Variety (Dec 1934)

.•TABmrs ijomdom omen. FOREIGN WUM NEWS Telephone Temple BMr'5041-84Mt Cable Addreffit: VAKIETV, LONDON. 17 It -.. Paris, Bee. 8. : Jdcaues i>fival^ll^ehcb has opened pne of those i^jarlng'cam-, pailgns against .; Ainerlean; .fllms. <V(rlilch crop! up here every one^ In a ; Vhlle.: Deyal hCM J>eeii In Hp^^ times and; has made a Ipi pf mpney out oC American Dims. Fpx's vei^r Blpn pf his novel fMarle Oalante' Is : cuirent release. ; He's the fllm critic pC the Illus- trated weekliir /Marlanna,' and. he uses his column fpr the ppeniner gunV which cPnsls'ted of cne pf the. mpst yloient ieUtacks on^ 'Cleopatra' (Par) •ver 'lauriched; pn A picture. : After a lot more oh the same line, he closed by kasortlng that the U.S. Is 'hermetlctilly and' . disdainfully' closiBd to French Alms and that It Is Inadmissible, In view of this fact,' that thie^ Friehch submit to such 'provocatlye and pitiful'-Amer- ';'lcan'..plctureia;' ■ \': In a la.ter Issue of the same i>aper peval came, out w^lth the old cry -that American films are choklner out- the French. Titling his piece 'An Open-Ijefter'^o a-mlnlstei^Che dtdtft- isay which minister), he asserted that of 71 feature films iahbwlng m Paris 28 Were :An4erl<jan, plus an Indefliilte humber . of ehortSi aiid wanted to know what happened to the quo^. £iaX;h American film kiils a French film, said Deval. and thus takes all the profit, out of. the French business. At the same time he told his read- ers he would ncfver Insult them by reviewing a dubbed picture. The answer came a: few days later In 'Pour Voiiis,' the intransigeant's ■taxi magazine. In which Deval, in an Interview^ admitted that he Was go- ing: to. produce films in the future based on his own stories: • He used the Interview to . take a hew crack at American films. . , 'My last trip to California,' he B ald, 'convln<;e dNrre~thgtntr^^r^^ xrlsls is afflicting the cinema in the -2>JewWWorld/-T-;~^--Te------~— Then he saw: some French films, he a,dded, which led him to belieiye -that^he Frehclt^lhd^^ started on the right track. 'If we took certain defensive measures' he said, 'our national In- dustry would be preserved.' 'What, for example?' asked the In- tervlewer. ^ 'Abovei iyi, forbid duTibihg,' "^ Deyal; . 'I have seen a.11 the Ameri- can films of i'ecent months; aiid, be- lieve,, me,. the..pr6duct is-bad. ..Let's try to compete, hot in quahtity, but In qusillty. The Americans have a cannon and we have only a rlfle> but we are better shots.' ; '. Ginematographle ^Francaisej .local trade weekly; In answering .Deyal said he ought to be ashamed of hi™ self for taking American coin and then going off pn a tlnide like that. Wants tp know why newspa,pers let authors be crltlcd anyway. . Oanard Enchalne, weekly; iwhlch has toughest and fairest film criticism in Parl3^kid^ Deval'with- out mercy: for wanting to keep put such ifilms as SHenry yiir feiid /Viva. Villa' in faivor of French slapsticiv comedies. lumnces of Senn^ London, Dec. .8V liack Sennett Productions, Ltd., has prepared a prospectus callings for a share dapltal of il,40Q,ObO to make, pictures in this countrjr. • Out of this Sennett is to receive |260,opo of prdlnaiY shkres fpr thie ri0ht to his name' and his Interest in scenarips, cppyrightSi cpntracts and so ph. In addltlph he. is to receive |26,'006 a year fcr five years' services. G- " : i^ ' Gftumpri'f-British' ; I ^ over with its newsreel the marrlafee of the Duke pf Kent and Princess iMarlna' fpr thie theatres. Jeffrey Bernerd, Whb has charge pf this department, was the pnly one , of the staff to put In an appearance the follpwlhg hjornlng. . All the; others were in bed recovering frbm : a 48-hQur ■stretcii. '. ■. '^- ■ ; £}Ight^en' cameras were emji)loy*d and the operators took ixp ■ their. pPSitiphs at 4: a. m.. ^Special run- ners with pbllce permits rushed thei film tp the labpratory at Shepherds Bush. Wedding, was oyer at 12:30 and the first prints were on exhlbl- tlbn in London an hour later; A fleet of aeroplanes was requisi- tioned to carry the film to all parts of -the cbuntry but; owing, to the fog, the aviators refused to fly, with only pne exception. Lord Amhurst^ who set, out for Newcastle, arriving there at B. o'clock. A-waltlhg; autor mobile took thb celluloid to the local plcturb""hdirsl»7'wBere;~it'w Jected at 6:15; Another copy of the wedding; spe.n'es. was shown in .Glas- g6>V>^•.(4p6-miles-^^^^ 9'pi..m^ All told, 1,400 prints of tbe wed- ding^ sciehes were ■shown'Ihi Great Britain, within 24 hours of : the event. Alizacs Fiiiiallf OK Miie Sydney, Dec. 17. "Bellis of the Nineties' has finally been passed by the censor board after one pf the toughest fights a picture has had in years. • ' : . Film was coihpletely balnned by both the: Censor Board -and^the 'Ap- peals Board.; Par^ kept on flghtlhi^ and flpaliy got the reversal. . , ^,'Parlsi Dec.; 8. .:.■ 6^ganlzation'of Frehch dlstrlbs to light booldhg comblhes; with Ameri- cans : participating, hai^ been hbldlng more meetlhgs; but so far: has pro-- dUoed but conversation. ! ' Meainwhile French cinema' bigwigs anid existing organlza,tlons^ are get^ ting Impatient. Senator -Louis Au- bert. filni ploneier, told a meetlhg of the Club' du Faubourg, a s.pclety,-.that.; he--wpuld:-dp, nothlh for tiie French film trad^ unless the boys got - together on some action and organized . themselves, and Hejnrl Clerc, deputy and leader of the independent's organization, sold same thing in a speech elsewhere. Clerc's. distributors' organizatlou wants to . see something icome of .the antl-bboklnjg-comblhe move, and; Is willing tp dissolve : and sillow its members to join the neV movement, which would theii become a, distrib- utors' syndicate, if the movement looks hopeful. .Otherwise, if action is delayed; Clerc says he will fight the new crowd. ;Exhibltors' union, 'v^hich is the only solid putflt In the French trade, held members' nieetlng Wednesday: (5) under leadership pf Henri Lus- slez. and got, iimpatleht about the .^2 .. :. .,:..;;..-The: Hague, Dec..; B. As the Princess Juliana, heir-ap pareiit to the Dutch throne, was the principal bridesmaid at 'the: weddlhg Of Prince George and^Prlncess Ma rlna in London, newsreels of this wedding had special local: interest. Dutch firm Polygopn sent a special staff of canieramen over to London and,_. a,f tet-- thei- ceremony,' the - films were rushed by air across the North Sea, so that on the night of the fight to reduce taxes on -'fllm thea tres. Goyerninent has.been promis ing eittcb " October to'do *£ibmelhlhg^^ and nothing has happehed. ; Mean- while grosses ..drop, partly dub . to high7^dmisslpn7T)rices^'Which"-must'; be kept UP to cbver isixea. Bill is being prbpbsed authorizing, cities to cut poor tax.from 10 to 5% and to maice .up the difference on a: radio tax. Some cities have already cut the tax without legal authoriza- tion;^-- . : . ■■■..■:■:.... ■.;: . Fxhibs' meeting approved orgaiil- zatloh of a defense. cbnamlttee, on which iocair Hays -jgroiip -Is -repre-- sente'd, to be financed by stamps on contracts. Stamps run In graded scale up to 7pc on contracts involv- ing $660 pr .miOre. in Par Imi»itiiig Ai^tineCoinics Paramount lias sent to Argentina for Tito Luclardl ■ arid Pedrlto. Quar- tucci; cbmics, fpr suppprt in the next Carlos Gardel ; S.panisii . lan-r giiaire tialker to be made ih: Astoria. Picture will be titled 'The Day Tou lioyp Me' and is :SchcduIed tp start Jan.' 7.' ■ :'■ ^' ' ■ ' Jphn Bleinhardt will direct and Rosita Moreno is being; brought frpm Hollywobd tP play .the femme lead.-' .■'•.■- FRENCH STUDY ■■:••■• - :: ■ •••• ■• •• ,Paris, Dec. 8. ■ .• • Fr«hch Ministry Pf Labor has i^Sked trade , organizations in all branchss of show biuslhess for ad vice on. hew decrees to be. issued coritrplling lise .pf rfprelgn labor in France. Wants to know, what pro portion of foreigners .the groups think siiould. be: allo.wed, ; a,nd also if there: should be changes in the proportioh according to regions of France and seasohs pf the year. ; Anpther . questlpn : asked . . is whether tiie humber pf fbreign em- places hew used shpuld .be brpught dpwn tp the new number all at price pr by easy stages. BRIT. THEATRE CHAIN FOR EDUCATIONAL PK ..: _.. - . . London> Dec; 8.- New company calling Itself Select Pictures,: Ltd., is a subsidiary com- pany- of- Brltish-Interhatipnal.- Ob- ject of company is to line up a chain of small theatres iri London and the provinces for the purpbse- of showing films with an educa- tional angle, whether from the Con- tinent or America. Thus far company has ttie Hlalto, London; Royal, Manchester; Prince of Wales, Liverpool; Savoy, I<eeds. Before next year cbmpany expects tp-have about teri such spots: Arthur Derit Is chairman of the company, - with Eric Hakim in charge of the theatres. . U^. Ulan French Films in Paris Although Imports Down -:7-;:-- rr .7-:---;• -:. Paris. -Dec- 8. - Robert Hurel, for years a, leader In distribution of French films in Canada, sailed for. New. York Wednesday "(B) tb' Open thSt long- : awaited branch of Pathe-Natan in the Maison de France, Radio City. Bernard Natan had expected to go over to open It hlritself, but his trip held up, arid rather than delay the Inauguration he sent Hurel. Natan hlritself, however, accom- panied by Henri Diamant-Berger, ais pn his last trip, still expects tp go tP America early in 1935. New Tprk bfflce is avbwedly Just, a prestige, affair, and Pathe does not expept to make any money out of it. Distribution of French prod- uct will be aimed chiefly at. the 1,600,000 French speaicing persons of Canadian origin whp, pathe is infprmed, live in the United States, chiefly in Massachusetts arid nei'gh- bprlng states. Entire: Pathe line wlli be offered to them. Paris' office of the firm says that so; many.letters of Inquiry are constantly received from sources like these that opening of an;ofiQce appeared essential.;. Ariother important function of Hurel will be the marketing .of ariia-_ teur and educational cameras arid ■ projection machines, which is one of Pathe's specialties. Concern puts out Pathe Rural, a machine for: schools; the 176 Natan, an.amateur machine using 17.6 mllliriietbr filrii, and is developing an amateur sound camera and projection machine, the 176 parlant, which will be on the market soon. Also has the Baby Sonora, which uses 9.6-m.m.. film, Already out. ; With this line Pathe hopes to /hake a dent in the American ariia^ teur field. Plans for the use of technicolor in France, another Important aspect of the Pathe firm's relations with the United States, are also mature- Ing. First machines-are to be de- livered in Hollywood, for the Pathe account, toward the firist of the. year. ^ —... . It is possible^ that the ostehsible reasbn-'fbr the cbnilhgT>Ta"t^^ will, be to try put these machines pn the sppt and then bring them tp Paris.; This: depBrids-pff^ wprk put, hbwever. If trip cannpt be arranged early enough soriieone else will bring them pver. ; Meanwhile Diamant-Berger is wprking put a prpgram bf the first technicolor production In Prance. Win . confine himself to siibrts at./ beginning, until he sees how it works. .■ >. POOR DUBBING ANNOYS ITALY; MANY SQUAWKS . - Kome, uec, 6, Question, of dubbing is still on the carpet here. In addition to cbni- . plaints about the restricted nature of the dubbing corps and conse- quent lack bf variety In the dlalogtie. of; foreign films,; it is asserted that handling in Italy is going from bad tb worse.:'. ■': Spmo think this a good thing, since-the more rotten a -foreign ■ fllm appears the better chance there Is for local, mades, but the more serious critics do not share this view and maintain that it would be better to chuck foreign films al-" togeUier rather than present them * badly and ill translated. What they f io m pl al n iof is that U. S. and-ofeep- FRENCH USE FILMS TO STUDY TRAFnC JAMS ; ' ■ ' Paria; : i3feb; : ^8 ; ^^ Aerial fllms are being taken pf Paris by ppltce to help work but ,new-^>laria-fer-trafnc-reffulatlpm Prefecture has fitted a mptpr pn an old army observation sausage, which flies slowly over town during rush hpurs at ipw altitude, with camera grinding. Fllms shbw cars, taxis, and buses tangllrig themselves Up, and pf&clals prpject them dur- ing conferences to study traffic ■ problem.' ' Shelye Rhodes Pic . ! Capetown, Nov. 19. , Proposed tocalrmadol film on the life pf Cecil Rhodes is to be shelved, dup to General Smuts considering the showing may rouse racial feel- ing hero. ■.;;■;.:■■. . Shooting rights were taeM by .Oaumont-British, whlol^ gol4 Ui»m .*2 ^rational Flima, wedding day they were seen at The Hague at thew Odeori and city the atres. ■' :; ; ■ Cinemas shared in'the expenses of the venture. 'GLORY' OKAY IN PARIS French Censor Changes Mind About ~- - - Kid-Wap FHm - ; Paris, Dec. 8. •No Greater Glory' (Col) is okay at the Bdbuard Vn. Censor at- tended a charity gala seeing the fllrii once more and, after the show, told M. Fronck, theatre manager. ■4hat-<Hm-'t?ould igu on. .; Picture is known In French as 'Comme lea Grands' ('Like Big -Eeople'-yr-with -subtltle-TauI Street Boys', latter, played as if it were the original American title. This is to. give the French ah American title they can-.understand- and make them think they know English. Was banned at first because cen- sor thought it would create prp arid «ritl war ritanlfestatioris, since-sub- ject is vkids fighting in mimic wari Sprecher to U. S. ; ■-. Paris, Dec. 8. Marcel Sprecher, French distrib- uter, plans a trip tp America tP try to sell Itto," fllm on French Morocco Just completed by Benolt Levy, who made 'Maternello' for UniversaL Sprecher thinks film ; can. be dubbed for American release. JEIasn't been «hbwn here yet, but, aecprdlng to bally, If 8 a grandiose spectacle Mi^ Ik Vteooh patdotl« angla, , Paris, Dec. 8. More American. than French films were placed before the French cen- sbrshlp board for approval during the four months froin July 1 to Oc- tober 31, 1934, according to ofllclal statistics. '■ Total French talking films sub- mitted was 63,' to .which should be adde d thre i B fl lm s.JwAthJ' je nc h -com*- ment and one siing in Breton, lan- guage of a French province. This makes a grand total of 57 made in France. ■■■',■:,■■;■:'.,:';■■..■;■'--..; At the same time 8 6 foreign films were presented, to be placed bri the French, market. Of these 63' were Am'erican-made,. Including 69 Eng- lish language talkers, pne Spanish talker, and three Amerlcan-mades with French chatter. ■' Other countries were so fair be- hind as to be out of the picture. Genriany, once responsible for a lot of pictures on this market, submit- ted . only nine, indicating - how the Nazis have ruined their export mar- ket. Great Britain submitted only Ave, Including one British-mado Gerriian talker. This, Ip spite of Increase In British film activity. ; .Among films of other origin are two Russians, two Austrlans (pne in German and pne in Ftencix) twb Spanlshers, pne In Spanish and pne la French;, one Bgyptlaa talUei;, one Danish in the- Esklmp language and pne film In Arab. .. - .-: ^ ~ • These figures cover the summer mpnths, and alsp the first fotu* months of the June quota decree, which has just been rene^wed for ariother six months.. ; All these foreign films, in original versions, are allowed to be shown In a total of onl y . 16 theatres -each in France, unless a special excep tlon Is made, as was done for 'Little Women' (Radio) and Invisible Man' (U). Films, from Italy, (Czechoslovakia, (Continued ori page 63) foreign firms frequently don't send a proper text of the dialog with their;.. lUms,. so_ that_the_dubblng; house has to resort to unsatisfac- tory local shorthanding pf the dla- ipg. :\ ■'.:;•"'.;./; ^'^ Lai^e, Piper Due In representative . pf Paramount .in: charge of that coriipany's activities In Europe, is. due in New York Frl-' day (21). £br his first home bflice visit since having been appointed to the Job a year ago. He's . coriiinfl;. in via Canada. J- W. piper, manager of the com- pany's Tokyo office, is-in New York for his first h.o. visit in several years. •' Both Lange and Piper will go Into confejcence with J;ohn W. Hicks, Jr., head of the company's foreign de- partmoott while here. Covered Wagon Fire Parls^ Dec. 8. "Covered^ atre, playing towris In -the Pyrenees region, caught flre Wednesday (5). Fourteen spectators. Including, .a three-year-old child, were fatally burned, arid fear Is expressed for lives oi six more of a total of 36 in- jured. ' Show had been set up in a barn In village of Saint Gauderlque, near Perplgnan. : Charles 'Delac, presi- dent of Chambre Syridlcale, wrote demanding stricter enforcement of safety rules for. all fllm theatres, In^ cludirig;gypsy type playing In .back<>c woods. ■ ■ ' ■