Motion Picture Herald (Mar-Apr 1946)

JIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIH^ COMPLETED COLUMBIA The Coffin Blondie Knows Best MONOGRAM Trail to Mexico REPUBLIC Stagecoach to Denver Under Nevada Skies Earl Carroll Sketchbook UNIVERSAL She Meant No Harm STARTED COLUMBIA Rio Sing While You Dance Cowboy Blues INTERNATIONAL Bella Donna MONOGRAM Roaring Range Jade Lady PARAMOUNT Fear , in , the Night . (fine-Thomas) "4: /i 1 ^ ^ Ghofeti of i Hidden I \>lley? ■ [ RKO RADIO It's a Wonderful Life (Liberty Films) Best Years of Our Lives (Goldwyn) REPUBLIC G.I. War Brides Out California Way 20TH CENTURYFOX Carnival in Costa Rica That's for Me UNITED ARTISTS Abie'Js Irish Rose ' (CSrosbj^) UNIVERSAL Cuban Pete WARNERS Life with Father SHOOTING COLUMBIA Down to Earth The Great Highway INDEPENDENT Curley (Roach) MGM Woman of My Own Tenth Avenue Angel My Brother Who Talked to Horses Undercurrent | | MOHOiGRAM I I Jumpin' Joe | \ PARAMOUNT Where There'sf Life Welcome Stranger Perils of Paulfne \ ' Suddenly It's Spring PRC Secrets of a Sorority Girl Missouri Hayride RKO RADIO Secret Life of Walter Mitty (Goldwyn) Falcon's Adventure Honeymoon Sinbad the Sailor What Nancy Wanted REPUBLIC Plainsman and the Lady 20TH CENTURY -FOX My Darling Clementine Razor's Edge Forever Amber Home Sweet Homicide Claudia and David UNITED ARTISTS Little Iodine (Comet) Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber (Bogeaus-Robinson) The Bachelor's Daughters (Stone) UNIVERSAL Black Angel Ghost Steps Out The Runaround WARNERS Stallion Road Cloaks and Dagger Cheyenne A Very Rich Man The Sentence Humoresque Color Keynote of Future Pictures Any exhibitor optimistic enough to be planning now the decoration of a theatre he may hope to get ready for opening a couple of years hence might as well proceed on the theory, reversing precedent, that the screen by then is going to be so rife with color as to suggest monochrome, old ivory, or even eggshell white for an auditorium color scheme. Gone by then, unless technicians toiling now on the contrivances of coloration are tripped by obstacles they do. not foresee, will be the last of the reasons why a picture should be produced in black-and-white, and gone with them will be, presumably, the principal reason why theatre interiors have Ijeen decorated with all the colors in the rainbow, including silver and gold. Or wasn't it, in the beginning, the idea to supply within the auditorium the warmth of the color the picture on the screen did not possess ? As matters stand at this point on the calendar, all the laboratories capable of turning out presentable color prints are pressed to capacity and booked up for more than a year in advance, which is about as far as there is disposition to accept orders. The demand upon them is virtually equivalent to the demand from Hollywood for pictures, because the word has gone around, supported by box office figures, that the addition of color to a picture — any picture — is equal to the addition of at least one top star to the cast. Say Exhibitors Demand Color This word has come to Hollywood via the sales departments of the film companies, major and minor, which maintain flatly that exhibitors are demanding color in their pictures, even the little Westerns, for the reason that so many more people will come to see them, paying so much more for the privilege if compelled to do so. Oddly, perhaps, this testimony concerning 'I ' the little pictures ih color appeafs to have convinced producers of the merchtindising value of color more conclusively than' similaf testimony regarding big pictures had during the years when only the big ones came out in color. In the case of the big picture in color, of course, there was always the possibility that in each case it was one or another of the big stars in it whose presence accounted for the big grosses. The case of the little picture, lacking the presence of even a single marquee personality and yet showing a distinct bulge on the gross chart, does not permit of such explanation. This doubtless is the principal reason why Hollywood producers at large have gone color-cOnscious with virtual unanimity^ Answers Many and Intricate Be the case for color what it may, the case for black-and-white, if there be one, is without a champion in the production community at this time. There is not, as there was when sound came in, a bloc of dissenters holding out for retention of the old orderThere were those who said of sound that it cheapened the art form, or reduced the screen to the status of a one-dimensional stage, depriving it of its artistic integrity. There are no voices raised to declare that adoption of color is a step away from any status worth defending. It is doubtful that any voices raised in protest would prevail longer than those which were raised against sound. The answers to the superficial question, "Why not make 'em all in color?", are many and intricate, but can be broken down roughly into two. 1. There aren't enough laboratories to handle them all, and 2, nobody can build any more laboratories until nobody knows when. There are other reasons, technological ones, some having to do with patents, and a most important one having to do with the fact that color-laboratory mechanisms have to be constructed much as fine watches were back in the days when "hand made" meant just that. Briefing all these reasons, none of which are brief in any meaning of the word, color laboratory men say flatly that it will be two years before Hollywood can turn out appreciably more color footage than it is turning out today. The coming of that day and time, however, is a matter for showmen to have in mind when they give out those contracts for the ultimate construction of that theatre they are going to build, as if and when they can. There appears at this time no doubt that all pictures will be color pictures before the century reaches the half-way mark. Walter Wanger Realigning Independent Interests A reorganization of Walter Wanger Pictures, Inc., was made known this week when Robert Taplinger, vice-president, was assigned a heavy share of management. In addition to Wanger Pictures, other companies earmarked for development by Mr. Wanger are Diana Corporation, in which he is associated with Fritz Lang, Joan Bennett and Dudley Nicholas; the En Corporation, jointly operated with Ingrid Bergman ; Young America Films, Inc., which will produce 16mm educational pictures, and Walter Wanger Productions, which is currently preparing two Technicolor pictures. Wanger Pictures will produce a Dorothy Parker story for Susan Hayward, and the Diana Corporation has scheduled "The Secret Beyond the Door." Young America Films, headed by Stuart Scheftel, will make 60 educational films this year. Thomas to Coast to Set PRC Convention Plans Harry H. Thomas, president of PRC, left New York April 19 for Hollywood for a four to six-week visit. On the coast he will confer with Reeves Espy and other studio officials concerning new product, approve arrangements for the company's annual convention and supervise the west coast premiere of the company's "The Wife of Monte Cristo." During his trip, Mr. Thomas will make trips to Portland, Seattle, Denver, Salt Lake City, Dallas, Oklahoma City, Little Rock, New Orleans and Memphis. llllllllllllllllllillllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllli^ MOTION PICTURE HERALD, APRIL 27, I94& 41