Variety (June 1957)

*VAftlITY*r LONDON OFFICI -t St. W U rH w 't Pit •/ Trafalgar-Sevar* PfouEtir t\TERNATI«\AL IS New UFA Starts Out Slowly With Distrib Pr(^ram Set Before Prod. Berlin, May 28. "Moderately, modestly and re¬ servedly, that's how the new UFA will operate." That was the way Amo Hauke, chairman of the di¬ rectorate of Universum Film-AG (Berlin) and-^UFA Theatre AG (Duesseldorf), had to say here at a press confab. Hauke pointed out that the seven months of the past year (the new UFA is operat¬ ing since June 1 last year) had been used to take care of all branches and to newly formed branches of the old concern. Hauke said the "unpopular de¬ cision" was made to wait with the; production of its own feature films Ifalo Catholic Action Rejects 39 of 506 Pix Rome, May 28. The Italian Catholic Action’s CCC (Catholic Film Centre) film reviewing group last year classi¬ fied 506 feature productions into its various audience groups. Only 39 of this total were tabbed as "excluded” for all audiences, while 168 were okayed “with reserva¬ tions." With regard to Italian produc¬ tions, only nine of the year’s re- ...... . , . , , .. , viewed total of 96 pix were^placed Untll T™ e A '^ h0le n Str « CtU J e ° A f i he i in “excluded for all” classifi- new UFA is really fixed. And frictionless cooperation between all the functions of the UFA con¬ cern is secured in order to cut down the risks of its own film pro¬ duction to a minimum. During the 1957-58 season, the UFA-owned distributing company, Herzog- Filmverleih (Munich), will bring out a number of pix on the do¬ mestic market. Thtf first UFA- made pix are to be available for the market during the 1958-59 sea¬ son. UFA at that time will also London, June 4. David Kingsley, managing direc¬ tor of the National Film Finance release German and Austrian pix Corp., reported that it had been ordered by UFA. As part of the preparations for future feature film production, UFA already has set' up a New Talent Studio which will give young actors as well as scriptors, directors and cameramen an ar¬ tistic and technical training. The UFA - Handelsgesellschaft (trade company), a 100% fcubsid of Uni¬ versum Film AG, Berlin, is already successfully keeping itself busy Tvlth manufacturing and develop¬ ing cinematographic equipment. • As previously reported, UFA soon will start producing vidpfac just as soon as good cooperation between the film industry and television is established. Also it was pointed out was the fact that UFA’S stu- 1 dios and printing plants currently are working at-50-60% of capacity which spells -profit. \j the best year for the NFFC since it Dearth of Top Comics Blamed for Slow Biz For Glasgow Vandery Glasgow, May 28. Shortage of good comedians with boxoffice draw is given as one rea¬ son for near-shuttering of the Em¬ press vaudery here during the sum¬ mer season. Theatre will open for twice-nightly shows on Fridays and Saturdays only. According to the management, there is a great short¬ age of Scot comics good enough to bring in large audiences every night. ' “Audiences* will will get good variety over weekends,” Fred Luker, house manager, said. “As soon .as the summer is over, we will revert to week-night opera¬ tion. If anything worthwhile comes along in the meantime. It will be put on as a weekly attraction.” Paisley Theatre, another vaudery which has. been on a weekends-Only basis, is reyerting to full weeks’ vaude shows In the fall. ACTT Would Bar AD foreign Fix Technicians London, June 4. A tnove to preclude employment of all foreign technicians in this country has been made by the Assn, of Cinematograph, Television and Allied Technicians, which in¬ structed its members not to work on quota pictures for American companies after Aug. 1, unless all technicians a re B ritish and mein- lxft of the. ACTT, or that the pro¬ duction has been okayed by them. The general council of the asso¬ ciation has decided to advise the . Ministry of Labor and the major : Tank companies of this decision. Action is being taken to enforce the ACTT’j policy that both the producer and director shall be British on all quota pix made by companies not covered by the British Film Producers Assn, quota cf*fore£gn tecnirians,~ The action is likely to continue until the com¬ panies concerned agree jointly to meet the ACTT to negotiate some form of quota agreement i cation. NFFC Has Best Year in History juyas formed eight years ago, with a profit of $237,236 as compared with a profit of $221,670 for the previous year. Kingsley said it was not the NFFC’s aim to make profits but to try to do its job with¬ out losing taxpayers’ money. . He revealed that NFFC would like to see British Lion returned to private interests, providing an attractive, enough offer was made, but stressed that-any inquiry from a non-British source would not be seriously considered. T^e corpora¬ tion topper said that when the corporation was formed it ‘was never foreseen that it would have a direct interest in the distribution of pictures. Taking over of British Lion had not been a planned move by the. ^government; but merely a fortuitous one. Although the- accounts for Brit¬ ish Lion have not yet been pub¬ lished, it seems certain that itiwill show a profit for the year up to March 31, after showing a net profit of $174,398 for the previous 14 months. Kingsley said the NFFC was concerned with supporting world distribution of British pictures, and would go out of its way to help pictures with an international potential! The volume-of production helped by the NFFC had exceeded any year since 1952-53, “possibly," Kingsley explained, "because we did in the end participate in pic¬ tures which British producers made for. U. S. distributors. I think it is a good thing to. increase the total volume of picture making in this country, provided It does not have a disruptive effect and provided that they are genuine British pictures, not just American ones made on location." Ex-Rep Aussie Topper May Rejoin 20th-Fox Sydney, May 28. Following the shutdown of Re¬ public’s British distribution setup, Vic Green, who left here a couple of years ago to take over the top British post, planed back to his home base and will probably re¬ join 20th-Fox, who previously handled Republic distribution here. For a long time few Republic pix hit the key cinemas here and it’s known that the Rep. toppers were concerned about the low in¬ take secured with the product Down Under. CEA Votes For Some French Fihnites Squawk Over Pre-Prod. Tampering by D. S. Majors Gleneagles, Scotland, May 28. A plrfn for an additional penny on all seat prices, to be payable as statutory levy on all such seats, was accepted by general council of the Cinematograph Exhibitors Assn, here. It would be known as "the levy penny.” Plan is that it would be made on the basis of no additional tax liability attaching to it. Plan is likely to be put to the Board of Trade and the British Treasury. Estimate is that such an addi¬ tional penny, at current rates of admission to taxable seats, would yield approximately $12,000,000. Exhibs also proposed some form of exemption limit for cinemas with small net takings. 1ST GERMAN PIC SET FOR ISRAEL EXPORT Frankfurt, May 28. "Rose Bernd,” ‘ the Bavaria- Schorcflt film Starring Maria Schell, is slated to be the first German film exported to Israel. * Film will be shown there this falL The pic, based on a play- by the German playwright Gerhart Haupt¬ mann, is a sentimental story of the seduction of an. innocent young girl. Pic has been sold in France,-Fin¬ land and South America. Star Maria Schell flies to Hollywood to work- on "Brothers Karamazov” for Metro, Then she goes to Ifokyo for the Japanese* opening of ‘Bernd" German film ixMustry is anxiously awaiting the reception of "Bernd” in Israel, as it may open the way for a new outlet for Ger¬ man-language films. CEA Meets in So. England London, May 28. Next year’s summer J convention of the Cinematograph Exhibitors Assn, will be held at Bournemouth,: a south coast resort, June 16-19. This will be the first CEA con¬ clave to be held in the south since 1953. Universal to Release first German Pic In U. S 4 2 Stars Signed Frankfurt, May 28. Universal will release the first German picture to land on its post¬ war U. S. schedule, Alfred Daff, company executive revealed here this week. „ Daff said the film, "Portait of an Unknown Woman,” will be released in about three months in America. Pic Stars Ruth Leuwerik and O. W. Fischer, the German star whose contract with U-I recently was broken after dis¬ agreement over his filming in "My Man Godfrey.” Daff said that release of-"Por¬ trait” in the-U. S. is an experiment with' German films. If it is suc¬ cessful, other outstanding German! pix will be considered for U. S. release. He pointed out, however, that with fewer and fewer first- generation Germans throughout the U.S., he feels that arty houses showing German-language films have a constantly decreasing audi¬ ence since the second-generation foreigners prefer American films. Hence, German films have to have international appeal so that they are worth dubbing. Daff is also interested in sign¬ ing other German film personali¬ ties, having contracted Cornell Borehers, "the only German star outside of Marlene Dietrich who has made three films in America in two years,” and Marianne Koch. Queried about the O. W. Fischer incident, he added, “Our interest in German personalities isn’t les-J sened to any degree because of any unfortunate experience., “There’s not the slightest antipathy to Ger-; man stars. “Americans don’t care where a star comes from so long as he or she is good.” And he •stressed that the Universal policy of hiring German stars . “is. a big help to the German Industry in getting a world market.” BKS Fellowship Award To Rank’s John Davis London, May 28. The Honorary Fellowship of the British Kineinatograph Society was conferred on John Davis, man¬ aging director of the Rank Organ¬ ization at the Society’s recent con¬ vention here. The award was.made for his “inspired leadership in the Paris, May 28. Various producers here are be¬ ginning to squawk against the pre- production inroads being made into French films by U. S. majors and indies as well as U. S. foreign film distribs. (Yank majors naturally want pre-production say-so because of PCA and censor aspects in the U. S. market) Although most French prQducc-rs are for this, in hopes of denting the general U, S. film marts, the dis- ^ senters feel this may finally water fields of production and exhibi-! down Gallic pix and eventually de- tion whereby, through the effec- stroy the so-called unique Gallic tive promotion, encouragement and ) qualities. Columbia was one of the realization of technical develop- ■ first to begin to back Gallic pix pri- ment has in great measure served * marily for European distrib. Then, to raise the cinematograph indus- ’ Columbia set up a special depart- try to its present high level." j ment to have first call for U. S. Speaking after the award hasj distrib on these pix if they had (he been conferred, JDavis said it had j right quality. Col now is going in for coproduction deals entailing practically full backing and making tnese pix in two versions, as is the case with the three pic deal with Raoul Levy, or completely in Eng¬ lish as the recently completed “Bit¬ ter Victory,” produced J>y Paul Graetz. Certain Gallic film people feel this leads to scripts being changed to the American style, with endings and characterizations that, in many cases, may destroy the so-called ar¬ tistic impact of the pic. They still feel that the arty house film is the main Gallic wedge onto U. S.' screens, and if they click there, it is an easier step to general distribu¬ tion. Claim TntT Film Grosses Lead They fall back on the fact that the national films still make the most internationally. They, point out that recent Gallic hits in the' U. S., such as “Diabolique," "Rififi,” "Silent World,” “Proud and the Beautiful” all started from arty theatre sources. Most of coin came from these smaller houses. They feel that the French should keep up U. S. distrifc in this manner. They maintain there are still enough sex and exploitation pix for general chances. They are for in¬ creased U. S. production in France which utilizes Gallic stars to help introduce them to American audi¬ ences which would pay off later in these stars’ Gallic pix. Eady Fund Increases 1128,800 Over 1956 London, June 4. At the end of the third quarter of the current Eady Levy year, the British Film Production Fund showed an Increase of * around $128,800 above the figures for the same period last year or $5,602,431. Takings for British pictures, lyvhlch up to the end of March had + been on the upgrade, showed a drop of more than $520,000 for the same period a year ago. The BFPF announced that the ninth interim allocation to producers-distributors for the-seventh year in respect to the four weeks up to last April 27 would be 30%. of cumulative rentals. For the 39 weeks these totalled $16,171,030 compared with $14,864,600 a year earlier. Levy collections for this period amount¬ ed to $5,602,430. i come as a complete surprise. Mex Indies Plan To Battle Chain Mexico City, May 28. Indie exhibitors throughout Mex¬ ico are being mustered by 21 of* them here who call themselves “The Group of independent Pro¬ ducers and Exhibitors of Mexican Motion Pictures,” via paid ads, to form a front and Interview Presi¬ dent Adolfo Ruiz Cortines. These exhibs plan to protest against what they brand the trust formed by the recent organization of two big¬ ger chains—the Cadena de Oro (Golden Chain) and the Operadora dc Teatros, with the buying out of circuits aiid distribution firms which Sen. Abelardo L, Rodriguez, ex-President of Mexico, and Theo¬ dore Gildred, American filmite, controlled. These indies charge that enlarge¬ ment of the two circuits constitutes - unconstitutional monopolv which is fast forcing them into bankruptcy. They claim it drains off cinema biz and blocks exhibi¬ tion of their pix. : The group expresses hope that the government will help them on the theory that the administration doesn’t want to loose the $8,000,000 which it provided as a hypo to the Mexican film trade. The indies call expansion of Cadena and Opera¬ dora the greatest recent threat to, the general well being of their i trade since, they aver, it may mean i practically a closed corporation. 1 MPEA EXEC HOPEFUL Japs Shot 514 Features In 56, With 32 Tinters; Seeking World Markets Washington, June 4. Japan may have become the world’s No. 1 producer of film in volume of output. During 1956, reports the U. S. Dept, of Commerce, a total of 514 HU DUTITDDIUC DC A PV' feature-length films were turned Ur I niLirrUICi fLAUijout there. Of these. 32 were in The production total marks Tokyo, May 28. Before returning to Manila, Leo Hochstetter, Far East manager for the MPEA, voiced hopes that he will be able to patch up difficulties with the authorities there and not have to suspend shipments of U.S. films to the Philippines as threat¬ ened. „ He intends to see the Secretary of Finance and the Col¬ lector of Internal Revenue to try and solve the tax problem. Hochstetter. declared the tax authorities introduced ndw rules in mid-March. These are retroac¬ tive to 1951. And on top of this, a 50% penalty was charged for willful fraud starting back In *51. . On the tariff that threatened a duty of $15 (30 pesos) per meter of imported first prints, Hochstet¬ ter said the figure has been reduced tD one peso, "If we get a reasonable tariff, cancellation of the tax order and a liveable remittance level,” he said, "the withdrawal order will be revoked.” M. Lion to Produce Yank ‘Secret Thing’ London, May 28. Tony Britton is to staY in Brit¬ ish Lion’s "Every Secret Thing,” adapted from the best-selling Amer¬ ican novel. Shooting of the pic will start at Shepperton in August un¬ der the direction of Brian Desmond Hurst Sergi Nolbandov and Josef Somlo will produce the picture, which will be released in the UK by British , Lion, and overseas through Lion International Films. I color.__ a sharp increase over 1955 .when the Nips produced 423 features, in¬ cluding 11 in color. In recent years, India has been the principal volume producer of films, making them inexpensively on an assembly line basis and hit¬ ting in the vicinity of 500 annually. With their production pace, the Japanese are now pushing hard at the world markets, throwing over¬ seas just about everything they’ve made In the past few years. . For instance, no fewgr than 1,158 Ja¬ panese features were exported last year, a 17% jump over the previous years’s 987. The Japs, however, aren’t earning much in the foreign markets. Their 1956 take from exports is estimated at about $2,000,000, only 1% of the $200,000,000 and more which the Hollywood companies annually earn overseas. During 1956, says Commerce Dept., a total of 199 foreign fea¬ tures were released in Japan. Of these 124 were American/ 27 were French, 22 British, and 2 Soviet. Theatre admissions were up sharply in 1956 in Japan. A total of 994,000,000 were reported, con¬ trasted with 885,000,000 in 1955. Opera Star Into Taxi ftlz Vienna, May 28. Met-Vienna State Opera star Ljuba Welitsch has taken out a license to run a taxi company in the Austrian capital. That she thought of everything is proved by the fact that the headquarters of the taxicab en¬ terprise will be exactly In front of her apartment.