The Film Daily (1948)

Wuesday, July 27, 1948 7Ni< •^ DAILY (70 Million Pix Net In 1948-Jolinston (Continued from Pa/je 1) :jilMPP president, at a press con. ; J(. yxon's financial estimate unlerscored his statement of last week hat the situation confronting the imerican film industry would ;^orsen before it improved. ,(|, At the same time Johnston S'truck ij_;ut at the 45 per cent exhibitors' jjuota just imposed by Harold WiluJon, prexy of the Board of Trade in j,!;lritain's Labor Government, with '„he approval of Parliament. d The MPAA chief further dej(? clared he believes it would be a p; misitake for British productions to accept financing from its Govi,, ernment, because it would evenjji! tually lead to the Government ■ governing everything going into production, including subject matter. He expressed opposition to an in rease in British production at the xpense of quality. At present very 9w British pictures are worthy of , bowing in the United States, he I' 'aid. I' ■ In April, 1948, Johnston predicted '• hat under the new deal with Eng^•md, for its first year, June 14,''i'948 to June 14, 1949, British pic'■'iires would show a net earning in c!'he United States from $4,000,000 il!^ $7,000,000. '• ■ Under the new agreement, the American film industry can take f • out of England an amount equiv' alent to what British pictures • earn in the United States. However, Johnston said, because of the drop in quality of English ■ pictures they may not show any net earnings in the United States for the year ending June 14, 1949. li' Johnston disclosed that in 1946, kiLmerican film industry's net earnJj'igs from foreign markets amounted rio $120,000,000 and total earnings, 3 domestic and foreign after taxes) 1 144,000,000. In 1947, net earnings ■ rom foreign marts fell to approxiI lately $90,000,000 and net earnings domestic and foreign, after taxes), 96,000,000. IMPP Honors Pelton Memory West Coast Bureau of THE FILM DAILY i ' Hollywood — Honor to the late Fred i ]. Pelton was paid in a resolution, i '• dopted by the AMPP board, to the i amily of the former labor adminis• rator for the major studios. '» & K Toumctment Today Chicago — Annual golf tournament f the B & K Employes Association all be held today at White Pines tolf Club. SICK LIST LOU LILLY, head of the scenario departlenf at Jerry Fairbanks Prods., is recovering t his home from an attack of influenza. What Next in Britain? ... a second looh at the Wilson picin (Continued from Page 1) tributors who, in the past, have provided 80 per cent of Britain's screen entertainment. At the expense, too, be it added, of a majority of British exhibitors and of the millions of Britons who have demonstrated at the box office for a considerable period of years a preference for Hollywood motion pictures. And, it may be, at the expense of the Labor Government which could find, in the months ahead, a decline in the Entertainment Tax receipts paralleling, more or less, the drop in American playing time in the United Kingdom. (Until the Anglo-American film trade relations became abnormal in 1947 by action of the Labor Government, 83 per cent of the total earnings of American films in Britain remained permanently in England. In 1945, the sum was, in American coin, $332,000,000. And, as Metro's Samuel Eckman, Jr., pointed out in the long ago, the British Treasury alone was obtaining from the entertairmient tax on American films more than twice the amount the American industry received for the films from which this revenue was derived. In 1945, the entertainment tax on Hollywood films produced approximately £34,000,000 for the British Treasury.) ♦ IT IS OBVIOUS from what Wilson had to say in Commons that he is counting heavily ' on the British independent producers to not only deliver product which will supplant the American pictures in Britain but which as well will find a ready and paying market overseas. "Mr. Wilson told the House," said a London cable to the New York Times, "that film production was an essential industry from a dollar-export-trade point of view." The reference to the dollar presupposes that the President of the Board of Trade had in mind the American dollar, not the Chinese dollar or the Mexican dollar. If that is so, however, he is singularly uninformed as to the earnings of all British pictures, whether produced by independents or others, in these United States. There could be a tip-off for him in the fact that British investors, despite the most intense efforts by both film producers and the Government, had declined to bankroll the British independents. The British business man, regardless of his party affiliation, takes a very dim view indeed of a venture which bids fair to be profitless. THIS is not to say that British independents cannot make good pictures; that they can. ' So can Hollywood. And both, it follows, the law of averages applying, can make pictures which are not good. But there will be this difference, once the British Film Bank is operative. When American films fail to make the grade, private enterprise will be the loser. And when the British pictures flop, at home or abroad or in both markets, the money will come out of the British taxpayers' pockets — this whether or not Wilson rejects or accepts the proposition that the project is likely to involve a loss of public money. The President of the Board of Trade made much of the fact in replying to Winston Churchill, leader of His Majesty's Loyal Opposition, in Commons that the British industry "is now producing for a safe and assured home market with a high quota." He and his associates could find, could they not, that it is one thing to produce for that market, quite another to have the market accept what is produced. Responsible British theater men are on record to the effect that their patrons demand Hollywood pictures. To be sure, certain British pictures have outgrossed certain American pictures in certain situations. Yet, curiously, certain of the best British pictures have failed in the home market, and had to look to American exhibition for a profit. SUPPOSE, for arugment's sake, it is accepted that the British film audience clings to its long-established preference for American pictures. And well it may, for British production until its existing studio facilities are increased materially will have to cut many corners if the feature volume requisite to meet the 45 per cent is to be reached. That more than hints, does it not, at an array of B's and quickies. Well, what then? It could be this: The Film Bank, in its initial stages, on the word of Wilson, will loan money only to distribution companies (Wilson said there is nothing in the proposed bill that wll preclude J. Arthur Rank from getting a loan if the corporation considers it desirable although it is not intended to advance him Government funds) who in turn will help finance producers. If the Government-financed pictures flop, both their distributors and their exhibitors, as well as their producers, will lose. The distributors will be committed to the Government for the advances made on "reasonable commercial terms" — the words are Wilson's. And, presumably, the producers will be committed in kind to the distributors. As for the exhibitor . . . need we go into that? INEVITABLY, losses all the 'way round, if, as and when they develop, will bring cries for relief. As if in anticipation, Wilson told Commons, "Later, it may be practical to help in financing other experiments in methods of production and distribution." Perchance, direct Government production . . . direct Government distribution? And why not? Is not the Labor Government committed to nationalization of industry? While it is true that Wilson made no reference to Government monies for exhibition, except to assure Commons that the finance corporation will have no power to own, lease or build cinemas, the fact remains that not so long ago a Parliamentary Labor Party sub (Continued on Page 7) United P. R. Front By N. Y. Exhibitors (Continued from Page 1) Fred J. Schwartz, president of Metropolitan Motion Picture Theaters Association. One of the matters discussed by the exhibitor reps, was the organization of a joint effort on behalf of the Will Rogers Memorial Hospital. A.11 of the representatives paid a visit to the Saranac Lake home Sunday. Further meetings will be arranged to solidify and execute the conclusions reached, Schwartz stated yesterday. Meeting was attended by: Merrit A. Kyser, president of MPTO of New York State,, Inc., and George J. Gammel, from Buffalo; Harry Lamont, president of Albany Chapter of TO A; Charles A. Smakwitz, zone manager of Warner Theaters; John W. Gardner, Schenectady; Saul J. Ulman, UpState district manager, Fabian Theaters, and Leonard L. Rosenthal, general counsel of TOA, Albany. From New York City, in addition to Schwartz, Murray I. Gurfein, general counsel MMPTA; Gael Sullivan, executive director of TOA and D. John Phillips, executive director of MMPTA. While Harry Brandt, president of ITOA was unable to attend, he expressed his agreement with the policies and action adopted. CBS to Analyze Film Biz In Hour-Long Sept. Show (Continued from Page 1) program which will originate in New York. John Dietz will direct from a script by Peter Lyon. Program will depict social, economic and artistic factors which go into production of a top quality picture. Much of the documentary will be based on the genesis and development of Samuel Goldwyn's Academy Award winner, "The Best Years Of Our Lives." Blowers Cool Houses as Engineers Strike On Blowers and fans were continued in service for the comfort of patrons over the week-end and yesterday while the strike called by Local 30, International Union of Operating Engineers, AFL, continued. Houses in the RKO and Loew Circuits are affected. Spokesmen for both the union and circuits said there were no meetings relative to a settlement yesterday. DEATHS RICHARD HATHAWAY, manager of the Isis Theater, Winamac, Ind. MAURIE RUBENS, 54, theatrical composer, from a heart attack In Hollywood.