The Moving picture world (May 1920-June 1920)

June 12, 1920 THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD 1471 Beyond these offices are the quarters of the costume department, the paint shop and the stage, 110 feet by sixty-five feet. The Bombay Studio. Twenty-two dressing rooms, each with a private bath, a model projection room, and other features have been provided. The studio will use more electric power than the entire tram service of Islington, the district in which it is located. The recent announcement that the corporation, in conjunction with a syndicate of British and Indian bankers, would soon begin the production of motion pictures in Bombay, India, for distribution throughout the Indian Empire and other countries of the Far East, marks one of the most important and far-reaching developments in the history of the motion picture. The name of this newest subsidiary of the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation is the Indian Empire Famous Players-Lasky Film Company, Ltd., and it begins its operations with a paid-in capital of $3,000,000. Arrangements are being made for the erection of a mammoth studio and laboratory in Bombay, the principal city of the Indian Empire, where the most approved American methods of picture production will be introduced by American experts. Not only will Paramount pictures be produced in a Paramount studio in India, but they will also be distributed through a system of Paramount exchanges modeled after the efficient exchange system in this country. The Old and the New. Frank Meyer, who has been in charge of the construction and real estate division of the corporation, and Tarkington Baker have already sailed to begin work on the Indian project. Mr. Meyer will erect the studio and Mr. Baker will remain in India as the general Indian representative. Five years ago the Lasky studio at Hollywood occupied the building which, recently^ was too small for the properties of the present studio. Today the Lasky studio has four stages covering a floor space of 47,000 square feet. The studio lots cover ten acres and the plant also includes a ranch of 1,200 acres where exteriors are taken, great laboratories, mills and manufacturies of all kinds. With all of its studios and their equipment as near perfection as modern ingenuity and research has been able to make them, and with a force of directors and players, each of whom has made a name in his or her individual field, the ^Famous Players-Lasky Corporation is looking confidently forward to setting still higher standards for Paramount pictures than it has attained in the past. Famous Players-Lasky Cites Several Noteworthy Achievements of Past Year THE year 1919-20 has been the biggest in Famous Players-Lasky history in many ways, but probably ' the outstanding feature has been the number of big productions released and the sensational box-office successes scored by them wherever they have been shown. In fact, so successful has this policy of "big pictures" proved that it has been decided to concentrate more and more on the production and distribution of features of this character. The month of September furnished an indication of what exhibitors might expect as the result of the adoption of the big pictures policy. The first two releases were "The Witness for the Defense" and "The Valley of the Giants." Then came George Loane Tucker's "The Miracle Man." October offered among other big attractions Maurice Tourneur's "The Life Line" and the Houdini feature, "The Grim Game." Then, in November, came Cecil B. DeMille's "Male and Female." In passing mention should be made of "Twenty-three and a Half Hours Leave," which introduced Thomas H. Ince's co-stars, Douglas MacLean and Doris May. December brought the Ince Special, "Behind the Door," starring Hobart Bosworth. Then came George Melford's "Everywoman," with its wonderful all-star cast headed by Violet Homing, Theodore Roberts and Wanda Hawley. The outstanding feature of January was "The Copperhead," starring Lionel Barrymore in the elaborate screen version of Au'gustus Thomas' great play. In February came George Fitzmaurice's "On with the Dance," and William D. Taylor's production of Mark Twain's immortal "Huckleberry Finn." "Treasure Island" Arrives. Following Elsie Ferguson in "His House in Order," released among others in March, April brought the Robert Louis Stevenson masterpieces, "Treasure Island" and "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," the former a Maurice Tourneur production and the latter furnishing John Barrymore the vehicle for his greatest dramatic triumph on either stage or screen. The same month saw the release of "The Toll Gate," a William S. Hart's first independent production as a Famous Players-Lasky star. Cecil B. DeMille's "Why Change Your Wife?" and George Melford's "The Sea Wolf," released in May, have just started on their careers and if present indications are borne out box office records are going to take a lot of beating before these films have run their courses in the theatres. The above productions are cited as already proved box office successes which have justified the "big pictures" policy. For the remaining three months of the current year Paramount exhibitors are promised "more of the same," among others being the Thomas H. Ince special, "Below the Sur THE gradual improvements in exchange rates and indications that the nations of the world are succeeding in bringing about a satisfactory readjustment of business conditions on a peace basis give promise of a record-breaking increase in the film export business during the coming year, in the opinion of E. E. Shauer, assistant treasurer and in charge of the foregoing department of the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation. World Trade Increasing. "Despite the unsettled business conditions existing in the world the foreign business of the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation has shown a big increase in the last year, and we expect a continuation of this record-breaking growth in the coming year," said Mr. Shauer, in discussing export conditions. "The international appeal of Paramount-Artcraft is indicated by the fact that it is becoming necessary to increase and improve our distributing facilities in all sections of the world to meet this demand. Much time and attention will be given to the improving of the ~ distributing organization. The coming year undoubtedly will witness an important addition to the chain of foreign offices and allied organizations now supplying the world-wide demand for Paramount-Artcraft pictures. Offices and distributing arrangements for Paramount-Artcraft are maintained in thirty foreign countries. This does not include the numerous agencies which are distributing these productions in other portions of the world. The coming year, it is expected, will witness an important growth in the chain of distributing offices now encircling the globe. The foreign offices allied organizations for the distribution of Paramount-Artcraft pictures are as follows : Famous-Lasky Film Service, Ltd., distributing for Great Britain and Ireland, with face," featuring Hobart Bosworth, and William S. Hart in his second independent production, "Sand," scheduled for June; the big Cosmopolitan production, "The World and His Wife," in July, and "The Fighting Chance," William DeMille's "The Prince Chap," with Thomas Meighan, and Maurice Tourneur's "The Devil to Pay," in August. offices in London, Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Cardiff, Leeds, Newcastle and Dublin. The Famous-Lasky Film Service, Ltd., distributors for Canada, with offices at Toronto, Montreal, St. John, Winnipeg, Calgary and Vancouver. Feature Films, Ltd., distributors for Australasia, with offices at Sydney, Adelaide, Perth, Melbourne, Brisbane, in Australia; Wellington in New Zealand and Hobart in Tasmania. Societe des Establissements Gaumont, distributors for France, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, French colonies and portectorates, Egypt and Asia Minor, with offices at Paris, Lyons, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Marseilles, Lille, Nante, Nancy, Strassbourgm, all in France; Brussels, Belgium; Geneva, Switzerland, and Cairo, Egypt. Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, distributors for Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland, with offices at Copenhagen, Denmark; Stockholm, Sweden and Christiania, Norway. South American Distribution. Sociedad General Cinematografica, distributors for Spain, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, with offices at Barcelona, Spain; Buenos Aires, Argentina and Montevideo, Uruguay. Peliculas D'Luxo Da America Do Sul, distributors for Brazil, with offices at Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. South Pacific Company, distributors for Chile. Bolivia and Peru, with offices at Santiago, Chile. Caribbean Film Company, distributors for Cuba, West Indians, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemale, San Salvador and Honduras, with offices at Havana, Cuba and San Juan, Porto Rica. Continental Film Company, distributors for Mexico, with offices at Mexico City. Nippon Katsudo-Shasin Kaisha, distributors for Japan, with offices at Tokyo. Coming Season Will Be Greatest in Film Exports, Says Foreign Department Head