Motion Picture Daily (Apr-Jun 1950)

LO Motion Picture Daily Wednesday, April 26, $48,000 Back Pa< For WB 'Collarites' Two-year, seven per cen pay raise contract about t be closed between IATS1 Motion Picture Home Offie Employes Local No. H-6 here and Warner, coy-van i 500 home office "white ( 1 id workers, will provide ^ fo' retroactive pay totallin $48,000, it was reported her yesterday by H-63 executiv vice-president Russell Moss. Retroactive to last Septem ber, the new wage agreemen will run to August 31, 1951. Vote to Kill Rawstock Tax Washington, April 25. — The House "Ways and Means Committee today tentatively voted to eliminate the 15 per cent tax on raw stock. The change, which would save film companies an estimated $15,000,000 a year, was proposed by Rep. King (D., Cal.). Last week, the committee voted to cut the tax to iy2 per cent, then changed its mind and cut it only to 10 per cent. That change would apply to all film. Today King proposed tax-free treatment for film of certain widths or length, tailor-made to take in only raw stock, and the committee agreed. The decision could be reversed later. Review "The Secret Fury" (Skirball-M aiming— RKO Radio) Hollywood, April 25 THE Jack H. Skirball-Bruce Manning thoroughness and attention to detail are in full display in this psychological melodrama beamed directly at the followers of this type of subject. By getting their picture off on a high comedy level reminiscent of their successes in that field, they achieve by force of contrast an augmented suspense and impact in the melodramatic main body of the story, which takes the audience into an asylum where ways and means of treating the mentally ill are shown in interesting and informative detail without impeding the plot development. With Claudette Colbert, Robert Ryan, Jane Cowl and Paul Kelly as names for the marquee, the attraction figures to draw the type of picturegoer for whom it is designed and to satisfy him fully. The script, by Lionel Houser, from a story by Jack R. Leonard and James O'Hanlon, opens on a society wedding with Miss Colbert and Ryan about to take their vows when a stranger in the assemblage shouts the charge that Miss Colbert recently married another man in an adjacent town. Although she denies it, and Ryan believes her, a check-back turns up legal proof of such a marriage, which is supported by testimony of the justice of the peace who performed the ceremony, by a maid at a hotel, and finally by the man she is shown to have wed. Although she cannot accept any of this as true, she knows she has had brief mental lapses, following a nervous breakdown, and cannot recall altogether clearly what she did on the day of the supposed wedding. When her supposed husband is killed, she is charged with the murder, and when she breaks down on trial her attorney pleads not guilty by reason of insanity and she is sent to an asylum, where she retreats into an imaginary world. Ryan, still unconvinced, finally unearths evidence tending to disprove that a wedding took place, catches the killer of the hotel maid, who in turn dies before he can be made to testify, but it is Miss Colbert who, escaping from the asylum, figures out who it was that framed the evidence of the wedding, confronts him with the charge, and is reunited with Ryan after an exciting finale in which the guilty party is killed. Direction is by Mel Ferrer. Running time, 85 minutes. General audience classification. Release date, not set. William R. Weaver British Pact Talks May 15 (Continued from page 1) Tax Vote (Continued from page 1) cent to 10 per cent was the mildest relief discussed at today's meeting. Other suggestions tossed around included complete repeal, repeal of the tax for tickets costing less than 21 cents and reduction to 10 per cent on tickets costing more than 21 cents, repeal of the tax on tickets costingless than 41 cents and reduction to 10 per cent on higher priced tickets, and repeal on tickets costing less than 75 cents and reduction to 10 per cent or leaving the tax unchanged on tickets costing more than 75 cents. Much of today's discussion centered on the likely revenue loss from the various proposals. Complete repeal would lose $395,000,000, Committee experts said, while repeal under 75 cents and reduction to 10 per cent over 75 cents would cost $313,000,000. The same deal with 41 cents the dividing line would cost about $250,000,000, they estimated. Members said there was no question some reduction would be made — that the only question is how much. Rep. Young (D., O.), who has been one of the outstanding leaders in the Committee in the fight for tax repeal, read members a letter from Frank W. Huss, Jr., head of Associated Theatres of Cincinnati. Huss wrote that at his two theatres last year he paid $24,000 in Federal and city admission taxes, but lost $1,000 on his year's operations. O'Donnell Out (Continued from page 1) America, the post now held by Sam Pinanski. It is understood that Karl Hoblitzelle, president of the Interstate Circuit of Texas and O'Donnell's partner, insisted that the Variety leader could not be the active head of two national organizations at the same time. The fact that O'Donnell today decided not to run suggests that some internal arrangement has been made to assure his election to the presidency of TOA, should he bid for the post. The: withdrawal leaves the race wide open to Marc Wolf of Indianapolis, and Jack Eerensin, of Philadelphia. Pre-convention electioneering here tonight was proceeding at fast and furious pace, with the final outcome very much in doubt. gates were mentioned in the announcement it was learned that James A. Mulvey, president of Samuel Goldwyn Prod., who aided Johnston in negotiating the present remittance agreement in London two years ago, has a reservation, with Arnall, to leave New York on the Queen Mary on May 9 for England. Johnston probably will leave for London by plane a few days after that as he plans to attend the Chicago meeting to organize the Council of Motion Picture Organizations on May 8, which may run into a second day. Obviously, however, he will not be here for the proposed May 15 hearing on Senator Edwin C. Johnson's bill to license motion picture people, if the hearing is held as scheduled. The MPAA announcement said the talks would be "about thestate of the Anglo-American film agreement." This indicates, MPAA officials said, that despite the shortness of time remaining, the industry still hopes to be able to stick to its original plan of having Johnston and Arnall sound out the British and then report back to the film companies. A full-scale bargaining committee, consisting of Johnston, Barney Balaban, Nicholas M. Schenck, Joseph Hazen, Spyros P. Skouras and Ned E. Depinet, for the MPAA, and Arnall, Mulvey and possibly others for the SIMPP, would return to London thereafter for the actual renegotiation of the agreement. However, trade circles surmised 57 Rated (Continued from page 1) by these groups to approximately one out of every eight motion pictures shown last year in the United States. An analysis of 22 published "best that if a quick agreement could be reached at the first meeting, Johnston and Arnall would be authorized to conclude the arrangements on the spot, thus eliminating the necessity for a more elaborate subsequent meeting. The present agreement calls for review_ before June 13, although basically it continues in effect for another two years. Should no agreement be reached by June 13, presumably existing provisions would continue in effect until negotiations could be concluded. The uncertain position and tenure of office of Britain's Labor government also color the picture. Should the Labor government fall on the coming test of the budget in Parliament, or on some subsequent test, new negotiators on the British end would be named. Thus new issues might be raised in the negotiations, some of which might be of time-consuming character. The remittance agreement now allows U. S. companies to take from the United Kingdom only $17,000,000 a year, plus an amount equal to the earnings of British films in the U. S. All other earnings in the U K must be used for producing films there or for certain other permitted activities, or must remain frozen. American companies hope to boost the $17,000,000 figure, but British Board of Trade president Harold Wilson has said he hopes to whittle the figure down. films" lists shows that 57 feature films — 48 of them American — achieved the critical distinction. The survey of the lists of outstanding pictures were made by Arthur DeBra, director of community relations of the Motion Picture Ass'n. Arbitration (Continued from page 1) Fox sale chief is regarded being in a position to gath added backing for the Rodge proposal. There is some possibility, how< that outright opposition to the pr sal will come from the ranks of! hibitor representatives at the Mmeeting for the organization COMPO in Chicago. Pointing to is the comment made here by T Allied president Harry A. Cole it seemed to be settled at the CON pre-organization meeting in Chii last fall that trade practice ma were_ to be excluded from CON activity. Cole, a leader in nati Allied, which will be represented the May 8 parley, is in New 1 with the Allied flat rentals comm for conferences with sales heads week. Hopes Idea Acceptable Rodgers, in making his recom dation on Monday, said he h COMPO could be organized so i embrace arbitration activity de: the original intention not to ind trade practices within its orbit, believes that at any rate CON eventually may have to concert self with trade practices. _ Theatre Owners of America's , sition on the Rodgers' proposal, w the Loew's executive said he will forth at the May 8 meeting, was determinable yesterday since key T$ officials were either out of towr"; otherwise unavailable for comn( Arbitration Hearin (Continued from page 1) clearances and availabilities in Bridgeport-Stratford, Conn., are{' Elmwood Theatre Corp. Fa, agreed to arbitrate the ElmV clearance action filed over a year in U. S. District Court in Com ticut, against five majors. The voluntary arbitration engaged in year between exhibitor and distttor, the case is regarded as un in that it may be the forerunne a number of arbitration cases ha; as arbitrators persons with a film dustry background. The following attorneys have I requested to attend the hearing: \ roe E. Stein, Elmwood; Stat Thompson, Loew's ; Harry Pirns RKO Radio ; Samuel Broverr: Paramount; Charles Young, 2; Fox ; Morris Ruffman, Warners, Herman M. Levy and Herbert MacDonald, representing interven