Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1947)

MOTION PICTURE DAILY Accurate Concise and Impartial 61. NO. 22 NEW YORK, U. S. A., FRIDAY, JANUARY 31, 1947 TEN CENTS Labor Aid for Johnston Plan On UK Quota NATKE Favors Year's Delay, World Council London, Jan. 30. — The British Board of Trade should adopt the tuggestion made by Eric Johnston, president of the Motion Picture Association of America, that existing British quota legislation be continued for at least another year, T. J. O'Brien, M.P., general secretary of the National Association of Theatrical and Kine Employes, declared at a meeting of his organization's films studio section here today. To this statement, which came as a complete surprise, O'Brien added the opinion that Johnston's proposal for a World Film Council is "a great and statesmanlike ideal." O'Brien said he is "sick and tired {Continued on page 8) Allied May Confer With Justice Dep't; Wright to Va. Meet Washington, Jan. 30. — Robert L. Wright, special assistant to the Attorney-General, expects to confer here tomorrow or Saturday on the New York Federal court decree with members of the Allied States executive committee who are scheduled to call on him at the Justice Department. In addition, Wright will make an appearance on Monday at the convention here of the Virginia Motion Picture Theatres Association for an "offthe-record" discussion of the New York Federal Court decree in the industry anti-trust suit. At Allied States' meeting headquarters in the Statler Hotel, here, where the executive committee met infor {Continued on page 8) 125 Feature Imports in '47 A minimum of 125 and possibly ISO feature imports will reach here this year, in an effort already undertaken by U. S. distributors of foreign films to recapture the market lost during the war years when very few pictures were imported, Motion Picture Hermlld will say today. From all indications the distribution of these films is going to be highly competitive, with the large volume of product and few exhibition outlets, it was said. Executives directing their {Continued on page 8) MPTOA Urges Tax Contest in Senate St. Louis, Jan. 30. — Fred Wehrenberg, president of the Motion Picture Theatre Owners of America, today called upon exhibitors throughout the country to express their opposition to extension of the Federal wartime 20 per cent admission tax to their Senators in Washington, as the House bill continuing the excise taxes now goes to the Senate. Wehrenberg pointed out that the MPTOA board of directors, meeting here last week, adopted a resolution (Continued on page 8) 4,650 Film Theatres Operating in France Washington, Jan. 30. — The U. S. Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, here, reports from "reliable French sources" that there are approximately 4,650 commercial motion picture theaters in continental France. About 340 of these are in Paris and 450 in its nearby suburbs. As of Dec, 1946, there were in operation 1,100 permanent 16mm. theaters and 1,700 mobile theaters serving about 10,000 localities in France. Forum in Talking Stage Only: MPTOA St. Louis, Jan. 30. — Replying to the pessimistic report of Abram.F. Myers, Allied States chairman and general counsel, on the prospect of an effective exhibitor-distributor conciliation plan at this time, Fred Wehrenberg, president of the Motion Picture Owners of America, said today that only "preliminary work" on such a plan is contemplated now. Wehrenberg, author of the proposal for an industry forum to discuss and endeavor to remedy exhibitor-distributor problems, has invited representatives of national and regional exhibitor organizations to attend a meeting in New York on March 10-11, to consider the proposal. "The MPTOA board of directors," W ehrenberg said, "felt that a great deal of preliminary work could be ac {Continued on page 8) Enterprise Product Out of MPEA Areas 'The Late George Apley Enterprise Productions, headed by Charles Einfeld and David Loew, will withhold product from the 13 areas in which the Motion Picture Export Association operates under its foreign distribution agreement with Loew's International. Enterprise's initial five films, which figure in the pact, are to be handled {Continued on page 8) [20th Century-Fox] JOHN P. MARQUAND, literary prober of Boston and what makes it tick, wrote a Pulitzer Prize novel in "The Late George Apley." George S. Kaufman, playsmith, worked it over for a successful New York stage run. Thereafter, 20th Century-Fox snapped up film rights and now places on display a first-class job of transplanting from one medium to the other. In all departments, this, attraction reflects very substantial ski Its title performance, in the hands of Ronald Colman, surely is among his best efforts; no doubt, there will be those who will settle for nothing less than insistence it is his finest. But producer Fred Kohlmar and director Joseph L. Mankiewicz have gone considerably further. They have seen to it that the other principal roles — Edna Best as Mrs. Aplej Richard Ney as their son, Peggy Cummins as their daughter, Percy Waramm, Mildred Natwick, Richard Haydn (pleasantly to be remen bered as the pharmacist in "Cluny Brown"), Vanessa Brown and Charles Russell — as Well as the minor players, reflect dramatic accuracy and thai (Continued on page 9) Plan Move for Arbitration Continuance Exhibitor Sponsors to Seek Distributor Aid An exhibitor movement for voluntary continuance of the motion picture arbitration system, in line ' with a suggestion made by the New York Federal court in its final decree, will be launched in the near future, according to spokesmen for a widepread group of theatre men who favor the plan. Although the Independent Theatre Owners Association of New York is the only exhibitor group" so far pubicly on record as favoring continuance of the arbitration system, support is understood to have been obtained also from a number of other organizations, with proponents of the plan hoping to muster enough strength soon to make it a reality. When sufficient exhibi{Continned on page 8) Advance UN's Film Progra m The United Nations Film program gained impetus yesterday when .Gerald Mayer, director of the Motion Picture Association's international division, conferred with Jean BenoitLevy, UN film' chief, here, relative to the establishment of an American industry film advisory committee, while at the same time it was announced that Hans Burger has resigned as head of CBS Television's film department to become production supervisor for UN. With industry advisory groups al{Continued on page 8) Returns Heavy for 'Dimes', Says Jensen Although exhibitors were not requested to file their telegraphic returns on March of Dimes collections until the completion of the drive, telegrams have started pouring into the motion picture division .it the Hotel Astor, here. Yesterday, according to Kmil C. Jensen, director of the divi(Continued on page 8)