The Film Daily (1943)

&^\ DAILY Wednesday, September 29, 1943 58 Features Shooting As Coast Starts 11 West Coast Bureau of THE FILM DAILY Hollywood — Eleven new pictures are scheduled to go into production this week, making a total of 58 in work. The check-up: At Columbia: Nine pictures shooting, including "Cowboy Canteen," western musical, with Charles Starrett, Jane Fiazee, Tex Ritter, the Mills Brothers, Vera Vague, Big Boy Williams, Jimmy Wakely, Max Terhune, "Dub" Taylor and Roy Acuff. Jack Fier producing and Lew Landers directing; "Klondike Kate," with Tom Neal, Ann Savage, Sheldon Leonard and Constance Worth. William Castle directing and Irving Briskin producing; and, "Swing Out the Blues," musical, with Bob Haymes, Lynn Merrick, the Vagabonds, Janie Carter, Tim Ryan, Joyce Compton and Edith Evanson. Sam White producing. At M-G-M: Seven shoe-tin?, including: "Kismet," Technicolor production, with Ronald Colman, Marlene Dietrich, James Craig, Edward Arnold. Florence Bates, Joy Page, Hugh Herbert, Hobart Cavanaugh and Harry Davenport. William Dieterle directing for producer Everett Riskin. At Monogram: Three shooting, including "Her Bachelor Husband," with Johnny Downs, Wanda McKay, Robert Kent, Etta McDaniel, Harry Holman, Wheeler Oakman, Lillian Bronson and Dick Rush. William Beaudine directing for producer Barney Sarecky. At Paramount: Seven shooting, including "Double Indemnity," picturization of the James M. Cain thriller, co-starring Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray and Edward G. Robinson, with Byron Barr and Mona Freeman as the juvenile romantic leads. Billy Wilder directing, with Joseph Sistrom as associate producer: and. "Rainbow Island." Technicolor musical, eo-starring Dorothy Lamour, Eddie Bracken and Gil Lamb, with Barry Sullivan, Reed Hadley, Forrest Orr, Anne Revere and Olga San Juan. Frank Tuttle directing and E. D. Lestiin associate producer. At PRC: Two shooting, including Alexander Stern's "Boss of Rawhide." Texas Rangers series, with Dave O'Brien, Jim Newill, Guy Wilkerson and Nell O'Day. Elmer Clifton directing. At RKO-Radio: Five shooting, including "Show Business," which Eddie Cantor is producing and starring in. George Murphy. Constance Moore and Nancy Kelly playing leading roles. Edwin L. Marin directing. At Republic: Four shooting, including "Whispering Footsteps," with John Hubbard, Rita Quigley, Juanita Quigley. Joan Blair, Marie Blake, Mary Gordon and Billy Benedict. Howard Bretherton directing and George Blair producing. At 20th Century-Fox: Six shooting. , At United Artists: Four shooting: Selznkk International Pictures, "Since You Went Away"; Harry Sherman's "Timber"; Benedict E. Bogeaus' "The Bridge of San Luis Rey"; and. Producer Corporation of America's "Knickerbocker Holiday." At Universal: Six shooting. At Warner Bros.: Five shooting, including "Mr. Skeffington," drama, starring Bette Davis, with Vincent Sherman directing. Independent: W. R. Frank's "Dr. Paul ,Iosf-ph Gocbbels, His Life and Loves." REVIEWS Of SHORT SUBJECTS Portland, Ore., Price Jump Fails to Hurt Attendance Portland, Ore. — Although Hamrick-Evergreen theaters have advanced their night admission prices to 75c, there is no let-down in attendance. Patrons, in addition to features and shorts, are given up-tothe minute news bulletins on the screen. "Cavalcade Of The Dance" (Melody Masters) Warners 10 mins. Ace Dance Subject Dance fans will take to this one like the proverbial duck to water. Starring the renowned Veloz and Yolanda, it takes the onlooker all the way from the Maxixe, introduced in 1914 by Vernon and Irene Castle, down to the present jitterbug convolutions. Along the way the superbly g.aceful and versatile dance team demonstrates the one-step, tango, Charleston, Black Bottom, Mexican waltz and the rhumba. Musical accompaniments purveyed include 'Victory Waltz," "Darktown Strutter's Ball," "Dengoso," "Mi Hijo," "Jeepers Creepers" and "Lamento Esclavo." With interest of audiences high in the diversion of dancing, the present Cavalcade packs potent possibilities both for the box-ofhee and promotion to get the customeis in. "Desert Playground" (Sports Parade) Warners 10 mins. Highly Diverting Magnificent Palm Springs, Nev., is the locale of this new Sports Parade offering in resplendent Technicolor. Hostelries and their facilities are delineated as are the gorgeous surroundings of the resort. Highlight of the filmed material is the annual paiade with its eye-filling costumes, bands, and circus personnel. It was fashioned under the direction of Arnold Albert. Exhibs. who have been chorusing for escapist fare have exactly that in "Desert Playground." Many an onlooker will wish that he or she could be transplanted to Palm Springs fo: physical and esthetic refreshment in these tough war days. Films' Biggest Role Still to Come— Coe War Pix on Campaigns Will be Joint Productions {Continued from Page 1) American troops are engaged toward the same objective, e.g., the conquest of Italy, each Army will cover its own activities by camera, but when it comes to putting the footage together into a documentary on the campaign footage from both armies will be used. There will be one editor but he will be in constant consultation with representatives of the other nation or nations involved. When a feature is made for instance, on the Italian campaign, there will probably be footage from our Army, the Canadian, British and French troops. Representatives of the four nations will be on hand during the making of the film, with one of them named as chief editor. This policy is already in effect, with Col. Frank Capra now in London working on a joint BritishAmerican film of the Tunisian campaign. Col. Capra is chief for the project, but is in constant consultation with a representative of the British. Col. Lawton was not certain whether any French footage is to be used in this film. Col. Capra, incidentally, is now working under the direction of Col. Lawton. All production activities of the Special Service Division were transferred this month to the Signal Corps, coming under the direction of Lawton as head of APS. This would include the "Why We Fight" series of seven films assigned to Col. Capra, five of which have already been completed and all occasional productions of the division. Special Service retains its autonomy in the matter of distribution of entertainment films. The industrial production unit headed by Major Richard Maybaum is also under Lawton's direction, producing one and two-reelers as morale boosters for showing in war plants working on Army contracts. Rovner Files Equity Suit In Philly Theater Deal Philadelphia — Louis Rovner has filed a suit in equity in Common Pleas Court against Abraham M. Ellis, Martin B. Ellis, Sidney H. Ellis, Herman M. Ellis, Ruth E. Fiist, Ruth Silber, Ruth Abel, Sidney A. Leventon, and Gertrude Handle, individually, and trading as Broad-Rockland Theaters Co. Rovner claims that he has been denied a 10 per cent interest in B:oad-Rockland which was promised him when the company was formed to take over the Rockland and Broad Theaters. He claims he contributed $2,500 in cash as a deposit, along with $5,000 from Ruth Abel and A. M. Ellis Theaters Co. and that Ellis agreed to deliver to him 10 per cent of the interest of A. M. and M. B. Ellis and Dr. Abraham First in the Broad but that later A. M. Ellis advised him • he could not be permitted an interest in Broad-Rockland on any basis, and that the partnership was set up without him. Rovner seeks relief and the lestoration of his claimed 10 per cent interest. To Open "Deerslayer" In Cooperstown, N. Y. West Coast Bureau of THE FILM DAILY Hollywood — Pete Harrison will leave Hollywood over the coming week-end for New York to confer with officials of the James Fenimore Cooper Society on plans for staging the world premiere of his Republic picture, "The Deerslayer," at Cooperstown, N. Y., where Cooper was born. The opening is planned for early winter. These are distributed by the Industrial Division of the Bureau of Public Relations. This program is due for considerable expansion, said Lawton yesterday. {Continued from Page 1) said yesterday in an address before a luncheon meeting of the Greater Buffalo Advertising Club. "A world-conscious public," bf said, "released from the strain of {V*! greatest and bloodiest conflict in nS-' man history, will yearn for the entertainment that truly re-creates. That does not mean, however, return to a make-believe world. It does not mean retreat from our interest in our fellowmen. The first commandment which the public gives to the screen is: Entertain! The penalty for infraction is death at the box-office. That, in the end, means death to the free screen, too. But the camera which must follow the drama of the world will focus on an ever-widening world. Information and inspiration will be rampant as well as entertainment." Coe said he believes a sense of common responsibility for the solution of p: oblems that affect the world at large was being distilled from the war. American films, he said, depicting how free men under free institutions live and love, work and achieve, will revive human spirits weakened by long years of suffering and privation. Entertainment, he added, will thus serve a great educational function. Speaking of greater realism of war films, Coe said that "a realistic approach to this war will be of the utmost importance in stopping the next war." He declared that if such pictures occur on the war fronts, the newsreels will see that the record is perpetuated. "If the war front is brought to the home front with the realism that true morale demands, it will make us grit our teeth the harder and clench our fists the tighter. It will solidify determination that this holocaust must not happen again," Coe concluded. Film executives attending were: A. C. Hayman, Robert R. Murphy, Vincent R. McFaul, Ralph W. Maw, Charles B. Taylor and George H. McKenna. Last night Coe was a guest of the local variety tent at an informal reception. Film Ad, Publicity Space Curtailed in Nashville (Continued from Page 1) ing trimmed about 40 per cent and the latter cut at least half. Crescent circuit carries daily ads for four uptown houses and three suburbans, using its own weekly "Good News Weekly" to advertise the offerings of its other suburbans. Although the "squeeze" on movie ad and publicity is not yet so apparent, there has been some curtailment in Chattanooga, Enoxville, and Memphis papers. Local dailies have eliminated all free church announcements.