Canadian Film Weekly (Jul 17, 1957)

July 17, 1957 ~~ eam CANADIAN FILM WEEKLY Incorporating the Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Founded 1915) Vol. 22, No. 29 July 17, 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. FILMS AT STFD. (Continued from Page 1) Leonid Kipnis and directed by Tyrone Guthrie in a Toronto studio, held the interest of the opening night audience and received an ovation at its conclusion. Three National Film Board subjects, It’s a Crime, Trooping the Color and The Beloved Fish, made up the supporting program. The first, in black-and-white animation, was a very fine effort made for the Department of Labor by the NFB and in highly humorous fashion urged new production concepts by employers in the fight to eliminate seasonal employment. Its Stratford exhibition was a world premiere. The other two were made by Associated Screen News, Montreal, and included in its Canada Carries: On series by the National Film Board. Many who attended the opening of the Film Festival, which was without ceremony, were present at a reception in the Victoria Inn which followed. Among those at the theatre or reception or both were Guy Comeau, Lucille Bishop and Tom Johnston of the NFB; Charles Brown, Federation of Film Societies; Mrs. Michael Langham; Tom Patterson, Peter Bennett and John Hayes, senior officials of the Stratford Shakespearean Festival; actress Ann Casson; and George A. Pavlik, USA vice-consul. Festival actors, among them Douglas Campbell, Douglas Rain, William Hutt and Tony van Bridge, came to the reception after their roles in the new theatre. Reporting the opening of the film festival were David Dunsmuir, Stratford Beacon-Herald; Sydney Johnson, The Montreal Star; R. H. Gardner, The Baltimore Sun; Dick Newman, London Free Press; Ron Evans, The Telegram, Toronto; Gerald Pratley, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation; and Hye Bossin, Canadian Film Weekly, Toronto. The Diary Of Anne Frank’ Audrey Hepburn will star in 20thFox’ The Diary of Anne Frank. Louis Jourdan in 'Gigi' Louis Jourdan has been signed by MGM to play the romantic lead opposite Leslie Caron in Gigi, slated to start shooting in late July. Festivals, Festivals (Continued from Page 1) casional exception. None of the fuss-and-feathers of its stage offerings accompanies the festival. Producers of the films exhibited are given Certificates of Participation but application has been made to the international film festivals’ organization for membership, so that competition based on merit may come yet. Another non-competitive 35 mm. festival — this one confining films to those not yet shown in the USA and Canada — will be part of the 1957 schedule of the Montreal Festivals Society, which sponsors the Montreal festivals of art, music and drama from. July 22 to August 31. It opens at the St. Denis Theatre on July 27 with a hard-ticket $1 policy. Also in 35 mm. will be the Vancouver Film Festival, also part of a festival of arts like the one in Montreal. In Montreal the emphasis is on films from France, with some from other countries. The main reliance in all these festivals is on European films. Since the National Film Board is a regular participant in 16 mm. festivals, Canadian Film Weekly asked its Information Branch for some idea of the scope of them. Tom Johnston, NFB Info chief, asked Jim Lysyshyn of his department to take an overall look. Jim, who accepted the award to the Yorkton Film Festival at the recent Canadian Film Awards, wrote: “Film festivals of 16 mm. documentaries have become an integral part of the Canadian scene. During the past year, some 70 film festivals were held in Canada. Some of these are local in scope, while others like the Yorkton Film Festival are now established on the international plane. Almost every major Canadian city has its own film festival. “The first documentary festivals were held in Canada in 1950 under the sponsorship of community film councils in various provinces. The idea has spread widely over the succeeding years and now most of the active community film organizations sponsor a regular festival of one type or another. Staging a film festival provides a showcase for many of the newer and better productions in the 16 mm. documentary field, both in Canada and abroad. “Some of the festivals hold to a theme such as the British Commonwealth, music, travel, or agricultural films from all over the world, as at the University of Saskatchewan. Other festivals feature films from all over the world, in their various categories, i.e. science, human relations, creative arts, and natural history. “Not all festivals adjudicate the films and grant awards, but a few do have qualified judges and issue award certificates. In some instan ces, films are judged for popularity by audience ballot. “Thus far, there has been no standard pattern developed in regard to film festivals and a survey of the nation from coast to coast presents an amazing picture of variety, showing much originality and reflecting the interests of people in the various parts of Canada.” The 16 mm. festivals usually get much space from their local and regional newspapers. The recent three-day Bluenose Film Festival at Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, which was sponsored by the film councils of that community and four others near it, got entries from Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Israel, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa, Russia, Australia, Sweden, the USA and the UK. Its adjudicators were drawn from the CBC, the clergy and government audiovisual officials and the festival was officially opened with a banquet for 170 persons. British Columbia saw the Kootenays Film Festival in the Spring, it having been held at Creston, Nelson, Cranbrook, Castlegar and Trail, while Cowichan’s was in October, 1956. Alberta’s Edmonton (fourth) and Calgary’s (second) were held in March. Saskatchewan has quite a few — in Yorkton (fourth), Kamsack (third), Regina (seventh), Saskatoon, Tisdale, and North Battleford. There are also the Little Royal Agricultural Film Festival of the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Uranium City Thanksgiving Festival and the Wadena Festival of Fine Films. Manitoba has its Winnipeg festival (fifth) and Ontario has those in Cornwall (French-language entries), Peterborough, Belleville, Picton, Oshawa, Renfrew, Sudbury, Iroquois Falls, Lindsay, Port Hope, Hanover, Cargill, Pinkerton, Stormont and Pembroke. As yet no festival is in sight for Canada on par with those of Cannes, Edinburgh, Berlin and other places. Some persons, pointing out that Canada is a natural location for such a festival because of its traditional position between the USA and Britain, have urged that plans be undertaken. Stratford’s festival, directed by Leonid Kipnis with the aid of John Hayes, might stand amplification in that direction — if it would be a good thing in the minds of its executives. MGM's ‘Sheep Man’ Producer Edmund Grainger’s first picture for MGM under his new production deal with the Culver City studio will be The Sheep Man, an outdoor action comedydrama which will have Glenn Ford and an all-star cast. The picture will be directed by George Marshall from a screen play by Frank Fenton, based on a story by James Edward Grant. ‘centages Page 3 Ove Business "PHERE is a paradox in our business today. The economic life of our country is such that great benefit should accrue to us. The continual shortening of work hours leaves® people with@ more leisure time than ever before and with it there is an increase in personal earning power. Never© theless, there is no reflection of these factors in ticket sales, even though the state of the economy is excellent. A survey recently made in the United States indicates that, in a given week, twice as many people watched TV as went to the movies and the average amount of time spent by each person was more than four times that spent by one viewing films in theatres. This affirms that the public. has plenty of leisure for spectator activities. We know that per capita earnings and savings are up. We can only conclude that either we are not offering the type of entertainment which will draw people out of their homes or we are not selling what we have to offer hard enough. This situation brings to mind some challenging questions. Should theatres generally spend a greater percentage of their gross in advertising? If so, should the entire basis of film licensing be changed to permit such greater expenditures for selling film attractions to the public? There are precedents to indicate that the spread between present perand basic theatre overhead does not leave enough balance to enable exhibitors to step up advertising budgets. Serious consideration of this theory might result in a more flexible concept of film terms and a different approach to the merchandising of our entertainment to the public. Wherever the fault lies, one thing is certain. We continue to operate in generally the same manner as in the past and do not seem to recognize the crying need for new approaches to the public and new methods of interesting them in what we have to offer.