Motion Picture Herald (May-Jun 1946)

Warner in 16mm Field in Far East Latin America The entry of Warner Brothers into the 16mm field in Latin America and the Far East was announced by the company Monday after a series of conferences among Harry M. Warner, president; Jack L. Warner, executive producer, and Wolfe Cohen, vice-president of Warner International, following the latter's return from a fourmonth inspection tour of India, Burma, China and other parts of the Orient. Thus Warner Brothers becomes the sixth company to announce 16mm plans. Since V-J Day, MGM, RKO, J. Arthur RankUniversal, Columbia and United Artists have become active in the field. Currently Paramount and 20th Century-Fox are formulating plans for joint 16mm operation which will utilize mobile units. In order to make the 16mm service available in as many territories as possible during the celebration of Warners' 20th anniversary of talking pictures, the work of preparing 16mm prints is being started immediately. Pictures will be selected with an eye to their special suitability for the respective markets and all of them will get the special sound anniversary release, "Night and Day." Distribution will be handled by the regular Warner branch personnel in these countries, where special facilities for the new service are now being set up. All exhibitors using 35mm will be protected to the extent that no 16mm prints will be sold for exhibition in opposition to 35mm accounts, it was announced. Mr. Cohen, who made a survey of South America before his ¥sr East trip, reported 16mm equipment still was comparatively scarce in all these countries. India needs at least 1,000 machines, while Ceylon requir-os more than 100, he said. In the Philippines, however, considerable equipment has already been installed and is in operation. Seidelman Leaves U. A. to Be PRC Foreign Manager Sam L. Seidelman last week resigned from United Artists and Monday joined PRC as foreign manager, it was announced by Harry Thomas, president and general manager. Mr. Seidelman was manager of the Latin American division for United Artists since 1940. Before joining U.A. in 1931, he was with Paramount in various capacities both in the domestic and foreign fields. Merchant Back to Altec Major Robert S. Merchant has returned to the Altec Service Corporation and will make his headquarters in Barbourville, Ky. He entered the signal Corps in 1941 and in 1944 was assigned to work on the atomic bomb development. Newsreel Pool Charge Denied by Clofine In reply to a complaint against duplication in newsreels, made by the Associated Theatre Owners of Indiana in the current issue of the ATOI bulletin, M. D. Clofine, editor of News of the Day, this week asserted there had been no newsreel pools in any area except Japan, since shortly after V-J Day. Claiming that the number of shots duplicated by the different newsreels was at an all-time high, the Indiana exhibitors, through Don Rossiter, executive secretary, said, "It is high time the newsreels stop the interchange of shots which reduces greatly the value of the newsreel to the exhibitor." Speaking for the newsreel companies, Mr. Clofine pointed out that it was as inevitable for important news events to be duplicated on the screen as for the same story to appear in different newspapers. The current newsreel pool in Japan and the pool in the impending atom bomb test on Bikini Atoll were necessitated by the lack of adequate transportation facilities, he added. Briton Planning Films in Prague by J. B. KANTUREK in Prague Arthur C. Marshall, the British director, currently is negotiating with representatives of the state monopoly for the production in Prague of a series of educational films for children, called "Magic Globe." The shorts will feature both English and Czech children and will be distributed by Gaumont British. Mr. Marshall also is considering the production of a feature in the Prague studios which would be made in English and Czech versions. V A program for a festival of British pictures is being prepared. It includes several Technicolor features, the first color films to be screened in Czechoslovakia, apart from the German color films. There have been some objections raised against including Sir Alexander Korda's "Four Feathers" on the program since it is felt here that the film describes a British imperialist war. Acquires 16mm Rights To Universal Films Film Highlights, Inc., New York City, has acquired 16mm rights from Universal Pictures to 50 features, four serials and a number of shorts, including musicals and cartoons, for distribution in the United States. Martin Ross, president of the firm, has announced that Jacques Kopfstein will be associated with Film Highlights in a consulting capacity. Among the features are eight in Technicolor, including "Arabian Nights" and "Phantom of the Opera." Latin America Is Best 16mm Area For MGM: Hicks Latin America has the opportunity to become the first large world area to fully develop its market for the distribution and exhibition of MGM films in 16mm, Orton H. Hicks, head of the 16mm department of Loew's International Corporation, said Wednesday at the third day's session of MGM's week-long sales conference of its South and Central American territorial managers at the Hotel Astor in New York. Among the company officials attending the convention are Arthur M. Loew, president of Loew's International; Morton A. Spring, first vice-president; George Muchnic, vicepresident, and Sam N. Burger, regional director for Latin America. The managers attending are Elias Barberis, Dean Banker, Harry Bryman, Eugene Coen, Stuart Dunlap, Carl Heumann, Carlos Niebla, Luis A. Sarmiento, Robert Schoham, W. L.».Simpson and Adolf Wallfish. Dubbing Fixed Policy Mr. Loew announced that dubbing of Spanish dialogue for all-Spanish versions would continue intact as a fixed policy of the company. He said that dubbing had been successfully field tested in Latin America for a year and a half. Continuing his talk on 16mm films, Mr. Hicks said that there were two reasons for Latin America's leadership. First was the fact that with 19 South and Central American countries all speaking Spanish, the problem of preparing reduction prints in 16mm is simpler than for any other territory, excluding those speaking English. Second advantage is that 16mm representatives for all Latin American territories have been trained in the United States and all are already back home, putting the plan into operation. Elaborating on the basic points of MGM's 16mm policy, Mr. Hicks emphasized the company's system of controls prevent the narrow-guage film from competing with Addressing the convention Tuesday, Mr. Loew told the Latin American supervisors that "all the resources and technical experience gained in the United States for selling and exploiting MGM's pictures will be applied to our rapidly expanding market in Spanish-speaking countries." Open Vast Territories Mr. Burger developed this theme and pointed out that "audiences throughout South and Central America have enthusiastically received MGM's films in their own language and opened vast territories for the release of our pictures." The Latin American managers will remain in New York until the weekend and then fly to Culver City to meet studio executives and study production methods. MOTION PICTURE HERALD. JUNE 8. 1946 39