Variety (Oct 1948)

« it. Hxh^'B rJav*. TialUciir IHtwum IS Hungarian Govt Losii^ r^lit To Oust U. S. Fk for Russian Film Fare Budapest, Oct. 12. ^ The Hungarian government is apparently losing its battle against American films. This autumn, with the film in- dustry completely nationalized, a new anti-U. S. pix campaign has started in Hungary. "The Week of Soviet Film" was held several times, with the public however apaUielic. With private distribs wiped out, the government firm has continued to buy some inde-^ pendent American products on "ideological" grounds. TJie\' bought only second or third rale products in cowboy and gangster films, and then the Com- munist-controlled press launched a drive to prove how bad and un- progressive American films are, comparing them with "realistic," "progressive" Soviet pictures, vhicli show "true life," "high Gordon, Scot Comic, Set For Autumn U. S. Tour -Glasgow, Oct. 12. Harry Gordon, leading Scottish comedian, is set to plane out Oct. 20 for a brief autumn tour of clan societies in the U. S. and Canada. Gordon's first big concert is slated for Slaiiiford Conn., High School Auditorium^ Oct. 23; Comedian is due in Boston Oct. 30. He has a video date from Badio City Nov. 9, and flies to Los An- geles for concert Nov. 12, Canadian dates include London, Ont., Nov. 18 and Toronto Nov. 22. He plays Detroit Nov. 19, and.winds up in Brooklyn Nov. 24 before planing back to Prestwick, Scot- land, for his 12th consecutive pan^ Goldsmith's Brit. Chore Charles Goldsmith, assistant to Loew's International first veepee Morton A. Spring, is scheduled to leave soon for Londouy where he'll serve for six months as special as- sistant to Sam Eckman, Jr., Loew's managing director in England. Goldsmith;' who has also been co- ordinator of Metro activities: in the United Kingdom, will help ease the work that Eckmau has been carrying since the war's end. * Seymour Mayer, now 16m sales- manager, will take over Gold- smith's homeoffice duties: during the ' latter's absence. social ideas" and the "truths of ajtomime in Glasgow Gordon, who has heen a profes- sional performer in Britain since 1908, plans a further extensive tour of U. S. in 1949, under the William Morris banner. Socialist world." Soviet, Soviet Estlionian and Soviet - Lithuanian pix have ovei-whelmed Hungarian screens. Motion Picture Export Assn. products being completely lacking, the public now, has had to go and sdte American films Imported by the state, and no matter how bad they were, cowboy and gangster fihns shown in the largest pix theatres have drawn capacity au- diences and done outstanding biz. Budapest filmgoei-s, just as in Nazi times, have packed the cine- mas whesi'e, on the screen, English language was spoken. Soviet pix meanwhile run with a 10 to 20% houses. ■ ■ Even British films, of which, I of governors meets in Ottawa this previously, such toppers flopped | week. Four of the six applications as "Caesar and Cleopatra." "Lon-1 will come from Toronto, two from don' Town," etc.. now have become ' Montreal. CBC governors will also top b. o. drawers. j mull bids for new standard bands The battle goes on, with the; anji,™ outlets, government still losing it, unless! TV bids, m addition to FPC, will -they make seeing Soviet pix cora-"'omp f''"™ Al Leary. Toronto air pulsorv This isn't expected comic and nitery emcde; CICKY and Budapest pixgoers are determined ; ^FRB, Toronto independent- radio Famous Players Seeks Can. TV OK Ottawa, Oct. 19. Famous Players Canadian Corp. will be among- six applying for tele- vision broadcast, licenses when the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. board | Arnentine-Italo Pix Snarl May Ease; B. A. Gone On 'Wind'; Odier Film News also not to go to cinemas in case' stations; CFCF American and British films are prohibited In the future—Kist as they did during the war, when the prohibition came from the : pro- Naiii puppet regimes. Hamburg Studio Signs First American to Role In German-English Pic Frankfurt, Oct. 12. I'lie ,ToiiU Export-Import Agen- cy has announced approval of a contract lor the employment of an Aiiierum actor by a German mo- tion picture firm. Through JEIA has been promoting employment abroad of German artists.- special- ists and technicians since early this year, this was believed to be the first contract for import of servT ] mission to carry difi'erent programs ices into Germany since the war. j on its AM and FM stations. EX' Under the new contract. Peter.istlng regulations prohibit Cana Marconi, airer in Montreal, and CKAC, French- language station owned and oper- ated in Montreal by . the newspaper La Presse. George Randall will apply for permissidn to operate a 1,000 watt radio station at Nanaimo, B. C. Gordon S. Henry, former manager of Edmonton's radio station, CJCA, who resigned in disagreement with the station's policy some time ago, will ask for a greenlight on a 250 watt station at Red Deer, Alberta, near Edmonton. . FM applications will come from L'Action Sociale Limitee of Quebec City, publishers of a Quebec daily, L'Action Catholique; from CKCV, Quebec City radio station, and from Transportation Advertising, Ltd., of Toronto, for FM outlet in Brit. Insemination Flay ° Rouses Church, Censor Groups' Special Action London, Oct. 19. The Public Morality Council and church authorities are making special reports on a new play that is due for a tryout in London later this month. The play, ♦Breach of Marriage," authored by a new playwright Ban Stithetlaitd, and presented by' Peter .Reynolds, is on the contro- versial subject of artificial in- semination. It will be shop-win- dowed at the little Torch Theatre Cluh. Many church ..leaders have out- spokenly attacked insemination of humans, and if: the play is- as con- troversial as claimed, it will have to pass tremendous, barrier of pub'-, lie criticism before it can. reach a West End showing. The play takes its title from a phrase used in the report of a commission ap- pointed b]i[ the. AFcbbishofp of Can«: terbury to'enquire into the whole' subject. The story concerns a crippled ex-naval officer and his young, wife who troth ardently desire a child, but for physical reasons are unable to have one. They seek the advice of a famous but somewhat eccentric doctor, who is an old friend of the girl's mother aiid for this, as well as humanitarian rea- sons, he's willing to help. The physical side of the experiment goes well enough but the mental side crashes headlong into psycho- logical disaster. The playwright uses the doctor, his friend the vicar, and the girl's K. G. father, to represent this clashing views of church, science and law,: and works out- his prpl)* lem on the basis of the young^'usr band's emotional jealousy when he discovers he isn't the father of the child. The difticult theme is said to bei handled with the utmost'delicacy,| and. with the desire, to give offense to none. Artificial insemination is a recognized practice in this counT try as in America. WB's Fletcher and Abeles Back After U.S. WB Meets Dr. Eric Fletcher, counsel and director of Warner Bros, in Britain, returned to London Saturday (16) on the Queen Mary after a two- iveelc stay in the U, S, Here for the first time, he visited the Coast/and discussed current distri bution dif- ficulties in England with Jack and Harry Warner on the Coast. Although members of the Cine- matograph Exhibitors Assn, in Britain last week began pressuring Parliament to ease the new 45% quota, Dr. Fletcher would not com- ment ^on their protests aside from noting that the quota comes up for review once a. year. He is also a member of Parliament. British quota and its concomitant playing time muddle for American films in that market evidently has resulted in a flock of WB confer- ences in recent weeks of its top echelon. Arthur S. Abeles, Jr., who replaced the late Max Milder as Warners' managing director in Brit- ain last summer, is also due to return to his overseas post this week after numerous homeoffice conclaves. 20th Dominates Swiss Festivals request station CFCF (Marconi) for per- Van Eyck will work as an actor] and technical advisor until next' January with the Camera Film j ; Production Go-, of Hamburg in the . making of a full-longtli picture tentatively titled "Hello. Frau-i lein." Van Eyck. who worked al Warner Bros, studios in Holly- wood and served with the U. S. Army and with Military Govern- ment, wilt play the role of U. S. Army captain in the film. ! Picture will have its setting in the Bavarian Alps in May. 1945., I'he dialog will be partly in Eng-, lish and partly in German and. the-^part requires an actor with a, perfect command of both Ian-, guages. The company hopes to export the film, as well as distrib- ute It foi- German showing. 'AiWr STIU; TERRIF inMs^^^ Sj^feey;,: ^fct,;,: 1,2:;; \ "Annie Get' Your Gun"; is slill doing terrific biz al the Roxal for J.. C. William.son. It's a sellout eight times weekly. Show: looks definitely set, for a 12 months' run here. It s already done 11 months in Melbourne. Evie Hayes and Webb Tilton share the leads. ''■]. "Philadelphia Sloi-y" doesn't ap- pear good boxoffice here at the Minerva on presentation by White- i hall Productions. Aussie cast.; mosftly recruited from radio, can't SeekilUf Cuts in Tax handle the swift Yankee style of Dublin, Oct. 15. jPW^P ■ . i •, ^ . Exhibs in small Irish towns have i Director Flfi Banvard failed to formed new bloc ouUide Irish ' get the right tempo for this one. Cinema Assn. to seek additional re-' Sets, designed by Clem Kennedy, liefs from entertainment 4ax.'are very good Leads in Story Claiming support of 80% of rural include Bebe Scott, t.rani ia>ior exhibs. group seeks complete ex- -ahd Leonard Thiele. CROPS PIC FOR GEKMANY Heidelberg, Oct. 4. „i xu,... . Acting on a request from Wash-, Toronto. CBC governors will also i'"6*?". J^e Army Signal Corps "», M'rac consider a request from Montreal the U S. Zone has produced a doc-;AmOci umentary film on the methods em-' ployed to estimate crops, control collection and allocate produce in German agriculture. The picture material will be ed- ited and narrated In the U. S. and will be shown to Congress as -a illustration of crop estihiation methods under the Marshall Plan. dian stations airing different AM and FM shows. Irish Rural Exhibs Current London Shows (Fififures sliote weeks of run) London, Oct. 19. "A La Carte," Savoy fI8J. "Anna Lucasta," Majesty (51). "Annie Get Gun," Col's'm (72). "Bless the Bride," Adelphi (78' "Bob's Your Uncle," SaV. (24). "Brownlnff," Phoenix (6i. "Cage Peacock," Strand (281. "Caribbean Rhap," Wales (20). "Carrissima," Palace (32), einplion from tax for situations un- der 2.000 population, with corres- i ponding cuts between 2.000 audi 6.000. Yank Info Shorts for Austria ^'' , ■ Vienna, Oct. 5. . With the idea of acquainting the Reduction of freight rates on Austrian public with the customs films will also be sought by group and people of the U. S., American which is headed bv Patrick Forces infonnation service here is K;tv;u\agh, owner of east coast supplying shorts on lilo m Amcr- .chain. Ilea to Austrian film houses ' "Chiltren Hnndreds," Vaude (60). 'the Devit. "Don't Listen," St. Jas. (7). | "Edeii End," Duchess (7),, "Edward My Son," Lyric 173'. "Four, Five, Six," York (321. "Glaconda Smile," Wynd. (201. "Glass Menafferie." H'm'rk't (12) "Happiest Days," Apollo (30). "Kid From Strat," Princes (3). "Little Lambs," Am bass. (28>. "Lute Song," W'ter Garden (2i. "Medlca." Globe (3> 'Off Record," Piccadilly (68>. "OUahonia!", Drurv Lane (77i, "Perfect Woman," Playhse (6' "Rain On Juaf," Aid. (7i "Saloon Bar," Garrick (3). "Private View." Comedy (D. "StarUcht Roof," Hipp. (50< "Travelers Joy," Crit. i20>. "ToKether Again," Vic Pal. '80' "Worms View," Whitehall (77;. Zurich, Oct. 12. Two Swiss cities again, had their film festivals in September. Lugano; in the Italian parjk of the country, devoted . the whole 10 days' duration to U. S. film.s ex^ clusively. 20th was far ahead of other companies on the sched- ule, with "The Iron Curtain,'.!^ "Gentleman's Agreement," ''The Foxes of Harrow," "Nightmare Alley," "Forever Amber" and "Miracle on 34th Street:" Para- mount was represented by "Golden Earrings," "The Big Clock" and "Blue Skies." Others were Metro's ''Green Dolphin Street" and Uni- versalis "All My Sons." Second festival, taking place in Basle under the name "Basle Film Week," offered a much bigger pro- i gram, due to the fact that six thea- tres were participating, instead of only one as in Lugano. Again American 'films dominated -with 20th ahead of tlie others with the following pictures: "Gentleman's Agreement," "Sitting Pretty," Miracle on 34th Street," "Forever "Kiss of Death," "The Iron Curtain." Other U. S. pix were Columbia's "Lady from Shanghai"; BKO's "The Fugitive," "Crossfire" and "Forever and a Day"; Paramount'g "For Whom the Bell Tolls"; Metro's reissue of "Waterloo Bridge"; UA's "Angel On My Shoulder" and "I Married A Witch"" (reissue) and Warner's. "The Unsuspected." Rest of the time .at the Basle festival was filled by J. Arthur Rank's "Hamlet" and "Oliver 'Twist"; Alexander Korda's "Mine lOwn Executioner'' and reissues of , "The Ghost Goes West," "Lyda" and "That Hamilton Woman"; I Eagle-Lion's "Madonna of the Seven Moons," the Australian pic I "The Overlanders"; French pix i"Dedee d'Anvers;"* "Angele" (Marr eel Pagnol), "t'Aigle a Deux Teles" ; and "Requins de Gibraltar," and | finally Sweden's "The Girl and Buenos Aires, Oct. 12. In an effort to smooth over th« hassle between Italian pic disti-ihu> tors in Argentina and the Argen- tine Entertainment Board, which put a ban on further importation of Italian pix until Argentine pix are admitted in Italy, Dr. Enrico Mastrachi Manes has arrived in B. A. On behalf of Italian exhibi- tors he'll try and select some Ap- gentine-ntade material for exhibi- tion in Italy. Italian film reps hav* found it almost impossible to mako local officials understand that Italy never set any ban against importa- tion of Argentine pix. The only : snag to their exhibition, w h i e n ' can't be stated, of course, is that they aren't very good entertain- ment, even in their own country of origin. Argentine studios are buzzing over the delay in- rolling "El Pu- ente" ("The Bridge") on the San Miguel itets, with Italian actor Amedeo Kazzari in the lead- At Nazzari's: insistence an Italian, An- . tonio Xeonviola, was signed at ■ : four figure salary to do the direct- ing. Director proved unsatisfac- tory and San Miguel is looking for . another. - ' '" Nazzari has been pursued by bad luck since his arrival and the delay at San Miguel will probably mean that he'll make his first picture for Emelco after all. Emelco had brought the Italian actor to Argen- tina, but he was subsequently signed up by San Miguel, to which he had passed as a result of delays I al the first studio. 1 Deal For Dolores . I Argentina Sono Film is mulling I taking over Dolores del Rio with Pedfo Lopez Lagar. The latter hat been making successful pix continir I uously in Argentina for the last I eight years. Currently he has * picture to make for Emelco and an- 1 other "for Film Andes. Miss del ; Rio left Buenos Aires early in th« year, after finishing "Lady Wind- ermere's Fan" for San Miguel, ii| which she was so unfavorably ; photographed that she may refuM to make any further pix in Ar-; gentina. Metro has rebooked "Gone with the Wind" at the new Radar thea- tre, wi{h patrons booking heavily , in advance and grosses exception-' ally good despite the small .seatinc ' capacity (800). : Advance trailers ol .' "Anna Karenina,". which. Fox Iiaa - skedded for release within th« next couple of. weeks, have been drawing gasps from audiences avla : to see 'Vivian Leigh once more; "Forever Amber" is- now in it* 10th week at the' Luxor, but isn't.; grossing as well as other pix from > Hollywood, which h a v e surprised :: even their own distributors. Col- umbia's "The Sign of the Ram" has been held over once more at ' the Gran Rex, and is in its fourth week, causing the postponement of "Blue Skies." If this is held over,: "Anna Karenina," due for relcas* this week, will be postponed one* more. ■ ■ ■ . . The first, picture from Central Europe since the early days of th« war has been released by a new distribution setup known as Cos- mos Film, at the second-run Rena- ; cimiento theatre. This is a Vien- nese picture made : by Europea Film, with EmsirLubitsch directing and Heinz Ruhmann stari'ed called "Der Mustergatte." Cosmos havo jheen very active finding markets for Argentine pix abroad and placed Emelco's "White Horse Inn'V and "The Portrait" in Switzerland- GAMBLING IS BACK IN GERMANY WITH SPIRALO ^.:■:':■.\:^^■;;■F^ankfurt;;0ct.■■.12.^, Gahibling, prohibited for; mans by both Aiiied and. G^rinan laws after thC: w<^fi I't*^^ back. It's called Spiralo. and it Pllch fnr Khn Mpitlkf^rci debuted at the opening of the new rUbU 101 rum ini;iliUCr5; gambling casino at Bad Homburg. British Equity Plans London, Oct. 12. Secret ■ mass; meeting of film artist members of British Actors I Equity Assn. called for Nov. 6 to ; press home the union's demand J for representation on councils of I the industry. Equity members, in- dignant because they have been left off the. Film Council and':Har' i gambling casino It costs 20 marks ($2) a try. Tli« player gives the knob a gentl* push . or a hard blow. He loses if the ball lands on a black num- ber. However, he can double his original bet and. receive. three, four or 12 times the bet. if he hits the red. Gambling casinos at Baden- old Wilson's National Joint Pro- i Baden, Bad Homburg, Weisbaden duction Committee, have invited the Board of Trade prexy to at- ! tend their meeting. It is not likely lhal the minister will accepl the , invitation. and Pyrmont had toi close after the war but after currency i-eform, state finances were low and th«. Bad Homburg opening is expected. , to be followed by others.