Variety (August 1950)

'VARIETY'S' LONDON OPPICl • St. Martin's Place, Trafalgar Square PRrieW EVTEIIMTIOMAL 17 Golden Sees Germany in fix Upbeat; Envisions Gains for US. in Holland Postwar Austrian legit Suffers From Lack of Strong Native Playwrights Washington, Aug. 8. German film Industry, although hampered by financial difficulties and limited export possibilities, is expected to produce more than 80 pictures this year, more than double the number turned out in 1949. That estimate highlighted a report on the film industry in Western Germany and other Euro- pean countries, compiled by the U. S. Dept, of Commerce film divi- sion under the supervision of Nathan D. Golden. It was also re- ported that the German govern- ment may trim its quota on U. S. imports soon from the present 160 per year to about 100 per year. For other countries, the Com- merce Dept, reported American pictures continue to dominate the Belgian market. Also that, while the Belgians have no domestic in- dustry to protect, the new Parlia- ment will be asked by exhibitors to limit the seating capacity of various cities through fear that the country is rapidly becoming over- seated. French industry, with the aid of $4,535,228 in government aid, was reported to have turned out 103 features in 1949. In Norway, it was said that the market potentiality of theatre equipment has grown less favorable during the last year because of a dollar shortage. For India, the postwar boom in 16m distribution gets the most pl&y in the report. Netherlands is re- ported to have retained its limit on rentals to 32M>% of the net box- office take, with only 65% of that sum remittable if paid in dollars. In addition, American films gained ground there after the required playing time for European films was reduced. Breakdown of Top Countries Following is a country-by-coun- try breakdown of the Commerce Dept, report: Germany: As long as there is no trade agreement or film exchange agreement between U. S. and Ger- many, it appears that import quotas will be continued. ECA has agreed to guarantee current expense of U. S. producers for their western Germany operations. In 1949, such guarantees amounted to $1,163,539 and it's expected they'll total about $3,500,000 this year. About 300 features it is esti- mated will be imported into Ger- many this year, of which 160 will be American. Top-quality Ameri- can films are well received but ‘‘there is a growing dislike for gangster films, westerns and poor- quality pictures, irrespective of origin." German industry is con- fronted with financial difficulties caused by lack of capital, credit restrictions and limited export possibilities. Nearly 4,500 film houses are now operating in Western Germany and west Berlin, of which about 4,000 are stationary, others being set up in halls, schools and other places. Single bills constitute the pre- dominant policy, leading to a pro- gram change in most theatres two or three times per week. British Fix Out of Mexico United Kingdom: For the year ended March 31, 131 British fea- tures were registered with the Board of Trade but, with the pres- ent reduced output from fewer active studios, it's believed the British industry will be unable to maintain this level. While British films during 1949 did well in most of Europe, exchange difficulties throughout most of Latin America have “dislocated business in some of the more important markets, such as Argentina and Brazil, and British films, for .the time being, have been excluded from Mexico." (Report made no mention of the Anglo-U. film difficulties.) Belgium: No restrictions on im- ports of U. S. films are foreseen for the time being and, for practi- cal purposes, there are no restric- tions, on the transfer of dollars. However, during the first quarter of 1950, attendance at filmeries has fallen off. This is considered by the industry to be reflection of the slight recession in business during the last year. France: Production facilities are reported to tie adequate; in fact, a number of the studios were not fully utilized during the year. Dur- ing the year, 23% of the cost of films produced was financed through the temporary aid law. "Dangerous Corner’ On Rocks Before Finished London, Aug. 8. Within a few weeks of its forma tion, and with its first pic only partially completed, Carnegie Films (Earl of Southesk is Chair- man) is likely to be liquidated at a meeting of creditors called for Aug. 24. Indebtedness of the company is calculated to be around $150,000 while outlay on the production of “Dangerous •Comer,", which was on location at Cannes, was near $60,- 000. Stars of the pic were Michael Redgrave and Anouk. Harry Rey- nolds was producer. Pic is report- edly uncompleted. Location lens- ing was stopped on London orders and crew brought back last week. Three technicians were left behind as “hostages" for the unpaid hotel bills, amounting to over $3,000. Blackpool Slipping As Ace Summer Show Biz Spot; British Go Abroad Blackpool, Eng., Aug, 1. Blackpool, mecca of summer show biz, is in the doldrums. Gone are the days when this Lancashire town was a record-breaking spot. Boasting for several years of a regular population of 165,000, with a daily floating population during the active season of 250,000, this ace spot has been given the cold mitt this year. There are many reasons to ac- count for the slump. One is the usual parrot-like cry, money shortage. Second is according to complaints, that local showmen fail to realize they are not giving money values. Big percentage of the shows are repeats from last year. Another important reason is the boardinghouse keepers. These have been extracting heavy coin from their customers for years without giving them real value. Some have assumed that Black- pool is on the must list for the Lancsatrians. But they are now finding out that most former reg- ulars are going elsewhere. One of the biggest oppositions to Blackpool is the Continent; France and Belgium have taken quite a number of former Black- pool regulars. Other spots, such as the Isle Of Man and Isle Of Wight, also have taken a big toll of Blackpool’s regulars. The lat- ter two are benefitting from their tax concessions, thus being in a position to give better values in food and sundries, and able to sup- ply better shows. They are ac- tually doing 20% better biz than last year, with Joe Loss band, the current attraction at the IOM, claiming trade is even better than last year. In contrast, Blackpool is more than 30% down from its last year’s big, which was not a record year. Only exception at Blackpool is the George & Alfred Black-Jack Hylton show “Take It From Here," at the Winter Gardens Pavilion. It is doing steady capacity trade. AUSSIE PIC STUDIO AS SOFT DRINK FACTORY Sydney, Aug. 1. Cinesound Studio, longtime ace pic production plant attached to the Greater Union setup, has been sold for $120,000 to a company headed by Syd Gresham for the manufacture of Canada Dry, a soft drink. Cinesound, with Ken Hall in the chief production seat, will now transfer to the up-to-date Page- wood studio on an arrangement with Ealing Studios. Main produc- tion will now center around a weekly newsreel. Gresham for a long time was in charge of Ealing's Aussie activities. He resigned to enter the commer- cial field. Gresham hooked the Aussie rights for the soft drink on recent New York visit; Crooner Don Peers Clicks Big at London Palladium London, Aug. 8. Donald Peers, first British head- liner of the season, drew a warm reception yesterday (Monday) at the Palladium. Local counterpart of Frank Sinatra, his pop song warbling was keyed mainly to the gallery, where his fans congregate. Audience also tossed an enthu- siastic welcome to the Nicholas Bros., American Negro terp team, and organist Ethel Smith, both of whom are ip for return dates. Comedy team^oL^tuitip & Stflmpy, making their %t the theatre^ copped hefty»pmtidifs. British Prelim Talks With French, Italians On Joint Production London, Aug. 8. Discussions with French ^ and Italian producers on the possibili- ties of co-production with Britain have been held here during the last few days. Only preliminary exchanges so far have been held, but there will be further negotia- tions. The Anglo-Italian talks, initiated in London, are to be followed by another meeting in the fall, which probably will be held in Rome. Repping the British Film Pro- ducers at this next session will be Association prexy Reginald P. Baker; Anthony Hayelock-Allan, Sir Alexander Korda and Steven Pallos. It is stated categorically in Lon- don that co-production between Britain and Italy would'not be a device for converting frozen lira, since as the Italian’s already have a sterling surplus, If the plans materialize, there will be lensing in both countries, depending en- tirely on suitability of each par- ticular subject. Both the Fernch and Italian pro- ducers sought the advice of the BFPA in securing wider distribu- tion for their product in Britain. As a result, more Italian product will be dubbed before screening here. The French, however, dis- played a preference for sub-titling, but intimated they would soon be setting up new distributing or- ganizations in Britain. GOLDSMITH JUDGES BRIT. PROD. ON MERITS London, Aug. 1. I. G, Goldsmith, on a visit to London in connection with his two recent productions, “Three Hus- bands" and “The Scarf," first of which is now on release, may make one of his two forthcoming pic- tures in Britain. The producer revealed it wasn’t his idea to film in Britain just to use frozen pounds.- He would only consider using British resources if he could be satisfied that the fin- ished product would be as good and as cheap as a comparative Hollywood production. Goldsmith’s next production will be lensed in Hollywood. This will be “Gardenia," with Mercedes Mc- Cambridge. To follow would be a comedy with music, in Technicolor, 'and it was this subject that was being considered as a likely British production. 3 for Film Zurich Zurich, Aug. 1. Praesens Film Zurich has just announced that three new pix are scheduled until end of 1951, against one to two per year till now. One of the three, presently entitled “Four in a Jeep," is ready to go before the cameras this August, and will be lensed in Vienna under the di- rection of Leopold Lindtberg from a screenplay by Richard Schweizer. The other two, as yet untitled, include one pic about the famous Swiss Pestalozzi village for Euro- pean children, to ’ be directed by Italian Luigi Zampa, and another one to start rolling beginning of 1951. Costs for these three pix will amount to approximately 2,500,000 Swiss francs (about $600,000), Praesens' last production is the Cornel Wilde starrer “Swiss Tour" released in the U. S. by Eagle Lion Classics under the title “Four Days’ Leave." BBC Sets Sylvie St. Clair London, Aug. 1. Sylvie St. Clair has been set by the BBC to do series of 12 TV weekly sessions of 15 minutes efach* "Lose Head’ Looks Lost As New London Legiter London, Aug. 8. “Don’t Lose Your Head” bowed at the Saville ..here Saturday (5), with an adverse press,' warm weather and poor material all mi- tigating against its chances for success. Presented by Wauna Paul in association with John and Con- stance Wildberg, and adapted by Talbot Itothwell from an unpro- duced American farce by E. P. Conkle and Irving St. John, it deals with eastern head-hunters in England. Cast, headed by Harry Green and film actress Lana Morris, turn in competent portrayals. Others in show include John Bailey, Ivan Staff, Valerie Forrest, Geoffrey Curtis, Rex Garner, Douglas Ives and Charles Hill. Robert Hender- son directed, with decor by Stanley Moore. Theatre Marigny Group A Hit in Buenos Aires; Lagar, Garces to Legit Buenos Aires, Aug. 1. Series of 10 performances given at the Odeon theatre here by Made- * ” » leine Reynaud and Jean Louis Barrault, with their Theatre Ma- rigny company, was an outstanding hit. The diplomatic corps, headed by the French Ambassador, Georges Gillaums Pico; Argentine stage and film personalities, com- bined at different times to fete the French thespers, and from the commercial angle their stay was a big success, since the theatre was sold out for the entire series of performances. For their last performance, July 28, the French company did scenes from famous plays. No less suc- cessful on this occasion than the individual performances were the ladies’ gowns from the big Paris houses. Nowadays, withjeXchange shortages becoming ever more acute, few Argentine women have a sight of the latest Paris styles, j The Reynaud-Barrault groups sailed July 29 for France. Next week the Odeon will be taken over by the Antonio Cunill Cabanellas management, teeing off with a production of “Isle 9 f Beau- tiful People," a posthumous play by Ramon Gomez Macia, with a native Argentine cast. The Comico theatre, recently purchased by Spanish actress Lola Membrives, on Aug. 11 will see the reappearance in legit after many years’ absence of Spanish actor Pedro Lopez Lagar, who has been working in films recently. Lagar first came to Argentina during the Spanish civil war with the Mar- garita Xirgu company, and gravi- tated to pictures. As his opening play he has chosen “Cervantes en el Neuquen," a comedy by Maria Luz Regas and Juan Albornoz. Fanny Navarro, Golde Flami and Maria Gamez, all recently more familiar as screen actresses, will form part of the cast. The local regulations make it imperative for Lagar to start out with a play by an Argen- tine author. Another screen star, Delia Garces, is taking a flyer into legit this season, but her venture is a novel one, in that it starts off with a tour through the provinces and will wind up in Buenos Aires. Her company preemed July 28 at the Coliseo Podesta, La Plata, and is continuing in the cities of Cordoba, Tucuman and Salta. She has chosen three plays as vehicles for the tour; “Juliet’s Balcony," by Al- berto de Zavalia," a transition of Rose Franken’s “Claudia," and an adaptation of “Camille," also by De Zavalia. Narciso Ibanez Menta's produc- tion of “Death of a Salesman," at the El Nacional, is sold out for weeks ahead, and has drawn rave notices from the crix. Magnificent performances by Menta himself and by Milagros de la Vega and young Ricardo Passano have fo- cussed attention on this play* Vienna, Aug. 1. The poverty of. native playwrit- ing in post-war Austria can be seen in the past season’s produc- tions in Vienna’s principal theatres, only four new works out of 70 pro- ductions. And all four are bad. Two of the new plays were come- dies. One was an anti-Tito prop- aganda play in the Communist the- atre and one was a historical play. All of them flopped except the comedy, “City Park," a trivial work, but at least a boxoffice success. Only two plays out of Germany were considered good enough to import to Vienna. One German play was a dull mystery that could not have lasted a week on Broadway (and flopped here), and the other was a well-written if un- inspired historical drama, “Barbara Blomberg," by the German-Ameri- can playwright, Carl Zuckmayer. While waiting for postwar na- tive talent to develop, Viennese producers are scraping bottom for foreign plays. Of the ,70 produc- tions in 1949-50, 29 were imported, seven from Broadway, 10 from Paris and 12 from London. The record in the semi-pro thea- tres is not any better. These are not fulfilling their mission here to any greater extent than they are in New York—that is, if their mis- sion is assumed to be the discovery and production of new works by unknown authors. In these houses in 1949-50 there were three new works by young Austrians, other productions being revivals and im- portations. American plays in Vienna in 1949-50 were: In semi-pro theatres, “Adding Machine," by Elmer Rice; “Boy Meets Girl," by Bella and Samuel Spewack, and a group of Thornton Wilder one-acters. In the main theatres, Williams’ “The Glass Menagerie" and “27 Wagons Full of Cotton"; Kanin’s “Born Yesterday," Miller’s “Death of a Salesman," “Saroyan’s “My Heart’s in the Highlands," “The Gentle People" and Bush-Fekete’s and Mary Fey’s “Embezzled Heaven." Dice Loaded Against British Producers Sez B-L Chief; Blames U.S. London, Aug. 1. The dice were loaded against British . production, Harold Dray- ton, chairman, told British Lion stockholders at their annual meet- ing last Wednesday (2). The indus- try, to continue, has to be on a basis whereby it can compete against its greatest competitor, the U. S. production companies. Fund- amental difference between pro- duction in Britain and in America was that they (the Americans) have a home market of 146,000,000 and an admission tax of about 20%. The British home market is 100,- 000,000 less and admission tax of 38%. There has been drastic econ- omies in the studios, but there was room for more. Unless production could be turned into a profit-mak- ing business, the country would be without a film industry. So he in- formed the confab. Asked by a stockholder how they could get better deals in the U. S., Drayton said it could be achieved by the production of good films suited for the American market. The capital of the company has been increased by $420,000 to $3,- 081,000. Drayton explained that this additional amount was being kept in reserve. Sloan Named by Coronado London, July 25. John R. Sloan was named pro- duction exec for Coronado Produc- tions (England), Ltd. Sloan, who worked in Hollywood for a year prior to the war, was recently as- sociate producer on “Cairo Road." Next Coronado production to go the floor will be the Ray Milland starrer, “Full. Circle," which is skedd&ff to start rolling in Septem- ber. Four Pix Started in Hungary Budapest, Aug. 1. The state-controlled Hungarian film production company started work on four new films, “Mrs. Szabo," “A Woman Finds Her Way," “Ludaa Matyi" and “Her* re^radau/** .. :