Motion Picture Herald (Mar-Apr 1945)

iggests British fyle vision Be htsumed Quickly 3Jeter burnup lmmption of television service in England as ' as possible after the war, under control of ritish Broadcasting Corporation, was recomed by the Hankey Television Committee in bn Monday. The committee was set up by ritish Government a year ago. suggested that in view of the impracticability nducting certain necessary experiments and rgent necessitv of resuming service quickly, ; D5-line definition be used, as in pre-war days, ' ng fundamental improvement of facilities, e Hankey group called for central diffusion London, as in the past, but with transmission • : rediffusion provincial stations, with domestic paying an extra $4 annual license fee. '" *-d Hankey's group also recommended the ion of a technical advisory committee to coate research, encourage patent pooling and :i ye Britain's post-war export market. ~ i its report, the committee suggested that the j-;h film industry would not be interested in ision, except for occasional broadcasts of outing national events, until the definition was jved to the 1,000-line standard. Intensive rnment-sponsored experimentation along these was urged, as well as color experiment, other recommendation was that early consuli be had with the film industry to fix license as a contribution to the cost of the experite. About $4,000,000 annually was estimated ■quired for reopening the London service, with -i^OOO more for provincial operation. 4 itish industry executives were said to be withng their complete approval of the report until , could discuss their special problems with the ;rnment departments. ie committee expressed satisfaction that the x£ industry realized the potentialities of the new A urn as well as the beneficial results to be ined from working in collaboration, rather Jin' in competition, with the BBC. stman Kodak Reports 3,031,310 Net in 1944 Eastman Kodak Company had net income : the 52 weeks ended December 30, 1944, of 331,310, equivalent to $9.15 per share of com11 \ stock, according to the annual report to ijrfholders released Tuesdav in Rochester, N. Y. 'L!; compares with a net of $22,270,403, or $8.85 -.J.iare, in the 52 weeks covering the company's $ year. r:mpany sales reached a new all-time high of 7 (..672,763 as compared with $269,044,394 for lj>, Iftie report indicated. tfjhe report revealed that Eastman Kodak's reLf!ly liberated plant subsidiary in France was blueing war materials for the Allies and that dings and equipment there and in Belgium e in satisfactory condition. alls Philco Ready To Produce levision Sets After War ;'he Philco Corporation in Philadelphia plans produce television receiving sets for the general f*ilic within a few months after the end of the . , John Ballantyne, president, announced Mon\. Philco believes the 12 channels set aside in spectrum for commercial television service the Federal Communications Commission "will knit several hundred stations to go on the air the next few years and give a large part of public regular television program service," Mr. . lantyne said. E Declares Dividend ?he directors of the Western Electric Company esday in New York declared a dividend of 50 ts a share on the common stock, payable March to holders of record March 23. DTION PICTURE HERALD, MARCH 17, 1945 Navy Requesting Theatrical Release of Iwo-Jima Film Theatrical release of the Navy's two-reel color, film on the Iwo-Jima invasion and the Army Signal Corp picture, "The Battle of San Pietro," was being considered by the War Activities Committee, it was learned in New York this week. The Navy has requested the Office of War Information for theatrical distribution of the Iwo-Jima subject. WAC officials were expected to view the IwoJima picture shortly with a view to approving it for theatre showing. The footage was made by Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard photographers. "Battle for San Pietro" is a three-reel blackand-white subject on the key San Pietro battle which figured importantly in the Italian campaign. An address by Lt. General Mark Clark, commander of the U. S. forces in Italy, is a feature of the film. NBC Telecasts Iwo Invasion Newsreel pictures of the Marine invasion of Iwo Jima, of approximately the same footage used by the five newsreel companies in their exclusive issue of last week, were telecast Sunday night by National Broadcasting Company's New York television station, WNBT, as part of a 90-minute network telecast in which General Electric's Schenectady station, WRGB, participated. The commentary on the attack was by Lieutenant David Hopkins, USN, who brought the pictures back with him from Iwo where he participated in the early stages of the invasion. They were taken by Marine and Navy cameramen. The newsreel was edited and presented by Paul Alley, NBC newsreel television editor, under the title, "The War As It Happens," weekly newsreel television program of the network, telecast Monday nights, and approaching its first anniversary. WNBT, the nation's first newsreel television station, has been getting most of its weekly footage from the Signal Corps, according to Mr. Alley, with other film received from the Marine Corps, Air Force and Navy, and from the Canadian Government and the British Ministry of Information. Washington regularly informs him of the footage available, Mr. Alley said, the War Department furnishing caption sheets, and the Navy Department supplying complete background material together with phonetic pronunciation of the place names involved. WNBT then picks up the footage it will use in its next telecast from the newsreel companies, Mr. Alley said. The commentator sees the film as it goes on the air, taking his cues from Mr. Alley, following a procedure basically the same as the ' scoring of a film, he added. Also featured on Sunday's telecast were three ballets by Leonide Massine, a fashion show by Gimbel Brothers, New York department store, and the final episode of A. A. Milne's "The Perfect Alibi." Western Reserve Plans Communications Institute Western Reserve University in Cleveland has approved a $5,000,000 program for a Communications Institute of Arts and Sciences, it was announced last week by the university. Prominent directors and scientists from commercial television, radio and motion picture studios will be invited to use the institute for experimental work. A $2,000,000 building for the project will be constructed, occupying nearly one acre of ground and containing two large television studios. An additional $3,000,000 for endowment and operation will be sought by subscription. Crosley Plans Dayton Station The Crosley Corporation, operating stations WLW, WSAI and several short-wave stations in Cincinnati, filed an application last week with the Federal Communications Commission for a commercial television station at Dayton, Ohio. Army Gives Film Report on Horror And Cost of War The Army, and the film industry's War Activities Committee Monday afternoon screened for news and trade paper representatives the Army Pictorial Service 10-minute short subject, "The Enemy Strikes." The occasion included indoctrination by army officers. The subject includes film captured from the Germans in the costly repulse of "The Bulge" and now given its first release. The picture is aimed at and achieves a new high in gory realism. The screening, in the Paramount projection room, New York, brought comment and applause from an audience largely of professional film viewers. Universal is distributing the film nationally for the WAC. Brigadier General Stewart E. Reimel, regional representative of the Army Service Forces, and other officers spoke at the screenings. "This film will make a man or woman not now in a war job want to go out and get one," said the general. The new film attempts to be "stronger, more direct, than any made before by the Army Pictorial Service, said Major Kenneth McKenna. He added that, reproached for possible effects on mothers in audiences, he felt it was even more regrettable to be forced to show them the bodies of dead Americans. Tells Its Story Grimly Grimness is the keynote of the production : an effect achieved pictorially and by skilled narration. The effect is to convince that wars are not over until the last battle is won. Our march through France is shown, and our optimism at home related ; the German breakthrough in Belgium is shown, and the rallying of Americans is related; our current victories are pointed up, and the warning given that in the words of the narrator, "war is wasteful, unpredictable, uncertain, dangerous, demanding constant wariness, constant preparation for the worst . . ." The German breakthrough scenes are from captured film. By American excerpt, or German intent, they have a deadly earnestness in itself tingling. The Germans shown beside and astride American vehicles, smoking American cigarettes and cigars, are paratroopers, husky, unafraid, and of a peculiar sturdy brutishness of the hardened professional soldier whose end is always death. The film's release date was March 15. It will be released later, in 16mm, to war plants. It was produced by the Army Pictorial Service, through the Office of War Information. F. E. S. Plan Delinquency Curb Plans for the formation of a Variety Club Boys Club, in Philadelphia, working closely with the local Police Department in an effort to curb juvenile delinquency, and patterned after the clubs of this nature started by other cities, is to be discussed at a general membership meeting of the Variety Club March 19. On the committee handling details are Ben Amsterdam, chairman ; Jack Beresin, Earle W. Sweigert, and Dr. Leon Levy. To Study Audio-Visual Techniques An experimental project in audio-visual technique will be undertaken next summer at Occidental College, Los Angeles. It will be the unified effort of motion picture and radio personnel and educators to study the possibilities of wider classroom use of pictures, records and radio. The objective of the project is said to be to discover, devise and agree on improved ways in which teachers can utilize the screen and radio. Moore's Son War Prisoner Victor Moore, who recently completed a role in Paramount's "Duffy's Tavern," has received word from the War Department that his son, Private First Class Robert Emmett Moore, recently reported missing, was a prisoner of war in Germany. 27