Motion Picture Herald (Nov-Dec 1946)

THE HOLLYWOOD SCENE Production Stepped Up With Nine Started, 7 By Independents Hollywood Bureau Production heads in Hollywood appeared to have discounted the effects of the current labor dispute, as well as those of the approaching Christmas holidays, for production surged forward on a broad front during the week. Nine films were started, two completed, which brought the shooting index up to 54, as compared with the previous level of 47. Also worthy of note is the fact that, of the nine new films, seven were launched by independent producing units. David O. Selznick, shortly after announcing formation of his new Selznick Releasing Organization, started work on "The Paradine Case," which, Alfred Hitchcock is directing. Laid in London and dealing with a murder trial, it appears likely that the title, taken from the novel by Robert Hichens, will be changed before the picture reaches the nation's theatres. Prominent in the cast are Gregory Peck, Ann Todd, Louis Jourdan, Ethel Barrymore, Charles Laughton, Charles Coburn and Joan Tetzel. Hal Wallis launched his eighth production for Paramount release, "Deadlock." Described as a suspense drama of New York night life, its cast includes Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Wendell Corey, Kristine Miller and George Rigaud. Byron Haskin is the director. "Ivy", for Universal, Started; Stars Joan Fontaine At Universal-International, work began on "Ivy," an Interwood Production based on a book by Marie Belloc-Lowndes. Heading the cast are Joan Fontaine, Richard Ney, Patric Knowles, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Herbert Marshall, Lucile Watson, Rosalind Ivan and Sara Allgood. Sam Wood is directing; William Cameron Menzies is producing. In Mexico City, producer Merian C. Cooper and director John Ford launched "The Fugitive," an Argosy Picture being filmed bi-lingually for RKO Radio release. The cast includes Henry Fonda, Dolores del Rio, Mel Ferrer, Pedro Armandariz, Robert Armstrong and Leo Carrillo. Venture Pictures, producing company headed by Bernard Small and Lou Appleton, Jr., started work on "Bulldog Drummond at Bay," which is destined for Columbia release. The film marks the Hollywood debut of the Australian actor, Ron Randell, and Anita Louise has the feminine lead. Sidney Salkow is the director. Another new Columbia film is "Riders of the Lone Star," latest in the studio's "Durango Kid" series starring Charles Starrett and Smiley Burnette, with Virginia Hunter in the feminine lead. Colbert Clark produces ; Derwin Abrahams directs. "Violence," a B & B production for Monogram release, went before the cameras with Jack Bernhard directing. The cast includes Nancy Coleman, Michael O'Shea, Richard Irving, Frank Reicher and Billy Green. PRC's entry-of-the-week is "The Payoff," featuring James Brown and Noreen Nash. Marvin Stahl is the producer; James Flood the director. On location at Ensanada, Mexico, Southern California Films' initial production, "Women in the Night," went into work. Louis K. Ansell, prominent St. Louis exhibitor, is the producer, and William Rowland is the director. Bill Henry, Virginia Christine and Tala Birell head the cast. Incidental News of Pictures and People Jacques Tourneur has been engaged by Lester Cowan to direct "Babylon Revisited," the F. Scott Fitzgerald story, which will be produced by Artists Alliance for United Artists release. ... A new producing organization, Clarion Productions, has been formed by William H. Pine and William C. Thomas to provide a minimum of one high-budget film annually for Paramount release. The first will be "Albuquerque," starring Randolph Scott and filmed in Cinecolor. Ray Enright will direct. Hassan D. Khayyam is currently visiting Hollywood for the purpose of studying modern motion picture techniques. Upon his return to India, he will engage in the production of 16mm films, which Mr. Khayyam feels are better suited to the country's distribution and exhibition problems than are 35mm. Barbara Stanwyck's second production for Enterprise will be the story of a pioneer American woman, "Cattle Kate," developed from an original by Max Trell and John Briggs. Wolfgang Reinhardt will produce in color. . . . William Cagney has acquireed the screen rights to William Saroyan's prize-winning play, "The Time of Your Life," and will produce it with his brother James in the stellar spot. . . . Kirk Douglas, who scored in "The Strange Love of Martha Ivers," has been signed to a one-picture-ayear contract by Michael Curtiz Productions. Actor Ronald Reagan has expanded his film activities in that he will write and direct a series of short subjects to be produced for Warners by Gordon Hollingshead. The first of these will deal with the training and riding of horses, and will have Jane Wyman, as well as Reagan himself in the cast. . . . Paulette Goddard will star for Paramount in "Angel Face," the story of a career woman with a cherubic face and an inner heartlessness which wrecks the lives of various men who come in contact with her. Bebe Daniels Plans Big Picture on Roach Lot "Mr. Wilmer," a novel by Robert Lawson, will be the first million-dollar production to be filmed at the Roach lot since the war's end. Bebe Daniels will produce the comedy in Cinecolor. . . . Joan Blondell has been chosen for the romantic lead opposite George Brent in Sam Bischoff's next Columbia production, "The Corpse Came C.O.D." . . . Tim Holt has been signed to a new contract by RKO Radio, and given the leading role in "Beyond the Tonto Rim." Enterprise has purchased a 75-acre section of the old Providencia Rancho in the San Fernando Valley, and will spend $200,000 in improving the property and erecting permanent outdoor sets. . . . British actress Phyllis Calvert has been signed to a long term contract by Paramount, and will star in "Make You a Fine Wife," film version of the Yolanda Foldes novel. . . . William Pizor, foreign department manager for Screen Guild Productions, and John Maugham, Georgia franchise-holder, have arrived in Hollywood for a series of home office conferences. All-American News To Make Features All-American News, Inc., previously confined to newsreels and digests for Negro audiences, has announced in Chicago that their 1947 schedule calls for two features and four Westerns with all-Negro casts. The features are "Struttin' Along" and "That's My Boy"; the first two Westerns will be "Galloping Ghost" and "Haunted Trail." In addition to the weekly newsreel, their schedule calls for 12 features. The entire 1947 product of All-American will be distributed by the Ideal Picture Corporation on 16mm film for non-theatrical exhibitors. Siegel Signed by 20th Century-Fox Sol Siegel has been signed by Twentieth Century-Fox as a producer, effective January 1. He recently resigned from Paramount where he made "Blue Skies." •IHlUlllUIMIIUJIIIM^ IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIUIIIIIIIIIIIIMIIIIIIIlllllllllUIHIIIIIiW 40 MOTION PICTURE HERALD, DECEMBER 21, 1944