Motion Picture Herald (Apr-Jun 1931)

June 2 0, 19 3 1 MOTION PICTURE HERALD 29 CHARGE BRITISH PICTURE COMBINES KILL ENTERPRISE OF INDEPENDENTS Comparative Financial Positions of Five Leading Connpanies [Figures from Wall Street Journal] Paramount Loew's Warner Fox R KO Net 1930 $18,381,178 $14,600,332 $7,074,621 $9,205,434 $4,173,210 Net 1929 15,544,544 1 1,756,956 14,514,628 9,469,051 2,523,558 $ share 1930 5.90 9.65 1.77 t 1.45 $ share 1929 5.78 7.91 5.23 t .92 Net assets ■for common 139,417,202 62,092,000 86,287,273 ♦47,880,000 46,952,914 Shares common 3,113,026 1,419,217 3,767,593 2,525,660 2,328,250 Current market price 23 411/2 8 20 14 $72,000,000 $58,898,000 $30,141,000 $50,513,200 $32,596,000 Book value share 44.78 43.93 22.90 *I9 20.17 Preferred None 145,203 sh. 103,107 sh. None $10,319,200 $101,429,844 $35,693,000 $99,371,062 $58,610,234 $40,351,600 ♦After deducting $46,200,000 book value of holdings in Film Securities Corp. fPer share earnings not figured due to special deductions from surplus account. Drastic Film Stock Deflation Is Seen in Current Bear Market Wall Street Paper Analyzes Relative Financial Positions of Leading Connpanies Declaring that none of the common stocks of the leading film companies were selling at more than three and a half times their 1930 earnings, the Wall Street Journal sees in the current bear market an unusually drastic deflation of these securities. A number of companies are cited. "Paramount Publix," it is stated, "now on a $2.50 basis against its former rate of $4, earned approximately $3,510,000, or $1.12 a share on 3,128,873 shares outstanding in the first quarter, and in the second quarter probably will earn 75 to 80 cents a share. Although summer earnings are likely to be poor, the last half of the year usually is the most profitable, so that it now seems possible that Paramount will show from $3.50 to $4 a share this year. "Loew's reported a net profit of $6,879,960 in the 28 weeks ended March 31, 1931, corresponding to the first half of the current fiscal year, and it is probable that net for the year will be in excess of $6 a share for the common stock." Prophesying further reduction in admission prices, the article declares that a recent survey of admission price trends made by the Film Boards of Trade "indicates that in the near future average admission prices will be about 30 cents against a former average of 35 cents, making a decline of about 15 per cent." It is pointed out, however, that this need not mean further reduction in the profits of film companies, since "in the last analysis, salaries of stars and of other film producing personnel are determined by the box office value of their pictures, and if this is reduced, obviously a reduction in salaries will follow." It is further pointed out that other economy measures may be expected to follow. Buy Now, Says MPTOA "Buy now — "If the contract offered to you is satisfactory, if it Is fair, and if it is at terms which allow you a fair percentage of profit." "That's the dictum," says the MPTOA Bulletin, "which has gone forth from the headquarters of the MPTOA in response to many requests asking advice from President M. A. Lightman on the buying of '3 1 -'32 product. "If, however, deals are held to be unreasonable, if they do not seem to be fair — then it is up to each theatre owner to delay buying until the prices do come down to more reasonable terms. "Each case is different, but a general rule as given above can be adhered to. "It is imperative that exhibitors buy on a reasonable basis. Otherwise they should wait until prices are right. "Buying at a fair figure now means that product can be played when it is new, but this advantage Is offset if the deals are at exorbitant figures. "The situation demands intelligence. "Each exhibitor must stand on his own rights, but in all cases the element of fairness is essential." Assumes New York Post Gustav Eyssell is in New York to assume new duties as district manager of four Publix houses. He formerly had jurisdiction over three Texas theatres. System of Bargaining Is Blow to Production Independents Crippled From Making Special Pictures and Must Depend on Large Circuits By W. H. MOORING, London Those who talk glibly about the stranglehold of America upon the British film industry would be able to find an entirely new slogan if they were to look at the British producing combines themselves. For it is these who fix a stranglehold upon initiative and set the pace at which the whole industry in this country must move. That pace has been woefully apparent in the post-talker sprint which the motion picture progress of the world has had to run since the Warners made their bold move. British pictures have made progress : their producers could not very well avoid it. Improvement can come by force of experience as well (though not so creditably) as by sheer effort. And that to a large extent has accounted for the improvement made in British films since the first of the talkers came over from America. Protected by quota law, British picturemaking in the hands of men of courage, foresight, and creative ability, could have taken the world by storm. The investing public of Britain, realizing this, stood by ready to finance a new industry which looked as if it could not fail to return golden dividends. A Protected Industry The British motion picture business became what the financiers of old England love out of the depths of their conservative hearts : it became a protected industry. So long as in the old days it had been a competitive undertaking, and a speculative one at that, they were not thrilled. But the moment the quota came, film stocks seemed to take on gilt-edged appearances. That was the signal for the company riggers. Some were in the running merely to feather their own nests. We can forget them, for the law lets them free and they will need masks of concrete before they ever again can face the investors of Britain. Others were genuinely persuaded that the great day of the British film had dawned, that they had a real opportunity to help make pictures that could find ready acceptance in the markets of the world. But they did not reckon with the producer-distributor-circuit powers of Great Britain. They may have realized that they had to look to the native market to cover their production costs. They did not realize that, irrespective of whether they made pictures or mere quota tripe, they were to be the victims of a bargaining system so ruthlessly unfair as to force them untimely out of the business again. Yet with the exception of a few of the (Ccmtimied on page 30)