Motion Picture Herald (May-Jun 1946)

20th'Fox to Open In Middle East MEXICAN INDUSTRY IN CRITICAL SPOT Over Production, with 50 Films Held, Too Many Studios Chief Factors by LUIS BECERRA CELIS in Mexico City Too many pictures, too many studios, and too many debts have put the Mexican industry in a critical situation. Over-production has forced no fewer than 50 pictures into cold storage and several pictures that were expected to be great box office successes developed into poor moneymakers. The advancement of studio expansion at great cost to Mexico, which will soon give this country five large and modern plants, is likely to add up to a heavy loss for investors because of this over-production. $5,000,000 in Debt While banks are continuing to lend the industry money, the industry is already in debt about $5,000,000 — represented by those 50 frozen films. The Nacional Bank of Mexico, this country's largest private bank, and the Nacional Financiera, the Federal Government's fiscal agency, are said to be the largest private backers of the industry. Reports are found to be erroneous that the industry's own bank, the Banco Cinematografico, is bankrupt. Profits of this bank during the first five months of 1946 were $46,536, while those for 1945 totaled $265,328, which was 33 per cent of the bank's capital. This capital was recently increased to $1,000,000. Additionally, the industry has received loans, credits and discounts totaling $78,346 up to May 31, this year, from the film trade bank, the Banco de la Industria Filmica. Cautions About Loans Reliable information has it that the industry bank has proceeded with great caution in its loans. The maximum loan the bank has made per picture has been only $60,000. That works out practically at a ceiling loan of between 50 and 30 per cent of the cost of a picture. Since every producer must repay the loan from the first proceeds of the picture and since each producer is almost certain of getting back at least 50 per cent return on his picture, the bank is thus assured of rarely losing money. Financial conditions of the industry, however, are said to be normal and its only problem is the 50 frozen films, in which the Banco Cinematografico has a cash interest of about 15 per cent. The National Bank had an interest in about 30 per cent of all pictures made in Mexico. In regard to studio expansion, produc tion circles hold that the present depression in the industry can not merit such expansion. Five studios, they say, have an annual production capacity of 150 picture while 80 pictures can be marketed a year. Producers who have done well in the foreign market declare that greater effort, chiefly in the form of "quality film," must be made to gain a bigger hold on such markets as Brazil, Spain and some European countries. V As a parallel to the situation, it is reported that unscrupulous producers who are deemed harmful to the industry at home and abroad will be eliminated from the industry beginning July 1. The Association of Producers of Mexican Motwn Pictures, to act as the cleansing agent, will go hard after certain producers who, it claims, give Mexico a bad name by exercising what amounts to fraud : asking and obtaining funds in advance from exhibitors in Central and South America and then failing to deliver. Punishment for producers who do not operate ethically will be expulsion or suspension from the Association. V The exhibition of British pictures here is being aided by the British Society of Mexico. Seven pictures are receiving this patronage: "The Seventh Veil," "Madonna of the Seven Moons," "The Man in Grey," "The Wicked Lady," 'Dead of Night," "Notorious Gentleman" and "Henry V." Eshelman Named Paramount Rochester City Manager James H. Eshelman, connected with Paramount for more than 20 years, has been appointed city manager for Paramount in Rochester, N. Y., and will supervise the operations of the Century, Regent and Capitol theatres in that city, it was announced Tuesday by Leonard Goldenson, vice-president in charge of theatre operations. On July 31, when the joint management between RKO and the Monroe Amusement Company in Rochester terminates, the Century, Regent and Capitol will be operated by Paramount. Mr. Eshelman assumes his duties as of that date. Exhibit New Shadow Box The Bell & Howell Company will exhibit a newly designed shadow box at the National Association of Visual Education Dealers' convention to be held Augfust 5, 6 and 7 at Chicago's Continental Hotel. According to the company the new box will afford high-quality projection of sound and silent films. Following the NAVED convention. Bell & Howell will hold a special one-day meeting of company personnel attending the convention. Emanuel Silverstone, home office representative for Twentieth Century-Fox International, returned to New York last week after four months in the Middle East and announced the company would establish offices in Lebanon September 1 for Lebanon and Syria and in Iraq, January 1. The company already has offices in Egypt and Palestine. Mr. Silverstone visited Greece, Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq and was, in company with a couple of packaged deisel engines, to fly to Iran. That trip was cancelled at the last moment. A rising market in Palestine, Mr. Silverstone told the trade press Tuesday, indicates that business in Palestine soon will be greater than in any other area in the Middle East. Theatre attendance was increasing there, he said, in spite of one of the highest admission rates in the territory. The country has only 55 theatres, 25 of these in the three largest cities. However, new building is being held up because of the need for housing. Twentieth-Fox product plays as is in Palestine — no subtitles, no dubbing. Major Studios Dismiss Painters, Carpenters The major studios last Thursday dismissed approximately 1,000 painters and carpenters, who, with the blessing of the Conference of Studio Uions, have refused to work on sets for Technicolor pictures where cameras were used that were serviced by other than the non-AFL International Association of Machinists, Local 1185. By midweek the studios were still operating without either the carpenters or painters although set preparations were at a standstill and production faced a gradual stoppage for lack of sets. Some CSU officials have expressed a willingness to submit this matter to arbitration, but Herbert K. Sorrell, CSU head, told a meeting of workers Sunday, in Hollywood: "We will take up where we left off in last year's strike, concentrating first on MGM," if the studios call in replacements for the painters and carpenters. Meanwhile, studio officials said the studios would not close down. Set Atomic Bomb Short Production of "Our Last Chance," a documentary short subject dealing with the atomic bomb, has been announced by Warner Bros. Designed along the lines of "Hitler Lives?", the new subject will be directed by Saul Elkins under the supervision of Gordon Hollingshead. Siritzky Distributes 3 Siritzky International Pictures Corporation, New York, is distributing Marcel Pagnol's "The Baker's Wife" with Raimu. In September the company also will release two other Pagnol pictures, "The Well-Digger's Daughter" and "Nais." 40 MOTION PICTURE HERALD, JUNE 29, 1946