365 Hollywood Features (Continued from Page 1) the highest picture total for the American companies in five years. The certainty that the USA picture studios will reach their sharply higher production goal is seen not only in the films already completed and ready for release, but in the substantial number of story properties now in various stages of preparation. There seems to be nothing fragmentary about the production upsurge. It is evident at practically all the big movie plants in distinctly tangible terms. 20th Century-Fox, for example, is planning to release within the next 12 months some 60 feature films, nearly double the number it made available to theatres last year. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, with 12 important pictures now ready for release, has scheduled 36 more films for 1957-58, a 20 per cent increase in output over the previous year. A similar spurt in production activity will also bring Paramount’s annual total to 36, nine pictures ahead of its 1956-57 pace. At least 48 pictures will be produced and/or distributed by Columbia this year, and Warner Bros. will account for 35, representing substantial product gains for both companies. Universal-International, which has always been one of Hollywood’s more prolific studios, will maintain its feature film level for the year at about 36, and a similar quantity can be expected from Allied Artists. United Artists, the only major film company which relies exclusively on the product of independent film producers, will match its 1956 release schedule with another bumper crop of 48 pictures. What makes Hollywood’s greater productivity today all the more significant is that it decisively reaffirms the confidence American movie makers have in the enduring place of the movie theatre as the primary channel of motion picture entertainment everywhere throughout the world. There is every indication that from here on in picture fans will not only be getting a greater number and variety of movies from Hollywood, but a greater number of good ones. The year’s program holds promise of yielding what many predict will be the most exciting array of outstanding motion pictures in Hollywood’s history. Most of the studios are backing up their productions with recordbreaking budgets. One film industry source estimates that theatrical pictures made or to be made for release in the next 12 months will involve an aggregate expenditure of over 400 million dollars. This is an all-time record investment in the motion picture product of any single season. Following are typical comments and statements being heard these days within Hollywood’s bustling workshops. Spyros Skouras, president of 20th Century-Fox, states that his company is now in a position to supply theatres with at least one topquality motion picture for every week in the year. Alfred E. Daff, vice-president of Universal-International, appraising his company’s product for the ensuing season, says “it will exceed in quality and entertainment value’ anything ever before released by his studio. Asked by a reporter what he thought of the future of the motion picture business, Jack Warner said simply that his company will spend an unprecedented $85,000,000 for 35 theatrical pictures during the coming months. “I was never more certain,’ added the Warner Bros. studio chief, ‘‘that filmdom’s greatest era lies ahead.” Columbia Pictures describes its forthcoming array of releases as “the most impressive blueprint in the company’s history.”’ Arthur B. Krim, president of United Artists, declares that in this year’s lineup of 48 pictures which his company will release there will be considerably greater accent on ‘‘blockbusters.”’ The enthusiasm and confidence among those who guide the destinies of the American film companies has never been higher nor more fully justified. News Clips Cards issued by the Odeon and Plaza theatres in Victoria will entitle old age pensioners to admission at reduced prices . . . About 300 representatives from _ civic clubs, religious groups, school organizations, press, radio and television attended a private screening of The Ten Commandments in the Capitol Theatre, London, Ontario. The regular nightly showing was cancelled to make way for the screening. Among those present were Monsignor J. A. Roney, Reverend Canon H. E. Merifield and Rabbi David Kirshenbaum. CBC TV has obtained 48 children’s cartoons, averaging five minutes, from Caldwell Television Sales. They were produced for CBS-TV by Science Pictures Inc. . . City of Los Angeles will likely approve Skiatron’s application for a closedcircuit TV project . . . Shakespeare seminar at Waterloo College, July 22 to 26, will see two shorts about Shakespeare at Stratford. In them Michael Langham will talk about his production of Hamlet and Tyrone Guthrie about Twelfth Night. They were produced for the Canadian Association for Adult Education. July 10, 1957 Our Business 4M A Taylor N searching for reasons for decreased theatre attendance today we must conclude that one of the most distressing factors is the apathy of the public. New . films come and go like clouds in the sky, with the vast majority of the public paying no attention whatever. ™ Occasionally a , "= barrage of publicity creates enough thunder for a larger segment of the public to pay attention and spasmodically some unusual event or gimmick will strike like a bolt of lightning. Generally, however, the greater proportion of the public does not pay too much attention to the new movies. It has become a commonplace to blame all our troubles and woes on TV. Such ideas are based on a lack of recognition and understanding of other factors which have come into play along with the advent of TV, some of which may be problems actually created by TV itself. TV is not the only villain. The public has taken to a great many types of sports, diversions and do-it-yourself gimmicks. Concurrent with the rise of TV we have had an unprecedented growth in the number of automobiles on the road and traffic congestion and parking problems are strong factors in deterring people from leaving their homes to seek entertainment. It is at this point that TV becomes the villain because it is sitting there in the living room so convenient and so free. Weekly and continually the motion picture theatres of the country offer the public better diversion and_ entertainment than is possible through any other medium or at any other place. Yet we find ourselves in the position where people are not paying too much attention to what we have to offer. This results in our not getting a sufficient share of the entertainment dollar. The $64,000 question then becomes: How do we dispel the lethargy of the public? It is in this direction that the brains of our business should be applied. The answer is worth countless millions.