Variety (March 1956)

Wednesday, March 14, 1956 PfiftlETY PICTURES 15 COULD DO ‘HONEST’ FILM ON U.S. Hollywood-Trained Russian Seeks U. S. Films—But Uses Interpreter The Soviet Union’s first official move to obtain American films, on either a flat sale or exchange basis, was disclosed last week amidst indications that, if the con¬ dition are right, a deal might, be agreed on. The pitch for Hollywood pix came from Gregory Alexandrov, Russian producer-director, visiting New York and was coupled with the observation that the Soviet film, or any art for that matter, couldn’t flourish in a vacuum. “We need international contact,” he stated. Alexandrov was echoing a line set in Moscow earlier in that same week when Nikolai A. Mikhailov, Soviet Minister of Culture, told a well-attended news confab that Russia was planning for a broad program of artistic exchange with the U. S., Britain, France and Asian countries. Yuri Gouk, head of the Soviet Embassy’s cultural division, who acted as interpreter for Alexan¬ drov (although latter, who once worked in Hollywood, seemed to understand English perfectly well and also spoke it), said he had had a conference with Motion Picture Export Assn, president Eric John¬ ston and had informed him of Rus sia’s desire to obtain films. Gouk reported that Johnston seemed in¬ terested in a widening of the East- West contact and said he got the impression the American compa¬ nies “might” decide to do some¬ thing. (In New York, an MPEA spokes¬ man said Johnston had told Gouk that the question of picture sales to the Soviet orbit was up to the MPEA board, but that the compa¬ nies would be ready to listen to any offer.) Alexandrov, once assistant to Sergei Eisenstein (“Ten Days That Shook the World,” “Potemkin,” etc.), said Russia needed between 12 and 24 American films a year for its commercial circuit of some 40,- 000 houses. He said payment would depend on the number of films sold and their quality, and that the Soviets would have no ob¬ jections to American supervision of the distribution of these films, In addition, Alexandrov, who be¬ longs to the committee of three who run the film industry in the Soviet Ministry of Culture, said Russia was anxious for the ex¬ change of technical and artistic tal¬ ent with Hollywood and would be interested in coproduction, particu¬ larly in the realm of art and docu¬ mentary films. He repeated thaj his government was eager to ar¬ range an American film festival in Moscow. In that connection he said a sim¬ ilar British fest w'ould be arranged this July or August, and that ne¬ gotiations are under way for the c v if t . *° Purchase a sizable batch ot British films. There are cur- jently two British pictures showing I in Russia. Russia. Prior to leaving N: Y„ Alexan- d ov huddled with ’20th-Fox v.p. Charles Einfeld last week, the lat¬ er acting as the rep for Spyros P. oKouras, who was on the Coast. Murray Silverstone, 20th Inter- nationai prexy, attended the.meet- Ai Wlt k Russians. Alexandrov indicated the Rus- ans wanted to discuss coproduc- cj" and , the ‘‘exchange” of 'film, Rnco- ra ^ as said he intends to visit di P SS Jn ? lls fal1, At ' the Press hud- eoriifn 1 w eek , Gouk stated cate- Sknn J lly that ' 83 ° f * Week a S°> n ° bepn as a PP Ilcati ons for a visa had vZZlT at the Embassy in Ami", Xandrov saw no reason why coSf 11 * and Soviet filmmakers stanl ‘a Work to «ether. For in- D j„. - he noted, he was making a the vi«-V « h . e Tourists >" telling of aL ™' 1 o£ the Soviet-Union of an ishei- IC «?.V a Fren chman and a Brit- ting an are intere sted in get- h?Li 1 } Ar «erican to play himself,” I rannem^T 1 ’ a 1 ? return for such ar- sian S t^ en J’ Alexandrov saw Rus- sairi i ent comin ® t0 the u - S. He sibi* was a vast area of pos- exchan^e^^mq^^qt^e? pei;-. formers, too, such as dancers and concert artists. “The development of any picture industry in a closed circle is im¬ possible. There must be interna¬ tional contact. The film can be a medium for people to get one an¬ other to know better,” he cpm- mented. It was noted, in that connection, that the Russians two weeks ago allowed the exhibition in Moscow of a color travel film showing big American cities. Pic was shot by visiting Soviet filmmen. Dispatches said the travelog was very popular. Alexandrov held that his coun¬ try would prefer the exchange of pictures because, he explained, that would get us much wider ex¬ hibition in the U. S. He said that any picture shown in Russia would automatically go over the 40,000 theatre circuit whereas, in the U.S., exhibition of Russian films was limited. He felt that by dealing with individual American distribs, that problem might be licked. Gouk explained later that John¬ ston had okayed the Russian par-, ty’s contact with 20th. Question of pix sales to the Soviets has been handled entirely by the MPEA, i.e. by the whole industry, in conjunc¬ tion with the State Department. Gouk said the Department has been informed of his. bid to Johnston. There’ll be further talks between Gouk and. the MPEA when John¬ ston gets back from his Far East¬ ern jaunt. Meanwhile, the last known position of the State Dept, was that it favored film sales to Russia. Alexandrov said “something hap¬ pened” with the 1949 film deal negotiated by Johnston, calling for the Soviets to purchase 25 pix for $1,000,000. “We never got any film,” he said. The MPEA version puts the blame on the Soviets who found they couldn’t pick 25 films out of more than 100 actual fea¬ tures and titles submitted. = 4- Indie Producer Continued from page 3 such a case the “stretching” to, say, a 90 minute feature tends to diminish the values of the original. Film-maker also stresses that the ideal tv story is one where the characters can be further explored and motivations for their actions given more explanation in pictorial terms. Fennelly, continuing, states _ other problem crops up when it comes time to sell the finished pro¬ duction if, like “Crime,” strong marquee names are lacking. Ap¬ proach he’s taking is to expose the film via national tradeshowings and multiple private screenings to build the word of mouth. Allied Artists, distributor of the entry, will show the pic at the rate of nearly five nights a week in New York, for example, until it goes into release in a couple of months. Another important part of the job, the producer believes, is to ‘reach” exhibitors. In pursuit of this, he’s now on tour of key cities for conferences with theatreowners to give them the sales message first-hand. Fennelly’s concern is the usual Cxhib reluctance to bliy product without strong star values. Topping the “Crime” cast are John Cassavetes, Sal Mineo and James Whitmore. This is the producer’s 50th pic¬ ture in his seven years of producer activity. He brought it in at close to $500,000 in negative costs, with the biggest budget item being con¬ struction of an entire city (Gotham) block on the Goldwyn lot where he worked. Overhead at a major studio would have upped the total price 30% to 40%, he claimed. Fennelly’s future lineup includes “Cavalcade of Radio,” an original script by James O’Hanlan which focuses on present-day tv and then flashes back on the predecessor medium. For the 13 weeks ending Jan. 28, 1956, Universal and its subsidiar} r companies racked up a net profit of $1,122,420 as compared with $1,- 136,928 for the same quarter of the preyious year. Current earnings, after the deduction of $1,120,000 for Federal taxes and dividends on preferred stock, are equivalent to $1.10 per share on the 968,518 shares of common stock outstand¬ ing on Jan. 28. Luciie Floor Continued from page 1 rial is strong enough to withstand the weight and pounding it would have to take. The cost of the lucite would presumably be little more than for a regular board floor. The material would be in Seg¬ ments, so as to be movable. It’s figured the lucite surface would be suitable for dancing, but there may be a question of it becoming scratched and losing its translu¬ cent quality. “Shangri-La,” to be produced by Robert Fryer & Lawrence Carr, is musical adaptation of the late James Hilton’s novel about a dreamily ideal community in re¬ mote Asia. The adaptation is by Hilton, Jerome Lawrence and Rob¬ ert E. L'ee, with lyrics by Law¬ rence-Lee and music by Harry Warren. King Bros. $1 Warrants, Non-Transferable, Offered Present Stockholders Hollywood, March 13. Stockholders in King Bros.. Pro¬ ductions Inc., are being offered non-transferable warrants for pur¬ chase of 100,000 shares of common stock, at par value of $1. On a pro rata basis, stockholders of record March 12, 1956, may buy one share for each seven now held. Net proceeds will be used in connection with production, and operation, and operation of com¬ pany’s business generally. An ad¬ ditional 7,500 shares, at $1 par, are offered seven company enploy- ees. The 107,500 shares are part of the remaining 300,000 shares of common of a total of 1,000,000 originally authorized. Consider British Party To Study U. S. Tele*ix London, March 13. Eric Johnston’s invitation to the British film industry to send a delegation to the United States to probe the films-for-television sit¬ uation will be considered by a committee of the four major trade associations on Thursday (15). By that date it is assumed that each of the associations concerned, repping producers, distribs, ex¬ hibitors and short films, will have given individual consideration to the suggestion. It will be one of the top items on the agenda for tomorrow’s (Wed.) meeting of the new general council of the Cine¬ matograph Exhibitors’ Assn. CRITIC'S HOME TOWN HONOR Washington Groups Unite to Fete Jay Carmody Washington, March 13. Jay Carmody, drama and film critic of the ‘Evening Star,’ re¬ cently selected “critic of the year” by the Screen Directors Guild in Hollywood, was honored last week with a luncheon given him by show biz and other civic groups. Sponsoring the affair which brought out more than 500 guests, Cvere the Hams Club, Variety Club, Board of Trade and Women’s Ad¬ vertising Club. All branches of D. C. show biz were represented. In from New York were Janies Riley, of the League of New York Theatres; Willard Swire, of ANTA; Larry Golob, WB; Mori Krushin, UA exploitation chief; Ray Bell, Columbia Pictures public relations, etc. Speakers and entertainers in¬ cluded Helen Hayes, Lisa Kirk, Shoreham Hotel show, and music courtesy of the AFM Music Per¬ formance Trust Fund. COMPETITIVE BIDDING HAS MANY FACES; DISTRIBS PUZZLED BY TOA’S NEW SLANT In Gotham distribution quarters, comment on the Theatre Owners of America’s plea <for the elimin¬ ation of competitive bidding, is re¬ garded as a “popular-sounding bat¬ tle cry” but like some other ex¬ hibitor complaints “general with¬ out covering the mechanics and specifics.” The request for the end of competitive bidding was made last week by TOA's board and ex¬ ecutive committee—meeting joint¬ ly in New Orleans. New Yoi'k company executives point out that competitive bidding is such a complex subject and that it is handled differently in “a 100 different places” that it is difficult to be sure just what TOA had in mind in asking for its eliminatioh. Typical distrib query “what do we substitute for competitive bid¬ ding?” It was stressed that nobody has suggested a solution and that it .was exhibitors originally who brought about the current bidding practice. Small Town Angles One general sales manager said his company had attempted to dis- pourage .cqippetitiva bidding in small towns by trying to divide the pictures going to each theatre. He noted, however, that no matter how the pictures were divided there were bound to be beefs be¬ cause one theatreowner would com¬ plain that his rival had received the better boxoffice pictures. The sales topper pointed out that there is nothing a film company can do if theatres in a certain area insist on bidding. “If theatres in¬ sist on bidding,” he said, “we have to accede to the request. Unless somebody can come up with an¬ other way of conducting competi¬ tive negotiations, we’ll have to con¬ tinue with bidding.” Since its inception of the prac¬ tice, TOA has been historically op-. posed to competitive bidding. The staunchest opponents of the sys¬ tem have been TOA leaders Mit¬ chell Wolfson and S. H. Fabian. In rapping the selling method, TOA’s board at New Orleans said that the distributors are using competitive bidding mainly for the purpose of getting higher rentals. Prexy My¬ ron Blank said TOA is prepared to meet with, members and others ex¬ hibitor groups in an attempt to eliminate the “unwarranted and unjustified” practice through legal and other means. TOA’s action brought immedi¬ ate support from other exhibitor quarters. Allied States Assn.'s general counsel Abram F. Myers welcomed TOA’s stand and charged that “forced” competitive bidding “has been foisted upon the ex¬ hibitors ..although condemned by the Supreme Court in the Para¬ mount case.” Myers said that the TOA step was in line with action taken by Allied in-1950 at its con¬ vention in Pittsburgh. Henry Brandt, president of the Independent Theatre Owners Assn., expressed himself as being “totally in favor” of the TOA move. He.de¬ clared Jrfrat competitive bidding should Se eliminated because “at this late date and age every dis¬ tributor knows who his customers should be and under the consent decree they have the right to choose their own customers.” He agreed with TOA that the practice^ was “only an excuse to get extra film rental,” Sirs RED VISITOR ‘RE SELL IDEAS' A Russian film producer and di¬ rector maintained last week that he had “complete freedom” in the Soviet Union to make any film ■ lie wished and that he would cer¬ tainly be able to turn out an “hon¬ est” picture about capitalistic America. Gregory Alexandrov, member of the triumvirate that supervises the Soviet film industry in the Minis¬ try of Culture, acknowledged in Manhattan that the Communists take a different view in the func¬ tion of the motion picture, but de¬ clared that any 'picture could be made, “Of course, if a writer' writes a script he may be criti¬ cized,” he,added. Alexandrov said it was the Rus¬ sian industry’s policy to make pic¬ tures showing all sides of life, and he noted in this connection that it wasn’t enough for a picture to be merely entertaining; that it had to be educational, too. “Love alone doesn’t reflect the life of man,” lie declared through his inter¬ preter. Asked whether, in any exchange of film with Yankee companies, the propaganda content of the Soviet pic wouldn’t be a handicap; Alexandrov came up with a tor¬ rent of Russian which, in the words of the interpreter, simply resolved itself to this: There is propaganda in Soviet films, but the percent¬ age of such pictures to the overall total varies; what’s wrong with “propagandizing” (i.e. selling) Rus¬ sians to go and help cultivate their country's vast virgin lands? He added that Russian music pictures have no propaganda whatever. A little later on, Alexandrov seemed to indicate that the Sovi¬ ets might make strictly entertain¬ ment films for export purposes. He acknowledged that, not long ago, there had been a good deal of dis¬ cussion in Moscow on whether enough attention was focussed in films on people and their problems. There is an art council at each studio which advises on produc¬ tion and approves it, Alexandrov said. Financing comes wholly from the Government. At his own studio, Mosfilm, 30 pictures will be pro¬ duced this year at a cost of 150,000- 000 rubles. Alexandrov saw no difficulty in cooperation between Russian and American filmmakers on any given project. “There is no conflict be¬ tween us.” he said. “We have the same feeling for freedom as you.” Pressed at this point, he seemed a little annoyed, stressing that when he worked in Hollywood (at Paramount) in 1929, “they wouldn’t let us make any of the projects proposed.” Among them he cited the Dreiser novel, “An American Tragedy.” [This is incorrect; Par eventually produced it under title of “A Place in the Sun.”] Alexandrov seemed to feel some nostalgia for the silents when, in his view, the artist was of foremost importance. He allowed that there had been a decline in the quality of Russian production since the war due to the destruction of stu¬ dios and the killing of many spe¬ cialists. “Now we have formed a new base', apd good pictures should be forthcoming," he said. New studio, capable of handling production of 20 features a year, is going up in the suburbs of War¬ saw, at Bialoleka Dworska, accord¬ ing to the Polish Embassy (Wash¬ ington) news bulletin. First part of the film center is skedded for completion about 1960. New studio, part of which will be designed in Russia, will double Poland’s production capacity. There are now two studios—one at Lodz and the other at Wroclaw— with an annual capacity of, IQ. films each. A museum of film technique is to be established in Warsaw. New educational film studio also is planned.