Variety (Jan 1949)

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1.3 Ad Agencies Spread in S. Africa Radio As ComTSetup Nears; Lourenco Busy Johannesburg, Jan. 10. + The general radio position re- Hjains unchanged here. Gideon BOOS, director general of the South Africa Broadcasting Corp., is still ■way on a trip to Canada and the States looking into commercial In Italy's Future Rome, Jan. 25. Wliile a great part of the world ' In 1938, Italy actually put tfcle- vision to work, but only Mussolini ! and the Pope had receiving sets. I At present, , the equipment to start ! experiments no longer exists; the ! Germans took over early in the i war yea»s. Subsequently the man- i ufacturers of equipment havC: gone 1 into other businesses, i Radio must be popularized and I established well first, before tele- ' vision; is feeling here. ■ Hathaway In Rome here as English andinas plans, Afrikaans are very similar to the;must get her government-owned oMmott in Canada with English radio back to normal after Uie* and French. Until Roos' return war there will not be any official move on the proposed starting date of the new "C" Service, guess being that it will be at least another year or longer. This seems to be generally recognized by advertisers and no one? is delaying entering the radio field until commercial broadcasting actually starts in the Union. , . ^ Coupled With the proposed intro- duction of commercial broadcast- ing in the Union and the rapid growth Of Lourenco Marques Radio in Portuguese E. Africa, there has been an increased interest on the part of advertising agencies with the result that seVpral of them have formed their own radio de- partments. Amalgamated African Advertis- ing Contractors, one of the Schlesinger Companies, which in turn is the parent company of ad- vertising agencies in Johannesburg, Durban, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town has Adcraft Radio Division, a subsidiary of Transvaal Advertis- ing Contractors, which services the agencies of the group in the towns just mentioned. It's headed by Michael Silver, an ex-newspaper man who has had considerable ex- perience in radio during the war. P. N. Barrett radio department is headed by Spencer Swaflfer, who joined them from the Northern Rhodesia Broadcasting Station and who has had B.B.C. experience in (Continued on page 15> Rome, Jan. 18. Henry Hathaway will stop over in Rome for a few days to discuss his director's chores on 20thTFox's film, "The Black Rose," with Ty- rone Power, who will star. Pic will be shot in Scotland, England and North Africa. Other 20th personnel currently in Italy include Henry King, direc- tor of the Power starrer, "The Prince of Foxes," and Robert Webb. Power, meanwhile, has set Jan. 27 to wed Linda Christian, Western India Theatres To Handle Distriimtion On Selznick's Product . Deal whereby his Western In- dia Theatres, Ltd., takes over In- dian distribution of Selniick prod- " uct was announced In New York last week by Keki Modi, firm's tnanaging director and chairman. Agreement starts oft with "Duel in the Sun," "Paradine Case" and "Portrait o£ Jenny" and about nine Selznick films in all are said to be involved in the transaction at present. Modi, who has been in the U. S. for the past three months, also disclosed that his company will be- come distributors for United Art- ists in that territory due to UA's closedown of its own facilities there. Modi already has the Sir • Alexander Korda franchise for In^ dia. Selzjalck,- incidentally, has had Ho Indian distribution in recent months since his break from UA. Also a producer through his six- stage Central Studio, Modi stressed . the: value the Indian locale would have to American filmmakers. He felt that joint American-Indian bi- lingual production in his homeland would prove entirely feasible both frofik a fiiiancial and cultural point - of view. Not only, would India be step- ping into the international field, ^^lodi said; but American com' .:^anies would recoup their produc . tion outlay through distribution of the Indian version alone. Hence any earnitags elsewhere theoretic cally would be clear velvet. • ' Korda Sets Film Plans for S. Africa Cape Town, Jan. 14. Sir Alexandra Korda, who has just completed a short tour of South Africa, revealed that his plans for film making here were well advanced, he film rights of one story; "City of Gold," by Francis Brett Young, have been acquired, and Korda was interested in Alan Paton's best-seller"Cry the Beloved Country." The script for "City of Gold" will be completed in about eight months' time, and shooting would probably start almost immediately after that. Korda estimated that about; 85% of th9 film would be made on location in South Africa, and a complete unit would be sent out. He couldn't say whether any studio work would be done here or in England, as no tie-in had been arranged with anj^ local company. The. question of stars would also' be left to later, although an offer of a part had been made to Andre Huguenot, veteran South African legit actor. Uys Krige, South Afri- can poet and playwright/ had also been offered a job with the Korda organization as script writer and technical adviser. ' . Negotiations- on distribution of his 1948-49 output also took place during Korda's stay, but with no results disclosed. Up to August, 1948, 20th-Fox had been distribut- ing the Korda product in this coun- try, but new arrangements haven't been made yet. Film Grosses Slip in B.A.; halo Pix Still Banned Montevideo, Jan. 15. , Pix grosses are taking a con^ siderable beating in Buenos Aires since New Year's and distributors are holding back releases until cooler weather sets in and removes the jinx. As a consequence "So Evil My Loye" (Par),-which has al- ready been seen on this side of the river, will not be released for an-r other week or more. The Argentine Entertainment Board has been unusually busy in the first weeks of the year and 1, j^uthorized no less than 20 pix to .^date, with Metro, Eagle Lion, Uni- versal, Columbia and RKO taking the cream. Last year's censors were re-elected for a further term of one year. Italian distributors haven't yet come to any agreement with the Enlertainment Board for release bf Italian productions, but Atlantica, a new Italian distribution setup, has inked a contract with the Trocadero theatre, in central city, for exclusive release of Atlantica Upbeat Oft French Films Readied for Down Under Sydney rJan. 19. ^ JXathan Scheinwald, importer of New'^y.^iLy"'?. headquarters in ;;;;teriair°once'pemitrarV'a^^^^^^ with ni»nl "Z'"^^ able. Ital-Lux-Mar's Cesar Manlio avpnn« '^',!?*" ^^^'fu ''^^^^^ Marino is back from a Latin-Amer- avenues for French and other Con- ! i^an tour of Inspection and will renew parleys with the powers that be to cancel their hpstlllty towards ;pix from Italy. tinental pix. He'll tieup with the variety, 287-seater indie house nei-e, and likewls* with the Mun- ro-Sloman Indle 498-seater Aus- tiaUa In Melbourne for key pla'y- oates. Both these houses have been «olng okay with foreign fare. ..^f-opping Scheinwald's list is J.^ Well - Digger's Daughter," With "The Baker's Wife" "Vol- pone, "Farreblque," "Marius," 4™",=;'' , "Behind These Walls." Wn' „ Harvest" and "Barber of, »evuie also being set for dating. 60LDWYN GIRI 'PIRATE' Rome, Jan. 18. Virginia Belmont, one of the Goldwyn Girls currently vacation- ing in Italy, has been inked by Ed* gar Ulmer to appear in "Pirates in Capri." She's the wife of V. Cali- fano, manager of the Mocambo Club in HoUywood. Currency Reform Nips German Pix Grosses; Berlin s 2-Coin B.O. Setup Two Yank Pix Among 7 In Running- for Brit. 'Best' London, Jan. 25. / Two Yank filws, "Crossfire" and "Naked City," are In the short list of seven lor the British Film By SIiMONE SCHLEIFFER Since the day of currency reform the situation of the film industry in Germany has changed consider* ably. Before the day of the re- form all picture theatres were'sold out, no matter what product: was played. ; Since July last only pic- India's Radio In Slow Progress Madras, Jan. 18. For a country of India's stature and temperament the progress made in broadcasting is commend- able. During the past year itself seven stations have been built in key cities. There has been a de- mand for such stations on linguis- tic grounds. Stations operating in key cities have often to work on an all-India basis^ overlooking local linguistic demands. To give full scope for local demands to be met, four more stations are being pro- jected and expected to function in the next few months. There are today 12 radio stations functioning in India. The entire network is estimated to cost the government $20,000,000. Besides these 12 sta- tions, there are also mediumrwave stations operating in Hyderbad, Mysore and Travancore; Broadcasting in "'India received the maximum fillip.during the war years. It was at this time that the government realized the potential- ity of r^dio for propaganda; In- itially, foreign broadcasts were monitored and a large staff was employed for this purpose. Simul- taneously, the British government requested the All-India Radio to Install a lOOkw transmitter at Delhi la Its program of counter propaganda. This transmitter was installed at 'Delhi, May 1, 1944; To house the expanded staff and installations, the present Broad- casting House was completed in 1943. Building is modern in ap^ pearance and utility. The entire structure is air-condition. The Delhi station maintains five transmitters, including the lOOkw transmitter installed in 1944. Bom- bay, Calcutta and Madras each operate a medium-wave and a shortwave transmitter. All the other stations in the network operate one medium wave trans- mitter each. All these stations operate for nine to 11 hours a day. Besides English, 71 news bulletins are broadcast by the All-India Radio in 31 languages, 17 for home serv- ice and 14 for foreign service. All- India Radio authorities are con- sidering the addition of French also to cover Europe more widely than at present. News is to re- ceive maximum priority in the overseas service. Educational broadcasting has not reached full development be- cause e d u c a t i o n a !-authorities haven't yet come to grips suf^ ficiently with it. Nevertheless, all the stations in the network devote some time for educational broad- casts to schools. There are about 500 school sets installed now. Academy Award for the best pic-! tula's ^"th outstanding drawing ture from any source during 1948.1 P"^^'*"" '"a^^e the SRO sign ap- List also includes two British pro- ductions, "Fallen Idol" and "Ham- iet,'* two Italian and one French. There are also two American films pear. German production, which produced 38 films (including 16 Russian controlled and sponsored DEFA pictures) so far, was operat- listed in the six selected as the »'f smoothly before the currency best documentary of the year, these being "Is Everybody Listen- ing?" and "Louisiana Story." Presentation of awards will take place in London later in-, ttie year. Peron Govt. Okays Arg, Pix Oscars Buenos Aires, Jan. 15. Argentina's Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has now published its list of prize pix of local' production for 1948, the awards being official and author- ized by the Peron government, fol- lowing its decision last year that* no filmv awards could be made un- less oiltcially approved. "Tierra del Fuego" (Emelco), which has been' running at the Ambassador since Nov^ 30, won best pic award, followed by "Dios se lo Pague" (Sono) and "Lady Windermere's Fan" (San Miguel). Awards for the best direction: went to the three , directors of the above pix, Mario Soffici, Luis Cesai^-Amadorl and: Luis Saslavsky. Ulises Petit de Murat ,won award for best screen story, with "Tierra del Fuego," followed by Hugo Mc- Dougall for "El TamboV de Tacu- ari" and Borocoto, wellknown sports writer, for "Pelota de Trapo" ("Ragged Football") out- standing commercial hit of the year.'. . . Zully * Moreno and Arturo de Cordova got Oscars for the best performances for their work to- gether in "Dios se lo Pague," Pedro Lopez Lagar for "Tierra ; del Fuego" and Maria; Duval for her playing of Lady Windermere. Sabina Olmos has again drawn award for the best supporting per- formance for her work in "Tierra del Fuego." She won a year be- fore for her work in "Albeniz." reform ■ startedi with plenty of money available. - Now everybody is struggling hard .to get credits, and only those companies which/ had pictures ready for release in July have the necessary, capital to go . on produc- ing. It is, however, expected that between 35 to 45 new German pic- tures will be ready for release this year. Of tlie new German films only two had any successT^"Ehe im Schatten" and "Affaire Blum" 'TT-both from DEFA. All other pic- tures were very disappointing, with business nowhere better than aver^ age... Respective Military Govern- ments have licensed 33 producers ' in the western zones. There is in the Russian zone only one licensed producer, DEFA, which has also received a distribution license, making two distribs in that zone-^ ' SOVEXPORT and DEFA. DEFA will distribute only its owji pro- duction and other German product on an exchange basis with the western zones. In the western zones 31 distrib- utors, are operating, among them MPEA, British Eagle Lion, French IPA, Omnium Film, with 10 Brit- ish-produced Pathe pictures, and the two biggest Geiman distrib- utors, Schorscht Film and Herzog .(Continued on page 20) Current London Shows {Figurei ;shows weeks of run) London, Jan. 25. "Annie Get GuM," Col's'm (86)/ "Bless the Bride," Adelphl (92). "Bob's Your Uncle," Sav. (38). "Brownlnir," Phoenix (20). "Cage Peacock," Cambridge (42). -"Carissima," Palace-t46) "CharUy'9 Aunt," Maj. (6). "Chlltem Hundreds," Vaude (74K "Don't Listen," St. Jas. (21)., "Edward, My Son," (Lyric (87). "Father," Duchess (1). "Gioconda Smile," Wynd (33). "Happiest Days." Apollo (441. "Harvey," Wales (4). "High Button Shoes," Hipp. (6). "Kid From Strat." Wint. a7J. "Little Lambs,^' Ambass. (42). "Miss Mabel," Strand (9). ''Off Record," Piccadilly (82). "Oklahoma!" Drury Lane (41). "One Wild..Oat." Garrick (8i. "Perfect Woman," Playhouse (201. -'.'Return of Prodigal," Globe (9). "September Tide." Aid. (7i. "Slings & Arrows," Comedy (10), "Together Again," Vic. Pal. (94i. "Wild Duck," St. Mart (111. "Worm's View," Whitehall (92). British Exhihs Sore At Fihn ye to BBC for TV London, Jan. 18. Distributors who sell films to the British Broadcasting Corp. for use on the government's monopoly video service are likely to find themselves faced with a booking boycott from exhibitors. Attitude is sequel to the,, negotiations by Associated British Film Distrib- utors for the use of 12 of their oldies on the television service. Negotiation of the deal, under- taken by Maj. Reginald P. Baker on behalf of ABED, has met with a general condemnation from the industry. General Council of the Cinematograph Exhibitors Assn., meeting last week; voiced its strong displeasure .and on the Kinematograph Renters Society same time deprecated an agreer ment they claimed was contrary to the industry ? wide arrangement previously, made. French Pick N(»el-Noers 'Parade' Year's Best Pic Paris, Jan. 25. The Grand Prix du Cinema Francais, for the best French pic of the year, has been awarded of- ficially to Noel-Noel's "Parade du Temps Perdu." To protest what they considered undue conservatism in the official jury's awards, some pix critics a few years ago founded 4 prize titled Louis DuUuc. The Louis Dulluc prize this year was awarded by the jury to Noel-Noel's picture. And now the same critics protest violently that the official jury is made up of nincompoops because the latter selected the same picture as they did. Agencies, Talent Uneasy In Unsettled Situation Of Argentinian Radio Montevideo, Jan. 15. . Instability; of execs . and staff seems to be th<e order of the day . in Argentina's radio situation, now that all- the three major webs are under the ow,nership of govern* ment tycoons. Jaime Yankelvlch, former owner and present managing .director of the Belgrano web, is still virtually in control of his own originating Radio Belgrano and its 20 or so network affiliates, but both Radio Splendid and Radio El Mundo are being operated by appointees of the new stockholders, presumed to be Senora de Perpn, her brother, Juan Duarte, and Miguel Miranda, (prexy of Argentina's- Economic ■ Council). All Radio El Mundo's for- mer execs have been ousted, and the last week has also seen the resignation of the two appointees put in.by Miranda, who were for- mer members of the network's staff. Agency execs and advertisers ars viewing the position in Argentine radio with considerable uneasiness. Organization is chaotic in the webs as a result of all the staff switching and programs are dismal, even for the customary summer hiatus. This has brought with it - a marked tobogganing in the volume of spot advertising booked by agencies. In former years this type of adver- tising boomed heftily in the sum- mer months and brought in a nice slice of revenue for the webs. Local talent is also uneasy over the situation, a».the_W-ebs .hav-e-nat yet inked any contracts for -the. coming: season and it looks'.prob- able that all the major webs will have ii) the way of entertainment after March will be the feature programs already booked by agencies and controlled by them direct; Renoir Megs 'River' Hollywood, Jan. 25. Jean Renoir left for India to di- rect "The River" for Oriental- International Pictures. Ken Mc- Eldowney, company prexy, has been in Calcutta for five week* making an^angementfi for filming. Picture will "be the first of a series to be financed completely by Indian capital.