Motion Picture Herald (Mar-Apr 1947)

Good Timing SOME TELEPHONE worker has an excellent sense of timing and a sly sense of humor. When the telephone workers went out on strike Monday, it was decided in the New York branch of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company that a motion picture should be shown daily in the company offices for the relaxation of those supervisory employees of the long-lines department who remained on the job. Monday's picture was "And Then There Were None." Telefilmed TELEVISION will bring news to the public shortly after it occurs even when the television camera isn't there to shoot it. The events will be covered by the motion picture camera; the film will be processed with machinery developed by Eastman Kodak under the stress and secrecy of war ; and the public will see the news on television receivers within an hour or so of happening. Engineers of the company, and of the American Broadcasting Company, and the Philco Corporation demonstrated the rapid coverage in Philadelphia Tuesday. Scoop THE FIRST uncensored film— 16,000 feet in all — to come from behind Russia's "iron curtain" has been acquired by March of Time and is currently being screened, edited and prepared for release as a resular issue in the next few weeks. The 16,000 feet of film were taken by an official of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration while on duty in Russia after the war. The film and descriptive notes on each scene photographed was brought from behind the "iron curtain" before UNRRA aid to Russia was stopped. ery for his production of "Hamlet." All of "Eureka Stockade" will be shot in Australia. Plans are progressing for Fiji Island backgrounds for "The Blue Lagoon." A camera crew has been sent to the Antarctic for the projected "Scott of the Antarctic." Rumors are current in London that the Rank Organization has purchased a considerable interest in the leading motion picture circuit in Jamaica. In London last week Mr. Rank fixed world distribution for the first major bilingual English-French Canadian feature, "Whispering City." The feature was produced in Canada by Quebec Productions. Rank ?s World ACCORDING to the April production chart released this week by the J. Arthur Rank Organization, Rank's production companies are filming around the world — from the Fiji Islands to Denmark to Australia. "Rescue" is in work in Switzerland. Belgium is playing host to the cast of "Against the Wind." "End of the River" has resumed in London after backgrounds were shot in Brazil. When "Red Shoes" goes before the cameras, locales will include Monte Carlo, Paris, Florence and Copenhagen. Laurence Olivier is seeking Denmark scen Bombed and Buried RITA HAYWORTH, whose face and figure was painted on the Bikini atom bomb, may be buried in effigy in Alaska. The League of Present Day Artists, New York, whose mission it is "to encourage new directions in art," has prepared a life-sized "permanitized" plastic figure of Miss Hayworth which it will ship to Task Force Frigid in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the request that the figure be buried in the snows — down to the earth — so that posterity 100 years from today can dig it up and see "what one of the most beautiful girls of 1947 looked like." Byrd's Footage THE NAVY is inviting motion picture producers to come, see and use some 75,000 feet of film on the Byrd Antarctic expedition. This footage is the first shipment received from the expedition, according to Commander Richard Winn, and charge of the Navy's motion picture section, "and inquiries are invited concerning the use of this footage for short or feature subjects." It includes 60,000 feet of black and white 35mm films and 15,000 feet of 16mm color. Brazilian Oscars THE BRAZILIAN Association of Motion Picture Critics picked "The Story of G. I. Joe" as the best picture of 1946. Ingrid Bergman was' named the best actress of the year, Ray Milland the best actor, and William Wellman the best director. Other pictures among the top ten included: "The Lost Weekend," "The Seventh Veil," "Spellbound," "The Southerner," "The Last Chance," "The Spiral Staircase," "Mildred Pierce," and "A Walk in the Sun." PEOPLE Howard Dietz, vice-president of MGM, was elected a member of the board of directors of the George "Junior Republic" Association at an executive committee meeting in New York last Wednesday. Joao Carralcasaz has been appointed manager of the Monogram branch in Sao Paulo, Brazil, it has been announced by Norton V. Ritchey, president of Monogram International. Sidney E. Samuelson, general manager of Allied Independent Theatre Owners of Eastern Pennsylvania, will be guest of honor at an industry testimonial dinner May 5 at the Warwick Hotel, Philadelphia. Vice-Admiral William A. Glassford, U.S.N. (Retired) has been named European manager of the Radio Corporation of America it was announced last Friday by David Sarnoff, president. Elmer Carl Rhoden, son of Elmer Rhoden, head of Fox Midwest Theatres, has been named assistant film buyer of Commonwealth Theatres in Kansas City. Robert M. Weitman, managing director of the Paramount theatre in New York and now president of the Cinema Lodge B'nai B'rith, will be guest of honor at a lodge dinner at the Hotel Astor in New York, April 29. Joseph Miller, formerly with Columbia and PRC in Albany, N. Y., has joined Film Classics as supervisor of distribution for the Albany and Buffalo districts. W. Ray Johnston, Monogram board chairman, sailed from New York Wednesday on the Queen Elizabeth for England for a survey of franchise operations in the United Kingdom and on the Continent. He will be gone three months. Dave Gilpin, Thomas Ledger, Clifford J. Cox, Ashley C. Bate, Alice Holt and Nellie Nisbet, of Paramount in Great Britain, who won a trip to this country in a sales drive, returned to England Wednesday on the Queen Elisabeth. Joseph A. Wolfe, comptroller for National Screen Service was elected to the post of treasurer at a meeting of the board of directors April 7, it was announced by Herman Robbins, president of the company. Ray A. Higdon of Dallas, has been named film buyer for Griffith Consolidated Theatres, Inc., Oklahoma City. Mr. Higdon was formerly Twentieth Century-Fox exchange manager in Oklahoma City. Frank J. Homsher, Altec inspector who has been located in Baltimore has been transferred to the Pittsburgh office. MOTION PICTURE HERALD, APRIL 12, 1947 9