The Exhibitor (1957)

STUDIO SURVEY 25 COOD IHINGS TO COME FROM HOLiYWOOD . . . Warners" ""The Spirit Of St. Louis"" “The Spirit Of St. Louis,” although many years late in coming to the screen, finally arrives, a pure classic in the art of making motion pictures. While history, and financial backers of the flight, chose to name Lindbergh’s immortal plane “The Spirit Of St. Louis,” this tiny challenging dot in a lonely sky could well have been named “The Spirit Of The World.” In Lindbergh’s own words, when questioned as to why he was undertaking this seemingly impossible trans-Atlantic flight after numerous other intrepid pilots had lost their lives in futile attempts, he answered simply, “Somebody’s just got to do it. It’s just got to be done!” And this is the reason why three decades later, two intrepid “motion picture” pilots decided that someone just had to make a screen documentary on this epochal adventure. These two men are producer Leland Hayward and writerdirector Billy Wilder. It takes real drama to hold you glued to your theatre seat while you relive the gripping, human drama of young Lindbergh, stark alone, groping his daring way from New York to Paris, France. Jimmy Stewart did himself real proud — which is as high praise as one can give to this magnificent player. He must have known that this portrayal just had to be every bit as good as tbe one given by tbe original in 1927. I heartily recommend “The Spirit Of St. Louis” to the world. See it — enjoy it — remember it! — P.M. Seen are two scenes from Warners' saga of the air, "The Spirit Of St. Louis," starring James Stewart. Below are producer Leland Hayward, left, and writer-director Billy Wilder. Meet Samuel Fuller Colorful Sammy Fuller, who’s incor¬ porated as Globe Enterprises, has a simple theory about making movies: “Make as many of ’em as you can as fast as you can,” he says. A man who practices what he preaches. Fuller can point to an impressive list of movies made within the last several years, in¬ cluding “I Shot Jesse James,” “The Baron Of Arizona,” “The Steel Helmet,” “Fixed Bayonets!” “Pick-Up On South Street,” “Hell And High Water,” and “House Of Bamboo.” He’s already fin¬ ished two this year, “Run Of The Arrow” for RKO, and “China Gate” for 20th-Fox. An impressive list made more remark¬ able by the fact that not only does Fuller produce, but he writes and directs his movies as well. He says he branched out on his own because too many people he’d worked for though six writers on every story were better than one. “They just didn’t know about Victor Hugo, I guess!” says Fuller. The little man with the cowboy hat and the big cigars is catching up fast with the fabulous Frenchman. Fuller’s stock-in-trade are romance and action films. A rifleman with the Infantry in World War II, ex-Corpcral Fuller is noted for his attention to the details of war. He tests each weapon himself. He also takes part in every bit of action and every fight. Sam’s insistence on realism got him in trouble on the Culver City lot where he was shooting “China Gate,” last mcnth. Fuller had rehearsed an impor¬ tant scene over and over again and it had to be finished that night so Nat “King” Cole, one of “China Gate’s” stars, could get back to his eastern commit¬ ments. At 12.30 in the morning Culver City was rocked by a blast that woke every citizen in terror including the police chief. Fuller promised to fight no more wars after 10 p.m., which is the Culver City curfew for movie studios. Fuller has three more pictures to make for RKO. For the upcoming “The Big Red 1,” he will go east soon to confer with the Pentagon. It will be another action picture — “the biggest war picture ever made,” says Sammy, “from the first shot fired at Oran in ’42 to the last, Sudetanland in ’45. It will cover three amphibious invasions. North Africa, Sicily, and France, and three land in¬ vasions, Belgium, Germany, and Czecho¬ slovakia.” “China Gate” is one of two films on Globe Enterprises 1957-58 production slate for 20th-Fox. The other is “Woman With A Whip,” an outdoor western which Fuller will produce and direct from his own screen play. Twentieth, incidentally, is backing “China Gate” with one of its biggest promotion cam¬ paigns in a long time. Fuller, who owns 50 per cent of Globe, has complete control of produc¬ tion. New Production Unit Formed New York — John Champion and Hall Bartlett will merge their independent production companies to form a new com¬ pany with four films scheduled for pro¬ duction within 15 months. Champion recently completed a con¬ tract at MGM. Bartlett’s most recent production is “Drango,” with Jeff Chand¬ ler for United Artists. The new company will be dedicated to the making of films aimed at “A” playing time, it was said. March 13, 1957 MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR