The Film Daily (1947)

Monday, September 29, 1947 Propose 40% Aussie Freeze of U. S. Dollars (Continued from Page 1) posal to invest 33-1/3 per cent of theii annual earnings in Australia, Ch' )s latest plan is seen here as the --.e on which both sides come to an agreement. On the basis of the $6,600,000 earnings of U. S. films in Australia in 1946, companies would invest about $2,640,000 in the Commonwealth. Meanwhile, Robert Butler, U. S. Ambassador to Australia, predicted at the week-end that Australia's trade with the United States would soon be greater than it had ever been. He said the Commonwealth's dollar shortage would be temporary and would hinder Australian-American trade for a comparatively short time only. Two Government moves were seen as helping the situation somewhat. Moves took the form of measures introduced in Parliament by Chifley. One, a bill to lift the gold tax, is designed to encourage the production of gold in Australia as a means of gaining dollars and thereby lessening the financial difficulties of international trade. Chifley also moved to abolish the wartime company tax on the ground that competition in more fields was rapidly being restored and the tax is no longer necessary. In the meantime the dollar crisis under which U. S. film company earnings are frozen pending an agreement to be reached by the distributors and the government, has had a marked effect on first-run screenings in the Australian capital. Of 20 films playing Sydney's ace houses, 10 are first-runs and 10 are revivals. Most American distributors are nearly out of unplayed features, with Paramount and Universal having six to eight films each in their vaults, and M-G-M only a few. Exceptions are RKO, which has about 23 features unplayed and Warners, whose product has been piling up because of the lack of a show window in Sydney. Warners' backlog, however, will soon be played off by Hoyt's The Odlum is Chairman of Lovelace Foundation Floyd B. Odium, RKO board chairman and president of Atlas Corp., is chairman of the board of trustees of the new Lovelace Foundation for Medical Education and Research, announced late last week in Albuquerque, N. M. Foundation was established with assets of $1,000,000, consisting of the entire property of the Lovelace Clinic, a group of practicing physicians well-known in Southwest. Odium and the other members of the board will serve without compensation. I HOLLVUJOOD-VinE VflRD By RALPH WILE Line Up Impressive Boost for "Power" HOLLYWOOD %A/HEN Jimmy Stewart finishes "Call Northside 777" which he's now making in Chicago, he'll star in RKO's "You Belong To Me" playing a European war correspondent. Robert Riskin will handle production reins. ... -^ "Jackpot" has been announced by that lot as the final title of the race track pix known until now as "Race Street," which co-stars George Raft, William Bendix and Marilyn Maxwell. ... i^ Mary Pickford and Lester Cowan are planning two movies with the Marx brothers. First is "The Sidewalk" which Ben Hecht scripted, and secondly, "Mother of Two-A-Day" by Alexander Woollcott. ... -^ Dennis O'Keefe, now visiting N. Y. for the World Series will star next in Eagle-Lion's "Draw Sabres." . . . -^ Robert Preston has bowed out of "The Walls of Jericho" at Fox and will play opposite Margaret O'Brien, George Murphy and Betty Garrett in M-G-M's "The Big City". . . ■^ Michael Curtiz finally completed the deal for the purchase of the story property, "La Otra" and is interested in landing Joan Crawford for the lead. He saw a Mexican version of the film starring Delores Del Rio and thinks it would make a great Crawford vehicle. ... i^ Benedict Bogeaus decided that the Charles Laughton sequence in "A Miracle Can Happen" was too serious and has signed Dorothy Lamour to present a parody on all the sarong roles that made her famous. Others in the cast are Henry Fonda, Jimmy Stewart, Paulette Goddard, Burgess Meredith and Fred MacMurray. * • • LJAL WALLIS, who shares Burt Lancaster's contract with Mark Hellinger, wants him for "Rope of Sand," which he expects to make in Africa next Spring. Meanwhile, Lancaster is paging Wanda Hendrix for a starring role in his own indie production, "Wash The Blood Off My Hands." ... * Rudy Vallee and Bill Goodwin have signed with Enterprise for "So This Is New York," the Henry Morgan pic. Other leads are Virginia Grey, Donna Drake, Hugh Herbert, and Leo Gorcey. . . . ic Monogram T)roducer, Sid Luft, has an untitled original for Jackie Cooper and Jackie Coogan who first were co-starred in "Kilroy Was Here." Film Classics May Have Major Pix in Cinecolor (Continued from Page 1) Cinecolor, with company counsel, continued the negotiations in New York over the week-end. Potentialities canvassed in the talks range from a merger of the two companies to joint establishment of a new producing company, it is reported). It is understood here that some consideration is being given to the acquisition of a studio. aters, under an arrangement concluded recently. Western Australia is in better shape as far as unplayed U. S. product is concerned. It is estimated that there is nearly a year's supply in that area, compared with six months in other parts of the Commonwealth. Meanwhile, British distributors see the crisis as an opportunity to gain quicker and more advantageous release of U. K. product than they would have otherwise secured. Goldberg at Capital Washington Bureau of THE Washington — Harry rector of advertising for Warner Theaters, two-day meeting of zone theater managers ing men at local zone today and tomorrow. Meet FILM DAILY Goldberg, diand publicity is holding a Washington and advertis headquarters Story Material Service Started for Independents First independent producers service has been established here by Donold MacCampbell, authors' and publishers' representative, with offices at 16 E. 43rd St., for the purpose of helping small producers secure the particular types of story material that interest them and at the prices they can afford to pay. The agency's own properties will continue to be handled by John McCormick, Inc. of Beverly Hills. New service will specialize in "sleeper" material with picture possibilities, especially in the low budget production field, and in contractual arrangements with free lance writers. Service will function without cost to the producer. Service, MacCampbell said, will function in the same manner as his reprint publishers' service through which he has prepared contracts on hundreds of literary properties for reprinting in pocket-sized editions. It was this service that created the idea of 25-cent movie novelizations and brought to the newsstands first the Macfadden and more recently the Century series of shooting script novelizations. Record GUT Profit Sydney (By Air Mail)— Greater Union Theaters announced a record profit of $366,000, compared with $320,000 last year. Full support of church bodies, women's clubs, schools and libraries has been mustered to assist exhibitors in bringing widespread public attention to "Power Behind the Nation," Technicolor documentary sponsored by the Motion Picture Association and produced by Warners. Following screenings for officials the following organizations have indicated they will lend their support: Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America; National Board of Review; American Civil Liberties Union; National Conference of Christians and Jews; YMCA; National Community Relations Advisory Council; General Federation of Women's Clubs; DAR National Motion Picture Preview Committee; Parents Motion Picture Group of Greater New York; International Federation of Catholic Alumnae Film Committee; Brooklyn Motion Picture Council; Queens Motion Picture Council; Protestant Motion Picture Council; Film Music Committee; Libraries — Film Division: N. Y. Representative Cleveland Public Libraries; Film Division PTA — Vermont; Professional Women's League: National Society Patriotic Women of America; Staten Island Motion Picture Council; United Daughters of the Confederacy; Parents Magazine — Motion Picture Department; Scarsdale Motion Picture Council. Denmark Rejects 'Arsenic'; Oust Censor Move Afoot (Continued from Page 1) ties. There have also been editorials pointing out the error of the censors in prohibiting a film deemed artistic. The local Warner office rounded up 10 writers and businessmen and showed them the film at a special screening. Nine-tenths of opinion after viewing the picture found nothing censorable. It is reported certain members of the Film Commission appointed early this year will ask that Danish censorship be repealed. Stewart to Receive Pennsylvania Award Philadelphia — First recipient of the Chamber of Commerce annual award for the Pennsylvanian who has contributed most to his industry will be James Stewart, it was revealed at the week-end with the announcement that the Chamber has agreed to sponsor a luncheon on Oct. 13, as the opening celebration of Pennsylvania Week. Many prominent film personalities are expected to attend the luncheon at the Bellevue-Stratford, in honor of Gov. James H. Duff and Orus J. Matthews, Secretary of Commerce, who will be the principal speaker.