The film daily year book of motion pictures (1938)

AUSTRIA Legislation — During 1937, the system of granting "Vormerkscheine" to pay for presentation permits issued by the provincial authorities continued in force with regard to sound feature films and sound short films. On January 30, 1937, however, new film regulations were issued. On the whole, the wording of these is practically the same as that of the old ones, but the few alterations made are of great importance. To stimulate domestic production, the supplier of a sound film apparatus used in the production of a domestic feature film which has been approved by the competent authorities received 4 additional "Vormerkscheine" which are transferable and form the basis for the issuance of exhibition permits. The exhibition permits issued for a film are valid as a rule for all copies. If a feature film is exhibited in several installments, each part of such film is regarded as a whole film. A maximum of 12 Vormerkscheine will be issued for each domestic feature sound film, 1.5 Vormerkscheine each for domestic short films, and 3 Vormerkscheine each for cultural short films for compulsory exhibition. Vormerkscheine are not required for domestic sound films of all kinds, for imported bits used in Austrian news reels, or for "trailers" or advance samples of coming features. Domestic advertisement films must comply with the special regulations covering the showing of such film. If the producer of an Austrian feature film sells such a film in foreign customs territory at a fair price, or if such a film is duly shown abroad, the Film Bureau is authorized to issue as an export premium additional Vormerkscheine as authorized for that^ purpose by the Ministry of Commerce. These Vormerkscheine remain at the disposal of the Film Bureau and may be used only for the exhibition of films from the same foreign customs territory. This authorization may only be granted once for each feature film. The granting of Vermerkscheine is restricted by the limitation that the film must be shown to the Film Council before it is exhibited in public. Vormerkscheine are handled by the Film Bureau of the Vienna Chamber of Commerce. The price of one Vormerkscheine is 1,000 schillings. For the time being, the allotment of Vormerkscheine and the charging of fees are on a 100 percent basis. The importation and exhibition of sound feature films continued to be subject to contingent control. In accordance with the new regulations, the film contingent fee was increased by 25 percent, effective February 7, 1937. The number of Vormerkscheine required for the issuance of an exhibition permit for a foreign short sound film less than 350 meters long is now 0.15, and for such a film from 350 to 700 meters long, 0.30 Vormerkscheine. Foreign advertisement short films (except trailers) pay three times the above number of Vormerkscheine. For the issuance of an exhibition permit for other foreign sound films the following number of Vormerkscheine are required : above 1,500 meters 4.5 1,000 to 1,500 " 3. 700 to 1,000 " 2. In issuing an exhibition permit for a foreign feature film above 1,500 meters which requires the insertion of German texts and titles a reduction can be granted to 1.5 Vormerkscheine if shown in one copy, and 2.25 Vormerkscheine if shown in two copies.* In each case application must be made by the Film Bureau to the Ministry of Commerce; these applications are usually granted if the petitioning distributors have the titling and sub-titling done in Austria of at least one third of the number of foreign language copies distributed by them. Distributors who are able to prove a certain expenditure in Austria for the dubbing of a feature film receive a maximum of 8 Vormerkscheine. Furthermore, the exhibition of such films in Aus * No reduction for 3 or more copies from the base price of 4.5 Vormerkscheine. 1 tria will be granted free. The same applies to the original foreign language version of such film. The Government does not subsidize the domestic film industry but is fostering it by contingent control and by granting "Vormerkscheine" for domestically produced films, which Vormerkscheine are paid for from contingent receipts. The dubbing in Austria of foreign language films is also promoted by the granting of additional Vormerkscheine, as stated above. Fees for exhibition permits for films of all kinds produced in countries which handicap the distribution of Austrian films by import prohibition, regulations concerning payment, scenarios, cast personnel, etc. can be increased above the normal rate. Reduction of fees in accordance with seasonal box office fluctuations will not be granted. Film distributors are asked by the Film Bureau of the Vienna Chamber of Commerce to rent certain Austrian propaganda or "cultural" shorts which are designated for obligatory exhibition ; if they refuse or do not pay for such films, exhibitions permits for all other films handled by that distributor may be cancelled or withdrawn. The above regulations also apply to sub-standard sound films. The Austrian film industry depends to about about 70 to 80 percent on the German market. The Austro-German film agreement, valid until June 30, 1939, has undergone a revision and it is understood that according to the new stipulations, Germany will take 14 Austrian feature films a year, while Austria grants the contingent-free importation of an unlimited number of German language feature films produced in Germany. The exchange of short sound films and cultural shorts has been fixed at the ratio of 10; 1 in favor of Germany. The chief reason for Austria submitting to the contingent-free importation of German feature films was her desire to reduce to some extent the large amount of Austrian claims frozen in Germany. Censorship — The contemplated centralization in Vienna of film censorship on a uniform basis for the entire country has not gone through and censorship continues to be effected by the various provincial authorities for their respective province. The whole question of censorship in Austria is therefore in a rather unsettled condition. Censorship in Austria, however, is not rigid and except for gangster films, which are considered undesirable, is no practical obstacle to the importation of foreign films. Competition — In line with the general decrease in the number of films exhibited, which during the ten months period January to October 1937 totaled 261 feature films against 278 in the previous year, there were also fewer American films shown. Estimated on a basis of the number of films shown, the position of the United States, expressed in percentage of the entire number exhibited, was 38 percent or the same as that of Germany, each of the two countries supplying 99 feature films. Of the remainder only 3.8 percent were domestically produced films, the others originating from England, France. Hungary, Czechoslovakia and a few other countries. American films are very well liked in Austria and shown in in good volume, especially in the large first-run houses in Vienna, while German films, although not greater in number, exhibit many more copies throughout the country. Competition from other countries and from domestics production is unimportant. Copyright Relations — Established bv governmental decree No. 1 11 of April 9. 1936. ' Production — The Austrian film industry is experiencing a severe crisis and local producers state that more cash is needed to enable them to keep up their production. Also, in view of the high cost of bank financing, studio and sound apparatus, rentals, stars' salaries, etc. costs have reached the point where it is no longer profitable to produce films in Austria without some form of government subsidy. This, however, has failed to be forthcoming. Receipts from other countries have also declined due to exchange and other restrictions on Austrian films. Production, therefore, fell off considerably and during the first nine months of 19*37 amounted to only 10 feature