The Exhibitor (1965)

PRODUCT PREVIEW • and Robert Morley, “Hold On,” a musical starring Her¬ man's Hermits, and “The Secret Seven,” an adventure drama with Tony Russel. The summer season features two major MGM offerings including Peter Ustinov’s sophisticated French comedy “Lady L,” starring Sophia Loren, Paul Newman and David Niven and “The Glass Bottom Boat,” a romantic comedy involving rocketry and espionage with Doris Day, Rod Taylor and Arthur Godfrey. Also prominent on the summer release schedule are two adventure dramas “Around The World Under The Sea,” an Ivan Tors production about the efforts of six scientists to plant sensoring devices on the ocean floor with Lloyd Bridges, Shirley Eaton, Brian Kelly and David Me Callum, and “Maya,” featuring Clint Walker and Jay North, the story of two boys in India on a special mission to deliver a sacred white elephant to a place of safety and freedom. Also scheduled for release in 1966 are “Hotel Paradiso,” a delightful French farce of high infidelity with Alec Guinness and Gina Lollobrigida, “Mister Buddwing,” star¬ ring James Garner and Jean Simmons, an absorbing story of a man’s search for his own identity, and MGM-Filmway’s suspense drama “13”— toplined by Deborah Kerr and David Niven. 20th Century Fox By Joseph M. Sugar Vice-President-in-Charge of Domestic Sales ■ LAST YEAR, WE PREDICTED THAT 1965 would prove to be one of the greatest years, if not the greatest, in our history. 1 hat prediction, based on our unprece¬ dented production program, has been borne out with some of the most outstanding boxoffice attractions ever released by 20 Century-Fox, or for that matter any other company, with¬ in a one-year period. Heading the list was the unique release of three roadshow attrac¬ tions, the first time any company has distributed three such productions within the same year. “The Sound of Music,” although still in limited release, is the boxoffice bonanza of the decade and could easily wind up as the greatest grosser the industry has ever seen. ‘Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, or: How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours and 1 1 Minutes,” which has been the comedy hit of 1965 in its comparatively few engagements, will go into broader release at the beginning of the year. “The Agony and the Ecstasy,” playing in only a few limited engagements now, already has shown signs it will be a titan in 1966. In addition to this towering trio, we released such solid hits during the year as Robert Aldrich’s, “Hush . . . Hush, Sweet Charlotte,” starring Bette Davis and Olivia de Havilland; Frank Sinatra in the run-away adventure, “Von Ryan’s Express”; Marlon Brando and Yul Brynner in the World War II spy drama, “The Saboteur, Code Name: Morituri”; the triple Academy Award winner, “Zorba the Greek”; Bette Davis in the shocker, “The Nanny,” and Doris Day in our holiday comedy, “Do Not Disturb,” which is expected to do outstanding business. Although our predictions for 1965 turned out to be gratifyingly correct, it might seem foolhardy to go out on a limb again for the new year. But our prospects are so spectacular that it would be even more foolhardy not to prophesy another record-breaking year. For openers, we have our one-two-three punch of “The Sound of Music,” “Those Magnificent Men in Their Fly¬ ing Machines” and “The Agony and the Ecstasy,” all of which still have their majority of dates to play. The first new feature of the year is “Our Man Flint,” the delightful super-spy spoof starring James Coburn, in CinemaScope and DeLuxe Color. This will be followed by “The Flight of the Phoenix,” which had a sensational first “sneak” in New York, and is a sure Academy Award prospect. An all-star international cast, headed by James Stewart, Richard Attenborough, Peter Finch, Hardy Kruger and Ernest Borgnine, stars in the DeLuxe Color drama. Next will come the most incredibly fascinating adven¬ ture yet put on the screen — “Fantastic Voyage” in CinemaScope and DeLuxe Color — a journey unlike any attempted before. With a fine cast headed by Stephen Boyd, Edmond O’Brien, sensational newcomer Raquel Welch, Donald Pleasence and Arthur Kennedy, “Fantastic Voyage” will be one of the boxoffice sensations of the year. The classic Western, “Stagecoach,” will be a CinemaScope and DeLuxe Color special in 1966. Retaining all the qualities of the original, but adding all the modern advantages of today, “Stagecoach” features an all-star cast including Ann-Margret, Red Buttons, Michael Connors, Alex Cord, Bing Crosby, Bob Cummings, Van Heflin, Slim Pickens, Stefanie Powers and Keenan Wynn. In an era of far-out films, 20th-Fox undoubtedly has the “far-outest” in “Modesty Blaise,” a heroine, unlike any other seen on the screen who makes her male counterparts look like cream puffs. Italian star Monica Vitti, in her first English-speaking role, plays the title role co-starring with Terence Stamp and Dirk Bogarde. The DeLuxe Color comedy-adventure-thriller was directed by Joseph Losey. A story of the many faces of heroism and cowardice, taken straight from a little-known page of history, is “The Blue Max,” starring George Peppard, James Mason and Ursula Andress. The CinemaScope-DeLuxe Color drama of World War I flying aces will be an electrifying theatri¬ cal experience. The comedy of the year is William Wyler’s “How to Steal a Million Dollars and Live Happily Ever After” with Audrey Hepburn, Peter O’Toole, Hugh Griffith, Eli Wallach and Charles Boyer heading the star-studded cast. Filmed in Panavision and DeLuxe Color, the romantic farce will be next summer’s sizzler. “One Million Years B.C.” promises to be one of the eye¬ catching spectacles of all time, capturing all the ferocious excitement of an era before the dawn of civilization. Raquel Welch and John Richardson star in the DeLuxe Color Hammer-Seven Arts Film production. “Weekend at Dunkirk,” with France’s most popular star, Jean-Paul Belmondo, and Catherine Spaak, re-creates the dramatic aftermath of that infamous battle in World War II. The DeLuxe Color adventure already has proven to be one of the biggest hits of the year in Europe. Our success with roadshow attractions in 1965 is ex¬ pected to be duplicated, if not surpassed, in 1966. We say this with confidence as the biggest reserved-seat produc¬ tion ever made, Dino De Laurentiis’ “The Bible,” will have (Continued on Page 50) 48 MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR December 29, 1965