Harrison's Reports (1962)

112 HARRISON'S REPORTS July 21, 1962 ^'Brothers Grimm'9 Junhet (Continued from Front Page) "I'm pouring more than $200,000 into the changeover,"1 one Ohio theatre operator told us. "From now on I either sink or swim with Cinerama,1' he said in tones that sounded more of a man full of assurance rather than in doubt. For, that is the usual theatre investment of the exhibitor, somewhere around $200,' 000. The projection equipment, of course, is not paid for by the exhibitor. That belongs to the Cinerama corporation. The protracted hard-ticket runs in some towns will be a little difficult to install, several theatre owners told us. But, they'll be running on a Cinerama policy soon, and they'll take their chances on not only the change-over to Cinerama exclusively, but to the people getting accustomed to seeing their movies via the reserved seat idea. Several theatre owners said it wasn't easy with some of the hard-ticket films they played before. The Cooper Theatre (Denver) scene of the world premiere of Cinerama's "The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm" is considered as the first theatre built, from the ground up, expressively for the presentation of Cinerama product. It's like a big, round colorful oil tank sitting on top of a low, flat box. It has a seating capacity of 870, the first four rows of which may have to be sacrificed, or the last ones sold if the others have gone. The immensity of the screen and its wide swing from wall to wall will kill off the best kind of view from those front seats. But, the further back you go, the greater the grandeur and the more thrilling the view. Bankers Have Confidence in Cinerama We had occasion to talk with one of the upperechelon executives of the Prudential Insurance Co. He told us he sat up toward the last few rows of the theatre and he felt that he was part of the proceedings up there on the huge circular screen. "I found myself drawn into the story," he said. "The Cinerama process, for all its hugeness, creates an intimate kind of entertainment." And then, rather wistfully, he said, T sure hope this venture goes over. We of Prudential have fourteen million (in loans) going on this." Fie expressed great admiration for Reisini and his organizational brilliance. The Prudential money man felt that Cinerama may well revolutionize an industry that has been falling on declining days. As to the film, how it projects itself, the improve' ments of the process and the entertainment qualities of George Pal's "The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm," publication of all this will be held up a week or two because of the wishes of M-G-M. They wanted the trade press to wait until the 14 simultaneous premieres of the fairy tale is staged on August 8. After that we can deal with the review itself. Usually, with a mammoth blockbuster like this, some of our colleagues jump the official review date. The Denver newspapers gave themselves over (front page and all) to the event. The crowds, and they were everywhere, were impressed. Although this had the M-G-M-Cinerama label stamped on the multitudinous events,, this was a good will plus of excitement and drama (felt by the people) that is to the credit of the entire motion picture industry. and, it couldn't use all this at a better time than this. Nor could the film business make better use of this nature of movie-going good will than right now. Release Issue,., {Continued from Front Page) With this regular weekly issue of Harrison's Reports goes the semi-annual "pink" supplement, as we call this production number. It carries an index of what's been released since the first of the year; the blueprint of tilings to come, release-wise, for the next few months; and an idea of the short subjects that are still an important part of theatre operation. Things to Come, Look Good When we began compiling the material for this additional issue dealing with the features (and a few specials) to come, the productional setup looked "good" on paper. Which can be a prophetic reminder of how some of the films that failed to click at the box office in the six months gone by, also looked good on paper. Success in production today, is the guarantee that on the morrow, you'll be riding again the merry-goround of fate, and getting another chance at the brass ring. Every time a new picture gets under way, everybody connected with it is in high hopes that it will be a bellringer at the box office. We caught 104 releases since the first of the year (January-June). We passed up a few that didn't merit space. While the first page of the index speaks for itself, a breakdown of how the product rated with us, may be in order if only because of our severe critical approach to a film. Not carrying any advertising, Harrison's Reports doesn't find itself beholden, one whit, to any of the distributors. Being in the service of the exhibitor-subscriber, it is for his guidance, consideration and box office study that we pursue our carefully critical manner of reviewing the product. The reviews speak for themselves. In the six months gone by, we found no full reason to rate any film as EXCELLENT. But, 14 releases proved to be VERY GOOD, and so were their rating. To be sure, many of these VG's were not far away from the entertainment zenith of excellence. Thirty-four releases were rated GOOD. That should be considered quite an achievement, since a rating of good in a paper like this means that the profits for most theatres playing such films will be there, if the films were properly dealt with exploitation, publicity, advertising-wise. The releases lost ground somewhat in the FAIR category, 44 being thusly rated. The POOR pictures didn't reach beyond a dozen. It shows the product improvement progress that is being made, not only by our own producers but from the foreign releases, especially. Less than 25% of the films dealt with, in the accompanying semi-annual index were imports, 23 to be exact. The remainder, 81, were of American make. Several, on each side of the distribution fence, were hidden away until release day to find out that they came through as "sleepers," surprising even their distributors. As the past half year is now a matter of record, the remaining six months loom full of promise. There should be a good, steady flow of profitable product. Hollywood's production forces, as they spoke of things to come, told us in tones of profound sincerity that their supreme commitment is to make pictures that will make money at the box office. The number may not be increased, but the quality will find improvement all along the line. We have faith in the blueprint of promise.