Harrison's Reports (1949)

4 HARRISON'S REPORTS January 1, 1949 sent decrees if they feel that their interests are not adequately protected and, if the court refuses to note their objections, they will have the right to appeal. The Committee recommended also that Congress direct the Federal Trade Commission to investigate "the problem of bigness in business" and to study "the desirability and feasibility of breaking down so-called conglomerates in American business," because of their abuse of economic power to throttle small business firms. Although the report did not contain any recommendations for die breaking up of huge business combines, Chairman Ploeser stated that he and the other Committee members are agreed that the divorcement of production from distribution "is the only solution" to the problem of restoring competition. In one section of the report the Committee summarizes the complaints of the film industry' witnesses at the different hearings, and points out, among other things, (a) that the producer-distributors, "in plain contravention of the Supreme Court "s ruling," are forcing exhibitors to buy undesirable pictures in order to get the good ones; (b) that the majors are still guilty of unreasonable clearance practices; (c) that even more harmful is the independent exhibitor's inability to obtain first-run pictures for his theatre; and (d) that the producer-distributors, by reducing the number of pictures that each makes, and by cutting down on the number of prints normally required for each feature in the different exchange areas, are doing so for the obvious purpose of creating and maintaining a seller's market. The report mentions also the complaints of witnesses against National Screen Service and Confidential Reports. The report of the House Small Business Committee is one of the most significant papers to come out of Washington in many months, first, because it is a unanimous report from a Committee that is made up of both Republicans and Democrats, and secondly, because it shows that Government regulation of industry is inevitable when competition fails or cannot be restored because of the irresponsible use of power. By this time it should be apparent to the producerdistributors that the Government, through either the courts or legislation, is bent on eradicating the conditions that have retarded, one may even say stifled, the industry's progress. It is determined to curb monopolistic practices that enable the strong to gulp the weak. And that the Government will eventually succeed in attaining its objectives is something the major companies know better than any one else: yet they are not moving fast enough in adjusting themselves to the new order of things. Their reluctance to loosen voluntarily the stranglehold they have been having upon exhibition will simply serve to invite more and more Government regulation of the industry so that the small and weak will have an opportunity to make a living in a free and open market. Further dilly-dallying will get the producer-distributors nowhere. The best move that they can make right now is to prepare themselves for the conditions that will be created when the practices that have placed them in a privileged position are outlawed, and complete divorcement has become a fact; otherwise, they will find themselves thrown out of gear, and some of them may even find their very existence threatened. "Incident" with Warren Douglas, Jane Frazee and Anthony Caruso (Monogram, Jan. 29; tim<:, 68 min.) A good program crook melodrama. It is so well directed and acted that one's attention is held nailed all the way through. As a matter of fact, the suspensive qualities of this picture are far better than those of many other melodramas that have been produced at much greater cost. The romance is pretty interesting, and the photography rates with the best. Some comedy is contributed by Joyce Compton, as the talkative wife of Harry Lautcr, the friend with whom Warren Douglas had had dinner before his strange adventure. The story idea is based on an incident that can happen to any one, and which incident changed the hero's entire life : — After spending a delightful evening with Joyce and Lautcr, Douglas declines Lauter's offer to drive him home. He misses the bus and decides to walk home. On the way, Meyer Grace, a hoodlum hired by Anthony Caruso, a gangster, to beat up Robert Osterloh, mistakes Douglas for Osterloh and knocks him unconscious. While trying to track down Grace, Douglas meets Jane Frazee and becomes friendly with her, unaware of the fact that she was an insurance investigator, on the trail of Osterloh, a shipping clerk in a department store, from which expensive furs had been stolen; she suspected that Osterloh was the thief. One day, while driving with Jane, Douglas recognizes Grace and follows him into the house where he lived. There he finds Grace murdered under circumstances that make him a suspect, but the police exonerate him. In order to obtain evidence against Osterloh, Jane rents an apartment in the murder house, where Osterloh, too, resided. Meanwhile Caruso, the gangster chief, has his men bring Douglas to him. Learning that Douglas is not a cop, and that he merely sought to learn the identity of his assailant, Caruso releases him with a warning to stay away. Jane, having discovered a stolen fur in Osterloh 's room, becomes friendly with him and accompanies him to a night-club. There she has a row with Lynn Millan, Osterloh's jealous girlfriend, during which she unknowingly drops her detective badge. Lynn finds the badge and informs Caruso; the gangster orders his henchmen to bring Jane to his lair. Douglas, having learned where Jane had been taken, notifies the police and hurries to her aid. In trying to rescue Jane, Douglas is wounded seriously, but the police arrive in time to save them both and to capture the gangsters. Douglas and Jane marry. It is a Master Film production produced by Harry Lewis and Hall Shelton, and directed by William Beaudine, from a screen play by Fred Niblo, Jr., based on Mr. Lewis' original. Mature entertainment, but not harmful for adolescents. CHECK YOUR FILES FOR MISSING COPIES Look into your files and if you find the copy of any issue missing, write to this office and it will be supplied to you free of charge. Perhaps, during the holiday rush, you either misplaced or failed to receive die copy of one of the issues. A sufficient number of copies of many back issues is kept in stock for just such a purpose.