Variety (Mar 1948)

Wednesday, Marcli 17, 1948 SPURS FILM QrcoitsBookiiig As in PabCited ByAHiedasmat'sWrongWithPix' Trio of douWe feature bookings Into New Jersey affiliates and large chain theatres is currently taking wiHe circujarization treatment by Allied exhib groups as a claimed example of "what's, wrong with the industry." Producers can econo niize to the bone and past, the Al lied chorus goes, but there'll be no profits for distribs if expensive pix i!0ntinue being booked in pairs. It's to make ufffor this sort of deal, Al- lied argues^, that distribs ar0 sharp- ening the rental bite on indie houses. Allied finger-pointing is aimed at booking of "The Swordsman" (Co- lumbia) and "Cass Timberlane" {Metro) into the Capitol, Newark; <':ftrcoon" (BKO) and "Good News" W-Gt) into Fabian, Hoboken; and •^ftfcoon" and "iJaisy Kenyon" <20th*Fox) into Regent, Paterson. These duals were screened last month. . Bookings were particularly criti- cised because they were made in key-runs. In each instance, it's noted,, the films piidred were top- budget productions which would ordinarl^ be combined with B's or lower-bracket A's for key-run play- ing. Allied is dlso making political capital out of'the incidents, claim- btgtiiaC^ey prove anew favoritism fdr the large chains as against the indies. Subsequent^runs, it's said are forced to pay a minimum of 25% for each of these films. Since that's so, it's argued by Allied the conclusion is inevitable that the chains, for first-runs, are getting these pix at the same terms or less. What's more, it's said, total play- ing time of two such features along Urith newsreels, trailers, etc., atnounts to four hours. That's I'e- sulting in a smaller turnover of audiences—another reason for the distribs' tapering profits. FILM CLUB GIMMICK : FOR W SCREENINGS In move to dodge New York state censorship regulations, the ultra-arty Greenwich Village pix outfit, Cinema 16, has organized a "film society"' which will pre- sent to its members films that can- not be shown publicly. Member- ship in the club Is open to anyone paying an annual fee "of $10,. but the screenings are termed "private performances," thus bringing them V^t of reach of censorship and commercial regulations. Outfit operates in the Provincetown Playhouse, N. Y. Step was taken after Cinema 16 was banned from showing a film on the birth of a kitten on grounds of "mdeceney." ^ PetrUlo's London Threat Via Frozen Film Income Inclusion in the British-Ameri- can film pact last week of the "*«2"«cture of phonograph re- ^^ui u^I as one of the ways in Which frozen U. S. dollars can be ^P^fiS seen as an eitort by the !° advantage of the «?uwent American waxing ban. unless American Federation of Musicians' topper James C, Petril- w, Who has ordered the stoppage dnm„TA'"« here, finds a way of auuing American film companies' ™*M«asm they might realize in Ti?«i*''^*, making disks w London for distribution in the Another Film Fesl? _ Paris, March 16. . pi®''^ is still some talk here of hut fUfu Festival this year, nor T^l'ul ^'^ case of Cannes. ZnH„f?^* of Brussels, have ap- Me thn made and both %*^?»8ht unlikely to take place. VhiT^ »nly festival for iiitf t« been forthcom- have hfj**®' definite rules invitatfe published and where Sioufc«*'*'7® been Issued. ttSde vii" decision has been «nderat„„i ^^f'^^^ (iistrlfes are "^erstood likely to participate. Majors' Film Divvies Reach $54,600,000 Alltime Peak in '47 Washington, March 16. Cash dividend disbursements of the major film companies in 1947 hit an alltime high of $54,600,000, according to revised figures issued by the Dept. of Commerce today (Tues.). Sum represents boost of $7,900,000 over the previous record outlay of $46,700,000 chalked tip in 1946 and includes , divvies re- sulting from production, distribu- tion as well as exhibition, Despite the greater total set la.st year, checks mailed stockholders tapered off in the last quarter of 1947 compared to < the similar period in. 1946. Dividends for the final three months of 19 48 amounted to $15,200,000 while this sum slumped to only $12,000,000 paid out in Oct.-Dec; the following year. " Indication of cautiousness by (Continued on page 18) L Hollywood; March 16. While the British film tax com- promise was greeted with varying degrees of optimism by major Hollywood producers, the agree- ment will definitely Hypo produc- tion by indie filmmakers' in this country and by the majors them- selves in England. ' Indie producers. In fact, hailed the compromise as a ray of sun- shine in the financial gloom. Em- bargo on the shipment of U. S. films to England had virtually cut the indies off |rom their margin of profit aqd had'thus made it increas- ingly diificult for them to obtain "second money" financing. News of the British settlement, conse- quently, -resulted in a flurry of ac- tivity on the Coast by the indies to rent stage space. Demands for rental lots surged to an abnormal peak immediately after the news came from London. Besttmption of British produc- tion by the majors is expected to result from the cbmpromise pro- viso that most of the earnings of U. S. films in England are to re- (Continued on page 71) Rank Thinks Yank Distribs hytx DidTheir'Best'toSenHisPixinUi. Wallis-Hazen Winding Par Bislrih Pact With 12 ProA; EL Talks? Hal Wallis Productions, which has been releasing through Para- mount since 1944, has made no definite decision as to future plans. Wallis and Joseph H. Hazen, part- ners in the indie unit, feel that their course hinges partly on the U. S. Supreme Court decision in the industry anti->trust case. Wallis and Hazen are understood to feel that if the court orders theatre divorcement, it won't mat- ter much whether or not they dis- tribute through one of the com- panies that now owns a circuits They have been approached by several distribs but they have not discussed anything seriously.' Eagle Lion is one of the ' distribs interested. Unit has two more films to make under its contract to turn out 12 in four years for Pai\ Going into (Contmued on page 22) The British Tax ^Settlement' + strong implication that the American film industry has never ■ yet tried to do its best with his films was given by J. Artlmr Rank in an exclusive interview with Vamety in New York Monday (15). Gauging the effects of the new Anglo-American film pact* British film topper said in more ways than one that "it's up to the Americans to sell my films." "No one's yet taken his coat oflf," Rank declared, "and really gotten to work for these films. When they do, they'll make real progress—► but not until then." Obviously primed with enthu- siasm for his new product. Rank said: "I've the finest program of any company in the world. And When I say program, I mean actu- ally shot, not planned for the future only. It's your (American distribs) interest now to sell them, and it's your problem. I've gotten along without this market so far and I can contisue to, if it need be. If the Americans want dollars, they now have to take their'coats- off and work for them. "K the Americans get behind these pictures, they'd get as many dollars from them as from any American film," Hank flatly de- clared. "These films, in every (Continued on page 22) It's going to take some time for both the British and the American film industry to digest that 75% tax settlement which Eric Johnston ne- gotiated, with Jim Mulvey's help, in London. It may take as long as two years. After the first flush of optimism, a reappraisal sees the "settlement" in not so halcyon a light. Fundamentally, of course, it must be figured on the basis of dollars and cents. Whether or not the British "have again out-traded us Americans," as is a currently captious cry by some, there are intangible plus'factors which must not be over- looked. They may be as long-range as Britain's long-sighted approach to its own motion picture problem. It has been frankly aired in in-the-know circles that the British industry is virtually linked to 10 Downing street as a potential for fu- • ture round-the-world trade and diplomatic value. That may be partly true. It is no secret that the film industry in almost every European nation has the diplomatic as well as the commercial blessing of its foreign service. Hollywood only re- cently got meagriB support from its own State De- partment, at Johnston's insistence, that the Mar- shall Plan, somehow, be tied into the British impasse.. It is also true, from the American long-range viewpoint, that this settleiiient, even at dollar loss, achieves two immediate salients. One, it kayos the threat of other nations following the sterling countries' precedent with a similar stiff tax, generally labeled "confiscatory." The other achievement is the preservation of American film dominance in British markets—and elsewhere. The longer we stayed out, the greater the likeli- hood of the British film fans becoming attuned ■ either to their own product or to other foreign product (French, Italian, etc.) which, having rarely enjoyed British entree, might conceivably sacrifice that 75% in order to get a look-in. The American dissidents with the "settle- ment," on the other hand, have an equally con- vincing series of arguments. One is that the fear of a British, Gallic or Latin dominance fihn-wise never asserted itself in the few months Holly- wood stopped shipping product,- hence there is nothing to fear on that score. Money-wise, the weight of the evidence is even greater in favor of the American film industry's cause fot dissatisfaction. Johnston, in cabled dis- patches as he embarked at Southampton early this week, brushed it off by observing he has.al- ready heard comments of disappointment from his American colleagues because of "economic" reasons. Fundamentally, of course, the entire issue is economic. Britain predicated its entire 75% tax. claim on a dollar-shortage basis. Now Hollywood foresees itself short-changed and Britain's posi- tion advanced o» two fronts. It relieves the prod- uct shortage for England, and coincldentally re- duces the dollar remittances to a basic $17,000,000 per annum. Hollywood argues that, despite a 75 ?d embargo on new Imports, it at least had a free flow of dollair remittances on U. S, pix al- ready in England. Some figure this could have totalled twice that $17,000,000. In other words, in the six months from June 14—^when the new de- cree goes into effect—until Dec. 31, it is expected that enough dollar remittances will be frozen to make up the initial two-year test period. Oonjecturftl as it may be, statistics give the CJ.S. distributors' arguments much credence. Un- like the winter of '47, which was extradrdinarily cold and the summer inordinately hot, this past winter in England has beeii mild, and that augurs an equally mild summer, all of which indicate better boxolQce. This doesn't include the poten- tials of improved product. Fact is, British film boxoffice is good despite shortages, reissues, etc. American distribs aver/in short, that while the $17,000,000 was based on a theoretical peak year of 1946, with its $68,000,000 in British remittances, indications point to a bullish year in '48 re- gardless. The downbeat talk, of course, doesn!t overlook still another grave issue, that of using frozen American dollars to further help build an uncer- tain British film production industry. Since Americans can reinvest the frozen residue in England, the obvious and natural evolution en- visions production collaboration with J. Arthur Rank and Sir .Alexander Korda. Hollywood points to the fact that, even with new Yank imports denied the British film public, the two dominant native British production dynasties not only didn't capitalize on the situa- tion but retrogressed. American oldies and reis- sues, along with whatever backed-up product that .beat the last Aug> 1 deadline,'did better than the native productions. As for America building up that $17,000,000 by appreciating the revenues of British films play- dated on American screens, that, too, is already largely discounted. It's apparent that any Thurs- day-to-Sunday "long weekend" booking of a British film in affiliated, or other large-chain theatres, can only mean the displacement of an American film which, with its better-known mar- quee values^ perhaps would have earned even more than the imported film. One thing is certain—speaking of production— the eastern end has nothing to fear that "Holly- wood will go berserk again," as has been a com- mon captious comment from the eastern (finan- cial) end as regards the Coast's production prof- ligacy. Hollywood quickly concedes that the Coast wants to wait and "see what the settlement really ineans." It's apparent, certainly for the rest of the year, when the new Anglo-Americstn film accord really becomes operative, that new values will assert themselves. Indeed, a leisurely digestive period may truly shape the real results. Psychologically, however, the settlement should clarify the celluloid atmosphere. It kayos a dangerous standard for the rest of Hollywood's foreign markets. Above all, in this era of highly sensitized international relations, it lifts a cloud between the two dominant English-speaking na- tions. And that^s worth plenty. Abel Par Picked Up $9,600,000 Of Its Own Stock in Feb. Paramount ■ picked up an addi- tional 32,000 shares of its own common stock in February in a continuation of its policy of using sui^Ius funds for that purpose. Par, at the close of the month, had • a total of 476,233 shares in its treasury. At present market prices, ; the stock is worth some $9,600,000'. Stock-purchasing plan was ini- tiated over a year ago with the avowed intention \of devoting the shares to buying out theatre part- > ners if the partial divorcement provision of the anti-trust decree ' becomes law. It's also been used . for absorbing indie producing out- fits such as Liberty Films and Rainbow Productions. TfaSe'Mark Regrstered FOUNDED BY SIME SIIjVERMAW rabUsheil Weekly by VAHIKTY, Inc. ' Sid Silverman. President , ■ 161 West 46th St., New Torlt 19, N. T. HoH.rwooa 28 6311 Yucca Street OMIeaso 1 3C0 Nt). Michlg&n Ave. XonOon WC» 8 St. Martin's Pl.j Tratalsar Sci. , SUBSCRIPTION Atrnaal ..$10 POrelBii. $11 Single CupioH .....25 Cenia Vol. 170 No. 2 INDEX Bills 63 Chatter ,...■..>........, .70 Concert ........... 66 Disk Jockey Reviews 51 Film Reviews ......... . . .. 8 House Reviews ......... 24 Inside Legit. ........... .66 Inside Pictures 17 Inside Television ...«... .34 Legitimate 64 Literati 69 Music :. ... .■. .............49 New Acts 63 Night Club Reviews 62 Obituaries ;.. ...71 Orchestras .49 Pictures- 2 Pre-Production News ... ■ 7 Radio 25 Radio Reviews ....;.; 39 Records ...,..........51 Frank Scully 69 Television ........ .34 Vaudeville .........;. ;, .39 (Published in HoUyw6od by . Daily Variety, l.td.) Its ft Y«4tt>-^30 K^otelgn