Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1947)

8 Motion Picture Daily Friday, January 31, 1947 UN Films (Continued from page 1) Johnston Plan ready set up in England, France Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Argentina and Peru, the American committee is expected to be named soon after Mayer reports to Eric Johnston, MPA president, on the outcome of yesterday's conference. Meanwhile, the United Nations Film Board has scheduled a meeting for March 18 at Lake Success, when representatives of the Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the Food and Agricultural Organization, the International Labor Organization, the World Health Organization, the Relief and Rehabilitation Administration and the International Monetary Fund will suggest topics for film productions designed to familiarize audiences with the problems in their respective fields facing peoples around the globe. In addition, two or three pictures will be made to describe the functions of the UN to date. No Propaganda Hoping that the UN films will be suitable for showing in regular commercial theatres, Benoit-Levy stresses that propaganda will be kept out of them. "We will state a problem," he said, "but always in an objective way, leaving it up to the people to make up their own minds." In addition to the UN's own productions, which will be made by established producers on a contract basis and financed, initially, out of the 1947 budget of $450,000 for "motion picture supplies and services," the organization will lend its support to any film adequately setting forth one of the ideas of the Atlantic Charter, BenoitLevy concluded. William Farr has been named by Benoit-Levy as his associate director in the film and visual information division of the UN's department of public information. He will have headquarters in Paris. Enterprise, MPEA (Continued front page 1) in those countries only in the event MPEA bows out of the scene and Loew's undertakes operations independently. A deadline of July, 1950, is set, and if by that time Loew's takes over on its own in any area it will distribute the five pictures at the rate of one a month. Otherwise the releasing rights will revert back to Enterprise. At the outset of its organization, MPEA declared it would cease operations presently when restricted territories are opened to competitive trade. New Negro Film in Work American News Productions, has started a new all-Negro feature, "HiDe-Ho," starring Cab Calloway, at the Filmcraft Studios in the Bronx. Josh Binney is director, Hall Seeger wrote the screenplay, and with Calloway in the cast are "Dusty" Fletcher, Ida James, Jennie Lee Con, George Wiltshire, the Peters Sisters and the Miller Brothers. 'Henry V* in Omaha Omaha, Jan. 30. — "Henry V" will open on Feb. 20 at R. D. Goldberg's Dundee Theatre, at $2.40 top admission. The engagement is the subject of much trade interest in this city where the regular top is 65 cents. (Continued from page 1) of the eternal disparagement of America and the continual clamor of rival interests in the British industry." Noting that seven branches of the industry already have submitted quota recommendations to the BOT, he claimed their views are dictated by sectional interests and are "hopelessly divergent." As published in Motion Picture Daily on Jan. 15, 22 and 29, the British Film Producers Association has proposed eliminating the distributors' quota and changing the present method of calculating exhibitors' quota requirements by footage to one wherein films would be counted numerically, while the Film Industry Employes Council seeks a government film-bank for stimulating production, plus a change in the quota laws to stipulate that four-fifths of the labor costs in British pictures be paid to British subjects. F. A. Prior, president of the Cinematograph Exhibitors Association, and W. R. Fuller, CEA secretary, have been critical of the BFPA proposals, finding them aimed at curtailing American film imports, which they described as "the essence of British exhibitors' livelihoods." Urges 'Breathing Space' Their views were echoed somewhat yesterday by O'Brien, who said : "Before we try putting America's house in order, let us put our own in proper shape. Let us have a breathing space to sit down and hammer out, not only among ourselves, but also with our American friends, what is best for the world industry." Referring to Johnston as "one of the 10 most intelligent persons in America," O'Brien declared : "The motion picture is now an integral part of a wider political field. Johnston looks upon it with a statesman's eyes. No sensible man wants domination. The film workers here believe Britain's films are as good as the world's best. We are all out for British production. We believe we can project to the entire world ideals of peace, prosperity and work for all, but that does not mean domination. Let us have collaboration, not only with the American inudstry but also with those in Russia, France and any other countries making films. Let us pool our efforts, imagination and ingenuity. Otherwise the ideals of peace and maximum entertainment will be impossible to realize," he concluded. O'Brien is known to be holding private parleys with American executives and proposes pressing his views in the House of Commons. His statement excited widespread comment here. Selznick to Produce 'Jenny' in New York Hollywood, Jan. 30. — David O. Selznick will produce "Portrait of Jenny" wholly in New York, starting Feb. 10, using facilities provided by Mayor William O'Dwyer. 17 French Films Here A program of 17 French-language pictures for American distribution is announced by Siritzky International Pictures Corp., which listed all with English titles, and all will have New York premieres, some at the Ambassador Theatre, operated by Siritzky. M. P. Forum (Continued from page 1) complished by exhibitor associations while awaiting U. S. Supreme Court decisions on appeals involving industry litigation. We sincerely hope that Mr. Myers and the Allied States board of directors will look at the proposed industry forum in the same light as we do. "In our opinion, the need for harmony in the industry is greater now than ever before. I do believe an industry forum will bring that about." Myers, in his report to the Allied board, to be made at a meeting in Washington tomorrow, contends that "the time is definitely not ripe" to initiate a plan for exhibitor-distributor collaboration. He recommends that the board of Allied consider the subject later, presumably after the Supreme Court has ruled on appeals in the New York, Griffith and Schine anti-trust suits. Dimes Returns Heavy (Continued from page 1) sion, brought in the largest number of telegrams to date, arid most returns show substantial increases over 1946. Jensen said that he did not expect to be able to announce names of the winners of the 40-odd prizes, until after Feb. 15 because of the detail in calculating the returns expected from more than 7,000 theatres. Auditors have already begun to compute the results in the two major contests. Letters received by Jensen and by Charles Reed Jones, national publicity manager of Jensen's division, indicate that the prize contest, the first of its kind for "Dimes" has resulted in numerous promotional stunts by exhibitors. One of the first exhibitors to report 1947 collections was Fred Good of the La-Nar Theatre, Lanark, 111. Officially, theatre collections for the drive ended last night, having started Jan. 24, but many theatres will continue to collect over the weekend. Tax Contest (Continued from page 1) urging members to request their Congressmen to remove theatre attendance from the classification of 'a luxury in their consideration of the new excise tax measure. "Theatre business is like any other essential enterprise," Wehrenberg said. "It is not a luxury and should not be so classified for tax purposes. We in Missouri already have so advised our Senators." MGM Sets Five Trade Screenings Five pictures are slated for tradeshows by M-G-M during February and March. "The Arnelo Affair" will be shown to exhibitors in all areas on Feb. 13, "It Happened in Brooklyn" and "Undercover Maisie" are slated for Feb. 28 showings and "High Barbaree" and "Cynthia's Secret" will be shown on March 11. Release dates have not been set on any of the five. 20th-Fox Tradeshows William J. Kupper, general sales manager of 20th Century-Fox, has set "Brasher Doubloon" for tradeshows in the various exchanges Feb. 4, 5 and 7. Allied Meet (Continued from page 1) mally today it was said that the matter of a conference with Wright had not been decided yet and would be left up to the board of directors which meets tomorrow. The executive committee met, with Jack Kirsch, Allied president, absent due to transportation difficulties occasioned by a blizzard in Chicago, his home city. Kirsch is, pected to arrive tomorrow. Others who will attend the board meeting include : Abram F. Myers, Nathan Yamins, Walter Mitchell, Ray Feeley, Arthur K. Howard, Leslie Bendslev, Ted Rosenblatt, Meyer Stanzler, Leonard Goldberg, M. Pouzzner, J. Rifkin, Maxwell Alderman, Edward Lachman, Irving Dollinger. E. Thornton Kelly, M. A. Rosenberg, Morris Finkel, Martin G. Smith, P. J. Wood, Leo Yassenoff, J. P. Uvick, Leo T. Jones, Trueman Rembusch, Ray Branch, Jack Stewart, F. J. McWilliams, Harry Perlewitz, Benny Berger, Stanley Kane, H. A. Cole, Charles Niles, Tim Evans, W. H. Holt and Floyd Rogers. Arbitration (Continued from page 1) tor participation in the system is guaranteed, the distributors will be approached for cooperation, according to the present blueprint of those sponsoring the idea. While the arbitration system in operation for the past six years is officially scheduled to go out of existence on March 1, effective date of the final decree handed down in New York Federal District Court last Dec.^ 31, the life of the current machinery' will be prolonged automatically for 30 days with the filing of an appeal of the suit to the Supreme Court. As of yesterday, no new complaints had been filed with any of the 22 arbitration boards since the decree was handed down. There are 32 old complaints pending with nine of the local tribunals, and two appeals are pending before the appeal board. There is a possibility that some of the exhibitors who plan to be in New York on March 10-11 in connection with the Motion Picture Forum discussion meeting called by Fred Wehrenberg, MPTOA president, may seize upon that opportunity to advance the voluntary arbitration idea. 125 Feature Imports (Continued from page 1) distribution point out that many of the pre-war "art" theatres were forced to change their policy during the war and devote a major portion of their exhibition time to the showing of American product or reissued foreign product. Some executives feel it will take considerable promotion to get these exhibitors to reconvert to a fulltime foreign film policy. Others, however, are more optimistic. They see an expanding and highly lucrative market as a result of the recent favorable reception to new foreign pictures. To Tradeshow 'Grass* . Tradeshowings have been set on M-G-M's "The Sea of Grass" in all exchange centers for Feb. 11. No definite release date has been set.