Variety (Jul 1946)

'VABJETTTT CONDOM OFFICE ■ flfc Uartla's Place, Ttrntalamr Bqu«r« INTERNATIONAL 11 'Lawrence of Arabia/ 'Star Danced' On Big Sked of Rank Production Units London, June 25. f' Ortus Films, headed by John Sutro, who helped to found London Films with Alexander Korda, has the biggest picture lineup since for- mation of company. Company tees oft with Turgeniev's 'Torrents of Spring," for which they \havc . im- ported H.urd Hatfield from Holly- wood. Film will be done in English and French, with French version to be made at Billancourt, Paris. Claude Renoir will direct both ver- sions, with Sir Arnold Bax doing special music. Ortus has acquired Nancy Mit- ford's ' Pursuit of Love," best seller in England and IX: S., in which Sally Gray will star. Shooting starts in November. It also has Monckton Hoffc's play "Many Waters," which was a hit at the Ambassadors in 1928, with Celia Johnson and Stanley Holloway to star. It goes into pro- duction'in September. One that may be made in Holly- wood by this company is Gertrude Lawrence's "A Star Danced." This is set to go this fall or early next year. Peter Fleming and Richard Ver- non arc working on a script which will be used as vehicle for Eye Ash- ley whom John Sutro brought over from Hollywood. Company also has secured T. E. Lawrence's classic, "Lawrence of Arabia," which will be filmed next year: Pictures will be made for J. 'Arthur Rank and will be released through United World Pictures and General Film Distributors. Many Others Set The Boulting brothers start work on tlicii- first film since discharged from the service. To bj made at Denliam. (ilm is based on Howard Spring's best seller "Fame is the Spur." It is being adapted by Nigel Balchin, and will bring together again Michael Redgrave and Rosa- mund John, who scored in their last picture "The Way to the Stars." . Film is being made for Two-Cities Films, with Roy Boulting to direct and John Boulting producing. Having launched "Bedelia" suc- cessfully. John Coi field Productions will do another for Rank. This one is titled "High Pavement," by Emery Bonnctt. Shooting expected to start in September, with Flora Robsoo being sought for lead. ■ Cincguild Films arc also getting ready to do one for Rank at. Pine- wood in July. This is an original by "Winston Graham and Valerie Tay- lor, with Anthony Havelock-AUea to produce and Ronald Neame to direct. Cast being lined up at present in? ' eludes MariusGoring, Greta Gynt ■and Henry Mollison. First picture, which Herbert Wil- cox wi|] do for Sir Alexander Korda is an original titled "The Seller of Wrath," which goes on the floor at Sound City Studios in July or early in August, with Vernon Sewcll di- recting: Picture is expected to take eight weeks and will cost around $320,000. with British Lion Films to release. Wilcox is angling for Robert Morlcy as star. U S. FILMS BACK AS FINNISH PIX LEADER Washington. July 2. U. S. has climbed back into the dominant film position in Finland. During the period from. July 28, 1943 to Feb. 7 last, more than 67«i ot all films shown in Helsinki were made in Hollywood. In second place was Finland, whose studios produced 11.1% of the Alms screened. ■. Sweden was third with 9.3% and Britain a bad fourth with only 3.4';;'. Cob Quite Low's Benjamin Conn,"chief of opera- tions for Loew*s International the- atre dept. has resigned effective July lo. He plans entering the foreign magazine publishing business. Cohn. with Loew's for the last 15 years, recently returned from a tour of Latin America. No successor has yet been named. ANN BICHAKDS TO AUSSIE . . Sydney, June 18. „,A ,ln Richards, Aussie screen star, now with Hal Wallis unit in U. S. auived for a five weeks visit with hoc mother. -'■-..- Young star go t first screen break ft oie via Cincsound. Aussie Equity Probes German Vaude Actor Sydney, June 18. Hal Alexander, secretary of Aus- sie Actors' Equity, has asked Dave Martin, director of the revue cir- cuit, to postpone the appearance here of Elimar, German-born jug- gler, currently at the Tivoli, Mel- bourne. Eii.mar's application to join Equity has been held up until char- ges that he had been interned dur- ing the war as a pro-Nazi are checked. Alexander said he had informed Martin that he wanted to make it clear to him and Elimar that there had been no bias against Elimar be- cause of his German nationality. Tosky, Miffed At Big Four Politics, Nixes Paris Date Paris, July 2. Arturo Toscanini, embittered be- cause of Italian-French frontier re- visions made by the council of for-, eign ministers last week, refused to come . here with the La Scala (Milan) orchestra for a scheduled concert last Sunday (30) at the Champs Elysee. Ministers of the Big Four,' meeting here, gave France, the Briga and Tenda regions of northwest Italy, with. Italy re- taining the right to obtain power from their hydro-electric stations. Toscanini declared he would not conduct in Paris "because of pro- found bitterness caused by interna- tional events, which can be inter- preted as a reference to the Paris conference's vengefulness. against Italy in favor of France. I person- ally am not in a state of mind to conduct music at the Champs Elysee. It is only a question of my personal sorrow and sadness for un- just political decisions. I have not a bad. feeling toward France or Frenchmen, with whom serious, honest and loyal collaboration is to be hoped." Manager Marcel Dc Baomalete is refunding the record sellout of $50,000. Concert tickets had an un- precedented $65 top. with the pro- ceeds for the French Red Cross. La Scala management announced that it concurred in Toscanini's de- cision to cancel his Paris concert. The maestro went to Italy from the U. S. early this spring to conduct symphonic concerts at the La Scala Opsra House. Milan, where he be- gan his career. London Welcomes 'Crime' London, July 2. "Crime and Punishment," the Rod- ney Ackland-Dostoicvsky adaptation which opened at the New theatre June 29, was well received by press and firstnighters. Looks certain to pack the theatre for the three-month season until the Old Vic company returns. Show stars John Gielgud and Edith Evans, and was staged by An- thony Quale with cast of 42. WB Halts Dabbing For Latin America Warners, which recently dubbed 12 features into Spanish, has halted all synchronized versions for the Latin-Americas. Company found that first-run theatres in key cities, where the bulk of revenue is ob- tained, preferred superimposed ver- sions to dubbed .ones. Biz from dubbed films fell behind versions with superimposed English titles in first-runs from Mexico City on down to the smaller keys. Branch managers generally feel that the coin derived from subse- quent runs or new territory is not large enough to justify the dubbing program. Metro, however, con- tinues sold that dubbed pictures represent additional revenue as well as playdates in all spots, out- side of a few first-runs and in lo- cations previously closed to Ameri- can pictures because bulk of patrons are unable to understand gngli«h RKO is another to join the major distribs inclined to go slow on the dubbing. Toscanini subsequently cancelled dates to conduct the La Scala orch in London, for the same reason that he refused to play in Paris. Current London Shows London, July 2. "Arsenic A Old Lace," Strand. "Belter Late," Garrick. "Can Can," Adclphi. "Crime & Punishment," New. "Exercise Bowler," Scala. "Filly-Fifty," Strand. "Fine Feathers," Wales. "First Gentleman," Savoy. "Follow the Girls," Majesty's. "Frieda,".' Westminster. "Gang Show," Stoll. "Grand National Night," Apollo. . "Green Laughter," Comedy. "Guinea Fig," Criterion. "Hasty Heart." Aldwych. "Here Come the B*ys," Saville. "High Time," Palladium. ' "HoneynoM," York's. "Lady Edinburgh," Playhouse. "Make It a Dale," Duchess. "Merrie England," Princes. "Night and Marie,'' Coliseum. "No Medals," Vaudeville. "No Roam at Inn," Winter Garden. "Perchance t» Dream," Hipp. "Portrait In Black," Piccadilly. "Private Lives," Fortune. ' "Red Bases for Me," Wyndhams. "Shop Sly Corner," St. Martins. "Song *f Norway," Palace. "Sweetest and Lawest," Ambass. "The Kingmaker," St. James. "Under the Counter," Phoenix. "While Sun Shines," Globe. "Windermere's Fan," Haymarket. "Wlnnlow Boy," Lyric. . "Worm's View," Whitehall. Increased Baflyboo By Export Assn. To Re-SeD Foreign Public Greatly steppd-up publicity de- signed to whet public curiosity over U. S. stars and screen product will be used by the Motion Picture Ex- port Assn. as an opening wedge in the campaign to reopen, foreign mar- kets. It will be intensified in countries where American product now ap- pears to have the least chance of breaking through on an open-mar- ket basis. Export Assn. feels the foreign public heeds to be re-sold American pictures and new stars after six years of being cut off from new U. S. pix. Export Assn. further expanded last week when Jean Birkhahn was made manager for Bulgaria and Sid- ney Lieb. was picked as service man- ager for the N. Y. homeofficc. Birk- hahn has been with U. 8.,distribs in the Near East and Europe for 11 years, being with Paramount, Uni- versal and Metro. Lieb brings 18 years experience in the film service division at 20th-Fox to the MPEA. Latter will service the various sales details of member companies for the 13 countries where the Export Assn. hopes to he operating soon. CARMEN AMAYA RAPPED IN SANTIAGO RETURN • Santiago, Chile, July 25: Carmen Amaya, who 10 years ago performed in one of Santiago's sec- ond-rate theatres tor a few pesos, a day. returned to the grandiose Tea- tro Municipal to fill a two-week en- gagement with her troupe. Although the date was a sellout, several . of the afternoon tabloids claimed thai she has "lost her real Spanish dancing : art" in the years of Broadway and Hollywood perform- ing. One paper. Noticias Graficas. said that all she needed was "chew- ing gum to complete the Broadway appearance." Cornfield Named 20th's Foreign Sales Super Albert. Cornfield was appointed 20th-Fox foreign sales supervisor for homeoffice this Week by Murray Sil- verstone. 20lh-Inlernational prexy.- He has been handed a long-term pact. Cornfield joined 20th-International in 1942. being with Metro' in charge of sales in Europe previously. He was an independent distributor in Europe al one time. Assoc. Brit, WB Spending $4,1 On Studio Setup for Big Prod. Sked Granada, Ltd., Sells To Public for 1st Time London, July 2. For the first time in the history of . the company, Granada Theatres, Ltd., is offering its shares to the public. This is the $41000,000 pref- erence non-voting stock underwrit- ten by an influential-group, here. The ordinary stock, controlled by the Bernsteins, is not being placed on the market. Slock offering is.the first move in the expansion of this circuit via theatre purchases and building new ones. roviso Nips H wood Pix French Release American companies which dubbed French-language pictures in Holly- wood, so as to have product ready to go into France once the quota dis- pute was settled, now are confronted with the extra cost of having to re- dub them in France. Some com- panies already had laid out $500,000 to.$1,000,000 for Hollywood dub- bing,' but a recently discovered wrinkle in the French law is ex- pected to force them to spend half as much to. clear product for distri- bution in France. For example, Warners, alert to the possibility of the French quota dis- pute being cleared up, had dubbed some 25 top features into French at its Hollywood plant, average cost being close to $20,000 each. Now it appears, according to latest advices- from Paris, the dubbing must be done* all over again in France or a penalty must be paid to get them released there. Fortunately for War- ners this does not represent a total loss because the pictures were re- leased in Quebec, the French-speak- ing population there representing revenue of $22,000 to $30,000 per pic- ture. All major film companies arc watching this situation closely to sec if. they will be forced to re-dub in Rome when they release product in Italy. Each major plans releasing some. 12-15 features in that country in the next 12 months, and many of them had already dubbed their films here in the U.S. to be ready for reopening of distribution in Italy. . London. July 2. . Max Milder, managing director of Associated British Picture Corp. and Warner Bros, in England, reveals that the former is spending $2,600,000 to remodel the Elstree studios and Warners is spending $1,400,000 to re-' build the Teddington studios. Latter were destroyed by Nazi bombs during the war. Associated has a big; production lineup, which includes units formed by top-ranking British producers and 'directors..'An- atolic, de Grunewald heads one unit with Anthony Asquitli and Terence Rattigan 1 . First picture will be Ral- tigan's stage hit, "While the Sun Shines." Longtermers also were given the Boulting brothers, who start with. J. L. Hodson's best seller, 'Jonathan North." Graham Greene's "Brighton Rock" follows. Harold. French also is heading a unit, with the first film to be Francis Brett Young's "My Brother Jonathan." By arrangement with Warners, Associated British will import top Warner stars, including Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Ida Lupino, Bar- bara Stanwyck, Paul Henried and Sydney. Greenstreet. Milder planes to the U. S. on July 12 to finalize arrangements, having : reached an agreement with Warners to dis- tribute at least three pictures an- nually in America and throughout the world. • Elstree is expected to have four complete stages ready by next Jan- uary, with Teddington counting on three stages by December. Coin Freeze Delays Hammerstein's Plans For Down Under Tour Sydney. June 18.. Oscar Hammerstein II, now fly- ing back to. U. S. after visiting relatives in Melbourne, held sev- eral huddles with Williamson-Tail on Aussie production of "Oklahoma'- and other major Rodgers-Hamificr- stein shows. It now looks like a deal will be delayed until Aussie legit is freed of irksome restrictions, especially coin takeaway. Hammer'slein said he wanted to sec admissions increased for his top musicals. Upped scale got the green light from Aussie gov- ernment for the current Cyril Rich- ard and Madge Elliott season at Royal theatre here. Poor Economic Setup Blamed for Barriers Vs. U.S. Pix in Spain Barriers being set up by the Span- ish government to hold pfE tide, of American films seeking to enter that country are the result of economic, not ideologic, reasoning, according to G. E. Castelli, United Artists' manager in Spain, just, arrived in U. S. Spain is measuring food and machinery, as against films, he said, and is choosing the former for im- port priority. But despite restrictions, U. S. films dominate Spain's screen averaging about 60-70% of screen time. Cas-. tclli. who arrived with Fernando Santos, UA distributor in Portugal, said American films were the most popular in Spain. Santos said the situation is the same in Portugal. KINGSFORD-SMITH FILM IN SYDNEY PREMIERE Sydney; July 2. "Smithy." Columbia's impressive Australian-produced film, preemed here last week (27) before the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester. Picture biogs the late Sir Charles Kings- ford-Smith, Australia's ace aviator, who flew the Pacific from Australia to the U. S. and also from England to Australia, subsequently being lost on one of the latter flights. Film was directed by Ken .Hall and stars Ron Randall, Aussie legit player, in title role. Columbia officials in N. Y. would not commit themselves on whether they plan additional production in Australia. They said it -was far too early to tell the exact potentialities of "Smithy/' since it had only opened in one theatre. Les Ambassadeurs Stalled Paris, June 25. Plans for reopening Les Ambassa- deurs restaurant have been further delayed. Difficulties in importing an American orchestra and floor- show meant plans for a temporary policy of tea and dance with a legal orchestra. But instead, the French government requested ih'e spot be used for one month by the Yugo- slavian government fur a war- ac- tivities exhibition'. Now the spot can't open, until the last week in July, arid it may remain closed after that ir conditions have not eased enough |o .permit import of suitable talent. Ireland's 1st Strawhat Opens Season, July 14 Dublin, July 2. First summer' theatre modelled after American operations, will open when the Roxy, former film house in Bray, County Wieklow, starts July 14 with a series of shows directed by Stanley lUsley in col- laboration with Leo McCabe. Bray is a pop seaside resort. Plays on the schedule, which, calls for a change of bill twice. weekly, include J. B. f Priestley's "When We Are Married'," Terence Rattigan's "While 'the Sun Shines," Gerald Savory's "George arid Margaret" and Leon Gordon's "White Cargo." • Femme star will be Mabel Home. Nigel Fitzgerald, who was building up nicely until he left for duty with the British Army, is in the cast,