Variety (Dec 1948)

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TARIETX'B- IiONnON omOU ■ St. MiirtlD'i naee, Xntalsa* S«h«c« 13 Ease in Au^ie 50% Coin Freeze Seen; Doubt Talk of U. S. Production There Orson Gets There First I With His Wello' Claim' Orson Welles: is - the busiest; Sydney, Dec. 14. -f Australia'^ current 50% freeze on remittances earned by American films reportedly may be eased con- siderably next year by the Labor Government. Observers feel a • , a l,oven"u<= ' American m Italy these days-ibp , thaw isin order on the basis of an j^^^^ ^^^^ ^g,,^^ hasten' jmnouncement recently made by i worlcing on three pictures. He Prime Minister Ben J. Chifley that finished his part in the "Third he would like to see U. S. pro-! Man," havinR commuted by Plane ne woum II _ _ ^ rT,, I between "The Ponce of Foxes' set and Vienna, .where "Third Man", is beihg^^ v to !fcbi;da, ■ Carol Reed directing. .'■..■. ■>■,,,■ .Between these twb' assighnients; Orson has already sliot the fU'St scefles: lor "Othello/^ is directing and starring in, in Venice. By getting first scenes and establishing cast, Welles has forced conceliation of the Italian production of "Oihello,"! planned ducers enter the local film field. Impression is that the American companies might extract more coin if they took a hand In the local setup. While revenue from Au.ssie play- dates now results in an annual out- lay of about $3,'400,000 to U. S. dis- tributors, the majority of local film experts feel that it's sheer optim- ism to believe the sum would be boosted by production operations of American firms in this zone. De- spite the anxiety of the administra- tion to see a stepup in domestic ' Americans Everett Sloane filmmaking, execs here deprecate Harriet White play in the tilm. any production upbeat in 1949 due j padovani is an Italian stage star, to the lack of studios, equipment sioane is here for 20th and Miss and top technicians. ., I white has been here since playing Previously it had been rumored , tlie nurse in Rossellini's "Paisan." that Columbia was mulling produc-1 . tion of two films Doyk-n Under 20th-Fox was to do .one, and indie Frankly Speaking Vienna. Nov. 30. ''l'"rankly speaking, pix we import are so bad. we don't w-ant the critics to see them. It would spoil b.o. biz." So said publicity department of' Star (Worth Wirtschatter) Film Co. when turning down requests for reviewers' tickets to local •newspapermen.. Star lately joined the rank of companies importing oldies from various countries, include ing U. S . H,000,000 in Rentals Due U.S. Distribs From N. Zealand This Year American dislributoi's will take about $4 000,000 out ol New Zea- land in film rentals this year, ac- cording to Robert .J. Kerridge, head of : the Kerridge. Odeon cir- cuit of New Zealand, who was in New York last week on his way back home from London. Recently, Pass Finance Bill; MP.s Worry Over 'Wasting Coin to Capture U«S. Market by F. I. N. Cine and directed by lit was only about $1,000,000 annu ally. The fact that New . Zealand's Castcllani. Italian actress Lea Padovani and , pound is now on « parity with the aiid British means that U. S. distribs get $4 per pound instead of $3.23, the rate prevailing a few months ago. he explained. There is no Irozen-coin pact there at present. Kerridge said. Competition for screen time in New Zealand has worked out bet- ter than the old 20'*; quota on j British fare, he indicated. Kcr- ridge explained that Britisli prodr 'uct now takes about SO-t- of th'e ■ playing time in that country and that about 320 .Aimcrican pictures and more than 60 British films I will play in -New Zealand this year. Song j Kerridge has about 162 of the Dave Coplan, Exiting UA, Into Indie Production ' London, Dec. 14. David Coplan, United Artists gen- ieral manager in Britain, who- is j ankliiig the compan.v alter his coii' tract expires in January, is report- edly mapping plans to enter the 'indie production field. Coplan has been partly financing modest- budset pix made by Ganesh Pro- ductions lor Columbia release and recently partnered with A, R. Shipman in turning out /'Just Wil- liam's Luck" for UA. ' UA's dickers for. producing some , films at the Islington studios, which ;j. Arthur Rank is vacating after I the New Year, gave rise to talk that I UA was trying to bu.v the studios I outright. Negotiations, however, I are only going on with a prospect I that U.'V may use tlic studios'for: one or two pix. Goldwyn's $25j Swedish Punch filmmaker Howard Brown was said ! to have financing from Allied Art-' ists for a pic venture which would be budgeted around the $500,000 j mark. Frozen funds would be. used ] %6 put the films before the. camera, i However, a close check has failed ' . , , ^ to secure anv positive confirmation ' Sale ol Swcdi.sh rights to of these proposed projects. Born bv Scimuel Goldwyn a few 230 picture theatres now operat- j weeks ago IS expected to. give fur-1 ing in New:.. Zealand, lie stated Currently Ealing controls Page- . ., ^ „i,,Ji„ i„ n,i., „„„n Ither stimulus to the trend toward that exhibitors there have been r^ln JuLt o^^ °f playing some French pictures and and in tonjuntiion witn ine KaiiK ^ J ^ ^ .J - -- interests win continue making pic-1, ^^t^j^-^nies^^ There has already tures with British and Aussie tal-i ^pp^ considerable flat selling ent. For the Yanks to get under.- • « * & g 1 _ ..A 1. , , iabi-oad by: the indies and some bv h''V ^n=nv\?f,^r L',? fnZt-v ithe maioi-s. but Goldwyn's Swedish be a cosily affa r, local indusU^ is looked upon as a real coup oppers leel. At present there s companies are expected imie shooting in pr ogress. j^^ ^^^^^^ ^^j^ I While no money at all is currently V. S. Cos. Set Neffotiatine Reps | coming out of Sweden for com- With the current 50% Australian i panies doing business through their remittance pact expiring :Dec. 31, town offices there. Goldwyn got foreign managers ot the majors met |$25.000^delivered in New York— in New York last week and. named | for "Song." Pic was bought by lepresontatives to negotiate a new S A. G Suensoii's Wi\e Films in agreement witli the Aussie govern- ] Stockholm. Swenson Is paying for nient. Forthcoming discussions; it's I bis own Technicolor' prints, so the believed, will be handled by com-[coin is pure profit, pany managers a'lready Down I Problem ior the ma.ior com- Under. I panics in selling outright in areas' Apprised of the report that i where .they . .maintain their several Italian films. "Open City did reasonably well in that eoun" tr\. Admis.sion prices were stfa- bilized several years ago. Kerridge, who was accompanied by his biotJicr Norman, city su- pervisor ot .Kerridge houses in Wellington. N. Z, left for the Coast Monday (13i for a lookse'e at the studios and product. He re- turns to his home by plane in about 10 days.. In Other Words, It Loob Snafu in SA AH the previous squabbles wJiich American. film companies have had among: themselves over divvy of the take from countries \A'here cur- rency IS partially irozen are ex- pected to be a problem tor Junior compared with what will happen if South Africa goes through with presently - threatened restrictions. Peculiar selling setups which pre- vail, in South Africa will probably make it all but impo.ssible to de- termine who gets what, without resorting to" a call for the cops London, Dec. 14. Passage of the Film Finance Bill through the House of Commons . ■ was completed yesterday (13i, and the measure will probably be rushed through the House .of Lords next week-to enable it to be placed ■ on the statute book before Parlia- ment recesses ,f or-Xliristmas. Keynote of the debate was the anxietv among Members of Parlia> ment that public money shouldn't be squandered in a dollar gamble to capture the American market,' They were also concerned at high distribution charges, which virtu- ally made it impossible for inde- ■: pendent producers :;to break even; - let alone show a profit. Realization of the important part which distribution cosits will play in the general scheme to boost pror ; duction has led 'Harold Wilson.: ' Board of Trade President, to speed . the work of his inquiry panel on exhibition and . distribution, and a. .: provisional announcement on the constitution was made during the Commons debate..' •.. . Censorship Derided Claims in U. S. press that the , bill had been introduced with some idea of providing a- political ccnr> sorshipi or was a we_dge, and that ■. I very soon any films which do not I secure the approval of the Cabinet I won't bo allowed to be made at all, ^ I were ridiculed by Wilson- I Wilson's announcemont on the I appointment of the committee led ; to the withdrawal of a proposal ior ! the setting up of a state distribut- ' ing agency as a means of insuring j a fair return to indic producers, i Another amendment; proposed by lornltr Board of Trade Prosi-i: > dent Oliver Lyttleton, that goveni- : ment coin should only be advanced- for productions capable ot recoup- ing flieir costs on the home market, • had a sympathetic reception from : Wilson. , who promised to see ■ S. A. curbs are now being worked I whether, at a later stage, a clause GERFMN-STYLE HAYS OFFICE SEEN IN MAKING out by the government there, ac- cording to the meaijer information which is available to the U. Si dis? tribs. Plan calls for restricting re- mittances to 50% of what -was taken out in:1947. Curb would be retroactive to July 1. 1948. : Restrictions are being applied despite the favorable dollar posi- tion of S. A. Tliat's because the country is part of the sterling block, could be incorporated; in the bill embodying that suggestion,, but also allowing for: reasonable over-, seas earnings to be included. Although he agreed that at the present time there were difficul- ties: about getting income from the U. S., Wilson hoped there would be an improvement in Anglo^ American relations, and that they'd .see a number of their pictures Bud Xeulieiiii. Dec. 7. Organization of a film trades own ieommittee, made up of representa- Brouii planned an Au.straliau film br.inches i.s that they find their own I t'ves of production phases of the Willi Mlied Artists' backing, Mono- films in competition with them. ' German film industry, to police gram International prexy Norton I Metro, for instance, recenllv sold t'le trade on a trizonal basis, is V. Ritchey on Monday (13j said Stale ol the Union" and two other ' reported in the making. One ob- and is fashioning fiscal policies to t earning a considerable number of parallel those of England, which is | dollars from overseas showings, poohng dominion dollars to help ' notwithstanding this optimism, its owh position I he didn't think it right tliat public Tough part lor'the Yank distribs | mo"ey should be spent on the pro- of figuring who's to get what out i Auction of epics, and he was m- of S. A. it oulv Mrb of '47's take I sistent that a very close control can be remitted is the varied ways i would have to be maintained on ex- thatihe-'hadn't heard of such a deal and was inclined to doubt it. ECA Guarantees MPEA $230,000 Out of Germany films to an Italian distrib for $250,-I ject would be to have the produ Conversion of Motion Picture Export Assn.'s earnings, in Ger- many, equivalent to $230,000, was officially guaranteed by the Eco- nomic Cooperation Administration in a pact signed Monday (131. The sum covers the MPEA's out-of- 000. Its own manager and stall' in Rome were considerably demoral- ized, however, when.customers told them they wouldn't • pay prices I asked for certain other product but would buy their Metro film from the DiBernardinis outfit which; owned "Union'' and the two other M-G pix, eers themselves back a German-, style Hays-office to check the suit- ability of films being turned out. At a recent meeting of the Ad- visory Film Council lor tlie British Z;one, it was recomnionded that the culture , ministers ot that zone put into writing their- suggestions for such a setup. The British Council has met Another problem arising from . selling around their own offices is three times since; it was started that it proportionately increases in August. . One of its principal 1 the overhead of these establish- acts was to recommend that the I ments which- then, must be kept [ so-called "merriment'' tax be pocket dollar expenses originating i running witlj less product. Result brought to a "moderate" basis to frorii its distribution of U. S. films I is expected to be furtherance of ' meet squawks of operators and in the occupied western zones. Un- the trend ot the past year or so to j patrons over the stiff fees pro- der the agreement inked by How-' close down unprofitable offices and ' POsed. ai'd Bruce, acting ECA administra- [ sell: outright -f^'^f^"*^"^ i„ lu^^^ y ^^^^^^ „ ■ tor, and MPEA veepee Francis S. I territories.: Harnion, the terms.are retroactive-; In Sweden there is a complete to Aug. 1, 1948, and extend to freeze on U. S. remittances despite Jan. L ]9i)0. I a deal negotiated about a-year ago Convertibility guarantee, how-1 b.\ Gerald Mayer, ot the Motion • ever fails to include the millions Picture Assn. of America, to allow oC frozen marks vi'hich were earned 50';f. of rentals to be sent out. of doing business there. Metro and 20th-Fox are the only Companies that maintain their own ofiices. RKO sells through 20th, Colum- bia, Warners Bros.^and Paramount sell outright to the Schlesinger in- terests. Universal sells partially outright to Schlesinger and par- tially indirectly through J. Arthur Rank, who in turn deals with Schlesinger. Korda May Do Picture Based on S. Africa Epic Johannesburg, Dec. 7. penditure to- see that' it wasn't likely to exceed prospective rcv- enues. - An earlier proposal made by Lyttleton that producers . seeking government aid should themselves put up 25<;:o of the cash required, was strongly resisted by "Wilson, who told the House that it was be- cause the producers couldn't get the 25% that the government had been compelled to introduce the bill. In the course of the debate. Wil* son announced that the Finance Co. was now drawing up a scheme for direct aid to indies, instead of, as at present, going through dis-^ ■by the MPEA prior to last August, i After agreeing to the arrangement. The pact is the first to be signed ; the Swedish dollar position further by the ECA under an act which es-; deteriorated and the government tablislied a $10,000,000 fund to cov- 'never signed the pact, ■ er guarantees on investments and ' enteipriscs embracing information- ' , ... . „ , al media. Operating in Germany ' PaVlllOn, UA HoUSC, SolC lor more than three years since the I i;i„„„„4.: /S„^4-« Vt,,^^ war s end at the request of the t/XCCptlOn Olt Quotft KulC Army, the MPEA is said to have ■ London, Dec, 7. incurred "subs{antial loss to itself With only one exception, all without reimbursement." i West Fnd picture theatres have Present action of the ECA, it's been told by the Board of Trade felt, will at least'prevent further they must, fulfill their io'^'o quota dollar loss during the life of the I The exception is the London Pa- agreement. According to anjvilion in Piccadilly Circus, which flipE/V statement, the EGA step was |i& t he United Artists' showcase, endoised by Gen. Lucius B. Clay,' Some ot the theatres concerned military governor of the U. S. zone, intend to appeal against the B.O.T. and reportedly was brought about decision, and Paramount has al- "y the realization of top Govern- ready resubmitted its case, (in iiieiu execs that American films are respect to the Plaza and the Carl- mglily valuable in the reorienta- torn to the Lbndon and Home J'on and reeducation programs Counties branch of the Cinemato- throughout the western zones. graph. Exhibitors Assn. Current London Shows London. Dec 14. "A La Carte," Savoy (20.. "Anatomist," West (7). "Annie Get Gun," Col's'm (80' "Bloss the Bride," Adelphi (86). "Bob's Your Uncle," Sav. (32). "Biownine," Phoenix (14). "Caee Peacock," Cambridge (36i. "Cafissima," Palace (40,1. "Chillern Hundreds," Vaude (68i. "Don't Listen," St. Jas. (I5i "Edward My Son," Lyric (81). "Four, Five, Six," York (lOi- "Gioconda Smile," Wynd. (27). "Happiest Days," Apollo (38>. "Kid From Strat," Princes (ID. "Little Xambs,V Ambass. (36i. . "Miss Mabel,'" Duclicss (3i. "Oa Record," Piccadlll^ (76). "Oklahoma!" Drury Lane (85). "One Wild Oat," Garr. (2), "Perfect Woman," Playhouse(14). "Return of Prodigal," Globe (3). "Slings & Arrows," Comedy (4), "Solitary Lover," Wint. (4). "ToBPther Airain," Vic Pal. (881. "Wild Duck," St. Mart. (^}. "Worm's Vievf," WhiteUall. tributing channels, and aI.so that A deluxe historical film in color [ coin would be forthcoming tor to lie in ,with South Africa's tri- | single pictures, and not necessarily centennial In 1952 may be pro- for an entire program, duced in this area by Sir Alexan-; I ——r^— r^dy\°sked thrSrfiimmVe^^ Cocteau's ;Eagle' Heading to do such a picture and the pro-1 NcW Foreign PlX ImportS duccr is scheduled to leave Eng-1 Foreign film imports continue to land. Dec. 23. to ta k over the pro-, be active with Jean Cocteau's "Tlie posed project with government, Eagle With Heads" and "Terrible olTici.als. ' , ' Parents" topping the list of over-' Under present plans,; the venture ■ would be based on Francis Brett Young's 1939 novel, "The City of Gold."' Book is a cavalcade of South African history which dates seas pix recently acquired for U. S.,' • distifibutiori. Haiidled: by the ypg .Film Co.,.."Eagle'' i^ Scheduled tov j preem in N; Y,. Dec. 29. Opening : , . . , . i date for ."Parents" hasn't been set from the founding of the colony of as yet by Times Film Corp.. its the Cape ot Good Hope by the distrib. Times also picked up ft 5"^^ ■*^°" ,^P"'' i Polish-made picture, "Auschwitz." 1652. Sci-een version would re-, Meanwhile. Siritzky Inter- enact a number of its historic , national Picture^ in readying two scenes. Italian entries and one French pic It's understood that the govern- for early Broadway bous. First ment itselt might put up part of j f^^^yj^^g ..^^^j^^^ j,^,g^„ the com tor the film, or if that, (•■Lovei's In Flight"), a ManentI isn t feasible, would aid Korda in \ piims production, and "II Diavolo arranging financing through pri-; Bianco" ("The White Devil">, vate sources. Historical pic is said to be; the producer's major reason in coming to South Africa. How- ever, he also will look over the sit-; uation in order to work out a new distributional deal for his product inasmuch as 20th.,Fox no longer re- leases ior him in this territory^ starring Rossano Brazzi, now a Selznick contract player. Lone, French film is "La Vie en Rose.'" Distinguished FUms, N. Y., ac- quired two French imports, "Giv«: Me Your Eyes," a Sacha Guitry starrer, and "This Woman of EviL'