Motion Picture Daily (Oct-Dec 1960)

J Inesday, November 30, 1960 Motion Picture Daily REVIEW: 1 ( Continued from page 1 ) mm rights to which are owned by Em Gems. The U-I group is the !8I of the Universal library not yet l ed to the television market, j )th Hyams and Robert Seidelman, | -president in charge of syndica 1 said the contract represented 2 largest single deal ever made by | en Gems but refused to name a I e other than to say that the reveI for the post1948 pictures would I "substantially greater" than that I the earlier pictures. I Offered over 3-Year Period Dhe pictures, to be released over a m-e year period, will be exposed to In 25% to 35% of the total televi II audience, they estimated. The Where The Boys Are Euterpe — Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer CinemaScope CBS stations are WCBS-TV, York; WCAU-TV, Philadelphia; IBM-TV, Chicago, KNXT, Los reles, and KMOX-TV, St. Louis. Lazarus said that it would be Coibia's policy to utilize "every last nue of theatrical revenue through ;sues" before the pictures are tied over to Screen Gems for teleon release. This would apply also, said, to the remaining 200 of the jroximately 400 pictures now in post1948 library. Produced from 1948-1955 The group of 200 Columbia pices in the block to be leased to CBS .re produced mainly between 1948 d 1955 and includes such titles as: 11 the King's Men," starring Broder; Crawford; "Born Yesterday," starWilliam Holden and ^ Judy )Tliday; "The Caine Mutiny," starig Humphrey Bogart and Van hnson; "Death of a Salesman," irring Fredric March; "The Solid )ld Cadillac," starring Judy Holli.y and Paul Douglas; "The Last urrah," starring Spencer Tracy; :10 to Yuma," starring Glenn ord; "Jeanne Eagles," starring Kim ,bvak, and "Phffft," starring Judy olliday and Jack Lemmon. j Also in the group are some of anley Kramer's post-'48 productions, ich as "The Wild One," with Marn Brando; "The Four Poster," with ex Harrison; "The Juggler," with tirk Douglas; "The Happy Time," Hth Charles Boyer. Several of Rita iayworth's pictures, such as "Same" and "Miss Sadie Thompson," hd several of Humphrey Bogart's, inluding "Knock on Any Door," Tokyo Joe" and "Sirocco," are also lcluded in the post-'48 group. Some Pre-1948 The remainder of the pictures in •he group are pre-1948 Universal,nternational releases, including "The igg and I," starring Fred MacMurlay and Claudette Colbert (1947 ); Family Honeymoon," with Miss Oolbert and MacMurray (1948); 'Criss Cross," starring Burt Lancaster 1948); "Shadow of a Doubt," staring Joseph Cotton and Teresa Wright (1942), and "Kiss the Blood Off My Hands," starring Lancaster Und Joan Fontaine (1948). When college boy meets college girl, our screenplay under examination herein presupposed, his first concern is whether or not she is a good girl And so when college girl meets college boy she has to ask herself ^iil she?" or "won't she?" accede to the boys' persistent demands for an affair. That the American college youth is predominantly inter ested in sex as against attaining a higher education is the ^ frothv, romantic comedy, marred somewhat by a corny melof^ climax, and elegantly produced by Joe Pasternak with a bevy of attractive young players. The story concerns itself with the adventures and misadven ures of four students from a northern girls' college who decide to follow the college crowd and spend their Easter vacation in Fort Lauderdale, Fk. because that's "where the boys are. The girls are ^ ^ sessor of probably the most captivating smile in films; Yvette Mimieux, a lovely blond who gives a sensitive performance as the sexually promiscuous member of fhe quartet; Paula Prentiss, whe ) makes a -s-nding film debut as a wisecracking, tall, brunette, and Connie Francis, juke box favorite of the teenagers" who also makes her film debut and shows natural and pleasing talent as a comedienne, in addition to her singing chores. . . £ The resort city is flooded with college boys and girls all anxious tor romantic interludes of one sort or another. Miss Hart, despite her mouthings of sexual freedom for the modern girl, seeks love and not sex when she meets George Hamilton, a wealthy student from Brown University Miss Prentice finds romance with Jim Hutton, a poor but ardent student whose advances she holds in check with her wisecracks. Miss Francis finds her male idol in the person of Frank Gorshin, a myopic musician who heads a quintet which plays "dialectic jazz." Miss Mimieux is the one who finds it difficult to cope with the college boys she meets, and has affairs with two of them. The tale is replete with sophisticated dialogue, much of it calculated to draw solid laughs, as the girls handle their respective problems with the sex-driven male students. Miss Mimieux' second experience with sex leads to a near fatal tragedy as she wanders dazedly from a motel and is hit by an automobile. This undoubtedly is to prove that sex per se doesn't pay. . The other girls, it is indicated, are destined to marry their respective companions and live happily ever after. Henry Levin did a capable job of directing, getting the most out of the comedy situations, from a slick screenplay by George Wells based on the novel bv Glendon Swarthout. A slapstick sequence in which nearly everybody winds up in a night club water tank wherein Barbara Nichols displays her physical charms drew much laughter from a sneak preview audience. All the young members of the cast acquit themselves admirably, but outstanding are the performances of newcomer Miss Prentiss, who handles her comedy lines brilliantly, and Jim Hutton, the gangling student who makes a hne foil for Miss* Prentiss' humor. Chill Wills also draws laughs as the harassed chief of police. Miss Francis sings the title song behind the credits, and "Turn on the Sunshine," both tunes by Howard Greenfield and Neil Sedaka with the "dialectic jazz" quintet. She should please her many fans, and win new ones with both her singing and her acting performance. Miss Nicho s delivers a novelty song, "Have you met Miss Fandango?, by Stella Unger and Victor Young, for comedy effect. The use of Metrocolor greatly enhances the film with its splashy, lively color effects. Music by George Stoll is in fine tune with the action on the screen, and special mention is due Pete Rugolo for his original dialectic jazz sequences. Exhibitors seeking new faces will find them here in abundance and all of them personable and talented. The undue emphasis on sex, however makes this unsuitable for younger patronage. Running time, 99 minutes. Release, in December. Fox Anniversary Bookings High 20th Century-Fox's 45th anniversary week, which ended with Thanksgiving, was the biggest anniversary week of bookings in seven years, general sales manager C. Glenn Norris announced yesterday. Spearheaded by 428 first-run^ engagements of "North to Alaska" in as many key cities, 20th releases were the attractions at 11,112 theatres across the country and Canada last week, 971 bookings ahead of last year's anniversary week, and 1,088 ahead of 1958. Bookings at key-city first-run theatres totaled 2,017 against 1,833 in the 1959 anniversary week. Among the attractions contributing to the record bookings, in addition to "North to Alaska," are "Esther and the King," which had 75 bookings, "Legions of the Nile," with 63, and "Tess of the Storm Country," which had 45. Total second and subsequent run bookings were the largest in five years, Norris said. Fox 39-Week Net ( Continued from page 1 ) weeks of 1959 of $2,930,532 or $1.25 per share on 2,338,536 shares. Total income for the period ended Sept. 24, 1960, was $86,647,036 compared with $85,933,864 for the comparable 1959 period. Expenses for 1960 were $83,649,921 compared with $83,003,332 for 1959. To Pay 40-Cent Dividend Directors of 20th Century-Fox have declared a quarterly cash dividend of 40 cents per share on the outstanding common stock, payable Dec. 30 to holders of record on Dec. 16. Graff's Distribution of Film on Handicapped "Employees Only," a motion picture designed to increase the rate of employment of physically-handicapped persons, will be distributed free to theatres throughout the nation, it was announced yesterday by Bernard Goodman, vice-president of Warner Bros. Pictures Distributing Corp., and Major General Melvin Maas, Ret., chairman of the President's Committee on Employment of the Physically Handicapped. The announcement followed a meeting, at which it was arranged for Warner Bros, to have the sevenminute film distributed as a public service through the shipping facilities of National Film Service. Theatre circuits expressing a desire and willingness to play the short-subject include the Stanley Warner Corp., RKO, United-Paramount and Pacific Drive-ins. The first booking will be on the RKO circuit in New York, beginning Jan. 4. Hughes Aircraft is the producer of "Employees Only" and actor Bob Cummings is the narrator.