Variety (May 1946)

•VARIETY'S' LONDON OFHOJC • SI. Martla'n Mart, Trafalgar 9«wn INTERNATIONAL IT France Stfll Stalemating U. S: Films; Leon Blums Loan Used As a Club? Paris, Api'if 30. Position of American film com- panies in France, which lias grown progressively worse since the end of the war, is now so precarious that unless the French government throws open Its gates to new pictures within the next two or three months, American distribs will be forced to close up shop. Prospects for such a deal look very improbable at pres- ent because of the French Industry's (our that an influx of American pix now, when it's still struggling to regain its .feet, will offer too much competition. ■Until now most American com- panies had some pictures with which to operate. Mostly salvaged pre- war prints of old reissues, these also included some of the product that the. French government had accepted upon request of the Psychological Warfare Branch of the U. S. Army. Following V-E Day, the PWB had requested the French to. show Pa- ciilc war films, such as Metro's "30 Seconds Over. Tokyo" and Warners' '•Objective Burma" for psychological reasons. Most American distribs have by. now exhausted the supply of such pix and have recently been scraping the bottom of the barrel. Only, hope of relief, according to reps of-some American distribs here, is for Leon Blum to be successful on his current trip to the U. S. to ne- gotiate a loan for the French gov- ernment. Americans look on the present ban of their product as part of an over-all design of the French government to get the best deal pos- sible for the proposed loan. French are trying to hold the film restric- tions as a club over the heads of the •U. S. State Dept., they think. Because of the tieup in dollar ex- change, the American companies probably wouldn't be able to get their revenue out of the country for some time. Despite that, however, the general impression among; dis- tribs here is that their companies would go more.than halfway to get tilings rolling again. They figure that restrictions of some sort will probably be imposed if the ban is lifted but the question is how severe these restrictions will be. Populace Wants D. S. Pix Whatever American pix are left in Fra .ce are currently at the peak of their popularity, with even the old reissues doing fantastic business. French exhibs are thirsting for American product but can't do any- thing to get it because of their com- plete lack of organization. Only the outstanding French films, however, are drawing top grosses. Reason for this,''-it's believed, is that the French ave presently turning out more seri- ous Hlms than they did pre-war, with . the producers trying to convince the French people that the French really v.ou the' war. Public, however, doesn't go for a steady diet of this kind. Despite the fears of the French producers, American distribs here feci that their viewpoint is short- sighted. With at least 3.500 theatres currently operating throughout the country, the Americans believe that the French industry, tied up as it is. cannot possibly furnish enough product, and the trickle of British and Russian Alms won't fill the void. American companies,- if allowed in, could help keep the exhibs in op- cration and at the same lime would be building up a steady demand among French audiences for pix of all kinds. This demand, according hi the Americans, would aid the French.' rather than hinder them, when their own industry swings into full production. Moderate Run Seen For New Bea Lillie Revue London, April 30. "Better Late." new revue, which opened at the Garrick. April 24, just misses being a hit but a persona! triumph was scored by Beatrice I.illie. She stopped the show. Walter Crisham and Prudence Hym'an also scored. Moderate run seems likely. Here Mclntyre in N.Y. For Homeoffice Huddle Here Mclntyre, Universale man- aging director in Australia, stopped in N. Y. ,for homeoffice huddles on his way back home from J. Arthur Rank's international convention in London. Arriving over the week- end, .Mclntyre: planes to the Coast today (Wed.), preparatory to sailing for Sydney, Joseph Seidelman, Universal. In- ternational prexy, is du« in N. Y, on the Queen Mary, May 9. He's now in Europe after having attended the London meeting. Al Daff, U In- ternational veepee and executive as- sistant to Seidelman, has gone on a trek through the Scandinavian countries from the Rank convention, H« likely will not return to the U. S. until June 17. Fascist Fibers Still In Power? Rome, April 30, Any efforts on the part of Ameri- can him distributors to close deal for th« release of U. S.- pix prob- ably will be stymied, at least until the scheduled June 2 elections. With the interim coalition government now in power, no one wishes to as- sume the responsibility of opening the doors to foreign enterprise. Opposition of Scalera brothers and other former fascists to importation of American film darkens the gloomy picture. Certain fascists whom the Allied Commission failed to purge are feeling their oats and throwing their weight around. The Scaleras, for instance, were top-ranking col- laborationists who kept low for . a year or so. Now they hope to pro- duce their own pix, and they don't want competition from American product. FRENCH GOVT. DELAYS CAUSES OPERA STRIKE Paris, April 23. Strike action, by personnel in both the Opera and Opera Comique. shut- tering the government-controlled musical shows, was the result of long delay by the Finance Ministry in granting wage increases. A tenta- tive agreement had been made with managements okaying increases, but it still has to be okayed by the Fi- nance Ministry. Personnel, refusing to condone further delays, called the strike, re- sulting in cancellation of perform- ances for April 17. Rudy Brent, Former OWI, Off on Scandia Survey Rudolph Brent, foreign language specialist in pictures who was at- tached to the Office of War Infor- mation on a part-time basis during the war, is slated to leave Friday (10'> for Scandinavia. He will spend several months in Sweden, Norway and Denmark making sur- veys on production in those coun- tries, particularly with respec* to facilities for shooting of material for use by U. S. producers. . . Before the war. Brent worked in Scandinavia in the hewsreel and documentary field and also made travelogs as well as educational pic- | lures in South America. For OWI ; during the war he specialized on I foreign. 'language broadcasts. Also ' has done some foreign-language '. dubbing for American film com- 1 panics. More recently Brent joined ; the staff of the Lafayette Television : 4 Motion Picture studio in Brooklyn, ' recently organized. SCHLESS TO PARIS CONFAB j Robert Schlcss. Paramount'* Euro- pean manager, now in N. Y.. is due i lo return to Paris, May 4; There he ! will bejoined, by George Weltncr, ! Par international proxy. | Both Schlcss and Weltncr will 1 visit, key European countries and ■ confer on the general European set- up. Wellncr is due back in the U. S., ' May 20.' ' 'Our Town London Hit London. April 30. "Our Town" opened at the New theatre last nisht (Monday) to good notices and is assured or a long nun. pi-ess praised it as an artistic suc- cess. Several English film companies are already diclcrrir.!{ with the prin- cipals (or contracts. A French Ripley . French film critics have or- ganized themselves into a new- professional group, Assocation Francaise de la Critique de Cin- ema, with membership qualifi- cations that specifically bar anyone who "directly or Indi- rectly is connected with any publicity deals,"' This is an attempt to shake off the reputation of corrupt- ness which was stuck on the pre-war French press. French Plan To Nationalize Pix Paris, April 30. Information Minister Gaston De- ferre has announced that he is about to introduce a bill to create the first nationalized cinema organization un- der the scheduled Commissariat General. In this connection he has called a meeting of the heads of pro- ducer, distributor and exhibitor as- sociations as well as technical and industrial workers of the. business. Under the proposed setup, ' the Commissariat General would jointly, represent the information, labor and education ministries. Organization would include the Billancourt Conti- nental studios, the former Tobis, and UFA distribution facilities as well as the current Actualites Francaises newsreel. Setup also would include Paris theatres seating 11,500, and fifteen' additional houses seating 15,500 in seven cities. Alignment possibly would add the Tirage Maurice Lab- oratory, and also monopolize docu- mentaries. The current local nationalization trend makes the intended organiza- tion appear to be the first step in the plan to free the film business from capitalistic domination as sought by the Technicians Union sec- retary, Louis Daquin. following his attendance at the Czechoslovak Film Festival. D. C. Watching French Move Washington, April 30. Industry furore over the proposed nationalization of some of the French film industry has the State Department watching the situation carefully, although felt that the de- velopment will not be as revolu- tionary as it would seem. Under- Secretary of State- Dean Acheson recently completed a survey of the nationalized film industry of Czecho- slovakia, for guidance in the French matter. France is not expected to go near- ly as far as the Czechs did, even if the proposed nationalization bill be- comes . law there. ..- Involved in France are one modern studio, the Continental Distributing Co. and 28 modern theatres which are now op- erated by the Societe de Gestion et d'Exploilation des Cinemas, a group supported by the employees' and technicians' unions. French. nationalization would ap- ply, as now planned, only to that portion of the industry already ser qucslercd because of collaboration with the Nazis. See Austria's Distrib Setup Nearer Solution; Production Finally Starting With Soviets Helping long Road 1 French Juve's U.S. Dates Roger Dann, Parisian musicomedy and nitery lead, arrived in N. Y. last week for first time for radio and nitery dates being lined up by Na- tional Concert and Artists Corp. He's set for La Martinique, N. Y., May 9, for four weeks, with options, Also suggested changing his name to Dannes. Leading man in the Folies Ber- gere for two years prior to the war, 28-year-old singer-dancer's last two Paris appearances were in the musi- cals, "A Girl a Day" and "Pantoufle," in last-named with Marguerite Du- val. Pix Export Assil Vexed by Holland Industry's Export Assn., . which met last Friday (26), and foreign managers generally are worried about the slow adjustment of the distribution situation for U. S. films in the Netherlands. The Export Assn. is. operating in that country but the government-sponsored film monopoly, apparently geared to hav- ing things its own way under the Nazis, so far has refused to coop- erate in any way. Major film com- panies refuse to ship any new prod- uct into the Netherlands excepting via the Export setup. F. W. Allport, Motion Picture Assn. of America rep in Great Britain, who arrived in N. Y. last week, is understood to have come over in hopes of ironing out the present stalemate; He will be in the U. S. about two weeks more. Fear in industry circles is that Holland film officials actually still feel the Nazi influence, which they were forced to tolerate during the war, and want to continue the film monopoly strictly on their own terms. It's-'understood that. the visit of Carl Milliken, MPAA foreign chief, to Washington this week was to lay latest developments before the State Dept. there. Max tinder's Paris Film Honse Robbed of $2,200 Paris, April 23. Three masked men robbed the Max Linder Aim theatre of about 250,000 frs. ($2,200). They entered the manager's office while he was counting the day's receipts-, gagged and bound him after covering with a gun, and took all the coin.. Robbery occurred while the pic- ture inside the house was showing gendarmes battling a bandit Belgium Doing Biggest Show Biz Comeback on Postwar Continent Brussels, April 30. Show business in Belgium is presently enjoying a tremendous postwar boom. With the country re- building faster than any war-devas- tated land, there's enough money in circulation to keep all facets of show biz rolling at a brisk pace, in the rural communities as well as the key cities. With Belgian film production limited to a few shorts annually, the government has not set up any restrictions on the importation of American pix. with the result that film business for foreign companies in particular is outstanding here. Belgian public, starved for good en- tertainment during the occupation. e;oes for almost any type of Ameri- can film now. American distribs. with a larse backlog of product stored nn through the war years, are reaping comparatively larger profits here than in any other coun- try on the Continent; Because of the absence of any form of governmental film monop- oly, distribution in Belgium is not being handled by the Export Assn. of the Motion . Picture Assn. of America. American distribs, how- ever, are following the general pat- tern established by the Export Assn. in other European countries by lim- iting release of their product to 25 pix from each of the majors an- nually, despite ihe fact that some of trfe majors had from 200-300 films jammed up. French industry, which formerly looked upon Belgium as its best ex- port customer, is doing very little business here now, with American product getting most of the preferred playing time. American film execs here predict that Belgium, will be a fertile field for American vaude and nitery talent when living con- < ditions Improve enough to lure them I over. By JOSEF ISRAELS U Vienna, April 16. Approximately $200,000 (Austri- an schillings) is waiting in Vienna bank accounts of the U. S. Army's ISB Films distribution setup for eventual claiming by American dis- tributors. Metro has a top balance of $30,000. Next is RKO with $28,000, Universal, $22,000; Fox, $19,000; Paramount, $1,200 (there's only one Par print in Austria); War- ners, $13,000; UA, $14,000, and Co- lumbia, $10,000. Hollywood product still leads all other films, including German and Austrian pictures at the boxofflce. Top grosser in Austria is Deanna Durbin's "It Started With Eve," how in the eleventh week at Gartenbau which usually plays pix only two weeks. It will be followed by "Hundred Men and a Girl."' Eugene Sharin, ISB Films of- ficer, has. worked out a booking agreement with the 'Russians who recently withdrew from the four- power distribution setup at ISB to form their own Sovexportfllm. ISB is still acting for British and French as well as U.S. product, and now meets with the Soviets weekly and exchanges booking schedules for Russian and other zones. Result is that U.S. product continues to be widely shown even within the Rus- sian "Iron Curtain." Actually the Russians haven't enough pix, either Russian or captured German ones, to keep their theatres going otherwise. This also resulted in 125 theatres in the Russian zone' resuming regular Showing of the Allied Newsreel in addition to the less often issued Rus- sian news. Total of 600 houses in Austria now are available for U. S. and Allied bookings through ISB Films. This week Rosenhugl . Studios (formerly Nazi Wien Film) goes into work with Soviets putting up raw stock and Americans studio equip- ment tor Donaufllm (new) com- pany's : "Long Road," war prisoner drama featuring Paul Pflueger. Paula Wessely, top Austrian femme star, was listed for this one. Al- though cleared in,Austria and play- ing" currently at Josefstadter thea- tre, she's still verboten by Allies in Germany for. her part in the Nazi's "Homecoming," an anti-Allied prop- aganda film. "Long Road" has a shooting schedule of 26 days and a $40,000 budget. These figures hint the possibility of production here for the European market. Willy Forst's long delayed "Wiener Madeln" will go into synchronization work shortly, probably at Sievering Studio in the U. S. zone. Color printing , at Baradov ' Studio in Prague has been arranged for this feature. ISB's pool, financed by profits from showing of captured German prod- uct, will put up money to finish this picture and Forst will own no in- terest in completed film, having been paid off by the Nazis before the "liberation" of Austria. Ilonka Windisch, whose looks and work in "Wiener Madeln," attracted atten- tion in the film's rushes, opens this- week in the Abbott-Dunning "Broad- way," modernized at Neues Schau- spielhous. Delay Turtle" Opening In Vienna; 'Jacobowsky* Clicks with Austrians Vienna, April 16. Although "Voice • of ■ the Turtle" was promised to Josefstadter theatre for opening in September, the trans- lation has not been received here. Lt. Henry Alter. ISB theatre officer who is spotting American plays on the Vienna stage, says the delay is caused by John van Druten in- sistence on approving U. S. made translation instead of allowing the work to be done here as is usual. '"'Jacobowsky and the Colonel" has opened at Kammerspiele with con- siderable success. Translation of "Eve of St. Marks" has arrived and will be placed in production soon. A Berlin translation of Saroyan's "Time of Your Life" Is also a\ r ail- able.