Variety (February 1957)

PSsRl^ft 10 PICTVBBS \ \redneBdfty» Fel^rnayy 43» 1957 > EGED EON U. S. FILM MEN Om With such a large proportiop of 4 American |ilm. Industry Income] now derived from abroad^ aome Oionen-Sclifiee Tie INgEts Local TV top U.S. execs are becoming in¬ creasingly conscious of the lack of coordinated policy ^planning by the film biz as to operations overseas. They deplore the prevMent tend¬ ency on the part of the companies to "grab and run/’ the inimediate concern only being to collect the largest dollar volume; the refusal’ to face facts and act upon them In markets where trouble may not be on hand but loonving promi¬ nently ahead, and -the inability to map policy jointly in areas where no immediate emergency is in¬ volved. While the companies are, of course, active jointly via the. Mo¬ tion Picture Export Assn,, it’s noted that 'they are using the MPEA primarily as a tool with which to cpmbat situations that al¬ ready exist. Very rarely is MPEA utilized to chart a course that might be taken in a given market in future years, anticipating devel¬ opments that appear to be in the wind. There is a strong feeling among the savvy foreign personnel that conditions abroad for the U.S. film trade are going to get much tough¬ er in the years to come. They opine that the moment has come to do some concerted planning re the expansion of certain mai*kets and other problems ahead. "Sometimes it may even help us to give and to spend in order to safeguard our large investments later on,’’ was one comment. It is acknowledged that, in terms of unified advance strategy, the film biz lags way behind other impor¬ tant industries operating abroad. Yet, no ‘ other industry is as de¬ pendent on foreign revenue as the picture industry which derives around 50% of its income from overseas territories. What makes the task of the com¬ panies abroad more difficult than ever is the constantly changing conditions, both economic and otherwise, and the growing Euro¬ pean determination t(y achieve an interdependence, that, in the long run, may well reduce the absolute Importance of the American . prod¬ uct. An example might be the cur¬ rent MPEA embargo on shipments to Spain and Denmark, which cer¬ tainly has lasted far beyond orig¬ inal expectations. There was a time when such an embargo would have forced native exhibition to capitu¬ late within a matter of weeks. To¬ day, thanks to rising intre-European trade, it can survive much longer without the American prod¬ uct. •The companies have discussed the Far East, but beyond taking measures to meet emergencies in India, Burma, etc., no concerted plan has evolved to deal jointly with • the • market as a future aiid necessary potential. Seen a factor, too, is the grow¬ ing awareness of industries all over the world of one another’s prob* lems. Thus, if in Brazil CinemaScope pictures command a higher admission, the loQal exhibitors were quick to point out that the practice wasn’t followed in many other places. To Pearl Buck’s Novel Of China’s Dowager Empress Director Stanley Donea and writer-producer Charles Schnee have acquired the screen rights to Pearl Buck’s recent novel, "The Imperial Woman,” a story of the dowager empress of China during the later part of the 19th Century. Donen and Schnee, who are jaoth under contract to Metro, plan to make the film independently early in 1958 after their M-G pacts ex¬ pire. Donen will direct the film and Schnee , will oversee the production aspects, but will not write the screenplay himself. The deal, ac¬ cording to Donen, Involves a par¬ ticipation arrangement with Miss Buck. So far Schnee and Donen have not made arrangements for fihancing and releasing thepic¬ ture. MPAA Taste Check Continued from page 4 ' ' pattern which, even distribution execs occasionally admit, is out¬ dated. . Nevertheless, MPAA feelsthatits research project is a hugh step forward in the right direction, par¬ ticularly in the light of the fact that the industry has been sorely lacking accurate facts and figures on which to base major policy de¬ cisions. j Research did affect a decision last year in Indianapolis, where a charge as you go b,o. plan was dropped, in the wake of a public opinion survey which established that it wouldn’t raise attendance sufficiently to pay for itself. The new MPAA research project will use the latest techniques in motivational research and depth studies to come up with some real¬ istic conclusions regarding not only why people do or do not go to see films, but also what competes for their leisure time, whether tv really Is the b.o. villain, what peo¬ ple prefer to see, etc. ‘Numbered’ Titles Crowd San Frahdsco Marquees . San Francisco, Feb. 12: . First-run exhibs are playing a strict numbers game in Frisco. United Artists has "Fiye Steps to Danger/’ Golden Gate "Four Girls in Town,’A Piramounf "Three Vio¬ lent People;” Orpheum "Seven Wonders of the World,” Coronet "Around the World in 80 Days” ahd the Paramount has just sneaked "Three Brave Men.” Earl -Xpng, boss of the Para¬ mount and St. Francis, says he can hardly wait, for Feb. 21, when he picks up the dice and shoots "The 10 Commandments” into the St. Francis. Continued from page 1 theatricals and vidpix are the ave¬ nues via which a local station can showcase the well known Holly¬ wood names much In . the same fashion as radio stations have turned to disks to program' the na^ tionally known musical names. Nonetheless, the heads of the four Chi tv stations aren’t too en¬ thusiastic about their growing reli¬ ance on film fodderj They recog¬ nize it’s the easy yriiy put, offering, little challenges to their showman¬ ship abilities. But there’s plenty of rating evi¬ dence to draipatize the fans^ sup¬ port of the "old movies.” ’ For a half-dozen years indie WGN-TV dominated the ,10 to signoff ratings, as the pioneer film purveyor: And no\V the AltB January share of au¬ dience 'tally shows that ABC-TV’s WBKB, with the help of its 10 o'clock screening of the RKO ahd UA features, has moved Into No; .2 status from 6 p.m'. to midnight .be¬ hind CBS’ WBBM-TV. The latter station has hit the 40-plus rating highwater mark with its Saturday night "Best of MGM” launched in December,. • , Perhaps the mosc clinching evi¬ dence of all that "ya gotta go film” is the abrupt about face at NBC»TV’s where heretofore the empha¬ sis was on live local programming as befits the country’s first "all color” operation. WNBQ next week makes it a fOur-way Windy City battle for the late Sunday night feature film audience, leading off at 9:30 with "You Can’t Take It With You” as the premier pic. Fol¬ lowing Monday (18) station starts a 90-minute matinee at 4:30. In view of the oft-repeated warn¬ ings against the film influx voiced by RCA chairman David Sarnoff and network prexy Robert Sarnoff, the stepped up use of celluloid at both WNBQ and WRCA-TV, N, Y., is seen as especially significant. British Parliament Continued from page 3 erning Eady operations and it Is expected to do so by the end of March. If the American companies with British production interests^ notably Metro and 20th-Fox — ^take action, it will likely be before that time. Columbia already follows a policy of returning pounds to Britain. A spokesman at MPEA last week called the matter "complicated” and said there would be further meetings. It is known that 20th looks favorably on the suggestion. It is the British film producers which claim that the Americans, benefitting from Eady in like meas¬ ure with ' the British, should be made to return part of their for¬ eign earnings to Britain, as British films must do. Importers Revitalize Trade Body Also Vote Protest to Hollywood on Nominating • System for Foreign Films While it is still in its embryonic stages, the European "Common Market” project also carries im¬ portant implications for the Amer¬ icans. Yet, if past performance is anything to go by, the U.S. film biz, isn’t going to move to counter¬ act the negative effects of joint European action until it is a fact — and then it may be too late. Those who speak up in defense of the industry’s inability to act jointly in the area of future plan¬ ning say that the film biz is un¬ usually competitive; in fact so com¬ petitive that the MPEA doesn’t have access to some pertinent fig¬ ures and only recently . gained ac¬ cess to other after prolonged hesi¬ tation on the part of the compa¬ nies. However, other industries, too, are competitive, and yet they manage to recognize the joint goal ahead and the need to occasionally sacrifice for future gain. Independent Motion Picture Distributors Assn, membership meetiiig in New York Monday^dl) decided to reactivate the organiza¬ tion and voted a new dpes scale to raise $10,000. Association takes in most of the men who import and distribute foreign films in the U.S.' Group also voted to draft a let¬ ter of protest to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences over its nominating procedure in the foreign film field. Copy of the letter will go to industries abroad. Indies have been imhappy over the Academy’s insistence that nomina¬ tions must come from governments or industries, with no entries ac¬ cepted from individual American distributors. Only wrangle at the meet devel¬ oped over the question of who should represent the indies at the Cannes and Venice film fests. De¬ cision was finally left up in the air, but the implication was that there wouldn’t be any IMPDA reps at the events this year. New dues sked calls for the up¬ ping of annual assessments from $100 to $200 per member. In addi¬ tion, each distributor whose pic¬ ture opens in a Broadway area house will pay $200 for the date and $25 for out-of-town dates. If a film opens outside of New York first, the $25 would then be de¬ ducted from the $200. New dues scale goes' into effect as of Jan. 1, 1957; While no defi¬ nite decision was made, it’s a fore¬ gone conclusion that the money collected will benised for the hir¬ ing of a paid executive secretary for the organization which is cur¬ rently headed by Arthur L. Mayer. Edward Harrison, who in com¬ mittee had objected to a dues in¬ crease, didn’t attend Monday’s meet. Conviction is rising among foreign film distributors that the time Is at hand to agree on a standard contract governing theii? deals with producers abroad. ' Plan to 'work ^ut siich a contract Is high on the agenda of the Independent Motion Picture Distributors Assn, ^hose membership met in Gotham Monday (11) to discuss a new dues sked aimed at revitalzing the organization. Absence of a standard contract, such as exists between distribu¬ tors and exhibs, has been a time and money-consuming factor, particularly since the contracts must be executed in two and some*^ times threO languages. At the moment, each such, contract is made up separately by lawyers and has to be carefully studied^ * Printed contract, with its main provisions accepted intemationally, is seen, by many an urgent necessity at a time when the number of foreign films being, acquired, for the JJ:.S. is rising steadHy. If SeizedIVoperties aM Go FAEMISkf CONTROLS JOSEPH BURSHN INC. Fae R. Miske has purchased all rights to the Joseph Burstyn prop¬ erties from the* estate of the late importer-distributor. Company will continue as Joseph Burstyn, Inc. . . Miss Miske had long been asso¬ ciated wltji purstyn, who .-died three' years ago. ’. Transfer now covers some 20 properties. Includ¬ ing some of the early postwar Italo pix such as "Open City,” "Palsan/’ etc. ' . , Burstyn company recently ac¬ quired two, new imports-^the Greek "Stella” and the Japanese ^‘Por¬ traits of Shame,”' a trilogy. Miss JVIiske’s rights on the Burstyn pix take In tv and nontheatrical book¬ ings. German Pix Cos. Continued from page '2 leading distributing outfits. It han¬ dled such successes as "La salaire de la" Peur,” "Don Camillo” and "Sous le Ciel de Paris.” "Camillo” was second, best foreign grosser in postwar Germany, First Crisis In 1952 In '1952, Allianz had its first crisis. This was because "Der.bunte Traum” (The Colored Dream), a Pontus production, although a strong grosser, had enormously high production 1 costs. It wound up with such a big loss that it brought Allianz close to collapse. In the following ypars Allianz not only overly extended itself in backing productions, but it kept buying unsuitable product and passing up hit' productions. Allianz took a number of pix, such as "Love Life of Beautiful Franz,” "Wild Auguste,” "Kiss Me Again” and "Three Girls From Rhine,” which never measured up to such hits as "Salaire de la Peur” and "Don Camillo/’ which the com¬ pany also handled. Bankrupt Last December Allianz went bankrupt in early i December and Austria’s Dr. A. Polsterer took over a large part of the Allianz staff. Allianz is now called CosmOpoi. In addition to French and Italian films, Cosmopol also will distribute part of the Alli¬ anz product. The situation ' at Mosaik, Berlin dubbing and printing plant closely associated with Allianz, is not quite Clear. However, this outfit is morfe than only neck-deep in finan¬ cial problems. Reported here that UFA is ipterested in taking -over the Mosaik staff. However, another group likely will mova in. A few days ago, negotiations were started between local film people and a banker named Jacques Rosefistein (of Zurich) who eventually could contribute financial help to Mosaik Film; , | Union Film, also one of the more I prominent German film companies I (it released "Lola Montez”), also has been in considerable difficulty in recent weeks. But this is clear¬ ing up since Emil Reinegger, gen¬ eral manager of Union, has taken oyer sole responsibility of contin¬ uing this outfit. He plans a com¬ pletely new setup for the company. Phoenix Filmverleih, a' smaller distributing outfit, has asked the. lower court in Frankfurt to open up its liquidation. Congress now has before it a bill offered by Sen. Olin Johnston of S, Carolina -that.wpuld return to Ger^ many and, other, former enqmly’' countries assets seized, by the U. S. Government at the start of World" War 11; . ■ Assets include not only the Gen¬ eral ,^nll.ine. Corp., or proceeds ^itpm its sale, but also' a numbei^ of German films either held by the Office of Alien Property or else vested by it and licensed to Ameri¬ can dirtrlbutors. < 'I^e bill, Jro. , S 600' and dated Jan, ,14, seeks td fimend both, the War Claims Act Of 1948 and the Trading with tHc Enemy Act, the putward purpose being to "provide for the pasrment of certain Ameri¬ can: wartdamage claims/’ It Would return to the ortginal Gerpian (or Japanese, Italian, etc.) .owners not » only their physical assets In tefms of prints, but also^wlth .sorpe de¬ ductions— revenue derived . from the licensing of such assets to American Interests. Sen. ' Johnston’s, office is fully confident that the bill will pass in , the early stages, of this session. of the Congress, which in the past has shown a reluctance to act. on simi¬ lar measures, Sen., Johnston has been conspicuously in the fore¬ front of those who have pressed for the return of the seized assets. The current bill holds that the program woqld not only provide funds, without direct Congressionalv appropriations, to pay Amerlcani war damage claims arising out of World War II, but also would "pro¬ vide for a speedy and less costly termination of the custody, admin¬ istration and managemept of pri,-^ vately owned former .enemy alien ' or neutral properties by the Gov¬ ernment.” Amendment to the Trading With the Enemy Act, under which prop¬ erties would be returned, specifical¬ ly blocks the fetum of assets to any of the countries behind the . Iron Curtain, with proceeds to be held in ' trust by the Treasury pending clearance by the State Dept. / ^ In ths cage where property of interests have already been liqui¬ dated, the . amendment proposes that the . Foreign Claims. Settles ment Commission shall authorize payments after niaking deductions as provided under the lew. Bill would set up a German and Japa¬ nese Claim's fund from which monies would be disbursed. If Congress passes the amend¬ ments to the two Acts, licenses for films that have already been ob¬ tained from the Government would continue in force. However, ths American party would then be di¬ rectly responsible to the German owners. Many ' of the motion pictures seized by the Alien Property Cus^ todian belong to the old German UFA combine, which is no longer ip existence. However, there exists a UFA liquidation company in Ger¬ many, which would take over. Jim Ellsworth’s Ihdie Co. Hollywood, Feb. 12. James Ellsworth, formerly with Howard Hughes, has formed his own indie company to produce both theatrical and vidfilms be¬ ginning with theatrical version of "Five Minutes to Live” originally on Kraft Theatre video show. Scott Brady will co-star. Ellsworth also has packaged telepix series "Champions df Sport,” pilot completed featuring Los Angeles Rams football team.*"