Variety (February 1958)

11 . fVARICTY'Sf LONDON OFPICI ». > tt. MarHn'» Placa, Trafalgar* Square PfiaSBSf? INTEBSATIOBfAl Shaws of Singapore Expect Films To Be Co-Produced with Europeans Singapore/Feb, 11. 4<—— — ; .. —:—r- Co-production with European producers will become a reality this jigar for the Malayan film in¬ dustry according to Run Run Shaw who's partnered with his brother Runme Shaw in the Shaw Organi¬ zation. Latter outfit operates studios ..and has extensive theatre holdings in southeast Asia. Run Run Shaw, who recently re¬ turned from Europe, asserted that he had contacted producers in Italy, France and Germany with a yiew toward joint film-making with the Shaw^ Organization. Although not meaning anyone specifically, he declared that European stars and producers will come to Singa¬ pore before the. end of the year to participate in local production; Films with mixed casts -are be¬ coming increasing popular, Shaw pointed out, and added that his firm already has several stories in the planning stage designed for players of varied nationality. Pres¬ ent Shaw studios, he feels, are ade¬ quate for almost any kind of film but arrangements have been made to install a $500,000. laboratory for color pictures. ‘CABIRIA,’FONDA WIN HALO CRIX AWARDS Rome, Feb. 11; "Cabiria” swept top honors at this year’s' Silver. Ribbon award ceremonies for the presentation of the top Italian film prizes of the year. Film won both best pic and best direction categories, respec¬ tively for producer Dino DeLau- rentiis and director Federico Fel¬ lini while also copping the best fe¬ male acting award for Guilietta Masina and "the ribbon for best ’femme supporting role Went to Franca. Marzi. In the male sector, Marcello Mastroianni was Chosen as best ac¬ tor of the. year for "White Nights’’ while Andrea Checchi received the prize for the best male supporting role in “Parola di Ladro.” ' "12 Angry Men” (UA) was Voted the best foreign pic of the year by the Italian Pic Critics Assn., which annually selects the Silver Ribbon winners. Henry Fonda, producer-actor of the pic, was Un¬ able to attend since starred on Broadway but acknowledged the kudo as a "great honor.” fat’l Federation Okays 1958 Frisco Film Fest London, Feb. 18. In addition to the Venice Festi¬ val the International Federation of Film Producers has accorded: rec¬ ognition to junkets at Karlovy Vaity, San Sebastian, Leningrad and San FranciscO during the latter of this year. It already had given the okay to the Cannes, Brussels and Berlin fests. Venice comes within the classi¬ fication of a recommended festival to which national associations are recommended to. submit films. The others are classed as recognized junkets, the rules of which have been approved by the federation and individual producer members are free to support if they desire. Additionally, the International ,has okayed non-competitive junkets in Edinburgh, London, Melbourne, . Stratford (Canada) and Vancouver. ABPC Buys Into Tele London, Feb, 18. The Associated; British. Picture Corp. has acquired the minority Stockholdings in ABC-TV, from the Midland newspaper groups. 'With this transfer, it r s understood that ' ABPC nOW has a substantial block Of. stock in the commercial tv outlet. The newspaper groups which relinquished their stock were the Birmingham Post and-. Mail,- Ltd.,- Birmingham Despatch and Mercu¬ ry Ltd., and Brandford and Dis¬ trict NeWspaper Company Ltd^ Both the Birmingham Post and Mail and Westminster Press Pro¬ vincial Newspapers Ltd. hold stock in Associated Television. 'OPERA PLANE' TO EUROPE Trudy Goth Shepherdess for 15 t Culture-Happy Tourists Music critic Trudy Goth who Winters in N. Y. and. summers in Milano With; her. family left Over weekend as musical expert on-what is heiieyed the first "opera plane” ever to hit the European centres. Some 15 Americans bought the package Which calls for visits to Covent Garden, Paris Opera, Stutt¬ gart, Vienna, Milano, -Rome and other centres. Various backstage visits and social events in the for¬ eign burgs are. included. Party Will be gone about five weeks. It was organized via May- fair, latter retaining the lady crit¬ ic's services; Poles first Re3 Country to Fin Trade With Yanks ' Poland and the United States [last week signed a $1*009,000 in¬ ternational media guarantee cori- [ tract, enabling Poland to purchase, With her . own currency, American films, books, records arid periodi¬ cals. Deal involves .$1,000,000 arid is the starting guri for the purchase of HollyWood pictures by the Poles. This makes Poland the first of the former "satellite” nations to reestablish relations With the Mok tion Picture Export Assn. The only other Communist country which has been seeing American' films is Yugoslavia. . The Poles originally planned tak¬ ing between 45 to 60 American features. It now. looks as if they. Won’t take that many. There haven’t been any U S. pix in Po¬ land since 19481 Media guarantee program was signed as Poland and the, U.S. com* pleted arrangements for a $98,000,- 000 credit and sales, agreement, the second such pact between the two countries within a year. The first deal was for $95,000,000. Under the guarantee program, the Poles pay in local currency and the U.S. In¬ formation Agency' picks up the zlotys; paying the American com¬ panies dollars in New York. In any nation, where the guar¬ antee program is operative* the American Government, has. the right to pass on the films being shipped in. Fourth Swiss Film Prod. Outfit Formed Zurich, Feb.-18. A fourth production company making feature pix, Unitas-Film A.G.,. has been founded here under the presidency of national': coun¬ cilor P. Schmid-Ruedin. Dr. Oscar Dueby, former production veepee of Praesens-Film and Gloriafilm, has been named exec delegate. It has two Swiss pix already slated for production in 1958. Decision to bring this Country’s pix-produciijg outfits up to four indicates the upswing in local film production Which has been evident since last fall. Many blockbuster grosses were racked up by locally made pix. Three Swiss films have, been released since the beginning of the season, a record here. Active production companies here are:. Praesens-Film, .Gloriafilm, . Neiie Film A.G., and Unitas-Film: All are located in Zurich. Japanese Film Star to Wed Tokyo, Feb. 18'. Widely-known actress Yoshiko i Shirley) Yamaguchi is set for what will probably be her last film of an 18-year , career. Her bowout vehicle will lie "Utani Iki, Koini Iki” (To Live In Song, To Live In Love), a Tdho musical which, will co-star her with Setsuko Hara and Toshiro .Mifune. Miss Yamaguchi is slated to go to Rangoon after completion of the pic and marry Hiroshi Otaka, diplomat at the Japanese embassy there late in March. BOMB DISPOSAL PLOT: SURVIVOR TAKES ALL By GENE MOSKOWITZ Berlin, Feb. 11. Divided Berlin /offers a fitting background for "The Phoenix,” an. Anglo-American film with an inter¬ national cast, directed by American Robert Aldrich. Britain’s Hammer Films Ltd.'is listed as the produc¬ tion outfit, but, with three instead of the regulation two American stars in the Cast, this isn’t going to pass | as a quota picture. Elliot Hy¬ man Productions has some coin in¬ vested in the film arid United Art¬ ists will distribute: worldwide. Stars include Jeff, Chandler, Jack Palance arid . French actress. Marv tine Carol. Though Aldrich has his own production outfit. Associate & Aldrich, he’s only doing directorial chores. Aldrich cooperated, on the. script with writer Dave Chapin. He's now putting, the combined American-British - French - German cast through its pace in a twoWeek prehearsal period: Shooting start¬ ed Monday (17) on an eight-week iked.'" Story coricerns a group of six Germans Who form a bomb disposal unit after the war. Chandler and Balance are pitted against one 'an¬ other as the group agrees that 50%. of their pay goes into a kitty which; survivors are . to inherit three months later. Series of unexploded British l.OOd-ppunders sends most of the men up in smoke. ' The last man learns to believe in himself) humany arid love; again. -. j ... Production is in the , hands of Hammer Films’ exec Mike Car¬ reras. Yarik cinematographer Ern¬ est Laslo is doing the lensing. Film Producer Ploquin Quits Pix Aid Jury In France; Paris, Feb. 18. Film . producer Raoul Ploquin ankled the twoyear 6ld govern¬ mental Film Aid Fund jury . Which was giving out money, to filnis con¬ sidered of exceptional interest for filmmaking as a whole or of top Gallic prestige value both at home and abroad. It also handled im¬ portant French problems.' A mini-, mum of $37,500 per pic, arid as high as $125,000; has been doled 1 out to 35 pix in 1956 and last year for. grand total of $1,750,000. Ploquin felt that these handouts did not seryC their purpose and should be done away with. He is backed by the spokesman of the Syndicate of. French Film Producers, Henri Frenay, who be¬ lieves that producers: still went on making pix of purely^ commercial interest and considerations, and then submitted them for quality: awards. Except in a few Cases, most of the pix did riot deserve these funds, he indicated,, and they also got double dough xince all pro¬ ducers were also eligible for re¬ gular. Film Aid.; Kelp via percent¬ ages advanced ori local and foreign income. Frenay also pointed out that tax money paid into Film Aid coffers, via these kudosed pix, did not cover their outlay and even, lost needed money for the Film Aid fund. He proposed that the new Film Aid Law', noW being discussed for the Old one, runs out in I960, do away with this aid. He suggested that quality help be given only to pro¬ ducers offering unusual themes or giving new directorial, writing and acting talents their first chances. Limerick (Jo. Council Protests Fori-s ‘Moon’ . Dublin, Feb. 18. John Ford’s "Rising of the Moon,” made here for Warner’s, is subject of protest to the Irish government. Film Was released six months ago, getting good notices, but Limerick Courity Council has just got around to it. D. P. Quish told fellow members that the pic was " vile production and a travesty of the Irish people.” Qiiish asked that protest should go to Justice Minister With request that the government contact all countries With Which. Ireland has diplomatic relations to have the film Withdrawn. Protester got unaminous support from members, Gerard Hayes say¬ ing that if "Rising of the Moon” was to be a criterion-of what Irish film industry was going to be like then the least said, about it the better/. Official . government action. on the protest is unlikely. [Germany's Lack of Film Aid Law WEST END FACELIFT London County Council Mulls ‘Theatreland’ Reshaping London, Feb. 18. A : plan to reshape an important sector of the West End, in the heart of theatreland, is to he con¬ sidered by the London County Council. The. scheme represents one of the most ambitious portwar private development projects. If it gets the hod, this will involve the razing of the Cafe de Paris, the Rialto cinema and ri large number of clubs, cafes, shops and offices, many of which .Wow house thea¬ trical agents. ; : The block concerned is bounded by Shaftesbury Avenue (main the¬ atre street), Wardoiir Street (Lon¬ don’s Film Row) fend Coventry j Street which links^, Leicester- Square and Piccadilly Circus. U.S. Jazzmen Frankfurt, Feb. 18/ This year shapes up as a great one for jazz in Germany, France and the United Kingdom, with some of the top names in. the American entertainment biz slated for concertizirig in Europe. And the Americans are going to cash, in on some of that European franc- mark-shilling business; as the locals are always hungry, for top. Stateside names. Americari servicemen sta¬ tioned in Europe, too. Will be con¬ tributing; to the boxoffices as they keejp in touch with Stateside trends by viewing their favorites on tour here. Here's how part of the jazz ar¬ rangements shape up: ^ Norman Granz has set . "An Eve¬ ning with Ella Fitzgerald and the Oscar Peterson Quartet” for a month-long tour of 22 top European centers, starting in Paris April 10. Another. Granze production, “Jazz at the Philharmonic,” an an¬ nual favorite on the European tour¬ dating; starts its. six-week tour in, London May 2 with Coleman Haw¬ kins, Roy Eldridge; Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz and Sonny Stitt splitting the bM. One of the/jazz at the Philhar¬ monic units is- slated to crop up at the Brussels Fair in Belgium June 16, under sponsorship of the U. S. State Department. A Jazz West unit with June Christy, Bob Cooper, Bud Shank arid the Claude Williamson Trio starts at The Hague March 8, with two months bn the road in. Bel¬ gium, Germany, Scandinavia, Italy, Yugosla via, and Poland. . . And here’s a eross-sWitch. Pfc. Gary Crosby,. currently doing his military duty with the Seventh Army Headquarters In Stuttgart, is using up his administrative leave to join the tour in Holland and go through Germany with the group. World Pacific, Who have recent- i ly released a Gary Crosby LP, is to' record part • of the tour for later LP pressings. . AJ Hibbler does a 10-week tour of the continent starting in March, and Sarah Vaughan comes in April for a seven-week romp through Europe.' Buddy Rich/ doing the; Europe bit two months , ago with Harry James; comes back with his own group in March. | 3 More on Abbey Spring Sked : . Dublin, Feb. 18/ Abbey director Ernest Blythe has added three new' plays to thea¬ tre’s; spring schedule. First Will be "Look in the Looking Glass” by Walter Macken who authored “Home Is the. Hero.” It will be followed by. "Cufflin* Johriny” by the late Louis D’AIton — a piece that Was discovered in final draft state after"his death, and “Change of Mind” by John O’Dpnovan, assistant editor of the Dublin Eve¬ ning Press, who authored earlier Abbey comedies. Ria Mooney is expected to direct all three productions. Paris, Feb. 18. Although the Common Market, between France; Italy, West Ger¬ many and the Benelux countries, technically has been in effect since Jan. 1, no direct results are ex¬ pected; until 1962. However, the outcome of the CM on the film set¬ ups. of the big three film producing members has become a daily mat¬ ter of discussion and even contro¬ versy in film circles here. The pro and don reactions over the Frerich Film Aid Fund Law which runs’ out in December 1959 also are involved in the CM future apparently. Since it has to go be¬ fore the National Assembly next spring/ this statute has become a priority matter. Some film circles here feel that Germany’s lack of State film aid may become a prin¬ ciple amorig CM members and de¬ prive France of this important as¬ pect in film producing activity here*. ' Operating since 1948, the Film Aid law staved off a great film crisis. Since then, in spite of ap¬ parent health in the last few years, the Gallic film industry always has been skirting future of current crises. Aid law coin comes from a tax on adiriissions from the visa payments .ori.... any film exhibited here in the French lingo (this covers local p ? x, Gallic coproduc¬ tions and dubbed foreign films). The Aid fund is administered by the governmental Centre Du Cin¬ ema with Industry members also sitting in on the hoard. In 1956, there was $18,750,000 in tlie kitty, 50% going to' exhibitors for modernization of their houses, 35% tp producers who invested it in more production (producers get 7% of local take and 21% of for¬ eign)/ arid the remainder went for backing shorts production, organi¬ zations to hypo Gallic pix abroad, and to technical aspects of film- making. Most French Filmites Favor It Most filmites . queried by Variety felt that the Film Aid Fund Was indispensible for future French film health. They-claimed that production has shot un since its inception from 72 all-Gallic pix in 1949 to 109 in 1957. Film invest¬ ments, filmgoing and the foreign take all have-gone un. The Film Aid has allowed the Gallic pic to garner over 50% of its own mart With more production apparently engendering better pix. Those against Film Aid claim it did not help bring more money into film production, and produc¬ ers are just getting back what they lose at the boxoffice. They also feel | that too much production has led to a lowering of quality with too many quickies, since producers have to put Aid dough right back 1 into productibn. They believe that fewer filths arid bigger productions should be the thing. Germany might easily take a top place on the CM film marts due to its larger cinema attendance arid riiorietary superiority. With Ger- , many calling the turns, this could also mean possibly doing away with auotas on American films in all CM countries. The French to¬ day Want to keep strict foreign film quotas as well as the-Film Aid law. The new burgeoning German UFA operations also point to Ger¬ man leadership in the CM film agreements to come. Still Seek German Govt Backing for Film Aid Rome, Feb. 11. An important plea for German support of the still-planning Euro¬ pean Film Community will be made in Bonn Thursday (131 by a three-country committee having delegates from Italy, France and Germany. Meeting lias been twice before postponed for illness and other reasons. Tripartite committee will make a strong pitch for German legislative con¬ formity to the current film aid setups in both Italy and France. Germany currently has no such aid legislation, arid this lack is consid¬ ered a major hurdle in setting up thus pic pool. Nicola de Prrro and Eitel Mona¬ co will rep Italy at the talks; Henri Frenay and Jacques Flaud will represent France. Germany Will be in the hands of Roland.. Risse and Kurt Schoene.