The Exhibitor (1957)

26 STUDIO SURVEY Give 'Em What They Want" “Give ’Em What They Want!” is the driving force behind the fast rising young producer, Roger Corman, the busiest science-fiction picture-maker in Holly¬ wood. Corman already has to his credit a long list of modestly budgeted highly exploit¬ able feature product. Among these are such hard hitting marquee titles as “Not Of This Earth,” “The Undead,” “The Day The World Ended,” “Gunslinger,” and “Attack Of The Crab Monsters.” Judging from reports I get from exhibi¬ tors I know that these low-budgeted science-fiction features often show a bet¬ ter profit than some multi-million dollar super features which often leave the ex¬ hibitor with only prestige, and very little profit. And sometimes there isn’t very much prestige either! Roger Corman came up the hard way, starting in the business as a messenger boy at 20th-Fox in 1948. After graduat¬ ing from Stanford in 1947 with a degree in engineering he decided to give motion pictures a whirl, always having had a yen for this crazy business. After a year of pedalling a bicycle around the vast Fox lot, he was promoted to the story department. In 1950 he left Hollywood and attended Oxford in England. After a year at Oxford he returned and became an agent for the literary department of a top Hollywood agency. Putting to prac¬ tice what he had learned, Corman sold to Allied Artists his own original story, “Highway Dragnet.” The money he re¬ ceived from the sale of the story pro¬ vided the initial capital with which to form his own company. He was now in business! Believing in the promise and fresh¬ ness of young men like himself, Corman sought material exclusively from young writers. He sincerely believes that it is the ideas of the writers, not their Producer-director Roger Corman, left, and writer Charles B. Griffith check over the screenplay for AA's "Attack Of The Crab Monsters." long lists of credits, which come across on the screen. With his ex¬ tremely limited bankroll Corman had to shave all production costs pretty close. Young, ambitious writers looking for their first screen credits don’t usually ask for a hundred thousand dollers, so all that remained for Gorman to do was to pick the real talent from among the hundreds flocking to Hollywood from all over the world. He picked right. Two of the writers who were given their first screen credit by Corman — Bob Campbell and Charles Griffith — have already gone onto bigger jobs. They will certainly always have a warm spot for Corman, the guy who gave them that first all important chance. Corman has always taken time to sound out exhibitors on what they think will bring in the customers. He found out that the teen-agers who comprise about 60 to 70 per cent of the movie¬ going audiences today like action-filled science-fiction pictures. Not the silly type of pictures which border on the ludi¬ crous, but stories based on well known facts presented the world of today by the fast moving scientific advances in the nuclear field, rockets, medicine, etc. To¬ gether with his staff of writers, Corman has put to good use the energy and enthusiasm of their youth, and the re¬ sultant flood of pictures which they have completed is amazing. However, Corman is a fellow who be¬ lieves in change of pace. We were dis¬ cussing the boxcffice values of future pictures on space travel, when he re¬ marked, “I really feel, Paul, that even though we human beings have never actually been to places like the moon. Mars, etc., etc. — we are already tired of going there via the landslide of films on this subject shown in theatres and TV.” However, the world of science is prac¬ tically unlimited and there will always be new, exciting, scientific adventures to put on the screen. Corman’s first picture was “The Mon¬ ster From The Ocean Floor,” and, as you know, it did mighty proud boxofficewise for its young maker. An appraisal of the titles chosen for his program of product will make it quite clear that when such eye-catching titles are flashing from your marquee they must attract attention and customers. This, according to Corman, is “giving them what they want!” And watching the profit sheets and the ever growing num¬ bers of play dates for his product, it appears that Roger Corman knows of what he speaks! — P.M. Corman discusses a scene from the science-fiction horror film with actor Russell Johnson, who is starred with Pamela Duncan and Richard Garland. Corman and his camera crew set up for location shots on a nearby beach. The film is another effort on the part of Hollywood's youth brigade. MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR March 13, 1957