Motion Picture Herald (Jan-Feb 1945)

A. J. Patel India Producer Sees No Need to Make Raw Stock Althouah India, prolific producer, has no facilities for manuiacturing raw stock, she has no need for such facilities, in the opinion of 'A. J. Patel, Indian producer, distributor, processor and publisher, who has been visiting Washington, Hollywood and New York, where he was interviewed last week. India used 70,000,000 feet of film last year, Mr Patel said. One filmcoating machine would be more than the country needed, he pointed out. A coating machine must be run continuously for eight to 12 weeks to obtain even emulsion distribution, and then must be run continuously, he said, adding that one day's output, in his estimation, would require 30 days of ordinary Indian film consumption. The country's allocation of film from the United States has been cut to 28,000,000 feet for 1945, Mr. Patel said. Means Some Hardship ' Mr. Patel said this reduction «ie&nt hardship for Indian producers of films not essential for prosecution of the war. He added that the request this year was for 70,000,000 feet for civilian consumption and an additional 40,000,000 for military use. The amount allocated apparently would have to satisfy both categories, he said. Indian producers were highly economical, in comparison to Hollywood, Mr. Patel said. Features are limited to 11,000 feet, and very few prints are allowed. American equipment producers should consider India in post-war planning, he said. And they should not, in their considerations, underestimate India's requirements. They should not say, he said, "that India will take five or 10 per cent of^their output; they should say perhaps 50 per cent." Not one American motion picture camera was used in regular Indian production, Mr. Patel said, trhe cameras used are French De Bries. [i Mr. Patel has been buying 16mm and some 35mm projectors here, in connection with his Educational Films of India project, begun by him in 1940, and intended to raise the standard of the largely illiterate masses of his country. ; He said he had bought 200 16mm projectors from Eastman, and was closing a contract for 500 hiore from Ampro ; and that he also had purchased 37 35mm projectors. Approved by U. S. Government The purchases were and are being made with the permission of the State Department and other U. S. Government agencies, and by recommendation of the Indian Government, he said. Mr. Patel has formed the Central Cine Corporation, in India, for production of 35mm features. Capitalization was $3,000,000, he said, adding that $1,000,000 had been raised. Production would begin on this latter amount, he said, and his company would distribute the pictures, and also exhibit them, at theatres especially leased. Indians, Mr. Patel stressed, liked pictures the main attractions of which were music, dancing and songs. They like comedies least of all. Mr. Patel is Central Cine's managing director; proprietor of the Central Camera Company, Studio Central, Central Cine Service; president of Educational Films of India, and publisher of the magazines Camera in the Tropics and Camera Publication) of India. He is a former cameraman, and now a photographic hobbyist, having exhibited his pictorial work in the outstanding photographic salons of the world. Kantorek New 20th-Fox Head in Central and Eastern Europe Louis Kantorek has been appointed 20th Century-Fox Central and Eastern European manager by Ben Miggins, Continental European manager. Mr. Kantorek will make his headquarters in Paris and Prague and his territory is expected to cover Czechoslovakia, Poland, Austria and Hungary. He was formerly associated with MGM and Columbia in Europe and at one time maintained his own distribution organization in Prague. Code Asks Bigger Projection Booth According to new provisions of the building code for theatres and other constructions devised by the New York State Labor Department's advisory committee, projection booths in the state, excluding New York City, would have to be almost SO per cent larger than at present. Present requirements call for booths to be not less than 48 square feet for one projection machine ; provisions for new construction will call for at least 80 square feet. Booths will have to be at least 10 feet deep and eight feet high. Provision of 30 inches clearance between machines will be required. According to a spokesman for the advisory committee, consideration of separate sections of the code which apply to new theatre constructions has been completed. The committee is said to be in complete agreement on all new provisions, but it is pointed out that public hearings will be held on the code once the advisory committee completes ■ its work. The next meeting is scheduled for Feb-' ruary 16 with indications that it will require three or four more meetings. In Chicago the City Council has amended the city building code to permit police, fire, health and building departments to close any theatre, or other buildings where they find conditions which might menace life or health. In Connecticut several bills have been filed in the state legislature afifecting theatres. In addition to a two-men-in-a-booth bill, another has been referred to the Committee on the Public Health and Safety recommending many changes in exit, pavement, inspection and other provisions for theatres. In Iowa a measure licensing theatres and setting up certain building regulations and annual inspections recently was introduced in the legislature. Bill To Curb Petrillo Approved by Senate Without a dissenting vote, the Senate last Friday passed the bill introduced by Senator Vandenberg to outlaw any interference or conspiracy to interfere with broadcasts of non-commercial education or cultural programs by educational institutions. The bill, aimed at the interference of James C. Petrillo, American Federation of Musicians head, with these broadcasts, is now before the House. In an editorial February 1, the New York Times, discussing Mr. Petrillo, said : "The real question is not whether Mr. Petrillo abuses his power but whether the law should place so much irresponsible power in his hands. 'Upon what meat doth this, our Caesar feed that he is grown so great?' When Congress has answered that question ... it will be ready to bring the Petrillos within bounds. And not until then." Studio Unions Object to Bridges' Deportation A resolution against the proposed deportation of Harry Bridges, West Coast CIO leader found to be in this country illegally as a Communist affiliate by Attorney General Biddle, has been adopted by the Conference of Studio Unions, which includes nfne AFL unions of about 8,000 motion picture workers. The conference is believed to be the only AFL unit in California that has taken such a position. Herbert Sorrell, a principal in the Hollywood Painters' Union local, heads the conference. Sees Little Story Material from South America Argentina, the only South American country that supplies any considerable local literary material suitable for Hollywood production, is using that supply herself, according to Geoffrey Shurlock, an executive of the Motion Picture Society for the Americas, back in Hollywood from a nine-week tour under the auspices of the Society and the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America. He said that few of the South American writers meet U. S. film requirements, most of them tending toward the critical rather ,' than the entertainment side. i "In view of the importance in Argentina of the il local picture industry," Mr. Shurlock reported, i "not much published material is available for j Hollywood. Most of the active fiction writers are 'i writing directly for the screen, and the occasional .'I suitable novel is snapped up locally." He sug 'I gested, however, that "excellent" screen material on modern Argentine life could be obtained by ' bringing som€ of their experienced writers to Hollywood and teaming them with a Hollywood screen technician, or by buying and remaking some of their pictures. South America's dissatisfaction with Hollywood's portrayals of her citizens, their customs ' and their culture, had passed, Mr. Shurlock emphasized. He attributed this largely to the establishment of the Society, the liaison body functioning between the studios and the Office of the Coordinator.of jlnter -American Affairs, and to the tightening of ' preventive inspection by the Production Code Administration of scripts containing material concerning South America. The attitude toward American production in South America was favorable with respect to the project which gives employment to native workers, but unfavorably to any project which seemed to represent a purpose to acquire control of the native industry, Mr. Shurlock said. Further suggestions for developing South American material included one fdr a contest among Latin American novelists for the novel or scenario best suited for Hollywood production. Also, that in the absence of suitable locally written material, it would be possible to adapt European or even American novels to a South American background. Mr. Shurlock cited three such successes, "La Fuga," a Mexican production transferring Maupassant's "Boule de Suif" to the time of the French invasion of Mexico; an Argentine production of Daudet's "Safo," with the locale moved from Paris to Buenos Aires, and 20th Century-Fox's production, "That Night in Rio," which transferred the "Folies Bergere" to Rio de Janeiro. Mr. Shurlock warned against pictures about the gaucho. "Too much stress," he said, "cannot be laid upon the inadvisability of attempting anything connected with gaucho life or customs. The gaucho* has become practically a legendary and historical figure in Argentine life, and is no more representative of modern Argentina than the western buffalo hunter of our own recent past would be representative of Texas today." Decency Legion Reviews Seven New Pictures The National Legion of Decency this week classified seven new films as follows: In Class A-1, unobjectionable for general patronage, are "The Great Stagecoach Robbery," "They Shall Have Faith." In Class A-2, unobjectionable for adults : "Chicago Kid," "Frisco Sal," "The Kid Sister," "What a Blonde," "Youth on Trial." Fairbanks, Jr., Decorated By British Government The British Distinguished Service Cross has been awarded to Lieut. Comdr. Douglas Fairbanks Jr., for his work as special operations officer on | Vice Admiral H. K. Hewitt's staff in landings in Sicily and at Salerno, Elba and southern France, it was announced February 3. 34 MOTION PICTURE HERALD, FEBRUARY 10, 1945