Variety (February 1959)

Wednesday* February 4, 1959 PfiiitEFr PICT HUES MEX SCREEN: NOW 60 % NATIVE Weltner On De Laurentiis Dino De Laurentiis (take George Weltner’s word for it) ran away from home in 1935 at the age of 14—his father owned a spaghetti business—to join the Actor-s Studio Experimental Theatre in Rome, then went into various phases of film making, and at Id produced his first picture, “Last Combat." Weltner, who’s Paramount’s v.p.-global sales chief, continued: De Laurentiis during the war fought with the Italian underground “and after the war he did ‘The Bandit/ which I have accused him of being many times." (Par and De Laurentiis are partners). * Thus introduced, De Laurentiis, in New York last week, offered some thoughts on the business of iraking pictures. He speaks the Italian. tongue, using an interpreter, but is savvy to English suffi¬ ciently to correct, as he did, the interpreter’s in-English relay of one of his comments. De Laurentiis is Italian by birth and in name and manner “but we who belong to the picture business have no nationality; it’s one universal family.’’ As for pictures, there’s no hope for poor product “but for good pictures the industry is stronger and more valid than ever.” His idea on how to lick the problem of changing public tastes .is to make either spectaculars or artistic productions, and best of all is to fuse both elements. He undertook such fusion, he said, with his recently-completed “The Tempest.” . As De Laurentiis explains it, he tried to give a neo-realistic touch to a costume entry, combining the element of spectacle as in his “War and Peace” and “Ulysses,” and the qualities of his “Bitter Rice” and “La Strada." He’s met with success, at least in Italy, where “Tempest” already has outgrossed “War and Peace.” Next co-production with Par is to be “His Name was Bolivar," De Laurentiis will go to S.A. shortly to work on the preliminaries^ which include the enlistment of 3,000 soldiers to trek over the ’Andes. U.S. Less Than Liberal in Aiding Foreign Trade-Says National Council Only vigorous and persistent' ef-4— : -—--—- forts on the part of the American . Government, in cooperation with EiVergreen LiVIS the governments of other free na- „ Houston, F6b, 3. tions, .can help the world reap max- A “Don’t Forget Elvis” show imum benefit from a large and was held at 11:30 p.m. Friday expanding flow of international at the North Main Theatre trade. . with a capacity audience show- . Exhortation is part of the final ing up. Two pictures featuring declaration of the 45th National Presley, “Love' Me Tender” Foreign Trade Convention in N.Y. and “Jailhouse Rock” were last November. It was published shown. recently by the National Foreign In addition there was a Trade Council. “concert” of Presley records, In the matter of taxation, the with prizes for the best imper- convention deplored the failure of sonation of the rock ’*T roll Washington “to develop and adopt singer now serving overseas a-fiscal policy as liberal as that of with the Army, numerous other governments re- ——— garding income from foreign | 9 V\ It sources.” A revision of the tax I A|ff|||y>Q I'Ayiflc Ac setup on income from foreign \sUI lllll & 1 Clltlv xtv sources has become inperative “if United States enterprises are to /II 1*0 * 1 operate under conditions of com- I A|||ff|ll10 \nAPlol petitive equality with enterprises .. V/UIlilllUICl UlfCvlClI of other countries,” the convention ■ concluded. *1 vi f m* | . It added that a measure defer- maw Unw/I I lAlrnt ing U. S. taxes on income from 1 HI lllll || 1 IvIlCl abroad until this income is remit¬ ted would be beneficial, particular- Columbia is considering the pos- ly for such outfits which promote sibi)Ky of rcleasibg .. Th Ciurie and expand their foreign invest- . ._„ _.... \ ^ roents through the medium of rein- to Cordura, William Goetzs $4,- vested earnings. 500,000 production, on a roadshow YANKS,OVERSEAS FILMS ALSO-RA ‘Cordura’ Pends As Columbia Special For Hard Ticket CUENCA, MADRID CRITIC, ON CANNES FEST JURY Madrid, Feb. 3. Carlos Fernandez Cuenca, “Ya” film critic and cinematheque ani¬ mator, has been named to Cannes Film Festival jury by fest director Favre. Le Bret. Cuenca will join six foreign and four French jurists to select Cannes’ best film feature this spring. /A three-time Venice-film fest jiilidge in recent years, Cuenca will be the first Spanish cinema scribe On a Cannes “Golden Palm” award panel. Directors Guild’s Critic’s Award to Phil Schener Hollywood, Feb. 3. . Screen Directors’ Guild’s Annual Critics* Award this year goes to Philip K. Scheuer, motion picture editor of the Los Angeles Times, Award will be presented at SDG’s banquet Saturday (7) at Beverly Hilton Hotel. . Previous winners have been Bosley Crowther, N. Y. Times; Harold V. Cohen', Pittsburgh Pest- Gazette land Variety correspond¬ ent) Francis J. Carmody, Wash* ington Star; John Rosenfeld, Dallas News; and Hollis Alpert and Arthur Knight, Saturday Review, Columbia is considering the pos¬ sibility of releasing “They Carrie to Cordura," William Goetz's $4,- 500,000 production, on a roadshow basis. Final decision will be made after Col execs see the completed negative, which will have a running time of about two hours and 15 minutes. According to Goetz, who just re¬ turned from a location scouting trip in Europe for “A Magic Flame,” which he will make for Col in association with Charles Vi¬ dor, “Cordura,” probably most ex¬ pensive production in Col’s his¬ tory, will; require an $11,COO,000 gross to break even. The picture, filmed entirely on location in Utah, stars Gary Cooper, Rita Hayworth, Van ^Heflin and Tab Hunter. “Cordura" is the second entry of Goetz’s six-picture deal with Co¬ lumbia, his first being “Me and the Colonel.” He expects to complete his quota over a three and half year period. Vidor, also present at a press conference Friday (30), has an arrangement with Col to make eight pictures over an eight-year stanza. “The Magic Flame,” which Goetz will produce and, Vidor direct, is a story of Franz.Liszt. Exteriors will be filmed in various parts of Europe, with interiors scheduled for filming at Col’s studio. Other pix on Goetz’s schedule “The Mountain Road,” starring James Stewart, set for a June start, and "Time of the Dragon.”' In ad¬ dition to “The Magic Flame” with Goetz, Vidor’s slate .includes “Beach Boys” and “Barbara Wood¬ cock." * Mexico City, Feb. 3. The switch in the Mexican exhi¬ bition picture, with national prod¬ uct getting an average of 60% of total exhibition time to Hollywood and foreign product 40% (a re¬ versal that has been building up strongly in the past year) con¬ tinues. Producer Jesus Sotomayer, who closed a deal with the Palacio Chino Theatre here, claims that he has more than enough product for the house. He has seven of his own productions in cans awaiting exhibition. Apart from that his dis¬ tributorship division has five Mex¬ ican films by indies also awaiting release. TherO will be no difficulty in providing top.national product for the refurbished Chino Theatre, So¬ tomayer said. Work crews are busy revamping the house, which has shuttered for the renovations. Regular shows go on from 4 to just before mid¬ night, and after that the workmen take over, recovering seats, re¬ placing worn out ones, and gener¬ ally putting the hall into tip top condition,. There is to bfe a gala premiere, with inaugural film, Sotomayer’s “Ando Volando Bajo” (I’m Flying Low), featuring Mexico’s small but sexy Lilia Prado with Pedro Ar- mendariz and Luis Aguilar, her leading men. ‘Revolutionary* Pact Industry circles here have termed the pact Sotomayer inked with Luis Castro,, owner of the Chino Theatre, as “revolutionary.” Sotomayer has escaped the long months of waiting for exploitation of a film after it has been canned and ready for release. Sometimes these waits have dragged on for a year or more. But this was prior to the current situation where more exhibition time is becoming available to national product. No other producer has been suc¬ cessful as yet in emulating the : Sotomayer coup. But they are in there pitching. Still, Mexican pro- ! ducers have gotten another break, j This time it is the Mariscala Thea- jtre which has announced a deal | with the Peliculas Nacionales dis- j tributorship whereby it will “pre- • dominantly” feature films of this official exchange. Formerly the Mariscala exhibited a considerable number of first run Hollywood pictures. Then, for about a year/ it changed over to a twin-bill house , using American reruns and Mexican pictures. Now it will revert to a first-run house again for Mexican product. Spine of the features upcoming at this house include “La Venen- osa” -(The Poisonous One) with Ana Luisa Peluffo (who got her. .start in pictures by stripping to the bare facts before the cameras); “The Vagabond and the Million¬ aire,” comedy featuring Tin Tan, Sonia Furio and Aida Araceli; “Re¬ bellion of the Adolescents,” a ju¬ venile delinquency film produced by Petro Calderon: “This Was Pancho Villa,” with Pedro Armen- dariz interpreting the often filmed life of the bandit general, sup¬ ported by Carlos Lopez Moctezuma and Maria Elena Marques, etc. Incidently this latter is the first in a series of films planned on the exploits of the controversial Villa, considered even in his own coun¬ try as a “hero” by some and a “first class villain” by others. The drive to wrest away more exhibition time from Hollywood distributorships is not ended as the industry follows a policy of taking care of its needs first. So far boxoffice has not suffered through upped showings of Mex¬ ican product at first run houses here; and the grabbing of more time in second-run and nabe houses. A few good films have been in cans for a long time awaiting exhibition dates. And in neighborhood houses, outside of Hollywood westerns, crime and mu¬ sicals with lots of leg, fans prefer (Continued on page 24) France, Sans Film Aid, Unclear; Flaud Successor Michel Plouvier; Centre du Cinema Transforming ‘Insanity’ as Come-On? Kansas City. Feb. 3. - Advertising on the picture “Home Before Dark” showing currently at the Paramount Theatre apparently raised a question among a number of patrons. Harold Lyon, man¬ ager, put much emphasis on the theme of “insanity” in the picture, with the word in large type. This inspired a number of pa¬ trons when calling about fea¬ ture schedules to ask, “What time does ‘Insanity’ start?” It even had some of the house staff going. Several em¬ ployes asked Lyon and House Manager Frank Dorci, “Are : we playing a picture called ‘Insanity?’ ” . Biz has been healthy for ini¬ tial week and a holdover week on the picture. Perhaps it’s an idea, Lyon muses. French Stall On Rest of Permits Piques Yanks Failure of the French Govern¬ ment to come across with the 40 remaining American licenses for 1958-59 is beginning to worry the U. S. distributors. Under the law, they must present the completed, dubbed film to the French by June 30 to qualify for a permit. The Motion Picture Export Assn, member companies are entitled to 110 permits for the year. Of these, the Centre National de la Cinema- tografie has handed out ~ A Centre chief Jacques Flaud, saiu to be about to resign, promised the re¬ maining 40 would be given out on a “merit” basis by-the Centre. He was to have allocated the licenses by late December. MPEA, which originally agreed to the Centre’s method, later tried to'convince Flaud to distribute the permits according to MPEA’s own global master formula. UNESCO’S AMERICANS INCLUDE MPAA’S CLARK Washington, Feb. 3. State Dept, has reappointed Ken¬ neth W. Clark, Motion Picture Assn, of America v.p., and named five other members of the U. S. National Commission for the Edu¬ cational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Group will represent U. S. at UNESCO meeting in Paris. Maxwell M. Rabb, New York at¬ torney and former secretary to the Cabinet in the Eisenhower Ad¬ ministration, was designated chair¬ man. Others named are: Dr. Frank Snowden, Howard University dean; Philip M. Evans, Commerce Dept, official; Dr. Ralph W. Gabriel, American University professor; and Mrs. George Homlin Shaw, New York civic leader. Mrs. Shaw, like Clark, has served with U. S. commission previously; others are new appointees. Clarks first appointment was in ’56. Rothenberg Joins Josephs In Columbia’s Torgy’ IJiiit Daniel Rothenberg is shifting over from his post as assistant sales executive at Columbia to the special domestic sales unit Col has set up. for the release of Samuel Goldwyn’s “Porgy and Bess.” Rothenberg will assist George M. Josephs, who is director of do¬ mestic sales for the Goldwyn pro¬ duction. . * + Parisr Feb. 3. Jacques Flaud, head of the gor- , eramental Centre Du Cinema, should exit that post in three or four months. He is staying on un¬ til he can bring some basic replace¬ ment or extension of the Film Aid Law~to fruition. With the'Centre now under An¬ dre Malraux’s Ministry of Cultural Affairs, it is certain that Michel Plouvier, who helmed film matters three years ago, will again take them over under Malraux. Flaud, per sources, never got along well with Plouvier. (Malraux favors extension of the Film Aid law, though on a modi¬ fied basis, reports say.) Flaud has been working with M. Joujard, one of the top men in the De Gaulle cabinet, of late and may also get a top post in the Minisfe-: y of Justice. Flaud, a career diplo¬ mat, has been lauded for the work he did in giving the French film a quality boost, greater foreign pres¬ tige and revenues, and a firmer financial standing during his tenure as head of the Ceutre du Cinema, Finance Minister, Antoine Pinay, has ag.eed to a six month exten¬ sion of Aid to July ’60, when it runs out in Dee. ’59, on the condv tion that a workable replacement be instituted in the next three > months. This is not considered too j likely due to the many dispersed interests and differences in opinion among film people. The Centre has proposed a slow doing away of Aid over a TO year period during which time the Com¬ mon Mart is supposedly to come of age. It would cut Aid handouts by one tenth every year and slowly substitute a credit basis for Aid handouts. It is also expected that the Centre will eventually be ab¬ sorbed under Malraux’s Ministry and become strictly an administra¬ tive arm rather than a policy¬ maker as heretofore. Meanwhile the French film pro¬ ducers are trying to form a more united front to take up greater responsibilities as Aid is slowly tapered Off. Producers would like tax relief generally and cut at the box-office. They also would like to see a system set up whereby defer¬ ment payments to technicians and stars—with smaller immediate pay¬ ments to names—instituted. Exhibs, being cut out of Aid, may demand freedom of program changes and prices. The film situ¬ ation is still fluid but all seem agreed that some sort of Aid is a necessity for maintaining a balance for the French film industry. It looks unlikely that Flaud will have either the time or the in¬ clination to press his demands for handing out the 40 remaining Yank dubbed film licenses on a merit basis to those American companies’ who had helped the French film on a production or distrib basis. So it seems probable that the 40 will get the usual partition on a global basis by the Motion Picture Export Assn. KARL MAIDEN WOOED BY YUGOSLAV INDUSTRY Hollywood, Feb. 3. Yugoslavian Government has overtured Karl Malden regarding a three-picture co-production deal. Actor-director is interested in the project. Yugoslavian Government has submitted to Malden treatments and scripts for “The Life of Marco Polo,” “Wings of Hope” and "Of Powder and Bread,” latter two dealing with guerrilla warfare against the Nazis by tbe Yugosla¬ vian resistance movement during World War II. Karla Duhar, Yugoslav cultural attache in Washington, is here con¬ ferring with Malden and advised the actor he could decide if he wants to produce, direct or star. Malden is currently starring with Marlon Brando in “One-Eyed Jacks" at Paramount.