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British Preview ’67
continued •
This could be wrong thinking. Unless the material and excite¬ ment for a production are created at the studios or even before, there is little chance of doing so later. It it regrettable that there are still producers who regard publicity as an unnecessary evil and take on the publicist at the last possible moment and get rid of him at the first. Some are even worse — do not have one at all. And much can be done to improve the stills which have come in for severe criticism on a number of counts at the early meetings.
UPTAKE will be helped by big attractions, and exhibitors everywhere can take heart from the boxoffice potential among the films coming from British studios— so many, indeed, that to in¬ clude all would make this report read like a phone directory and duplicate the Servisection!
The most eagerly awaited of all the top properties bearing the “Made in Britain” label is the fifth Harry Saltzman-Cubby Broc¬ coli James Bond spy extravaganza, “You Only Live Twice,” with Sean Connery. 007 may have many imitators, but this series must surely be the most triumphant of all in the history of films. The secret can well be that the producers have never merely traded on success. They have put more into each picture, and “Live” is shap¬ ing as the biggest of them all.
Shooting has now been completed under director Lewis Gilbert after locations in Japan and a session at Rank’s Pinewood Studios where the biggest set ever was built on the back lot. The ace vil¬ lain is played by Donald Pleasence, and the celebrated Bond girls are led by Japan’s Mie Hama and Akiko Wakabashi and Ger¬ many’s Karen Dor. It should be available for release by early summer.
United Artists also has what the experts who have seen rough assemblies consider a potential goldmine in Gerry Anderson’s “Thunderbirds Are Go,” in Supermarionation and Technicolor, and have backed their judgment by clearing prime Christmas dates for it in the U.K. Based on the successful television series, this brings the Tracys and Lady Penelope to the large screen with a vengeance. Other UA releases from Britain include “Finders Keepers,” George Brown’s color musical with Cliff Richards and the Shadows, Dick Lester’s “How I Won the War,” Bryan Forbes’ “The Whisperers,” and “Marat/Sade,” with the Royal Shakes¬ pearean company.
Rank, who has been supplementing a program of solid domestic ( Continued on page 29)
RANK— “The Magnificent Two’
UNIVERSAL— “Deadlier Than The Male”
MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR
December 28, 1966