Variety (July 1957)

EVTERNAXIOXAL 19 *VAgl*TY / f # LONDON OFFICE 1 tt. Martin's Plata, Trafaliar Hvir* i f -Berlin Film Festival-1957 By HANS HOEHN , Berlin, July 9. Cutest guest.Denmark’s moppet Eva Cohn Most charming guest ........... .Nippon’s Izumi Yukimura Most publicized guest .ditto Most modest guest, male .Henry Fonda* Most modest guest, female .....Finland’s Ann Savo Most active guest ..O. E. Hasse Most natural guest.. England's Trevor Howard Most drink-conscious guest .....ditto Most active delegation .....The Mexicans Most sympathetic delegation ....The Indians Most crowded social affair .U.S. reception Hottest affair ..Film Ball at Praelat Most evangelical visitors_...The Moral Re-Armament peo¬ ple from Nigeria with their film “Freedom” Festival’s nastiest visitor ..The heat Wave MexDownTo 3 Studios But Labor ‘Pleased’ Mexico City. July 9. Rather than face, the threat of the private owners, the Emilio Az- carraga syndicate, to demolish the Charabusco Studios; most modern in Mexico, and plow up the land for residential dwellings, the Govern¬ ment is withdrawing from ts own Clasa Studios. These have op¬ erated at a deficit paid by the Gov¬ ernment and this “favoritism” was bitterly excoriated by Azcarraga some months ago when thg. Chara¬ busco fate hung in the balance. As presently contemplated Clasa stages close down July 31 and its labs by October. Erasure of Clasa leaves Mexico with two studios, Tepeyae and San Angel Inn, other than Azcarraga’s. * Shrinking of the number of stu¬ dios actually delights the craft un¬ ions; according to Felipe Palo¬ mino, secretary-general of the technical-manual workers locals of the Picture Production Workers Union (STPC). Calling abolition of studios (first the Azteca, now Clasa) “not any sign of decadence in the picture industry, but a whole¬ some reorganization.” Palomino sees more and longer work for his folk with concentration of pic treat¬ ment upon the three studios. He cited the work capacity of the three surviving plants as 100 features an¬ nually—Churubusco, 50; Tepeyae, 30; San Angel Inn, 20. Churubusco has 12 stages and can shoot six pix monthly; Tepeyae has ten stages; San Angel Inn, six stages, Foreign Works Dominate; Ready Tables' for BJL; French Mime Marceau Due Buenos Aires, July 2. Legit imports are flourishing here with productions from Eng¬ land, France and the U. S. on the boards. Impresario Francisco Pe- trone is rehearsing Terence Ratti- gan’s “Separate Tables” for which * he’s signed Ana Arneodo nnd Eva. Donge for top roles. Producer, whp put on Eugene O’Neill’s “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” before its acclaim in the U„ S., has sus¬ pended the Play’s run at the Odeon to make room for French mime Marcel Marceau. Latter’s been booked there for July. Narcisco Ibanez Menta has passed 100 performances of Jean Anouilh’s “Oraifle,” translated from the French by Maria Elena Ramos Mejia, and is rehearsing French playwright’s Fritz Hoch- jwalder^f “Sur la Terre Comme HCieL” Likewise, Delia Garces has done excellent business in Graham Green’s “The Living Room” at the Empire. But due to prior film commitments she must withdraw from the cast, necessitating the play’s closing. Film actress MIrtha Legrand is to take her first flyer in legit via a provincial'tour in “The Moon Is Blue” and “Ocupe Toi d’Amelie.” If the venture proves ■ successful, she may appear later at the OdeOn for a late spring season.. . At Berlin Fest, Yankee Showmen & Bureaucrats Not Wholly Compatible By HAROLD MYERS Berlin, July 9. Berlin,Film Festival jury selec¬ tion of “12 Angry Men" as the best picture was acclaimed and had been forecast, *$ny other choice would have been unpopular. The fact that it also received the Catholic Film Prize gave the Henry Fonda production a double walk-' over victory. The film to collar the largest number of prizes was the Asso¬ ciated British entry, “Woman in a Dressing Gown.” In addition to Yvonne Mitchell’^ award as best actress, it got the International Film Critics hod as best pic, and was runner up to the Fonda film for the Catholic award. It’s become almost a h^blt for the Disney Organization to Walk off with the top documentary award, and this year’s prize-win¬ ning entry, “Secrets of Life” main¬ tained their run of* victories. Berlin has been a pushover for them year after year. America made an important im¬ pact at the Festival, both socially. ahd commercially. The .annual MPEA party was the gala event of the festival, and the presence.: of special reps’ from Washington in the persons of Russel B. Turner of the Information Agency, and Nathan D. Golden, of the Dept, of Commerce, added special recogni¬ tion to the occasion. There was, however, some evi¬ dence of a behind-the-scenes clash between U.S. industry and U.S. government reps. According to Inside info, Turner had received advice from Washington to collect any prizes accorded the U.S., and insisted on keeping that brief. The industry, for its part, felt it was entitled to take the credit, particu¬ larly as there was a strong likeli¬ hood of Fonda returning from the Riviera. Industry got its own way, even though Fonda did not show up at the last moment. British Outfit Sets Deal With L Herman DEFA , ... Berlin, July 2. Kenneth Rive, head of the Brit¬ ish distributing outfit, Gala Films, has closed an exclusive fiveyear deal with DEFA, the East German film producing organization. Under the pact, Rive has the flrst re¬ fusal to the UK and Common¬ wealth rights of the entire DEFA output. Deal also gives him sole facilities in the export of British pix within the East German terri¬ tory. All British* producers seeking an East German release will have to negotiate via Gala. Rive recently negotiated a simi¬ lar deal With the Russians in Mos¬ cow, and is the sole UK distrib of all the Soviet output. He 'also controls a small chain of first-run art houses in the West End of London. BELGIUM POLLS Unique attempt to establish “the greatest motion picture of all times” will be made in conjunction with the Universal and Interna¬ tional Exhibition -at Brussels, Bel¬ gium, next year, (only one world’s fair every six years is now author¬ ized by the nations). Plans for the event, one of three separate competitions that are to be part of the Brussels Fair, were disclosed in Gotham last week by Jacques Ledoux, curator of the Belgium Film Library. Ledoux has charge of this particular project and also of the planned interna¬ tional experimental film competi¬ tion. Organized separately Is the World Film Festival, for which Bel¬ gium is trying to obtain authoriza¬ tion from the International Federa¬ tion of Film Producers Assns. Fest will be similar in character to Can¬ nes and Venice. Purpose of the quest for the best films of all times, according to the official text, is to “draw world at¬ tention to the great films of the past and to combat prejudice which causes the cinema to be regarded as a fugitive and perishable art.” • As a preliminary, some 50 film historians all over the world will be asked to nominate their favorite 30 films from all countries, cover¬ ing the period from 1895 to 1955, or 60 years. The pictures with the most votes then will be. compiled into a master list from which a second jury, consisting of artists, from various fields (but not the cinema), will pick the top 12 in order of their importance. There’ll be seven personalities on that sec¬ ond jury. Ledoux said he, personally, wasn’t convinced of the wisdom of picking a top film, adding that, within the tqp dozen the different¬ iation would be slight. However, he commented emphatically, “from a publicity point-of-view, I think the picking of a winner is abso¬ lutely essential, and I quite ap¬ prove of it.” The head of the Belgian Cine¬ matheque held that, to him, the type of picture that won top honors madp little difference, since the main emphasis was obviously on ! cinematographic values. He Said this held true, too, should pictures like “Potemkin” or "Birth* of a Nation” cop the prize. The Cinematheque de Belgique has a large collection of old films, but—at the moment—no facilities' for screening them, Ledoux re¬ ported. He hoped that the situation would be. changed by next year. Outfit recommends outstanding pictures to the some 200 cinema clubs In the country. It is not per¬ mitted to circulate films itself. ‘BABY DOLL’ EVADES ARGENTINE BANNING Buenos Aires, July 9. Warner Bros, released “Baby Doll” here yesterday (8) on the eve of Argentine’s July 9 National Independence Day, at the Metro¬ politan, Normandie, Ideal, Premier and Suipacha central first-runs, day and date with 5 big neighbor¬ hood houses, an unusual day-dating for here: This puts an end to rumors that the Tennessee Williams picture would be nixed by local censors or the National Screen'Institute. Censorship at the moment is a sensitive . question. This refers especially to clerical Cordoba, where a“morality Commission” re¬ cently banned two Swedish pic¬ tures “A Summer with Monica,” “The Horse Traders’ Daughters,” the French version of “Lady Chat- terley’s Lover” and the Italian “The Tower of Nesle,” all of which were exhibited without trouble in | this metropolis. ' Screen Institute sees all releases to classify thejn as to what age classes should be allowed” to view them. France-Italy-Germany Teamplay Speeds Europe’s Film Community Nottingham Test Rome, July 9. Another step in the direction of a European Film Community is London, July 9. England is having a heat wave, and picture houses are having a slump. So, to combat the weather, the manager of 978 seater theatre in Notting¬ ham, belonging to the Gau- mont group, cut his admission prices by three and four Brit¬ ish cents—with the consent of the company. If it pays nff, the policy might well he adopted else¬ where. British Film Biz Down, Salaries Up 3%; Cinema Admissions Decline 5.9% London, July 9. Gross takings down by 1.5%. Wages and salaries up by 3%. These are the contrasting high¬ lights emerging from the Board of Trade's annual survey of the mo¬ tion picture industry here. Gross receipts during 1956 ex¬ ceeded $291,000,000, as compared with $296,000,000 in 1955. Actual paid admissions were off by 6.9%, but the difference was partly made good by tire increase in seat prices introduced half way through last year. Paid admissions in 1956 amounted to 1,101,000,000 - as against 1,396,000,000 in 1950, the year in which the BOT began its annual surveys.' The downward trend has been evident in the number of paid admissions each year, but not in the total of gross receipts, mainly because of fluctua¬ tions in seat prices and the scale of'arimission tax. Although gross takings were down, the industry’s contribution in admission tax showed a rise of | approximately $1,400,000 to $95,- 000,000. That figure represented about 32.5% of the b.o. receipts. Film hire, at around $66,000,000. showed a slight drop on the pre¬ vious year. British pix received about $21,500,000 in film hire, equal to 32% of the total rental payments. After meeting all their statutory overheads, and film rental charges, exhibs wer left with around $123,- 000,000, a drop of 2.7% from 1955. A separate breakdown of distri¬ bution costs shews that they ac¬ counted for 20% of the totall ren¬ tals in 1956 compared with 19% in 1955. The share paid to producers amounted to approximately $39,- 500,000’ or 5% less than in 1955. The British producers share, how¬ ever, jumped from $11,750,000 in 1955 to $12,600,000 in 1956. After deduction of direct distribution ex¬ penses and payments to producers, distributors were left with $12,- 380,000. That total represents drop of 1% from 1955. Hungarian Documentary First Taifree Film Frankfurt, July 9. Moved by sympathy for the Hungarians and the desire to spread the story of their fight for freedom throughout West Germany, the Munich city authorities have just set a trend by allowing the first full-length film to play in Bavaria completely free of theater admission taxes. Pic is the Karpat-Union film re¬ lease of “Hungary in Flames,” which the German Film Classifi¬ cation Board tagged as “especially outstanding,” meaning that it is eligible for some reduction in box office taxes throughout West Ger¬ many, But the 100% tax-free rating is one that has never before been allowed in postwar Germany. Film is documentary on the heroic struggle of the Hungarian people for freedom and independ¬ ence. claimed to have been made by the permanent three-nation committee charged with laying the ground¬ work for a Continental Film Pool following a get-together in Berlin during the Film Festival in that city. Principal step would be sub¬ stitution of current two-nation co¬ production pacts with three-nation agreements, as S kernel for the proposed Pool uniting European countries’ pic industries in a common tie. According to an official an¬ nouncement, agreement was reach¬ ed in Berlin on the following points: (1) a proposal to substitute with a single tri-partite agreement the current bilateral pacts binding the Italian, French*. and German pic Industries; (2) adoption, within the proposed tripartite pact, of the "most liberal” of the clauses In the current bilateral agreements; (3) braking of rising production costs currently threatening production everywhere; (4) adoption of a common standard in regard to the laws governing employ of foreign¬ ers in each of the three countries; (5) similar common fiscal standard to he adopted by pix in co-pro¬ duction and taxes on personnel engaged in such activity. These points will be elaborated into a common pact to he submit- .ted to the joint committee at its next meeting, slated for Sept. 24, 25, and 26 somewhere in Italy, after which it goes to the respec¬ tive governments for final approval into law. Present at the Berlin meeting were Messrs Eitel Monaco, Alfredo Guarini, and Lidio Bozzini for Italy, Messrs Walter Koppel, Wolf Schwarz, and Schoeue for Ger¬ many; and Messrs Frenay, Deutsch- meister, and Poire for France. Yanks Ignore Legit Portion Of Venice Fest . Rome, June 25. An unusually varied group of companies will perform at this year’s International Theatre Festi¬ val at Venice, 16th of the series. Program is entirely dedicated to the work of Carlo Goldoni, and will be performed by legit groups from Italy, France, Portugal, Poland, Rumania, Germany and Yugoslavia. Fest kicks off July 5 with Goldoni’s “II Campiello,” as staged by Carlo Lyidovici, performance be¬ ing timed to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the Venetian author’s birth. Foreign troupes will follow in turn, with the Bochum Shauspielhaus performing “La Vedova Scaltra”; Poland’s Nowa Huta Theatre Company stag¬ ing “Ariecchino Servitore di Due Padroni”; the Teatro Experimental de Oporto (Portugal) giving “II Curiso Accidente”; and the French company of the Grenier de Toulouse presenting “A Locan- diera.” Others at Venice will be “I Rus- teghi," done by the Rumanian Pop¬ ular Theatre, and “Le Baruffe Chiozzotte,” as staged by the Za¬ greb National Theatre. Fete will wind up its multilingual run with another Italo-language staging, by Luchino Visconti, of Goldoni’s “L’Impresario di Smirne.” Goldoni commemoration contin¬ ues during the summer, with a con¬ vention of University Theatre Groups scheduled for Aug. 5-13. Repped there will be Barcelona’s Teatro Universitaria Experimental, Zagreb’s Studensko Eksperimen- talno Kazaliste, the Leeds (Britain) University Co., and the Venice Ca* Foscari University Group. _ ^