Motion Picture Herald (Apr-Jun 1955)

MOTION PICTURE HERALD MARTIN QUIGLEY, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher Vol. 199, No. 13 MARTIN QUIGLEY, JR., Editor June 25, 1955 Value of Decentralization The pendulum in this industry has perhaps swung too far towards centralization of authority in distribution home offices and away from local responsibility. No other great American industry operates under so centralized a selling system. Certainly it is recognized that selling film is different in many respects from any other kind of merchandising. Motion pictures are a peculiar commodity but perhaps not as peculiar a commodity — from the buying and selling point of view — as some people within the industry believe. Particularly with the smaller accounts, the amount of paper work involved in the present system in the motion picture industry consumes too great a proportion of the total rental. No matter what per cent of the gross a small exhibitor pays, the share left for the producer is small. The present practices in the motion picture industry certainly cry out for the introduction of more electronic punch cards or other systems to cut distribution paper work costs and any other practical steps to save money. The costs of mailing, handling and storing tens of thousands of contracts per year are staggering. The granting of more power to branch managers would substantially reduce such costs. There is no secret that morale in the field distribution forces has suffered as the home office has taken on increased control and responsibility. In many instances most of the important accounts are sold as well as supervised at the home office. This has left the branch manager as a kind of “glorified office boy,” as one exhibitor put it. The manager’s selling record today often has to be made exclusively with the smaller accounts. It is little wonder that “he sells them as hard as he can.” Any workable conciliation or arbitration system will require much more local autonomy for the branch manager. A measure of local autonomy would be well worth tr3nng without waiting for such a system. Certainly branch managers can do much to promote harmony in the industry. The branch manager knows better than anyone else why trade practice disputes arise. Given reasonable discretion he should be able to handle most situations as they arise to the mutual benefit of his company and the exhibitor concerned. Only lawyers benefit when disputes become litigations. ■ ■ ■ The World A Studio The first issue of the new periodical sponsored by the British Film Producers Association, “Review of British Film Affairs,” emphasizes that not only is the world a market for motion pictures but that in a true sense the world has become a studio. The meaning of this, of course, is that location filming has become more important than ever before. This has resulted from the desire to have films that would please the world market and also to take advantage of the magnificent and unusual scenery which is to be found in various sectors of the globe. The wide screen process and great uses of color have cried out for the novel in locales. Certainly it is more difficult and often more costly to make films in remote areas than in well-equipped studios. British producers and producers in other lands are to be complimented for placing increasing emphasis on filming of pictures in overseas locations. Any producer who might be considering — in violation of the Production Code’s provision on the subject — story material dealing with narcotics, should reflect on the implications of the action just taken by the State of Connecticut. Recently the two houses of the Connecticut legislature passed unanimously a bill which makes mandatory a life sentence for a second conviction of selling narcotics to minors and the same sentence for a third conviction for selling to adults. The principal authority on the effect of theatrical motion pictures on narcotic sales is H. J. Anslinger, Federal Commissioner of Narcotics. Repeatedly Mr. Anslinger has pointed to a connection between films on narcotics and an increase in dope addiction. It only takes a few moments to arouse the curiosity of a child or adult theatre patron. Too often curiosity leads to experimentation. In the matter of certain drugs the line between experimentation and addiction can be passed in a very brief period. The “road back” from those few moments, according to qualified experts, is one that often requires months of hospital care and additional long periods of rehabilitation. ■ ■ ■ Q Amidst conflicting claims of those who champion “live” television and filmed shows it is useful to have some information from a source in a position to have accurate knowledge. T. Gentry Veal, Kodak Research Laboratories in Rochester, informed a recent meeting of the National Association of Television Film Directors held in Washington that motion pictures now occupy between 55 and 60 percent of television “air time.” He also predicted that this percent of program content dominance by film is expected to increase substantially within the next few years. — Martin Quigley, Jr.