Showmen's Trade Review (Jan-Mar 1947)

SHOWMEN "5 TRADE REVIEW, January 25, 1947 41 HOLLYWOOD STUDIO ROUNDUP French Singer Signed To WB 7Year Pact Jack L, Warner, vice-president in charge of production for Warner Bros., cabled at the weekend from Paris, where he is visiting, that he had signed Yves Montand, French singing star, to a seven-year contract. French critics and theatrical impresarios have described Montand as combining the charm of Maurice Chevalier and the versatility of Danny Kaye. He is a juvenile lead type and is rated in France as the most important singing personality to come out of that country in recent years. Box's 'Snowbound' to Be Filmed in French Alps '"Snowbound," based upon the Hammond Innes novel, "The Lone Skier," will be Sydney Box's next production for the Gainsborough-J. Arthur Rank Organization. It will be filmed in the French Alps. Director David MacDonald and his associate, Aubrey Baring, are in France selecting locations and making plans for the arrival of the company. The cast has not been announced. Rosalind Russell Author Of Her First IA Picture Rosalind Russell will not only star in her first Independent Artists production, "Madly in Love," but has written the story, as well. It will also be LVs first picture. "Madly in Love" is a sophisticated modern comedy laid in Dallas. It was adapted for the screen by True Broadman. Added to 'Human' Cast William Frawley and Gene Lockhart have been added to the cast of 20th Century-Fox's "It's Only Human," which is being produced by William Perlberg and directed by George Seaton. Co-starring John Payne and Maureen O'Hara, the cast to date includes Edmund Gwenn, James Seay, Natalie Wood and Enid Markey. Revere in 'Scudda Hoo' Anne Revere will play the role of the mother in 20th-Fox's "Scudda Hoo, Scudda Hay," based on the novel by George Agnew Chamberlain. The picture will be produced in Technicolor by Walter Morosco. June Haver will have the feminine lead with Lon McCallister playing opposite her. Liberty Buys Ross Novel Liberty Films, whose first picture, "It's a Wonderful Life," is distributed by RKO Radio, announces the purchase of "He Ran All the Way," forthcoming novel by Sam Ross to be published in the spring by Farrar & Strauss. It will be produced and directed by George Stevens. Lester in Wallis Film Bruce Lester, former British film favorite who served three years in the U. S. Army, has been added to the cast of Hal Wallis' "I Walk Alone" at Paramount. (Continued from Page 40) been before the lensmen nearly two months, stars Gene Tierney and Rex Harrison. Doris Dowling, of "Lost Weekend" fame, won the lead in Sol M. Wurtzel's independent action piece, "The Crimson Key." She joins Kent Taylor, Dennis Hoey, Louise Currie and others. Director Walter Lang completed the Betty Grable-Dan Dailey dance routines for the Technicolor film, "Mother Wore Tights," at the studio's Western Avenue lot and returned to the main Westwood quarters. He then shot the "aging" sequence, which shows Miss Grable at the 64-year-old mark and Dailey hitting 671 PRC Starts 'Stepchild' PRC started another picture Jan. 23, with "Stepchild" going into action. Producer Jerry Briskin and Director James Flood started shooting at the Eagle-Lion lot, with Brenda Joyce, Donald Woods and Terry Austin. The film concerns the divorce problem and its effect upon offspring. Al LaRue, new western star, is on a personal appearance tour. Producer Jerry Thomas halted all production on the LaRue-Al "Fuzzy" St. John series until March, when the weather will be more adaptable. Thomas also is handling the Eddie Dean series in this manner. 'Albuquerque' Gets Gun W ith work already started on location, Paramount actually began the Hollywood shooting of "Albuquerque" on Jan. 24. Originally, this phase was supposed to begin Jan. 20. This is a PineThomas color production being released through Paramount Stylist Mona Barry completed 24 costumes of the 1878 period for stars Barbara Britton and Catherine Craig. Jerry Colonna was signed to rejoin Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour in the latest of the "Road" series. The mustachioed comedian will appear in "Road to Rio," as a cavalry captain exhorting his troop to rescue the trio from a gang of hoodlums. Nestor Paiva, who pursued Crosby, Hope and Lamour all through "Road to Utopia," was signed for the part of a Rio night club owner. Monogram Readies 'New Mexico' Producer Irving Allen, Writer Max Trell and Cameraman Jack Greenhalgh left for New Mexico last week to seek locations at Taos and Acoma Rock for Monogram's forthcoming highbudget western, "New Mexico." The picture will be filmed entirely in that state. Allen will confer with Governor Dempsey regarding state cooperation in making the picture. "Tragic Symphony," which started on Jan. 13, is being coproduced by Nat Finston and Benjamin Glazer. The latter is also directing the cast, which includes Frank Sundstrom, Audrey Long and Sir Cedric Hardwicke. Much of Tchaikovsky's immortal music is in the film, the music being supervised by Finston, who formerly was in charge of that department at Paramount and MGM. Teala Loring was signed for the romantic lead in "Panic," Bowery Boys film. Pierre Watkin, Betty Compson of silent fame, and Patti Brill were also cast. The original "Dead End" kids compose the Bowery Boys, with the exception of two. Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Bobby Jordan and Gabriel Dell are all from the original group. MGM Ends 'Dolphin Street' Metro finished its period piece, "Green Dolphin Street," with one of the last sequences a ceremony in which Donna Reed becomes a nun. Lana Turner and Richard Hart appeared in the scene, with Dame May Whitty as the Mother Superior. Director-Producer Clarence Brown has really raided Broadway for his "Song of Love." The latest to join the cast, of the Katharine Hepburn-Paul Henreid-Robert Walker starrer is Leo G. Carroll from the New York hit, "The Late George Apley." Kurt Katch of "I Remember Mama" and Henry Daniell from "Lady Windermere's Fan" preceded him. Carroll's last film with Brown was made over 15 years ago. William J. Fadiman resigned as head of the studio's story department after five years and was replaced by Voldemar Vetlugin. Kenneth MacKenna will be associated with Vetlugin. "Song of the Thin Man," which got under way Jan. 16, is being directed by Eddie Buzzell. William Powell and Myrna Loy head the cast, assisted by Keenan Wynn, Jayne Meadows, Leon Ames, Patricia Morison, Gloria Grahame and the dog, Asta. Nat Perrin is producing. Two Finished at Columbia Columbia finished "The Crime Doctor's Vacation" and "The Corpse Came C.O.D." At least, the latter was scheduled to be completed by the time this column appears. Tough luck may impede its schedule, however, because Grant Mitchell suffered an automobile accident in which he broke an ankle, necessitating Director Henry Levin's shooting around him. The picture, incidentally, will have a number of famous filmland reporters in it, including Louella Parsons, Hedda Hopper, Sidney Skolsky, George Fisher and Jimmy Starr, from whose novel the film is taken. "Broadway Baby," Sam Katzman Production, is tentatively set for Jan. 27, after being pushed back several times. John Shelton is ticketed for the male lead opposite Jean Porter. Fritz Leiber was cast by Producer Sidney Buchman as an Egyptian in "Assigned to Treasury," being released through Columbia. Ray Nazarro, assigned to direct Chinese sequences with a second unit, arrived in Shanghai on Jan. 15. Filming of "The Lady from Shanghai" ended temporarily on Jan. 18, and was resumed the next week for final scenes. After seven weeks of location shooting in Tucson, Ariz., the "Three Were Thoroughbreds" company returned to the studio. This Cavalier Technicolor drama stars Robert Young, who is also part-owner of the independent unit making it for Columbia release. U-I Shooting Two With the completion of "The Egg and I" and Abbott & Costello's "Buck Privates Come Home,' Universal-International has two films rolling. These are "Time Out of Mind" and the Sam Wood Production, "Ivy." Now Ideal Theatre Chairs JOE HORNSTEIN has III