Variety (October 1958)

INTERNATIONAL 13 . 'VAHIITY'*' LONOON •PPICI «*f. ftbtftivr Pl*c*t Twill—r Hww PlSUBFr Yank Films Top Filipinos’ Fares -•. {. . .' Washington* Oct. 7. YaA'motlbh^pIqtortSenjoy an Overwhelming lead in the Phil-* ippihe market, acObimting tor a total' .of 679 of the 773 feature length lti^r->hown there, durmg 1957, the U. S v pept of Com¬ merce diictoged in '* fieW-Teport; . Import* of'British »nd Chinese-language dims increased, al¬ though the U: $..h?eounted for 87.8 percent of the total feature film imports M 1957, a slight decrease from the 89.5 .percent share of the import market held during 1958' All imported newsreels and practically all short subjects are of TJ. S. origin. Six motion picture companies in Manila account for the major¬ ity of'leaturefilm production in the Philippines during 1957: L. V. N. Productions, 29; Everlasting Pictures, =7; Peoples Pictures and Premiere Productions, 20; Sampaguita Pictures, 21; and Larry Santiago Productions, 6. , There Is some exportation of motion picture films from the Phil¬ ippines. During 1957, a-total of 1,049,653 linear feet of Sims were exported, valued at 105,032 pesos (two pesos equal $1). The major¬ ity of Philippine exports go to Hawaii, with minor exports being received by Hong Kong and Indonesia Remittances and taxes are still snarled up. On Oct. 2„ 1957, the Philippine Collector of Internal Revenue issued a ruling against the major U. S. film companies operating in the Philippines, as¬ sessing the group of 3,200,000 pesos in corporate ^income taxes covering the period from April 23,1956, to July 30,1957. This rep¬ resented a straight 24 percent withholding tax on the income of the foreign corporations. Another assessment by the Collector-is still pending for retroactive corporate income-taxes for the period 1951 to April 1956, involving another 12 million pesos. The U. S, film companies paid the 3,200,000 pesos under protest and ap¬ pealed the case to the Court of Tax Appeals. In July 1958 another appeal'was made following the transfer of the Collector of Rev¬ enue to another position. No date for court action on the tax case has as yet been set. This tax issue arose when the Collector of In¬ ternal Revenue, reversing rulings of Us two predecessors, held that a straight 24 percent withholding tax was applicable pn the motion picture distributors as foreign corporations. Yank War Pix, Comedies, Oaten Win Favor at Paris B.O.; ‘Kwaf Leader (Dispatch below assumes piquancy against public poll of > Dourdim Institute of .France (VARixfcF, An*. 13, last) which had all V. S. fifes law In favor with French, Comedies liked ' only by 3% and war Alms by only t% wtdeh bring* up fk* , old qnn rtl On: how useful are opinion Surreys to Aim show¬ men ? ■ J d.) Paris, OcL 7. Yank filmmakers and overseas distributors are looking more care¬ fully at foreign grosses because they loom ever larger in import- ‘Lady* Set io Debut In Aussie Next Tear Sydney, Sept 30. . Sam Liff wiU produce “Mjr pair Lady' for J. C/ Wlllamaon Ltd., with the debut timed .'fdr ; Aext January at Her Majesty's -Theatre in Melbourne. Final casting tor the Aussie run would be decided by the shows’ U. S. sponsors on get-together with Williamson’* ex¬ ecutive director, Harold Bowden, now in London. ance with the current fiscal setup. A look At What the Parisians pre¬ ferred in Yank pix fare at firstrun situations, provides some idea of French tistes in American produc¬ tion for ; as Paris goes so usually go subsequent-tuns and hinterland grosses. - \. Thus‘far; in current seasdn'/ bniy 16 of tb.ey ; top-50 'groSsers- were American.' Biggest interest seems to be in big-scale wat fikns.h'aving plenty ofglojMand violence. Thus, ’ "Bridge on River Kwai” (Col) was >asHy No. i here; with over 642,985 patrons for- its first- run. “Young- Lions” (20th) 'Was next at the wickets. Further along came "^Farewell to Arms!’. (20thl and the 'Ftench-American "Bitter* Victory”; CCol). A reissue of Charles Chaplin’s '‘Great Dictator” (UA) also fared wfelL There was. also, a trend here towards -spSpefise, comedy and. ad¬ venture.-pix. * Even - an ’ bater and one mupal*. '"&&&^ jup; *nicefe. They were “Wtihesi tor Prosecu¬ tion” (UAr, "Paris HqQday" (UA), "Pardnersr.-f^r)’: tdbjin Martin- Jerry Lewis toam caught on her* about timA-it spltt up)," the Italo-Aifaricah'-^^hii Angry Age” (Col), "JUlmfight at Q.K. Corrai” (Par) ' "IslairtMfaL Suitf .(2p0r. : ;ifej 1 hit the list .while it* tiame Values (Marilyn-Monrpe and SitLaurence Olivier) helped "Prince and Show¬ girl” (WB). Some pix in Paris can be made by highbrow critical acclaim which can. give, a produc¬ tion a long-run In one house via its subtitled version. Typical of this was Orson Welles 4 ’Touch of Evil” (U) .which was last on the list Incidentally, Chaplin's "A King in New York” did well on his name. Other offshore pix to short were the Cannes prizewinnintfRusso pic, "Flying Cranes”; the Italo "Cabir- la” and "London Calling North Pole.” The remainder of the list was made upFrench films. Such hard-ticket Vehicles* at "10 Commandments” (Par), ' "Around World in 80 Days” (UA) and Ciner¬ ama also have done excellent biz. The Yank blockbusters did much better than the French attempt to get into the act with a new ver¬ sion of "Les Miserables,” Roles of Higgins and Eliza had been given to Robin Bailey and Runty Turner on a London deal. Further casting would he complet¬ ed after U. S. huddles. Understood that J.C.W. will lift all restrictions on "Lady” musical score here by next December. Lifting, of current bah will see heavy plugs for musi¬ cal numbers prior to the Mel¬ bourne preem. British, U.S. Pix Scribes Agree Vs. Price Catting By Yank Film-makers London, Oct. 7; Subject to ratification, British' and American screen writers have agreed on the principle'of affilia¬ tion to protect their member* from price cutting by U. vS. producers operating id Britain And Europe. TheblueprintwfrS’agreedafter a five day conference between reps of the Writers Guild of America (East and West) and the British Screen and Television - Writers Assn, in which ’ toe] talk* Ranged Over the whole Held o| iCatiue films and television. The guild was repped by its eastern and western; executive directors, Evelyn Burkey and Michael Franklin, and the British writers, by its full council. The two negotiating teams also considered and worked out a. for¬ mula for improving the position of British screen and tv writers who are hqt as yet covered by minimum terms agreement in their own do¬ mestic market. The talks were a sequel to pre¬ lim discussions in Hollywood last month, when Carl Foreman repped the British association and out¬ lined toe problems created by un¬ dercutting. At those discussions it was recognized that from affilia¬ tion would emerge improved work¬ ing conditions for writers on either side of toe Atlantic. That/in turn, would result in improved material, which could only lead to improved business. Lotsa Yank Fibs Unspooling But Wko-Gets-What and Under Winch Spanish Bureau Unsure •----► By HANK WERBA British Lion's Trading Loss $299,586 in Past Year; Stidio Badly Hft London, . Oct 7. A trading loss Of $299,586 is re¬ ported by British Lion Films for the year ended last March $1 against a profit of $80,278 for the previous year. After various other charges, including depreciation, provision for loss under distribu¬ tion guarantees, directors’ remun¬ erations and payment to a former director, the loss is increased to $943,919, compared with a profit of $48,238 for the previous year. British Lion Studio Co., which operates the Shepperton lot, showed a loss of $560,652 for the year. As a result, the directors recommend passing the . 8% pref¬ erence dividend. In his report to stockholders, the new British Lion chairman, Doug¬ las Collins, says the year had been. an exceptionally difficult one for the company and . the whole indus¬ try. There was no indication of any recovery in the volume of admis¬ sions and it was expected that the fall |n attendances would continue, although it was hoped the decline would not be as rapid as in re¬ cent months. Collins also commented on the deferred stock in. British Lion, which was created last April With the approval of the National Film Finance Corp., of which 180,000 shares, have- been issued to John and Roy Boulting, Frank Launder and Sidney GilRat, and David Kingsley. The effect of these ar¬ rangements, he says, is that the in¬ terests of these working directors are now wholly identified with the future success of toe company. The new working directors of British lion would be responsible for producing approximately one quarter of toe films to be distribut¬ ed In a normal year and the bal¬ ance would come from independent productions which were usually partly financed by distribution guarantees. lit his report to stockholders of toe studio company,' Collins said continuing efforts art. betogmade to reduce studio costs and also to attract to Shepperton production, of films for tv. Company’s fexturt films would occupy about half of the capacity of toe lot At on extraordinary meeting to follow the annual stockholders session, the name of the company will be changed to Shepperton Studios. NEW FILM TAiSrON IRISH PLAYS KK SOME IRISH Dublin, Oct. 7. N Tags chosen .'for the first films of. Emmet * Dalton Productions from the new Irish studios at Ard¬ more, Bray, already have got the “Irish” up among the_ Irish.' Pic¬ tures, which will be given theatre distribution, in Britain and Ireland- by British Lion Films. Corp, and are destined for U.S. tele through RKO^eleradio, are all based- on Abbey plays. The irked Irish, who haven’t yet seen the pictures,. say that the titles’ are enough to make them "stage Irish.” .. -Hugh Leonard's-"The Big Birth¬ day,”. which . stars ;;Barry Fitzger¬ ald in the ffhff version is now “The Broth Of a Boy,” Walter Macken’s. 'Home ls the Hero,” Arthur Ken¬ nedy starter Which wax seen in. a stage Version on Broadway, how becomes "Bibs of the Fathers/*^ - j ' George Shiels! . "The New Gos¬ soon” .which everybody admits j heeded retitljhg .Wan export- or film 'version, *Wm. be released as "Sally’s Irish Rogue.” - Japan Producers to Cnrb Anti-Nipponese Films Tokyo, Sept. 30. The Japanese Motion Picture Producers Assn. (Eiren) is-study¬ ing means to prevent possible detrimental reflection on local in- rustry and the country in general from foreign shooting in Japan. The question arose after a Taiwan¬ ese company filmed a locationer called "Seven Days in Tokyo” which exploited burlesque, Turkish baths, nude photo studios and questionable hostelries. 'Also brought to light was fact that the Southeast Asian crews filming in Japan employ* local technicians, allowing for the pos¬ sibility of finished product being mistaken for Japanese films. Rep Ends British Lion Pact; Signs Eros Films London, Oct. 7. Republic Pictures has terminated its fiveyear dea^ with British Lion, which it negotiated only two years ago, and has concluded a new long-term releasing arrangement with Eros Films. New deal an¬ nounced by Reginald Armour, Re¬ public International's executive veepee, took effect from last Mon¬ day (29) and embraces the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is for five years. Rep Immediately will be hand¬ ing over to Eros 78 pictures. The distrib will decide which, and how many, go into immediate release. In any event, it has been agreed in principle that they should be spread over a period and not all put out immediately. In the two year* that British Lion handled the Republic product, it released 140 of the Hollywood’s productions. The deal with BL was terminated at Republic’s own re¬ quest as it-felt that toe British outfit, particularly under its new management, was most interested in handling its own British output Anssie Senator Urging GwtSubsidy to Saw NatirePix Production Sydney, Sept 30. <? Senator George Hannan stated in Parliament recently that the Robert Mensies liberal govern^ ment should set a blueprint to sub- sldize the Aussie film industry in order to save It from extinction, j He said that pix with a local back- ground couM help immensely.in publicizing Australia overseas. The senator went bn to say that this country was spending millions in South-East Asia through the Co¬ lombo plan, but that films would- make Australia better known than farm machinery. "Gina Lollobrigida is better known in Colombo than, any die¬ sel locomotive,”' he added. “I believe it is a tragedy that Our film industry is in danger of extinction, unless the government takes positive steps to further it,” he concluded. Govt. Not For^Film Subsidy .Canberra, Sept 30. ' Understood in this political cen¬ tre (Australia’s Washington), that the Robert Menzies government will, not subsidize local pic produc¬ tion id any shape or form. Belief among the Majority of politicians I is that the government has more j urgent needs to take care of pres¬ ently, such as unemployment [ housing and a terrific downbeat in keyv. exports to the U.S. to worry about than- aid for local pic pro¬ ducers. This leaves the problem of a Down Under production upbeat tb the d^erseas'producers and any local - angels ..who have survived, uwto Te Rescue . -The. Hecfat-HUI-Iancaster unit wiH tobotv"^miper of 17th Doll” starting next Nttrtmber her&r Di¬ rector Lbtile Norman and Cecil Ford, productionexecutive, have been scouting locations here and setting final details. Norman has returned to Hollywood for confabs, with Ford going on to London. John Mills wjll star. Stanley Kramer is due here next December to set production on the Nevil Shute novel, * "On the Beach,” with Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner and Fred Astaire in toe top roles. Film wiU fab shot mainly in Melbourne, Independent produ¬ cer Roger Corman hopes to get his cameras working here beat Febru¬ ary on "She.” Corman looked over this zone for a couple of weeks pri¬ or to returning to his Hollywood base. Locally just now cameras are stilled and there is little chance of any upbeat this year. Even the lo¬ cal tele pix producing market is limited because a majority of this celluloid comes direct from the U. S. in cans. Madrid, Oct. 7. Dearth of Hollywood films in the Spanish market is a thing of the past, at least for the season getting under way currently. Quality con¬ centration of Yank product is un¬ usually high, representing the cream of U.S. film fare barred from Spanish screens during the past three years. Distribution breakdown was de¬ termined last June when a tem¬ porary pact between Spain and the Motion Picture Export Assn, gave American companies 18, a s imil ar number to Spanish banners on per¬ centage distribution terms with 22 others availahle to local releasers via outright peseta purchase. Commerce ministry, in disagree¬ ment with plan revealed by Dirtc- cion General de Cine, altered and extended list of 40 features going to Spanish distribs. Additional 12 import licenses were conceded for U.S. indie product contracted six to twelve months back.* Trading directly with U.S. con¬ tinental managers, Spanish distribs have purchased considerable mate¬ rial for future release. Of approximately 100 Yank fea¬ tures available to the local mar¬ ket, MPEA members will release only 2L This is the market status affect¬ ing current talks between Mediter¬ ranean MPEA -director Frank Ger- vasi and Spanish film authorities, MPEA goal is ft 1958-59 pact that will establish an MPEA quota re¬ vising allotment percentages to ; compensate for the handout U.S. companies here received under the | interim accord last June. Minimum annual need i* six to eight films per company. Speed and success; of present parieys.depend on two factors, local sources say. First is continuing am¬ biguity as to which of two minis¬ tries holds final jurisdiction in al¬ location of import licenses. Other is possible tendency of government negotiators to consider the 100-odd Yank pix now available an ade¬ quate 1958-59 quota with no press¬ ing need to speed a pact at this time. MPEA product is giving the new season a brilliant send-off, but negotiator Gervasi still has to solve the more fundamental problem of survival for MPEA companies in Spain. Cork Film Fest Director Denies a British ‘Boycott’ Cork Ireland, Sept. 30. Although the British, who vir¬ tually bankrolled first film' fest here three years ago when it was approved by the International Film Producers’- Assn., have, no feature for screening at third Cork Film FestivaLwhich opened here last week, fest .director Dermot Breen denies that Britain is boy¬ cotting the event He says that “there was nb suitable stuff avail¬ able,” adding--that one feature which was considered wasn’t ready for screening, and another "The Horse's Mouth/' went to Venice. Feature side jOTFest is ripn-<»m- : petitive, and Brseen points to the competitive sifie^-.confined to doc¬ umentary, educational and ani¬ mated productions, which has nine entries from British sources. A total of 54 shorts from 24 coun¬ tries are on the sked for this week for scrutiny by judges panel of John Grierson, Either Peter Con¬ nelly (film critic of "The Fur¬ row”), Etienne Lallier (France) and Karl Klar -(Germany).' Of the 14 features set for screen¬ ing only one is from a major Amer¬ ican comp any, '‘The Old Man and toe Sea” (WB). This has already been on view *t both Brussel* and Edinburgh Festivals. Colum¬ bia has been 4i*cbssing an exhRv it, but the regular sked Is now full. “Rome Eternal/' lensed by an NBC crew in cooperation with. Na¬ tional Council* Of Catholic M#n, in four half-hour segments for tv. Is on list as a feature.