Variety (Sep 1933)

Taesda^t September ,5, 1933. PICT ES VAnmrr 29 WORLD'S STAQE AND SCREEN (Continued from pa^e 5) many yras reaching markets that America couldn't reach, outselling- the U. S. In some foreign film mar- kets, reaching out for others. Now hitler has defeated his own country in these spots and the U. S. is back, undisputed leader of the world from a film standpoint. Films Is still the topmost branch of show business. Radio In the United States has made great strides. Abroad it has not gotten very far. Legit, through the world, is probably second to pictures, de- spite that in the U. S. it's lost a good deal more prestige than that. Vaudeville is a teeter-board prop- osition. Up today, down tomorrow. International year, in pictures, started with the United States con- siderably worried about the Euro- pean market. Quotas, kontingents, censorship, taxation—all were more troublesome than in the past. America was losing its grip on many portions of the world at a time when conditions at home were none too healthy either. Italy and Eng- land didn't seem to be doing much or caring much. France was satis- fied to annoy mildly while building within. But Germany was reaching put envious; fingers. In July, 1032, Germany was able to announce having an edge over the U. S. in Sweden in film exports. Same was soon true of the Central European and Balkan countries and later in Spain. Too Tough Czechoslovakia and Jugoslavia suddenly got ambitious for film glory. They both passed tough kon- tingent laws. American companies decided they couldn't stand the ra,tes and, for the flrst time, actually got together on an Important world matter. They walked out and said they'd stay out until the two coun- tries eased things. They've been out almost a year now. Germany walked in and supplied all the films the two countries needed for a while. Then the German product began falling. Unstable conditions at home forced Paramount and Radio Pictures, after agreeing to see the thing through, to attempt, re-entering the market. It led, partially, to the dis- missal of some of the best foreign men in the business from Para- mount's stafi^, after which Par changed its mind, the Radio con- tinued ; 11 ding films in. Now, a year later, it looks as though both Cze- choslovakia and Jugoslavia will give in any minute and the Amer- icans will return. Germany and France, working in unison, began the year by fighting the U. S. on the matter of dubbed films. Both countries objected . to the pictures, figuring them unfair competition because of cheapness of manufacture. Both countries passed laws barring dubbed films except when made within the bor- ders of the country Intended for. That didn't hurt very much, Americans being willing, after some kicking on general principles, to go into both countries, establish dubbing plants and work there. But Germany's new kontlngent law, for '32-'33, was the toughest ever. Only 125 kontingents for the year, no dubbing, and kontingents ex- pensive and hard to get. So Amer- ica did practically no work in Ger- many for the year. Germany for many years has been the toughest U. S. market abroad, anyway, so most U. S. companies decided not to worry about the place, bring in whatever nims they could, and for- get about the rest. Clever Germans Germany figured out a clever move, though. While U. S. com- panies were kicking at the restric- tions abroad, Germany went ahead and made contacts. A Franco- German ticup allowed for inter- dubbing between the two countries. Same for a German-Italo ticup. While Americans were still worry- ing and arguing, the Europeans ac- cepted the situation and got to work in each other's back yard. It took about seven months for the U. S. to catch up on that, Ameri- ca now being equipped to dub in Italy, France, Spain, or almost any- where. Incidentally, Germany's manner of playing the thing Is interesting. Country made a 40 picture inter- change deal with France. But, ac- tually only nintf French pictures got to Germany as against 27 films the other way. Money was a world headache. Gold han.s were very annoying, especially since American com- panies needed money at home. Budapest became a boom place for a short while b'ecause no one could ^ret money out so several attempted producing there, figuring they'd get out negative instead of cash. That was one of the things that almost ruined Osso, of France, the leader In this movement. The negative, it turned out, wasn't any better than the paper, in most Instances. Par's Plight Paramount was a stormy petrel abroad. Paramount was in such bad shape at home that it got des- perate in the world marts. The Jolnvllle, Paris, studios were prac- tically shut, despite, making money, because it meant expenditure of a sort. Rather, it meant Investment. Paramount backers and bankers couldn't figure Investment or ex- penditure, even if profitable with times what they were at home. That led to Paramount defying the other companies at Hays office meetings on the Central European matter. It led to renting space in Jolnvllle to independent companies. Plant, with the best dubbing equip- ment in France, was offered to all the American companies forced to go Into dubbiilg in France by the quota law. Companies figured they'd rather spend more money and be on their own, although a few days ago Fox leased some space there. French indies were the only ones to grab up the invites at first, and at nice rentals. Universal decided Germany would be n good spot to produce in, de- spite everj'one's staying away from there. Paul Kohner went over from Hollywood, liked the place, .re- ported to his boss, Laemmle. A Laemmle relative, Walter Friedland, was taken from the pocketbook business and put in charge of Uni- versal in Germany. Three pictures were to be made. Later this was boosted to six pictures.. Then Friedland got really ambitious and announced sixteen pictures. Uni- versal would thus become Ufa's greatest competitor in Germany. Universal actually got two pic- tures started when the Hitler thing came along. Now the company isn't sure what to do, but thinks It has too much invested in Germany to forget the whole thing. Fox, at the moment, looks like the strongest American company abroad. With the Installation of Sid Kent at the hea.d of Fox, the company began spreading out, in line with his theories. Company is getting straightened out at home and is heading toward big. things abroad. Fox wanted to produce in both Berlin and Paris and laid plans that way. Again the Hitler thing annoyed, so Germany was cut out. Fired and Hired Paramount fired Bob Kane, so Fox grabbed him. Hitler fired Eric Pommer so Fox grabbed him. Now Fox has a strong lineup. They in tend making about 12 pictures a year in France for a once-monthly release. Fred Bacos, former Para mount Jolnvllle producer, will make some of them. Andre Daven, indie French producer, some more, and Pommer will make three. Pom- mer's pictures will, however, be extravanganzas in English and French versions, to help the British Fox market and possibly come over to America. In England Fox has a nice tleup with Gaumont-Brltlsh, leading Brit ish company, which calls for Fox handling some G-B's in the IJ. S. and working together in Britain. That gives the Fox plctur'es a nice out on the big G-B theatre circuit. In South Africa Fox and G-B plan to distribute together. In Australia I<*ox holds majority stock of Hoyt'a, the big theatre clialn. Columbia is feeling a bit chipper abroad. Company figures it's time to spread out. Wanted to produce some in England. That's off. Colum- bia is instituting exchanges every- where and building up a foreign service for Itself. Jos. H. Seidcl- man, from Paramount, was taken to head the Columbia foreign de- partment, a big help that way. Radio, abroad, Is hard to place. Company plays pretty much a lone game, selling films outright wher- ever possible for lack of headaches later. Individual deals, made with Haik in France a -year ago and Patlic-J^'atan this year as-an indi- cation. The Czechoslovakian thing, where company defied all other U. S. filmers is another. It's one way-jpf handling the situation and has the advantage of not going into much overhead. United Artists spread out consid- erably, figuring on cutting overhead by handling more films. Took on British & Dominion product In London for world sale and added London Films on a similar deal. In France a deal was made with Ber- nard Deschamps, who, however, failed to put up sufficient cash in time. U. A. has been practically out of Germany since the 'Hell's Angels' mess some years back. Warners has gone ahead quietly abroad without raising much rumpus. Some talk of producing here and there on the continent but nothing happened, outside some quota picture in London. Recently dubbing studios, have been opened in Italy, Spain and France. There was talk during the year of the first world film combination and it looked for a while likely to go through. It was the doing of Ufa, of Germany. That company got the spreading out itch. Made a co-production deal with Gaumont British and then tried to hook Para- mount into it in a tri-country affair. Paramount got into trouble without that, so bowed out. Then Ufa tried to get Fox into it. Fox preferred to play the world alone. Ufa got really mad and tried to tie up Pathe-Natan of France. Ar- gument used was that G-B, Pathe- Natan and Ufa would then bo able to face all the Americans, combined or separately. Pathe-Natan liked that scheme and was about ready to bite when the Hitler thing hap- pened, to upset if Hitler also spoiled the original G-B Ufa tieyp. Britishers tossed Ufa out on the first hint of anti-Jew talk in the German film industry. British Sales Up British companies started off the year slowly, then went into a big boom, slumped some and are now getting ready for really ambitious efforts. BIP miade a nice financial statement and paid 5% dividends. Gaumont-Brltlsh made an even better statement which showed they were making more money than in 1931. Only two important British com- panies and they both started spread- ing. Both sent to America for a few stars, directors and writers. They began spending money oh publicity.. British film sales ~went up all over. Then, for no known reason, Brit- ish pictures began slipping in the British colonies again and Ameri- cans doing better. But Britons insist it's only a matter of product;. insist they've learned the formula and are improving their product right along. At the moment they're making a concerted drive at Hollywood names to bolster their films and feel sure they can take care of themselves abroad. Australia's Monopoly From Australia came one of the biggest deals ever. Show business there was in a bad way. So a $25,- 000,000 merger was arranged be- tween Greater Union, Hoyts and Fullers. Carroll's joined the combo later, making a * theatre monopoly and meaning the theatre men could dictate terms to American film sales- men. Deadlock for some time, but the Americans gave in. They had to. Especially In view of the fact that Fullers, before joining the com- bo, had the Metro product. That, plus British films and one or two locals, made it a cinch. Spain suddenly woke up. One of the weakest European film spots in years. Paramount suddenly made a survey, found out the Spanish wanted pictures and arranged to rush 16 in, some direct shots, some dubbed. Par got a. break on that, other companies following in for nice results. Germany Ruined In Germany, even before Hitler's government came in, things began getting tough. Suedfilm went bust Ditto Tobis. Ditto D. I* S. And half a dozen other firms. Things were looking tough for everybody except Ufa. When Hitler declared against all the Jews, -the little Ger- man industry that was left perished. They've instituted a lot of new laws now and are trying to instill a lot of patriotism and ambition. Some of the laws are undoubtedly very bene- ficial, such as anti double-bills, cut- ting down overseatage, strictly cash or bona fide credit basis for selling and a government film bank to help production. But It will take years to bring the German film Industry back to the artistic and highly ef- ficient status it held a few months ago. And the best of the old-time German talent is out of the country, probably never toi return. Money exchange is one of the more important items in the world film situation.' Fluctuation of ex- change forced almost all American companies to gamble on foreign ex- ciiange. Some of them went at it systematically, some just as they,^ had to. Everybody became an ex- pert in yen and pound sterling. Then inflation came along. Prob- ably not more than a score of men in the entire United States that even understand Inflation. But every film company had a couple of clerks trying to figure it out and all the papers wrote stories on what it would or wouldn't do. Talk of film subsidies 'In several European countries. Went through in Denmark, Jugoslovla, Austria and Germany in diluted form, Italy and-France planning to follow suit. In France something may yet happen. Patlie-Natan is the only company that's pretty safe finan- cially. Osso is in trouble. Braun- berger-Richebe went bankrupt, Gau- mont-Franco-Film-Aubert is in hock to the French government for STEPHEN ROBERTS DIRECTOR ^ Now taking his place with the leading directors of box ofilco suc- cesses. His latest production, 'ONE SUNDAY AFTICKNOON,' will .shortly be released, Ili.s other box oflloe .succefl.se.s, 'TJIM KTOIIY OJ<^ TEMPLE DRAKE,' 'NIGITT OF JUNE 13TII,' 'LADY AND GENT,' 'HKY BRIDPr and two outstanding ppi.sodes, 'OLD LADIES HOME' and 'TJIIC PROSTITUTE' in 'IF 1 HAD A MILLION' for Paramount Picturo.s. Roberts, having directed shorts for over a period of 10 yr-ar.s, latf-r became a writer and then a director of feature produotion.s. At present he is uijder contract to Paramount Studios and und'-r Ihf exclusive management of SCHULBERG & FELDMAN. about 235,000,000 francs. Haik went bankrupt and was merged to G-F-F-A, not helping any. Unless the government can get all the com- panies together and write off that big lot of money it looks like seri- ous trouble. In America the foreign films were beginning to make a nice little showing a year ago. On Sept. 13, 1932, VARiBrr listed over 200 theatres using foreign language films most of the time. Today less than a half dozen exist, because most of them used German pictures and Ameri- cans won't go to German pictures since Hitler; Distributors think that in the fall the thing will open up again and French pictures may get a break. Vaudeville Vaudeville in England had a big boom year that sort of fizzled out toward the end. First there was continuous vaude. Windmill theatre, London, started it as a gag. It caught on. Before long continuous vaude was In at the Victoria Pal- ace, Vaudeville, Prince of Wales, Pavilion, Leicester Square and Daly's. For a while only Daly's was losing money on that policy. Then that thinned out and the fad dropped off. Gaumont-Brltlsh wanted to spread out In a theatre way. First G-B bought three seats on the Moss Em- pires board. Then it got control of the company, making a vaude circuit of about .20 weeks possible for .American acts—almost more than was available at the time in the whole U. S. For a while G-B wanted to go even farther by book- ing the Stoll houses, but that fizzled, with GB still trying to get Stoll control. It simmered doWn, after a while, to 14 weeks of available play- ing time. Then G-B, a couple weeks back, closed 24 of its 35 vaude houses for the summer months, gen- erally the best time of the year over there. Just an Indication. Parenna's Flop In Germany vaude looked to be on the upgrade when the Parenna folded. That was a state controlled agency doing away with agents for theatres and actors. Government controlled agenting didn't pan out, trouble all around. It folded, agents got busy, theatres began opening as well as cabarets. But again—then, came Hitler. In France vaude was up and down. Continuous vaude was tried a-la-London for a while. Empire, best Paris vaude stand, went pic- tures. Couple picture houses added stage shows. The new Rex, one of the most beautiful world picture houses, opened and went for big names from all over. It was a Haik house; Haik went bankrupt, Gau- mont-Franco Film-Aubert took over the Rex, tossed out stage shows and dropped grosses to less than half. But shows remain out. Legit Legit around the world continued pretty lachrymose. The big conti- nental musical was 'Ball im Savoy.' That, as usual. Is en route to Lon- don for a repetition. America and England exchanged quite a number of plays as usual, with nothing really outstanding. At the moment the biggest hit in London is an American import, 'Christopher Bean,' which America Imported from France. Biggest play of the year from an international iStand- polnt was 'Dinner at Eight,' taken after its New York premiere for almost every European country. Kowhere outside of New York hieia it been exceptionally high b. o. or long run. France didn't do much in a legit play way and England had a so-so season, with the Cochran shows, as usual, predominating. Lait's Vacation Over Hollywood, Sept, 4. Jack T^alt left hero for the east Friday (1) after vacationing in Hollywood for four weeks with hi.H family. This l.s Lait's second ooa.st trip tills year. Ife'U be back again in Docpmber. Mitchell Spots 2-Reelers Los Angeles, Sept. 4. R, A, Mitchell has closed a deal for Beverly Hills exchanges for a .series of two-reel comedy dramas, prorluf.ed by William O'Connor, First />f the .series Is tilled 'Stars for a'Day,' 1th Frank AlbCrtson, Yvonne Pellotier, PMdIe Chandler and Ferdinand Schumahn-TIeink. O'Connor dlrocted, with Robert I'lanck at the camera.