Harrison's Reports (1939)

152 HARRISON'S REPORTS September 23, 1939 have set the example by cutting down their salaries ; that is, if the report published in Hollywood papers is true. About the $100,000 to $250,000 payment for stage plays, no stage play lias ever been worth so much to a picture. If the studios should hope to reduce their overhead, they should, as said, reduce the salaries of the aforementioned persons ; reducing the salaries of scrub women and of janitors will not effect real economy. Incidentally, the information that was printed in last week's Harrison's Reports to the effect that the major producers had decided to abandon the million dollar productions is true ; I have obtained a verification of it from an unimpeachable authority. They may have reconsidered their decision now localise of the furor that has been created in the industry as a result of that decision, but it was true originally ; these producers have been made to realize how disastrous it would be if they should carry out their original decision. Let us hope that the studios will effect real economy, and that the exhibitor will be the beneficiary of it in part. BOX-OFFICE PERFORMANCES OF 1938-39 SEASON'S PICTURES— No. 4 Twentieth Century-Fox "Charlie Chan in Honolulu," with Sidney Toler, Phyllis Brooks, and John King; produced by John Stone and directed by H. Bruce Humberstone, from a screen play by Charles Belden : Good-Fair. "Mr. Moto's Last Warning," with Peter Lorre, Ricardo Cortez, and Virginia Field; produced by Sol M. Wurtzel and directed by Norman Foster, from a screen play by Philip MacDonald and Norman Foster: Good-Poor. "Smiling Along," with Grade Fields; produced by Robert T. Kane and directed by Monty Banks, from a screen play by William Consehnan : Good-Poor. "Jesse James," with Tyrone Power, Henry Fonda, Randolph Scott, and Nancy Kelly; produced by Nunnally Johnson and directed by Henry King, from a screen play by Nunnally Johnson : Excellent. "The Arizona Wildcat," with Jane Withers and Leo Carrillo ; produced by John Stone and directed by Herbert I. Leeds, from a screen play by Barry Trivers and Jerry Cady : Good-Fair. "Tailspin," with Alice Faye, Nancy Kelly, and Constance Bennett; produced by Harry Joe Brown and directed by Roy Del Ruth, from a screen play by Frank Wead : Very Good-Fair. "The Three Musketeers," with Don Ameche, the Ritz Brothers, and Binnie Barnes ; produced by Raymond Griffith and directed by Allan Dwan, from a screen play by M. M. Mussehnan, William A. Drake, and Samuel Hellman : Good-Fair. "Pardon Our Nerve," with Lynn Bari, June Gale, and Michael Whalen ; produced by Sol M. Wurtzel and directed by H. Bruce Humberstone, from a screen play by Robert Ellis and Helen Logan: Fair-Poor. "Wife, Husband and Friend," with Warner Baxter, Loretta Young, and Binnie Barnes ; produced by Nunnally Johnson and directed by Gregory Ratoff, from a screen play by Nunnally Johnson : Very Good-Fair. "Inside Story," with Michael Whalen and Jean Rogers ; produced by Howard J. Green and directed by Ricardo Cortez, from a screen play by Jerry Cady : Fair-Poor. "The Little Princess," with Shirley Temple, Richard Greene, and Anita Louise ; produced by Gene Markey and directed by Walter Lang, from a screen play by Ethel Hill and Walter Ferris : Very Good-Fair. "Everybody's Baby," with Jed Prouty, Shirley Deane, and Russell Gleason ; produced by John Stone and directed by Malcolm St. Clair, from a screen play by Karen 1 )eWolf, Robert Chapin, Frances Hyland, and Albert Ray : Good-Fair. "The Hound of the Baskervilles," with Richard Greene, Basil Rathbone, and Wendy Barrie ; produced by Gene Markey and directed by Sidney Lanfield, from a screen play by Ernest Pascal : Very Good-Fair. "Mr. Moto in Danger Island," with Peter Lorre, Jean Hersholt, and Warren Hymer ; produced by John Stone and directed by Herbert I. Leeds, from a screen play by Peter Milne : Fair-Poor. "The Story of Alexander Graham Bell," with Don Ameche, I^oretta Young, and Henry Fonda ; produced by Kenneth Macgowan and directed by Irving Cummings, from a screen play by Lamar Trotti : Very Good-Fair. "Winner Take All," with Tony Martin, Gloria Stuart, and Henry Armetta ; produced by Jerry Hoffman and directed by Otto Brower, from a screen play by Frances Hyland and Albert Ray : Fair-Poor. "Inspector Hornleigh," with Gordon Harker and Alastair Sim ; directed by Eugene Forde, from a screen play by Bryan Wallace : Fair-Poor. "Return of the Cisco Kid," with Warner Baxter, Robert Barrat, and Lynn Bari ; produced by Kenneth Macgowan and directed by Herbert I. Leeds, from a screen play by Milton Sperling: Good-Fair. "Climbing High," with Jessie Matthews and Michael Redgrave ; directed by Carol Reed, from a screen play by Lesser Samuels: Fair-Poor. "Chasing Danger," with Preston Foster, Lynn Bari, and Henry Wilcoxon; directed by Ricardo Cortez, from a screen play by Robert Ellis and Helen Logan : Fair-Poor. "Rose of Washington Square," with Alice Faye, Tyrone Power, and Al Jolson; produced by Nunnally Johnson and directed by Gregory Ratoff, from a screen play by Nunnally Johnson: Very Good-Good. "Boy Friend," with Jane Withers, Arleen Whelan, and Richard Bond; produced by John Stone and directed by James Tinling, from a screen play by Joseph Hoffman and Barry Trivers : Good-Poor. "The Gorilla," with the Ritz Brothers, Bela Lugosi, Lionel Atwill, and Patsy Kelly; produced by Harry Joe Brown and directed by Allan Dwan, from a screen play by Rian James and Sid Silvers: Good-Poor. "The Jones Family in Hollywood," with Jed Prouty and Spring Byington ; produced by John Stone and directed by Malcolm St. Clair, from a screen play by Harold Tarshis : Good-Fair. "Young Mr. Lincoln," with Henry Fonda and Alice Brady ; produced by Kenneth Macgowan and directed by John Ford, from a screen play by Lamar Trotti : ExcellentGood. "Charlie Chan in Reno," with Sidney Toler, Ricardo Cortez, and Phyllis Brooks ; directed by Norman Foster, from a screen play by Frances Hyland, Albert Ray, and Robert E. Kent : Good-Poor. "Susannah of the Mounties," with Shirley Temple, Randolph Scott, and Margaret Lockwood ; produced by Kenneth Macgowan, directed by William A. Seiter, from a screen play by Robert Ellis and Helen Logan : Good-Fair. Sixty-one pictures have been released. Grouping the pictures of the different ratings, including two GaumontBritish pictures, from the beginning of the season, we get the following results : Excellent, 3 ; Excellent-Good, 2 ; Very Good-Good, 3 ; Very Good-Fair, 6; Very Good-Poor, 2; Good-Fair, 19; GoodPoor, 12; Fair, 3; Fair-Poor, 11. Fifty-seven pictures were released in the 1937-38 season. They w:ere rated as follows : Excellent, 2 ; ExcellentVery Good, 2 ; Excellent-Good, 2 ; Very Good-Good, 7 ; Very Good-Fair, 2 ; Very GoodPoor, 1; Good-Fair, 21; Good-Poor, 8; Fair, 7; FairPoor, 4 ; Poor, 1. United Artists "Prison Without Bars," with Edna Best ; produced by Alexander Korda and directed by Brian D. Hurst, from a screen play by Arthur Wimperis : Good-Poor. "Wuthering Heights," with Merle Oberon, David Niven, and Laurence Olivier ; produced by Samuel Goldwyn and directed by William Wyler, from a screen play by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur : Excellent-Good. "Zenobia," with Oliver Hardy, Harry Langdon, Billie Burke, and Alice Brady ; produced by Hal Roach and directed by Gordon Douglas, from a screen play by Corey Ford : Good-Poor. "Cap.tain Fury," with Brian Aherne, Victor McLaglen, and June Lang ; produced and directed by Hal Roach, from a screen play by Grover Jones, Jack Jevne, and William DeMille: Very Good-Fair. Fifteen pictures have been released. Grouping the pictures of the different ratings from the beginning of the season, we get the following results : Excellent-Good, 2 ; Very Good, 1 ; Very Good-Good, 2 ; Very Good-Fair, 2 ; Good, 4 ; Good-Fair, 2 ; Good-Poor, 2. The first fifteen pictures in the 1937-38 season were rated as follows : ExcellentVery Good, 4 ; Excellent-Good, 1 ; Very GoodGood, 1; Good, 2; Good-Fair, 1; GoodPoor, 1; Fair, 3; Fair-Poor, 1 ; Poor, 1.