Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1956)

EXPLOITATION PICTURE Double John Means Double-0 Boxoffice The reunion of the two Johns, Ford and Wayne, is always doubly good news to showmen. Their list of past triumphs as a production team grows with each picture, giving the theatreman another peg with which to back his selling campaign — an unerring hallmark of exciting quality entertainment. And with the critics' enthusiastic endorsement of "The Searchers" as a giant among westerns, in a class with "Shane", "Red River" and "Stage coach", the showman can pull out the stops on this one. There's an added assist this time, too. C. V. Whitney, who heads the production company which made "The Searchers" as its first picture for Warner Bros, release, is depending on this picture to get the new outfit off to a flying start. To this end, Whitney asked his executive producer, Merian Cooper, to "get the best", which Cooper obviously did in Wayne, Ford, ace scripter Frank S. Nugent and Oscar lenser Winton C. Hoch, for the VistaVision photography in Technicolor. Now Whitney, himself, is putting additional weight behind the campaign with a personal promotion campaign as an important supplement to the Warner push. For their part, the Warner boxofficers have plotted a distinctive advertising campaign. Dramatic bigness characterizes the ads generally, with the figures dwarfed, for the most part, in relation to the background to create the impression of the vast outdoors. It is honest advertising, too, with the theme of the film, the long, intense search by two men for a girl held captive by Indians, With the sincere conviction that the new motion picture "The Searchers" is certain to become, for all time a favorite of everyone who sees it. we .direct your attention to the advertisement on page 22. OFF-THEATRE PAGE TEASER simply and provocatively stated in the repeated catchline: "he had to find her ... he had to find her . . ." Even the Wayne name is played down in deference to the quality of importance that exudes from the ads. Also in the same vein are the teasers with great expanse of background and the tiny figures. Of special note in the teaser group is the pair of off-the-theatre page ads, one of which is shown above, designed to draw attention to the display ad used on the theatre page. The lobby is an important spot to draw attention to the Ford-Wayne combination. One of the most effective ways of doing this is with a 40x60 lobby board, stressing the news that the director and star are together again, and asking patrons to name the six pictures they parlayed into hits. A special mat with scene stills from each picture is provided. An identification contest is sug gested with passes as prizes. Winners ma> be limited by choice of best letters on "M; favorite John WayneJohn Ford film." The' same can be run as a newspaper contest o feature, or as a herald feature. To put "The Searchers" among the eliti of its class, it would be well to stress identi fication with previous outdoor greats. Blow ups of scene stills from "Stagecoach" "Shane", "Red River", etc., would be effec tive with a buildup to: ". . . And Now, Another 'Great' in the Western Hall of Fame— 'The Searchers'." Important tie-ups have been arranged bj' Warners. The Alan LeMay novel has beer made into a Popular Library 25c pockel book edition and the publishers are backing the promotion with counter cards and ads plugging the movie and star. Another tieup for co-op promotion has been set with Dell Comics, with 850 wholesalers making available to local retail outlets full color 11x14 counter cards pointing up the picture and Wayne. Fast rising to popularity is the Stan Jones ("Ghost Riders in the Sky") title song. Four major companies have waxed the tune and it is getting wholesale d.j. distribution. On the stunt front, it would be particularly apt in this case to have two men in western garb riding horses for a street bally, their saddles bedecked with title, theatre and playdate. Also good for the theatre front is an old-fashioned hitching post with saddled horses tied to it and a poster: "The Searchers Are Inside". JEFFREY HUNIiR VER» MILES WARD BOND NATME WOOD DmtCTCD BY 4 TIMI ACAOtM» AWARD WINNCA JOHN FORD Offbeat, unconventional story and presentation with a "total effect that is enormously rich, interesting and exciting," was Film BULLETIN'S Film of Distinction analysis of C. V. Whitney's "The Searchers", a fascinating John Ford western for Warner Bros, release. The story, essentially, is a simple one: Two men are decoyed away from their home while a brutal band of Indians massacre their family and take away two of the young girls. Returning to the tragic scene, the vengeful survivors, Civil War veteran John Wayne and a young Cherokee half-breed adopted by the family, Jeffrey Hunter, dedicate themselves to finding the savages and recovering the girls. They find one dead and start on a deadly search for the other. The relentless hunt takes them throughout the West, is filled with fruitless hopes and bitter disappointments for five years. When they finally reach their prey, Wayne, having seen the horrible effects of a white girl who had lived with Comanches (see scene, right), is determined to kill the captive girl rather than see her assimilated by the savages. It is this pregnant situation that touches off the dramatic climax. Director Ford has a cast of other veterans from his pictures, in addition to Wayne — Ward Bond, John Qualen, Harry Carey, Jr. Bright young star Natalie Wood is the hapless girl. One of the display ads featuring the repeated catchline, impression of great space, provocative line: "The Biggest, Roughest, Toughest . . . And Most Beautiful Picture Ever Made." Page 23 Film BULLETIN May 14, I9S6