The Independent Film Journal (1954)

Fox Boosts Use Of Video Bally Large use of television for long-range pro¬ motion has been initiated by 20th CenturyFox in a program designed to pre-sell CinemaScope productions months in advance of national release, it was announced this week by the company. The policy will be effected in three ways : filming of a variety of back¬ ground material on pictures while in pro¬ duction; filming of interviews with stars and other personalities connected with the pic¬ ture; great number of live appearances on TV by company personalities. The initial attraction to benefit from this promotion is “Untamed.” An eight-minute film clip containing unsqueezed footage of five highlight scenes from the picture is being offered free to exhibitors as a preview for video audiences. Another subject, “Zululand,” which describes the background of the South African location filming, also has been produced for local TV planting. Running time of the subject is five minutes. Spot Announcements Set Another segment of the new policy is the creation of six TV spot announcements, — three 60-second and three 20-second mes¬ sages, — on each picture, increasing by four the number of spots available to theatremen for video advertising campaigns. For “Violent Saturday” the company is preparing a set of 10 and 20 second teaser spot announcements containing unsqueezed footage from the picture, which opens na¬ tionally in April. “Soldier of Fortune” will receive promotion via a subject showing the star arriving in leading cities of the Far East. Another view of the Orient through the eyes of the Movietone newsreels cameras will be realized for “A Many Splendored Thing.” An eight-minute subject is being prepared on “Sir Walter Raleigh,” currently in pro¬ duction. The short will take TV viewers into the studio for a background tour of the sets and for glimpses of stars Bette Davis and Richard Todd. The picture will be released this July. Hal Roach Purchases Studio, Films, Rights Belonging To Father Hal Roach Jr. announced this week the outright purchase of all the assets of Hal Roach Studios. The transaction with his father, Hal E. Roach, covers the 18-acre production plant in Culver City, together with all rights to features, shorts, television productions, story materials and talent con¬ tracts. Deal has been in negotiation for about eight months and is understood to involve more than $10,000,000. Roach Jr. said that he would immediately consolidate his several television corporations into Hal Roach Enterprises, a wholly owned corporation, with himself as president. Other officers will be: Sidney S. Van Keuran, vicepresident and general manager; Charles Meacham, secretary -treasurer ; Emanuel H. Goldstein, vice-president and executive as¬ sistant to the president; Herbert Gelbspan, vice-president and Eastern sales head. Roach Sr. will continue to be represented in the company as consultant. "Doctor in the House" is in Technicolor and stars Dirk Bogarde Vera Ralston, Sterling Hayden and David Brian in "Timberjack" Top Republic Releasing Schedule Backed By Full Studio Activities Republic Pictures, going into full-swing production this month with five features and a serial before the cameras, will release at least seven banner attractions during the first half of 1955. The largest number of top -budget pictures ever released by the company in any one season will roll from Republic’s line-up this year. Company now has in release “Trouble in Store,” a British comedy starring Norman Wisdom and Margaret Rutherford, and “Carolina Cannonball,” starring Judy Canova. Latter film lists Sidney Picker as asso¬ ciate producer, Charles Lamont as director and Barry Shipman as screen play writer. Upcoming releases are keyed by “Doctor in the House,” top-grossing British picture for 1954, in Technicolor, featuring Dirk Bogarde, Muriel Pavlow, Kenneth More and Donald Sinden, and “Timberjack,” in Trucolor by Consolidated, starring Sterling Hayden, Vera Ralston, David Brian, Adolph Menjou, Hoagy Charmichael and Chill Wills. “Timberjack,” produced in Glacier Na¬ tional Park and Western Montana, is an ad¬ venture with music which Joe Kane directed from an Allen Rivkin screen play. Additional releases include “The Eternal Sea,” the story of Admiral John Hoskins, war hero, with Sterling Hayden, Alexis Smith and Dean Jagger in leading roles, and “Santa Fe Passage,” in Trucolor. “Passage” stars John Payne, Faith Domergue and Rod "Magic Fire" features Yvonne DeCarlo and Carlos Thompson Cameron. Sidney Picker was associate pro¬ ducer on this western action drama with William Witney directing from a screen play by Lillie Hayward. William Dieterle’s “Magic Fire” will round out the top presentations for Repub¬ lic during the first half of this year. Picture, in Trucolor, stars Yvonne DeCarlo, Carlos Thompson, Rita Gam, Valentina Cortesa, Alan Badel and Peter Cushing. Dieterle pro¬ duced and directed from a screen play based on the biography of Richard Wagner, com¬ poser. Story was filmed in Wagner’s native Bavaria. Among the features due to start produc¬ tion at the studio this month is Frank Lloyd’s “Texas Legionnaires.” Sterling Hay¬ den, Anna Maria Alberghetti, Richard Carl¬ son and J. Carrol Naish head the cast. Another entry is Ray Milland’s “The Gun¬ man.” Scheduled as the third film is “Lay That Rifle Down,” starring Miss Canova, with Charles Lamont directing and Sidney Picker as associate producer. “The Big Whisper,” a project of Virginia Van Upp, will roll in Germany and Rudy Ralston will serve as associate producer on a fifth and as yet untitled feature which Bud Spring¬ steen will direct. Franklin Adreon will be associate pro¬ ducer and director on “King of the Circus,” first of two serials Republic has in the works. ( Continued on page 22) Alexis Smith and Sterling Hayden in "The Eternal Sea" 18 THE INDEPENDENT FILM JOURNAL— March 5. 1955