Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1957)

4 Motion Picture Daily Tuesday, March 26, 195' REVIEW: The River's Edge Bogeaus — 20 thFox — CinemaScope Hollywood, March 25 Equipped with a trio of marquee personalities equal to carrying just about any tvpe of picture in general demand— Ray Milland, Anthony Quinn, Debra Paget— this Benedict Bogeaus production for 20th-Fox comes to market with the additional assets of CinemaScope and DeLuxe color in its commercial favor. It is directed by the experienced Allan Dwan from a screenplay by Harold Jacob Smith and James Leicester, based on a story by the former, and it is melodrama, neither pure nor simple. It has some surprises in it, and some disappointments, but figures to bear out the promise of its billing in most areas. The story winds up at a river's edge, but is a long time getting there. It begins in a desert community north of the Mexican border, with Milland, a genteel crook with a liking for murder, calling at the ranch house of Quinn, a basically honest cow man who is honeymooning with a girl who has married him to escape return to a jail from which she has been paroled. Milland wants to obtain Quinn's services as guide to take him into Mexico without border inspection, and to persuade the girl (Miss Paget) to rejoin him in a criminal career they have shared with varying success in the past. Quinn declines to take the job, but allows Milland to take his wife to the nearest town, and then, on making sure that Milland is her former accomplice, follows them. Meanwhile Milland and the wife have started back to the ranch, and when they are stopped by a police officer Milland murders him to prevent discovery of $1,000,000 in currency in the car trunk. In a little while, by a mixture of motivations too complex to svnopsize, the three are off on foot to Mexico, each man hating the other, with subsequent events providing a series of suspenseful sequences that terminate in death for Milland and apparent acceptance by Quinn and Miss Fabray of a future set to begin after some jail sentences are served. There is considerable candor in the presentation of the relationships and the dialogue and action throughout. Running time, 87 minutes. Adult classification. Release, in March. William R. Weaver Oil Drilling Deals Broke 'Non-Agression Pacts' From THE DAILY Bureau : HOLLYWOOD, March 25 Last week's circulation of news about the Union Oil Company's arranging with Columbia, Paramount and RKO to drill for oil under the three shoulderto-shoulder studios broke one of the longest-kept non-aggression pacts in Los Angeles history. Ever since orange groves throve along Santa Monica, Gower, Van Ness and Melrose Avenues, these three neighbors and one other have agreed that no one of them would exploit the oil below unilaterally. The fourth party is Hollywood Memorial Cemetery, last resting place of Rudolph Valentino and scores more of the illustrious dead whose long sleep will not be broken— pray Union Oil— by the round-the-clock grind of the drill. Academy to Present Foreign film Officials HOLLYWOOD, March 25 The Academy of MotionPicture Arts and Sciences will presen,! visiting Danish, French, German!, Italian and Japanese representatives of five foreignlanguage; films nominated for an Academy Award at a press conference at the Academy Theatre Wednesday morning. The visitors were flown to Hollywood for presentation ceremonies Wednesday evening. Funeral Services Held For Abraham Leff, 64 Funeral services were held here yesterday at Riverside Memorial Chapel for Abraham Leff, 64, president of the Five Boro Theatre Circuit, Inc., New York City circuit. He died Saturday in Miami, Fla. of a heart ailment. For forty years Leff was owner of the Star Theatre in the Bronx. Surviving are his wife, two daughters and a son. Report 'Allison* Strong "Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison" continues to surpass "Anastasia" and "The King and I" in its first engagements, according to figures compiled by 20th Century-Fox. The Roxy Theatre here garnered $70,000 for the first three days of the second week following a $110,000 opening stanza. Comparable business is reported from Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Omaha, Pittsburgh, Buffalo and Atlanta. Malibu Prods. Formed HOLLYWOOD, March 25-J'ames H. Nicholson -and Samuel Arkoff, president and -vice-president, respectively, of American International Pictures, have announced the formation of Malibu Productions, independent producing company, to make four exploitation pictures for 1957 . Oklahoma City (.Continued from page 1) city of 300,000 people, the company has announced. Video has been granted a permit by the city council to install coaxial cable and Other facilities for telemovies operations here. Henry S. Griffing, Video president, advised the city council his company is offering the exhibitors a financial interest in proportion to their present business. Griffing said Video will reserve 25 per cent of the financial investment for its TM subsidiary, The Vumore Co., and will manage the operation. The other 75 per cent of the telemovie organization will be available to exhibitor-partners. Video will receive ■Sjper.v cent of the gross revenue as a buying-booking-administration fee. Plan Seen as 'First' Oklahoma City is believed to be the first city of its size to grant a telemovie permit, and the joint financing plan will be another "first" on such a scale. Until the Oklahoma City permit was granted, TM franchises in Oklahoma had been limited to muchsmaller localities. Video's pilot telemovie operation, at Bartlesville, Okla., a city of 28,000, will get under way within a few months. MPAA Group ( Continued from page ] ) tion of New York, some time ago filed a request with the advertisingpublicity group seeking company partipation in the staging of a New York Film Month. He suggested that the month of August be so designated and that the companies arrange to stage as many motion picture premieres as possible during that period to attract tourists and the public to theatres and New York, which at that time, would be holding its summer festival. The advertising-publicity group discussed this request at an earlier meeting and referred it over for discussion at a later date. J. L. Saxe Dies; Was a Founder of Detroit Tent DETROIT, March 25 Funeral services were held here Saturday for J. L. Saxe, 67, one of the original founders of Variety Club Tent Number Five, who died after a short illness. Before coming to Detroit he was in distribution in Minneapolis. In the industry for 37 years, he had retired several years ago. He had been Monogram franchise holder for the state of Michigan. Saxe is survived by his wife, two brothers and three sisters. Blizzard Hits Theatres In Denver Territory Special to THE DAILY DENVER, March 25-Seven thea ' tres closed and some drive-ins failecf to open Sunday night, some frorr lack of film not delivered because o! the blizzard in this area or because of the severity of the weather. One I drive-in reopening was delayed a few] days. Storm was worst the territory) has suffered in many years. C.C.Moskowitz (Continued from page 1) familiarize him with his tasks. Of course I would do anything you wish to make the transition successful. "Loew's, like many motion picture companies, has recently had its difficulties, but that does not dim the fact that from the tiny company II joined as a bookkeeper in 1913, it I has grown to be one of the great: corporations with vast holdings all over the world. It has been an influence for better motion pictures as well as for the American message which no other company has equalled." Pays High Tribute to Vogel Moskowitz has served under various regimes from that of Marcus Loew to the recently elected Vogel. Commenting on this current regime, he said, "I am happy that the reins of the company are in your sure hands. From my heart I share the industry's appreciation of the high qualities of Joe Vogel as an executive and as a human being." Vogel, in accepting the retirement wrote Moskowitz, "Everyone has a high regard for your executive ability and your storehouse of knowledge which has been given devotedly. The years run by and while we still think of ourselves as youngsters and only notice the gray hairs on the other fellow, the word 'retirement' hits us between the eyes. But it is part of wisdom, I suppose, not to let even good habits, like work, enslave us and we should take some leisure while we still are vigorous enough to enjoy it. Fortunately you are that vigorous and your decision is wise. We all wish you a long life with good health and happiness." Vogel said yesterday that no successor to Moskowitz has been appointed. Find 35 Per Cent ( Continued from page 1 ) the attraction which they went to see. Robbins, referring to a copy of the Sindlinger survey, pointed out that thus, for every $1,000 the average exhibitor grossed from adults during a 19-week period, $352 came from persons who were directly influenced by the coming attraction trailer. Robbins said that this "is most impressive. Particularly since the average daily cost of a trailer is less than the price of an admission ticket."