Variety (May 1938)

TABICTT'T UNDON OFnCK, mXERNAtlONAI. FILM NEWS Cabta AddrMXt TABim. I.6NOOII. TslrplMM T«Bpr« Bar WII-BMS 13 London Theatres Stay Open Despite Projectionist Strike; B.O.'s Unhurt Londob, April 28. a. week In' which theatres' appear hot to havt suffered directly from the ■withdrawal of projection* ists, the strike situation remains ^bout the same. Exhibitors deiclare the stoppage has proved a flopi but ions contend they s^re just starting and will be able to mobilize further ill have cinemas pil .the run; n thi evidence; there is a gradual ribble back to work in the London area. Efficient^systein ot relief sup< ply conducted by the Cinematograph Zxhi itors Assn; is ensuring ..ho shortage of staff at affected theatres, lectrical ion, the stri ing has won support pf the sur periol; London Txades Council, ich pressure will be brought to bear on other labor uiiits, particur lariy on the National Assn. of Thea-. ti- inema Employees, whose hiembers so far have largely. Con- ' inbuted to making up the deflciericy jii houses where staffs walked out. ■ N.A^T.&K.E, i has, In fact, effecr . tively scabbed on its fellow workers pt E.T.U., so the failure of the strike must be laid to labor's own. account rather than to,' measures taken by C.E!A. United labor front, would have left theatres helpless and on th workers' side optimism is still expressed that this effect may yet be achieved. : This-is difficult to an-, ticipatel however, as the quarrel be- tween N.A.T.&K.E. and E.T.U- is, fun mental: and. cannot easily be resolved. .Employees continue to make plenty of noiss; and today organized a mass demonstration in Hyde Park. Picket- ing is in, force at most theatres, though the' public-.is ignoring the strikers. Dispute is being conducted in ail orderly manner. In the sticks a si liar situation applies - and at Manchester, where 3.00 woi-kcrs are out, other unions have demonstrated syinpatl by passing resolutioris 'favoring a boy- cott' Of theatres. At this writing there is no indication of the -box.- offlce sufi'erihg. In fact, publicity appears to have, attracted.bigger at-: tendance's, ily ', attending possibly in hopes of seeing some fun. At .the Gainsborough studios, the staff walkedr out, bringing to 3 stand- still work on current Hitchcock pro- duction, .'Lost Lady.' At Elstree, em- ployees voted against strike - action,' but again a decision by an executive of the. Assn., of Cine-Technicians, representing' studio labor, to support trade union, principles, may- swing sympathy. At the moment there is little active: production in any. Brit- ish studio and a strong- body of .opihion considers to endanger chances of employment after produc- tion hands hiive been idle for many months would be foolish and daniger- ous. Even were production moving the chances are a strike action at the centres would be unsupported, the Galn.sborpiigh stoppage being an isolated case, which,, it .is coYistrued, represents a dead set against Gau-^ 'Tubnt-Brilish. That unions moved in this direction Was evidenced In early days of stoppage, out of 45 halls shuttiii;; the (irst night the majority being .-B..circuit spots. This does not sujjgest- .- con- ditions are worse than elsewhere, 'but arises from, an idea among E.t.U. btflblals that, by paralyzing Due .major circuit, they might, win a victory, Hummel Due May 14 In Hong Kong; To U: S. July 4 Hongkong, May- -3. J. S, Hummel, foreign sales manar- ger for Warner Bros.,, currently, on an inspection tour in Anstrali is due iii here May 14 for a lookseie of Orient key spots. Goes to .Singai>ore from here and probably will i-etrace- his. steps through this. on his way to Italy. -HumrheHs scheduled to. arrive, at Naples, June 13; He-probably will not return to the U. S. until July ,4. Dave Blum, to Paris Dave Bl^, secretary of M-G-M" international department, is headed fpi' ranee after spending a week in iRome/ accbrding to wori received at his New^'Vork office. He left there April 29, nd other key; citi ' Blum .will (visit London, and pos- sibly Hollan^ before starting back to the ,U. S.. next month. He is. studyi rrethods of superimposing titles and dubbing in European coun- tries for M^tro.' Word has been received here that production has begun at Teddington, England, pn the first Warner - Bros; feature under the new; British quota act; No p.lans made outside of this initial film. WILCOX-HOWARD JILT 'LADY HAMILTON' FRENCH TRADE HITBYSLUMP Majors to Set British Quota Prod. Skeds This Week; to Move Slowly Par Sales Meet in Paris; Ditto London Next Week Herbert Wilcox's. -Lady Hamiltbn' picture, with Ahnai Meagle set.to star as Lord Nelson's light b' love, is a dead pigeon,. Official reason is that the announcement by" Leslie Howard and Gabriel Pascal of a production of, INelsoh,-' with the actor in' the title role, would mean clash of sub- jects, which" Herbert is anxious to dodge. ■ As Howard was being overtured by Wilcox for the Nelson role, iri his picture, it Ipoks, however^ as- if two parties hav made a; deal. Theire niay be an added reason that 'Lady: Hamilton' would, not And.favor with the Hays 'OfTlce, on account of the treating of a historic .romance 'on the. side.' Instead, Wilcox has set 'Queen ot the Hali.s,' based on the life of for- mer vaude trouper Marie Lloyd, to follow the. new: Victoria picture, and Miss Neagle will step into the title role, with a British star likely to be pulled from Hollywood to play op- pbslte. Picture will be ail in color, xyith Wilcox personally directing. Howard-Pa'scai production will be shot at PInewood, with .one quick program subject tlirpwn into work between it and 'Pygmalion,' now due off the floor there. Nelson picture will absorb a budget , of $1,000,000 and the highlight -will be a spectacu- lar reproduction of the battle of Trafalgar. Wilcox's decision to sidetrack , 'Lady Hamilton' puts Aubrey: Smith put of commiission. after he iAnishes as the Duke of Wellington in 'Sixty Glorious Years.' Other production neWs has. Tom Walls, former- G;-B. star, now work- ing independently with a unit called T. W. Productions. Personnel will work on co-op basis. Alec Sayille, production supervispr, and Ben Travers, story writer, stringing along with Walls; First picture, 'Old. Iron.' has gone into production at Sound city, with Walls topping the cast; but later subjects On the schedule may not have him as star—just as direclor. Hpyts' New Spot , Melbourne! May 3. - Hoyts circuit Is reported to have obtamed a: fiirther' grip on the the- ^ atre situation here through a: deal I rental Mex Show Biz Helps Pay OflF Oil Claims (or 50 theatre in this city: Supplies the, chain \vith further domination over Greater Union in this area. Charles Munro; managing director for Hoyts, sot the deal via parleys with British Dominion Films, which operated the house for many years. TLi^^-.nri. 'i I Ernc-st Turnbutl, who'was in charge .Mexico City, ay 3. , ^^j. g^..^.. ^^iles ma operators are generally dis-1 mjpagcr here for 20th-F.ox, rcplac- posed to accept the proposition that j„g .Arthur Gregory. Understood they donate the.gross of one Sunday j.jhat -American features will be a moVith for^Ihe Ve.st ot this year to LpoUed into the Athenaeum, as a; iid the government is ral.sliig j ,.e.j„ii Qf ti,e ^ew cbntioj. when Brit- j Production of pictures in rahce is becoming rnpre d'^iciilt with each passing week, accprding-to word of; film people recently - returned from that country. Though alert prddiicers have been spurred to renewed effort of late because of more favoral>le re- ception accorded' numerous Freiich-. made Alms, they .have-run into snags on finance. ■Three factors have wprkW against increasing .or even maintaining the rate of production set: in the. last 12 months. These are (1) .continued and' abrupt slump in the franc. .(2) difficulty in getting coin either from English Chahciers or French bankers, and (.3) spread of Nazis ih coun- tries closest to France. ■Value of French mbney .ih terms ot- the dollar' is about half what it was^ -in.1936. These declines in the franc's' monetary vaiue/in relation to British and Aniericah' in .not only means that the. francs grossed at the boxr ofHce on a-picture . mean a lesser amount taken in. by the' distributor when stacked up against the more ex niive franc.with which the film was turned put, but it also means the distributor often . is .shy of -expecta- tions When h'e:!makes repayments of money loaned liim for production. Understanding is that Lloyds and bankers in England who only six or eight months ag:p agreed to advance more monciy for additional prbd.uc- tion are becpming increasingly wary of pouring more funds into French production. This is largely because of disappointment oyer failure of the franc to halt ijts ddwnward plunge.- Instead of obtaining more money as a resuU of improvement in the rate of excliange, these interests are con- ;fronted with the problem of having to obtain ah jncrcas'lngly larger number of francs from each com- pleted picture, if they are to break even. Bankers say that the intake- on films has hot made up this slack re- sulting from the franc's weakness. They point . Put that a French pro- duction costing 575,000: francs in 1937 would force the French producer to glean an additional 200,000 francs in distribution before paying off^ to financial backers at the prevailing rate of exchange. Even bankers in France are re- luctant to advance heavy amounts for production. Their doubt as to the future is perhaps best attested by the number of francs recently ship- ped to the U. S- Manner in which Nazi rule has .■spread around Fiance h .s hurt also. It presents the spectacle of pro- ducers turning out democratic films though nearly surrounded by Fas- cist nations. Instance in point is tha W'ay French companies fare With product in Germany. After months of negotiating, a picture may be set for di.siribution in Hitler's counir . Thch the distributor finds that ho Is able to get Only ,a portion of the money, collected back to -Pari , ay 3i ., Hicks, Jr;, Paramount's foreign'sailes chief who arrived here last week, presided iat a general'sales meeting, over the weekend.. It was called to start last Friday (29j,, With air pi-ihcipal foreign managers from Europe in attendance. Smaller con- fab, of sales reps probably will be held in London when Hicks goes over there in about a week,- . Session here. Which brought all big European sales bosses together, was: In the nature of Par's annual foreign sales convention.. All exchange hten from key cities On Continent,,how-; ever, did hot attend. BRITISH EXHIBS CALL FOR FILM BUCK LIST London, April'^6.- Move in the exhibitor campaign against grading of product is definite threat to: blacklist selected product. Cinematograph Exhibitors Assn,,; in a 'secret circiilar' to, every membcri annpunces: all, members y/i\\ .be ad- vised shortly of certain A pictures which they should not book oh.^any account.. Circuits, It says, will co- ope.rate with, indies in making the boycott effective. 'Do all.you can .to avoid booking A pictures,' the document; urges. 'We know ■' ' sometimes difficult, but in many case's it's easy.' Circu: lar -goes on to name various .major release films and concludes, 'Do you regard such pictures as A; product, to be paid for on percentage?' C.E.A. case is that, the rading system adopted by the Kihemalo- graph Renters Society (distribs) is designed tO; get more .money out of theatres by compelling all A pic- tures to be booked only on percent- age.^ Distribs, they claim, will put the A , mark-on as much product as possible, many haying declared they will eli inate B's completely, Which will mean eventually that cxhibs will get ho second feature at flat rale, will pay percentage for: Sun- day bookings, second-and .third runs and children's ' matinee programs, and film hire will increase every where. Association is accordingly cam palgning for unity among exhibs to challenge unity among the K.R.S, members. Circuits have sided With indie:;, under the leadership of Ar Ihur Jarratt (G.-B.) and Arthur Moss (Associated' British), C.E.A officers and leading executive meih- bers are visiting every branch throughout Great Britain to. state the case and stiffen exhib resistance, using alt the scare tactics at their command. Meantime, exhibs are recommend- j ed to place business as far as possir Ible with five distrib.s—20th-Fox, {General Films, As.sociated, Briti.sh, Pathe and Bulchcr'.s—who are out- I side the grading setup imposed by •K.R.S. I : i i I Universal Overtures To Ace British Reps interest in the_ Athenaeurh | France. Such a situation, whjle not | applicable solely to French picture I diistrib-sl does not help a company 1 -striving to show a prpfil. ] Probably the sole ericouiaging sign | is, that American, distributors' may devolb more attention to France's market: and offer more co-opcralion as a result of slashes made at foreign riiarket by Fascism spreading, re- strictions and quotas (including Mi one rccenfiy installed in Eiigjandi. London, ay 3. Joe Seidelman has. been fcelitig out local ace salesmen for appoint- ment in the newly organized Uni- versal Pictures exchanges which he intchds e-stablishing some tirhe in July! when he !:> due-here. Universal .will 'not sever connec- tions with Charles Woolf, Who re- rhaln-s director, but no longer wljl It release product through his ex- changes. Frank pitcham, present rep here, is ixpcctcd to out under the new setup. 'Though tew major companies have set any. definite budget or even the exact-number of features they will make for quota credit in the initial year 6f Great ritaih's quota act, more of the larger distributors ex- pect-tp have a better idea this week of first year plans. Despite the-fact that features made ot" purchased' in: England for U. S. distribution under 'quota ,stl,pu1a- tiohs ' can be figured into, the do- mestic budget, American; pictui- executives appreciate the void such productions' will leave in the. profit- making ' scheine If. hiahy ot. these prove boxoffice ven with British-made pictures: costing $4(jo;d00 to hearly $1,0CK),()00, either turned; put under American supervision, and ith Kollywpdd boxoffice names; or purchased, direct from British compahles, there always is the danger of failing, to recoup negative costs. 'They know that from previous ..cxpcrincc. :Consei:i{iently,, the rank and. llle'ot film, companies, here plan- to move slowly on layin • out Coin .for Brit- ish quota credit features. Most ot the majors will set one or two corn- paratively expensive features on this lineup. This means one or moTi costing $4pa,p0() upwards to .1111 three quota credit requirements undei^ th three-for-one .clause, 175,000 Stop For the remainder^ whether bought from English: companies or. turned but under American supervision, like westerns, few are-. expected 'to go past the $75,000 minimum; Hard facts are. that, whether these minor features cost $75,000 or $200,000,. chances are that they will do negligi- ble business- in. thjs country. At- titude of some U. S. officials- is against pouring more nioney into productipn' when there ilt.ile chance oE netting $00,000. from the feature. In film rentals from th world market. This, of course, ap- pii inexpensive fil Besides, U. S. producers see noi reason for putting more :money 'into a minpr British quota subject than they spend on .a moderately bud- geted: western feature made Hollywood, Because of that 15% reijuirement and the ml Imum of $75,000 per British' feature, many, of the cbih- panies may cut down the number of American pictures shipped to Great Britain, for distribulioh. Thus a conipany -which distributed 52 features in 1937-38 ( ith all of them going into England), may dl-Stribul only 40 in Great Britain under the new quota, is Would rhean the American firm would have to supply only -sijc quota credit features instead ot eight, necessary under the :52-pi ture setup. W|th the company that distributed 60 In the past 12 months, and supplied nine quota credit fea- tures, by shipping in only 45, quota requirements would be trimmed to. I seven. i Some linouncement of Para- mount's quota picture plans prpb- ably will be revealed this., week from London by John W. Hicks, Jr., fof-eign sales chief. He is diie I England- this week and, will confer on the quota situation until about the iddle of this month. Hicks is'due to' sall, for the U., S. 'May IS or 18., 'Hfe has been 6h a swing through Central and South America, Italy and France and will wind up .his foreign, visits in England. The Latin Tonch til to milify. the .expropriated bil companies.' Other branches of the .show biz, including bull fight, boxing and wi- stiing arenas, have agreed to Sr BELL'S DIVISION -sh films are not available. First un-' Further allgnmpiit ot Columbia's der n w policy will be ' rlctr foreign staff took pISce last .week "PimpPl■.^ol' lUA). 1 v/ith namihg,of Sim6n-2:. Bell, form- between Munro and Para-1 criy ot the home olTlce, as hc'ad of Deal divvy up gross of one Thursday per hiolint for taking over of the-Ciipltol l latest foreign branch at Port of month to the fund until I5ec. 31.' j stili is hot- buV dick ring continues i Spain, Trinidad. New foreign wing A--!, cinemas are by far Mexieo'.-< ith price clemeiit .vaid to be main : will include Briti.sh and Dutch Oui- inost popular entertainment, it , point o( di.-<put . risht now. If pci -1 an,-i as .Well as Tririi iid. Il-;uic that (heir donation wilt far Xci-teil. tliii would !jivc Hoyts still, .Supcrvi-sion will be under excee that of the rest of the show biz- i unplhcr theatre here. J.York ofllc I Rafael Ramois Cobiain, presi i United Theatres, Puerto Rico, I rrived to . supervise producti : Paramount's all-Spanish lepture I-starrihi; Tilo Guir.ar. Pieture will ' got under way n as Cobi pu(-s hi.s n,k. on the script. Cobian. is bankrolling the fil J which John Reinhardl will direct. Aniac 'AOf el London-, April 28. laim that the new British films quota law has killed the Australian picture industry, involving six" com- panies' and nearly $1,500,000 an- nually. Is made by local Auiitralian reps. ith the English government no longer allowing Australian pic- tures tp. rank as renters' quotas, 40% of the production cost has bcc taken away from the. pibduccrs. lit it Is' maintanicd will cause the sale ot ritish pi tures to, drop by at least 50';<. Rea- nirig is that iho.st of the Briti.sh ictiires sold in Australia qinly by ing tagged to home product, forc^ ' the .exhibitor tb tiikc the :Brlt- olherwi.se he could not g I his ome pro.duct. And. . imgc il ma.y seem, .^usl^allans enjoy their I own .pictures.