Motion Picture Daily (Apr-June 1956)

( Continued from page 1 ) Robert Coyne, COMPO special coun "j sel, has left for Washington on tax matters in the wake of Congress' reconvening following the Easter recess. j ' The decision to support the King bill in favor of other tax measures 11 Jwas forecast in the March 14 issue of | Motion Picture Daily. Wednesday, April 11. 1956 Motion Picture Daily King's Bill O'Donnell Sends Letter Robert J. O'Donnell, national chairnan of COMPO's tax campaign comnittee, in a letter being sent with the eprint of the bill, said: "Since the $1 exemption applies to ill admissions, we believe the bill is air to motion picture theatres chargng higher admissions. In addition to hat, the exemption should enlist the upport of legitimate theatres, sports nterests and other enterprises that ;ia\ e admission charges over a dollar. Will Seek Hearings "We intend to urge the House pays and Means Committee to hold ^Hearings on this measure as soon as >oss;ble and to pass it on without day for consideration by the full louse. "Accordingly, we urge that you /rite your Congressman at once, asklg him to support H.R. 8975 and to ^rge his colleagues on the House | Mays and Means Committee to sup .6jort it Seven Wonders' ( Continued from page 1 ) dnment world, lending a festive :mcsphere to the event. Representatives of many of the 42 mntries that were visited during the :ar-long Cinerama photographic ex;dition around the world attended, eluding the Ambassador from Bra1, Joao Carlos Muniz; Ambassador 3m Egypt, Dr. Ahmed Hussein; mbassador from Saudi Arabia, leikh Abdullah Al Khayyal, and nbassador from Venezuela, Dr. 2sar Gonzales. Among the high-ranking persones invited were Gen. James H. solittle, Gen. Albert C. Wedemever, ;n. David Sarnoff, Brig. Gen. John •ed Kilpatrick, as well as Loy Henrson, Deputy Under-Secretary for ■j -[ministration, and Judge Charles E. urphy. Also Billy Graham, Dr. >rman Vincent Peale, Mrs. Thomas Dewey, Adam Gimbel, C. V. Whity, Grover Whalen, James A. Farley, in Gunther, Mr. and Mrs. Bruce j uld and Lady Nancy Astor. Hollywood Represented Vlany Broadway and Hollywood ■sonalities will be present. Teleion stars Nanette Fabray, Jayne and drey Meadows, Maggi McNellis, inert Cerf, Bud Collyer, Ed and {een Fitzgerald and John Cameron ayze will attend. Hollywood reparatives expected are Mr. and Mrs. i Gage (Esther Williams), Mr. and i: Alfred N. Steele (Joan Crawm, Patricia Neal, Linda Darnell, n Ewell and Denise Darcel. THE SWAN (CONTINUED FROM PAGE I cipals. Complementing Miss Kelly among the latter are the inimitable Alec Guinness, the personable Louis Jourdan, the indomitable but never too regal Agnes Moorehead and Jessie Royce Landis, and the always effective Brian Aherne. CinemaSeope and Eastman color not only do justice to, but also embellish an abundance of tasteful, interesting' and luxuriously designed and furnished sets, and focus a glamorous spotlight on gowns and other feminine raiment that will draw ohhhs and ahhhs from distaff members of audiences everywhere. And Charles Vidor's direction at all times makes the very most of all the splendid talents, raiment and objets d'art at his command to weave an effective speli of completely enchanting make-believe for nigh on to two hours. Gentlemen of exhibition, you have an honest-to-goodness show at your disposal. John Dighton's screen play of the Ferenc Molnar stage play of the same title is full of quiet charm and the dignity of simplicity of plot, amusing and likable characterizations, diverting incident, captivating dialogue and well-paced movement. In short, it's superb entertainment. Miss Kelly is the charming but cool and unawakened princess whose father has likened her to the swan. Her mother, Miss Landis, is anxious to make a royal match for her daughter with Alec Guinness's debonair prince. After much trying, she succeeds in getting the prince to visit her household for the obvious but not spelled out purpose of looking over the royal daughter. The result is a complete indifference for each other on the part of both prince and princess. But mother is not content to let matters rest. With the idea of stirring the prince's interest by awakening his jealousy, she arranges to have her daughter invite Jourdan, cultural instructor to the children of the royal household, to the ball in the prince's honor. Piqued by Guinness's continued disinterest, Miss Kelly leaves the ball accompanied by Jourdan and in a drive into the night she realizes she loves the instructor. Back at the palace she makes clear her feelings, for the first time arousing the concern of the prince. It then becomes his task to convince her that a princess would be unhappy endeavoring to be a good wife to a poor man in a small village, like a swan out of water. This Guinness succeeds in doing, but only after he has received a sizable assist from Jourdan, who feels he was more pitied than loved by his princess. All performances are excellent, but Miss Kelly stands out even more than in her earlier pictures. Her talent rings as true in this as does her fresh beauty, so distinctively displayed in Helen Rose's costumes. Worthy of commendation also is the art direction of Cedric Gibbons and Randall Duell, the set decorations of Edwin B. Willis and Henry Grace, and the photographic direction of Joseph Ruttenberg and Robert Surtees. "The Swan" is not only a class production, it is a superior and satisfying entertainment for the whole family, anywhere. Even stronger adjectives are needed to describe its box office power. Running time, 112 minutes. General classification. Release in April. SHERWIX KANE McEldowney ( Continued from page 1 ) independent producer, aside from Mike Todd and Rodgers and Hammerstein, to use the wide-screen medium. McEldowney said here yesterday that he planned to make three pictures in the next two years and that he had reactivated Oriental International Films which had produced "The River." Building UnderWater Camera The Todd-AO company, he said, was dev eloping an under-water camera to be used for filming "The Pearl King." a story by Robert Eunson, Associated Press Bureau chief in Tokyo. Before starting on "The Pearl King," McEldowney will complete a partially finished production in India. "Khedda." Metzger, Inventor of Film Devices, Dies OTTAWA, April 10. Morris M. Metzger, 70, superintendent of the film laboratory for Associated Screen News for over 27 vears and known throughout Canada for his motion picture technical inv entions, died in Montreal after a lengthy illness. He was credited with having invented the turret lens, automatic splicing machines and machines for developing or printing motion picture films. Margolin a V-P Irving N. Margolin has been elected vice-president and member of the board of directors of Cinerama Productions, Inc. Margolin remains treasurer of the companv. RKO Circuit Eyes Drive-ins Consideration of the purchase of drive-in theatres is reported in the 1955 fiscal report issued yesterday to company stockholders by RKO Theatres Corp. Noting that 83 theatres in the nation are operated by the circuit, the board reported that consideration has been given to the acquisition of several drive-ins during the past year and that the circuit is in a position to purchase additional theatres with the approval of the Federal Court. The board reported a net working capital of S8,547,000, as against $8,143,100 a year ago. Net Income Rises Adjusted net income for last vear before special items was $1,950,200, as contrasted with SI, 933,500 for 1954. Net income last year after special items totaled $1,772,500, compared with $1,059,300 for the corresponding 1954 period. The firm, in a preliminary press report in February, erroneously reported 1955 net income was almost $26,000 above the 81,950,200 figure. Salemson Named to Continental Post Continental Distributing, Inc., has added to its home office staff Harold J. Salemson as sales promotion manager, it was announced by Frank Kassler, president. Salemson's functions will consist of supervising the launching of campaigns on all future Continental releases and coordinating the company's advertising, publicity and exploitation with its sales program. Salemson formerly was assistant to the executive vice-president of IFE Italian Films Export (USA), Inc., after several years as head of his own producers' sales and publicity representation office. 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