Variety (Apr 1948)

'Agreeineiit,"NikdCiiy; Best Boxofike Pdomeis ii M»dk "Naked City" (U), "Gentleman's^ Agreement" (20th) and "Call Northside" (20th) came down to the finish line in' the March box- office sweepstakes necli;-'a'>neck, ac- cording to report* from VJuamr correspondents in more than 22 key cities. A fresb bunch of piay- dates for "Agreem«)it*^ in final bal£ of month enabled it to make the outstanding showing for the month, prompted, of course, by the Oscars. "Naked City", Which wound: up second, was kept out of the Vlo. 1 slot by the fact that it had too few playdates and that the, bulk of coin it piled up three weeks out of four in March came firmn its sockeroo run at the N. Y. CapitoL 7he Mark Hellinger melodtama. gave enough evid^&ce Iqr its smash trade in some 13 playdates (cov- ered by Variety) to indicate thi» picture would be a favorite to cop top laurels this month, ' Agreement" played to sodc. ter- rific and smash trade in virtually evory theatre booked in Mardt. A^'-.o the picture wair consstenfl^ big week after 'week. It fimv sixth in the Januoty hOxofBoe rac» and seventh in FelHuaty. plainly in- dicating its staying' poweix e though not given enough plajrdateft until March to push up ammig fhe top four-winners, "Northside," which made a re- markable showing in the final two weeks of February, to win aeCMid spot nationally that montl^ tfao frabbed plenty of laDrels in lltedi. he James Stewart starter, whidt was. an easy thirdrplace winner last month, continued registeiifig high grosses even'though on many extended-run and movcovec en- gagements two weeks out of lour during March. Flock of new dates in'final week la^mostlli IwtlMer attested Its champirashiilr oillfaK'.^ Other WinlKrs - . - Outside of this Big Tlnree ccdit- . getting group, actual mon.ey and ijihowings were widely g^atter«td. "Saigon"'- (Par) edged up into fourth portion. This Alan'Xiadd starrer copped first place in iiie h.o. race one week and third two other sessions. It beat out "I Re- member Mama." (KKO) because tlie latter, fifth-place winner, was just getting "started out. While ringing up great totals in the few places played, it did not have enough ftlaydates' to climb into 'higher rating. Length of "Mama" was be- coming a .real pcoblem to the dis- frib, this hurting its great run at N. Y. Mttide Ball and fordng the film to be .plaared solo ui anoBier city. Sixth 'spot went to "Bldiop^K "W £e" (BKO) wMch was fifth in February and fourth in January. "Double life" (U) finished in seventh ;p]ai;e, with . Bonald Col man's Oscar an added tiaost for this actor's stanihig wdiide. Big opm- iugs, olM^dttsbr stemiriihg fcmii strong bally,. h<dped 'Xife" g^ oK to solid wetiks because the picture tapered abruptly on holdovers ,in many k^trs.. s'*"*' "Ends of Earth" (Col) was eighth place winner, nosing out "Sitting Pretty" (2m). Latter really showed up prondnentlr around country only one'nreek'tntt augiirs a sur- prisingly Ittg comer. Tenth positioB (Cdntinned on page 2S) Mwrcli's Mi^ty 10 Following are the pictures to make the beat ihowJng*, boxoittces - wlM, ducing 4* past month, in eider vt aSl* round stren^hr . 1. "Gentleman''* A«ftMiii««r (3(ttb). St, "Naked City" (11). B. "Call Northside" (20th), 4. "Saigon" (Par). 5. "R e m e m b e r Mama" (BKO). 6. "Bishop's Wife" (BKO). 7. "Double Life" {V)'. B. "Ends of Earth" (Col). 9. "Sitting Pretty'* (20th). m "Knew Susie^- (BKO). CarpnbnM 'Wasliington, April 6. The U. S. Supreme Court was asked yesterday (S) to take a hand 'In the HoUywood studio labor dis- putes. The carpenters union, on Ittikalf of the studio carpenters, aAed the iiigh court to hear an appeal with a 'view toward ending the aUcgcd eom^acy between the studioirand Hit Lttematinnal Al- liance of IhMtrieal Stage Em- ployees to frefna out the atudio <»ipcntw!» and turn th* work over A Federal trial Court ruled it had no jurisdiction, and tliis poai- tion was supported by fhe 9th Cir- cuit Court fa Appeals. Now the car- penters want the Supreme Court to rule that there is -jnriaActicm and to take a band in the case. Named as co-defendants with IATS£ are Loew's, Paramount, Warners, Columbia, Samuel 6old- wyn. Republic, Hal Boaeh l|tudios. Technicolor, aOtfa-Fox; SKO, IJni- vtxsai and the Assn. ol Motion Pic- ture Producers. TOA TO COMBAT NATL DAYLITE SAVING LAW Theatre Owners of America will appear in opposition to the nfii- tional daylight savings bill when that proposed )%is(ation . comet up for Washington hearings Tuesday (13). Herman M. Levy, TOA's gen- eral counsel; A. .lulian BrylawsW, chairman of legislative committee, find TOA prexy Ted Gamble, if the latter is east at the time, are slated as witnesses to fight the tHlL Hearings will be held before a aiior.ommittee of the U. S. Saiate's Go nmittee on Intexstate-& Foreign Co nmerce with Sen. Reed (Kans. —..?) presiding. Fxhibs are strongly opposed to the legislation which would make daylight savings a liational institute because it hits theatre revenues badly. Argument Is that people don't go to films when it's still light out. Drive-ins are said to be particu- larly affected by Cidvanclng the clock iiince their entire business menis from evening performances. T¥ POWER TO MAKE IDi RONE, HARRISON IN ENG. Tw^tiefh-Fox has set "Prince of Foxes" for IsBKng tt ltaly next summer under a one-picture deal negotiated by Mtx prez Spyros SloHiras and wmk fatctmatlonal prexy Murray ntverstme, both How in Europe. , Film.){»to be adapted from Sam- uel SheUabacger's bestseller of last winter. Xtfll 'Mmf.tsxme Power, Hemy Xiitgio dMit ibth Power and King went to Mexico last year for lehsing of "Captain &om Cax- tOe," also adapted from a Shella- barger novel. f^MKitiiig the film in Italy will give 20fh an opportunity to ntiUie some o£ Iti fraften lire in that country. ' : Ottiqiany, meanwhile, has set "^l^ Pursuit" as the first film to be turned out at its stucBot in Lon don, as soon as renovation on them has been completed. ''Pursuit" is to star Bex Harrison. "Britannia Mews," originally slated to tee off 20th's British production, will probably follow "Pursuit," Skouras and Silverstone are eapected back in N. Y. about AptOlS. V, t, income from pix owned Irttkh principals shall gp int^i the d<aiar pool. Thiw, .films beuflM otttdfht 'would lidkwg to U. S, {HTiodrpals, and Dte <;oin «amed iKf Chem wotdd ga wholi^ toi the ownor. Likewise, i»ix made in Eni^d by Amavican compantes wotild belong to u. s. principals, i^ho would lie under no oMigation to toss itKt proceeds into the dollar pot. . ,." -As * matter of fact, 'of course, it is -via this production in England that-the majors ahticipate thawing much of their frozen money ."that's why they'd in no wise be interested, in putting proceeds Into the pool. Fear.kritldi Fix Flood Balaban's purpose in suggesting the plan was to keep U. S. com- panies from' recklessly and indis- criminately buying British films With the blocked currency. He feaired that as the end of the two- year avreement approached, Yank firms, in a deiq^rate move to j(et out everytMng. possible, would start Booding the American market with poor quality, totally unacceptable British films. Besult would be to create an aversion to the ptx that would hurt the good British-owned, production, as well as films made in England by American -c«m- panict.. Meantime, the conferees last Frir< day (2) linaBy readied the $m point in their exploratory discussions on tliepact That's tiie divisiait«fM>« money in the Ra«L Fre^^tously, they had stuck to deciding on intncpre- tations at tiie various clauses. While there's a widespread feel- ing that reacliing a formula for the diwy will entail much' knock-^o'wn- and-drft-out battling, top. execs are of the opinion it can all be done very amicably. Fully agreed now is.tiiat every company each quarter will be assigned a.perceitt- age of the pool that correspfrnds with what lOn films earned hii po" tential^ rea^ntaffle fi»ca!iine.jin l^ttg^ land during that period. .AiKde Fem«Ia Divvies .from anywhere in the 'world orii^ally were to follow the Austndian formula,: which pro vided that operating costs were' to cbme out bctfore figuring the spUt That idea has been dropped as con- cerns England, although, as pointed out above, nothing has txixtaOy: been voted on yet. ° It is expected that the huddles will go on lor at least another three or four weeks before all the terms are agreed upon and interpreta- tions sent to England for guidance of Fayette W. AUport, Motion Pic- ture Assn. of America rep, in bis talks <«vitta the Bcitisb. To speed up 'Hie talks here, two subcommittees of the overall committee have been, named. One is handling the mat- ter of allocation of the coin in the pool and the other is concerned with the treataient of aU Aiperican income in Britain. James A. Mnlvey, who helped negotiate the Ijoudon pact, is sit- ting in onidl meetings, since he's aide to give many otf4he«uff opinions on what the oonforees Jhad in mind there. ' Brandt's Apollo, New York art house, took a display ad ha the N, Y. Times Sundaiy (i) to sm a copy o^ a letter oaten" siMy itetit to Disthsguished Films, Inc., describing thitr t«p biz being racked up at the house by Distinguisbed's"Pa»< Kionnett?." Letter, silked by William Brandt for the circuit, de- clared that "You have a great picture and I'm sure everypne will want to see it." Actt>ss the top of the letter, sent on , the circuit's stationery, were the words, "Thattk% Mr. Bnuidt.f' L»8«8t stockhplder in Distinguished is Hany Brandt ' Fr«eze tidies Fear eJi^ressed 1>y some Indie producers that playing time for their films will be sidetracked in favor of British, product, as a re- sult of the new Ani£[Q-U, S< pact, was discounted this we^'by k- top indie exec. "The agreement, we must rec- ognize, is subject to all sorts of abuses," he explained, "but it is impoaeible to draw up any such «rv' rangement so tight tiiat loopholea can't be found.. W* were up against «tou|li.jdt«ait(ML, K ki^ ta thein- tewsfr «f fhe wluife Industry, ihde- peHidetits as wtU as nuk|ors, to make a deal that would allow us to get an pessiMe money out of England in addition io ^e guar- anteed $17,000,000. "One of the ways is by receiving an .amount e<]ual to what British: filrns earn in the U. S. This Will undoubtedly put , a temptation in front of companies with affiliated circuits, but there was no method to gel around it. "On the. other hand," he con- tinued, "much-of the fear- is groundless on a practical basis. The good British films have and will take care- of themselves. Just as . a good American film. And no theatre operator, whether an affili- ated circuit or not, is goixtg to play a picture that loses mqttey for him. After all, all the rendttable income of a British film is not kept by the theatre that plays it Xt goes into the pool, so that the best any single company, could profit through reve- nue it generates for English .films is perhaps 12% to 15% of the (Continued on page 18)- British Amus. Tax Killed On All Tickets Up to 20c Lmidon, April 6. Chancellor of Vkm SMieouer Sir Staiford Cripps, In presenting bis 194g^9 budt^ to the House of Commons today (Tues.) said that he was anxious to encourage live entertainment. Thertfore the amusement tax will in the future be exempted on al) seats up to and including a 20e admission bracket. On admissions above SOc, Cripps declared that the government's bite will be halved f6r live thea- tres, concerts, circuses and sports. Theatres serving rural areas with a populaticm of whose ca- pacity is li)i4.t<:d to 200 persons, will have complete tax exemption. RANK ITAimS' ff WOOD ONnSFUWAIHY Philadelphia, April 6. 3. Arthur Rank sounded a warn- ing to Hollywood today that it would have to do better if it ex- pects to retain its leadership in Britain.. Here with his wife and Jock Lawrence, veepee of his U S. org, to speak at the Philadelpiiia Forum, Bank poked Hollywood be- cause it "failed to credit the Amer- ican public with a growth of in- telligence displayed by the recent reaction to good films." "Hollywood will have to make better pictures," Rank declared, "if it wants to retain Its leadership in the number of playdates that it has in Britain." Turning to the difficulties experienced by his Technicolor film, "Black Narcis- sus," from the Catholic Legion of Decency, British filmite said the U. S. Was the only country in which the pic ran into trouble. Both the Vatican and Cardinal Griffin of England approved the film in its original form, he said. While in the neighborhood Of PhiUy, Bank will make an expedi- tion to Bethlehem, Pa., to o.o. a fiour mill owned by J. B. Pitch Co. His wealth stems from flour mills in England. EddiceSwiHis -IiD«rfd Bagman George Bole * ■ Jeny Bresler Frederick Acissim Frank Capra Ralph Cohn Joan Crawford „ Ned Depinct Eddie Douahoe Satin Garfield. Michael Gordon Howard Hughes Peter Lawford Jock Lawrence Jack Leewood Booth McCracken Moyna McGill Yehudi Menuhin Colin Miller Edward Muhl Donald O'C^onnor Ima Phillips J. Arthur Rank Charles M. Reagan ' Phil Reisman Ann Rutherford Carl Schreuer Walter S«sltzer Eddie Traubner Robert Webb Victor Wood Max E. Youngstein Europe to N. Y. Eric L. H. Cosby Jean Dalrymple Frederick Lonsdale A. C. W. NighGngale William Satori Johnny Weissmuller ^ British production situatloii for Hollywood aspirants anxious t* cash in pa iroxen pounds iiji(ijttaMi. lating under the tax ikne^' now signs 01 tmag shape. Develop, ments this week «o fax as Btltahi'i raamped studio spat* indicate thrt Yank filmmakers may find a wf^ open door to the smaller lots iS little chance of help in that dlwc! tlon from J. Arthur Rank who holds Britain's choicest f acilitiefs. Rank, after behig besieged hv* indie producers for studio doais during his current U. S. visit has issued a statement that he's made no commitments to any company except ITniyersal,- rumors to thi contrary notwithistanding. British- er said he wouldn't even consider the matter until he returns to Eng- land and consults 'with his a^ dates'. ■ Chances of his opening the gate to indies^ or majors is now re- garded as practically nil in view of his inabili^ to enlarge his current studio facilities. Rank, last Week, uhlHirdened by telUng the press that he doubts his organization's chances Sf meeting its'40-ii^t slate this year because of the knotty studio tituation. It now looks as though only 30 can be made dur- ing '48, according to Rank. Trade circles, see the Rank an^- nouncement as disclosing by omis- sion either a shelving or absolute nix on RKO's request for con- tinued ioint production in Eng- land. Britisher, huddled with N, Peter Bathvon, RKO's prexy, while on the Coast to take up the mat- ter. Chances also appear dim for t>avtd O. Selznick, Walter Wanger, Douglas Fairbanks. Jr. and otlier indies who've put the bee on Bank. btt the other hand, three of the largest ttutside studios in England either shut down or launched wholesale dismissals during the week. ^Rieir diffiicnlties will prob- ably hwid American producers a big 0|i^rttttd^ fo grab off com- mitments while the going is rough. National Studios, operated by British Natitmal Films, shuttered after a deal for Maurice Ostrer to take over fell through. It's thought that negotiations collapsed because Warner Bros, rung the curtain on its distribution deal with National. WB is likely to siHmsor its own productions 'with frozen coin be> cause of the tax peace. Lady Yule, Natiwial's bankioller, and LoU Jackson, managing director, had been dickering with Ostrer for some time for the latter to take a temporary lease. At SheppertoU' Studios, Sir Alexander Korda's London Film Production Co. is laying off 225 of its 1,000 employees. Korda's Isle- worth studios vj4]I pink-slip 46 of its 300 woikerit in a taporhig of productitm. The developments con^ firm. Bank's forecast to Vnmx* that American producers would not .find, it too difficult to make deals vAth studios other than his. Universal has two films slated in England, both of which will be made dur&g the. twelvemonth pe> riod beginning in July, accord* hig to Banl^s statement Willianl Goetz, Vn production' chief, will to Britain this summer to complete plans with the Bank organizatiad. American and British stars will be used in the two films. N. Y. to L. A. Walter Barry Pam Blumenthal Mrs^ George Brown Jeanne Cagney Sammy Cahn Dennis Day Nat C. Goldstone Joseph H. Hazen David Holtzmann Deborah Kerr Milton S. Kussell Joe Maliaram Mack Millar Baron Polan J. Robert Bubin N. Y. to Europe Laurence Evans Margalo Gilmore Radie Harris Theresa Hclbum Louis Kanturek William B. Levy Andre Mertens Lew Parker Frederick L. D. Strengholt Rebecca West Jerry Whyte