Variety (April 1957)

18 PICTURES _ ,_- _ Wednesday, April 24, 1957 ‘Variety’s’ Spot-Check on Foreign Pix (As American Exhibitors 'Regard Them) Six Artie* in ’Frisco And They’re in Clover By BILL STIEF San Francisco, April 23. While 2,000, 3,000 and 5,000-seat theatres in downtown San Francis¬ co are having a tough time making ends meet, the foreign-film or “art” houses of Northern California seem to be in clover. That, at least, is the impression gathered in talking to artie exhibi¬ tors and reinforced by one exhib's comment that “our low overhead and ability to keep a picture for a real run have put us in the most profitable end of the film exhibition business.” Frisco has six art theatres—that is, houses which pitch for the gen¬ eral public’s business but play ex¬ clusively or almost exclusively for¬ eign films. (There are, in addition, a'hand¬ ful of theatres, including four Chi¬ nese, which play foreign films with¬ out subtitles and pitch for very specialized, mostly first-generation audiences.) The six Frisco arties range from the 440-seat downtown Stagedoor, owned jointly by Herbert Rosener and Irving Ackerman, to the 364- seat neighborhood Vogue, run by Irving <Bud) Levin. Rosener also owns two 400-seaters, the Clay and Larkin, and Maury Schwarz owns two 400-seaters, the Bridge and Rio, with Johnny Parsons.- Within a 95-mile radius there are also 300 to .400-seat arties in Oakland, Berkeley, Sacramento, Menlo Park, San Jose and Monte¬ rey. Other Northern California houses will take occasional flyers at foreign films, but this dozen make up 98% of the market. There seem to be no limitations on what kind of foreign pictures these houses will play. All they want are good pictures—sock at the boxoffice.. — Typical are the current bills at the two Rosener houses here. At the Larkin the Japanese “Street of Shame” is still packing ’em in in its fourth week, while a half-mile away at the Clay the Anglo-American documentary, “Al¬ bert Schweitzer,” is also doing very well. Schwarz says “the safest bet is a British comedy of British suspense, but the biggest moneymakers are the sex pictures.” Rosener confirms this, succinctly, “sex is here to stay.” General feeling is that British firms rate a shade ahead of oth¬ ers, with French pictures the run¬ ner-up, possibly because of French use of highly attractive women. “If a Japanese picture isn’t tops,” says Schwarz, “it’s nothing, but if it’s, top it does well—same is true of Italian pictures.” Trend is definitely upward in prices, with 90c admission now a thing of the past. Admissions now range from $1.10 to $1.50, with scale sometimes juggled depending on film’s appeal. Marty Foster, newly named gen¬ eral manager of Herbert Rosener Co. and owner of Oregon’s only artie, the 400-seat Guild in Port¬ land, says he goes “strictly with newspapers” on advertising, though once in a while he’ll use special promotion, as he did through Fris¬ co churches for “Schweitzer.” Russian Patronage All foreign-film exhibs also ad¬ vertise quite heavily in the large and pretty well-read Frisco foreign* language press, and Schwarz says the Russian and German weeklies, particularly, produce good results for him “because the people who read those papers seem more anti- Hollywood.” Levin uses billboards, in addi¬ tion, and last Septeniber kicked off a 30-week run of “La Strada” at the Vogue by co-operating with the Italian Government in an Ital¬ ian Film Festival. Schwarz just finished a co-op French Film Fes¬ tival, u sing both his theatres, to promote eight new French pictures which, presumably, will return here eventually. , Schwarz also managed to swing some newspaper space—free—a few months ago by chiding a local TV exec over the way TV chops up old films and so hyped up the reis¬ sued “Intermezzo,” but generally the arties eschew. use of radio and tv. Consulates of the countries <-where the pictures were produced often help promotionally but, as Foster says, “our biggest aid- is word-of-mouth, and we can afford to wait a month for this to take hold.” This is generally true of the su¬ burban arties, .too—in fact, pos¬ sibly more so in the college towns of Berkeley (site of the huge Uni¬ versity of California) and Menlo Park (next door to Stanford). Audience reaction to.subject mat¬ ter appears to be conventional. Sex, action, comedy are basic ingredi¬ ents of good film, whether made in Hollywood, Oshkosh or Helsinki, with the exception that artie audi¬ ences tend to be more intellectual, or. eggheaded, than those attend¬ ing first-run film “palaces.” This means that directors, Vittorio De Sica, Rene Clair, Carol Reed, have as much drawing power as many of the players given star billing. Not as a Cardinal Rosener, however, notes that some foreign-film stars “are being built up” and points out that Alec Guinness, for instance, Will draw w,ell “if he’s in a comedy.” He in¬ sists Guinness has to he a comedy, however, notes that the name meant little in “The Prisoner.” Main point regarding subject matter and directorial style, says Foster, is that foreign-film cus¬ tomers, “expect that the makers will aim at the adult mind and al¬ ways have.” A six to 12-week run is consid¬ ered successful here, and some for¬ eign films have run anywhere from four to six months—“La Ronde,” “Diabolique” and “La "Strada” some to mind immediately. Ex¬ hibs feel generally that their opera¬ tions are akin to legit theatre in that grosses can and do build from' week to week if critical and public reaction is good. British: Best Chance ; Continued from page 5 —^ Arthur K. Howard of Affiliated Theatre Corp. in Boston, with some 90 New England houses: “We’ve tried foreign films, but, they just don’t sell tickets. From time to time, we try them, but almost al¬ ways without success. It’s the kind of fare the public has to get used to.!’ By contrast, some Boston art houses are doing welL Out in Springfield, Ohio; Frank P. Collins, general manager of Chakeres Theatres, which operates 40 houses throughout Ohio and Kentucky, said the college towns did occasionally pretty well with imports, “but the sustained-inter¬ est is lacking.” He noted that, if an import gets a good run in Day- ton, the word-of-mout’h created a certain amount of interest in neighboring towns. Drive-Ins and Sex Glenn Ashmun . of the Ashmun Theatres at CarO, Mich., reported that interest in foreign films in his area Was virtually zero. Occasion^ ally, a drive-in will,book a foreign lingualer and play it up on a sex exploitation angle. Spokesman for Video Theatres of Oklahoma, with som'e 150 houses, said only four to six towns in the circuit were potentials for imported fare. “We’ve tried all sorts of tricks, from special cam¬ paigns to the ‘festival* type of event,” he said. “We’ve tried to literally force foreign films on the public in some situations. But it’s no g6od in the long run. They won’t buy it as a steady diet and there aren’t really enough foreign pictures of quality around.” There’s No Shortare! Many of the exhibitors nailed the notion that they Were forced to book foreign pictures because of the product shortage. “What shortage?” asked one of the circuit execs. '« “There’s no shortage of ‘B’ films. What we are short on are the big 4 A’ pictures. We never have trouble to find just celluloid.” One indie operator said he’d been thinking about trying to book foreign films, but had been dis¬ couraged by the prospect of having to run. on a potential loss “until they even find out what We are doing.” He opined that the pub¬ lic accepted the overseas product only if it Was presented as a regu¬ lar diet. “Play a foreign film, then three American pictures' and then a for- French Festival Okay San Francisco, April 23.. French Film Festival grossed $7,000 at two 400-seat arties, the Bridge and Rio, last week. Bridge did slightly more than- $4,000 in four days and Rio just under $3,000 in five days revolving, eight French pictures between the two Maury Schwarz houses.. Both theatres played films from 1 p.m. on.and .sold out of came close to sellouts every night except April 15. Houses were scaled at $1.50. French Government co-oper¬ ated in festival and sent Micheline Presle, Gerard Philipe, Francoise Arnoul and Jean Marais, plus director Jean Renoir, to Frisco to kick off fete. eign film again, and it’s hopeless,” he concluded. The exhibitors speak in more en¬ couraging terms about the Britsh releases. “I am told they are now changing some of the titles in the British pictures to make them more interesting for American audiences,” commented Howard in Boston. “That should help to at¬ tract the public.” Several times Alec Guinness’ name was men¬ tioned as a British star with defi¬ nite appeal to Americans. How¬ ever, in the instance of the British also, complaints are voiced about their distribution and promotion. Many theatremen opined that the use of American stars Would be of great help in putting over foreign films. And several men¬ tioned that the casting of foreign stars in American- pictures defi¬ nitely was smoothing the way for future imports in which they might appear. . Cheery Jay Salomon Occasionally, an ‘ exhibitor will say that the audience for imports is growing. Jay Salomon in Chat¬ tanooga, for instance, feels that way. He held that a foreign film “festival” * in Chattanooga would help to popularize the overseas pix. Exhibitors in conversation were eager to scotch 'the impression that they stood as a “wall” between foreign films and the American audience. Several said they in¬ tended to keep trying to put the product across, though they, had their doubts re any success. They agreed that it was probably diffi¬ cult for the producers abroad to accept the fact that, whereas Ameican films are fully and widely accepted among foreign audiences, the overseas releases in the States can’t get to first base with the vast majority of Americans. Brit. Pix, Italian-Girls Impressing Chicago By DAVID LEVADr . Chicago, April 23. Offbeat film product in the Windy City no longer has the limi¬ tations of 10 years ago. Foreign product is on the upswing and novel methods of peddling special* ty celluloid are proving effective. Silent films, mainly Charlie Chaplin stuff, make their appear¬ ance here from time to time on the arty screens but the Gold Coast is the only house that tried a .succes¬ sion of no-sound bookings. The ex¬ periment lasted through last Au¬ gust but no immediate surge of ad¬ missions coupled with the unavail¬ ability of such reels here marked the end of that try. At the time of the first inroads of television a southside drinking spot mush¬ roomed its business by showing si¬ lent films a few evenings a week but as the broadcast medium made the “Our Gang” comedies and such product more generally available this was discontinued. Foreign distribs operating out of Chicago are making consider¬ able impact in the midwest. In Chicago itself the DaviS outfit played about 30 neighborhood dates for “Rififi” Good grosses were reported even on a week when “Giant” was bowing onto the nabe screens, Teitel films antici¬ pates a similar number of local playdates for the dubbed version of “La Strada” this month. Joe Feulner, general manager for H & E Blaban,. Which has sev- <-eral leading art houses in andn around Chicago, summed up the value-of foreign product as fol¬ lows: College towns, metropolises and some of their suburbs buy .art prod¬ uct. Art houses generally do best with foreign language stuff,but for wider distribution, dubbed ver¬ sions are necessary. He believes pictures like “Trapeze” and “War and’ Peace” produced in foreign settings by American producers with some American stars are help¬ ing break down the barriers to. for¬ eign product here and to American product overseas. "Alec Guinness has a star appeal comparable to that of domestic names and the Italian girls make for good advertising copy accord¬ ing to Feulner. On the other hand Cantinfias who scored, heavily in “Around the World in 80, Days” and who Feulner believes would sell now for the general market has beep confined previously to the half dozen Chicago theatres show¬ ing Mexican productions and never attracted the art house crowd" to these places. Th art house crowd he described as anti-television and willing to go .to the theatre during midweek and during any weather. Pink permits allowing no minors haven’t both¬ ered his Chicago theatres much which haven’t a large juve clientele. The lack of broad distribution for foreign product hasn’t bothered local houses and the Balaban & Katz affiliate, Great States Thea¬ tres, which books from Chicago *or downstate, but indie theatres in the stix are not well coveted for their. market potential. George Busch v/ho handles Italian Film Export Had the experience of meeting Phil Blakely, booker of Kansas City’s Regent Theatre, who was led to be¬ lieve that when IFE stopped book¬ ing his city from out east that com¬ pany had gone out of business He resumed bookings when lie found he could book from the midwest of¬ fice in Chicago. Art houses have not had to easy- sledding in some ^respects. Sev¬ eral in this area serve chief!v as outlets for specific foreign distrib¬ utors who need showcases co sell their product in the region. When distributors have no product for them, they suffer. Nevertheless Milwaukee with three art houses is reported due for two mors un¬ der the Grand circuit which recent¬ ly bought three Fox and two War¬ ner theatres there. For the art houses themselves newspaper ads rarely .capitalize on star appeal except for a Guinness or Fernandel. Until recently al¬ most all the foreign film which reached the nabe theatres adver¬ tised both arty values and realism and buttocks and bosoms as if un¬ certain of which audience they were trying to reach and conse¬ quently selling the pix as mature escapism. With -the decline of neighbor¬ hood juvenile attendance the ex¬ hibitors generally feel safe in try¬ ing for a strictly adult crowd. Ape Teitel who has run the World Playhouse strictly with art product (for over 34 years) is to head for Cannes soon with the in¬ tention of preparing a summer film festival in his own outlet which will capitalize on star appeal. The only other such activity current is the increasing showing'of old films and foreign material. by Northwestern .U., the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago U. and Roose¬ velt College. These schools show¬ ing mostly material from the Mu¬ seum of Modem Art on a weekly or near weekly basis have devel¬ oped a noticeable .part of the art house patronage. Students have also been block sold for films like “Marcellhp” and “Oedjepus Rex,” Robert Slack Continued from page- T ^ Morning Miss Dove” two years ago. Under the terms of his contract;'he can be pre-empted by John Wayne’s indie, Batjac. Latter utilized the pre-emption clause twice, once to loan him to Universal for “Wind,” and the second time to loan him to the same studio for “Pylon.” Stack charged that because of the 20th contract he has had to turn down three good parts since the Academy nomination. N.E. Promising Mart, Especially for Italo Pix By GIJY LIVINQSTONE Boston, April 23. . ^Foreign product could. gross, bet¬ ter in New England if more ex¬ ploitation, more radio, more video, and more hard pressagenting: were done in its behalf. Italian product seems to have the edge up here in Down East, not only because, as one showman put it, “they make earthier pictures,” but also be¬ cause there is a big Italian popu¬ lation in the six-state region. British films are coming up in popularity but French product seems to die out at the b.o.-— though French Canadiaps are wide¬ ly Scattered from Augusta to Woon¬ socket. “Open City,” “Paisan,” “Bicycle Thief” and “Bitter Rice” are re¬ membered as big faves of Italian origin. Joe Levine, prexy. of Embassy Pictures Corp., which has distrib¬ uted many foreign films, says “there is a tremendous market for foreign films if the pictures are good. With the present shortage of product, the door is wide open in New England. Swedish films have had marked success In the Boston area too. “Torment” and “One Summer of Happiness” were good grossers. Levine feels “very strongly and vehemently” that foreign product Is almost never promoted properly. Embassy is going back into dis¬ tributing foreign films with “both feet,” not having distributed for¬ eign product for some time. Le¬ vine expects to close a deal with a foreign distributor shortly. Distributors of foreign product in Boston include DCA, with its own office: J. Arthur Rank Produc¬ tions, represented by Abe Weiner; Continental. Ellis Gordon; Edward Ruff, distributor. Houses showing 'foreign films are: Beacon Hill, Ken- more, Exeter and Brattle in Cam¬ bridge. Viola Berlin, exhibitor, operat¬ ing the 1,200-seat Exeter in Bos¬ ton showing foreign films for the last 15 years, thinks “Additional exploitation of foreign films would mean a great deal. They are not exploited like the ones from Hol¬ lywood.” She pointed out that “if U. S. product didn’t have the raz- zle dazzle" Hollywood ballyhoo they wouldn’t sell as well at the b.o.” Although the Exter has had suc¬ cess with Japanese, Swedish and French films. (“Gate of Hell” was a big grosser here), British bills have the strongest pull. Miss Ber¬ lin- said that if the British stars were better known it would mean much added biz at the b.o. “Ameri¬ cans don’t know who most of them are, and Americans follow the stars.” Where a British star is known, per Alec Guinness, grosses are always bigger. Otherwise, even if the filih is great, it takes time befote word-of-mouth brings in the customers. She thinks foreign films could play first run houses okay if they were given the same exploitation as Hollywood films. Top Jap Coin Continued from page t his racehorse Enmei was killed in The Japan Derby, The second highest moneymak¬ ing film star was Toshiro Mifune of “Rashomon” and “Seven Sa¬ murai” fame with $46,210, some $16,660 less than fourth place writer Seiichi Funabashi. The annum’s best-paid baseball player was Michio Nishizawa, slug¬ ging first baseman of the Chunichl Dragons, who drew down $8,933. Popular singer.Chiemi Eri took $52,247 to the bank while Izuml Yukimura* another young thrush, earned $20,083. The actress second to Miss Misora was Yumeiji Tsukioka who was paid $32,222. Actress Machiko Kyo, best known* abroad, was not listed among the top ten. - . Tom McGowan, Sunday Editor of the San Antonio Express and I News, is one of 200 who’ll appear as an actor in Paramount’Si “Teach¬ er’s Pet” which shoots in Holly- wood; May 6.