Motion Picture Herald (Jul-Aug 1943)

24 MOTION PICTURE HERALD July 3 , 1943 MacLeish Picks 104 Films for U. S. Library The Library of Congress has acquired 104 films and clippings from pictures as the nucleus of a collection of "pictures having documentary significance or significance as records of time" Archibald MacLeish, librarian, announced on Wednesday. They were selected from Hollywood features, short subjects, newsreels and documentaries released during the vear ended April 30, 1943. " • Twenty-three entertainment features are included in the Library's selection. It also is preserving 17 industry produced and distributed short subjects and 41 clips from the newsreels. Films from the Australian News Bureau and the National Tuberculosis Association also were selected. The pictures were chosen from a list recommended by a reviewing committee of the Museum of Modern Art Film Library. Under an agreement with the industry, used prints of requested pictures are deposited with the Library of Congress as copyright copies. A release from Louise G. Caton, secretary of the Library of Congress, described the collection as an experiment. It is financed by a threeyear grant from the Rockefeller Foundation. The Museum of Modern Art is acting as temporary custodian of the selected films because of a lack of storage facilities at the Library of Congress in Washington. The following entertainment pictures of more than four reels, released between May 1, 1942, and April 30, 1943, were elected: ATLANTIC CONVOY— Columbia THE POSTMAN DIDN'T RING — 20th-Fox MRS. MINIVER — MGM THE PIED PIPER— 20th-Fox THE WAR AGAINST MRS. HADLEY— MGM WAKE ISLAND— Paramount MOSCOW STRIKES BACK — Artki no-Republic IN WHICH WE SERVE— United Artists JOURNEY FOR MARGARET— MGM SHADOW OF A DOUBT — Universal CASABLANCA— Warner Bros. RIDIN' DOWN THE CANYON— Republic SALUDOS AMIGOS— Disney-RKO YANKEE DOODLE DANDY— Warner Bros. WE ARE THE MARINES — March of Time CITY OF COURAGE— RKO PRIDE OF THE YANKEES— RKO HITLER'S CHILDREN— RKO AIR FORCE— Warner Bros. AT THE FRONT— Warner Bros. THE MOON IS DOWN— 20th-Fox THIS LAND IS MINE— RKO CABIN IN THE SKY— MGM In addition the Library selected 14 March of Time subjects, four United Artist "World in Action" releases, and three RKO, four MGM, short subjects and two each from Warners, Paramount and Twentieth Century-Fox. Paramount led in the number of newsreel clips with 11 selections. The Library preserved 10 Fox Movietone, eight Pathe, seven News of the Day, and five Universal newsreel sequences. The Library's purpose is to limit the collection to "films as records" and does not seek to pick the year's best pictures in any sense, Mr. MacLeish's release said. "Those films which will provide future students with the most truthful and revealing information the cinema can provide as to the life and interests of the men and women of the period" are selected. Social as well as political history is included in the collection, the Library said. CALLS FILMS VITAL TO ARMY MORALE La+e Showings in Milwaukee Downtown Milwaukee houses are employing a midnight show policy for the benefit of late shift war workers. VISITING Hollywood studios on a swing around the nation's military centers, R. B. Murray, director of the U. S. Army Motion Picture Service and "largest single exhibitor of films in America", told studio heads, "I cannot begin to stress how important motion pictures are to the armed forces, right here at home, as well as in the combat zones. There can be no slightest question about the Army's tremendous reliance upon pictures. They form the background of the Army's entire recreational service. And in outposts such as Alaska and the Aleutians, which are serviced from our Seattle office, they are an absolute Sodsend." Mr. Murray said the Army's motion picture circuit had expanded from 90 theatres in 1 920 to 1 ,032 at this time, with 1 25 more to be opened in the next three months. The Service books 6,834 shows weekly, playing all theatres within 30 days of national release. Mr. Murray is seen above, at right, with Y. Frank Freeman, Association of Motion Picture Producers president and Paramount vice-president in charge of production. Reserves Decision in Chicago Gangster Case Federal Judge Murray Hulbert on Wednesday in New York Federal Court reserved decision on a motion by counsel for six alleged Chicago gangsters, for the quashing of indictments against them. The men are charged with extortion of more than $1,000,000 from motion picture companies and the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, in conspiracy with George Browne and Willie Bioff, former officials of the union, now in jail. James Murray, defense attorney, told Judge Hulbert the indictments cited no overt acts by the defendants, and he charged that Browne and Bioff were attempting to smear others so (hat their sentences might be lightened. Mr. Murray told the judge he might not be ready by September 8th, trial date, and was advised to confer with Boris Kostelanetz, special .Assistant United States Attorney. Appeal Board Hears Gary Dismissal Plea The right of an arbitrator to dismiss a clearance case without hearing detailed evidence was challenged by the Gary Theatre Corporation, Gary, Ind., Monday at New York in a five-hour oral argument before the Appeal Board of the motion picture arbitration system. The case is Chicago's 18th. Attorneys for Paramount, Twentieth Century-Fox, MGM, RKO and Warners and the intervening Balaban and Katz and affiliated circuits argued in support of Benjamin Wham, arbitrator. Mr. Wham dismissed the case in March after briefs had been filed. He held that the Gary was without grounds, prima facie, for complaint. He cited the dismissal of an anti-trust suit by the Gary interests, saying that the Federal Court had disallowed the same issues. The Appeal Board reserved decision on both the clearance and run portions of the complaint. John F. Caskey, attorney for Twentieth Century-Fox in his presentation of the distributors' case praised the manner in which the majority of complaints have been handled by arbitrators. Rhinehook Theatres, Inc., which won clearance cuts for its Star theatre, Rhinebeck, N. Y., and the Lyceum in Red Hook in th 39th and 40th New York complaints, has appealed. It was reported by distributor attorneys that a settlement had been reached subsequent to the appeal, and that a stipulation was being prepared asking the Appeal Board to enter a consent award. Boston A clearance complaint against the five consenting distributors was filed at Boston Monday by the Ioka theatre, Exeter, N. H. It is operated by James A. Donovan, Grace P. Mulcahy, and Fred L. Markey, trustees for the estate of Ralph Pratt. They ask elimination or reduction to one day of the 14-day margins held by the Colonial and Olvmpia theatres in Portsmouth. They are Paramount affiliates. It is the tribunal's 21st case. Buffalo Fulton Enterprises, Inc., of Oneida, N. Y., filed a clearance complaint last week in behalf of its State theatre, at Fulton, N. Y., against Loew's, RKO, Warners and Twentieth Century-Fox. It is the 23rd arbitration complaint at the Buffalo tribunal. It asked elimination or reduction to one day of the 14-day margins held by the Schine circuit's Strand and Capitol in Oswego, and the Avon in Fulton over the State. DuMont Plans Washington Television Station Allen B. DuMont Laboratories, Inc., television affiliate of Paramount Pictures, has asked the Federal Communications Commission to reinstate their application for a commercial television station in Washington, D. C. The station would operate on Channel One, 50 to 56 megacycles. Construction of a DuMont station in Washington was halted two years ago by equipment shortages. The company is operating W2XWV at New York on Sundays and Wednesdays with experimental programs. Greenthal Captain Monroe Greenthal, former advertising and publicity director of United Artists, and for the last year with the War Production Board salvage division, has been commissioned a captain in the Army Special Service Branch.