The Film Daily (1934)

THE -22H DAILY Tuesday, April 3, 1934 TIMELY TOPICS The French System )f Film Production TTHERE are 22 theaters in Paris playing American talking pictures. All of these theaters are usually well patronized. This is the situation despite a nationalism in France unknown in this country save on the stage with George M. Cohan. The explanation lies in the patent superiority of American films. What are the reasons for this wide variance in quality; or, more pointedly, why are French pictures so thoroughly bad ? Two reasons bulk large. The first is censorship. Hollywood scenario writers who complain ceaselessly and bitterly of censorship here, and insist it drains their work of reality, should do a script in Paris. There government, with its daily cabinet change, exercises a watchdog authority over the films that is unmatched in tbe civilized world outside of Hitler Germany. Pictures like "I'm a Fugitive from a Chain Gang," "Gabriel Over the White House," or "Big House" (certainly no documents of radicalism) would be unthinkable, although French audiences applaud such pictures from other countries. Then there is the French "system" of production. The entire industry resembles our own Poverty Row. Almost all films are financed on a shoestring. A not inconsiderable number of major pictures are "angeled" by individuals of wealth with a non-commercial interest in the feminine star. Almost all the stars themselves are free-lancing. Likewise the writers and directors. — Boris Jngster MONC the Huffman Disqualified Denver — At the organization meeting of the grievance and zoning boards, to be held at 2 P. M. today, a non-affiliated exhibitor member will be selected to replace Harry Huffman, disqualified because he did not sign the code. A secretary also will probably be decided upon, and a budget determined. FACTS 8R ABOUT w2R2^ 1 ^ FILMS ffef Luxemburg has no quotas or tingents for foreign films, nor an of censorship, and is af present the most prosperous countries world. c , I )m n on in 0 th d f e PHIL M DALY • • • LOOKS AS if the English authors, past and presentwill dominate production at M-G-M for the coming months eight plays and novels from British writers are in different stages of preparation at the Lion stude T T T • • • FIRST COMES the Dickens classic, "David Copperfield" with Elizabeth Allan, English actress, cast as young David's mother Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island" will have Wallace Beery playing Long John Silver and Jackie Cooper in the role of Jim Hawkins in course of preparation are Rudyard Kipling's "Kim" and "Captains Courageous," with Ramon Novarro being considered for the former "The Prisoner of Zenda," the Anthony Hope classic, will be made as a musical with Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy, baritone add to these James M. Barrie's "What Every Woman Knows" with Helen Hayes W. Somerset Maugham's "The Painted Veil" (which may be Garbo's next) and Arnold Bennett's "Sacred and Profane Love" (The Book of Carlotta) and it would seem as if the British writers are making a big dent in the Hollywood Scene T T T • • • IN LONDON— Cab Calloway is still the hit of the London show world Universal's best British to date is "Night Club Queen," starring Mary Clare, who starred in "Cavalcade" when it played the Drury Lane here as a stage hit Dave Bader helped toi adapt it for the screen, as it was a stage play originally Paddy Carstairs is due to direct a picture at Sound City shortly Joe Rock will soon return to London from Russia Mae West's appeal, via a trailer made in Hollywood, for support of the Cinema Benevolent Fund, was a sensation in this town T T T • • • A FILM rehearsal ball completely walled in by mirrors is being considered at the RKO Radio studio it is the idea of Louis Brock, associate producer, as a measure of economy he claims it would cut down rehearsal periods by several days familiarize players with sequences as a whole and give them a firmer grasp on their roles the glass-inclosed hall would also be of great help to the director in determining who should carry the spotlight in various sequences and shots T T T • • • AT THE Cheese Club luncheon today at Leone's it will be an all-star British Day program Wayne Pierson has arranged a lineup of Consul-General Gerald Campbell, Charles Laughton, Philip Merivale of "Mary Queen of Scots" Raymond Massey of "The Shining Hour" and A. E. Mathews T T T • ""• #"" BY WAY of proving that theatrical folks are not superstitious a raft of them have volunteered to take part in the entertainment for the Front Page Ball sponsored by the New Yoi'k Newspaper Women's Club to be held at the Astor Hotel on Friday the 13th, no less one of the bright spots of the show will be a "celebrity" bar presided over by such honorary bartenders as Tony Sarg, Milt Gross, O. Soglow, Frank Sullivan, Alexander Woollcott, Heywood Broun, Dexter Fellowes, Walter Trumbull and many others T T T • • • A VERY impressive list of speakers has been lined up for the Testimonial Dinner and Dance to be tendered George Cohan and Sam Harris next Sunday eve at the Astor Hotel under auspices of the Jewish Theatrical Guild the dais will include among others Otis Skinner, J. B. Kennedy, Major Edward Bowes, Walter Huston, David Sarnoff, M. H. Aylesworth, Frank Buck, et al EXPLOITETTES Fine Toledo Campaign On "Gallant Lady" W/ALLY CALDWELL, manager of Loew's Valentine theater, Toledo, for the opening of "Gallant Lady," a 20th Century production starring Ann Harding, went to town with the powerful exploitation campaign he ushered in for the premiere. Days before the opening all local newspapers gave splendid cooperation with numerous feature stories and special art work to Ann Harding and Otto Kruger, the leads in the picture. In addition to the "News-Bee," "Blade," "Sentinel" and "Times" devoting generous space to the engagement, Wally lined up the Toledo "Union Leader" the "American Legion" and "Moose" magazines, a Hungarian daily and the "Ameryka Echo," a Polish daily. Each of the above papers plugged the engagement with the result that on the opening day the picture did a turnaway business. On the fashion angle, Wally arranged effective displays with many of the leading merchants in the city. The Lion Department Store used an entired window in which onesheets, tinted stills of Harding and mounted scene stills were the dominating factors. Cards in the window also mentioned the opening of "Gallant Lady" at the Valentine. Besides the Lion tieup, 100 one-sheets were placed with as many other merchants for displays in their windows. Sixteen special windows, containing posters with mounted stills, were secured in the downtown section. Onesheet posters with scene stills mounted along the sides, were displayed in the lobby of both the Secor and Fort Meigs Hotels. Another attractive window was put over with the Home Furniture Company which used stills and a three-sheet display giving the picture proper billing. Three and six-sheet stands wei'e placed in vacant stores about the city. The front of the theater was decorated with cut-outs and stills. — United Artists « « « » » » Sam Katz Maurice Kann Heath Cobb Duncan Renaldo