Variety (Jan 1935)

*\Aamrw mndon oehob • St. Martbi'i naea, Xntelsar Souara TDREIGN FILM Ntn'S Telepbonet Temple unr oHi-MHS Csblei^ddresst V/UUETX. XOMDON -ss- Osso, Nebenzahl fjlmMettmN^ Adblphe Qbso, Paris producer and diatrlb and oine-tlme head ot Par'!'_ amount In rrance, Is In i^ew^pjtk' for a look-see oC the loc^l flUufttion. .Obso'b Paris company was irecently reoreianlzed, and he is here to pick up some indie films for (distribution In France, if he can find any.. - Simon Nebenzahl, perman pro- ducer, who. a few years asb was considered the ace mid-Europift pto-^ ducer because, having Q.VW. Pabst end Fritz Lane under contract, Who was forced oiit since ■ the HlUer thine,-is likewise in New York to see what's what. He has .with him a copy of his last derman-made! film, 'Dr, MabUBse,' which wae banned in Germany. Expects" to dub it or title it for New Tortt, depend ine oh what Itind of a release deal he can make. He also has with him Cut-Rate Gambling a copy o_ _ made film, 'Klne of the Chamiw Elyaees,' ha vine acquired American dlstfihutlon rightB to it' Fllin was made hy Keatpit In France a couple of months ago, and Nebenzahl'iB idea is to dub it " - ^^^^ .. .. . .. George 'Agiman, ripeneh indie pro ducer, is due from Paris Thursday (11) with a copy of ills newest pro- duction, 'Dame Aux Camellae.' v; Monte Carlo, Dec, 29, , . New idea here is 'cut-rate' ttambling. ' V .Two hours a day, the ;zero is removed from rouiette wheels, to give thet- gaihblers: :a .'better break' against the 'bpuBe,-v ' Sq" inuch .competition from other, casinos around here, now that France has Jegalized roul- ette, forced the; move, caslnd ' managelnent''flearlne to .entice i^ome ;pf the lads . and lassies '. this way, FRANCE ALMOST FALLS FOR TAX BILL U Pic HI Ibnglb, Doyle I^^^ London, N. Y. 0.0.'s 5^ Sydney, Dcc. 9.- W. J, Douglas, general manager of Fullers, will take «, trip to Eng- land next March in connection with the firm's British pic policy. This will be his first trip to the country, and he may drop in on America on the way home to renew old vaiide acquaintances. ; . Following the return of Charles Munro from ovrerseas next January, Stuart P. Doyle, co-director of Gen- eral Theatres, will pay a business visit to England, America and the Continent ' ^ / Budapest, Deo; 27. Nazi authorities did not want to permit importation of 'Spring Pa- ^^^^ ^. rade,' Universal's German-language ^F re i i c 'h- Hnusical-inade in Budap^nt, h ecauafl: MONOGRAM SET FOR AUSTRALIA UP IN too much. non-Aryan talent ■ was employed in the production. This caused U to contemplate cessation of production activities in Hungary, as It is not worth while: making German language pictures if they, can't be shown in Germany,, Would have meant a catastrophe for Hungarian prbduction, which depends on films sold , in Germany for the major part of . s profits.* On the intervention of„the Hungarian government, the German censor au- thorities changed their decision and 'Spring Parade,' starring Prancy Gaal, is now allowed to enter: Ger- many. After 'Peter,' Francy Gaal's latest, Unlver.al will start shoot- ing Another German-language film with her in the lead, temporary title being 'Little Mummy.' Sydney, Dec. 16 After months ot wiaitlne. Mono- gram is understood to be all set for distribution in Australia; V Paris, Dec. 29. . i^'ilm^ed vaudeville. ..acts (shorts) are now suggested as solution of problem of French prpvlnclal film theatre managers .Who, to fill out. programs, hire fiesh, acts sight un- ■een, and get stuck. ; '• One' or two cheap vaude turns, bought in sticks through Pails agents, usually do mpre harm than good to show, it's argued. "Would .be better to fill out programs with .■horts of: vaude, disk and radio stars, which can be previewed be- fore they are rented. ; Incidentally, French . exhibs are still yelling for good shorts. Local : production Is far from satisfying demand,:; and although " certain" American firms—Radio and Colum- bia, for example—have taken ad- vantage of this need, there is still room for a flock more. FLOODS. HOUDAYS NIX ANZAC B.O. CHANCES Melbourne, Dec. 10. State of Victoria experienced the worst flood disaster in his history, with a loss of 86 human beings. Pic . business in certain areas has been completely Wiped out, and biz In the city itself - has been badly hurt. This, following bad b.o'. period over the holidays, opens little ave nue: for: a happy Tuletlde season "T^- . Sydney, uec. ». Pre-Xmas low ebb continues and hot expected to ease off until around ■ Dec. 26. :: ,■ ::, .; 'The Cat's Paw' - (Fox) failed to click and comes put after two weeks. Local /Splendid Fellows' not good and comes, out after two v/oeka. Another local, 'Strike -Me" Lucky,! goes' into its third week •Bloss.om Time' (DIP) goes into ita tenth week but will quit isodn THouse of Rothschild' (UA) moves Into its _thlrd week and will stick •Little Man, What Now' (U) re- . mains until Dec. 24. and will make ■way for 'One Night of Love' (Col) 'Hideout'! (MQ) will stay two weeks to good trade and be replaced by , 'Treasure Island' (MG). • 'The Great Flirtation'. (U) is poor and Just a fill-in until 'Cleopatra' (Par) opens pext week. :: . CARL SOWN, LONG ILL, A SUICIDE IN S. AFR. Ken W; Asprey, personal let-il ad- viser to Stuart P. Poyie, is reported as- responsible for promoting a Ip cal company, after being sold on th6 idea by yax Ehrenrc ich. The Mono franchise arrived a few days' ago and is said to be. most. compre*. hensive one. A complete distribution layout is being arranged: through British Empire Films, major distrib allied to General Theatres. Gordon Ellis has charge of B. E. but Max Ehreneich, who came here from N;.T., with Al Arpnson, will be In control. Aronson left: Australia some weeks ago- following continued fall- Inure tb-get; set on-local-^productlpn plans, but Ehrenrelch determined to stay on and find an outlet for the Anti-U. S. Interests Led by Delac Almost Squeeze Strategy Move Tlirowgh—Henri Clerc's Last Minute Speech on Chambre Floor Stops It B.&D. PAYS 8% Company Shows $230,000 Profit On 18-Month Period London, Dec. 28. Reorganization of British & VQ- mlnlon Films, some 18 months ago, with a new share issue. Is already bearing fruit ■ ■ Company's trading report for the last 18 nionths to Oct 27, shows a net profit of over $230,000. • Further advantages are likely to be reaped by the sharel 3 next year, as loan Items, goodwill and preliminary expenses in connection with the share issue have been wiped oft. ordinary shareholders receive a dividend of 4%; making 8% fbr tlie year. Parla, Dec. 28. Ghambri. Syhdicaie Ihterejsts— thoae who are trying at all c<jst9 ' to Interfere with the sale of: Amer- ; lean films in France—slipped a drastic quota measure Into the bill to give tax relief to French show business and came within half an inch Saturday (21) night of slipping It through the Chamber of Deputies. They were blocked by a last- minute speech on the floor of the Chamber -by Deputy He'nrl 'Clerc,' leader of the film Independents, who preyentedV the ; bill from going through with the quota : Joker at- tached arid exacted a promise from the government that" a . new tax " re- lief measure will be introduced rlght-after-tiie New Tear.--—■ '. .- Film Men In to le Johannesburg, Jan. 7. Carl Sbnlh, local repreisentatlve for Metro, committed suicide here oh New Tear's Day. He had been in ill-health, for some time. . According to Inatructlons left by him in a letter to ppllce and another to friends, his body has been cre- mated und the ashes are being .'sent to New York to his family. [_ I product—— : — ——— .":..■•' ; Que-t.ohed, StUart Doyle said he would not be personally financially interested in Mono. By clicking with B. E., Mono is assured of splendid distribution; hot only over the major Q. T. chain, but is expected to find a ready market outlet -.vith the majority of the nai>e 'and country exhibs. Sydney, Dec. 9. Chief Secretary for N. S. Wales has called a chatter session on the local quota angle, RepresentatiyjBs .of. 'distriba, .. exhibs and producers will be present at the huddle, with each asked to give his. opinion on Sonln was a brother of Charles Sohln, head of the Metro purchasing department, and a nephew of Sam- uel Sonin, secretary .of" the T; O. C. C. He waa unmarried and Is survived by his father, two brothers and the uncle. He was 42 and had been with Metro for aibout 16 years, ihost of that time having been spent in Africa. " Sydney Nixes '^yensong' Sydney, Dec. 9. Censor has banned 'Evensong* (Gl-B) for AhowfnarHere.'" No reason given for the stop order Said that Gaumont-British .will seek a fresh, ruling from the Appeal Board. It is expected that the pic may be given a clean slate despite the censor's ruling. ■ ; W 3 New First-Run Houses in Sydney; Mucli Opposition for G-T Piling Up the Ma r ks qu o ta r eco m me ndation s ' This final get-together has been called prior . to the government bringing the Quota Bill down as law. Believed that before measure Is passed the governmental heads want to get an insight intb the methods used in the film trade. Known that the local - producers are all:for a quota and are very anxious to secure protection Ihsbfar aa bookings are concerned. Report- ed that as soon as the bill Is passed seven units will go into production. Also believed that F. W. Thrlng (Eifrtee)-will beETin production -again almost at once,- probably moving his unit from Melbourne to this State. '7'. The Victorian political heads have been slow to move on the quota idea following several set- -backs. Looks a a though they ar,. waiting for N. S. Walfes to make the first move. ,New Zealand is cerr talnly strongly in favor of quota, and the government is doing ita ut- most to stop the Influx of foreign Joker attempt came as part of desperate maneuvering by show in- terests to save their -tax .. relief program, which had been defeated by an adverse vote of the Chamber Finance""" Committee —for -purely- political reasons. Entire -industry boiled when the' committee turned down the . measure Vhlch , the Cabinet .had Introduced after . months of promises, a,nd it was be- lieved- that- if something'. was not fixed up.- <iulck a gerieral theatre- strike was inevitable. . ' Trade • leaders desperately re- newed "titplr;. lobbying and Charles Delac,; l^riesldent of the Chambre Syridlcaife; "ijpld the other leaders of the Tax .Defense Committee—Clerc and Raym'6nd Lusslez, chief of the exhibs that he had the matter In hand, i4rt;d/;,Wpuld have a new tax., relief. blll.'^afised by the committee by. Saturday. They laid off so as not. to interfere with him. Delac get his relief bill on the flnnr WfiimiH, rtiiring th(» riiah Sydney, Dec. 9. . . ..Another new.iic house will go up next year in opposition to CSeneral Theatres.' Lo^tlon is at Central Square, close to the railroad and trolley terminal. : . Site, formerly operated as, a dry goods store, has been idle-for aome montha .Blime bperatois moved a block higher up. Believed that the owners are ready to back theatre idea Just as soon as plans are okayed. ' Theatre idea is credited to Ron Shaftb, who, some time ago, left the film game to take up merchan- dising. Shafto has been connected with theatre units here for y^ara, quitting wfiien he sold his interests to,G. T. Seating capacity of the new house will be around 2,000. : Plans are also reported nearlng completion for the reconstruction of the Arcadia by the backers con- trolling the Roxy in Parramatta, This house has. been playing second-release pics but will go Into the ace class if present plans ma- terialize. ■ ■■'. ■ ^ '""• Dave Martin, Imperial Theatres, Ltd.,.states that following overtures to the government it looks certain that plans for a new Liberty house win be approved. , Opposition offered Q. T. here now. includes the St. James (M-G-M), Prince Edward (Carroll), and Liberty (Martin). Should the three hew theatres go up they will make: a lottti or six piaymg tirst runs against the combine. * In Adelaide, South - Australia, Waterman Brothers, trading as South Australian Theatres. Ltd., re- cently opened their huge open-air Chinese Garden with a capacity of 4,800. This organization also has a lease of the Royal from William- sonrTait in the same city playing mostly, "M-G-M plcsi' Said to' he: dickering for another theatre now to liuild up a sizable circuit.- '. In Broken Hill it Is reported that: an industrial organization may build a house with W-T interested for legit attractions. Proposed hew house would; also run films . when not used by road shows. Victor Harbor opens a iicw lio.use iri several weeks with /tenacity of aroiind' 3,000, House will be used for legit and pica. pics in tayor or untisn and locals; Stated that many exhibs here are not In favor of a general quota unless SOI .0; protection is granted to prevent them being forced to screen locals below average enterr :talnment-^aJueT^It-1s - hopedr-rilso,- that the government will offer the public protection from shyster com- pany promoters who have no knowl- edge of .the producing game. Belief is held here that a quota •tep-cHflfa^tbs, as propoood by Macks, Saturday 'ijjght seaaion, when all the depuiies.were crazy tp get their budiret tHrrfue* and duck for tho Christmas holidays. Clerc got hold of a copy 'bf the bill, and when, he showed it to hia independent sup-; portera in the lobby they hit the' celling, for it contained a provision that tax relief would be accorded only to those exhibs who used a- certaln . proportion of French films, that pi;pi^r.tion to be fixed by de- cree—thUB - establishing a quota in the theatres. Th* Idea "■ Deputiea --who were ready to vote for the bill told Clerc gleefully: 'We'll bring the blg\chaina ot film theatres "tb- time, the fellows who are making- a fortune on American films!' • " . Clerc rhad to tell them that such a quotarprovlslon-wouId-do Just-the- - opposite, that it would choke out the little exhibitor who has to have American film in order to get enough pictures to keep going, and favorize the cha in s which belong to big French producers and thus book all they need of their own pictures, freezing out-the Independents, who are the American's natural allies. Clerc then made his speech—and he Is one of the cleverest speakers in~"fHe~Chamber7"PPlnting—out that— this bill would not do, but that something had to be done for tax relief if show business was to sur- vive. Pointed out that theatres in France, from 1926 to 1933, paid itatrfeS 0,000 ■ in apectal taxes, over Would be extrGmely harmful and Is not required in Au.'jtralia. Reported that certain powerful Interests will put up a bitter fight' to, stop the KOk'crnment from bringing In as law this section of the proposed bill. NO. AFE. THEATRES ■" -. .. ■ ■ V . ■ - • Paris, Dec. 29. French colonies possess 342 fllrn theatres, of which 247 ire in Nortli Africa. Gf these la.tter, 149 are in Algeria, 49 in Tunis' and 49 in Mo- rocco. : . :' . ;Prinbipar cltlCiS of French N'ortli Africa are Algiers, with 246,000 population and 19 theatres; Ca'sa blancai (163,000 -per-sons, 14 thea tres), Oran (163,700 . person.^, .15 theatres), and Tunis (202,400 popu iatlon, 19 theatres). r'- . " and above what all buslneas pays, out of a total turnover of $140,400,- 000 during the same.' period. Any other business would have died un- der the strain, .he said. Finance Minister Germain Martin replied .officially to Clerc. recogr nlzlng, for the first time oh the floor of the house./that the theatre ta-^c situation'cahnpt gO: dh; and-promis- ing action as aoon.as the parliament gets ijack from the hpiidays. Strike movement, which was Im- mediately rcMlved 'by .exhibs when tho committee quashed the Govern- ment's first blii, is therefore being held up to see what happens. Ex- hib's trade organ, 'L'Ecran,' says iVowevei', that if this .l:.st. .attempt to get relief falls through, 'organ- ized force' ia the only way out for I business.