The Film Daily (1937)

THE •^a DAILY Saturday, May 15, 1937 STUDIO WALKOUT MAY END TODAY (Continued from Page 1) strikers to work and future hiring through the union and negotiations on hours and wages to open within five days. The Federated proposal is an answer to this proposition. The machinists have voted to end the walkout, but DeWitt Wayne, their business representative, is to set the date of their official return to work. It is reported that many culinary workers, sheet metal men and plumbers have agreed to return to work Monday. Mass meeting of Federated Craftsmen is expected to be held tonight to vote on the producers' proposal for ending the strike. It is reported that Pat Casey insists that union jobs and other matters will not be acted upon until the strikers return to work, that International union officials are to settle any jurisdictional dispute between Federated and I.A.T.S.E., and that men who have started work in the studios since the strike began shall be allowed to join the union. Painters and Decorators Union, District Council No. 9, had received no word from the Central Trade and Labor Council yesterday relative to its request for a city-wide conference of affiliated unions to consider aid to the Federated M. P. Crafts, now on strike in Hollywood, it was said at the union offices. The painters did not picket Broadway theaters last night, but intend to do so again tonight, a union official stated. A "JIM*" hot* "Ms" By RALPH WILK Chicago — Painters' District Council voted yesterday to picket Chicago downtown theaters, beginning today, in sympathy with the Federated M. P. Crafts studio strike in Hollywood. Allied Sees Convention To Outdraw Earlier Meets i Registration surpassing those at the Atlanta and Cleveland conventions is expected by Allied leaders at its Milwaukee meeting opening May 26. Minimum delegations promised by certain nearby territories are: Wisconsin, 100; Illinois, 50; Minnesota, 25; Indiana, 20; and Michigan 20. Maryland and the District of Columbia have authorized big delegations, and preparations are being made in New Jersey for a private car. It is expected that the following will attend the board meeting on May 26: Abram F. Myers, chairman, Nathan Yamins, J. B. Fishman, H. A. Blum, Lee W. Newberry, C. H. Olive, Fred J. Herrington, P. J. Wood, Fred DeLodder, R. R. Bair, Aaron Saperstein, E. F. Maertz, E. L. Peaslee, Frank Wetzstein, Johnnie Griffin, H. A. Cole, Henry Lazarus, N. H. Waters. Each director may bring with him a limited number of consultants and observers. HOLLYWODD W/, C. KUNZMAN, convention vice-president of the Society of M. P. Engineers, has arrived in Hollywood to complete the final details for the S. M. P. E. convention, which opens at the Hotel Roosevelt May 24. Kunzman is with the National Carbon Co., Cleveland. T T r News of the marriage of Fred Steele and Mildred Morton March 17 has just been made public. They flew to Las Vegas for the ceremony. Steele is comptroller for Trem Carr, Inc. T T T Harry Sherman will soon place "The Barrier" in production. Edward Ludwig will direct, with Leo Carrillo a recent important addition to the cast. T ▼ ▼ Burton Lane and Ralph Freed have written "Smarty" and "Listen My Children and You Shall Hear" for Paramount's "Double or Noth ing." The former is for Bing Crosby and the latter for Martha Raye. T T T Pat Paterson, wife of Charles Boyer and Walter Wanger contract player, has been signed for the feminine lead in "52nd Street." At the same time ZaSu Pitts and Ella Logan were engaged for supporting roles in this film featuring the "Street of Swing" as its background. T t ▼ Hope Hampton, stage and operatic star, is returning to the screen as a singing star for the New Universal. Miss Hampton's first picture will be a production of "Riviera" by Earl Derr Biggers, with music by Jerome Kern and lyrics by Dorothy Fields. It will be made in Technicolor, according to Charles R. Rogers. Miss Hampton returns to New York City Tuesday on the Century, where she will remain until called again to Hollywood to start her picture in July. Coronation Newsreels Stir Criticism of London Press London (By Cable) — Reported censorship of Coronation footage by the Archbishop of Canterbury and a producer agreement on the limitation of length of the first newsreel releases were targets for newspaper criticism here yesterday. The Evening Star, leading the attack, said British film companies agreed to cut the film to 1,000 feet, lasting nine minutes, or "the same length as Mickey Mouse," while those in the United States will see 2,000 feet, or twice as much. Particularly enraged were newspapers by the fact that the Archbishop— who played a leading part in the fight against former King Edward VIII — ordered deleted a newsreel close-up of the Royal Family showing Queen Mother Mary in tears. The Archbishop and his co-censor, the Duke of Norfolk, also eliminated much of the military procession. Best scenes were those taken inside Westminster Abbey, but theater audiences yesterday invariably snickered when the Archibishop was shown minutely examining the crown. $17,293 For Charity Fund With a total of $17,293, as of May 14, the motion picture committee, headed by Frank C. Walker, of the Comerford Theaters, Inc., as chairman, is well up among the leaders in the professional, trades and industries committees in the 1937 Catholic Charities appeal, it was announced by John A. Coleman, of Adler-Coleman and Company, chairman of the men's division of the Special Gifts Committee. Klauber Gets $500 Balm For Use of His Picture Syracuse, N. Y. — Supreme Court trial jury here awarded $500 damages to Attorney Henry Klauber of New York because of unauthorized use of his photo in advertising "Condemned Row" at the Strand last January. The Strand display contained photographs and newspaper clippings dealing with persons convicted of murder and included the line, "What do they think of five minutes from eternity?" One picture showed Klauber in conference with his client, John Fiorenza who was electrocuted in Sing Sing prison for the murder of Mrs. Nancy Titterton in New York City last year. Klauber's action asserted there was nothing in the display to show that he was Fiorenza's counsel and a person viewing the photograph could infer that he was also a condemned person. Fleischer Production Up; Strike is Said "Broken1 Asserting that production at the Max Fleischer cartoon studio has risen from 20 to 90 per cent, a spokesman for the producer yesterday declared that the "strike has been virtually broken." At the orders of the police, mass picketing has ceased, it was stated. Fleischer, through his counsel, Attorney Louis Nizer, has brought about the holding of one employee, who is alleged to have struck another remaining on the job, for General Sessions, and another has been found guilty of disorderly conduct. « REVIEWS $ "Mountain Justice" with Josephine Hutchinson, George Brent, Guy Kibbee Warners 82 Mins. UNEVEN MELLER PACKS DRAMATIC PUNCH BUT WEAKENS AT FINISH WITH WANDERING PLOT. A melodramatic and rather sordid story of hillbilly life, this has a girl who kills her father. This thread of the story is well done, with sincerity and powerful emotional reactions. It might be criticized as emphasizing a sadistic appeal with two horsewhippings of the girl by her bigoted father. Sensitive femmes will not go for this. The work of the cast is excellent, and it is a pity that the second half of the script did not back them up. Along about midway the theme starts wandering and never does get back to the sincerity and realism that marks the first half. Instead of going through with a powerful drama to its logical conclusion, they decided to give it the usual sugar-coating and blah sentimental treatment, and what might easily have been a standout as a dramatic thunderbolt bogs down into the routine Class B specimen of undistinguished production. A pity. Josephine Hutchinson does a fine role as the daughter of the hillbilly trying to establish clinics for the children in the mountains, and fighting his bigotry. Robert Barat delivers a powerful characterization as the ignorant mountaineer. Guy Kibbee and Margaret Hamilton contribute most of the lighter moments very adequately. George Brent fits nicely into the part of the city chap courting the heroine. Director Michael Curtiz handled the worthwhile first half with telling effect, also the murder trial in the mountains toward the finish. Then the business of forcing a happy ending led into absurdities that destroyed all the fine and powerful illusion so cleverly built up. Cast: Josephine Hutchinson, George Brent, Guy Kibbee, Mona Barrie, Robert Barat, Margaret Hamilton, Robert McWade, Fuzzy Knight, Edward Pawley, Elizabeth Risdon, Marcia Mae Jones, Granville Bates, Russell Simpson, Sibyl Harris, Guy Wilkerson. Director, Michael Curtiz; Screenplay, Norman Reilly, Luci Ward; Editor, George Amy; Cameraman, Ernest Haller Direction, Very Good. Photography, Okay. Coronation Television Experiment Successful Lonldon (By Cable) — Television's pioneer critics yesterday generally expressed satisfaction with the results of television's first real attempt at spot news coverage, represented by the Coronation. Best estimates were that 50,000 televiewers in an area of 7,500 square miies depended upon television for Coronation parade close-ups. Experimenters here believe its success proves the practicability of such broadcasts except for the extraordinary expense involved, as the areas covered are very small the installation of cables to Wgg the "pick-ups" and relay the b»V»±j casts between stations costs about £1,000 a mile. A cable was laid for the Coronation broadcast from Alexandra Palace, the studio site, to Hyde Park Corner.