Motion Picture Herald (Mar-Apr 1945)

THIS WEEK IN THE NEW Lesson in Diplomacy RECENT complaints from members of the French Cabinet that the quality of American films shown in France was inferior finally were given official diplomatic status and reached the U. S. State Department. Reports of French criticism of American pictures have trickled across the Atlantic for many weeks. According to Drew Pearson, columnist in the New York Mirror, the State Department got tough. Francis De Wolf, head of the department's telecommunications section, which includes motion pictures, sent back word to France that the complaints might be better received if the French were willing to grant visas to American industry representatives. Mr. De Wolf reminded the French that if the U. S. film men could get into their country they could study the reaction of the French people to American films and also could conduct normal business relations. Resurrection EFFICIENCY lingers in the Reich in the face of collapse as the Nazis teach the world how to cast a motion picture. The announcement from London was simple enough, that Carl Ludwig Diehl had been reported by the Berlin radio as signing a contract to appear in a new Emil Jannings picture titled "Where Is Herr Billing?" The title could turn out to be quite appropriate long before the film is completed. Most people over here who thought about the matter at all believed that Carl Ludwig Diehl was dead and that Emil Jannings was a prisoner of the Gestapo. The former had reportedly been sentenced to death along with Paul Hoerbiger on charges of complicity with Field Marshal General Erwin von Witzleben in the bomb plot against Adolf Hitler last July. Jannings was recently reported to have been rounded up with a group of artists who protested the death sentence imposed upon Diehl and Hoerbiger. Distribution plans for the new German production were not announced. Tax Optimism REDUCTION to 60 per cent in the corporate excess profits tax after the defeat of Germany, outright repeal of the impost after the defeat of Japan, and a horizontal cut of 20 per cent in individual income taxes after the defeat of Japan were asked in Washington this week in a resolution introduced by Representative Daniel A. Reed of New York. The excess profits tax now is 95 per cent. Representative Reed, who is chairman of the House Republican Tax Study Committee, declares that relief to American business is necessary if plans for reconversion and full employment are to materialize after the war. Congressional tax leaders, however, let it be known that they expect no general reductions in taxes this year, despite the prospect of a collapse in Germany. Extension of tax agreements to other countries is urged by Paul Duperon, secretary of the fiscal committee of the League of Nations, in a pamphlet published by the Committee on Inter HAYS looks at world map and charts policy for industry Page 13 COURT rules majors may examine books of theatre operators Page 14 TELEVISION warming up for experimental relay race Page 17 ON THE MARCH— Red Kann discusses possible Selznick plans Page 18 IT'S still divorcement, Justice Department tells Decree companies Page 20 SHOWMAN, fighting in Manila, tell Jap use of films Pag ARMY keeping tight hold on Italian ill industry operations Pag I LADY Yule's British National seeks m, „ in U. S. Pag > GOVERNMENT takes to the screen to1 J America about tomorrow Pag m BRITISH labor organization has new plar F< training workers Pag i! MANPOWER Commission cracks down on WPB itself will allocate raw stock for i exhibitor defying curfew Page 24 pendent producers Pag SERVICE DEPARTMENT s Hollywood Scene Page 45 Picture Grosses Pag In the Newsreels Page 56 Short Product at First Runs Pag Managers' Round Table Page 61 What the Picture Did for Me Pag IN PRODUCT DIGEST SECTION Release Chart by Companies Page Showmen's Reviews Page 2381 Short Subjects Chart Page Short Subjects Page 2382 The Release Chart Page national Economic Policy in cooperation with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Mr. Duperon declares that double taxation of the same income by. different nations hampers international investment and discourages world trade. The United States now has tax agreements with only three nations, Canada, France and Sweden. • A tax treaty with Great Britain, however, is being negotiated. Retiring Global Goodwill THE NEWS of Parkston, S. D., will be spread around the world through the courtesy of A. P. Wuebben, owner of the Alvero theatre. Mr. Wuebben donated his theatre for a special performance in honor of local people in the armed forces. The proceeds, $426, were used to send weekly newspapers to 344 service men and women from the Parkston vicinity. Open for Business RKO's release this month of its foreign department publication, The Foreign Legion, is furthur indication of the American industry's forward march toward resumption of normal trade activities in the foreign market. Foreign Legion, edited by Mike Hoffay, foreign publicity manager for RKO, ceased publication in June, 1940, because of the war. Each of the articles published, in the March issue, is printed in Spanish, Portuguese and French as well as English. The publication is distributed to RKO foreign representatives and to exhibitors and film executives in South America and other countries. Highlighting the reappearance of Foreign Legion is an article outlining the Phil Reisman "Studio Appreciation Drive" now under way and continuing until June 22. STEPHEN EARLY, secretary to Presi Roosevelt since 1937, is expected to re from his post sometime in June to retur private business life. For some time, it has been reported Mr. Early planned to join a motion pic company, and more recently, it was rum he would become associated with an ad tising agency. President Roosevelt confir! reports of Mr. Early's resignation last San day in an official statement, when he annoui that he had asked Mr. Early to remain at White House "until I have an opportunit; find someone to fill the vacancy created by death of General Watson. Steve had he to resign when he returnd to Washing from his recent assignment in France," ' President said. Mr. Early was Washington representa. for Paramount News from 1927 until 1( when he was appointed assistant secretary the President. Another newsreel represei tive drafted by the President for his Wi House secretariat was the late Marvin H. 1 Intyre, who established his connection v Franklin D. Roosevelt, then Governor of 1^ York, while he represented Pathe News. Power Politician WHETTED against the bargaining stone film rentals, the talents of Roy E. Bott, ow of the Amusu theatre in Hooper, Neb., sho find settlement of the tangled power situat in Nebraska a breeze. He has been appoin by Governor Dwight Griswold to an import; post on the People's Power Commission, his spare time, Mr. Bott is mayor of Hoop He also operates an implement supply busine 3 MOTION PICTURE HERALD, MARCH 31, H