Motion Picture Herald (Mar-Apr 1947)

UNION BANS 16mm FILMS IN MEXICO by LUIS BECERRA CELIS in Mexico City All 16mm 'films in Mexico have been shelved because of a ban by the National Cinematographic Industry Workers Union which is seeking, it is learned, to form a special section to handle such films. Warner Brothers, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and RKO are affected. The ban is stringent. The union forbids any of its members, even stenographers, to have anything to do with 16mm films. Owners of such films cannot even have their union stenographers write letters about these films. V The unpleasantness that John Huston, the director, and his staff of American players and technicians experienced at Tampico, where they were filming scenes for "The Treasures of the Sierra Madre," has had a happy ending. Almost mobbed during the filming because the Mexican players felt they were being portrayed in an unfavorable light, Mr. Huston has had his disputed scenes, and his entire picture, approved by the country's censors. V "Deception" had its Mexican premiere at the opening of the Trans-Lux Prado on April 2 here. The theatre, a feature of the new de luxe Hotel Prado, seats 950. V The Ministry of Public Education has guaranteed the continuance of the Academy of Cinematographic Art and Technique, Mexico's counterpart of the Hollywood Academy. V Because many stars are accepting lower wages than those offered in the past, production costs have dropped somewhat here and producers have expressed themselves as pleased with the 1947 production outlook. ITALY by ARGEO SANTUCCI in Rome Because of raw stock shortages, Italy has decided to allow the free importation of raw stock. However, the importation must be handled without any transfer of currency. Credits will be given to the importing companies. Permission for such raw stock imports must be obtained from the Ministry of Foreign Trade. V June 1-8 a meeting of all those interested in the educational film will be held in Milan. Housing, agriculture, the arts, hygiene, history and geography will be discussed in relation to films. From May 24 to June 21 an exhibit of pre-fabricated theatres and of motion picture equipment will be held in Milan. American companies have been invited to exhibit theatres and 16mm equipment. The Motion Picture Service of the Cabinet Council has promised to give all aid to those wishing to import pre-fabricated theatres and equipment. V The three box office champions of 1946 were all American pictures. They were : "Mrs. Miniver," a run of 194 days; "Two Faced Woman," 192 days, and "Suez," 161 days. V The following board of directors has been appointed for Cinecitta, the most important studio in Italy: Libero Solar oli, Alfredo Messineo, Enrico Franceschi, Gino Raffo and Renato Gualino, a producer of the Lux Film Company. Government capital is back of the company. V It is reported that the Government will grant 300,000,000 lire, about $1,300,000, to ENIC, the largest Italian circuit, and 200,000,000 lire, $888,000, to the Institute Luce Nuova. The Government owns shares in both companies. Eitel Monaco has been appointed to the board of directors of ENIC. SPAIN Permission for the dubbing of foreign pictures to be shown in Spain will be granted only to those persons or companies producing native feature films approved by the High Committee for the Motion Picture Industry and meeting certain technical and artistic standards, according to a bill recently published by the official journal of the government. HUNGARY by ALEXANDER FODCR in Budapest About a year ago exhibitors in Hungary were looking to Hollywood with the devotion of a Mohammedan toward Mecca. They could hardly control their impatience waiting for barriers to be lifted and new American films to pour in, opening a new era of brisk business. When the new films arrived, however, this big business did not come up to expectancy. While in former times four to five-week runs were normal, nowadays a two to three-week run must be considered good. One of the most important reasons for this slackening of interest in films is the economic situation. Living conditions are deplorably below former standards. People have to economize and the amusement industries suffer as a result, although the motion picture houses are doing better than the legitimate houses. It is agreed the Budapest office of the Motion Picture Export Association is doing a good job. In the first three months of its existence, 20 films were released, several proving hits: "How Green Was My Valley," "Cover Girl," "Mrs. Miniver." MPEA's position has been greatly fortified since, at the beginning of March, MGM began operating within the framework of the MPEA. V Recently important initiative steps were taken towards film production here. The Government decided to use a significant portion of the 12 per cent "public institutions endowment fee" collected from exhibitors to subsidize local production. It is expected that five or six films can be thus financed. CHILE by MARIA ROMERO in Santiago Chile Films, the country's most important film enterprise, has gone bankrupt. The studio, in existence three years, managed to survive, in spite of gradually increasing losses, because it was backed by the Corporacion de Fomento de la Produccion, CORFO, a Governmental department. In addition to being the largest shareholder in the company, the CORFO is also the largest creditor. In January an attempt was made to reorganize the company, but at that time the balance sheet showed a loss of 13,000,000 Chilean pesos. Chile Films produced only nine pictures. CORFO will assume ownership of the studios and reopen them under a new name and will look for new private capital. Independent Chilean producers are trying to keep the industry going. A new enterprise, Artistas Chilenos Asociados, has announced it will begin making pictures in April. Its first film will be "El ultimo concierto." Araucania, another new independent producing firm, has finished making "Si mis campos hablaran." V The Direccion de Informaciones y Cultura is studying dubbed pictures and may abolish all dubbing, which is considered to be badly translated. MGM is the only distributor releasing only dubbed productions. CZECHOSLOVAKIA by J. B. KANTUREK in Prague The Czechoslovak Minister, of Information, V. Kopecky, nominated on March 14 a supervising body for economical and financial affairs of the film monopoly. The members of this new body were selected from the Czechoslovak Film Corporation, motion picture department of the ministry, and from the Ministry of Finance. V Motion Picture Export Association product showing at the end of March : "Reap the Wild Wind," seventh week; "Guadalcanal Diary," sixth; "I Married a Witch," fourth; "Madame Curie," second week, and "Hold Back the Dawn," first week. 22 MOTION PICTURE HERALD, APRIL 5, 1947