Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1947)

FIRST IN FILM NEWS MOTION PICTURE DAILY [6u. e NEW YORK, U.S.A., MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1947 TEN CENTS Increase in Short Rentals Is Stalemated 25 to 33%% Rise Is Only Moderately Successful The reported moderate success attending distributors' efforts to secure higher rentals on their one and two reelers, appears unlikely to grow beyond that point; at least fof some time, according to a crosssection check of both exhibitor and distributor opinion. Said to be seeking from 25 to 33 1/3 per cent above rentals charged before the war, because (Continued on page 10) 20th-Fox Will Meet Feb. 17 E. K. Storage Space To Be Doubled; Rise In Production Seen Twentieth Century-Fox will hold its first post-war national sales conference at the Hotel Astor in New York on Feb. 17-19, it was announced over the weekend by Tom Connors, vice-president in charge of distribution. Discussions will cover new sales procedures and other problems affecting the distribution of the company's (Continued on page 7) Columbia Notice of Appeal Is Deferred Columbia's decree decision appeal notice to the U. S. Supreme Court, originally slated to be made last week, has been put off by Louis Frohlich, Columbia counsel, due to the pressure of other cases which required his immediate attention, Frohlich states. He said he now hopes to file this week, adding that the motions for certain changes in the decree pending in the New York Federal Court have no bearing on the action. He explained that Columbia had asked for stays on the bidding and single sales provisions, and an appeal on these two counts will be taken regardless of the decision on the stays. In anticipation of "greatly increased" raw stock orders to meet the needs of anticipated increased production, storage space for Eastman Kodak film in Hollywood will be approximate1 y doubled through the buildinsr or acquisition of new facilities within the next two or three years, according to William J. German, president of Jules Brulatour, Inc., exclusive distributors of Eastman motion picture film. German returned last week from (Continued on page 10) William J. German MGM Sales Heads in Chicago Meet Today Chicago, Feb. 2. — An assortment of sales matters will be taken up at the M-G-M division managers meeting today and tomorrow at the Drake Hotel, Chicago. William F. Rodgers, vice-president and general sales man (Continued on page 10) 'Dimes' Deadline Is Set Back Five Days Final date for filing telegraphic reports of collections in the March of Dimes contest has been extended from Feb. 5 to Feb. 10, Emil C. Jenson, director of the motion picture division, reports. The date has been extended to permit the participation in the contest of some exhibitors who were obliged, because of local circumstances, to begin their week of collections after the specified starting date of Jan. 24. Mexican Grosses Are Still Running High Theatre attendance in Mexico has displayed no sign of tapering-off from their wartime highs, Luis Mantes, president of the Mexican Motion Picture Chamber of Commerce, said here Friday at a farewell luncheon given by Fox West Coast. Mantes then left for Mexico City following a week here on the invitation of Charles Skouras-. American pictures, which grossed less than Mexican product in Mexico during the war, due to their accentuation of war themes, have climbed back into favor since then, Mantes said, and now gross on a par with domestic films. Admission prices, which compare directly to American scales, have remained unchanged since the end of the war. Allied Board Votes High Court Appeal Myers' Amicus Curiae Recommendation Taken 'It Happened on 5th Avenue 9 [ MonogramAllied Artists ] Hollywood, Feb. 2 ROY DEL RUTH, whose long and successful career speaks for itself, produced and directed this initial Allied Artists production — a warmly human picture with wide appeal. It clearly commands preferred playing time. Del Ruth selected a story of the same generic type as "You Can't Take It With You," and "It's a Wonderful Life," and gave it lavish production values, and talents of cast including such capable players as Don Defore, Ann Harding, Charles Ruggles, Victor Moore and Gale Storm. The result is more than satisfactory entertainment, as evidenced by the reaction of the preview audience at Warners Beverly Hills Theatre. Everett Freeman's screenplay, based on original by Herbert Clyde Lewis and Frederick Stephani, opens in the New York mansion of a magnate who prefers to winter in the South. A tramp, familiar with the owner's habits, moves into the boarded-up mansion soon after the magnate departs. He settles down for a pleasant stay, wearing the millionaire's clothes, eating his food and drinking his wine, undetected behind the shuttered windows. His solitude is shattered when he befriends a young war veteran who has been evicted from an apartment house owned by the same absentee landlord. (Continued on page 7) Washington, Feb. 2.— The midwinter meeting of Allied States' board on Friday voted to have the organization appear before the U. S. Supreme Court as amicus curiae when the industry antitrust suit reaches that jurisdiction from the lower court. Acting on a recommendation made by Abram F. Mye r s, Allied counsel, the board of directors agreed to let the executive committee serve as advisors to the counsel, with discretionary power to confer (Continued on page 10) Abram F. Myers Film Accuracy Needed: Price Los Angeles, Feb. 2. — Private enterprise in the fields of motion pictures and newspapers is in jeopardy and will remain so to the extent that American distributors and news services "may fail to present a representative sample of American life," Byron Price, Hollywood vice-president of the Motion Picture Association, declared in an address before the Harvard Clubs of Southern California here, at the weekend. Noting that the alleged distortion of American life is used as an argu (Continued on page 10) In This Issue In addition to the review of "It Happened on Fifth Avenue" which begins on this page, this issue contains reviews of "The Red House" and "Easy Come, Easy Go" — on page 7.