Motion Picture Daily (Jul-Sep 1952)

Wednesday, August 27, 1952 Motion Picture Daily 3 20th Will Release 40 Short Subjects in '53 Twentieth Century-Fox will release a total of 40 short subjects in 1953, it was announced here yesterday by Peter G. Levathes, short subjects sales manager. The line-up will consist of 26 new Terrytoons and four reissues, all in color by Technicolor; six Movietone sport reels; two Movietone specials (single reels); and two Lew Lehr reissues. Rachmil Says (Continued from page 1) That is why, he explained, the Guild has established an annual intercollegiate film award to be presented to the best student-produced film turned out by 69 colleges and universities. The winning student-producers could be recruited by Hollywood, he intimated. Rachmil, who himself received his early film producing education at Yale, is confident the awards plan will succeed in bringing new talent to Hollywood. His latest picture is G. B. Shaw's "Androcles and the Lion," produced in conjunction with Gabriel Pascal for RKO Radio. He termed it a picture that has "popular appeal" but which, nevertheless, qualifies for pre-pre-release and pre-release engagements before its general run. Rachmil will fly back to Hollywood next Tuesday. Reviews Johnston at TOA (Continued from page 1) RKO Radio Pictures; Barney Balaban, Paramount ; Harry Cohn, Columbia, and Steve Broidy, Allied Artists. Other leaders in the film industry who have been invited to attend are : Joseph R. Vogel, Harry Kalmine, Oscar A. Doob, John Murphy, Sol Schwartz, Albert Warner, Meyer Schine, Abe Montague, Charles Reagan, Alfred W. Schwalberg, Robert Mochrie, James R. Grainger, Al Lichtman, William J. Heineman, Charles Feldman and Benjamin Kalmenson. SAVE $ 48 ON EXCURSION FARES TO HAWAII! "The Crimson Pirate" (Warner Bros. — Norman Prod.) SHOWMEN have a solid, well-done adventure picture with plenty of exploitation angles on which to exercise their talents for promotion in "The Crimson Pirate." Burt Lancaster and his foil, Nick Cravat, keep the film, in color by Technicolor, spinning along at a fast and merry pace from beginning to end. As Lancaster himself announces at the start, the film is the story of the last cruise of the Crimson Pirate, wherein Lancaster in the title role gets involved in a war of rebellion on the part of a Caribbean people against their European king. It begins innocently when the pirate captures a king's ship whose only cargo is guns. Lancaster plans to sell these to the rebels and then make a double haul by selling the rebels to the king. Eva Bartok, lovely daughter of the rebel chief, however, appears to complicate his mercenary motives. The climax finds Lancaster and Cravat, sold out by their pirate crew, rescuing Miss Bartok from a fate worse than death and then winning back their pirate ship. The climax is a masterpiece of colorful action and special effects. Under the directon of a not-so-crack-pot scientist, James Hayter, the rebels build and use to good effect : repeating cannons, TNT, a balloon for high-level bombing and one of the world's first submarines. The film is perhaps a bit too long, but director Robert Siodmak has done an admirable job in keeping the action of the Roland Kibbee screenplay in hand. Lending good support to the star are Torin Thatcher as a mutinous but ethical pirate and Leslie Bradley as the chief enforcement officer of the king. Harold Hecht produced for Norman Productions. Running time, 104 minutes. General audience classification. Release date, September 27. ONLY $438 ROUND TRIP!* Luxury nights from California to Hawaii have been substantially reduced in fare during United's Excursion period of Oct. 1 to Dec. 10, 1952. 1st class comfort, service, meals. "Package" tours available, too. UNITED AIR LINES One of The Scheduled Airlines of the U. S. 80 E. 42nd St., call AAUrray Hill 2-7300. *From New York. Via Air Tourist to California. 1 6-day limit on Excursion tickets. Fares plus fed. tax. "The Rose Bowl Story" (Monogram) Hollywood, August 26 GOOD in any season but ideal for the rapidly approaching football season is this solid, entertaining story in which the annual Pasadena Rose Bowl classic figures, but not to the exclusion of the story line and the personalities involved in it. It's sensible, human and humorous — a bright, ticket selling attraction for exhibitors everywhere. Filmed in Cinecolor, it has Marshall Thompson in the role of an ambitious big-time grid star for a Midwestern college who comes to Pasadena for the New Year's Day classic. He dates a mink-coated girl who turns out to have borrowed the garb and to be the plain daughter of some working folks. Small, unsensational incidents much more like life than fiction lead to his realization that his money-ridden ideas about football and love were both wrong. To this mainline of story are appended subordinate threads that round out a completely satisfying whole. Thompson handles the top acting job with effective restraint, and Vera Miles, Natalie Wood, Keith Larsen and James Dobson supply convincing support. The gridiron teams are composed of some of the best professional and collegiate football players in the country, although they go unbilled, as do the teams they represent. That happy arrangement makes the attraction as appropriate for one part of the country as another. Richard Heerman produced for Walter Mirisch, executive producer, and William Beaudine gave it one of his finest directorial handlings. Charles R. Martin did the writing. Running time, 73 minutes. General audience classification. Release date, August 28. Arnall Returns to SIMPP Sept. 1 Ellis G. Arnall, who has been on leave from the presidency of the Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers during the past several months while serving as U. S. Price Stabilizer, is scheduled to return to his SIMPP post on Sept. 1, it was learned here yesterday. Arnall, a former governor of Georgia who also has a law practice in Atlanta, is expected to serve SIMPP in the future out of that city, with visits to New York and Hollywood as required. 'Encounter' Row (Continued, from page 1) "Secret People" (Lippert-Ealing) Hollytvood, Aug. 26 WATCHING this British-made melodrama is a little like working a crossword puzzle to which no one tells you until you're finished there's no answer. When the British go in for deep-dyed villainy and deeply-hidden motivation they go deep indeed, often, as in this instance, so deep that the bottom arrived at seems hardly to have warranted the digging. Specifically, the handicap the audience carries in its contemplation of the intricate and dastardly goings-on here is its lack of knowledge as to the identity of the sinister organization — referred to steadily and always as "the organization" — which goes to fantastic lengths to involve a couple of orphanned sisters in assassinations (assignations, too) and other illegal activities. The picture's prospects in the States aren't bright. In the screenplay by Thorold Dickinson and Wolfgang Wilhelm, Valentina Cortesa and Audrey Hepburn portray sisters, possibly Italian, maybe not, who come to London when an unidentified tyrant kills their father, evidently a liberalist leader, and in seven years (by 1937, that is) become naturalized citizens. About then a former sweetheart of the elder shows up, whereupon they renew what seems to have been a completely informal romance, which goes well until he ropes her into taking a bomb to a party which a confederate uses for an assassination attempt that kills the wrong victim. She confesses her complicity to Scotland Yard, her former pals try to kill her but fail, and the Yard fixes her up with a new identity which she wears until, finding her former lover trying again with her sister, she reveals her identity and gets killed by his pal, who happens to be standing by with a convenient knife. (If this sounds complicated — it should). The name of the producer is Sidney Cole, and the direction is by the Thorold Dickinson who collaborated on the script. Running time, 88 minutes. Adult audience classification'. Release date not set. bership in or loyalties to the Communist Party." Benjamin and William J. Heineman, UA distribution vice-president, said the distribution deal for the picture was made over a year ago. They were at a loss to state whether or not it would be possible for UA to withdraw from the contract in light of the hostility the film has aroused. Sent Letter to Wood In a letter to Congressman John W. Wood, chairman of the House Committee on Un-American Activities, Roy M. Brewer, chairman of the Hollywood Council, urged that the committee immediately initiate legislation banning the import of motion pictures such as "Encounter" is alleged to be. "Encounter" was described by Brewer in his letter as the work of four Americans who either are or were Communists or are refugees from House committee subpoena. Named in this connection are John Weber, Bernhard Vorhaus, Joseph Losey and Ben Barzman. Benjamin said UA executives have not yet viewed "Encounter." TRUE-TIMELY TERRIFIC! 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