The Film Daily (1942)

[^Tuesday, December 15, 1942 <9*S? Newsreels Weigh Uniform Changes (Continued from, Page 1) 30 per cent in raw stock, effective Ji Jan. 1. toet . Top company executives have been a in Washington on several occasions ' ■ -lat=£ to plead for modification of ' :ho Mandatory cuts, pointing out that unless relief is given the value of the newsreel as a war aid will be ; seriously impaired. ; They have pointed out that ap:. proximately 20 per cent of newsreel r» content now is in the "must" catei gory at the behest of the OWI, it is :•■ understood. j Changes proposed in newsreels to ■ meet the situation range from cutX ting 100 feet from each issue; re:.:• : ducing the number of prints ; restrict• ing issues to one weekly, with length 4 fixed at 1,500 feet; "freezing" of . prints at the present number; consolidation of all five reels, with two . issues weekly. Companies are not in agreement ; on any one of these, it is said, with the consolidation proposal reported nixed by all. Reduction in number of prints is opposed on the ground that time is of the essence in news ■ reel service, and, further, loss of ac :'! counts would seriously affect the l : companies. At the present time, the newsreels .. use 2,000,000 feet of negative and 240,000,000 feet of positive annually. The mulled 100 foot cut, it was ! pointed out, would hardly meet the 20-30 per cent raw stock cut ordered by the WPB. OWI to Supply Newsreels With More Special Clips Washington Bureau, of THE FILM DAILY Washington — The excellent treatment given OWI lushes on holiday travel by the newsreels has convinced OWI of the wisdom of shooting feature subjects and furnishing rushes to the newsreels, Harold Jacobs, newsreel chief, said yesterday. A letter has gone to each of the five newsreel editors expressing OWI's appreciation for the fine treatment given the rushes in current reels. The handling of the holiday travel story was strictly experimental, Jacobs said, but the results make it probable that additional stories for newsreels will be shot by OWI crews. He emphasized, however, his determination that no news stories will be shot by the Government crews. STORKS Chaplin Marked By Japs for Death in '32 W est Coast Bur., THE FILM DAILY Beverly Hills — In an interview here, Charles Chaplin revealed that he was marked for assassination by the Japanese military clique during his 1932 visit to Tokyo. He declared the belief that he owed his escape to the fact that he happened to be attending a wrestling match with the son of Premier Inukai on the night that the Black Dragon Society henchmen entered the Premier's home and shot him. After Chaplin's hurried departure from the city in the wake of this event, his own name was found on the terrorists' lists. By slaying the film comedian, the terrorists hoped to precipitate war with the U. S. Boston Biz Still Down; See Hope for Recovery (.Continued from Page 1) drastic regulations of the dimout and the obvious fear of patrons that the state-wide blackout announced as a surprise might come at any moment, accounted for another terrific drop in business and the once White Way of Boston was desolate. Theater men believe that within another week or so the sting of the Grove disaster will have passed and there will be some recovery from the 60 per cent drop in biz since the holocaust. Martin J. Mullins, head of M & P, arrived home from Hot Springs over the week-end and went into immediate action to assure that there was no financial worry on the part of any of the Grove victims or their relatives. Barney Welansky, owner of the ill-fated night club and owner also of the Globe, Washington and Beacon theaters, has been permitted to return to his home from the hospital where he was confined with a heart attack. He will be either summoned as a witness before the State investigating committee or his deposition taken. Kaiser's Short Cuts In Pix Henry Kaiser's short cuts in mass production will be presented in some of the training motion pictures being made by the Office of Education for use by British shipbuilders. Proposal was submitted by Herbert S. Houston, chairman of the Institute for the Advancement of Visual Education. » Harry Takiff, assistant to Jack Cohn, executive vice-president of Columbia, and his wife, the former Vivienne Crafts, are celebrating the birth of their first child, a sevenpound, one ounce son, who arrived at the Lenox Hill Hospital on Saturday night. Eiseman Succeeds Brandt Cleveland — Walter J. Brandt, with Warners and First National as salesman for the past 20 years, has resigned. He is succeeded by Clarence Eiseman, former UA branch manager in New York. First for Pacific Films Hollywood — Production has started on "Corregidor," initial offering of Pacific Films, newly organized company headed by producers Dixon Harwin and Edward Finney. William Nj^h is directing. -REVIEWS "Saludos Amigos" with Donald Duck, Goofy, Pedro, Jose Carioca RKO Radio-Disney 43 Mins. GRAND TRAVELOGUE-CARTOON FEATURE, HUGHLY ENTERTAINING AND LAUGH-PACKED. ITS DISNEY AT HIS BEST. Among the glittering assets of Walt Disney's latest full-length feature must be cited initially its power to delightfully entertain and to draw still closer the bonds of mutual understanding between the United States and her sister lands of the Americas. In effecting the former, Disney transported his staff of ace artists and technicians to South America, turned the lenses of Technicolor cameras upon the life and scenic wonderlands there, and then, with sketch material collected on the trip, evolved "Saludos Amigos" ("Hello, Friends") which magnificently and uniquely combines realistic beauty with superbly conceived and executed animation. On the mutual understanding aspect, Disney has chosen the universal languages of music and humor as the media for a closer meeting of the collective mind of the Americas. His good-will and histrionic ambassadors are Donald Duck and Goofy on the one hand, and two delightful new characters of Latin origin, — "Pedro," the brave and lovable little mail plane, and the dashing Brazilian parrot, "Jose Carioca." The picture, — inspiring, eye-filling, and teeming with laughs — , is fundamentally a combination of travelogue and cartoon subject. The trip is made by air, the first stop being Lake Titicaca on the PeruBolivia border, with the raucous Donald Duck as the tourist. Then on to Chile, where Disney introduces "Pedro" the mail plane, via whose flight is depicted the difficulties attendant upon flying the mail over the Andes, with menacing Mount Aconcagua, the villain to be overcome. These and the ensuing sequences in glamourous Buenos Aires and rural Argentina are decided highlights, with guffaws galore springing from the satirical scenes of Goofy as the virile gaucho. Showman Disney, however, has saved up for the finale what to this reviewer is not only the climax to "Saludos Amigos" as a picture, but a fresh highwater mark of his own artistic genius and originality. It will come to be known as his "Brazil sequence." Therein is introduced both Jose Carioca and the flowing brush technique which must be seen to be appreciated,— and that it will be by film audiences everywhere is as sure as sunrise. Theater patrons embracing all types and ages will revel in these 43 minutes of Disney delights, and it is a triumph for all who participated in its making. It is a "must" for every screen, nationally and internationally. CREDITS: Producer, Walt Disney; Production Supervisor, Norman Ferguson; Musical Director, Charles Wolcott; Story Research, Ted Sears, William Cottrell, Webb Smith; Art Supervisors, Mary Blair, Herb Ryman, Lee Blair, Jim Borero; Backgrounds "El Gaucho Goofy" inspired by F. Molina Campos; Music, Ed Plumb, Paul Smith; Story, Homer Brightman, Ralph Wright, Roy Williams. Harry Reeves, Dick Huemer, Joe Grant; Foreign Supervisor, Jack Cutting; Associates. Gilbert Soufo, Alberto Soria, Edmundo Santos; "Saludos Amigos1' Lyric, Ned Washington; Music, Charles Wolcott; Narration. Aloysio Oliveira. DIRECTION, Aces. PHOTOGRAPHY, Top Flight. repajbuc It's a BIG SPECTACLE ifS^^BA . DENNING loeupcww Featuring the Ice-Capades Company ,i play by Bradfoi d " Ropes, Gertrude Purcoll. Based on an original story by Robert T. REPUBLIC PICTURE