The Independent Film Journal (1954)

MGM Studios Humming; 27 Scheduled For Year DORE SCHARY a steady flow of Hollywood. — M-G-M will produce a mini¬ mum of 27 important motion pictures during the next twelve months, Dore Schary, studio head, announced this week. Eight pictures will go before the cameras within the next 60 days, continuing the accelerated production pace main¬ tained since April, during which time nine films were started, he disclosed. With a total of 52 story properties in completed script form or various stages of writing, M-G-M’s long-range pro¬ duction planning assures production, with the com¬ pany working two years ahead, Schary added. The most important attraction on the year’s schedule will be “Ben Hur,” set for Spring production. The company claims it will be the most costly picture M-G-M has ever filmed. Sam Zimbalist will produce and Karl Tunberg wrote the screen play. Among the group of projects for filming, it was pointed out, are stage plays and best¬ sellers or potential best-seller novels acquired by the studio in recent years. Stage plays include “Tea and Sympathy” and “The Tea House of the August Moon,” while a third, “The Tender Trap,” is scheduled for fall opening in New York. Among recently purchased novels are “Mary Anne,” “The Cobweb,” “The Female,” “Bhowani Junction,” “Charlemagne,” “Black¬ board Jungle,” “Digby,” and “The Power and the Prize.” In addition M-G-M’s pro¬ gram includes such classics as “Quentin Durward,” “Green Mansions” and “In Missouri,” Huckleberry Finn.” Eight Before Cameras based on Mark Twain’s First of the eight pictures scheduled for the two months’ period is “Bad Day at Black Rock,” starring Spencer Tracy and Robert Ryan, which starts filming at the studio next week, after two weeks on location. Schary produces with John Sturges directing. The others are “The Prodigal,” in Cinema¬ scope with Lana Turner and Edmund Purdom, produced by Charles Schnee, directed by Richard Thorpe and written by Maurice Zimm; “Hit the Deck,” starring Jane Powell, Tonv Martin, Walter Pidgeon, Vic Damone and Debbie Reynolds, produced by Joe Pas¬ ternak, directed by Roy Rowland, with music by Vincent Youmans. “Moonfleet,” starring Stewart Granger, Viveca Lindfors, George Sanders and Joan Greenwood, produced by John Houseman, directed by Fritz Lang, screen play by Jan Lustig; “Interrupted Melody,” starring Eleanor Parker and Glenn Ford, produced by Jack Cummings, directed by Curtis Bern¬ hardt. “It’s Always Fair Weather,” starring Gene Kelly and Dolores Gray, produced by Arthur Freed, directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, written by Betty Comden and Adolph Green; “Paris Story,” starring Anne Baxter and Steve Forrest, produced by Henry Berman and directed by Mitchell Leisen. “Love Me Or Leave Me,” the story of Ruth Etting, starring Doris Day and James Cag¬ ney, produced by Pasternak, directed by Charles Vidor, written by Isobel Lennart. Of the nine pictures started since April two are still shooting. They are: “Jupiter’s Darling,” starring Esther Williams and How¬ ard Keel, produced by George Wells with George Sidney directing and “The Glass Slipper,” starring Leslie Caron, Michael Wilding and the Roland Petit Ballets de Paris, produced by Edwin H. Knopf. Pictures slated to follow the eight set for almost immediate start are “The Cobweb,” starring Robert Taylor and Grace Kelly, produced by Houseman; “My Most Intimate Friend,” starring Lana Turner and Ava Gardner, produced by Wells; “The Scarlet Coat,” starring Cornel Wilde and Michael Wilding, produced by Nicholas Nayfack and directed by Sturges. “Blackboard Jungle,” produced by Pandro S. Berman, from the best-seller by Evans Hunter, written and directed by Richard Brooks; “Jeremy Rodock,” starring Spencer Tracy, produced by Sam Zimbalist, screen play by Sydney Boehm; “The Long Day,” starring Grace Kelly, produced by Knopf. “Mail Order Bride,” starring Robert Taylor, produced by Arthur Loew, Jr., screen play by Millard Kaufman; “Diane,” pro¬ duced by Knopf, story by John E'rskine, screen play by Christopher Isherwood ; “Highland Fling,” starring Spencer Tracy, produced by Lawrence Weingarten, based on the novel “Digby” and “The Tea House of the August Moon.” “St. Louis Woman,” based on the stage musical with music by Harold Arlen and lyrics by Johnny Mercer, produced by (Contvrmed on page 30) Gotham Theatres Greet Tax Injunction Signing The signing of a temporary injunction in Queens by Supreme Court Judge Nicholas M. Pette was effected at press time. The injunction is in conformity with Judge Pette’s original ruling that patrons of New York City theatres do not have to pay admission taxes amounting to more than five percent, which is the city’s legal limit under the state enabling act. Expectations are, however, that the plaintiff theatres and other theatres in New York City will continue to collect the full tax, as de¬ creed by city comptroller pending a final de¬ cision which will be handed down some time after the trial, which has been set for Sept. 13. The controversy between the theatres and the city stems from the charge of the four circuit theatres involved in the suit that un¬ der the city tax law they are required to col¬ lect more than the legal five percent limit in some cases. Judge Pette agreed with the theatres in a July decision. The theatres at the trial in September will seek to declare the city’s tax measure as un¬ constitutional and invalid in its entirety. The industry is also awaiting the findings of the Temporary Commission of the Fiscal Affairs of the State, appointed by Governor Thomas E. Dewev. It is the hope of the theatres that this commission wifi recommend repeal of the state enabling act bv the state legislature. 10 EXHI-B1TS Cinerama At World Fair The Department of State and the U.S. In¬ formation Agency have announced that ar¬ rangements have been concluded with S. H. Fabian, president of Stanley Warner Cine¬ rama Corp., for the showing of “This Is Cinerama” as part of the official representa¬ tion of' the U.S. Government at the Inter¬ national Trade Fair, to be held in Damascus, Syria, from Sept. 2 to Oct. I. This Near East showing will be the first overseas presentation of the new process. Two Man Booth Hit Boston. — Otis Whitney, Commissioner of Public Safety, will propose a new set of regulations regarding the number of men that must be employed in the operation of projection booths in Massachusetts theatres at a public hearing set for Aug. 18 in the State House. In the meantime, exhibitors will not be required to comply with Whitney’s order that two men must be employed in each booth. Independent Exhibitors, Inc., has been seeking an injunction against this order and has received an extension of time during which the order can be ignored. The dispute has been the subject of litigation for more than two years. NLRB: " Theatres Local" Washington. — The National Labor Re¬ lations Board has ruled that it has no juris¬ diction in the labor dispute between IATSE and Southside Theatres and Fanchon & Marco, involving eight Los Angeles Thea¬ tres. The NLRB upheld its trial examiner, William E. Spencer, who found that the theatres are substantially local businesses despite the fact that Fanchon & Marco en¬ gages in interstate operations ; therefore, the National Labor Relations Act cannot apply. Police Urge Censorship Hartford. — Connecticut police executives, through their statewide organization, the Connecticut State Police Association, have approved a resolution urging passage by the State Legislature of establishment of a State Board of Censors to pass upon motion pictures, plays, literature and comic books. Under present circumstances, each communi¬ ty much make a decision in individual cases with the result that what is banned in one town may be authorized in a nearby com¬ munity. Loew's Gets Stay Washington. — Loew’s will receive a sixmonth extension in divestiture time covering the remaining eight theatres out of 25 re¬ quired to be divested, according to Justice Department sources. Loew’s originally was given until Feb. 6, 1954. This was extended until Aug-ust 6, and the latest extension will run until Feb. 6, 1955. Sunday Movies Vote Lumberton, N. C. — One vote spelled de¬ feat for the attempt of local theatre owners to lift the city’s ban on Sunday motion pic¬ tures. In a referendum called by the City Council, 679 residents voted to continue the ban, while 678 voted to end it. THE INDEPENDENT FILM JOURNAL — August 7. 1954