Variety (Feb 1937)

*?ininpf : lokvoh omcM, • St, Mfertfart M*©* Vrafalca* «(Mii INTERNATIONAL FILM NEWf Telephone .Temple B»r 6 041-811 _ Cable AdilreMi VABI1ETT, LOKDOJT If JAPS GANGING ONUS. NAZI REFUGEES Cairo, Jan.122. Egypt's most modern film studio has just been built by one of the numerous companies affiliated with the Bank Misr, about a mile from the Giza Pyramids. . A most impressive place, studios and workshops being, equipped with up-to-the-minute lighting,; photo- graphic and sound-reproducing plant. Claim here is that the Misr studio is 'better equipped than any individual studio in Hollywood.' Producer is a H. Cramp,, formerly of UFA,, wty>$ebirth certificate was too non-Aryan for the Nazis. He has two other Nazi; victims as assistants, but most of. the staff is Egyptian. Cramp scours Palestine, Syria and Iraq for material, and says he plans to make a film shortly with Pales- tine's Habimah troupe. Chief aim, however, is to , provide Arabic filths for. Arabic countries. DENY 20TH-F0X PROD. SHUTDOWN IN LONDON . , .16. Locally reported that 20th Cen- tury-Fox is considering shutting down on its New World production, with Bob Kane shifting his activities to the Pox-Wembley quota studios. There is no official cognizance'of the matter. Actually, the. thing looks offside, owing the fact that 20th-Fox and New World are bound under con- tract for ah additional' two. years or so. Korda's Own Shack London, Feb. 6. Alexander. Korda is taking a long lease of Denham Court, luxurious mansion with grounds of 140 acres, adjacent to the studios. Deal with the owners last-year fell through, but Korda has now come to terms* whereby he gets the tenancy for .28 years at a rental of $2,500 per year. Korda will use the house, as a ■private 'residence, and moves; ih .March 25. Terms of the lease make him responsible for maintaining grounds and buildings and 'preserv? ihc/-'all:, standing timber/ Competish as It London, Feb: 7. When B&D's picture version of Jack Buchanan i This'll Make You Whistle' opens at the Empire next week it will be showing next door to Daly's, where the stage' version, .with Buchanan topping the cast, is showing< Looks like a few mixups for stage and screen patrons. American Cos. Can Distrib Only to Regular Exhib Chains Can't Switch Around in Open Market —Must Take Whatever Is Offered Hollywood, Feb. Advices from Joe Schenck are that there is no closedown in Loh-.< don- Kane just finished. 'Red Robe' at Denham studio and will -make four more in higher bracket at Den- ham/ He will also! produce eight quickies at Wembley. Latter are needed to comply with the British quota law, 20th Century-Fox is financing *two--thirds of this product; Balance is foreign-backed. Same arrange- ments will be observed in the future, says Schenck. Varied International Program in Palestine Jerusalem* < 29. Current pix here include 'The Wedding Night' 1 (UA), Hopalong Cassidy' (Par ), 'Forsaking all Others' (MG), 'Desire' (Par), 'Romeo and Juliet' (2d week) (MG). ix in Tel Aviv include 'Magnifi- cent Obsession' (U), 'Jana* (Polish), 'Maria Bashkirtseff' (Austrian), 'May- erling'(5th,week): (French), 'Samson' (MG), 'Night at the Opera' (UA),' 'Die Julika'. (German), "Texas Ran- ger' (Par), 'Gold Lake' (Russian). The Golem' (Czech). Pix in Haifa include ings to Come' (UA), *Der Wildfang' (Ger- man), 'Dr. Socrates' (WB), 'Private Number' (Col); 'Five iStar Final' (WB), ingende Jugend' (German) and 'Capt. January' (20th). By UA in London London? Feb. United Artists will experiment with a system of earlier releases, be- ginning September, in. ah endeavor to .synchronize .more closely the West-End premieres, and general biz in the sticks. -' ' • Murray SUverstone sees the pos- sibilities of coming nearer into line with the practice, which is standard in the States, so that there shall be no long lapse-^-varying here, nor- mally between three and six months—between first presentation in the capital and exhibition in provincial spots; All. UA releases will be booked through the Odeon circuit of around 200 theatres, and Will' be available for independent houses simultaneously. ;. Scheme will need probably; 100 prints, compared, with approximately 70 .needed to' reach ..saturation . Under present arrangements. Pictures will thus get complete nation-wide, cov- erage in three months. Silverstone sees the experiment likely to increase box-office values of U. A.' product as much as 33%, due to national publicity surrounding the London premieres stimulating almost . coincidental provincial playdates. QUOTA NEXT? Tokyo, Jan. The Japs have . ganged up on for- eign picture distribs in such a manner that serious competition is now im- possible, Jiro Kobayashi, of the Toho chain, is generally accepted as being responsible for the situation, al- though he denies it 1 Through; an': arrangement between, the Toho chain and the Shochiku chain the various: pix distribs have, been classified into two groups. Those of one group are elected to supply product to the Toho outlets and the other to supply the Sho- chiku houses,' Paramount, Univer- sal, Warners, RKO and Columbia are the vassals of the Toho chain, while 20th-Fox, Metro, United Artists. Towa Shoji (importers of German and French pix) and Saneisha (mostly French) dance to the tune of Shochiku buyers. This neat little arrangement, is working out all to the advantage of the two chains, because they no longer have to worry about the (Continued on page 50) Italy Eases Up On Import Laws To Put Local Producers on Author to Play Himself In FUm Version of Book Paris, Feb. Henry de Morifreid will play him- self i a screen, adaptation his book, 'Le Secret de la Mer Rouge* (The Secret of the Red Sea'). Pro- duction of the film, in which Harry Baur will have the leading role, wilt take place on the spot where the bri inal story was based. Both Leon Poirier and Richard Pottier are mentioned as probable directors, but ho actual choice has yet been made. Exteriors will be shot at a spot between Yemen and the border of French Somaliland. Even Can't Use Weak ONLY ONE ALL-BRITISH CINEMA IN AUSTRALIA JAP PRESS LAUGHS OFF HAYSIAN EDICT Tokyo, Jan. Will Hays is getting the merry ha-ha from the Jap newspaper fra- ternity in answer to his request that pix of Holly wood stars be eliminated from Japanese newspaper advertis- ing of an objectionable nature. In his request, made recently to the Hollywood rep of .the Tokyo Asahl (Morning Sun), Hays pointed out that photos of stars are copyrighted and the Use of them outside of news columns or in theatrical advertising, calls for special permission.. Newspaper answer is that Japan- ese representatives, of the studios are handing -out stills by the dozen, knowing at the time that they will be used in advertising of all sorts. Historical Censor Board in B. Aires Buenos Aires, Feb. 10. Argentinermade, films depicting episodes in Argentine history, its in- stitutions, or matters. relating to na- tional defense (i.e. naval and mili- tary characters or scenes) must be submitted for. ..approval a Board set - the purpose;, cording to a government decree. , Foreign-made films dealing ith the same subjects must, not be re- leased ithout prior permission of the Board. Failure to comply with the terms of the decree will entail confiscation. Melbourne, 19. Athenaeum, how "the only British cinema operating in Aus- tralia, reopened last week success- fully; with 'Song of Freedom' v (G-B) and 'Everybody Dance' (G-B). v Not so long ago mention was frequent that a huge all-British the- atre policy would be operating in all Australian ace spots. Today there are very few British pix play- ing any .'of the ace spots, and leading pic men admit that there is really no such thing in operation as an all-British chain. In every big city, theatres orig- inally set to play. British have swung over to American pix because of the low b. o. take returned by British product. Outside of the Athenaeum, the Majestic is the only other theatre playing British. This theatre, how- ever, also plays Americans from-time to time. Sydney, Jan. There are still no British pix on ace runs in this city. Next week, 'East Meets West' (G-B) will come into the Lyceum, making the first in several weeks. None played the city during Yuleti . and New Year GTC Recommends 9% London, .-. General Theatres Corp., operating associate of Gaumont-British, recom* mends dividend of 9% ori participat- ing preference- ordinari valued nominally at $1.60.. Company has come .out of the red, following reconstruction scheme that was bitterly, opposed by ordinary stockholders. French Pasteur Film ; Paris, Feb. 8. Documentary film on the Pasteur Institute is being made here. Working in collaboration with Doc- tor Marti director of the Institute, J. Chausey has been given a free hand to photograph almost what he pleases so he can truthfully present to the world the many scientific ac complishments of the Institute. E. Peyriller wrote the story on which the film is based. Sydney, Jan; 26. When cable stories broke in the newspapers here regarding the crisis in British pic biz, all distribs han dling British films at once broke into print denying that any of their units were involved. : Newspaper stories claimed that, the crisis was mainly brought about be- cause :of the failure of British films to break into the American market and that too much coin had been spent on mediocre productions. One puzzling feature here, however, is the fact that not one British film played the ace spots during Yuletide-New Year in Sydney, although two were spotted in. the.' low period prior to the vacation and got nothing at the b. o. This week there are only two British films here, "Land Without Music" (AD), and "Keep Your Seats, Please" (ATP).. These two are play- ing the indie circuit; Snider-Dean; For months British biz here has been at a low ebb in the ace. city spots and the distribs have been somewhat worried! Good British pix can always get by here. Lately the product has been fearfully weak, however, and the public simply refused to buy. Brit- ish producers won't get biz, either in America or anywhere; else, if they continue to .send out : poor quality Pi Rome, Feb. New regulations regarding import of: foreign pix into Italy practically establish complete freedom to im* port. American producers, after their recent walk-out, were ac- corded permission to import as they liked, subject only to the ruling that all foreign films must be dubbed in Italian. Special import arrange- ments were made with Germany, France, Austria and Hungary. Altogether Italy expects to import about 150 foreign films this year, Italian film producers are none too pleased with this settlement, but; they Were reminded that there, are a large number of Italians who earn .'their livelihood from importing, adapting; dubbing, and distributing ; foreign, films in Italy. Furthermore it has. been pointed out that—apart from the* Americans who have means at their disposal which are here con- sidered overwhelming in. their gran- deur—Italian producers have just as good chance as anybody else; in fact, better, as they receive government support and encouragement from the start to the finish of their produc- tions: Under, the" circumstances, competition of. foreign .films nv the Italian market, far from being haarm- ful, should be helpful in spurring the Italian infant film industry on,, it is pointed out. To cheer the Italian industry on and get over the idea that it must always be on the receiving end of film import and export biz, figures, were published showing the increase of Italian films exported to America. In 1934 the number of, Italian films imported by the U, S. Was down to one. In 1935 there were three, and in 1936 there were 19. MAXWELL'S CO. STOCK PAID FOR G-B SHARES London, Feb. 16. John . Maxwell's' purchase Of the heavy block of non-voting shares in Gaumont-British, which first started the G-B merger muddle involving those two companies, 20th-Fox and Metro, was partially paid for with 300,000 previously; unissued shares of Maxwell's Associated British picture Corp., it is now learned. Facts came out when it was learned that the Ostrers last week sold these shares, resulting in a slight decrease in stock • exchange quota- tions of the issued x Nikkatsu Reorg Tokyo, Jan. ikkatsu Motion Picture Co; has been reorganized. Sakae Osaka was elected chairman of the board. thei officers installed Were Saki- chi Moritei vpresidettt; Teiji Tanak.a, vice-ptesiderit; Tsunekichi Ishii, man- aging - directoi:; Kasue Ogasawara, auditor. Hew Manchukuo Prod. Tokyo, Jan. 27. If present plans carry, the. Man- chukuo National Policy ilm . Prod. Co. will be incorporated at Hsinkinj during. February and Will be ready for production in Apr il. About 2,000 acres of land hnvt .been purchased in the outskirts' of tlsinking and a mod- ern studio will erected imme- diately. . Jap advisers have been selected by the promoters, among them being Lin Masutani of the P.C.L. Studios of Tokyo and Osarhu Rokusha and Takahiro Tachibana of the Shochiku Film Prod. Co. of Of una. Metro Lost $7,000 hst Year in Germany; flow Has $478,000 TkJ tip Berlin, Feb. 7. Annual financial statement of Metro's Berlin office shows a loss of about $1,000 for the year 1936, after carrying over the profit of $6,000 from preceding year. Because of the difficulties of obtaining foreign ex- change for transference of profits to head office, company's bank assets now total $478,000. Credits for the closed year include a number of dubbed pictures and quickies, minus deductions, totaling $208,000; films now being synchron- ized, $24,000, and imports of $9,360. .Outstanding orders for $23,000 and bank assets make tip the credit side. . On the debit side there are $200,000 in shares and goods still to be de- livered, $25,000. Down payments of customers aggregate $18,000, and debts to affiliated companies, $560,000; DEPLORE POOR FILM PROGRESS IN DOHA Calcutta, Jan. 28. . In opening the second all-Indian film (convention in Madras, president Chiminlal B. Desai deplored the poor progress that India has made in the motion picture industry! during the past 23. years. Desai pointed out that native production, distribution and exhibition supports Only about 25,000 people and that only 450 the- atres show native films. Speaker then set up examples of Italy and Russia in film production, stating thai the industry in both countries is to ■ great extent re- sponsible for the decrease of illiter- acy and that the same could be done for India;. Admitting .some- progress in Indi , where films were not being shown until 1918, "Desai added that native output has grown to 3Q0 nualiy. Although' pointing at two European countries as examples of progress, most of the address was directed the American industry, with figures on employment; production, number of theatres, „ filling the talk.