Variety (April 1950)

INTBBNATIONAfc .Studio Space Augniaited; Pix >VARIITV^r LONDON OFPIOO l-it. Martinet Trafaliar^ tquar* Buenos Air^s, April. 18. f Several, new . studio sets which have been in construction for Ar- gehtina!s ;,major niotion picture ; producers over the last two years,; are rioW about reaidy for inaugura- j McCarthy Handling With London, April 25. . Earl St. 3 ^ohn, head of Twp- Cities Films, dickering with Philip King, author of “On Monday Next,” current Comedy theatre hit; for Blm rights. If deal goes thru, St. John will produce film in con- junction with David Henley, cur- rentiy head of Fosters’ , agency’s film section, and formerly J. Ar- thur Rank’s casting director ^and , j talent scout. Associated British i Picture Corp. has just closed .deal ! with Stanley French for film rights i Paris; April 25. • „ 4 .. . John G. McCarthy, veepee ,and i of itonald J’eansrSavoy theatre hit, tioh, While the Ihtee^ajo^slu-,^.^^^^^^ the Motion Picture; “Young* dips: Argentina SOnp . Film, Epiri-; America’s ihternationall Borrah Mincvltgh; who has CO and Sari Miguel, have ; Qonsid- division huddled with continental: financial interest in the French Pic* inr Wfc f‘♦.Tniir. Hp here^; tor tlm TowersDucin : . •, London, April 18. Harry Alan Towers, internation- al director of Towers of London, planes for New YorkXand Canada April 30 to survey plans for the release of a number of transcrip- tion series produced by his organi- zation. Among the Towers^ pror grams available are the Sir. Thomas Stppkhwm, Mril 25 . A stiff adhfiisdhhuax #45% Im- _ in ’ jFaBMTO has caused a 38%; drop .-Ip attends at Swedish filpi theatres, in addi- tion, out of ji total of 2;484 houses some 200 altOi^dy haVe b^On forced to close andl:it'|tj>nfedWted^^ at least 500 more %lU||h<^er before the:summer'is.:pv^‘ Exhibition Ifih^.t" the . only • phase of the industry j\A'Wch : is" it pri the chin jfinariiclally; ;, According to the Economm; Researoh insti- tute a-.study bMh®i^iip*df:.194'L QUGUon, ana iSJL ui laniy r ranee Anare r hv Halltnnvlr Prnrfiipftnnc has nnuM V « 4.0;., desigri: The balance are mere j per of the UGC (French govern-] sheds originaliy built as storage I nient controlled cineiria holdings), ^ 1 or other ^purposes. With L! S. jand Fourre COrmeray, government film imports at-a coiriplete standr film chm^^^ . , . ' still: arid Argentine pictures Prior, to, letavlng for a w^^^ inpriopolizing most of the firstruri j Spain and Italy, McCarthy also! hoU.ses: in the biggest Argentine' conferred with Pierre Frb.gerais, cities; producers are turning their j prez Pf the French film prpducers’ | , attention .to plaris for new studio organization^ and -Robert Crayenne.' cdnstructiori or enlargement of. Both Frogerais and ^ Grayenne, who , existing facilities; ; are delegates : to. the MPA A Ad-: Assured of putright protection f01; nat.iorial productiori also, the *ri New .York May 2.. McCar- Argentine producers are becpining i .W^f increasihgly internationahminded. Spanish junket by MPAA conn seeking out stars from other La^ 5 tin countries to focuS inteihation- ; tn London, Oslo .prm al attention, on their .pictures, The ^ return here latest plan of this' type, has .Jihii hlght. star . Hugo del Garril; now .a . pro- ' ' - . I Beecham series, currently runnirig ! 42 and i947-4£^.h.ffiyMinM^^ ’! on the CBS network in Canada, ] tion costs baye nseii^^^ kroner ($52,000) for an average pic- ture in 1941 to 315,000 kroner ($63,00()) in 1948. Despite th^ Jribnetiiry plight of been delayed until la' ? spring, when it will open on WQXR, N^ Y., arid will simultaneously become , both exhlbitor'iknd fb® available on . stations throughout government haS' fe'if^Sdd. lo,, perrriit America; . , j increase in adihiSsinb prices. The Towers organization has also I As an exairiple of how the producer cut “The London Story,” sta rfing : John Mills, which is provisionally I titled “A Story to Rem D. .* A Vi iQ the US; This series features each „ / ' ^ 1 week a 30-minute dramatized ver- Progpessively, censorship by , oatstsnding short^storics by has been affected by..: this policy, the Research institute states, is the fact that J>f 33 pix turned but in 1941 the average profit bn each was 10,000 kroner ($2,000), This compares to i an approximate loss 100,000 kroner ($20,000) op Mayer. '' OV ' ^ u - Wells, Arthur Con W. W. every picture iriade iri 1948. and perriiany first intin^ation wa* given ^'hen j^^Q^g^^g^ E. Bates. , Larger urban 1 theatres haven* within a fori- ^ Infont^.tion ^ .Henri ; Last week Towers cornpleted a been hit nearly as hard : as th( Teiteen fired Censor Georee Hiivs- , , , - : t .... ..a... '..l . ducer, dickering with French pro ducer Addre Paulye to make a picture in France teamed with French actress, Michele Morgan. Del Carril is due to leave shortly for Spairi, where he is undbr con- tract to star in “The Black with a White Soul” for Cesareo GonzalezC New Zealand Boxoffice t’- i,. ,rt J _ • .TT .i-ftlSt. - wcciv-, J.uw4?i.a.. 4.V»*4p4«i4''.;vi « . . **»v -ucaiijf -. aa. iKigM -: aa. . thC Teitgen fired Censor George Huys- , series of 26 programs for Lux-;. smaller rutal houses^ One hihler- ’ ''bh _he considered too easy., embourgi starring Gracie Fields. land town reports that its 180- j Seater grosses 351 kroper when the ■ house sells . put . ,,Gf . .tbis, 131 in Film, theatre attendance The law for filnr censorship here ; is that the censorship: committee, [ which includes represeritative.s ; from every ministry, vyiews the pic- ■ ! ture and decides if it is to be killed * ailogether; only peririitted to be i played non-Gomtnerciai (jneaningj I Q . ; aiiogeiner; only permittea 10. be ; 1=5=5 rpntimied fi om ipage is ssssx ; therVs a • loSs-^^glkfebner is hold- permitted^ for ah audiences com- ' final selection by village ; Breakdown .pf ^hfeatlfr^peral i *w Zea- meVrialfV or nifi^ for^adoitl V vote 6f the star players last No- * reveals that 406: houses drg.local ; kroner go for,4axes. j expenses such^ as ..filjri rerttal, sal- jaries, etc.Vtakb;j|4t; kroner.' Tlui$: : fViA,.n*c « ''-‘^^^itk^bnei^ b Meanwhile, the dicker, with Paulve 'ing feniarkably well in' New is ill process of negotiatipn ■ ■ director Marcel Carhe hiphv while i^nd^Vitho^^off’f^^ 1946 instance wL^^en Uni-in cities. These giyexegular per- - IS expected peak, according to Trevor Town-; versa! wanted to rCissiie Eric Maria twice daily to meg the picture, which is re- send, general riianager of theatre I j^ema^que’s old “ Ail Ouiet bn the • in .iridlvidual scenes. By . theatres have only one screen ing ported to be The Key^to Dreanis’’ operations for Robert Kerridge’s 1 Westeim Front ” U’s French man- ■ April full-stage, full-length daily, 337 give fovi^^^r|,q^ ion .located on a .story by Carne himself Dr. Enrique Telemaco Susjni has N- Z., Monday (23) and heads for 1 pictirre^^^^^w attention fronv most Pjaye^, who ’ ances weekly; Many of the latter, - • ■ "'when MRomibu/rGorpsontin^ swing: ON^r to the Pa^ioni most of which^^a^^ circuit there: who is currently in l ager; Etienne Descc^bey; is him-1 Veh^arsals of, the ^eigh^hour play every week N, Y. He arrived from Auckland, self a member-of the ^mmittee. wRl start, necessitatmg fuU-tiine tween; one aim^; :lh^»fe:^p^brm^ returned from Eurbpe, in the London Ffiday (28), where he will course of which he worked out a attend the British Industry Fair _ deal with the Generai Cinema Continued bbxoffic^ strength in : screening was useless becatisetbii;; Union of France for co-production. New Zealand augurs weir fOr. U. E. j department objected to the release, of . pix with Argentine-French tal- filni cbriripanies because only 25% This Was protested by Descom- eiit, to be made in both Argentina of rental coin now is impounded .|)ey, whO' irisisted bn a screening, and France. , there.: Townsend felt that an even ,^resibent; ^ Luis Saslavsky is talking with a French studip to direct a picture v based bn.a story by Jean Gocteau,', ^ At the sa me time the Argentine pix industry has decided to subniit'twb efteher, Kerndge chain h4.s 137. pictures to the forthcoming festival “'^iiiArg.; in Venice. Argentina Sono Film ;< will submit “Danza de Fuego” and . Cineinatografica I n t e r americana has selected comedian Luis San- drini's latest picture, “La Culpa la Tuvb el Otro” (‘‘The Other Guy Was to Blame”). when M; Romieu, representing the p. ^ tiavroll Salaries are adiusL ministry of the .InMor, saia the , lamily heed rether than by prominence .of his part. 3.5MO8 yisdtbrs Goal Size of anticipated bookings is indicated by opening next month I jected to a screening, siding with | of . a fuU-scaie American Express Rbraieu. Finally pescombey was j tourist Office in this smal) town; told that the screening would take { Estimates set 350.000 visitors as a tentative goal.; Maybe 100,000 of these will be Amerieans, and most of the total will spend at least one night in the village or environs. Efforts are made to sell all Passibn have closed, leaving af least 1,500,- 000 people with; pg at- tending films.'- place at sbrrie other time, but that i anyway the picture would riot be I permitted to play “because it was a pacifist picture and that was not Avanted currentl>\” 119 li • i t 1/1 1 ; Ib another ease, after a French I Play tickets on inclusive basis, ' Thlr RpviVbI I nilKQ (inAfl picture, a Jasbn production titled i \vhich brings the customer to town j l ull UCflYai liUUIld UUU ‘^No! Holyday for God” (a story! evening before the performance Buenos Aires, April 25. showing ; kids capturing dogs to ; feeds and houses him in hotel or. • Toronto* April 26v The 30th annual report Of Far mpus Players (Canadian) Corp., as presented b.v J. J. Fitzgibbons, president, to the shareholders; shows a deClihe in earnings, solely because of higher operating costs and higher inconie taxes. Consolidated net profits for. 1949 Were $3,0714910, or $1.77 a sharer epmpared with the previous year, when net profits were $3,286,264, or $1.89 a share. However, the Last week ’ brought only one raise a fund), had been fully passed ; private home through day of the | An entirely new production unit, S. film release, • ‘Mourning Be- by the committee, Minister Teitgen { play, and a foliowing 24 hours Eos Films, has signed a German di- comes Electra” (RKO>, which has took it upon himself to restrict it i when cast is resting and visitor'Is Lectori Carl Ritter, to direct “Las been held hack for over two years to adult audiences: . , from the 8:36 a. nri; Siete Darizas de la Vida” (“The by censorship. “Don’t Trust Your Another case is that of an Anriei-: to 6 p. rii. (with two hours for | company has built eight rteW the- Seven DanCes of Life”) with Husbarid': (UA), at the Opera, has ican-made film, the cpnimittee had; lunch) performance. atres in Canada, remodelled 11 Georges ffigaud, Laura Hidalgo, been doing excellent business passed it for general release, Min;' Depending on quality Of the ac-; others and acquired three, drive- Domingb Sapelli, Deneb Renshaw, since March 30. : ister Teitgen forbade it except for Qommodation and position of the *hs, thus absorbing mbre than $3 - Paramount has reissued ‘For non-commercial release, thus caus- p|ay seat these tix eW from $14.50 000,006 of the company’s c^sh re- Whom the Bells Toll.” and all the ing the importer a heavy loss. | l-q $19 foV the works. Visitors are ! sources. (FPC now operates. 393 Pedro Laxalt; Pilar Gomez and a corps de ballet. Rank’s Gate Studios On Market for $420,000 London, April 25. The Gate studios at Elstree, ac- because Of his pix, which are con- sidered sensational, which makes the Bergman romance “simpatico.” J . „ , ^ * .L. AM the preems how'adays are guired . peijonally vby J. A locally-made pix, at the rate of Bank at ^e tin^ of his ihiti^ en- ^ week^ This high- ^be industry as producer ijgfi|_s the local producers’ deter- pf relipous_ 01mS| are now on the to make hay while the market. They ar^. boijjg sun shines and monopolize the ?nd ^ even if U, s:, u-u ’w 4.1 pix are allowed iri agairi in qiian- tity, there Wilt have to be some for film- divi.sion of firstrun houses betweeri Wi the local and impacted films. two dr thipe years Rank"hais be using these studios; for advanced TV filhi experiments, and ihstallcd equipitiient to test the efficacy of Simultaneous . recording on film from a TV tube. ballyhoo over .the Ingrid Berg- Latter case is .being appealed, naturally figured to give up plenty man-Roberto Rossellini pmance. and the case _or the .lason produc- 'ore for beers, wood carvings and Wiir certainly help to give this tion is going to be submitted to the j cuckoo clocks and postcards. ' The good business. In this country ConseiJ d'Etat. T PIav itself is fieured to mavhe Rossellini is something of a hero ! Play itself is figured to maybe : break even on its 5,000 seats, w'ith houses across Canada^ \Vitli t he Dominion having 1,77$ theatres.) The 12c drop in shareholders’ dividends is due almost eritirely to incoirie taxes, said Fitzgibbons; $1 {Figures show weeks of ruu) Uhe towm getting off the nut On the 805,676 in 1949 as against $1,646.- I tourist angle. the previous year; Current as- ; The new Christ, who plays the are $7,287;08 3. part this year for the first time, is ' “Annie Get Gun,” Co^s^m (151 );'Spatllsh-^LBilffUafife (‘Beau Sirateirem.W Tivrir ability to cope with the role. A ®xjan^uo^c in ‘Beau Sirategem,”, Lyric (52). “Black Chiffon,” West’ster (52). “Bonaventure,” Vaude (20). “Briffadooii,” Majesty’s (54). ‘‘Castle Air,” Adelphi (20); ‘^Cry Liberty,” Vaudeville (1). “Detective Story,” Princess (5); “Eliz, Slept Here/’ Strand (26). ‘‘Fallen Aiigels,” Ambass, (20). “FoUes Bergere,” Hipp (29) slightly built red-haired man W’ith i a mystical face, Prqisinger., in addi- i - tion to Deirig on the open-air. stage i ^ ^ 4.- r e ' in cold, rain and even snow for •blm convention of Spanr jFiliii Gonfab for Madrid Madrid, April 18, Seidelman Back Washington, April 25. American films had another Strong boxoffice year .in . Havana last year, . reports : Nathan D. Gblderi; chief of the motion pic- ^ T „ ., , „ , ture-photographic branch of the Sani L. Seidelmari, Eagle Lion . u. S. Commerce Dept. During general export ,manageplaned in I949, 236 Hollywbod features were to N, ,y. Irom a hurried trip to . released . in Havana and grossed Great Brilain Monday (24). He $2,108,740 Of the total of $2,664,644 made tlib trek reportedly to check taken in; at the boxoffice for all on the booking of EL product in new feature.s during the year. J. Arihur Rartk’.s two big circuits, - The 71 Mexican pix released the Biitish-Gaumbnt. and Odeon, earned $275,967 at the boxoffice ; eince EL has been anxious to learn arid the 17 British flickers took in ! details of hbw their pictures have $95,983. Remainder of the busi- j been baridled in Britain. I ness was earned by product made! SeideJman was gone from N, Y. in Spain, Argeniina, Cuba, France 1 and Mexico are the most impor- tant entries. Each country can preseiit a Triaximum of six pix and three shorts. Prizes will be dis- tributed to. the. best pic, director. must "Garry an 80-pound cross on his: shoulder for 45 minutes, and .theri hang crucified On Calvary for ^ . . . . 25 mirtufes, clad only in loin cloth “Ka?v?v;”^rhie?;ff WalS%9r'^'r physical ® tP strengthen his < Pkssi^n Thga\^t: the fiij^^they wiirbe in Madrid tor ^ m Vir i. !}?;• " fSde as will : conventioii; -The: Spanish filnv in- •‘Ltw oFrSsft-f - "■ ■' • ' austry will take the opporto^^^^^ make as corriprehensive arrange ’ ^ . ' ■ _ ' * . ■ • • t »• ' ■ ■ g J 4 Y, .. i 2 Mex: PixveKamber ■ Eitct. S- •bout two- weeks. , and. Italy. Latin Qt; 1950,” Casirib (6). “Man With Umbrella,” D’tch’s (3). «Oklahj?mS "felSv^Llni. ft American MuntHes tor dislrihii- “Old Vic Rep.,” News (28) ‘ " -ii -' Y a Gity; April 18 ; , tion of its pix and exchange of “On Mori.'Next,” Gbmedy (47) 4^^^^ An(la, top_ producer, is . stars and directors. “Ring Rpiind Moon,” Globe (13); niofniro the National Cine- Spanish film industry, with fuM “Streetcar,” Aldwych (29), , ^^^Jographic Industry Chamber. { support pf the government, is (i:>> “Traveller’s Joy,”‘eritcrion (98) of the ing to enlarge its Sales and gain ‘Wild Violets,’’-iStoll ( 11). j berto Gervantosj setTetary.. i in Latin Amoricay while Sonio of ‘Worm’s Yiew,’_ Whitehall (157).! Jesus Grovas, another top pro- J the Argentine pix have not pleased . Young Wives TalCf Savoy (41), ducer, is the Chamber’s ni^n^^Sbr* ' Spanish, critics arid public.