Motion Picture Herald (Mar-Apr 1945)

teady to Return Urns in Greece b U.S. Companies leturn of the stockpile of motion pictures in Jreece to Ameican distributors awaits only the iiality of advice from the companies that they « the facilities to receive them, according to tis Lober, assistant chief of the Motion Picture ■eau of the Office of War Information in New tk. ."wo companies, MGM and Warner Bros., ;ady have received their product because they the only majors having their own offices in eece. MGM has handled the product for all npanies, including Warner Bros., which latter npany has only recently been in position to nme commercial operation. MGM continues to tribute for the other majors and will carry on nl the companies open offices in Greece or .ignate someone else to take over the films, rhere is a stockpile of 40 features in Greece, the itine number provided by the film companies ■ough OWI for each liberated country. All are :orded with superimposed titles. The OWI will continue its non-theatrical disbution of documentary and information short Ejects, confining its motion picture function to it activity when the companies have received ;ir product. When the films are returned to their rners, the Psychological Warfare Branch will ase to operate and the OWI motion picture ogram will be taken over by the United States formation Service. The newsreel will continue distribution through GM, and the OWI short subjects for theatrical verage will be divided among the various com-nies or their franchise holders. repare Films for Thailand knd French Indo-China Thailand and French Indo-China have been Ided to the list of countries for whom the Office War Information is preparing stockpiles of otion pictures in its long-range program for crated countries. This is part of the routine eparation by the Government agency to have otion picture entertainment ready if and when lemy-occupied countries are liberated. The first batch for Thailand will include "30 sconds Over Tokyo." "Meet Me in St. Louis" id "Lost Angel." They will not contain dubbed alogue or superimposed titles. For French Indo-China, "The Human Comedy," Madame Curie," "Dragon Seed" and "30 Seconds ver Tokyo" have been ordered. They will have iperimposed French titles. Javy Announces Three Films :or War Plant Audiences Three new Navy motion pictures are now availble for showing to war plant and labor union udiences, it was announced by Rear Admiral ilark H. Woodward, Chief of the Navy's Indus•ial Incentive Division. The new films are Pacific Milk Run," which shows the long term sb o? whittling down an estimated quarter of a lillion Japs who are active on by-passed Pacific slands ; "Brought to Action," an account of the Javal battle of the Philippines ; and "Corregidor o Iwo Jima," which depicts the invasion of Iwo ima. lee California Amusement rax Killed in Committee A proposal for a 10 per cent state amusement ax in California was receiving a cool reception n the Assembly at Sacramento, last week with ■everal legislators declaring that a state amusement tax on top of the present Federal tax was iot justified and predicting the measure would lot get out of the committee. Assemblyman fonathan Hollfbaugh explained that he offered the ax as a solution to the controversy over financing post-war aid to local governments. IN NEWSREELS Each of the five newsreels devoted all of its footage in the. first issue of the current week to the death of President Roosevelt. The issues were: Movietone News, No. 65; News of the Day, No. 263; Paramount News, No. 66; RKO Pat he News, No. 68; Universal News, 389. MOVIETONE NEWS— Vol. 27, No. 1 66-Franklin Roosevelt. . . . President Truman in first address before Congress. NEWS OF THE DAY— Vol. 16, No. 264— Franklin D. Roosevelt. . . . President Truman's first talk to the nation. PARAMOUNT NEWS— No. 67—Funeral of President Roosevelt. . . . President Truman's message to Congress. RKO PATHE NEWS— Vol. 16, No. 69— Roosevelt's last rites. . . . President Truman's first speech. UNIVERSAL NEWS— Vol. 18, No. 390— U. S. mourns Roosevelt. . . . President Truman takes office. ALL AMERICAN NEWS— Vol. 3, No. 130— Nation plants victory gardens. . . . Washington, D. C. enjoys outdoor carnival. . . . Health education specialist and surgeon general speak. . . . Heroes of the 92nd are decorated by General Almond. . . . Negro troops in France; on the firing line in Germany. OWI Will Make Conference Film The Office of War Information has completed plans for a motion picture of the United Nations Conference in San Francisco, Robert S. Riskin, chief of the OWI overseas film bureau, said on his arrival in New York last week from Hollywood. An over-all picture of the proceedings will be recorded in a film of from two to four reels, to be produced at Twentieth Century-Fox. OWI will work in association with all U. S. newsreels, the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs and the State Department. Regular newsreel coverage will be made available to foreign newsreels, including interviews with the delegates in their native languages. The newsreels, the CIAA and Overseas Film Bureau will have camera crews at the conference, with all sharing the expense of lighting. Each unit will have one sound and one silent camera crew. 41 Nations Invited to Show Films at San Francisco The State Department has sent invitations to the Secretaries of State of the 41 United Nations asking them to submit films for showing at the San Francisco Security Conference, which will start April 25. The industry is working on a program to exhibit entertainment and documentary films at two San Francisco theatres. All officially accredited delegates will be invited to attend. Barney Balaban, president of Paramount, is executive chairman of the industry's committee, cooperating with the U. S. Government. Howard Dietz, vice-president of MGM, is chairman of the planning committee. The following committee is in charge of program scheduling : Claude Lee, Fay Reeder, Jason Joy, Charles Einfeld, Arthur DeBra, Glendon Allvine and Mr. Dietz. Offer New Ilex Shutter A new shutter, the Number Four, has been announced by the Ilex Optical Company, Rochester. It has built-in synchonization for operation with flashbulbs, and, accomodating 8^2, 10, and 12-inch Ilex lenses, is especially for portrait studio photography. Rosenfield To Be Inducted Jonas Rosenfield, Jr., assistant advertising manager of Twentieth Century-Fox, will leave his post the end of this month for the Army. Mr. Rosenfield was tendered a testimonial dinner by his associates last week, at the Sherry Netherland Hotel, New York. British Hold Up Film by Capra on Burma Campaign Charging that the treatment implied a preponderance of American troops over British effectives in the Burma campaign, the British War Office has held up distribution of a motion picture produced under the supervision of Colonel Frank Capra, according to news dispatches from London. The film, made by Colonel Capra while he was in the United States Army, was ordered withheld after a screening in New York attended by George Archibald, controller of the British Ministry of Information, and Major Frank Owen, editor in India of the British publication SEAC. Terming the picture, made at the special request of Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten, Supreme Allied Commander in Southeast Asia, as "completely unfair," a spokesman for a British Army Film Unit was quoted as saying that "it does not do justice to the part played by the British forces." The British Press Association quoted the spokesman as saying that the film "was intended to cover the early stages of the campaign when the proportion of British troops to American was about 20 to one. "While it does not give an unbalanced picture of the whole campaign," the spokesman was reported as saying, "it covers only one phase of the Burma war — the phase which is almost completely an American show." Meanwhile, a film is being completed about the British campaign by Lieut. Col. D. C. MacDonald, who filmed the Libyan campaign in "Desert Victory." Mr. Archibald, formerly director of the Film Division of the British Information Services, left New York last week for London after a threeweek stay in connection with the Capra film. U. S. Treasury Relaxes French Trade Curbs Trade between the United States and France and her colonies may now be carried on through normal commercial channels without the need to obtain specific foreign-fund licenses, the U. S. Treasury Department announced April 13 in Washington. Payment for goods exported from France may be made by depositing the dollar amount in an American bank to the credit of the consignor or a bank in France, or by the purchase of francs from a licensed exchange dealer. Dollars accruing in such accounts may be U6ed to finance payments in the United States or for. remittances from France to this country. Other French assets in this country continue to be blocked. Only the balances from current transactions may be used to finance trade. Saltonstall To Go Abroad For MPPDA Liaison Job Philip Leverett Saltonstall, who has been actively studying the industry in Hollywood, New York and Washington since last September, has been formally assigned to go overseas as a representative of the International Department of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America. He will leave soon for England, where he will be associated with F. W. Allport of the MPPDA until he can proceed to the continent. In Europe, he will be liaison for American motion picture companies with representatives of foreign governments and our own government officials abroad. Schless to Europe Robert Schless, general manager for Paramount's Continental Europe, North Africa and Near East division, left last week for Paris via London, according to John W. Hicks, Jr., president of Paramount International Films, Inc. Henri Michaud, assistant general manager for the divi~ sion is expected to leave Now York for Paris to join Schless about the end of April, according to Mr. Hicks. MOTION PICTURE HERALD. APRIL 21, 1945 29