Motion Picture Daily (Oct-Dec 1955)

■ 6 Motion Picture Daily SCTOA View wens*, (Continued from page 1) Picture Theatres Association and the Independent Theatre Owners Association ot New York. The SCTOA board felt that the draft as it now stands will not accomplish what it was intended to accomplish. Arthur said. It will simply stymie any possible arbitration plan of the future, he added. Arthur said he agreed to a large extent with Abram F. Myers, general counsel of Allied States Association, who said this week that the exclusion in the draft of a definition of clearance and the allowance for two pre-releases a year by each company were detrimental to independent exhibitors. Allied has taken no action on the draft and, although it did not participate in its preparation, the drafting committee "left the door open" tor Allied's active entry. Myers stated that the subject of arbitration would be an important issue for discussion at Allied's forthcoming annual con\ ention in Chicago. Prefers One Organization "If the various drafting committees can't do better than this in more than five years of trying, it's time all the exhibitor associations got together," .\rthur said. "There's only one way that a real arbitration plan can be created and that is to have one big organization to represent all exhibitors. I don't mean that Allied, TOA, MMPTA and ITOA could be welded into a merged association right away, but there could be a working arrangement whereby exhibitors could speak as one voice at the top level." In effect, Arthur continued, conciliation already is in effect. If a large buying group can't get together on terms with a distributor, there often is an adjustment on a conciliation basis, he said. But the little fellow usually is left out, he said. Sees Sales Policies As Key "It's the over-all sales policies of die companies that should be arbitrable," Arthur said. "A change in sales policy is the secret to the whole thing." Asked if he would present his views at the Allied convention, Arthur said that he probably would not be in Chicago at the time, but added, "then again I might." To date, the distributors have not acted on the latest arbitration draft. 'Diamond Jubilee' (Continued from page \ ) independent advertising promotion specialist, Under the project, which would be run under the auspices of COM PC) with financing to come from within the industry, 60 pictures would be s< lected and released at a regular rate to theatres. The exhibition of these films, each picture being the hest of the year in which it was produced, would be tied in with special promotion events, among them bring tie-ups with the diamondjewelry business. Each picture also would be labeled a "diamond jubilee motion picture." All That Heaven Allows Universal-International Here is a woman's picture that should register solid grosses at the boxoffice. While the feminine appeal is emphasized heavily, men should like it, too. Its story theme, although not a novel one, is on the plus side, dealing as it does with the loneliness and plight of a young widow in her search for happiness in a small New England town whose social standards are rigidly conventional. "All That Heaven Allows" is handsomely mounted. In a print by Technicolor, the exterior shots and the interior settings are so beautifully photographed that they point up the action of the story with telling effect. Jane Wyman portrays the still young and still attractive widow with sincerity and understanding. As the wealthy and socially prominent mother of two teen-agers in college, she falls in love with a man who has two strikes against him: he is younger and, being her gardener, doesn't "belong." Her fight for independence fizzles out when her children create a storm of protest and when her friends stingingly snub her and her sweetheart at a cocktail party. She nurses her heartbreak long enough to see that life's ironies sometimes drive home lessons more poignant than small-town snobbery. Co-star Rock Hudson is the he-man hero and he plays the role smoothly, if not enthusiastically. Unimpressed by the "what people will say" attitude, he fights the indignities with a minimum of rancor. The story-telling is on a level of good taste throughout so that while the widow's problem is limelighted, the authors have given it no more than surface treatment. However, it is probable that many women who have had similar problems dumped in their laps will find a number of self-identifying situations. Giving excellent support are Agnes Moorehead, Conrad Nagel, Virginia Grey, Gloria Talbot, William Reynolds and others. Produced byRoss Hunter, directed by Douglas Sirk, the screenplay by Peg Fenwick was based on a story by Edna L. Lee and Harry Lee. Running time, 89 minutes. General classification. For release in January. AL STEEN RKO 3rd Quarter (Continued from page 1) curring loss items, the net income was $1,473,722 for the 1955 period as compared with a net income of $1,625,010 in 1954. The special non-recurring loss item in 1955 of $462,712 included a loss of $500,000 in connection with the cancellation of a lease and a profit of $37,288 from the disposal of a theatre property; and in 1954 a loss of $127,141 from the disposal of theatre properties, resulting in net reductions of Federal income taxes of $275,000 in 1955 and of $42,000 in 1954, which otherwise would have been payable on net income. 20th to Unveil (Continued from page 1) be the first demonstration of 20thFox's new process. Skouras' address will be before a joint luncheon meeting and equipment showmanship clinic, sponsored by Allied, TESMA, Theatre Equipment Dealers Association, and the International Popcorn Association, all participating in the convention. The sound development to be announced, according to the TESMA announcement, will feature high quality and low installation cost to theatres. German Says (Continued from page 1) foreign market are weighed before the studios make a tinting decision. Color prints increase the cost per picture substantially, he pointed out. In addition, he stated, there are definite plant limitations at the moment as to the number of prints which can be readily processed for color. On the other hand, in the foreign market, German went on, color has a definite pull. Tracing the rise of color photography since its commercial introduction in the 1920's, German said the use of color in motion pictures appears to have reached maximum utilization in 1954-55 and, although it still remains very, very high, black and white photography now is probably staging a comeback. He compared the 10 feature films made in 1937 to the color bonanza of 1954, when over 60 per cent of all Hollywood productions were released in color. He said his information for the current calendar year indicates that roughly 60 per cent of production will be in color. Office Here for Rogers Hoy Rogers Enterprises has opened a New York office in the Empire State Bldg. with Conrad Krebs supervising. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR To the Editor: Upon my arrival at my office this morning I found a copy of Motion Picture Daily of Wednesday, October 19, headlined: "Marcus Doubts Federal Legislation Best Solution to Current Problems." When a group of exhibitors were discussing present day problems at a gathering at Columbia Reception for screen star Betty Garrett, I expressed the fact that possibly Federal Legislation may not be the best possible solution to our problems. However, there was no other alternative left to us exhibitors but to request some type of Federal help because distribution did not see fit to solve our problems among us. Had your representative printed my entire statement, it would have been fine, but he took a sentence out of context and high-lighted the fact that I doubt whether Federal Legislation will solve our problems. I am still of the opinion that if distribution would be willing to sit down with exhibition and recognize the existing problems, or even if they would follow through with the promises made to the joint committee of Allied and T.O.A. last summer, many of these hardships would be alleviated and these problems solved.— BEN MARCUS, Milwaukee, Wis. UK Commercial TV ( Continued from page 1 ) programs there as they do in this country. Currently, he explained, the government only allows the sponsor to buy time as an advertiser buys newspaper space, disallowing the sponsor or advertiser any control of the program preceding or following the advertisement. This can lead to pitfalls, Dryhurst stated, conjecturing how a British automobile manufacturer might feel if a comedy featuring broken down cars, preceded the advertiser's message. He indicated that the change may come after an appraisal by British advertisers on the effectiveness of the current practices. Regency Pictures will produce TV commercials, industry documentaries and TV program pictures, as well as theatrical films, he stated. The company recently acquired the Grand, at Brighton, and is converting it into studio facilities, which, said Dryhurst are sorely needed in Britain Dryhurst, at the same time, announced that David Bader, vice-president of Atlantic Television Corp. will be the personal representative of Regency in the U. S.