Motion Picture Daily (Jul-Sep 1951)

Motion Picture Daily Tuesday, August 21, 1951 N. Y. Grosses (Continued from page 1) The house reopened Aug. 14 after having" been shuttered since mid-June. Off' about $15,000 but still going strong is "Show Boat," together with a Russell Markert stage production, at Radio City Music Hall. With $83,000 registered between last Thursday and Sunday night, the Music Hall is due for about $136,000 for the fifth week, following a fourth week's take of around $150,000. "Force of Arms" opened smartly at the Warner, with $30,000 recorded for the first week, when ended last night. First stanza for "Iron Man" is expected to give Loew's State a very sturdy $32,000. A favorable $25,000 is indicated for the first week of "The Law and the Lady" at the Capitol where "A Place in the Sun" will bow in on Aug. 28. Still going strong at the Criterion is Walt Disney's "Alice in Wonderland" where the fourth week looks like a robust $32,000. Another gilt-edged performer is "That's My Boy" which, together with a stage bill topped by The Modernaires, is giving the Paramount a dandy $63,000 in a third stanza. First Two Weeks After each of the first two weeks brought grosses in excess of $18,000, "Oliver Twist" has sagged somewhat, but is still good, at the Park Avenue, with around $15,400 chalked up for the third week. At the Victoria, "Bright Victory" dipped from $22,000 in the second week to $14,000 in the third, but the latter figure is regarded as satisfactory. "Jim Thorpe — All American" is scheduled to replace "Happy Go Lovely" at the Astor on Friday. Latter picture is due to finish with a slow $11,000 for the fourth and final week, plus two days. At the Trans-Lux 52nd Street, "Kind Lady" has dropped to $11,000 for the second week after racking up $15,800 for the first. "Secret of Convict Lake" is expected to give the Globe a modest $12,500 for the third week, while at the Mayfair, "No Questions Asked," which will be replaced tomorrow by "My Outlaw Brother," registered an unimpressive $8,000 for the final six days of a 13-day run. A satisfactory $7,000 is seen for the second week of "Tomorrow Is Another Day" at the Holiday. "Tales of Hoffman" still is doing okay in its 20th week at the Bijou, with $10,500 indicated. The off-Broadway Sutton, which will open "The Medium" on Sept. 5, got a satisfactory $5,000 in the 21st week of "Kon-Tiki." $12,000 for 'Sun' Hollywood, Aug. 20. — Openinglast Wednesday at regular prices at ..the Fine Arts Theatre, Paramount's "A Place in the Sun" tonight had surpassed the theatre's first-week record, with an indicated $12,000 in sight for the initial seven days. The previous top week was $9,485, chalked up by "Cvrano de Bergerac." Reviews Backlog Helps (Continued from page 1) that first class first run theatres here lack the capacity to play Mexican pictures in the proportion and for ' the time the law demands. He stressed that foreign pictures are preferred by these theatres because they are the best money makers. "Bitter Springs" (Ealing Studios — Bell Pictures) A PRETTY interestingly-produced feature, well done, is this Australianmade subject from Ealing Studios "down-under," directed with care by Ralph Smart who also wrote the original story, the screenplay for which was written by W. P. Lipscomb and N. Danischewsky. It is a Michael Balcon production. While this tale of pioneering sheep-raisers in Australia is somewhat akin to the stories of our own rugged Western pioneers, there is a pleasant difference in the scenery which is quite novel. The Australian pioneers and their women folk of "Bitter Springs" meet, and eventually overcome, unfriendly terrain, hostile weather and resentful savages before they achieve the richer life afforded by the sparsely populated area of the Australian hinterlands. Chips Rafferty moves inland with his family to claim a large tract of land granted to him by the government. Accompanying the group as hired hands are the droll Tommy Trinder and sober Gordon Jackson. When the party finally reaches their land, they discover it has only one water hole, the property of a local tribe of aborigines. Rafferty is belligerent toward the natives, and when they kill one of his sheep for food, he drives them off the land. They leave with Trinder and his son as hostages. The aborigines return to the water hole and take possession. Rafferty's son has been killed and the family is dying of thirst when Trinder, who has managed to escape, comes to the rescue with Australian troopers, who swoop down upon the natives, much in the manner of the U. S. Cavalry arriving in the nick of time. Rafferty has learned a lesson. He realizes he must live in peace with the natives and the natives are permitted to stay and become absorbed into the economy of the ranch. There is a modest romance between Jackson and Nonnie Piper, Rafferty's daughter, which also comes to a successful termination. Others in the cast are Jean Blue, Nonnie Piper, Charles Tingwell, Nicky Yardley, Michael Pate and Henry Murdoch. Running time, 73 minutes. General audience classification. Release date, Oct. 1. "The Highwayman" (Allied Artists) Hollywood, Aug. 20 DEVOTEES of colorful period piece featuring romance and swordplay will be well-satisfied with "The Highwayman," an excellent pictorial representation of the classic Alfred Noyes poem. Rich in the actional ingredients of its kind as the most exacting lover of romantic adventure could wish it to be, it is also a fully rounded, firmly told and dramatically important story, faithful to its origin and free of the expedient claptrap so often foisted upon audiences under cover of flashing blades and plot convenience. The film is a work of integrity as well as of entertainment, of mental as well as physical heroics, and the impact is intensified by this circumstance. The attraction figures to build attendance as the news of its innate merit spreads. The Cinecolor camera portrays admirably the England of George II, whose American colonies are being exploited by his unscrupulous noblemen, headed by Charles Coburn and Victor Jory. Philip Friend portrays in stimulating fashion an honest nobleman who, posing as a highwayman, undertakes to thwart the efforts of his fellow courtiers to perpetuate the existing arrangement under which debtors are sent to the colonies under sentence as slave labor. Wanda Hendrix is charming as the tavern lass who aids him, finally giving her life to assure his safety, and Virginia Huston is effective as his former sweetheart, now married to the villainous Jory by imperial command. Performances throughout are top grade. Jan Jeffries' script is a trim job, blending potent dialogue with clearly authenticated action, and the direction by Lesley Selander is among that veteran's best. It is a Jack Dietz production, produced by Hal E. Chester, wtih Bernard W. Burton as associate, and its commercial success appears guaranteed by its quality. Running time, 83 minutes. General audience classification. Release date, Aug. 21. No Place for Jennifer (Stratford Pictures) AN often touching story of insecure childhood touched off by divorce, has been virtually spoiled for American audiences by very British accents and a glut of localisms. This British importation, although lacking the subtlety or excitement of some British films, may yet be appreciated by art house patrons. The film also provides a vehicle for a capable young actress, Janette Scott, the Jennifer of the picture. Leo Genn and Beatrice Campbell, Miss Scott's parents, agree to and get a divorce, and begin the destruction of their daughter. She, muddled by divided loyalties, is temporarily happy with her father ; but then is upset by his courtship and marriage to a teacher, Rosamund John. She does not want another "mummy." Virtually kidnapped by her mother, she. finds again only temporary security. A court scene, in which father and mother battle for her possession, snaps her poise ; she runs away, far away, to a childhood corner of safety, an attic room in the home, of old friends of her parents. The escapade sobers her parents, who agree to leave her with these old friends, in whose place she really has a home. An Associated British-Pathe film, from a screenplay by J. Lee Thompson, this is based on the novel, "No Differences to Me," by Phyllis Hambledon, produced by Hamilton G. Inglis, and directed by Henry Cass. Others in the cast include Guy Middleton, Megs Jenkins, Philip Ray and Jean Cadell. Running time, 89 minutes. General audience classification. Theatre TV (Continued from page 1) spurt once the present negotiations looking for the handling of sales and distribution of the TV equipment by theatre supply dealers are completed. National Theatre Supply has already taken three or four orders for General Precision Laboratories' new instantaneous TV projector, even though the machine will not be officially unveiled until next month. Though 20th Century-Fox created a i stir by acquiring the CBS color television rights for its Swiss Eidophor system and 20th-Fox has promised a demonstration at an early date, it is not expected that Eidophor will be available to theatres for some months. Under terms of the 20th-Fox deal with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology at Zurich, it is a year before the deadline when Eidophor is to be ready in perfected form. The original deal called for a projector capable of picking up and screening color tele ' casts. This phase was advanced last week by 20th-Fox's deal for General Electric to manufacture full-color, high-definition studio television equipment. Another theatre TV system still in the offing is Skiatron Electronics' "Theatre-Vision," scheduled for demonstration this fall. 'Complacency' Hit In DuPont Report A financial report concluding that "many of the industry's ills probably stem from the shortcomings of managements which had been lulled into complacency by the lush war years," is being circulated among managers of the Jamestown Amusement Co., Inc., E. C. Grainger, president of the Shea circuit, the parent company of. the Jamestown Amusement Co., announced here yesterday. The report, titled "Let's Look at the Movies," was prepared by the research department of Francis I. duPont & Co., financial house here. The condensation, circulated among the managers, states "as the longstanding television-motion picture controversy progresses, the pattern which seems to be emerging is one of amalgamation rather than the death of one and the rise of the other." It also points out that "more recently, theatre attendance has begun to show slight signs of improvement and . . . .It would now appear these two strange bedfellows, the motion picture and television industries, are joining efforts rather than going their separate ways. Accordingly, the time could be rapidly approaching when the market will take cognizance of the new alliance and the improved sales and earnings outlook for motion picture companies." Copyright Protection For Authors in Bill Washington, Aug... 20. — A House Judiciary sub-committee today reported a bill to give authors, poets and magazine writers the same copyright protection now received by composers and dramatists, by prohibiting the use of their works on radio, television or recordings for profit without the consent of the author.