Kinematograph year book (1948)

550 The Kinematograph Year Book. Overseas Markets UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TO the Americans 1947 was a year of suspense. It opened with the industry trying to get copies of a decree which a three-judge federal court in New York handed down as the old \-ear closed. The decree is one which will, if and when enforced, cause a wide revision in sales practices. The year closed with the industry waiting to see what the highest judgment seat of the nation — the U.S. Supreme Court — would do about the appeals which both the distributor defendants and the Government have taken against the decree. The distributor defendants would set aside the regulations on sales and the like ; the Government would go one step forward and order the defendants to divest themselves of their theatre properties and retire from the field of exhibition. Ln-American Activities The year also closed with the industry under fire for permitting alleged " unAmericans *' to work within its ranks, with an attack by religious groups on some of its pictures, and with the three branches — production, distribution, exhibition — seeking through economies to offset in part the loss of important foreign markets. The foreign situation, a result of international dollar shortages, is probably the most serious. It is best illustrated by the British situation. It is obvious that the American industry must seek some solution to the problem of foreign markets because of the situation which has developed at home. Their management is faced with the problem of trying to keep profits at the high peak of war records and immediate post-war records. These million upon million returns were the result of a war condition when those at heme, with little that they could spend their money on due to rationing and shortages, went to the movies. It developed a period where a picture found lines at the box-office regardless of whether H were good or bad. Less Spending Money Today management is faced with the fact that audiences can use their spending money to buy radios, automobiles, etc., that the cost of living, which has risen enormously, gives them less spending money, and that the cost of production, distribution and exhibition, which have also risen, is eroding the high-profit peaks. While it has been repeatedly demonstrated that a good picture will do phenomenal business, a mediocre one will not. And coupled with this is the problem of inventory, a problem which ties in with the foreign market situation. All companies are carrying backlogs of pictures made during high costs in their vaults. It is this situation, coupled with the curtailment of foreign markets, which has led to the wave of economy within the American industry accompanied by discharges of employees. But beyond financial problems, the Amedcan industry has others which are also serious. The perennial effort to tamper with the movies, which seems to be particularly American, is at present making itself felt with opposition by religious organisations to certain pictures. Complaints against " The Outlaw " actually led to serious censorship complications in many localities. Politicians as a rule look upon censorship with favour since censor boards usually prove profitable in that the salaries of the censors and other operating costs seldom equal the amount of money collected for reviewing fees. Hence censorship can be an attractive extra form of revenue production for the State or the city. But these complaints against the films have had more serious repercussions. The M.P.A., faced with a rising tide of such complaints, the greatest in fact since the wave which started the Roman Catholic Legion of Decency going, has twice amended its advertising code. Recently it amended its production code so as to outlaw films based on actual criminal characters and to ban titles which are objectionable to the public through association witn objectionable subjects. Rising Costs Rising costs have resulted in higher operating expenses. Film companies are seeking more rentals and different methods of selling. The American Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers is seeking higher royalty fees from theatres for the performances of its members' music contained in pictures. Exhibitcr organisations to date are against these rises. They have in the main opposed advanced admissions for certain types of pictures but have got nowhere. The fact is that despite exhibitor unanimity on many subjects, the exhibitor does not present a united front. This. 5 best illustrated by the fact that there are two national exhibitor organisations in the United States — Allied States Association of Motion Picture Exhibitors ; and Theatre Owners of America, the latter was born this year from a merger of the American Theatres Association and the Motion Picture Theatre Owners of America. Allied, which believes that the solution to most problems lies through legislation and litigation, will not have any affiliated circuits in its ranks and admits only " independents." T.O.A. comprises both affiliated circuits and " independents " with an effort made to keep the control in the hands of the " indepeidents " by restrictions on the directorate. T.O.A.'s policy is more one of negotiation and study. The year also saw other developments. Distributing companies, for the most part, are releasing product more rapkky than they did in the past and are seeking quicker payoffs.