The Exhibitor (1965)

. MMKIIIIIMliniHIIKIIIHIllMIMIIMMIIIIIMIMMHIIMIHIMlIMMIMIIIMIIIIMIIIIIIIIimillllllMIIIIIIIIIIIIMIliliiiiitiHmMlil iiiiiiiiiniiiiiiimiiiiiiiiimiimi iiiiiimiiiiiii.it ■iiiimiimiiiiiiiiiiiiimMiiiiiiMii The NEW YORK Scene By Mel Konecoff ROBERT WISE, PRODUCER-DIRECTOR OF 20TH CENTURY FOX’S “THE SOUND of Music,” was in town to discuss the roadshow release with the press, radio, and tv i epresentatives. At lunch at the 21 Club with Jonas Rosenfield, Jr., Fox vice-president and associate pioducer Saul Chaplin, he reported that the reaction to a press preview in town here was most encouraging. Many will remember that Wise was also responsible for “^^est Side Story,” and he was disappointed with many exhibitors for not keeping their sound and projection systems in top condition. In line with these observations, Wise noted that Fox which is releasing Music, will send technicians to theatres playing the film to check and make sure that audiences are receiving what they are entitled to— the finest in sound and projection, even if they have to make minor adjustments. The technicians will also recommend changes in equipment as needed. The use of 70mm and six track sound added a half million dollars to the cost of the film, and people should be able to see the film at its best, he felt. Theatre owners, he said! should have enough pride to see that audiences get their due. Wise noted that he had the same problem on West Side Story,’ where the key situations were generally con¬ cerned about the quality of presentation whereas the smaller situations were most neglect¬ ful. He was concerned over some theatre owners cutting down on their servicing needs, feeling that they have a responsibility to the public to present an eight million dollar property at its best. Rosenfield opined that they will go along on the assumption that there will be coop¬ eration extended by exhibitors who will play the film. Incidentally, all present from the production and distribution company had voluminous praise for the work of Julie Andrews in the film. Fox, incidentally, bought the property for $1,250,000 and assigned Wise to the project. His next for Fox will be “The Sand Pebbles,” to be shot in November in Formosa, Hong Kong, and the studio in black and white for possible roadshowing Christmas of 1966. Another for Fox will be “The Life of Gertrude Lawrence,” with Julie Andrews, to go in the summer of 1966. The budget on “Pebbles” may be five millions. PAINT AND THE BLOODSTREAM: THERE WAS SALVADOR DALI, MUSTACHE points aquiver, in the window of the National Cash Register Building, parrying and thrusting with a canvas at times, with the window that separated him from public viewers, and unintentionally with spectator reporters and photographers, all of whom were spat¬ tered liberally with red, yellow, and black paint. All this on behalf of 20th Century-Fox’s “Fantastic Voyage” in CinemaScope and DeLuxe Color, which is presently being shot in Hollywood. It seems that president Darryl F. Zanuck commissioned Dali to create his first hallu¬ cinatory (that’s what the press agent said) painting for a motion picture, and this was it. The reason for the National Cash Register tie-up was that questions were submitted to their computers, and Dali took the recommendations as a guide for his lines and spatters. He also looked now and then at Raquel Welch in a bikini, and then did a little more spattering. Miss Welch and Stephen Boyd, stars of the film, were on hand, as was pro¬ ducer Saul David, who suspended shooting for two days so that the trio could be present at the colorful event. Later, in the more sedate surroundings of the Delmonico Hotel, Fox vice-president Jonas Rosenfield, Jr., was about to discourse on the film when the phone rang with the news that John Goldfarb may come home courtesy of the Appellate Division of the N. Y. Supreme Court. If he had a mustache, its ends would have quivered as well. “Fantastic Voyage,” which may see release at the end of the year, was described as a new and unique tjjpe of science fiction entry that deals with a trip through the blood¬ stream, which, it was said, should prove instructional as well as entertaining. (Audiences may even be asked to take their pulses as they are watching huge inner space sets modeled after the human body.) The campaign is expected to be imaginative as well as extensive, and the tie-up field seems limitless. Producer David, whose last picture was “Von Ryan’s Express,” noted that it was also his first, having taken the production plunge from a spot at Bantam Books. Rosenfield expected the Frank Sinatra starrer to be the largest non-roadshow picture of the year. After “Voyage,” David, under contract to Fox, will start “Our Man Flint’ in March, this being a comic adventure yarn with James Coburn, to be directed by Daniel Mann. This will be followed by “Maryann,” melodrama with European backgrounds. A MATTER OF O’TOOLE AND LEVINE: JOSEPH E. LEVINE, A MAN OF MANY talents, called a press conference-luncheon at the 21 Club to announce that he has signed actor Peter O’Toole to a new two-picture contract, which will now bring to three the number of films that O’Toole will make for Levine. As a reward for showing up, he offered his listeners pieces of the play “Kelly,” but there were few acceptances. O’Toole’s first assignment for Levine will be the title role in “Will Adams,” an EmbassyParamount co-production to be filmed in Japan in October. The other two properties will be announced in the near future. Meanwhile, Levine’s Embassy Pictures has entered into an agreement with Keep Films, Ltd., production company owned by O Tcole and producer Jules Buck, to co-produce a number of pictures in England and on the Continent. O’Toole will participate in the production of these but will not appear in them. Levine related that he will also do a play in London with O Toole before Will Adams is started, “Ride A Cocked Horse,” with a limited engagement in mind. He paid tribute to O’Toole for the interest he has in all of the forthcoming projects. The two new prop¬ erties are for Embassy Pictures, and at present there is no deal with Paramount to dis¬ tribute them. Incidentally, Levine predicted that this was the first in a series of important talent announcements that he will make over the next month regarding forthcoming films. I I February 17, 1965 MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR