Motion Picture Herald (Jan-Mar 1954)

by WILLIAM R. WEAVER Hollywood Editor IRVING ALLEN and A. R. Broccoli, partners in Warwick Productions, whose films are financed and released by Columbia, foresee a day, already here in their own scheme of things, when the producer will regard the wide world as his subject and his market, and they like what they foresee. See No Gloom Ahead for Those Taking Wide View Here for a short stay after producing three features abroad, and before going back to produce three more, the partners took the press into their noontime confidence the other day and spread their quite interesting cards on a Brown Derby table. They quoted impressive statistics in support of their operational policies and their expectations. They see no gloom ahead for anybody in the picture business who takes the long, wide view. The Alien-Broccoli statistics concerning the proportion of the American industry’s income from exhibition abroad were somewhat higher than those quoted the next day by Eric Johnston, MPAA president, but they were speaking as independents and on their own authority. They said it is running about 60 percent and may rise to 70 percent, whereas the Johnston figure was between 43 percent and 44 percent. The figures are not irreconcilable, circumstancially. In a more exact presentation of statistical information they said their production known on this side as “Paratrooper,” and elsewhere as “The Red Beret,” had recouped its entire production cost in the British market alone before opening in the United States, and that experiences of this kind need not be unusual if there are proper planning and production quality. Cite Proper Planning ^4s Essential Factor In the case of “Paratrooper” the producers had Alan Ladd as principal star, supported by an accomplished British cast, and they had the full cooperation of the British in filming parachute training and battle action. This is what they refer to as proper planning, and another of their productions, “The Cockleshell Heroes,” concerning the British Marines, is planned similarly. Warwick does its producing abroad both to obtain genuine backgrounds for the stories of world interest in which the company specializes, and to take advantage of governmental subsidies, but it doesn’t actually use overseas studios, in the normal sense of using studio stages for production pur Irving Allen, left, and A. R. Broccoli, in Hollywood. poses. Nearly all of “Paratrooper” was shot out of doors, as befits an outdoor subject, and the same was true of the company’s forthcoming “Hell Below Zero,” a whaling story filmed in the Antarctic, and of “The Black Knight,” an action story of the King Arthur period. It’s the Alien-Broccoli view that the outdoor action picture, dealing with a subject of substance and vitality, is the most popular and profitable kind of product, throughout the world, that has been devised to date. They say they intend to make no other kind. Their plans for the pictures now on their production schedule reflect their worldwide views. “Cockleshell Heroes” is to be shot in England, France and at Gibraltar. “Prize of Gold” is to be filmed in England and Germany. Another is to be produced in and around Greenland. Warwick is an English company, the Warwick partners have become British residents, which is an advantage to the company when it gets around to obtaining work permits (two to a picture) for American talent such as Alan Ladd in the interests of world box office, and it has no declared limitations as to realm of subject matter or productional operations, save only that both be global. They prescribe global thinking and global operation for the whole of the industry as of the present and the predictable future. FOUR PICTLTRES were started during the week, and two others were completed, as to camera work, and sent to the film editors. Fred MacMurray and Phil Carey are the top players in “The Killer Wore a Badge,” Columbia, which Jules Schermer is producing, with Richard Quine directing. “Gunslinger,” Columbia, Technicolor, has lllllflllllllllllllllllllllllllllllMIIMIIMIIIIIIIIIIIIlll THIS WEEK IN PRODUCTION: STARTED (4) COLUMBIA Killer Wore a Badge Gunslinger (Technicolor) COMPLETED (2) RKO Four Desperate Men (Bogeaus; Eastman) SHOOTING (18) COLUMBIA Human Beast Waterfront MGM Brigadoon (CinemaScope; Ansco color) Student Prince (CinemaScope; Ansco color) Bride for Seven Brothers (CinemaScope; Eastman color) Beau Brummell (Eastman color) PARAMOUNT Rear Window (Technicolor) Bridges at Toko-Ri (Eastman color) RKO Big Rainbow (Technicolor) Susan Slept Here (Technicolor) 20TH-FOX Gambler from Natchez (Panoramic Prod.; Technicolor) U-l Dawn at Socorro (Technicolor) WARNER High and Mighty ( Wayne-Fellows CinemaScope; WarnerColor) REPUBLIC Tovor (Dudley Prod.) 20TH-FOX Garden of Evil ( CinemaScope; Technicolor) Raid (Panoramic Prod.; Technicolor) U-l Black Shield of Falworth ( CinemaScope; Technicolor) Sign of the Pagan ( CinemaScope; Technicolor) WARNER Lucky Me (CinemaScope; WarnerColor) Star Is Born (CinemaScope: WarnerColor) Talisman (CinemaScope; WarnerColor) lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll Dana Andrews, Donna Reed and Dianne Foster in lead roles. Harry Joe Brown is producing, with A1 Werker directing. “The Gambler from Natchez,” Technicolor, is being produced by Leonard Goldstein, head of Panoramic Productions, for 20th Century-Fox release. It has Dale Robertson, Debra Paget, Kevin McCarthy and Thomas Gomez in the cast directed by Henry Levin. “Dawn at Socorro,” Technicolor, was started by Universal-International, William Alland producing, and with George Sherman directing a cast that includes Rory Calhoun, Piper Laurie, David Brian, Rita Gam, George Dolenz and, among others, the provocatively publicized Sara Shane. Cooper to Do "Boone" HOLLYWOOD: With Gary Cooper starring in the title role, “Daniel Boone,” a picture based on the career of the famous American frontiersman, will be produced by Milton Sperling’s United States Pictures for Warner Bros., it has been announced by Jack L. Warner. The adventure drama will be produced in CinemaScope and color. 24 MOTION PICTURE HERALD, JANUARY 23, 1954