Variety (May 1957)

PICTURES psmmft Wednesday,. May 1, 1957 Uptown & Downtown film Festivals In Manhattan Hail Documentaries; Museums Debate 'Showmanship’ .New York Sound Track By ROBERT J. LANDRY Festivals the 35m theatrical film industry hadn’t got and. so far doesn’t favor in America. But in NOBODY KNOWS THE FACTS At Manhattan Assembly Golden and Silver Reel awards in 23 categories were handed out in Gotham last week as the Fourth. Annual Film Assembly wound up a three-day session at the Hotel Statler. The 23 classifications took in human relations, sales and promotion, education, internation¬ al understanding, industrial train- UUC511 L ArtVUJL 1U AillCUCd. JOUt w _ _.***:•— Manhattan last week the pros of Films Medium of Unestablished L in Q rt ^? e ^nn nn^ the 16m industrial-educational-pub¬ lic relations film fraternity circu¬ lated between a “downtown Festi¬ val” (The Golden Reel competi¬ tion at the Statler) and an “uptown Festival” (Art Films) at the Met¬ ropolitan Museum. Data, Engineers Reminded Some 500,000 feet of 16m film - were screened and viewed by w . . . . more than 300 “judges” during the Washington, April 30. sessions which were sponsored by Semi-annual meeting of the So- the Film Council of America. In ciety of Motion Picture & Televi- all 258 pictures were screened, sion Engineers was reminded here Following are some of the Gold- that “nobody knows” the figures- en Reel winners: on how many motion pictures are Citizenship and Government—"The Big made annually. Films serve so Ci * y '' 4nr many purposes besides theatres fa£ety—"The Hot Rod Handicap’* and television, viz, propaganda. Recreation—"A Place for Growing’* test- kinescopes, instruction, mill- sh'arTln* Tom»r Visits to two sessions at the mu- 0 n how many motion pictures are citizenship and Gov seum made a plausible probability ma de annually. Films serve so City” completely obvious; to-wit, what- many purposes besides theatres l?f U ety-"The H?t r ever the . particular form motion an d television, viz, propaganda, Recreation—"A Piac pictures take the industry, is al- test- kinescopes, instruction, mili- IcoS^’Yo^ 1 ways up to its sprockets in prob- tary and medical records, and so row" lems. The word was never men- on industrial Processes - Harvey. Zorbaugh, head of the but what quite a number of the speakers said, in fancier lingo, NYU Cartoon Workshop and.chair- institutional Promotion—"E v e n for One” Natural Resources—"Fish Spoilage Con- man of the NYU Communicatiops "Natural Resources-"Fish Spoilage Con- Amounted to this* »vc Jt(we ffPAnrv j _ troi** more nhowmarishit) ” "V ^9^^ to i^ ® 01ca ^ ) l e “ Sales and Promotion—''Through the more snoivmansrnp. television and satellite -classes was Loohing Glass” Young or old, persons viewing revolutionizing academic life and *vant-Garde & Experimental—"A Short films in schools, colleges, libraries, pl an s. * fTh t u r e *-"The Great Adventure” museums, lodge halls or film SO- -- (Louis de Rbchemont) cieties learn best what they enjoy story” an Relations— ” Hele11 KtUer 111 Her most. When the pedagogs talk A r L Maui Hicfriluifni* In International Understanding — "Report about a necessary “sense of excite- "9 llvlf I/loU lUUIOi 111 from.Africa P«t 1” (produced by Edward ment’ in film, and agree that chil- Prifoin llifc MomL-aI- Literary? Miisical*and Theatrical Arta— dren are remarkably critical when DlTUtlllf IlllS IVldlKCl "The Bespoke ^Overcoat” (distributed by bored, they are saying “it doesn’t rir-.i L._iff f 1J ™Sn aS Ethic»-"Broic«i Mask;” mean a thing without zing.” VvltD JdVHC IrtHIlSl 10lu Visual Arts—"The , London of William The particular direction and em- . J Hogarth. _ phasis of the zing remains in dis- London, April 30. pute. The director or cameraman Jack Bernard' has joined Nat N. I. to LUropO who seeks “dramatic” values in Miller as sales director at Orb photographing art by “zooming” Film Distribution Ltd., to start a certain details may find himself new ren ti ng organization "^which Avant-Garde Sc Experimental—"A Short Vision.” Feature s—"The Great Adventure" (Louis de R6chemont) Human Relations—"Helen Keller In Her Story” International Understanding — "Report from Africa Part 1” (produced by Edward R. Murrow and Fred W. Friend) Literary, Musical and Theatrical Arts— "The Bespoke Overcoat” (distributed by Brandon. Films) Religion and Ethics—"Broken Mask;” Visual Arts—"The , London of WilUam Hogarth.” accused of undesirable lwill handle several new American tion” for classroom purposes. Cine- “ Ap^ from ^ ‘ifnwlr! ‘' Garden ° f Eda »” the « rSt Ya “ k «rs and sculptors run the risk of product they will handle will be the artist’s personality (per ex- » Fema i e ample, Picasso was mentioned) ' holding attention so that little is * gained instructionally as to his Orbs fi technique. three new “Female Jungle,” starring Jayne Orb’s future schedule involves three new pictures. Before join- Split Opinion Like Brown Derby “8 company Bernard was To hear the ventrv at the mu- with Guild Films Inc. To hear the gentry at the mu-. Wlin ' jrUUQ * nms me. seum divide as to what should and should not go into a film is to be T A i AT V back at the Hollywood Brown Der- to PI, I • by. Only the vocabulary is differ- Irving Aaronson erit. But the basic split is in the Fred Amsel purpose for which 16m films are John Cameron wanted. Often it is purely as a tool Jack Carson to clarify technique or again be- Howard Dietz cause a film can- condense a lot of Mildred Dunnock facts and save precious lecture Arthur Freed time. But the broader uses pf art Mona Freeman films, some of which find^theatrical Martin Gabel and television outlet, are wholiy Alex Gordon consistent with the growing appre- John R. Jacobs Jr. elation of showmanship, or a sense Robert E. Lee of excitement. Joshua Logan James Johnson Sweeney, curator Robert M. Mochrie of N. Y.’s Simon R. Guggenheim p a t O’Brien Museum, discoursed on the over- Charles M. Reagan burden of description and- caption Robert Smith now carried by art in general. He George Stoll called this the “ear” approach— Lawrence Welk knowing about what you see not in . Herbert J. Yates terms of your own eye impressions but of other people’s judgments. Europe to N. Y. In chiding the reliance on “proper T . R ti k phases,” Sweeney did not delight all of the art critics and art his- 7* i* iSwLw torians whose business is just these -proper .phrases. But Sweeney is £f^ r fefrrawy • daring to do something involving nick Vili Prawy professional risk to himself, name- 1J1CK via ly, producing a motion picture »♦♦♦»♦♦♦♦♦♦+»♦♦»♦♦+ > ♦♦♦ which uses the methods of art but A doesn’t utter a word. This film, ” f* g. L ■*-, a 10-minute color animation, “Ad- I .!lll ll ai /i^"l .3 ventures of the *, was exhib- - VUffVlI WO VII ited at the Metropolitan in con- nection with the Art Film Festival 4+ ♦ ♦ ♦ GENE 3V and is reviewed in this issue of • Variety on Page 6. Cannes, April 30. Leo Dratfield, production man- xhe flags are up on the' Film ager of a commercial house, Con- _ ... temporary Films Inc., detailed the Palace of the 33 countries to be * n ' Europe to N. Y. Jack Bostick E. J. Davis - Audie Murphy Harold Myers Dr. Marcel Prawy * Dick Via N. Y. to Europe Erica Anderson Claire Bloom Frances Bolen Robert Cravenne Irving Drutm&n Jacques Flaud Eve Franklin Enrico Fulchignoni Milton Goldman Milton A. Gordon Paul Haesaerts Fred Hift Jerome Hill Alexander S. Ince Nunnally Johnson Robert L. Joseph Muriel Kirkland Lou Levy Mrs. Leonard Lyons Gordon Mace Ernest Mandeville Mary Meerson Don Murray Otto Preminger Jo Ranson Nancy Ranson John Read Walter Reade Jr. Manny Reiner ' Joan Seberg John Springer L. Arnold Weissberger N.Y. to L. A Mortimer Becker Steve Broidy Richard Conte Marjorie Davies George Englund L. Wolfe Gilbert Edmund Grainger Nat Lapkin Tom McKnight Sol C, Siegel Joseph R. Vogel Catch-as-Catch Cannes GENE 3 Cannes, April 30. cept their Serene Highnesses who The flags are up on the! Film will be visiting Rome. , 1 *^ ti,* ^ in in Balo delegation wanting to put temporary Films Inc., detailed the raiace 01 ine 00 countries to ne in- a replica of the Bridge 0 f Sighs practical economics of 16m sub- volved in the Tenth Cannes Film over the fashionable Croisette with jects. Just to get a print from Fest (May 2-17). No protocol was large lettering to the effect, “Visit Europe for previewing means a risk intended but some touchy neigh- Venice.” The s . Cannes Chamber of investment of $75. Any subject bors will be waving side by side. Commerce nixed this one. put into catalog requires a mini- The annual trip of festival guests Annual Battle of Flowers, In mum of 10 to 15 prints at $75 each, to the lies De Lerins, off the which the visiting stars rode down again a fair amount of capital to Cannes shore, will be reinstituted the Croisette and got pelted with tie up for a long-puH payoff. A this year. It entails drinking Per- flowers, will be out this year, common practice, and often pre- nod with the Mayor of Cannes and ^Andre Maurois will probably ferred, is for prints to be sold out- lunching on one of the Isles. It was head the feature film jury due to right to institutions for $100 to called off previously due to oppa- seniority, and Albert Lamorisse the $125 rather than rented at around sition by a nearby nudist camp and Short subjects judge due to his $7.50. . a monastery. All are now recon- many past prizes at these manifes- Look to Foundations for Coin ciled to the invading film people. tations (“The Red Balloon,” “White Theodore Bowie, of Indiana U, Prexy Favre Le Bret trying to in- Mane”). With five Gallic members who chaired one panel, threw out vite all the famed couples who met of the main jury staid members of the Idea that it would be desirable at the Cannes Fest, and later mar- the Academy Franchise, Dolores for foundation funds to finance art ried, such as Grace' Kelly and *Del Rio, George Stevens and Mi- films and for companies such as Prince Rainier, Olivia De Havil- chael Powell are boning up on Contemporary to get out of rentals land and Paris-Match editor Pierre French history. Charles Chaplin, entirely. Dratfield supposed that Galante, Kirk Douglas and Anne who has just finished his “The would curtail ‘the 16m distributor Budenz, Francoise Arnoul and pub- Kink, In New York,” may borne still further—“since libraries, mu- licist Georges Cravenne and others, here for a visit. Scribes are hoping- (Continued on page 20) Of the above, all may be here ex- he has a copy of the pic with him. Quote Walter Reade Jr.: “TOA has picked an executive director only I can’t say who it is. He doesn’t know it himself yet.” * With reference to the Rome incident caused by Italo Undersecre¬ tary Giuseppe Brusasca’s “premature” announcement that the Amer. icans would participate at Venj.ce this year, which reportedly upset and embarrassed Erie Johnston: Rome Film Row believes that it was a deliberate move on the part of the Italians and not an innocent slip made'without the realization that & recommendation to the N.Y. Board by Johnston did not mean automatic acceptance. Harassing moves are thought armed to pr 0 . voke acceptance of Venice by a sort of “fait accompli” move. Gloria Swanson, a candid 58, interested the N. Y. film colony no little Sunday as the first guest on the new ABC network show “The Mike Wallace'.interview” (Philip Morris Cigs) and handled herself with great poise, looking very handsome. Why she would not appear in a peekaboo dress at Eas Vegas, a la Marlene. Dietrich: “I may not have as good a figure.” About a crack of Francis X. Bushman that Swanson was drawing room and Marilyn Monroe was universal: “When I was about 14 he accidently touched me and I slapped his face” .. 4 and that might account for Bushman’s' dig . . . Fred Hift, linguistic member of Variety's home office film staff, off to the Cannes Fes¬ tival and-bther European.centres of cinema . . . will be.gone three weeks . . . Variety’s Paris man, Gene Moskowitz will also, per usual, cover Cannes. Erskine Caldwell says he’s not interested In selling a hovel to any major studio because' there’s no guarantee the adaptation ever will be filmed. Metro bought his “Greta” years ago and never did anything with it. His next will be “Certain Women,” due next fall from Little, Brown . . . Otto Preminger found the British production industry not so well organized as Hollywood. And the British press keeps a close eye on American film-makers at-work in their country . . . Buster Keaton recalls how his old hits used to draw $50,000 from England but only $5,000 from Russia, reason being prints would disappear after the Soviet first-run dates. . Committee of sponsors is being lined up for a testimonial for Louis Nizcr at the Sheraton Astor June 9. Attorney is to be cited for his philanthropic endeavors, .and proceeds go to the Yeshiva U Scholarship , Fund. Overheard on Broadway where a group of ladies were discussing which film to see: “There’s good movie at the Capitol, '12 Angry Men,* " said one. “I don’t want to see that. I remember seeing it on television,” said the other. (Picture is based on a Reginald Rose tv original.) Sidney Poitler, young Negro actor, re Southern race prejudice: “I'd rather be a Negro than a Southern white having to live with the in- consistencies / of his position” . . . World Horizons’ “Mark of the Hawk,” revolving around race conflict in Africa, was bankrolled by the Presbyterian Church for theatrical release, though it has no religious* content but speaks for racial equality. Last church group to get into theatrical production was the Lutherans with “Martin Luther.” Charles Egan, the MPEA rep in India is preparing to go to Pakistan soon to discuss renewal of a new film agreement there. The old one expires June 30 . . . Arthur Zegart, producer for Information Produc-. tions, to be .honored at a N.Y. luncheon today (1) as co-winner of the Albert Lasker Medical Journalism Award for 1956 . . . Gloria Moso- llnOp who has a bit part in Ella Kazan’s “Face in the Crowd,” is the wife of novelist Jamea Jones . . . Sam Engel, 20th producer, in town, ogling the shows. Metro purchased “No Blade of Grass,” John Christopher novel now being serialized in the Satevepost and handed it to Lawrence Wein- garten for production under Avon banner . . . Columbia signed Wil¬ liam Rayner and Herbert Margolies to script “Spain Sire,” teenager series which originally appeared in Woman’s Home Companion . .. *ingo Preminger will shoot Evelyn Waugh’s “The Loved One,” starring Alee Guinness, at Churubusco Studio, Mexico City. Hollywood newcomer Rory Harrity, 23-year-old Harvard graduate, son of playwright-writer Richard Harrity (“Hope Is the Thing with Feathers”) and novelist-short story writer Mrs. N, Davenport Camp, left fof the Coast this week on a WB two-picture deal. He’ll head¬ quarter with his great-uncle, veteran director Henry Brenon (“Beau Jeste,” “Sorrell and Son,” “Peter Pan”). Audie Murphy, who recently completed “The Quiet American” for United Artists release, returned from Europe * Monday (29) on the S.S. United States . . . E. J. Davis, managing director of Walt Disney Mickey Mouse Ltd., in from Britain yesterday (Tuesday) on the Queen Elizabeth. Skedded appearance of Sophia Loren on Edward R. Murrow’s “Per¬ son to Person” program May 3 was nixed by Paramount Pictures last week “because of production,” according to a studio spokesman. CBS-TV previously issued a brief statement that the Italian star' wouldn’t appear “as previously noted.” Actress will be in middle of last day’s full dress rehearsal for Don Hartman’s production, “Desire Under the Elms,” which-rolls May 6, studio, pointed out. The old radio alumnus Cal Tinney to do a dialog polish job on Nor¬ man S. Hall’s “The Missouri Traveler” for C. V. Whitney Productions. He’ll also appear in it . . , Jeff- Richards asked for and received his re¬ lease from his Metro contract after six years and 16 films . . . Nathan¬ iel Frey, currently In “Damn Yankees” on Broadway, will make hi? film bow in “Kiss.Them For Me,” Jerry Wald production for 20 th re¬ lease . . . Stephen' Longstreet to script “The -Cardinal’s Secret” for Laguna Productions . . . Richard Einfeld, exec assistant to Edward L Alpelrson, teamed with Merrill White to form Whitaker Productions, Universal’s, seventh annual Charles J. Feldman sales drive winds up Saturday (4) . . . Metro opened a new 1,000-car drive-in in Australia last week. Theatre is the 14th of the company’s Australian chain and the 46th in Metro’s overseas circuit . . .- Budd Rogers supervising the distribution of the RKO .combo of “Sdh Devils” and “Flying Leathernecks” set for 354 theatres in New England during May. D* are part of a group of films not included in RKO’s dead with Univer¬ sal and are being released by indie distributors . . . Harry B. Lachman, artist-film director, marks his return to the att field with a show of h» paintings At the Hammer Galleries, N.Y., May 1-14 . . . Jeff Livingston, Universal’s ad manager, in Newport News, Ya. to set premiere 01 “Joe Butterfly” ... Stanley Kramer will start his film production ox the Broadway hit, “Inherit the Wind,” this fall . . . Barney Ross wjj make personal appearances in 12 cities to spotlight regional opening’ of his film biography, “Monkey-On My Back” . . , Anthony Stw stricken with scarlet fever in Paris and is now in the American pital . . . Paul Radin named a v.p. of the Ashley-S.teiner Corp. of Bev-* efly Hills. He’ll also serve as a member of the board of b°th w, east and west ebast offices of the percentery . , . Reissue of w® 1 Disney’s “Cinderella’ 1 in 450 key spots expected to top $500,000 jj billings during Easter Week *. Robert Aldrich’s “The Ride Back s e for 150-date national saturation booking this month . . . Don Muff" off to the Cannes Film Festival, *.