Variety (September 1952)

LOM90M ••VNCII • M. ri>W Yi ' ' IBTiVltBrAWOHAI. OfllOFihism’SmiSSlioolBig Paris, Aug. 26. ' Current ftbn production, prepar- ation and completion of pjx shows French lineup on schedule -for the 110 films seMor the 1952-53 sea- son. There are 35 films In prepar- ation, 19 being shot, eight just completed and eight have been started, making 70 in the offing, tos is in addition to the unre- leased backlog which brings pro- duction up to par. New policy here on the film aid law will-try to alleviate indis- criminate handouts in hopes of boosting the quality of French pro- duction. This lack of quality has put a dent,in the foreign market for French fare. In pre-production are five big costumers. Pierre Bil- lon will direct a version of “The Merchant of Venice” in Italy as> pranco-Italo coprodmition ‘ with i^chel Simone and Andre Debar. Paymond Bernard will do an<^he)c Version of Alexandre pUmas* *Ca- xnille,” with Micheline Presle. Christian-Jaque will do a glorified version of the poisonous “Ducrecia Borgia” with Martin* Carol. Pic also, will be done in Italy. Andre Taguet brings Leo Tolstoy’s ^‘Resurrection” to the screen again in October. Roger Yercel has a *‘Joan of Arc” to be made in 1953. Eight Gallic comedies^ and com- edy-dramas are also on the agenda. Jean Boyer will do “100 Francs A Second,” based on a radio quiz show. Robert Vernay’s “Double Or Nothing” also brings the zany emsee of this- show, Zappy Max. Others include the background oCl Paris in “The tottery of Happi- ness” in ‘which Jean Gehret uses a Winning lottery ticket gimmick to looksee into various lives; “Apart- ment To Let” directed by' Andre Cerf; “Paris Folies” concerning the Paris Music Halls; aud a farce by Pierre* L^uis, “You Are. All ■Welcome.” Crime is highlighted in “Evil Is My Destiny”; Christian Stengel’s *‘The House of Crime” and. Emile Couzinet’s “When Will You Die?” pix now in preparation. Other films with reputed U. S. appeal are "the new Julian Duvivier film ‘‘Henriette’s Holiday”; “The Gift’’ with Roberto Benzi, boy prodigy conductor; * Jacques Becker's look- see into the female p^che in “Women”; and- Geza Radvanyi's (Continued on page JLI) Edinburgti Fete Drawing Record Crowds, Coin But Orchestral Shows NSG Edinburgh, Sept. 2. Swamped with visitors • from many countries, the Edinburgh In- ternational Festival looks set to pull in more coin than ever before, although the tightness of pounds is slightly reflected in poorer attend- ance at certain orchestral sbowS. Demand for other events can bardly be met. Hamburg State Opera, for*°instance, at King's The- atre, could draw twice as much biz as able to do with its capacity while the limited number of per- formances of “The River Line”^and Eml 3 nQ Williams spouting Dickens at the Lyceum Theatre brought SRO response. Balletomanes are well satisfied with New York City Ballet and Sadler’s Wells Theatre Ballet at the Empire, normally a vaudcry. ' ' , ' Despite Its being an oldie, “Ro- meo and Juliet” is drawing crowds for performances at the Assembly Hall, where the Scot ballad opera, “Highland Fair,” also has done clicko biz. Musical show organizers are seeking a reason for the poorer at- tendance. Most obvious is that, each fall, more and more imofficial presentations are staged on the fringe of the Festival, and that these naturally exact a big toU. Coin is tight with the home peo- ’ pie. The ice spectacle, “Rose Marie on' Ice,” is also offering com- petition, being staged in the nabe Ice rink at Murrayfield. Tyrone Guthrie, ace director, who has been directing “The High- land Fair,” with actors from Glas- gow Citizens' Theatre and the British Old Vic, declared that bal- let is on the way out and that light opera and musicals are on the way in. “Oklahoma,” he said, had ush- ered in a new era, for in America musical comedy attracted the best of composers, designers and sing- ers. But it was not so in Britain. Moderate Run For Brit'Belk of St. MartinV London; Sept. 2. “The Bells of St. -Martin**,” new. intimate rfivue which opened afthe’ St. Martin’s Ftidsy .(29)^ is *n ini- preteutiouK, non-satirlcal revU* below sophisticated West End standards. Redeemed by perform- ance of Douglas Byng, show has fair hopes for a moderate run. Revue, being presented by 23- year-old Francis Essex, London’s youngest impresario, was written by Essex and Richard Waring, with Additional material by Sandy Wil- son and Jimmy Dyrenforth. Di- rected by W. Lyoi^ Shaw, cast in- cludes Hattie Jacques, Gretchen Franklin, Peter Felgate, Peter Glo^r, Waring, John Rutland, Joan EMn, John Gronih, Pamela Hill, Patricia KTelly, Terence Theo- bald and Gillian Barton, By Greeks in'52 * Athene, Seft. 2. There have been 20 pix started in Greek studios this year, which will be ready for release for the winter season. Some of them are low budget and strictly for Greece cinemas or.foreign markets having big Greek communities. Greek films were until recently top boxoffice here, and few foreign films could outgross the worst, of them. With the increase in num- ber, however, and their bad qhal- Ity, they suffered a decline last year. This has' forced native pro- ducers' to pay more' attention to their production values. There are four major studios here with an- other six independent 'producers shooting films in small studios. Finos Films Studios is doing two films, a drama and a comedy, latter being “The Cab Driver.” AnZervos Studios is shooting three films, “Tower of Knights,” “Key of Happiness” and a com- edy, ' “Daddy Is Getting Edu- cated,-’ which is based on a suc- cessful play. Novak Studios also has three films started, “Girl of the Harbor.” “The Offspring” and “Let's Marry Them.’’ Local distributors, , attributing the. great boxoffice success of Greek films to.' .the Grecian dia- logue, decided to dub some for- eign films this year. Four Ameri- can,-two Italian, two Mexican and one German production’* are to be dubbed this season. However, Greek distribs hope the high cost of dubbing will be offset by much better biz on such foreign pix. VIDEOPHONES SHOWN TO BRITISH BUYERS London,. Sept. 2. Television telephones arc real novelty at ■ this year’s National Radio Show, which opened here Aug. 27. They are being shown by the Pye Cd. which two years ago demonstrated its color system. This phone-plus-vision instru- ment is available for Immediate use. For the time being it is un- likely that theyj?an be attached to the ordinary domestic or business line. Instead the, manufacturers in- tend td develop the system for office and factory Intercommunica- tion. At present prices, each unit costs just below $3,000 and at least two units would be required in any organization. Screens used are comparable to the average-size home ones. Normally they are used in conjunction -with a speaker but in view of background noises at the exhibition a hand -microphone is employed for demonstration pur- I>oses. One feature of the exhibition is a large TV studio built at a cost of about $60,000 by British Broad- casting Corp. which will be used for nightly telecasts during the 10- day run of the show. In design and appearance, there appears to be little change in the range of TV rccelyen shown here. Brit. Producers Obteiu 30 German Pic Lkenses London, Sept. 2, . / British ] 9 roducers have been al- i^ated 3(1 Import licenses by Geiv man authorities for the year which belan Sept 1. Lickisef. carry per- miaaiofi to transfer tanaingi to the trk via the Am^o-Oarinan ex- change control. Allocation of li- censes will be made by the British Film Producers Assn, via arrange- ment with the Board of Trade and the German authorities. A meeting of the BFPA export policy com- mltfe* has been called for Sept. 16 to make the first allotments. Flima which qualify for consid* eration must have a British quota ticket and the Germany rights must be owned by a member of the BFPA or by some other British producer or distributor. Two-Tiurds of All Eady Fund Money to 3 Major Prt^s.; Indies Squeezed London, Sept. 2. When the final distribution comes to be made of the second year’s revenue of the Eady fund* it will be found that more than two-thirds of the gravy is to be split AmonTf the three major Brit- ish producing groups with less than $2,(100,000 to be divided among all the independent film makers. As a result of the extended op- eration of this British production subsidy* it Is reliably computed that At least $8,500,000^ will be av'ailable for allotment for the year elided last Aug. 4. TJbis Is nearly three times the amount distributed in the first year of the plan when the subsidy was operated on a far less ambitious scale. Heading the list of beneficiaries wiU be the J. Arthiir Rank Or- ganization which is expected to col- lect at least $2,806,000 from the Eady pool. The British Lion group (including the product, physically distributed by them for Romulus Films) comes in for around $2,500,- 00() while the Associated British Picture group will benefit to thq tuW, of approximately $1,100,000. The Rank share of the Eady coin is not only, attributable to their re- cent Pinewood Studio productions, but also includes the Ealing output and a large number gf reissues which have been released during the last year ifi* so. These oldies, still possessing a quota life, rank equally' with up-to-date produc- tions for their share of the proceeds! The extent to which the majors have been helped by the operation of the Eady pool explains why they have been unanimous in their cam- paign for the perpetuation of the levy. In the industry and in Par- liament their spokesmen have em- phasized that without this addi- tional aid, British production will wither. But its continuance, al- though regarded with confidence by trade tpppers, is the subject of misgivings', among exhibitors, too many of whom feel they are do- ing all the paying and receiving none of the benefits. Indie theatre operators, who are now working on the narrowest margin, argue that If British pro- ducers are to receive some share of their proceeds they at least are entitled "to some tax relief. Hylton to Take'Madam’ GUsipWr Aug!'26. Jack Hyltori, Brlth^ pl^iicef. has set a deal with theatre elilef Stewart Cruikshank, of Howard & Wyndham, to bring a production of the Irving Berlin Musical, “Call Me Madam,” to the King’s Thea- tre here a six-weeks' Christmas stint. PieA> will a replica of the current London .Coliseum pro- duction, and will' also be staged by Richard Bird. * Noele Gordon, Scots-born- come- dienne, now in "Bet Your Life” at the London Hippodrome, will star as'the American: woman am- bassador to the imaginary state of Llchtenburg. The production here- will run concurrent with the > ver- sion at the London Coliseum, now nearing its 200th performance. King Sees Prod. O’seas Becoming Big Headache Vienna, Sept. 2. Maurie King of the King Broth- ers, independent film producers in the U. S., was here’ for four days on his European looksee of produc- tion and financing possibilities. Visit here followed stops in Lon- don, Paris and Istanbul. King re- ported nothing new in shpoting possibilities in France and England. In the latter case, he felt that union difficulties make conditions difficult if not untenable for a short budget indie. King conferred with Frank Tut- tle, U. S. director now resident here and looked over the Sievering Wien Film studios In the XJ. sector of the city. He also talked with Austrian producers on pos- sible cooperation and appointed former Minister of Education Dr. Felix Hurdes to rep him on future legal matters. Berlin, Aug. 26. ^co.nd Berlin Cultural Festival, starts Aug. 31, with a variety’of topflight cultural performances that are to run through the month. •The humber of presentations sur- passes that of the last year’s fete by a wide margin. The outstanding programs will be. presented in 11 different the- atres, including the Staedtlsche Opera, the Titania Palast, the MaU son de France and every name house In West Berlin. Six operas will he performed, including the Hamburg State Opera appearance with Strawinsky's “The Rake’s Progress.” - . Several concerts ^ will be given by the Berlin Philharmonic and the RIAS Symphony Orch. Guest conductors include Wilhelm Furt- waengler, Hans Knappertsbusch, Carl Boehm, Hans Rosbaud, Fci> enc Friscay, Eugene Ormandy from Philadelphia and Igor Marke- vitch from Switzerland. The French Chamber Ghoir, conducted by Marcel Couraud, will appear at the Malson de France. Individual performances will be given by Kenneth Spencer and Suzanne Danco, and other artists. Another excellent contribution will be two outdoor concerts hy the T7. S. Army Field Band of Washington, Other*U. S. contributions include Gershwin’s opera “Porgy 8c Bess,” which'will have its .preeni Sept, Ifi at the Titania Palast with 12 addi- tional night and matinee perfornx- ances, September 17-28, and the N. Y. City Ballet, which will preem on Sept. 3 at the Schiller Theatre. Besides this Ballet, Berliners will see- Sadler’s Wells Convent Garden' BaRct from London, Fea- tured on the festival bill will also be the Bam Gopal Ballet from India, Spanish dancers Audeoud- Adaeta, and Harald Kreutzberg, Germany’s outstanding dancer. Theatre lineup includes the The- atre National de Paris, with Ge- rard Fhilipe, who will perform in Cid” and “Le' Prince de JHoiti- bourg.” L'Equipe, another theatre group from Paiis^ will present “La Parisienne” and “L'lle de li Rai- son,” En^and will contribute Shakespeare’s “As You Like It” done by students’ group from Ox- ford University. Austria will send the Burgtheatre group. Other Foreign News bn Page 11 WILCOX TO DO ’ANNE’ AS 1ST FILM FOR REP Manchester, Eng., Aug. 26. . Herbert Wilcox, British produ- cer, announced here that the first pic to be made under new deal with Herbert J. Yates, prexy of Republic Pictures, will be Conrad’s “Laughing Anne,” He will begin production in mid-October, using leading British and U, S. stars. JHis second film lined up Is Daphne du Maurier’s “The Fling's General.” According to Herbert Wilcox, Yates is hopeful of'getting James Mason to co-star with Mar- garet Lockwood. London, Sept. 2. , With the ovf^rall decline In the rentals earned by British motion picture theatre# during 1951 it was found the brunt of the drop was 'carried By British productions* Earnings of foebUn film# inereased. This was revealed In a Board of Trade survey. The total paid in film rentals last year amounted to $65,251,200 as against $65,727,200 in 1950. Of the total, British pxo^ ductions netted $17>626,000 in 1951 although their revenue in the pre- vious year Tamounted . to $18,- 972,800. The overall position for foreign product showed a slight Improve- ment in 1951 when the revenue amounted to $47,622,400 compared with $46,754,4()0 in the previous year. Notwithstanding the'., drop in earnings of British films, the dis- tributors’ share showed an increase of approximately 2.9% while the higher earnings of foreign films re- sulted in a dip in the distribs' share. Distribs British pix re- tained just upward* of $4,000,000 while foreign companies keep a lit- tle better than $8,000,000. The lat- ter figure represented a drop of 10.4% from the previous year, ■ These BOT statistics also reveal that the total earnings of British producers from all sources amounted to $19,600,000 in 1951. Outright purchase of product hy distribs accounted for $290,000 while revenue from overseas that year amounted to around $638,000, The section of the survey, deal- ing with exhibition indicates a jump in gross boxoffice takings during the first quarter of 1962. Total revenue of just below $81,- 000,000 showed a rise of 6.8% over, the last quarter of 1951 although there Was a drop in admissions compared With the first quarter of 1951. During the first three months of this year upwards of $29,000,000 was paid in admission taxes and more than $2400,000 to the Eady pool. I ■■ ■ ■■ I ■ ■ . . ■ I ■ ()kay W. German Films Into Russian Zone Of Austria; Exhibs Need Pix Vienna, Aug. 26. , As of September, exhibitors in Russian zone of Austria', including the city of Vienna again will be able to play West German films without interference from Soviet occupation authorities. Whether raising of this celluloid curtain will also affect U.S. product re- mains to be seen. Enforcement of rules on what can and cannot be played in the Russki zone has al- ways been more by practice than written regulation. Fact Is that, although , western films, including thh West German have long been formally banned, many have played theatres in the Red zone, including the Russ operated pilot houses in Vienna, Tabor and Diana Kinos. There just is not enough product of east-' ern and Russian origin to keep the houses going otherwise. Soviet authorities have given tacit assent and in return, certain top Red pix, nptably “Fall of Ber- lin," played dates in the western zone. But last February, when Bonn clamped a veto on “Spring on the Ice," a Russian-made musi- cal from their seized Vienna, stu- dios'(it stars former Nazi favorite Maria Rokk), Russian censors in Austria started to firmly nix all West German productions. Latest Austrian statistics show a total of 1,066 pix houses in this small country. Thats one for every 6,000. population, against one for 14,500 in Germany. Film biz execu- tives are apprehensive about the immediate future,, with dissolu- tion of Motion Picture Export Assn., meaning practically doub- ling df U.S. imports in coming sea- son. with consequent tougher going for local German product. Mex Dance Grind Clicks Mexico City, Aug. 26. Top current show biz hit here is the International Dance Mara- thon at the Teatro Iris for $5,780 in cash prizes. Capacity trade is the rule day and night at a 69c top. At the end of the first week, 17 Mexican and three foreign dance teams were still in the contest.