Variety (Feb 1934)

Tuesday, February 20« 1934 FOREIGN FILM NEWS VARIETY 13 Taxi Strike Cnppk Paris Biz; Worse for Sales Than Street Rioting Paris, Feb. 10.. ShoM' business, legit and film, is virtually at a, stiandstill as a result of the series of bad breftkis which- climaxed in a, massacre in the Place de. la Concorde, Tuesday night After weeks of sporadic ribtingrj which did. not help any, a tiaxi strike broke but which made it almost Im- possible for anybody to go. out at: night. Tixis is the tenth day of the ' strike, with, ho end in sight, and. today even the 50 pr 100 cabs w^ich hitherto dared ply the streets haye been driyeri off; i?his is mipre paralyzing to. busi- ness than in New York, because subways, and buses stop, running lie- tween 12 and 1 o'clock, and If you. can't get- a taxi' you have to walk. . Drivers are striking against new gasoline tax, which they must pay without, a corresponding rise In meter rates. Under threats from them that they would brieak up Palais des Sports, Jeff pickson'.s big arena, Jeff called ofC! star hockey game there .'Saturday night (3).- Pathe hired buses same day to drive people ti trade show 'Miserable' at Marignan. Taxi strike is more seripus, be- cause prolonged, than more sensa- tional damage to business occa- sioned by street fighting. jiCgit and fl^lm openings for this week, were mostly- cancelled. Con- scientious reviewers Who went to three picture houses yesterday which had announced premieres found nothing doing* Anibassadeurs Theatre on Champs "Elysees was badly, damaged in Tues-. .day's fight. yirhlch was; thickest right around It. Report spread during the evening that the theatre and restaurant, which are in same build- ing, were burning, bu.t It turned .out to be a bus which rioters had fired front of the house. Probably won't i*ebpen for sOme time. Metro's- lunch for French press launching of 'Eskimo' Wednesday came in midst of the excitement, and eyeryone was tense. Allan Byre, Metro local chief, told the boys that in .spite of riots shows must go on, and said It was partlcu-- ,Iarly up to fprelgrn companies to keep going'. Par May Show U.S. Film In England Before Here Paramount is readying * for. exhibition,' with the cutting Ing done in New York;; Picture may. be introduced-.abroad first, ialthpugh made in an American locale, in the West Indies, This is the first time that' any major . company will pre-. miere bne of its American made pictures In a foreign c.ountty. Slated for Liondbn opening, although no date so far. set.' 'Ouanga'. is the picture made by Bill. Saal in association with Para- mount, paramount International Gompanyj Par's .Jtoreign subsid, was back of the film, which may explain its getting foreign distribution first. Generpsity London,. Feb, th 'Little Women' is doing so well at the Regal that thei management decided to re- compense the staff in accord t ance. Called in all the ushers and announced a. raise In Salary for them of 75c a week;: American Stars In 1st link of Can.-Bri EDICT HOST STRINGENT TAX DEPRIVES MEXICAN CAPITAL OF ALL SHOWS Mexico City, Feb. 16. Row oyer pictures in English has ^ deprived Tbluca, capital of Mexico state, of all film, and theatrical amusements. Management of the Teatro Principal, town's only the-- atre, refused to pay $500 municipal governnient demanded as tax for exhibiting English language talkers and closed the house. Civic fathers decreed the high levy because of numerous com- plaints that theatre exhibited too iina.fiy talkfrra—3KitJj_. few__^panish titles. If management consents to~ showing; -filmq that have plenty of Spanish explanations, tax will be cut, civic government promises. Bierlin, Feb. 19. ilew completed version of the German code has just .been made, public here and is found to be even more stringent than had been ex<- pec ted. Mostly its proyisions, how- ever, are pretty well along expected lines. Most radical clause is that having to do with foreign (meaning largely American) films. If in such pic- tures there is anything repugnant from the German censor's stand- point, even if deleted for German consumption, the film must be barred completely. Thus American or other foreign film compariles making a. picture, for world con- sumption and showing it anywhere at all may hot show the picture in any forni within Germany if Ger- many doesn't approve of any scene in it. Also all distributors, foreign or domestic, must accept the censor's verdict in Berlin on any film as final and all censors will be ap- pointed by Dr. J. Goebells, minister of propaganda. Code makes Goebbels a virtual dictator, even allowing him to pass on scripts prior to screening if made within "Germany, but most of this iangie of the provisions had been ex- pected and was partially already established. In the same way the film .bank, previously established to finance production of pictures, be- comes codified now, although al- ready In existence. Toronto, Feb. y^ith the blessing of prime Minis- ter Henry and . the presence pf fed- eral cabinet ministers and represent tatives here Pf British aiid Amer- ican film companies, the Trans-. Canada chain of houses showing. Britisjti pictures only was launched Saturday night (17) . with the high-, hat opening of the Greater Carleton, a mid-town 1,011 seater. Lobby, lounge and stage were packed with baskets of flowers,, .flppd lights played: and special police directed traffic for the premiere. Pictures were 'Morning After' and 'Southern: Maid' (BIP). Despite the British' ballyhoo, screen stars were Ben Lyon, Sally Eillers and Bebej Daniels. Policy of the Trans-Can- ada chain was endorsed by Major Boylen, chairman pf the censor board. New chain is named Hanson' The- atres, Ltd. Heading this is Oscar Hanson, President of Empire Films, Ltd.j and Allied Theatres of Can- ada. He is also General Manager of Associated Theatres Corp.. Allied chain has a . roster 6f 200 'picture houses and Associated nearly 70. Empire films distributes BIP pro- duction, in Canada. House manager is Danny Kin- neard with Nat Taylor supervising. Exploitation for opening handled by Jimmie Cowan. German Film Industry Stymied, Says Canty; World Market Lost Year's Survey Shows Big Drop in German Ptc Bb Berlin, Statistics just : published by thfe institute for market trend research reveal a substantial drop in at- tendance and grosses of film houses in 28 cities of all including Berlin, for 1933. As in previous years, business flopped chiefly in the last quarter; especially the attendance iii the large and very sma^Il cities, while the middle-sized towiis! Were better off and even showed a slight , in- crease. Same appliies to. :grosses, which dropped off most in the large cities, while those with 26,000-100,- 000 inhabitants were slightly im- prp-ved. At the end of the year .Germany had 4,985 cinema theatres with -:i=955ri09"ffeats] iffift's^'srKiKrsss-i^ 33,142 seats less than 1332 and the first drop in seat totals hitherto en^ countered. In Berlin, with an average of 380 houses, .attendance totalled 48,- 771,003 in 1933 as. against 51,942,962 in 1932. Gros.ses amounted to RM 36.f?70.:il9 compared with RM 40,- 228,405. ai i iC iflhu u i j , already consid- erably hampered in their biz here, still .insist they will attempt to con- tinue trade, although they are now- watching the possiblie genuflections, more, closely with the possibility of scrambling at a. minute's nbtice aj-^ ways in mind. .-" ~ German .film prganizatipn has been amplified by the institution of a Reich , film dramS'tist in the Min- istry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda. Dr, Gpebbel.s ap- polnte4 Willi Krause, formerly on the editorial stafC of the Angriff, -Nazi eyenlng paper, to. hold this of- ■fice. The Reich fllrn .dramatists' .job will b»-to advise the;film industry oh all impoi-tant questions of pr6> duction, to examine maniiscrijpts submitted to him by the industry, and to impede subjects being han- dled which don't agree with the spirit of the day. Mpulin Back to Filins Paris, !Feb, 10. Moulin Rouge, Pathe.-:S'atan's fa^ mous Montmartre^hou.se, is back^ in "iffieT "HTW^fferr expensive experiment in operetta. Film is 'La: Chatelaine du Liban,' from Pierre Bonoit novel, which made good In silent days. Made by Marcel Vandal and CbArLes pclac, starring Spindly and Jeari Murat. with GeorRe Gros.smlth and iCrncst Ferr.', and directed by Jean Ep- stei Kelly's Anzac 0.0. Arthur W. Kelly, head of United Artists' • foreign service,, leaves for Australia, -March 7. He will look over the thea,tre and film situation there and then decide on his com- pany's future policy in that country. Doesn't intend to build or go into theatre, operation in the Anzacs, says Kelly, but is ready to do either or both if he finds the theatre mo- nopoly still stringent. British Newsreel Unit for Canada Ottawa, Feb. 19. Canada now has a. British' topical film for regular release. Announce- ment is made by B;egat Films> Ltd., that arrangements have been com- pleted for the immediate distribu- tion of thi Gaumont News Weekly as an individual booking unit throughout the Dominion. This is the first tinie that a Brit- ish weekly has been made' available tp Canadian theatres,' although the censor board requires all topical reels to have British or Canadian news shots tb the extent of 40% in topical releases of U. S. companies. I PAR Parts, Peb. 19: Sever(Ll radical changes have taken place in Parambuht's. foreign service with the arrival here, of John W. Hicks, jr., head of the company's foreign service. Most important Is. the resignation, effective Immediate- ly, of Ike Blumenthal, g.m. for the company of all its European serv- ices. Blumenthal has been with Par since 1916. Although move is a sudden one and not previously suspected, it has seemingly been prepared for during the past .tW4) weeks. Fred Lange, Paramouht's g.m. in South America, is already en route to Paris by boat /direct from Buenos Aires. • He ar rives here tomorrow (20) to take oyer lumenthal's duties. In South Ameirica, Lange -will be replaced by John W. Nathan, who previously handled Central America. Jerry Sussman, from Mexico, replaces Nathan. . Another out in Paris Is Gare Schwartz, who was in charge of Paramouht's technical and studio work in Jbinyille. He will be re- placed locally, though nb one named as. yet." Understood there will be a few other chariges -^in, Par's staff on the Continent, though of a minor na- ture. Washington, Feb. 19. German film industry is finding it Increasingly difficult under .pres- ent conditions to show profits, ac- cording-to the most recent report to the Commerce. Department by Trad«| Commissioner George Canty of Ber-- lin. Reorganization of the entire mo- tion picture industry served to .re>» tard any definite progress, he .j^oints out. Elimination of trained aind qud.Ilfied pei-spnnel resultinig from, this reorganization resulted in a shortage of first-grade domestic films, • a. situation partly, offset by the availability, of .foreign films and; the. general change of theatres to single-feature programs. Advent of tialking pictureis has made it essential, for leading Ger-. man producers to radically change their distribuition policies. Lan- guage barriers, have caused a loss of .many. lucratiye. foreign markets. In the silent film era. Canty says, German producers could count on finding a market ~ for' 40; percent of their o\itput abroad. ..Present for- eign bli.sincss. amounts to a very small f raction of this figure. The Sutstanding Gerniah piroduc- injg cbmpany, UFA, easily the larg- est and best managed film company on the Continent, barely made run- ning expenses during the 1932-33 playing season, and wais. unable to pay a dividend. It is apparent. Canty declares, that the existing market for Ger-. man films is completely out of line with the expenditure of producers leveled on the pre-sound film period. Future calculations of German pro- ducers must be based, on' the domes- tic, rather than the international market, he feels. FOX'S NEW BRIT. FILM DISCOVERY World Market Worth 31/2 Mlons To U.S. in '33, a Drop of Film shipped by the' U.' S. tp the entire wbrld was valued at $3,580,- 017 In 1933, as against $4,119,612 for the year previous. Drop, of $539,593 in business is l^tgely traceable, to lowered rentals and valuations dur-. ing the year; However, in actual footage U, S. film .biz increased in the. year, figures being 164,537,245: feet of American film exported to the world ,in 193$ as. against 160,- 917,767 feet-, in 1932, or an Increase of 3,619,478 feet, Vialtiation is: not actual rental re- turn possibility of pice but the figr- ure set by American „ distrlbs. for duty valuation purposes. It's, an ar- bitrary approximation Qt nominal film value. ' Figures are obta.lhed froni a com- pilation just completed by N. ..D, Golden, Qhief of the M. P. Division of. the ijept. of Commerce. They represent actual export business, paying no attention to collections pr overlapping business from previous years. -Also not Included Is silent film business, which still is a- fac- tor, though yearly^ becoming of less" Largest Individual user of Ameri- can motion pictures during 1933 was England. Country imported 13,880,811 feet of U. S. films as against 16,244,064 feet the year pre- vious. Second i.^ Argentina with 12,949,- 417 feet as against 10,489,357.. Can- ada is third With 10,176,867 feet a.s against 9,763,904. Brazil gets the fourth notch with 8,652,284 feet against 7,531,148. France is' fifth with 6,482,966 feet against 7,047,509 feet. ■ Expbfls tb 'GerMany'"durthg tlie year showed a considerable decline, America sending , in about .3,000,000 feet of film less than in previous years. Of the leading countries only France, and England lessened their Ui ■ S. film purchases, according to these flgures, practically all the rest 6f the world going, up, several notches. That,. too, is traceable to the. Germdn s.itua.tion and Ger- ma,ny's drop of importance In the world film market. America stepped in Where Germany drbpped out :in quite a number of spots, getting the business break that . way. Bryson Loses Suit London, Feb. 10. James V. ryson,. formerly man- aging director for Universal Ir. Eng- land, after an unsuccessful suit against-=U="-klleginfi^=wrDngful^ dis^- missal, wrote a series of articles for the Sunday Express, in which lie divulged Information that was re- garded as prlva;te. Universal sued for jlamage.s, and has -been-awarded $2,500 with costs. Bryson appealed, argulnier the damage jwaa merely nominal, but appeal dismissed. London, Feb. 10. ilms has purchased 'Tell Tale Heart,' new film by compara> tlvely unknown film producers, Clif- ton-Hurst Film Productions, adapt- ed from a ctory of the same title by Edgar Allan Pbe- Film was di- rected by Desmond .Hurst, formerly assistant to John Ford. Fbx at first suggested Hurst di- rect pictures for them, with Clifton- Hurst Productions becoming ex- tinct. But, on objection of Harry Clifton, English millibnaire who wishes to finance more product by Hurst, it was compromised for the concern to make pictures to be sub- mitted to Fox for first refusal. C- H. Film Productions will continue to make one picture .every six months. 'Tell Tale Heart' will be given a West-End pre-release, secondary to a Fox feature. Fox office here con- tends it has discovered £t new. Eng- lish producer capable of turning out pictures with ideas hot jiitherto dia- played fierie'." Next picture C.-H. Productions flffures on doihg^ is Jerome K. Jerome's 'Passing of the Third Floor Back,' or Oscar Wilde's ♦Pic- ture, of Dorian Gray.' 'Mimo' Hot in Pans Paris, Feb. 19. 'Eskimo' (Metro) at the Madeleine closed Its first week Saturday with the biggest gross, in about four years. Comes to just under $12,500 including a very bad opening, day of only $700, due to street rioting effects. . House, sees itself set for a long run. The Hague, Fe'w. 10. Peter Freuchen, Danish authoFf and his wife, the actress Vang Lau- vId!jenr"flew='fr<nn=="Capenhagcff to^^ Amsterdam and after a short stop went to Paris by air. Freuchen wrote the book, 'Storf- angcr,' which Metro made into '-liaiiim^^' Freuchen- ..and—bis— wife ■ were In wuch a hurry to get to Paris because they wanted to be present at premiere of this film at the Madeleine there.