Motion Picture Herald (Oct-Dec 1956)

NEWCOMER KENNETH MORE TOP STAR IN BRITISH FILM HOUSES by PETER BURNUP LONDON: In an overwhelming plurality of their votes, Britain’s exhibitors have named Kenneth More — star of J. Arthur Rank’s record-breaking and breath-taking “Reach for the Sky” — the world’s finest money-maker at their booths. No fewer than 4,162 theatre men — namely, 96 per cent of the country’s total — contributed to the Poll. They elected More leader not only in the exclusively British department of the Poll, but in the International field, in which he led by many lengths notabilities like James Stewart, Burt Lancaster, Audie Murphy and Jeff Chandler. Result Unquestioned The pre-eminence of Kenneth More not only in popularity but in money-making potentialities cannot be questioned. Comment is also made that his triumph at the Poll reflects the continuing box office appeal of British-made films, in spite of the launching here during the past 12 months of a considerable barrage of spectacular and multi-million-dollar Hollywood ventures. For Kenneth More was not alone in the nod of Fame accorded him by theatre men. By only exceedingly narrow margins other Britons, in the persons of Jack Hawkins, Dirk Bogarde, Virginia McKenna and Norman Wisdom, missed inclusion with the elite of the Top Ten International Stars. British film-makers claim that on the Poll’s showing their outgivings have successfully sustained Hollywood’s recent mammoth assault on the country’s screens. At the age of 37, More — in each of the two immediately preceding years he stood at fifth place in the British Poll — is a breezy, brash person given occasionally (in the view of the uninformed) to disturbing boisterousness. Certainly, he is possessed of unquenchable vitality. Certainly also, he began his professional career as a fifty-shilling-a-week comic at London’s little Windmill Theatre, which is approximately this town’s equivalent of a Minsky burlesque show. But that is only a fraction of the truth of the man More. Future Assured His starry future as a screen-actor is assured. He has revealed himself as possessed of the infallible, though undefinable, quality of heartwarming appeal and charged as occasion demands with tenderness. He has just finished, as the star, a picture of J. M. Barrie’s “The Admirable Crichton.” He is committed to a number of other films. But the pattern of his future remains his own secret. A sturdy air of stability marks most KENNETH MORE of the rest of the British nominations. Jack Hawkins comes back in second place, following his return in “Touch and Go” and “The Long Arm” from filming in America. Dirk Bogarde — last year’s Number One — has spent most of the year on the London stage, but remains in screen box office favor on the strength of his appearances in reissues of “Doctor in the House” and “Doctor at Sea.” The country’s so-called Clown Prince and the acknowledged leader in the slapstick business — Norman Wisdom — together with dependables like Anthony Steel, Alec Guinness and John Mills — remains in high esteem. Newcomer to the List John Gregson, an established Rank employee who never seems to have found a vehicle apt to his merits despite a worthwhile novitiate in North Country repertory, comes in noteworthily. The most notable newcomer, without question, is Australian-born Peter Finch in the seventh place. “The Battle of the River Plate” is his newest success. Comment has been made frequently in this place of the disturbing scarcity of feminine pulchritude in the elite nominations by the country’s exhibitors. In the International list theatre men could find room only for Doris Day on this occasion. rn their list of British nominees, Virginia McKenna ousts the redoubtable Diana Dors and is the only woman found worthy of inclusion therein. Miss McKenna owes her status in the roster clearly to her performance in the well received “A Town Like Alice.” At the age of 25 she has become an actress of distinction. There are those who speak of her as the typical English girl, which (in view of many), commendable though it be, is no warranty of success on the screen. She made her film debut in a not-so-successful version of “The Second Mrs. Tanqueray”; followed that up with parts in “The Cruel Sea” and the Dirk Bogarde Mau-Mau picture, “Simba.” She had a part in a memorable stage production of “A Winter’s Tale” alongside Diana Wynyard and John Gielgud, and later won for herself the dubious honor of being hailed as Britain’s TV actress of the year for her appearance in “Romeo and Juliet.” THE MONEY MAKERS British exhibitors participating in the "Motion Picture Herald” -"Fame” poll vote for three groups : the top ten British players, the top ten international players, including both American and British stars, and Western stars. The vote: BRITISH INTERNATIONAL WESTERN Kenneth More Kenneth More James Stewart Jack Hawkins James Stewart John Wayne Dirk Bogarde Burt Lancaster Audie Murphy Virginia McKenna Audie Murphy Jeff Chandler Norman Wisdom Jeff Chandler Kirk Douglas Anthony Steel Doris Dayt Danny Kaye Randolph Scott Peter Finch Robert Mitchum Alec Guinness Martin & Lewis Joel McCrea John Gregson Frank Sinatra Frank Sinatra John Mills Robert Mitchum Glenn Ford MOTION PICTURE HERALD, DECEMBER 8, 1956 15