Variety (November 1953)

Wednesday, November 4, 1953 t'SSlETr PirTIUKS S1ZE-T0-MATCH-M00D SCREENING 'Robe’ Paced Oct. Boxoffice Winners; Top 3 Releases Grossed $6,500, As was predicted would be the* case, widescreen pictures loomed large in the boxoffice spotlight last month. Reports from Variety cor- respondents in some 25 key cities were dominated by “The Robe” (20thi. first pic in Cinemascope. Still in fourth spot is “Cinerama," daddy of them all in the 3-D field. Some idea of not only the huge total racked up by “Robe” but by the other big leaders is shown by the fact that the top three biggest films at the boxoffice last month grossed nearly $6,500,000, or about $2,500,000 ahead of September, which had the advantage several days of extra playing time. “Robe.” October champ, besides establishing new records in nu- merous cities opening week, is holding up strongly. Some exhibs feared that once the novelty of CincmaScope had worn ofT, the boxoffice might slip in subsequent weeks. The contrary was true in most cities. “Here to Eternity” (Col), which was No. l.in September, finished a big second, despite the upsurge by “Robe." Pic is now mostly on ex- tended-run or holdover, with only a few scattered additional preems last month. “Mogambo” (M-G>, although out in release only three weeks, pushed up to cop third position. “Ciner- ama.” aided by only one new launching (Philly) last month, copped fourth place as compared with third the previous month. “Little Boy Lost” (Par) wound up a very strong fifth despite not October’s Top 12 1. 2 . 3. 4. 5. 6 . 7. 8 . 9. 10 . 11 . 12 . “The Robe” (20th). “Eternity” (Col). “Mogambo” iM-C.), “Cinerama" iIndie); “Little Boy Lost" iPart. “Blowing Wild" <WB’ “Martin Luther” < Indie'. “Moon Is Blue” (LA'. “Lion In Streets" (WB). “All-American" (U>. “Roman Holiday" (Par). “Big Heat" (Col). National Screen Service Terms ‘Ridiculous’ The Charges of Charge by an Allied States Assn, unit that National Screen Service was cancelling their service con- tracts in order to hike prices on new pacts was vehemently denied Monday (2) by the accessory out- fit. Terming the accusation “ri- idiculous,” William B. Brenner, v.p. in charge of operations, said: “I wouldn't dignify it by a comment.” Allied of Iowa, Nebraska and Mid- | Central says NSS is using the can- j cellations to hike prices "rather j than as stated” to clear itself with : the Dept, of Justice and the U. S. courts. NSS has been cited by the D. of J. for violations of the anti- trust act. Brenner declared that having many new playdates to help C0 !I? pany was on,y complying with in the final week of October. a Government order and was can- “Blowing Wild” (WB). just get- ting around the final two weeks of the month, is taking sixth money. “Martin Luther” (Indie), dis- played marked strength on a lim- ited number of playdates, captured seventh spot. “Moon Is Blue” fUA>, fourth in September and higher in monthly ratings previous- ly, still is in the chips with eighth place, despite, or perhaps partly because of, the censorship hulla- baloo. “Lion in Streets” (WB) is winding up ninth, failing to gen- erate pull previously associated with a James Cagney starrer. ‘All-American” (U). obviously cashing in on the gridiron season, (Continued on page 20) HALOS NSH IN CHILE Italian Film Festival Turns To Be Pretty So-What Out Santiago, Chile, Oct. 28. Much-ballyhooed “Festival” hon- oring the Italian motion picture industry fell rather flat here last week when the promised Italian personalities, including Silvano Mangano and Vittorio de Sica, failed to show up. No explanations were offered for fizzle of promo- tion jointly arranged by the Italian Embassy in Chile and the exchange headed by Armando Band. The “Festival” simmered down to three days of Italian features at the Continental Theatre. They wore, respectively, “Other Times,” ‘ City On Trial” and “The Over- thatcoat.” Shorts supplemented. And that was that. Whole thing "as shrugged off. celling pacts to remove the self- renewal clauses. He said that new contracts only called for a charge of $1 more per week^ DEFUNCT EAGLE LION SUES NAT’L SCREEN Chesapeake Industries and Eagle Lion Classics, the latter no longer in business although still on Chesapeake’s books as a wholly- owned subsidiary, have filed an an- titrust suit against National Screen Service for alleged violations of the antitrust laws. Complaint states that NSS, in operating its trailers‘and acces- sories business, demanded more favorable terms from Eagle Lion than from other distributors. It’s further stated that Eagle, at the time it engaged in pic distribution, was forced to enter NSS agree- ments because NSS was an alleged monopoly. Plaintiffs ask that damages be determined by the N. Y. Federal Court, where * the suit was in- stituted. SYSTEMS NEXT? A pragmatic solution to the problem of “screen size” is being demonstrated currently at the Bi- jou. N. Y., where the British im- port. “Gilbert and Sullivan” is placing. Screen can be expanded or contracted while the picture is in progress by means of mobile black masking borders. This tech- nique goes by the name of Mobilia. It “is a suggestion of City Invest- ing Co. proxy Robert W. Dowling and was engineered by Michel I*i- cot and Emile Lopert. The Bijou example is not with- out kinship to a variety of meth- ods now being developed and per- fected. Metro studio technicians have developed a system which has been dubbed Variseope. Technique provides for adjustment of the pro- jection lens by boothmen who set the aspect ratio before a particular picture is shown. The Metro de- velopment provides a range of as- pect ratio projection from 1.37 to 1 to the panoramic 2.60 to 1. Sohlanger’s Patents Ben Schlnngcr, veteran theatre architect, has patents pending on a system which, with tho exception of an additional "a,” is similarly named as the Metro device. He calls it Variascope and describes (Continued on page 50i With 10 Productions in C’Scope 20th Holds Edge Well Into ’54; Broadway Showcases All Equipped Revive Idea Of Single Exhib Body, Sez Walter Reade Chicago, Nov. 3. Newly-elected TOA president Walter Reade Jr. privately declared merger of TOA and Allied is com- ing in not too distant future. No steps will be taken toward that end at current Chicago conclave but Reade made it clear matter will be given his active attention quite soon. “There are a few r differences be- tween TOA and Allied but effort to clear these up—to throw calm- ing waters upon them—will be made and I think successfully,” he stated. He added: “We have too much in common to continue on separate ways.” At Tuesday’s open board meet- ing, Chairman Alfred Starr ex- pressed hope for "one big organiza- tion” and said he feels much will be done in next year with Reade as TOA prez. “The position of all ex- hibitors would be greatly strength- ened thereby,” according to Starr. (Continued on page 16) Wants to Know Detroit Nov 3 In a letter t»* Helen Bower, Free Press film critic, a read- er asked “Why can’t one large pieee of the same material 3-D glasses are made out of be made so that when a 3 I) movie pomes on it ran he dropped in front of the screen or attached to the screen'.’ Then we could all do with- out glasses ” Screen Writers’ Oath Is Fine With MacDougall; Herbert Ruefully Okays Hollywood Nov 3 Members of the Screen Writers Guild have their ballots for the annual election on Nov 17. and with them candidates’ statements, highlighted by opposing views on the merits of a loyalty oath by nominees for prexy of the guild. F. Hugh Herbert says while lie will ink such oaths required by law he is philosophically opposed to them and is against screening of writers by SWG; his rival, Ranald MacDougall, on the other hand, comes oht for ratification of a loyalty oath. Herbert said he's intolerant of pressure groups, whether from the left or right, and also stated “I’m not in love with the Authors League of America, but willing to continue to live under tin* same roof with them for the sake of the children.” Both candidates are opposed to abuses of the proxy system, Mae- pougall is for continuance of the i r r assessment to Motion Picture Relief Fund. EUGENE WALSH NEW UNIVERSAL TREASURER Eugene F. Walsh has been picked as Universal’s.,new treasurer. For- mal announcement of his appoint- ment will be made following the Ulioard meet in N Y. today (Wed » He replaces Leon Goldberg, who left U in mid-October anil is now financial v.p. at United Artists. Walsh has been with U as comp- troller for close to 30 years. He’s also assistant treasurer and assist- ant secretary. lie’s been pitching in as treasurer since Goldberg left. ♦ End of 1953 should see most of the Broadway Showcases equipped to show (’inetnaScope pi\ with a likelihood of four of the 'Scope films competing for the Times Square dollar. Spring of 1954 will see the race getting hotter, with Metro and Warner Bros, wide- screen entries joining 2l)tli-Fo\'s CincmaScope releases. Trade is watching developments with considerable interest on tin* theory that public reaction to a variety of CincmaScope pix is hound to determine not only the durability of the system, but hImi the extent to which it’s to be ap- plied by the various studios. In addition, there is the much dis- cussed fact that, while Hollywood [is interested In ('inem.iScope, there has been no all out endorse- j meld of it even in tin* face of i grosses rolled tip by “The Ro.be;” Being' so l.ir ahead of the others in producing in CincmaScope has '■■given 201 h a di Duel edge since it will have four of ils films in cir- | dilation before any other distnb has a chance to get going First non-20th (’incmnSco-per to hit the j market is likely to be Metro's {“Knights of the Bound Table” w bu ll looks beaded for Kadio Cit y ■ Music Hall as the followup to the j Christmas show. Alter that, WB is i slated to ( (line out with its “Hear Guard,’’ leti .ed in the V istarama widescreen process Pie is tenta- tively skedded for the Paramount Theat re. Despite the current nonavaila- bility of otliei than 20th ’Scope films 20th lias It) completed - Broadway '.showcases aren't nap- ping Most of them installed wide screens some months hack tmt are ! now changing them, or have al- ready changed them, to install Cin- emascope screens. Actually, any screen can take the 2 55 to I ratio : adopted by 201 li Kxliibs are trying, however, to conserve as much of their screen height as possible by spreading the width as far as Hie house will permit In addition, there is 201 h's dic- tum re its pix Company still takes the position that it will not book CincmaScope releases into any ihe- (Continued on'page HD 'PRODUCT' FACTORY WORD Film Industry And 'IIIink Ought to Talk ‘Attractions’ C’SCOPE CONVERSION: $250,000,000; SNAPER TELLS MICHIGAN TO GO SLOW Complete conversion of all thea-' the deal except the exhibitors who j manufacturers Better In The Argentine Buenos Aires. Oct. 27. Tiie Italian Film Week, organ- ized by Unitalia, tlie combined Ital- ian distribution setup here, proved a real success and attracted plenty of attention. All seven exhibitions at the Gran Rex were sold out in advance, the admission scale work- ing at around $3 per. Contrary to expectations the local film colony may have been present individually, but did not roake its presence felt at the thea- tfo-. Only minor government offi- cials attended as top members of |he cabinet were nearly all out-of- town or accompanying President Peron on his trip to Paraguay. Highlight of the week was the pres- ence of Vittorio de Sicca. tres in the United States to Cin- J emaScope w ould represent an out- lay of about $250,000,000 on the part of exhibitors. This estimate is made by Wilbur Snapcr, prexy of Allied States Assn., who bases his figure on 17,000 domestic thea- tres and an average cost of about $15,000 for the switch to C’Scope. Snaper, in a discussion of the coin aspects of new film tcch- | niques, presented these figures last i week to the annual convention of the Allied Theatres Owners of Michigan. Topper, in warning ex- hibs to go slow in installing new equipment (see Detroit dateline story) cited exhibitors experience with 3-D. He said that the nation’s exhibs had expended approximate- ly $8,000,000 (5,000 theatres at average installation cost of $1,500' for stereopic equipment. “Every- j body,” he said, “made money on spent the money.” He declared that the film companies, the specs manufacturers, the equipment SIMPR Prendent Ellis Arnall reviews why in this age of wide- screen, simdry Scopes, 2D and 3D, there's no room for 4F producers, In an analysis on why there's Opportunity l nlimitrd (Especially for the Indie) * e e one of the many editorial features in the forthcoming 48lh Anniveraary ISumhrr of JSSniETY and dealers, and | the union help all benefited from 3-D, but that the exhibs came oul on the short end. Except for a few | key houses, most theatres lost 1 money on 3-D, Snaper stressed. “New types of presentation to bring people info theatres are al-1 ways welcome," Snaper said, “but the economics of the situation to- day are foolhardy for the smaller theatres. I sincerely hope the* equipment people immediately do everything in their power to bring the prices down and that distribu-' tors sell in such a fashion to give exhibitors a chance to recoup some of their costs.” Snaper said attempts should be made to bring screen costs down to about $1,500 and Stereophonic equipment to $2,500. In addition, he stressed that C’Scope pictures should be made available with sin- Ghieago, Nov. 5 Director George Stevens, speak- ing at the Theatre Owners of America convention here, lold ex- hibitors that the label “product” which has become a tax to the in- dustry output was a dangerous one and was leading production activity into an assembly line pocket and stifling individual production think- ing and action. When individuals begin to think again in terms of attractions rather than product, be said, then indi- vidual flunking -au4 -showmanship- would return in force. In discussing his upcoming pic- ture, “Giant," which he’ll make in partnership with Henry Ginsberg and Edna Ferber for Warner Bros, release,' Stevens said hr* bad not yet seen a process among the new dimensions and devices that he would ire in preference to 2 1) and regular widescreen. “Until the in- diet ry develops a large screen high as well as wide, w<. will not have arrived at the point we started out for," he declared He further told exhibs not to be afraid of art and beauty in selling pictures. Rowley Execs C onvening Dallas, Nov. 3 The annual convention of Row- ley United Theatres, Inc., is slated to be held here on Nov. 10 and 11, with partners and managers for the entire circuit here This follows gle sound tracks “for those who i execs attendance at the Theatre don’t want to install stereophonic I Owners of America convention in sound.” i Chicago currently.