Harrison's Reports (1950)

140 HARRISON'S REPORTS September 2, 1950 3. Separately figure the average gross on each com' pany's figures on each change for a period of one year. If for some particular reason there has been a change in the general level of business in your situa' tion use a period of time that gives a more accurate indication of today's conditions. For companies that you do not buy, or for companies from which you have used only a few pictures, take the overall average gross on the change. 4. From the average gross of each company on each change deduct the proper units (tenths) of overhead. From the balance, of course, must come your film rental and profit. It is up to each exhibitor to deter' mine for himself what constitutes a fair profit. After providing for profit the remaining amount should be the exhibitor's top rental. 5. You naturally won't realize the same profit on all bookings and inevitably some will be a loss. But this procedure will yield a fair overall profit. On companies from which you play percentage pictures, such pictures should not be included in your calculation of average gross. It is apparent that such returns would bring up your average but because the film company shares in the unusually high gross you do not retain enough share of this gross to provide a cushion for the weaker pictures that fall below the average. Each percentage picture must then be negO' tiated for at terms that permit profitable exhibition of the individual feature. The ATOI then takes up the subject of allocations with this declaration: "Off hand we'll guess that three out of four ex' hibitors who complain about excessive film rentals say that it is the result of misallocations. National Allied plans to expand its reviewing service so that exhibitors will have a better indication of proper al' locations than overly charitable trade paper reviews, enthusiastic claims of salesmen or exaggerated adver' rising copy. Unless little acorns are stepped on and squashed they become big oaks that are hard to hack away is proved by the fact that these bulletins warned about the slight of hand being done with alio' cations more than three years ago. With picture after picture being allocated in the top brackets exhibitors are hard pressed to find reasonably good product for their mid-week changes where the potentialities sim' ply don't exist to come out on 1 and 2 bracket pic tures. That is probably why regular movie'goers don't all agree that 'movies are betetr than ever.'' "After an exhibitor has determined his proper flat allocations we recommend that he religiously stick to them. No salesman has such amazing foresight that he can predict that a picture is 'half way between second and third bracket' or worth 30% more than regular second bracket terms. When attention is no longer paid to the guideposts of brackets an exhibitor has no way of knowing whether by some magic fore' sight he is getting a picture worth 30% more than his second bracket or, what is more likely, that his second bracket has been eased up 30%. As a last resort it would be better to deal at the next higher regular bracket because then you will at least know what is happening to your deals and are in a position to justly ask reallocation if the picture fails. You may be told that the company no longer sells according to brack' ets but only according to what each individual pic ture is worth. In spite of that sales talk you can be sure that the distributor still carries specific allocations for each situation in his own records. He needs these slots in order to set up deals for all of his 10,000 or more possible accounts. "However you may arrive at what is a fair price for a picture, when you can't make that kind of a deal learn to say 'no'. To the exhibitor who feels that he 'just has to book' some particular picture, we ask the question asked by Art Rush: 'And what would you have done if Hollywood never had made that picture?' " "Lonely Heart Bandits" with Dorothy Patrick and John Eldredge (Republic, August 29; time, 60 min.) A minor program "quickie" that may get by with those who are not too demanding in their choice of entertainment. Discriminating audiences, however, will probably be bored, for the story, which revolves around the exploits of a married couple who operate a "lonely hearts" racket and fleece lovelorn but gullible people of their savings, is ordinary, lacks novelty of plot development, and is completely unconvincing. In spite of the fact that the picture has some melodramatic action, it fails to impress on any one count. The players try hard enough, but there is little they can do with the weak material : — Tempted by the easy pickings in the lonely hearts racket, John Eldredge, a suave confidence man, joins forces with Dorothy Patrick, a glamorous woman well versed in the tricks of the trade, whom he marries. They rent a run-down farm in the mid-west and, posing as a widow and her brother, prepare to fleece a middle-aged farmer, whom Dorothy had lured there through lonely hearts letters. They steal the man's money and kill him when he puts up a fight. After fleecing several more victims, the couple concentrate their efforts on Ann Doran, a comely but lonely widow who, inspired by the success of a friend with a mail-order romance, had replied to one of Eldredge's lonely hearts advertisements. Eldredge arrives at Ann's home with Dorothy, whom he introduces as his sister, brought along for the purpose of keeping his visit respectable. Impressed by Eldredge's fine manners and show of wealth, Ann soon falls victim to his ardent love-making and smooth talk, and agrees to put up her home for sale so that they may leave on a round-the-world honeymoon trip he promises to her. Richard Travis, a life-long friend who loved Ann, mistrusts Eldredge and telegraphs Eric Sinclair, Ann's grown son in Saudi Arabia, to come home immediately. Learning of the son's threatened return, Dorothy takes Ann on a shopping trip to Chicago while Eldredge remains behind to collect the money from the sale of her property. Meanwhile, Dorothy disposes of Ann by pushing her off the rear platform of the moving train. Travis becomes aware of dirty work when he receives a greeting card from Ann but notices that it is not in her handwriting. He attempts to question Eldredge and is knocked unconscious by him. Eldredge flees town. This sets in motion a vast manhunt led by Travis and Sinclair, which ends with the police killing Eldredge and arresting Dorothy after a furious gun battle. Meanwhile Ann is found in a small country hospital, and upon her recovery she accepts Travis' proposal of marriage. It was produced by Stephen Auer and directed by George Blair from a screen play written by Gene Lewis. The cast includes Barbra Fuller, Robert Rockwell and others. Adult fare.