The Film Daily (1945)

1HE< DAILY Friday, March 2, 19<1 SEC Reporb Zanuck 20th-Fox Stock Sale Washington Bureau of THE FILM DAILY Washington — Sale of several large blocks of pix stocks were reported for the month of Januax'y in the monthly SEC report. Largest single sale was of 359,800 shares of RKO dollar par common, by Rockefeller Center, in January. Next largest was the sale of 42,000 shares of Twentieth-Fox common npv by Darryl F. Zanuck, vice-president in charge of production. While Zanuck retains 130 shares of the stock. Rockefeller Center holds no more of the RKO common. A correction to the December, 1944, report showed four sales of Loew's com. npv, totalling 9,000 shares by Nicholas M. Schenck. He retained 1,913 shares of the stock. Acquisition of 100 shares of that stock by Eugene W.. Leake, a director of the company, during November was also reported. This was Leake's entire holding of trip atoclc : Hihes Adds CrPE Holdings Acquisition of 9,000 shares of capital nvp General Precision Equipment by Earle G. Hines was reported raising his holding of stock to 9,500. Robert T. Rinear of New York was reported to hold 100 shares. Stephen Callaghan of New York, a director of Paramount, was shown to have added 100 shares to his previous holding of 200 shares of Paramount dollar par common. Preston Davie was reported to have sold 800 shares of Universal common retaining 3,689 and warrants for another 2,720. Charles D. Prutzman relinquished 300 warrants for the common, retaining 15,000 warrants as well as 700 actual shares. Cliff Work dropped 40 shares retaining 10,000 and 6,000 warrants. Acquisition of 4,600 shares of the stock and 3,000 warrants in December by Work was reported. Mono. Stock Deals Sale of 1,000 shares of Monogram dollar par common by Monogram Southern Exchanges and purchase of 1,583 for a gain of 533 shares was reported. This raised the holdings of Monogram Southern to 19,072 shares. George D. Burrows of Los Angeles now holds 833 shares of the stock having added 433 shares last month, and blocks of 100 in both October and November. Herman Rifkin was shown to have transferred to his pei'sonal account 6,667 shares of the stock in November, raising his personal holdings to 16,685 while Monogram Pictures, Inc., from which the 6,667 shares came, purchased 1,867 shares for a net loss of 4,800 and retained 12,825 shares. Norton V. Ritchey added 362 shares to his holdings bringing his total to 5,029 shares. Monogram midwest added 633 shares raising its total to 3,333. Ham Wolf of Los Angeles also acquired 633 shares of of that stock last month as well as 400 jn November and 1,000 in Oc • R6VICUIS Of THe ncuj HLms a "Her Lucky Night" with Andrew Sisters Universal 63 Mins. SNAPPY MUSICAL COMEDY WILL PLEASE JUVENILES AND ADULTS IN SMALL SPOTS. Here is more pap for the youth brigade. The presence of the Andrews sisters ought to give "Her Lucky Night" some measure of success in ''he neighborhood houses. The devotees of popular music will be glad to know that the Andrews gals have ample opportunity to lift their voices in song. The film has an inconsequential little story that will be found passably amusing by audiences that are not too difficult to please. The main problem facing the Andrews trio and their pal, Martha O'Driscoll, is the lack of acceptable boy friends. Miss O'Driscoll, addicted to fortune-telling, finds her man in Noah Beery, Jr., who is the despair of his rich uncle, George Barbier, to whose fortune he is heir. The gal is asked to see what she can do with him. Bringing fortune-telling to bear on the matter, Miss O'Driscoll sets the lad on his feet, falling in love with him in the process. Edward Lilley gave the film snappy direction. CAST: Andrews Sisters, Martha O'Driscoll, hJcah Beery, Jr., George Barbier, Maurice Cass, Marie Harmon, Oiin Howlin, Robert Emmett Keane, Grady Sutton, Edgar Dearing, Eddie Acutf, Rita Gould, Charles Jordan, Billy Newell, Ida Moore, Jack Rice. CREDITS: Producer, Warren Wilson; Director, Edward Lilley; Screenplay, Cylde iBruckman; Based on story by Warren Wilsoni; Cameraman, Hal Mohr; Musical Director, Edgar Fairchild; Art Director, John B, Goodman; Sound Director, Bernard B. Brown; Set Decorators, Russell A. Gausman, Victor A. Gangelin; Film Editor, Paul Landres; Musical numbers staged by Louis Da Pron. DIRECTION, Okay. PHOTOGRAPHY, Okay. Local 702 to Hear Pact Parley Report Tonight A report on progress made to date in conferences between the Motion Picture Laboratory Technicians Union, Local 702, lATSE, and the Eastern processors to arrive at a new agreement to replace contracts expiring on March 10 will be made to the union's membership at a meeting at the Fraternal Clubhouse tonight. Melvin Funeral Monday A funeral service will be held Monday at 10 a.m. for Walter T. Melvin, 49, veteran theater manager, at the Church of the Good Shepherd, 207th and Broadway. Melvin, who died of a stroke Wednesday, was manager of the Skouras Riviera, and had been associated with the company for 10 years. He was also affiliated with the managerial staff of the Radio City Music Hall for a number of years. tober. His present holding is listed at 3,333 shares. W. Ray Johnston, who holds 20,491 shares of the common, purchased 145 shares of 5% per cent convertible preferred last month. He did not hold any of it earlier. "Hotel Berlin" with Andrea King, Helmut Dantine, Raymond Massey, Faye Emerson Warner Bros. 98 Mins. SUBJECT MATTER AND EXCITING PRODUCTION WILL ASSURE THIS ONE OF SUCCESS. The lure of its title and exploitableness of its material give the film version of the Vicki Baum novel a ready-made advantage without taking into account the production's merits as entertainment. The film has been turned out with the vigor and technical skill that have become a commonplace of Warner Bros, melodrama. While the treatment of the subject is more or less superficial and not too convincing, the picture succeeds in creating a sense of life, excitement and commotion that captures the interest and holds it to the end. In their screenplay Jo Pagano and Alvah Bessie haven't been able to avoid a feeling of confusion. The script, dealing with opposite forces among the German people, fails to make the loyalties of some of the characters clear and definite. This is one of the serious shortcomings of the film. As in Miss Baum's "Grand Hotel," the acti:n takes place in a Berlin hotel peopled by characters impelled by various motives in their allegiance to one side or the other. The emphasis is more on character analysis than it is on plot content. The story has to do with the German underground. Helmut Dantine is a foe of the Nazis who hides from the Gestapo in the hotel. In his efforts to avoid detection he becomes involved with a number of persons, some sympathetic, some not. Among them are Andrea King, an actress; Faye Emerson, a flocsie; Peter Lorre, a professor; George Coulouris, a Gestapo chief. Raymond Massey plays a general who is made to take his own life because of treason. Miss King shifts her love from him to Dantine before the latter kills her for informing on him. Well-produced by Louis Edelman, the film has fast direction by Peter Godfrey. CAST: Helmut Dantine, Andrea King, Raymond Massey, Faye Emerson, Peter Lorre, Alan Hale, George Coulouris, Henry Daniell, Peter Whitney, Helene Thimig, Steven Ceray, Kurt Kreuger, Paul Andor, Erwin Kaiser, Dickie Tyler, Elsa Heils, Frank Reicher, Paul Panzer, John Mylong, Ruth Albu, Jay Novello, Lotte Stein, Torben Meyer, CREDITS: Producer, Louis Edelman; Director, Peter Godfrey; Screenplay, )o Pagano, Alvah Bessie; Based on novel by Vicki Baum; Cameraman, Carl Guthrie; Art Director, John Hughes; Film Editor, Frank Magee; Sound, Charles Lang; Set Decorator, Clarence Steenson. DIRECTION, Good. PHOTOGRAPHY, Good. ^ SHORTS ^ ll Indies File Blanks for Raw Film Ready in Week (Continued from Page 3) ready next week, it was learned at WPB yesterday. The independents may obtain these from WPB here, with copies also probably to be available in New York and Los Angeles. Thus far there have been no applications entered, and there has been no clamor for these forms, but WPB anticipates that it will get at least a few of requests from producers to have their raw stock quota made out for them directly. Methods for making these allocations The West Coast Question" (March of Time) 20th-Fox 16 mini Important The changes wrought by war the West Coast and the probled that face that region when the en of the war releases a flood of worH ers now tied up in defense work ai( taken up by the latest of the Marc of Time releases, which is easily on of the best and most significant 0 the series. Suggested are ways ani means of solving th post-war difficu) ties that are certain to present theni selves in the reconversion from wai to peace. Considerable emphasis placed on how peace is expected t alter the economy of the West Coas and open up new sources of wealtl and employment. Shots of the Wes Coast scenery lends the footage visual appeal. The short touches 6i many phases of life along our Pa cific seaboard. The film industrj gets its share of attention. RKO "On Guard" (This Is America) 18 '/2 mins ' Superb Mark this down as one of the mps' absorbing shorts ever made. Thi latest of the series is a graphic and supremely exciting account of th work done by the FBI in guarding the United States against the machi; nations of the Nazis. The footagi grippingly traces the procedure emj ployed in tracking down enemj agents. The story this film tells wil be a revelation to most Americans Carefully documented and stampec with authority, the picture incorporj ates scenes taken from official FR film which was used as evidenc( against some of the leading Naz| agents in this country. J. Edgaii Hoover appears in a prologue. Frede-I ric Ullman, Jr., deserves a deer' bow for producing this film. Metro Exploiteers Hosted Four Metro exploiteers were hostedj at a luncheon yesterday by William! R. Ferguson and attended by industry press representatives. The outof-towners were William Prass, Denver; Austin McGough, Des Moines; Ernest Van Pelt, Salt Lake City, and Price Shoemaker, Jr., Chicago. have not yet been announced by WPB, with intensive study going on now of the 1941-1944 consumption* of the various independents, as well as of the stock allowed them by the distributors in the past and the production schedule agreed upon for this year by producers and their distribu-' tors. J