Motion Picture Daily (Apr-June 1956)

Motion Picture Daily Wednesday, April 4, 195 REVIEW: National Pre-SelUng Good-bye, My Lady Bat jac — Warner VAN GOGH's insatiable curiosity and his own world of light and burning colors are portrayed beautifully in a pictorial story and review of "Lust for Life" (the story of Van Gogh's career) which appears in the April 17 issue of "Look." Five Van Gogh paintings are reproduced in the article. The reproduction of Van Gogh's colors are superb. The full-color photos taken on the production sets of "Lust for Life" of Kirk Douglas, who plays the part of the artist, are also beautifully done. Four pages are devoted to this M-G-M picture. An eye-catching full-color ad on "Alexander the Great" appears in the April 2 issue of "Life." • Burt Lancaster, stare of "Trapeze," took his five children to Cirque d'Hiver, the circus in Paris, while "Trapeze" was being filmed. "McCall's" took advantage of the visit and has a pictorial story of the five Lancaster children in the April issue. They are shown romping with the clowns and being taught to use the circus equipment by their father, who was formerly a circus acrobat. • Rock Hudson of "Never Say Goodbye" and "Giant" was on the front cover of the March 25 issue of "American Weekly." The first installment of his life story appeared in the same issue and was continued in the April 1 edition. Production stills of "Never Say Goodbye" and "Giant" are used to illustrate the story. In the second installment Hudson says "Whatever success I've achieved as an actor I owe to Universal, a studio that has faith in young, raw talent and makes pros out of them." • Louis Berg, "This Week" film editor, has devoted a full page in the April 1 issue to Rossano Brazzi, star of "Summertime." Brazzi's next pictures being readied for release are "Loser Takes AH" and "The Story ol Esther Costello." To illustrate the article, Berg has used a number of photos showing Brazzi emoting with Glynis Johns, who is his co-star in "Loser Takes All." • "Anything Goes," "The Bold and the Brave" and "Meet Me in Las Vegas" receive laudatory reviews in the April issue of "Seventeen." • "Redbook" in the April issue devotes a two-page spread of photos of famous motion picture stars, taken at the "Redbook" party in Hollywood. The stars of "I'll Cry Tomorrow," "Meet Me in Las Vegas" and "Forbidden Planet" are among the ones which are spotlighted. WALTER HAAS Hollywood, April 3 This is a fine picture about a man and a boy and a dog. The man is played by Walter Brennan, the boy is played by Brandon de Wilde, and the dog is a Basenji, a circumstance of basic story importance. The setting is the Mississippi swamp country, the time is now, and the other principals in the small cast are Phil Harris, Sidney Poitier, William Hopper and Louise Beavers. It is a simple, straightforward picture, sound as a dollar from start to finish, with nothing big or special about it except the big and special fact that it is a William A. Wellman production. Under his faultless direction, a story that could have gone maudlin, or afield or in any one of a number of wrong directions, lays early hold on its audience and pays constant and mounting reward from there to the end. It is the kind of picture that, like "The Yearling" in its time, builds attendance as it plays. Given a properly campaigned opening, it figures to set some records for sustained runs. The screenplay by Sid Fleischman is a direct-line picturization of a novel of the same name by James Street. In it, young de Wilde, who lives with his uncle in a shack deep in the Pascagoula swamp, finds and adopts a dog such as nobody in the swamp country, where hunting is a main enterprise and hunting dogs are indispensable aides to man, has ever seen or heard of. It is a small dog, fleeter than a hound, fiercer in combat than local hog-dogs sent against it, and capable of pointing game at far greater distances than regular bird-dogs. It does not bark, but makes two vocal sounds— one a laugh, the other a cry— and it sheds tears when sad. The boy trains the foundling dog, whose hunting fame soon brings visitors from afar to witness her in action, and by the time the local store-keeper, played by Harris, learns from a "lost dog" ad in a magazine that the animal is a Basenji, with a reward offered for its return, the boy is so deeply attached to the dog that he despairs of returning it to its owner. In this part of the picture, the story takes a turn that ought not to be tipped off in anybody's synopsis, and shan't be in this one, save to the extent of saying it's not the expected turn but a better one. All performances are superb. Running time 91 minutes. General audience classification. For release in May. WILLIAM R. WEAVER Product Flow ( Continued from page 1 ) point calling for an orderly distribution of quality product," Hyman told of his opinion regarding the upcoming May and June period. He added that all of the distributors have agreed to the orderly-distribution plan. Goldenson and Hyman, in turn, urged, exhibitors to map advertising and exploitation campaigns for May and June "above and beyond the normal." Goldenson held out special praise for Paramount's handling of "The Scarlet Hour," which is to have its world premiere in Salt Lake City. He pointed out that Carol Ohmart, one of Paramount's new faces appearing in this picture, will make many personal appearances in conjunction with the premiere. Commented Goldenson: "I feel that personal appearances of this kind stimulate and lend impetus to the business in the areas where they take place. More important they are part of the 'new faces and talent' plan which I have urged for a long time. This together with a basis of proper roles and vehicles, are absolutely necessary if the 'new faces and talent,' we so vitally need in our industry, are to be fully developed." Regarding the aim of getting better publicity coverage for Hollywood 'Oklahoma' Abroad {Continued from page 1) all parts of the world, excluding the United States and Canada. "Oklahoma!" will be available in Todd-AO, CinemaScope and eventually standard size so that all people throughout the world will be able to see this musical, O'Shea explained. NBC Gets Re-Run TV Rights to 'Joan' Allied Artists' subsidiary, Interstate Television Corp., has leased to the National Broadcasting Co. the re-run rights to 98 "I Married Joan" TV shows, it was reported yesterday. NBC has scheduled the half-hour filmed show for presentation on Saturdays commencing May 5, at 10:30 to 11 A.M., and on Monday to Fridays, commencing on May 14, 5 to 5:30 P.M. (EDT). and theatres, Goldenson and Hyman reported that producers have been appraised of the information sought by local newspapers following the canvassing of "men in the field." Both Goldenson and Hyman, in conclusion, called for ceaseless effort until the entire ten-point program becomes a reality. Testimony (Continued from page 1) tion draft which has been submittei to the SSBC and who also is chair man of the legal committee of th< Motion Picture Association of Amer ica, reported that the conference witl the government attorneys was of i general nature and was on variou items which the distributors hav scheduled for testimony. "Nothing specific was discussed' not even the date when representa tives of distribution are to appear be' fore the Senate committee in Wash, ington," he said. The Universal officer said that Flynn and Noone, wh left here immediately after the conj ference for Washington, would repoi to the Senators on the committee, an* then a date for the distributors' an pearance before them would be set It was reported previously, followin the SSBC conclusion of exhibitor tes timony before the committee, that th distributors would appear before th Senate group sometime during th week of April 19. Silent on Schimel Meeting The SSBC counsellors, Flynn an Noone, refused to comment on th meeting with Schimel when quef tioned during a luncheon break i yesterday's conference. It was reported earlier that th SSBC conference with Schimel woul center on exhibitor-distributor prof lems, among them being pre-releas practices, the arbitration system, fill rentals, and film shortages. FlynJ earlier this week, said that he w< seeking any distributor informatio which would be helpful to the Sen< tors serving on the subcommittee. Carbery Renamed ( Continued from page 1 ) trict vice-presidents and the boarj chairman highlighted the organiz; tion's 37th annual convention whic ended here today. Others returned to office were Fre Brown of Ft. Smith as secretary treasurer; Nona White, of Little Rod executive secretary-treasurer; K. I King, of Searcy, chairman of tl board, and district vice-president First, Orris Collins of Paragould; se< ond, Bill Headstream of Batesvill third, E. W. Savage of Boonevill fourth, Charles Revely of Stephen and fifth, Roy Cochran of North L' tie Rock. Terry Axley of England was name sixth district vice-president, replacii Sidney Wharton. New directo named were James McWilliams Eldorado, Mildred Bomar of Litt Rock, Henry Haven of Forrest Cil and Adrian White of Pocahonta Carbery was appointed represent tive to the national TOA board directors while B. Busby of Litt Rock was elected legislative direct The two-day convention include addresses by Robert J. O'Donnell Dallas, general manager of the Int state Circuit Inc., on what to exp< in theatre operation, and William 1 Gehring, vice-president of 20th Ct tury-Fox, on what to expect fro producers during the coming year.