Motion Picture Daily (Jul-Sep 1951)

Wednesday, July 11, 1951 Motion Picture Daily 5 NPA Plans (Continued from page 1) mann following a meeting with the agency's construction industry advisory committee. The idea is for a complete changeover in the construction control order, scrapping the present M-4 regulation and replacing it with a new order putting construction projects on a basis similar to manufactured items under the Controlled Materials Plan. This means that approved projects would not only get a green light to go ahead, but would also get government allocations of steel, aluminum and copper for the building. NPA officials said that under the new order, to be issued within the week, all types of building on list "A" of the M-4 order, including indoor and drive-in theatres, would remain banned. However, there would be the same provision for appeal in hardship cases, and if the appeals were approved, the exhibitor would get allocations of steel, aluminum and copper. There would be a flat exemption from the order for any project — new, alteration, repair, installation — that would not use less than two tons of steel, 200 pounds of copper and 100 pounds of aluminum in any quarter. This exemption would replace the present $5,000 annual construction exemption and probably also the present $2,000 annual exemption for installing personal property, though this latter point was not clear. Para. Int'l Workers Ask Strike Approval Richard F. Walsh, IATSE international president, is studying a request by Motion Picture Home Office Employes Local No. H-63 to call a strike of "white collar" workers at Paramount International here. The local is seeking a 10 per cent pay increase plus automatic cost-ofliving bonuses to be determined every six months under a two-year pact. The company rejected this proposal and submitted an offer of $4 per week pay raise. At that point the Paramount International workers voted to request strike permission. UA Swiss Post Goes To Leon A. Favre Leon A. Favre has been named United Artists manager in Switzerland, succeeding Constantin Goldin, resigned, it was announced here by Al Lowe, general manager of U.A.'s foreign department. Favre has been in sales and publicity with 20th Century-Fox in the territory. ABPC Details (Continued from page 1) over £1,000,000 ($2,800,000) during the past fiscal year. Current assets exceed liabilities by £123,560, compared with the previous year's deficiency of £100,762. The reserve fund has been increased to £4,000,000, double the nominal value of the ordinary stock. Financial quarters agree that operating results would justify an increased dividend but concur in management's decision not to take such action at this time in view of the continued necessity trj improve the company's liquid Reviews 9> Never Trust a Gambler (Columbia) DANE CLARK starts out as an object of sympathy but soon proves himself a worthless killer in "Never Trust A Gambler." The picture develops along lines common to most melodramas, but its action is continuous so that interest is sustained throughout. The cast is a competent one. Cathy O'Donnell portrays Clark's estranged, school-teaching wife and Tom Drake and Jeff Corey are the persistent detectives. As the story opens, Clark is in flight from the police who want him as a material witness. Clark justifies his elusiveness with the claim that his testimony might convict an innocent man of murder. Even though separated from Clark, Miss O'Donnell still loves him and allows him to hide out in her apartment. One day an inebriated detective gets fresh with Miss O'Donnell, whereupon Clark comes bouncing out of a rear rdom to defend her. In the scuffle that ensues the detective is killed. This marks the beginning of Clark's undoing, but it is as it should be, since it emerges that he was the actual killer in the previous murder. What follows is an intense flight from the police. Miss O'Donnell at first goes along with Clark because of devotion. Then learning of his previous crime, she rebels but is forced to remain with Clark through threats and violence. Good detective work finally hems Clark in. The finale pits him against the police in a shipyard battle with giant steel girders serving as the backdrop. A fall sends Clark to his death, and thus the way is paved for a new romantic future for Miss O'Donnell with Drake. Louis B. Appleton, Jr., and Monty Shaff produced and Ralph Murphy directed, from a screenplay by Jesse L. Lasky, Jr. and Jerome Odium. Running time, 79 minutes. General audience classification. For August release. Mandel Herbstman Savage Drums (Lippert) BEHIND the routine melodramatics used as a springboard for Sabu, there is an aspect to this picture which may earn it a greater popularity than its professional merits would suggest. The screenplay, by Fenton Earnshaw, concerns a treaty offered to a small island kingdom off the South China coast by the United States, a pact offering economic aid and promising military assistance if required, and the means by which an Asiatic Communist power (not explicitly identified) undertakes to thwart acceptance of the treaty. In part because of the film's intrinsic slowness and the lack of technical polish, the basic issues are spelled out in such extended detail that even the most backward of the peoples to whose attention the picture may one day come cannot help but understand them. This long-range value may be the picture's best asset. Sabu plays the island king, who gives up a career as an American boxer to assume the throne after his brother is murdered. His is the only name with marquee strength. On his return to his people he discovers that his cousin, who has reigned for a brief interim period, leads the faction opposing the treaty. Sid Melton and Bob Easton, Americans who have returned with him, figure in a snarled skein of intrigue and violence, including an invasion by the aggressive power, which gets unravelled in time for an allout battle after which the king is restored to power and the treaty is signed. William Berke produced and directed, and Murray Lerner was executive producer. Running time, 70 minutes. General audience classification. Release date, not set. "The Big Gusher" (Columbia) THE pattern of "The Big Gusher," produced by Wallace MacDonald and directed by Lew Landers, is as old as the hills, but, nevertheless, it does have entertainment value, thanks, mostly, to its capable cast, led by Wayne Morris, Preston Foster and Dorothy Patrick, and including, for support, Paul E. Burns, Emmett Vogan, Eddie Parker and Fred F. Sears. Special attention is due to Mischa Bakaleinikoff for his splendid musical direction. Daniel Ullman's screenplay, adapted from Harold Greene's story, has Morris and Preston, two veteran oil drillers go into business on their own. Foster, a two-drink-limit man, is tricked into buying a deed for what is apparently a worthless tract while he is drunk. The trickster is Dorothy Patrick. Paul E. Burns, an old-timer who finds oil with a divining rod, claims the property contains oil and persuades the boys to work it. Miss Patrick cuts herself in as a partner after getting Preston drunk a second time, and the quartet goes to work. They have only 60 days in which to strike oil. Everything happens in the last five minutes of the 60th day. The gusher comes through, the villain is foiled and Preston goes into a clinch with Miss Patrick, who had reformed midway in the picture. The picture has some exciting highlights, notably a dramatic oil field fire which Morris and Foster defy in Martian-like asbestos suits. Running time, 68 minutes. General audience classification. July release. resources, as well as the uncertain outlook created by the impending increase in the entertainment tax and new demands for wage increases in the industry. In a statement to stockholders, Sir Philip Warter confirms the downward trend in theatre attendance, particu larly in the London area, but claims that this is being offset by rigorous control of expenditures and increased sales of refreshments in theatres. Warter affirms the belief that the extension of the Eady Plan will go a long way toward fostering a stable production industry here.