Showmen's Trade Review (Jan-Mar 1946)

18 SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW, March 9, 1946 NATIONAL NEWSREEL Rank Widens U. S. Beachhead ; Wins Favor of N. Y. Critics Praised by Press But One Reviewer Says Product Is No Threat to Hollywood Box-office backing may not be solidly lined up behind British pictures in America but NewYork's critics have been paying considerable attention to British product and are cordial to it, a poll conducted this week by Showmen's Trade Review reveals. Several of the New York reviewing fraternity found that the British product had shown improvement, that it could have an appeal to American audiences, and that it could contest American product in the theatre. Leading dissenter was the Herald Tribune's Howard Barnes who said : "They certainly haven't done anything to compete seriously with Hollywood." Bosley Crowther of the New York Times finds recent British product does not compare favorably with "great films such as Early Hitchcock, "39 Steps," "The Lady Vanishes," or Korda's "Henry VHL" He liked "Col. Blump" and "Mr. Emmanuel" but said it did not approach the fine British pre-war product. Speaking of audience appeal, he said : "A few of them might be quite likely to be popular in this country. 'The Seventh Veil' has a good chance and as an illustration I would say 'Johnny in the Clouds' hasn't." "Blithe Spirit" he found run-of-the-mill. Sees 'Terrific Improvement' Eileen Creelman of the Sun finds that British films have made a "terrific improvement" over what was shown 3 years ago and that British producers are making a sincere effort to find out what American audiences like and will try to give them that. She made it plain that she had previewed several which she thought were very sorry entertainment and said that English producers had acknowledged to her that American audiences seemed to have to strain to understand the dialogue. "They go overboard when they make a picture they like," she said, "and they hate to cut it." Her reactions were: "Col. Blimp" — "I liked it though it was too long." "Mr. Emmanuel" and "The Man in Gray" — "Just fair." "Blithe Spirit" — "I liked that very much." 'The Seventh Veil" — 'I liked it partly." Ethel Colby of the Daily Journal of Commerce said : "They're far better technically. They have improved enormously in the past 5 years but they still have a long way to go." She found "Blimp" "cleverly done, a beautiful picture," and "Emmanuel" "one of the most important pictures of the year." She didn't see "The Man in Gray," or "The Seventh Veil" and she found "Blithe Spirit" poorer than the rest, but she liked "Jo'hnny in the Clouds." ("They have a way with war pictures.") Kate Cameron of the Daily News : "Most of the pictures that have been brought over have been made during the war. I think that most of those I have seen have been good." She found : "Col. Blimp" "splendid"; "Mr. Emanuel," "a fine picture"; 'Blithe Spirit" "so-so; their technicolor doesn't seem as good as Hollywood's" ; "Johnny in the Clouds," "I liked that" ; thought that exploitation might have made "The Man In Gray" (which she liked) a "bigger success." Her assistant, Dorothy Masters, who reviewed "The Seventh Veil," liked it. Lee Mortimer of the Daily Mirror said : "We don't review many of them (British films) ; we have only been reviewing the main houses because of the paper shortage." He thought the films were about 50-50, didn't like "Blimp" or "Blithe Spirit" ; liked "Johnny in the Clouds" and "The Man in Gray." "Col. Blimp" was in its original version, "one of my 10 best of the year," Leo Mishkin of the Morning Telegraph found. Others were "Mr. Emmanuel," "very good" ; "Blithe Spirit," "Johnny in the Clouds," "The Man in Gray," "fair" ; "The Seventh Veil," "very good." "By and large," he declared, "the British pictures we have been seeing since the end of the war are about the same as Hollywood's." Unknown Stars a Handicap "1 imagine they are sending us the best," Irene Thirer of the New York Post said. "I think that the trouble right now is the .American audience doesn't know the British stars. Just as soon as personalities get to be known, I don't see how they can 'help being successful in competition with American pictures. They definitively are good pictures." She found "Blimp" "magnificent. I don't thing it is bo.x-oftice for American audiences" ; "Emanuel," "awfully good; ok for any audience..; "didn't particularly care for 'Blithe Spirit' — blushing technicolor not so good" ; and said of "The Seventh Veil" — "I think it was very good and should have wide audience appeal." John McManus of PM, speaking of audience appeal in British films said : "They never had a chance for audience appeal. The foreign film has never had the same chance with the American public that the American product has. But if the question is. Can foreign films appeal to American audiences?, the answer is 'The Last Chance' is an example." McManus was not too enthusiastic over current British product. "They've had," he said, "some awfully good films in the past — "Jeannie," "48 Hours," "Love on the Dole," 'Thunder Rock," "Seventh Veil," "Col. Blimp." His judgment: " 'Blimp' was one of the finest films. 'Jolinny in the Clouds,' pretty good, liked 'A Guy Named Joe.' 'Blithe Spirit,' unimpressive. 'The Man in Gray,' awful." Rose Pelswick of the Journal American finds that present British product has improved considerably over product of former days but exempted the Hitchcock pictures from the statements. "The Hitchcock pictures were good then and they're good now," she said. "In other words you could say Hitchcock pictures and British pictures. But today's average crop of British pictures is better than the British pictures in the past. Asked about .A.merican audience reaction she said, "I don't know" and added that exploitation might bring in American audiences, citing the fact that British stars would have to be known to American audiences before they could atttract them to the box-office. Of the currently released films she liked "Col. Blimp" "very much" ; found "Emmanuel" "magnificent" ; "Blithe Spirit" "very amusing," and "Johnny in the Clouds" "a good war picture." Shouts 'Fire', 3 Hurt Three persons were injured at the Dubuque, Iowa, Orpheum this week when a vandal screamed "fire" and started spraying patrons with a fire extinguisher he ripped from the wall. In the rush to escape one woman fainted, a man suffered a minor leg injury and a third woman received scratches. The trouble-maker was not found. Hank World Convention Opens an London April 5 A world convention of the J. Arthur Rank organization which will bring together Rank representatives from France, Finland, Denmark, Canada, Belgium, Germany, Holland, Italy, India, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, Spain, Sweden and the United States, has been set to open in London on April 5. E. T. Carr, managing director of Eagle Lion distributors, will act as chairman at the meeting at which overseas markets and their problems will be discussed. Attending from the United States will be United World Pictures President Matthew Fox and Robert S. Benjamin, executive of the American Eagle Lion Company, a Rank afliate. St. Louis Stagehand Test Case Before Court Again Halloway's Gem Theatre of St. Louis county— test case in the stagehand unions' efforts to put a man in some 110 theatres around St. Louis whether the houses play stage shows or not — was back in court this week, as the theatre's attorney sought to have a date fixed in an injunction suit which was thought to have been amicably settled. The union and the theatre reportedly had come to an agreement whereby the theatre would not prosecute its attempt to get an injunction against picketing if the union stayed within the bounds of "peaceful picketing." The theatre now claims the union did not live up to that agreement. Sherman Studios Acquired By Einfeld-Loew Company Two veteran industrities plus $5,000,000 in capital resulted in formation of a new independent producing firm in Hollywood this week as Chrles Einfeld and David L. Loew organized Enterprise Production, Inc., and acquired the Sherman studios as production headquarters. The Einfeld-Loew partnership calls for six pictures this year and as many next year. Actors, directors, stars, may serve as co-producers. Sherman studios are to be improved and enlarged for the new enterprise. Harry S. Sherman this week joined Enterprise as an affiliate producer. His first picture will be "Ramrod," with Joel McCrea. Picket for Price Cut Fifty teen-agers picketed two Madison, Wis., theatres this week demanding a reduction in admission for their age group from 65 cents to 35 cents. The picketers, aged from 14 to 17, protested that they were considered juveniles under the city's 10 P.M. curfew ordinance but that when it came to payign at the box-office, they came under the same heading as adults. Eight of the girls involved were taken to the police station and lectured.