Harrison's Reports (1950)

IN TWO SECTIONS— SECTION ONE Entered as second-class matter January 4, 1921, at the post office at New York, New York, under the aet o-f March 3, 1879. s Reports Yearly Subscription Rates: 1270 AVENUE OF THE AMERICAS Published Weekly by United States $15.00 (Formerly Sixth Avenue) Harrison's Reports, Inc., U. S. Insular Possessions. 16.50 M v 1, 9n N Y Publisher Canada 16.50 wew 1 orK *u> n 1 ■ p. S. HARRISON, Editor Mexico, Cuba, Spain 16.50 A Motion Picture Reviewing Service Great Britain 17.50 Devoted Chiefly to the Interests of the Exhibitors Established July 1, 1919 Australia, New Zealand, India, Europe, Asia .... 17.50 ng Editorial Poiicy: No Problem Too Big for Its Editorial Circle 7-4622 35c a Copy Columns, if It is to Benefit the Exhibitor. A REVIEWING SERVICE FREE FROM THE INFLUENCE OF FILM ADVERTISING Vol. XXXII SATURDAY, JANUARY 7, 1950 No. 1 TELEVISION DEAL FOR 83 FEATURES POINTS UP NEED FOR EXHIBITOR PROTECTION In the issues of June 5 and July 3, 1948, this paper cautioned the exhibitors to guard against the booking of pictures, particularly reissues, that either had been or might be shown on television before they had a chance to show them in their theatres. It was suggested that an exhibitor, to protect himself, demand that the distributor include in the licensing agreement a clause warrantying that the pic ture had not been shown on television, and tnat it will not be telecast for a specific period of time until after he shows it. These words of caution were brought about by the fact that, at the time, WPIX, the J^ew Tor\ Daily 7<iews tele vision station, had acquired the nationwide television rights to twenty-four Alexander Korda features, as well as the New York area rights to thirty-eight other pictures, many of which were being offered to the exhibitors as reissues by independent film distributors who controlled only the theatrical distribution rights. This problem has been brought to the fore again by the recent closing of deals that make available to this competitive medium eighty-one British and two American pictures, many of which have never been shown in the United States, and some of which are currently in release, either as reissues or new pictures. The first of these deals is between the J. Arthur Rank Organization and the Standard Television Corporation, by which Standard acquires the television rights to some seventy J. Arthur Rank features, none of which have been produced later than 1944, half of which have been produced during the past two years, and approximately twenty of which have been, or are being, released by Eagle-Lion and the Prestige Pictures unit of Universal-International. Included also is one picture, "Fame of the Spur," which is being distributed now in the United States by Oxford Films. The titles of the films involved in this transaction are as follows : "The Weaker Sex," "Hue and Cry," "Root of All Evil," "Silver Fleet," "It Always Rains on Sunday," "Johnny Frenchmen," "Nicholas Nickelby," "Waterloo Road," "Neutral Port," "Man at the Gate," "Ghost Train," "Woman in the Hall," "Bees in Paradise," "Calendar," "Carnival," "Flemish Farm," "Give us the Moon," "I'll Be Your Sweetheart," "I Thank You," "The Lamp Still Burns," "My Heart Goes Crazy," "Loves of Joanna Godden," "Mark of Cain," "Master of Bankdam," "Men of Two Worlds," "Millions Like Us," "Miss London, Ltd.," "School for Secrets," "Theirs is the Glory," "They Knew Mr. Knight," "Frozen Limits," "Bandwagon," "The Arsenal Stadium Mystery," "Murder in London," "Gasbags," "Hi Gang," "Back Room Boys," "Heart of Steel," "King Arthur Was a Gentleman," "Here Comes the Law," "Time Flies," "To 1,000 Women," "Uncle Silas," "When the Bough Breaks," "The Blind Goddess," "My Sister and I," "Vice Versa," "We Die at Dawn," "Bush Christmas," "A Canterbury Tale," "Don't Take it to Heart," "Easy Money," "I Know Where I'm Going," "A Place of One's Own," "The Tawny Pipit," "This Happy Breed," "Dear Octopus," "They Met in the Dark," "Cottage to Let," "Secret Mission," "The Great Mr. Handel," "Beware of Pity," "On Approval," "Fame is the Spur," "Good Time Girl," "The Way We Live" and "The Lady Surrenders." The WPIX deal covers the acquisition from different sources of nationwide television rights to thirteen top features, eleven British and two American, which were originally released in the United States by five of the major distributors during the period from 1937 to 1941. These include: "Pygmalion," "Under the Red Robe." "Thunder in the City," "Major Barbara," "Sidewalks of London," "The Young in Heart," "South Riding," "Dinner at the Ritz," "Dark Journey," "The Beachcomber," "A Star is Born," "Jamaica Inn" and "Wings of the Morning." Under the terms of the Rank-Standard deal, according to a spokesman for Standard, each picture that is being or will be made available to theatres will not be shown on television in a particular area until after a specified time following completion of all theatre playdates in that area. Just how much time was not mentioned because of the claim that it varied with each picture. There appears to be something hazy about this deal, for, according to a news report in Showmen's Trade Review, the list of pictures is subject to revision "since the deal is subject to contracts that may have been entered into with other distributors." Showmen's points out that Oxford Films, which is distributing "Fame is the Spur," claims that it has the theatre exhibition rights for seven years, and that the picture cannot be sold to television during that period. Showmen's states also that the Rank Organization office, when asked what provisions were made for situations like this, professed to be ignorant of the details involved in the deal. In contrast, the WPIX deal is definite. The thirteen pictures, in the order given above, are to be televised at the rate of one a week, beginning Friday, January 6, on a program to be known as "Premiere Theatre," sponsored by Doubleday and Company. According to a WPIX spokesman, there are no restrictions as to when the pictures may be televised — they may be shown day-and-date with thca tres, and even ahead of them. As a matter of fact, they have already been booked by fifteen other television stations throughout the country. Of the pictures included in the WPIX deal, "Pygmalion" and "Major Barbara" are, to the best knowledge of this writer, the only two that are being offered to the theatres at the present time as reissues. With almost four million television receivers now in use throughout the country, the television audience has become so vast that the matter of motion picture telecasts is becoming a serious competitive problem. And the competition is bound to become keener as time goes on, for it is estimated that, in five years, twenty million receivers will be in operation with a potential audience of seventy-five million. Obviously, exhibitors can do little to stop motion picture telecasts, for hundreds of pictures are being offered to the television stations by either the original producers or those who have bought the pictures from them outright. These, fortunately, are mostly old pictures that were produced on modest budgets and are of little value to the exhibitors today, although they do, to an extent, serve to undermine theatre attendance when shown on television. But the exhibitors, by demanding proper guarantees in the licensing agreement, can do something to protect themselves against the possibility of booking a picture, cither (Continued on bac\ page)