Variety (January 1950)

Wednesday, January 11, 19S0 PlCTtmiBS Major film companies, through the Motion Picture Export Assn, / stamped their okay last week oi tvyo of the most important deals yet negotiated .to unfreeze theiA coiii abroad. The. arrangements, ' one with a Gatholic Church group in Rome and the other to build a shif) in Sweden, will give the Yank V cbm panics a total of $2,300,000. ^ .Dieal with the CathoUc urganizar , tibn calls for conversion of 1,000,- 000,000 lire at the rate of 750 to the dollar for a total of about $1,- 300,000: Under the Swedish setup, the U. ,S. .GQinpahies ^will thaw 7,200,000 krorier to give, them an even $1,000, poo,V Catholic.deal iS; the second major one with a church group. Last Februaryi the .MPAA afranged^conr version of 850,600,000 lire at the rate of 875 to the dollar, giving them,$975,000,, Deal was With the North American College, a U. s. charitable organization • w h Ic h maintains a seminary for training priests iii Romer— ; w- - There waS considerable huShr hush ambhg picture companies this week On details of the negotiations and the, actual organization with which; the pact was; being made could not. be learned. Itihthought likely, however, that it is also the North American College^ It: W Rank tiondon. Jam XO. J. Arthur Rank is holding off on W projected visit to the U. S; until the Angla-Americah film talks are completed here.: Since no date for the; confabs has yet been set, his departure, date . is . Still tentative:* However, it is likely that the Brit>- ish ; producer's yearly hegira / to Hollywood will be sometime in Main purpose of the trip will be to visit daughter and soh-in-i^ Columbia producer Fred Paekai'd, iXuddl.es with Universal and Eagle Lion . toppers on, future releasing plans will probably also be on the agenda. learned-definitely that it is not the Vatican itself. . • . Last year’s deal had tremendous repercussiohs when the New York Times; in a front-page story, identi- (Continued Oh page 22) to Virtual certainty now that there ! Will he a general election in Eng- land in late February ; or early March has somewhat simplified the ihasterrhinding that has been going on by American industry execs as to the best date for the sessions with the British goyernmeht on re- newal of the 'Anglo-U: S. $17,000;- .000 agreement. Pact expires next ■JUiie' is.-.:;--:'- - Certainty pf .the .election remoyes one of the principal variables which; the strategists have had tp consider. The great. amount of thought that has been going into the problem of settiiig a date for the meetings results from the uni Samuel Gpldwyh is due in New from the Coast Jan. 22 and will go to Europe in March for a lengtliy tour. He’s planning to i vcrsally held belief that timing cease production at the studio for as lorig as five months When pres- ent yyprk is completed, and will look into the possibility of miking films in England and in various places on the Continent. , His New York stay .this trip will will be very important in 4etermin- ing how gppd a deal the Yanks cprae out with. General feeling ampng t h e strategists' now is that it will be preferable to. wait until after the .election before sending the U. Revolutionary change in the es- tablished system bf-r^icture play- offs in many RKO and'Raramount strpnghpid cities is expected by. the industry, in a matter of weeks as a result of the two comp^ noW-operative cpn$ent decrees. As the effect of the ; two decrees^: is fe It, with their re gu irernenf. tha t tfie distribs treat their / affiliated houses at. arms’ length, a, hot fight is Shaping for RKp and Par prod- uct between indie ; exhibs and the twb circuits., .The industry is carefully watch- ing the upcoming struggle because it spells the first; solid repercuS’' siohs of divorcement., > With the fight brewing, the two questions unanswered: are: 1, Whether hotT ter conrlpetitiori means upped dis- trib rentals, and (2) whether the indies can displace affiliates in bid- ding battles for ; the choice first- run product. ; What happens in the case of Par and RKO will parallel future de- yelopmehts affecting National The- atrcis, Loevv’s and the Warner Bros, chain when those three circuits are thrown on their oWn. Philadelphia situation, for instance, will be wide open in the case pf Warners and the Coast will be equally affected by the probable NT divorcement. As for RKQ, its divprcement means an early and particularly violent upset pof longrestablished pattern in New York, where a gPod num- (Continued on page 20) Jhim Detroit, Jan.. ;10. Edgar Kirchher, operator of Family, second-run house, opposite City Hall, is wondering how much good it did him to win battle to have a taxi stand oh side of his 4 Si; Fabiah turned his attention last week to possible purchase of the RKO circuit, following collapse of his efforts to acquire the War- ner Bros, chain; The New York circuit operator let it be kriowh, however^ that if he is to hegotiate for the RKO houses it must be With owner Howard Hughes him- self or a topflight, authorized rep. He made it clear he wouldn’t ne- theatre removed. City council or-, dered discontinuance of cab stand j gotiate via. •‘the grapevine;!! when KirChner protested. ;j One of the difficulties faced by . Kirchner is . still shaking his ■ prospective purchasers of Hughes’ head because it then ordered cab 124% controliing interest in the 'L fL. ‘ ilL ^ x.ii- stand, turned into a biis stop; RKO web is in talking With the top; man himself or in finding a fully authorized negotiator for him.. iiihghes haibitiiaily makes himself. ihacCessible for ordinary business dealings, a practice that is fre- quent cause. for cphstemation among those Who would deal, with V There is said, however, to be > fairly wen-defined “grapevine” for reaching the ear of the miilionatre tool, plane and film-maker. It is understood that it was by this proc- ess that Fabian let his interest be known in acquiring the circuit and also that he would hot negotiate “through three other guys.”. Fabian said that if Hughes was desirous of talking a deal he’d, (Continued on page 22) to be only for about .two weeks. It: industry delegation abroad. How- will be for publicity purposes on ■ aver, the Motion Picture Export his forthcoming films,. “My Foolish ^Assn. board—consisting of com- . Heart,” “Our Very Own” and ' pany prexies and foreign managers ' “Edge of Doom.” Also while he : ^which must make the decision, is Is easU he and James , A. Mulvey, I (Continued on page 13) prez of Goldwyn Productions, M'ill i ' •: ■ ■. ' as salesmanager for the unit. . Goldwyn will return to the Coast after his brief New York. slsy lo finish cutting and scoring ^ 10. | ot “Edge of Doom/’ That’s expect-I ’ While both pictures will be de-: (Continued on page 22) | layed long beyond expeetatiohs of ‘ their. producers, RKO-s “Stroim boli” appears destined fb hit. thea^ tre screens at least;’ two months; ahead of Mofioh Picture- Saieij j j Corp.’S; -'VbicanOi’V Since -the ,piX : A.; 4-u ' r- have considerable sihiilarity thcre’.s esl fih/sfrZ h/*’been a hot race betweeh the two; studio i ■‘Strbmboli," tli^ iMfirid. Berg- . wHh th. matl-starrer hiade b.V Roberto RoS- fl t indoth ov ‘ “llini in' Italy, is now slated to : «mv industry s 30th anni, will be linh ifi rko S‘ebh!:t/*"ah^ ‘“ib: Idit^” a^^ In the n cutting., ■while RenZo Rossellini, siasm the n the producer’s brother, is here s asm, the newspaper Soviet Art t. Both Eric Johnston and Ellis ArhalTw'ere on the Coast last week, but their simultkrieQUs presence in Hollywood was said to be entirely cpincidental. Motion Picture Assn, of America prexy, Who had flown down from his home in Spokane, where he bad spenU the Hplidays, left for Hawaii over last weekend. He’ll be there all this week on: bus- iness of United Airlines, of which he is a director and stockhoider. He’s to be back at his Washington headquarters next Wednesday (18) and in New York for a Motion Pic- ture Export Assn, session, a feW days later, ArnaU is remaining in Holly- wood until the latter part of next week for confabs with members of the Society, of Independent Motion Picture Producers, of which he’s prexy. He expects to be back in New York about Jan. 21. While film bpxoffices last week took the usual sharp drop follpw-, ing the holidays, sUAc wasn’t so precipitate as most circuit opera- tors feared it might be. Particular interest attached to the quality of last week’s; biz, since film men sought to detect in it whether the better-than-anticipated Christmas- New Year grosses were just a flash of good fortune or indicated a mpre lasting turn for the better at the nation’s boxOffices. Grosses during the ppst-holiday stanza brought no cheers from ex- hibk dr optimistic comments that happy days were here again, On ; RKO mark the Howard Hughes pic the other hand, however, theatre-; i as an .unequalled.-show biz phenom-’ men were heartened by the fact enon, In the ppinion of lilmites that after a bad. slump Tuesday, , whp’ve . gandered the tremendous' Jan. 3, the.day after the New Year j receipts. DeSpite-^or because of‘— holiday, biz picked up Wednesday I its unusual cdreer, it has knocked and . climbed during the week to ' off record engagements in many of houses a fairly good the 2.1 cities where it opened over ) the Nevy Yeaf holiday, and earned' Prefious Bookings At 6.0. in RKQ Release Grosses rolled up by “The Out- law” last vyeek in its release by giye most weekend. Comparison with the previous year for any one week;, period‘rer fleet quality of product at the moment rather than trends but (Coniinued bn page 16) a holdover in every one. of them. Pic was made by Hughes as an Indie in 1941, but because of re- fusal, by the producer to coinpro- (Continued 6n page 22) Einfeld's 20tli Buy Washington, Jan. 10. Charles Einfeld, ad-pub veepee of 20th-F6x, has bought 2,000, shares of 20th in one block.. At current prices, stock cost in the neighborhood of $50,000. Previously, ad-pubber held no. stock of the company. i I’s Largest Film Studio Started in Moscow M-Oscow, Jan: 10 Biz Still Strong After New Year’s—‘On Town^ Cops F ir st; ' I wo J ima, ’ ‘Outlaw’ Next in L ine med several mo.re “firsts” for writing the music. .Williaip Dieterlei Who. directed, sia ft said vva«f fir^K^*v. ‘‘Volcano'' on. a similar island in sj^ol.s Pholoeranhip ^ Italy Ip that on which “Stromboli” . sound fihn ^ shot^ is. avvaiting the arriyal' and tri rlimpncl^ animated c^'toon ; ^ Magnahi to dub ana tii-d.,mensional;,aim. / | the,: film. D her cortiin^is ^ ^ I uncertain and: if. will take co.iisid-. l^amble‘s GOP Stump • erable time after s*he .gets here to ^ed/ Gamble,; midwest circuli " “'"A'ete and send ;;the -Operator and board member oI the ■ of America; is A t', n x* m > ' politicking . in the . northwestern ; OSCHI* Bailoting. To the natiohM Republicaii, ' Ql-arf An Tan TQ Pariy. Gamble, recently named as htart On JBIl, ly, veepee of the party’s natibnat, Hollywood. Jan. 10. : . nnance committee* shoved off for Academy of Motipn Picture Arts the Coast over the weekend on a And Sciences will send out nbrpi- eanipaign to raise funds for next nation ballots for the 22nd Oscar year’s elections. Derby Jan. 19, with the official : Exhib leader will tour the nbrth-' nominees to be announced Feb. 13. i' Western states for the next 10 days i After that comes a secret vote, ■ on ms coin-raising activities before 1 to be kept under cover until the. tel urn ing east, .! AwAldspresentationj March 23, I There is the itsuai letdown at firstrUn theatres over couhtf,y this Week, but niost keys report'biz In a Very healthy^ state;, particularty in view of number of. holdovers and extended-run pix, Whlie actual take is down , 36’*35%^ NbW Year’s week, some 20. pfincipai fiim.s curfent in-key .spots ebyered by Variety report grosses exceed- ing $2,300,000. This huge take was done . in the face of, showstprnis,^ sleet and extreme cold in some Pacing the field Is “On the Tovvn” .(M-G), with sturdy to. socko scs.sions, Playing>. in iS key. cities> it is registering better than $3fiL- 000. . Even ,w;ithout the $120,000 it is getting at, N. Y: Mu.sic Hall iri fifth week, Metro musical is leader.. . “Sands . of Iwp Jima” IRep), vvliich did sensatiohally .bpenihg Week in all keys, is a strong sec- ond place w'innef aithough tlie John Wajme .Starrer Is mainly on holdover currently. Third spot goes to. “The Outlaw” (RKO), also leaning; mainly on seepnd stanza takings for its great showing/ Fourth position is being wbn by “Inspector General” (WB), with .some just nice or good to fair show- ings. “Prince of Fo.xes” (20th) is landing fifth money, Sixth from top i.s:.:“Great Lover”. (Par) despite piayf ng mainly .on lioldOvef . “Sam- son' andiIJelilah^’.(Par), though only in three house.s: is huge enough to lake seventh money, “Adam’s Rib” (M-G) is winding... . :up in eighth While ”Hei.res;s” (Par.) is. ninth. “Battleground” (M-G).,. ‘‘AlT King’s Men” (Cot) and “Holi- day Aftaif” (RKO) round out the Golden Dozen in that order, “Bag- dad’’ IU) arid /ilasty Heart” (WB) ■ head the runner-up films; .; “Fajlen Tdor’ (SRQ) i.S doing nice ., to .solid trade in. several keys but playing, mainly, in ; arty hou.ses... ■ “.Paneing in.. Dark”. (.20th) shapes i fairly, good; in Detroit and okay In / Boston. “Thelma Jbrdon” ; (Rar), next into N. 'Y. Paramount, is far- ing nicely in tv>'o spots currently. ; “Woman in Hiding” (U), preemed i.n Buflalo, is.shaping up well with . jcrix praise heiping there. “Malaya” /(M-G), another newcomer, looms great in Philly and fitie in Buffalo: “Pirates of Capri’- (EL) is nice in Philly, “Kiss For; Corliss” (UA) is ; rated mild In Friseb. • “Without , I Honor” , (UA) looks sblid in Philly. ■ j “One Last Fling” (WB) is okay in , |Torontbk (Complete Boxoffice Hepofts on'. - 8-9). ■ 41*^ ! ■■ Trade Mark Registered FOUNDEb BY SII^E SILVERMAN Published Weekly by VARIETY, Inc, Sid SUverman, President 154 West 46th St., Nfew York 19, N. Y. Hollywood 26 6311 Yucca • Street Washington 4 . . .1292 National Press Building. : Chicago 1. . .360 Nq, . Michigan Ave, London WC2 8 St. Martin’s PI., Trafalgar Sq. SUBSCRIPTION Annual $10. Foreign. $11 Single Copies ■.,..,. . 25 Cents Vol. 177 ■■No.:fi' INDEX ■•/Bilis.' /'■.•; . .-53’. ChattcT ............ :... 62 Film Reviews :. '.. /..: .. 6. 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