Variety (January 1959)

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January 7, 195$ Fifty-third J/&RIETY Anniversary PICTURES 61 Japanese Film Statistics Chuck Teitel, Dan Goldberg Plotting a Feature Film To Be Shot in Chicago Chicago. Vet Chicago filmite Chuck Teitel (whose father, Abe, now on the Coast, founded the World Playhouse arty on Michigan Ave.) is planning to expand his Windy City activities to include feature pic Tokyo. Statistics provided by Uni-Japan (Assn, for the Diffusion of Japa¬ nese Films Abroad Inc.) show that 579,566,000 persons went to the cinema in Japan from January to June of 1958. This reveals a con¬ tinuing steady climb as evidenced by comparing the above figure with the same periods in 1957 1554,896,000), 1956 (496,123,000) and 1955 (430,828,000). While attendance shows a 4.4% gain for the first six months of calendar 1958 over the same 1957 segment, b.o. receipts were up 7-6% to 37,729,659,000 yen ($104,804,608 at legal rate), excluding tax. In WhiCh averaged 22Wo of admissions, the bo. take was t“ure ‘production.1' In association $127,722,417. with Dan Goldberg (onetime legit The average admission price was 65.10 yen (17c), an increase of 3.3%. ! producer, tradepaperman and pub Feature-length productions produced and released by Japan during j licist) Teitel is casting about for.™ . . ~ — — , r . . , Jan.-June 1958 totalled 244 with an average footage of 7,377. Fifteen^ suitable “offbeat” script to be j here, they are so perfectly syn It™"*.111 , 1S spui companies participated, with the Big Six (Shochiku, Toho, Daiei, Nik-: located and shot in Chicago. j chronized with matching lip move 11 om bUU t0 700 takes and katsu, Toei and Shintoho) being credited with the great majority. Of j Teitel points out that his city is ! ments even m closeups that it’s : 5e 1 the tntal, 83 were in color and 143 were wide screen. ian important centre of commercial [nearly impossible to note that the ] 0 . ., • 1 a A considerable increase in the production, schedule vras anticipated ; fBm production, and sees no rea-| star^ vieren t speaking German. j tQ t a .,2rfect match, for the final six months of 1958 as Japan swung to heavy double-f ea ; son why it can't recover some of ; It’s a trade gag of the sync labs j Af,nllc4:~ H„hhpd in ainnor ture programming after mid-year. The complete 1957 production total >its old lustre in the theatrical pix.j that even the industry experts are i . . .. , it, 1h _ /to =i,i _ j r__ incc 1 dm Hp and Gnldhprff. hp savs. sometimes fooled when seem? a wun tne voices, ana it s the custom GERMAN DUBBING AN ART BUT NOT TO ‘ARTY’ LEGITS By HAZEL GUILD Frankfurt. audience identifies a particular Many millions of filmgoers in German voice with each leading West Germany are firmly con1 American performer, and the vinced that the Hollywood leading j V01ces become as characteristic as lights— Kim Novak, Elizabeth Tay ! th^ Peculiar husky tones of Lauren lor, Rock Hudson; John Wayne et | Bacall or Aldo Ray’s grating tones, al — speak flawless German. j Dub actors don’t memorize their Reason is that when thg Ameri j B^es. since the script is read in can films are shown in the theatres } short scenes with the images un was 443 with 514 registered for 1956. sun. He and Goldberg, he says, ! sometimes fooled when seeing a , . Latest available figures showed 6,863 motion picture theatres in Japan j | with 617 in Tokyo, 257 in Osaka, 91 in Kobe, 84 in Yokohama, 121 in i SSfdln g entries from several ! made ori**inaUy ftain may sound differently in Nagoya, and 71 in Kyoto. The total seating capacity was in excess of j.establislied authors. Provided the j Bavaria Film Studios in Geiseli Germa1ny fr0111 in .the State-s» three million with theatres having an average of 440 seatst I rieht varn dods ud in time, it’s gasteig near Munich do about *xamp1?’ since voices sound dif 10^ S frli. ?mo!J!,n !ferent ™ 3 Sma11 fl’0m COn“ niptnnl : versation spoken in the outdoors, 0?i5 I the dubbinS is done either in a for their skill in matching lip cioset-iike compact area or in (Japan’s population is £9,283,823, 50,285,638 being urban and 38,998,185 rural.) Exports for Jan.-June 1958 listed 484 features :sold on a. flat rate basis and 63 on percentage deals. The breakdown for the period is as follows, with the first column of figures giving the number of films sold at flat rates, the second giving the number sold on & percentage basis and the third giving the total flat rate income for those films and that country. All figures are in dollars. 1 TO DOLLAR AREAS • ! FLAT ON FLAT-RATE % IN S United States . . . . 105 .35 163,484 Okinawa . 227 ^ 0 273,084 Thailand . . 1 0 2.126 Poland . . 3 0 2,733 Venezuela . . . ; . 2 0 2.169 Israel . . 2 0 2,115 Argentina . . . 0 4 Hong Kong . . . 16 0 12.131 Czechoslovakia . 4 0 9.385 Burma . . 0 2 Peru . . . . . . . 1 0 1.400 Bulgaria . . 1 0 2.508 Spain . . . . . ,.. 0 1 England .... _ . 0 3 Belgium . . 1 0 855 Finland . . . 0 1 Vietnam . . 0 1 .. I • TO NON DOLLAR AREAS I ■Hong Kong . FLAT . 28 ON f 0 FLAT-RATE 'c . . IN $ : 31.221 j Thailand . . .: . 8 0 15.214 Indonesia . . . 2 0 2.100 Denmark . . . . . 1 0 742 Russia . . . . 3 0 15,002 France a . . . 3 1 6.358 ■; Italy . . . . 0 2 ; Mainland China . . . 42 0 83.437 I Brazil . . . . 33 14 35.180 i • Germany ........ . . 1 4 63 Totals . . . . 7 . 484 68 661,306 Imports for Jan.-June 1958 totalled 83 with the following break down: U.S.A. (59), France (8), England (6), Italy (4>, USSR (1>, Ger many (3), other European (2), South America 10) and Asia (0). Tax Relief established authors. Provided the right yarn pops up in time, it’s planned to start lensing the pic in April or May. Pair want a “neo-realist” adult theme a la “Waterfront,” “Little Fugitive,” ] movements. Cost' of the joVco'm ; ^Tchamber^h snecLwftects* etc., but aren’t certain yet whatlplete synchronization with one vasAt chamber "ith special screen process to shoot in or • German print, is about 25.000 Ger American music is generally whether it’s to have color; I man marks (about $6,000 >. kept in a musical, with the U.S. Teitel and Goldberg will share! “Almost nothing is impossible production credit under banner of , for us in dubbing American pic-lthe French “Port des Lilfacs” t’ e the Teitel Film Coro.. Teiters to ! tores ; into . German now,” accord j 'who sang in his native tongue. It B?.v?na s dubbinS division. ; prove(i very popular with the local “We do it by nose, as the German ; alldipnpp. J K a vine eces.” j . : ■ Surprisingly, says von Sell lieffen, “You can take a good picture the Teitel Film Corp., Teitel’s im¬ port distributorship. Capitaliza¬ tion will depend on the final script. Teitel says he has a number of potential investors lined up for the major bankrolling, with he and Goldberg also planning to sink some coin into the project. If pro¬ duction is met and the pic clicks, it’ll likely be followed by a one-ayear sked. It’s planned to use mostly local talent, though it may be necessary to import a few Hollywood and/or New York thesps. saying gees.” Dubbing American films into ; j ,is fairly easy since words ; and make it even bettar But you in the two lan.uages are often { certainly can’t synchronize a lousy f » ‘ £ rt S0Und and., 1fngth’ Picture into a great film.” French, likewise, ran easily be as ■ similated into German. ; .. . J Next down the list of difficul¬ ties in sync is Italian because the people talk so rapidly and say so I. many words. D.G. Crystal Ball Teitel, besides his distributor! exhibitor status, also operates a ; Continued from page 13 ; INC Helps Build Buenos Aires. The National Screen Institute, now dubbed INC (Institute Naconal de Cinemategrafia) at a ■ in one week in July, a 5% jump ; over comparable week of ’57. Commerce Dept, said the up; ward trend of boxofflce receipts • should be maintained at its present Since the Scandinavians put the ; accent on the last syllable of a wrord instead of the first, as English ; and German speech generally does, ’ these films are more difficult to i sync unnoticeably. Impossible to dub, though, are ! leveb” the Oriental films, because the; “Though it is not expected,” re¬ movements cf the lips and sounds ! 1959 will increase greatly, it of the wordsare completely difj port added, “that attendance in ferent. ! in ’58, expected to reach $1,200, Doing the American picture into 000 ($4,000,000 over ’57' but $5,German. takes from five to six.; 000,000 under ’56 >, is largely ex¬ weeks, and the average $6,000 fee ; plained by higheradmission prices is believed about a quarter of : in ’58, as shown in Labor Departwhat the same job would eost in : ment consumer price index surthe States. 1 veys. The index, it was pointed “We have more experience in out, was 124.7 in ’56, 130.5 in ’57 dubbing than the Americans do.” and, for the first three quarters of Education Ministry’s rep on the j von Schlieffen explains. Even be^ : *53 Was 137.8. 136.0 and 134.8, re¬ board reported on INC’s achieve fore the war, Germany was buying : spectively, all highest ever, ments in the five months since films from other European counj Bureau of Census figures inthe Frondizi-appointed board, took j tries, and the audience demanded ; eluded in report counted 18,560 office last May. j that the pictures be played in their motion picture theatres in opera Best of the achievements was in ; native tongue. j tion in U.S. in 1954, with 3.799 of evidence in the conference room j Translation of the American j them drive-ins. As of Jan. 1, 1958, since such major exhibitors as ! script into German starts the six ! there were 17 825 theatres operatFrancisco Lococo Sr. sat amicably j weeks work required for the sync ' jng 0f u-hich 4 400 were ozoners ; Continued from page 3 ; mendation of what should be spent for what. Congress has the final say, through appropriations bills, of which expenditures „ can be made. Shortly after the November election, the most one-sided Demo¬ cratic victory in 22 years, Presi¬ dent Eisenhower said the nation chose “big spenders.” The Demo¬ crats dispute such an assessment, but the months ahead will hold the verdict. Rep. Wilbur Mills CD-Ark.), chairman of the House Ways & Means Committee, which, under the Constitutional process must originate all tax legislation, con¬ firmed in an* interview that his committee will give consideration early in the session to several tax changes being advocated by the Treasury Dept. Some are of a technical nature, but one is a proposal which would have the effect of raising taxes on. cooperatives. Another wrould in¬ crease the gasoline tax. Once a tax bill comes up for consideration, advocates of halving the cabaret tax are almost certain to try to amend such a bill to give relief to the depressed night club business. Whether such an effort can succeed in 1959 remains to be seen. The advanpe odds would appear to be against it. Rep. Frank Thompson Jr. (DN.J.) is trying to win support for his novel approach to giving a tax benefit where live performers are used. The Thompson Bill, prepared for introduction the day Congress reconvenes, would exempt the first $2 of an admission ticket from Federal tax when part” of the program involved is “performed in person within the place of admission.” This would include any motion picture theatre with a vaudeville layout or any other program in which “in per¬ son” talent constitutes an impor¬ tant segment of the entertainment. Obviously, it is aimed at such all beside former bitter producer op¬ ponents such as Daniel Tinayre or — — .sss Carlos Borcosque, with distribu“substant;al tors and stars andabl)r spotted about. Recent native releases, notably Catrano Cat-rani’s “Alto Parana” and Artistas Argentines Asociados’ j “El Jefe” are enjoying excellent runs, both here and in the prov¬ inces, which seems to have broken the jinx hanging over Argentina’s film industry for so long. The INC can’t be blamed for taking some live shows as ballets, musical of j of the credit for the atmosphere ferings, legitimate theatre and the like. A second feature of the Thomp¬ son measure would knife the cab¬ aret tax in half. Congress in 1958 gave longawaited tax relief on admission tickets, a help which took effect Jan. 1. Under this successful effort, spearheaded by Sen. Robert S. Kerr (D-Okla.), powerful member of the Senate Finance Committee, the first $1 of any admission ticket, regardless of the total price, is tax exempt. It was adopted over the opposition of the Treasury Dept. The political significance of the Thompson proposal is that the Con¬ gressman introducing it is a Demo¬ crat and it already has the support of a key Republican organization, the egghead Committee of Arts and Sciences for Eisenhower. It also has backing of the American Fed¬ eration of Musicians and Clarence Derwent, prexy of the American National Theatre & Academy. And while the Treasury Dept, is certain to oppose any tax change that wrould result in less income for Uncle Sam, there is a chance. of success surrounding the confab. The present INC setup is un¬ doubtedly implementing the Aramburu government Film Law (which Zolezzi disclosed was patterned on France’s legislation) to best effect, conscientiously and honestly seek¬ ing to pull the industry out of its moral and financial doldrums. While the report stressed that INC does all it can to cut red tape and promote the industry’s interests as quickly as possible, Zolezzi appealed to producers to rational¬ ize their owrn organizations. here. Then a writer and actor go over the script, reading it as they view the picture to see how the words fit the lip movements. Names Kept Secret ‘A bright factor in the exhibi¬ tion field has been the steady growth in the number of drive-in theatres,” report said. Report took notice of fact that motion picture theatres are get¬ ting less than their share* of in¬ creasing public appetite for enter¬ tainment. Dollar outlay for all types of recreation has climbed anj nually, with motion pictures fol Dallas Arter’s Decade Dallas. The 10th anniversary jubilee of the Coronet Theatre will start to¬ day (23) with the presentation of “Lovers and Thieves,” the last screen satire written by the late French author and film director, Sascha Guitry. The Coronet Theatre made its debut in 1948 under the manage¬ ment of Alfred Sack as the first motion picture art theatre in Dal¬ las. Sack has planned a 60 day series of top films as the Coronet’s anniversary jubilee. Stage; radio, television and screen actors from Munich and from as far away as Hamburg, Ber¬ lin, Duesseldorf, are hired to do the dubbing. But usually their identities are kept secret. For one ! ... • „ reason, well-known actors feel it I SSinS hurts their prestige— although not j their bank accounts — to be associ | ceipts beb-nd national perated with dub work. Some stage j JentaS? ^crease in expenditures directors feel it is unarty to dub, ! ^°L. entertainm<?nt. and object to their actors working! 5urln* 49°3 penod report at this employment. And in the i !ald an average of about 360 U.S. past, when the local publicity fca j ^eatnre films were produced antured such ads as “Danny Kaye is ' nuaBy* Ix* ^455* production fell dubbed in this film by Georg i to aho^ ?50, followed by an upThomalla,” the German film critics ! 5? I27? prod,u_c,.ed> and gave too much emphasis to the!.57 (300). A factor m o6-o7 was German star doing the dubbing. I increase of production by mdeBecause" one Duesseldorf stage j pendent film companies, who corndirector objected to members of i pleted some 140 features in ’57. his theatre group doing dubbi .g, | fQ ’58, report continued, first 11 the sessions were sometimes sched j months saw only about 200 feature uled for midnight until eight a.m. i fHms completed, with ohly 80 of Players finished their roles, rushed ! them by independents, off to nearby Remagen to work! Report said capital invested in all night at a vne job, and rethe U.S. film industry is estimated turned to thdr: homes to sleep dur i at $2,738,700,000. of which about ing the day. But this blaek-of-the i 93 % is accounted for by motion night work isn’t usual today. j picture theatres. Approximately Leading German dubbing* studios ! 143,000 people are employed in keep a master list of leading i the industry, with an annual payAmerican stars, with the German ! roll of approximately $446,750,000. actors and actresses who generally j Concludes the report: “It is . . . speak their parts. The local talent. { becoming more evident that the depending on name and ability for \ producer and the exhibitor must sync, gets from $40 to $75 a day : work together through star partifor working at the voice duplica ' cipation in selling the picture to tion. Then, whenever . Judy Holliday or Kim Novak or Gary Cooper is in a film, the same German syn¬ chronizes the voice. So the local the public, for it is still the star and the story that draws the au¬ dience, and it" is to the advantage of both that attendance be in¬ creased.”