Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1954)

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behind the ^cette^ ^i/m Ptc4ucthH STUDIO SIZ6-UPS ALLIED ARTISTS \A Seeks Major Status (ia Talent Deals, Financing THE SWITCH-OVER TO A REAL iiajor studio operations continues apace here. A'ithin the past two weeks. AA executives lave been re-aliRning upper echelon personlel. expanding bank credits, shf)pping for luality story properties, and dickering with ome of the town's top talent — clearing indiating that the big push is on. Sidney Eranklin, Jr.. former Md.M prolucer, has been engaged as the studio's new tory editor, to help corral the superior type »f properties the company aims to produce in he future. A new one year loan pact with he Security-First National Hank of Los Angeles sets up a revolving loan of $1,2.^0,lOO, plus guaranteeing tip to $5()<).()fM) on lank loans to independents releasing through \ Talent negotiations are underway with h outstanding names in the industry as lark Gable. Humphrey Bogart, Joan Craword, and directors John Huston, William V'yier and Billy Wilder. It is understood hat president Steve Hroidy is offering .Mlicd lock options, lucrative profit-participation eals and more than .^0 per cent financing as he lure to pull in this outside talent lor inde roduction on the lot. Broidy is also known to he talking with he heads of various other studios on possible Dan-outs of top contract talent. Undoubtedly, the tremendous amount of etail work entailed in >;uch a metamorphisis, ccounts for the production letup at the tudio since the turn of the New Year. As f this writing, no definite starting date has n scheduled on any forthcoming produc:i. ■scripting got underway, this week, on >weet Violence," an original by Peter • rooke, purchased earlier in the month. 'oke is also doing the screenplay, with liard Contc set to <tar. COLUMBIA lage Hits Play Big Roll 1 Future Production Plans OLUMBLA. PERHAPS MORE THAN other studio in town, will draw heavily ■n hit properties from the Broadway — 'C, in executing its new production pro• rn. This includes both musical and dra Cxclu^i^e ^BULLETIN ')eatute By JAY ALLEN matic-type shows — but only those which have won wide-spread acclaim through their Broadway runs. With "Pal Joey" already set for early Spring production, Harry Cohn recently acquired the rights to "Picnic", the Broadway smash of the current season, and he is on the verge of closing a deal for rights to "Can-Can", the Cole Porter-.Abe Burrows musical. At least three or four other stage hits are under consideration. Color also will play a more important role in executing the new program, with a high percentage of the forthcoming program slated for tinting. Toward that end. Columbia has just started installing equipment to process Eastman color negatives in its own lab. which, heretofore, liandled nothing but black and white. Three features are in production at Columbia at the present time, with a fourth slated to roll this week. Now filming are: "The Human I'east" (Glenn For<I, Gloria Grahame, Broderick Crawford) — Lewis J. Rachmil producer, Fritz Lang directi>r: "Gunslinger" (Dana .Andrews. Honna Reed). Technicolor — Harry Joe Brown pro<lucer, Al Wcrker director, and "The Killer Wore .A Badge' (Fred MacMurray. Phil Carey) — Jules Schermer producer, Richard Quine director. The new entry, coming up late in the week, is a typical Sam Katzman opus, "Pirates of Tripoli," to be directed by William Castle. .\X a recent press conference in Hollywood, producers Irving .•Mien and Cubby Broccoli revealed that their new three-picture slate for Columbia release will be aimed at providing "global pictures for global release". As such, they intend to travel all over the world in making the film.s — first of which is currently being readied for production. Titled "Crock of (laid," it will be directed by Mark Robson, who also handled the megging on their final 1953 production. "Hell Below Zero" (.Man Ladd). The second feature for 19.=^4 will be "Cockleshell Heroes". LIPPERT PRODUCTIONS Deal with Guild Tips Sale of More Films to TV INDICATIONS THAT ROBERT L. Lippert intends to continue selling his o! 1 theatrical films to TV can be found in a new proposal which he ofTered earlier this month to the Hollywood .AFL Film Council— whereby all unions and guilds would shar-j in the gross receipts from such sales. Lippert's plan calls for the inde producers to hold first call on the financial returns from such sales, in order to recoup their production costs. He favors putting a percentage of the balance into a common kilty to be distributed among the various unions an'l guilds. The plan has been turned over to a special committee of the Film Council, for further study. Lippert also discussed the matter of overseas filming with the guild representatives, pointing out that easier financing is the chief reason for increased foreign production. He said that the independents are finding it easier to secure backing for overseas projects, because such films automatically are placed under foreign government subsidies. "If these foreign government subsidies were taken away," he declared, "this production would stop immediatel\-." He assured the union leaders that there is no saving in overseas production, because of the inferior skill of the foreign craftsmen. Lippert Productions is still in the midst of a complete production shutdown. However, five films have been set for February release. They are: "The Queen of Sheba," a William W. Pizor-Bernard Luber production; "White Fire" (Scott Brady, Mary Castle); "Hollywood Thrill-Makers" (James Gleason); "Glack Glove" (.\lex Nicol), and "We Want .\ Child," a special exploitation feature. METRO-COLDWYN-MAYER 14 Features to Roll By Aug.; 5 Now Shooting FOURTEEN FEATURES ARE SLATed to go before the MGM cameras between now and .August 31 — the end of the current fiscal year, according to Dore Schary. They will roll at the rate of about two per month, in order to maintain a consistent level of approximately five pictures shooting at all times. Included in this January to .August schedule are: "I'll See You .Again," a cavalcade of .American youth over the past 15 years; ".Athena" (Jane Powell, Janet Leigh, Debbie Reynolds); "My Most Intimate Friend" (Lana Turner, Eleanor Parker); "Deep In My Heart" (Jose Ferrer); "Many Rivers To Cross" (Robert Taylor); "Love Me Or Leave Me" (.Ava Gardner); "The Glass (Continued on Page 10) FILM lULlETIN January 25. I9S4 Pag* f