Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1957)

"Pursuit of the Graf Spee" GcuUeu Rati*? O O O Magnificent epic of a sea battle and a courageous seaman. One of finest films from England. Great performances. B.O. promise bright. On December 13, 1939, occurred one of the most famous scenes of naval warfare, the strange and startling battle of the River Plate, in which Germany's hell-hound destroyer, the Graf Spee, met a fatal comeuppance at the hands of a three cruiser British squadron. Such a memorable saga has long been in need of screen celebration and now the award-winning writer-producer-director team, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, have provided a remarkably rewarding movie. A documentarystyled film done in the bold and blazing colors of scenic realism, something for which discriminating, as well as other, moviegoers will be grateful. It is one of the most distinguished British films of recent years. "Pursuit of the Graf Spee" has a group of shell-scarred stagings of combat on the high seas that are among the most devastating yet witnessed. Indeed, as breathtakingly photographed in Technicolor and VistaVision by Christopher Challis and brilliantly directed by Powell and Pressburger, this is one of those rare dramas of war in which the stamp of authenticity is strikingly apparent. But the real piece de resistance turns out to be the characterization of the Graf Spee's commander. Captain Langsdorff, by Peter Finch. He brilliantly portrays him with just the right austere, angular exactitude, a kind of human vessel of duty and honor, a man whose ultimate heart and soul must be forever personal, never shown, but whose depth of feeling and fidelity lie as steel-bright as the pocket battleship he masters. John Gregson as the blustering young Captain Bell, Anthony Quayle as the wiley Commodore Harwood who engineered the attack, and Bernard Lee as a tanker captain — all give stirring performances. As for the story, it follows closely upon the historical record. The socalled terror of the seas, the Graf Spee, played a cat and mouse game with British commerce vessels. Eventually, hoodwinked by a masterly British Intelligence bluff concerning an armada of reserves mustering at the River Plate, and acting under direct orders from Hitler, he took the battleship out of the harbor and scuttled her. Three days later Captain Langsdorff committed suicide. Rank Film Distributors. 104 minutes. John Gregson, Anthony Quayle, Peter Finch. Produced and directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. Viewpoints ( Continued from Page 5 ) must be substituted for expenditure in the planning of many films today, so that cost of production is brought into line with the potential of our market. The producer of the less than AA film must remember that the public buys motion pictures in a package, too; and if they don't like the way the package is wrapped they won't buy it. This brings us to the third aspect of the new economics, the methods of distribution. Film distribution covers two major headings today — merchandising and actual selling. In order to achieve sufficient sales of a picture, you have to merchandise it against the competition of other pictures and other media. It is a striking fact of modern motion picture economics that today's dollar is apt to go further in promotion than in production. A saving of $20,000 in production seems miniscule; but we know of one major company which recently found that by spending an additional $20,000 on their advertising for a particular low budget picture they achieved an increase of more than S200,000 in its gross. This won't happen every time. It hardly needs saying that nothing is certain in the movie business these days. But certainly it makes sense that when you make product for the mass market you should make sure the mass market knows about it. And that brings us to the market itself. The companies have all been discovering lately that the mass market, particularly for modest budget pictures, lies in the neighborhoods, not the firstrun houses. First-run engagements are usually disastrous without big advertising budgets; with such budgets they are still considered successful if they manage to break even. Meanwhile they are draining off business for the picture from subsequent run bookings. As all the companies know now, it is much smarter with a small film — or sometimes even with a big one — to play first-run dates on a saturation basis in the neighborhood houses, making the advertising expenditure work directly for all these dates, and selling the picture at a price the average patron doesn't mind paying. The low-budget pictures, merchandises and distributed this way, could help the motion picture theatre in its very real battle for survival. Such films, designed to appeal to both the taste and the pocketbook of the great mass public rather than the big city critics and their first-run following, could be key factors in reversing the downward trend of attendance. And both the film company and the exhibitor have a chance to realize a profit — because the cost does not exceed the market's limits! What, then, of the middle bracket picture? Where does it fit into the changed movie market? It is self-evident that exhibition cannot sustain itself on a strict continuous diet of lowbudget gimmick films, plus a rare AA spectacle. The middle bracket picture must continue to be produced, but it, likewise, must meet the new conditions. If this tvpe of film is to show a profit (for the film company and the exhibitor), two major factors must be considered: first, each one must be produced within a production cost range keyed to the economic facts of life in our industry today, with all superfluous costs eliminated; second, and just as important, each must have a built-in promotional angle that will allow for the same kind of aggressive showmanship that is being put behind the gimmick picture. A tall order, you say? Well, mister, the whole problem of survival now is a tall order, so let's start standing up to meet it. Page 18 Film BULLETIN October 14, 1957