Variety (April 1959)

PSsuEfr picnms is Wednesday? April 1, 1959 Charge Freeze-Out Tactics by Mexican Eight Former Operators of Spanish Houses in N.Y. Sue for Damages' Eight former operators of Span¬ ish-speaking film houses in. the New York area who claim to have lost their theatres because of al¬ leged discrimination .and con¬ spiracy among distributors and ex¬ hibitors of the Spanish pix filed a* $3,615,000 antitrust suit in N.Y. Federal Court on Monday (30). Named defendants in the suit were Aztec Films and Clasa- Mohme, both California distribu¬ tors of Spanish pictures made in Mexico; Mexfilms Inc.; Harry Har¬ ris, operator of a number or Span¬ ish houses; Max A. Cohen and vari¬ ous other individuals and opera¬ tors of Spanish speaking houses in Manhattan, Bronx, and Brooklyn. The plaintiffs charge that as a result of an alleged conspiracy among the distributors and exhibi¬ tors they were forced out of busi¬ ness in 1956. It’s claimed that many of the houses were taken over by Harris and others. Plaintiffs are A & R Theatre Corp., Artistic Theatre Corp., Central Par'l Operating Theatre Corp., Brook Ave. Theatre Opera¬ ting Co., Madison Ave. Theatre Operating Co., P & A Theatre Corp., Tiffany Theatre Corp., and Westchester Operating Corp. No Pasternak Film Continued from page 2 not he was in touch with Paster¬ nak. From another source, it was learned that the picture was not being made at Pasternak’s express wish. On the other hand, the So¬ viets also brought considerable pressure to bear on Feltrinelli originally not to publish the novel, though he finally did do so. The Russians had asked him to return the manuscript to Moscow for “re¬ visions.” One of the American companies which announced plans to film “Dr. Zhivago” was Joshua Logan’s outfit. Another was a company headed by Charles A. Byron. Pan¬ theon Press, which publishes “Dr. Zhivago” in the U.S., also “indi¬ cated” at one time that it owned the 'film rights. Feltrinelli said that, if it ever came to selling them, he’d probably use Pantheon as his agents, though he was care¬ ful to stress that Pantheon did not now have the rights. “Dr. Zhivago” has been a best¬ seller in the States for months, heading the top or the list virtual¬ ly from day of publication. It has been .translated into all of the con¬ ventional languages, and is now be¬ ing published in Israel, Japan, In¬ donesia, Arabic countries and South Africa (Africaan). Proceeds accruing to Feltrinelli and, finally to Pasternak are deposited by Fel¬ trinelli on Pasternak’s behalf in a Swiss bank. Publication of the novel outside Russia brought the wrath of the Kremlin down on Pasternak and he was attacked as a “traitor” by the Soviet .Writers Union, which expelled him. Pasternak did not attend the Nobel Prize ceremonies In Stockholm last year, though the Russian authorities claimed he Vi/as free to go. He won the prize for literature. “Dr. Zhivago” is the story of the disillusionment and destruction of a man during the early days of the Bolshevist revo¬ lution. Interest in the film rights for “Dr. Zhivago” was stirred by the tremendous attention garnered by the book. It has* long struck Amer¬ ican observers as odd that Feltri¬ nelli would be willing to “defy” the Russians on the publication question, but would hold off on film offers, which would be the highest at k time when the novel itself was still “hot.” It is con¬ sidered both possible and likely that Feltrinelli, and Pasternak, fear that a film version would be turned into a powerful propaganda instrument. Since Pasternak is seeking to get “re-instated” in his native land (he has said that leav¬ ing Russia would destroy him), he presumably would not want a film to be made over which, on top of' it, he’d have no control. Feltrinelli, a former Communist, in U.S. by special State Dept per- j mission; would not voice his own personal feelings about the ques-1 tion of a Rim version. ‘Fair’ Average Continued from page t only dissenter among the critics, maintaining that Millie Perkins didn’t live up to the demands of her part. 1 At the other end of the scale, the News—with Kate Cameron and Wanda Hale as the main reviewers —continues its love affair with Hollywood. Though not famous for either style or even comprehen¬ sion, the News reviewers gear their mentality to what is con¬ ceived to be the “mass’* audience. There’s no serious attempt to eval¬ uate films artistically, and conse¬ quently the paper, in the past and the present, is a favorite at the homeoffices. Frank assumption is that few people bother reading the reviews, but many are influenced by the. generous application of the News’ four star (excellent) rating on pictures. The News, which seems clearly more critical of foreign films than it’s of the homegrown product, broke down "the 17 features as fol¬ lows: Thrpe excellent, five good- to-exeellent, six good, two fair- and one poor. The News and the Times are th§ two papers which rarely figure in any reports of “pressure” by the companies. At the News there’s no need for it. At the Times, the dis- tribs know they don’t get any¬ where, though some attempts have been made. Rest of the papers show a more even distribution of good and bad. reviews. The N.Y. Herald Tribune, with Paul V. Beckley reviewing most pictures, is now easier on films than it’s ever been. The Tele¬ gram & Sun (Alton Cook), has eased up on its writeups. The Post (Archer Winsten) spreads . itself evenly (two excellent, three poor and seven fair among the 17) and the Mirror (Justin Gilbert) main¬ tains a middle-of-therroad attitude, tending — much like the other Hearst Operation, the Journal- American—to outline a film’s story without trying to evaluate its worth. The Journal (Rose Pelswick), like the Mirror, didn’t consider a single one of the 17 films “poor” in the reviews. Again, the Journal would tend to be more critical of imports than it’s of Hollywood films. The Mirror last week didn’t run a review of the German import, j “Tiie Third Sex,” because it was considered inappropriate fare for. the ‘Easter holidays. Film deals with homosexuality. All other pa¬ pers carried reviews. Of the 17 film reviews surveyed, “Diary” came out tops, with six excellents and one good-to-excel- lent. “Sleeping Beauty” got four excellents and three fair-to-good writeups. “Rio Bravo” rated good- to-excellent with four reviewers and good with the rest. “Green Mansions,”, opening at the Music Hall, got only one good-to-excel- lent review, one “fair-to-good” rat¬ ing and four “fair” reviews. One was poor. “The Sound and the Fury” made one excellent, one good-to-excellent, four good and one poor. Speed Castro Biog Continued from page 1 at the American Society of News¬ paper Editors convention opening in Washington April 16. The author of the Castro volume' is Jules Dubois, Chicago Tribune correspondent who has followed Castro’s career since his student days. The book was written and processed, chapter by chapter, in Havana, The final chapter was completed March 10. Bobbs-Mer- rill -set up a “field editorial office” in Havana’s Habana-Hilton Hotel, where the publishing firm’s edi¬ torial chief, Harrison Platt, edited the book as fast as Dubois wrote it. The contract with. Dubois was sighed Feb. 12, and two days later the first chapter arrived in Indi¬ anapolis. Castro himself has writ¬ ten a foreward for the book. j ‘Beauty’ Tops March Continued from page 4 —— one of the more promising new¬ comers, finishing first one week. “Imitation of Life” (U) also looms as a big grosser, the initial four playdates indicating that it will be Universal’s greatest boxoffice en¬ try this year and likely for the last 12 months, “Diary of Anne Frank” (BV), also showing every indication of being a winner, was practically capacity on two-a-day opening at the N.Y. Palace. “Shaggy Dog” (BV) hints being another Disney bigtime grosser, being fourth on one weekly list “Some Like It Hot” (UA) was so sock on its first six engagements that the Marilyn Monroe pic wound up third one week and obviously will be heard from plenty in the future. “Mating Game” (M-G) shapes as a solid entry, being sixth one week and showing real future possibilities. “Night of Quarter Moon,” also from Metro," did not shape up as strongly, though 11th one session. “Tempest” (Par) showed enough early strength to point up a nice potential. “Green Mansions” (M-G) was in a like category. “Alias Jesse James” (UA), just getting started, was fair in L.A. and great in Seattle. “Sound and Fury” (20th), alsu new, was okay on preem date in L.A. It opened big at the N.Y. Para¬ mount last week. '“The Gidget” (Col) was spotty on first few dates. “Verboten (Indie) was unusu¬ ally solid on two weeks in Detroit. “10 Commandments” (Par),play¬ ing some return dates at more popular prices, racked up some nice coin. “Inn of Sixth Happi¬ ness” (20th) still showed up well on scattered playdates last month. It was fifth in February. "Some Came Running” (M-G), which was second the preceding month, placed ninth one week.in March. Decency Legion Continued from page 7 or whether it was a question of the hierarchy realizing that it was iso¬ lating itself from Catholic opinion abroad (including the policy of the Vatican) isn't known. The fact is that the Legion appears to have realized that as much can be ac¬ complished by stressing and en¬ couraging the good as by thunder¬ ing against the bad; that prohibi¬ tion in a country like the U. S., even among Catholics, has a tend¬ ency to have the opposite effect. Late in 1957, the Legion added a new A-III rating (Unobjectionable for Adults) which has taken some of the heat off films which nor¬ mally would have been , rated as “B” (Objectionable in Part for All). The A-I1I rating recognizes that there does exist -a difference between the adult and the juve¬ nile mind, and it progresses to the point where it’s admitted that an adult can see a provocatively- handled subject without immedi¬ ately giving- in to temptation. It could be, too. that the Legion real¬ ized that, without this A-III classi¬ fication, an ever-larger number of films would have'to be “B”-rated, which in turn would have some Catholics argue that their rating body was applying standards out- of-step with the times. Catholic Messenger piece, writ¬ ten by John E. Fitzgerald, says there, never has been a dispute her tween Code and Legion due to a difference of interpretation. The Legion has always backed the Code’s ideals and feels the PCA (Production Code Administration) and its administrator “constitute the first bastion of strength against immoral films.” This is at variance with the facts since, only two years ago, sharp differences arose between the two groups, with the Legion taking raps against the Code for being “lax.” In fact, Monsignor Little in a speech clearly expressed his con¬ cern that the Code wasn’t meeting Its responsibilities. What seems to have happened, however, is that— with Hollywood so determinedly tackling the daring and the adult— the Code has liberalized. a good deal, and the Legion has moved in the same general direction^ a tentative concession to the view that morality does change. Pittsburgh Press Nixes "Passing White Ad-Copy (or "Imitation of Life Stock Oddities Continued from page 3 not of a mind to sell unless the bids are unusually attractive. Reasons for the continuing af¬ fection for the film securities have been gone over before. Operational earnings outlook is okay, diversifi¬ cation moves promise added rev¬ enue and there are highly-consid¬ ered advantages of possible capital gains deals via partial liquidation of assets. As for earnings, consid¬ erable excitement is stirred among Wall Streeters when a company has perhaps one or two block¬ busters. ■ Pittsburgh Press, Scripps-How- ard, has notified Universal that it will not accept any advertising copy dealing with the race prob¬ lem. U’s advertising for “Imitation of Life” was flatly rejected by the newspaper although the same copy was accepted by two other Pitts¬ burgh newspapers—the Post-Gaz¬ ette and the Sun-Telegraph—as well as by the Cleveland Press, also Scripps-Howard. The copy in dispute reads as follows: “The Color Line Won’t Stop Me, Ma. I Look, Feel and Think White . . . And I’m Going to Pass for White.” The last line was aqjually a watered down version of an ad which said “I’m Going to Marry White.” According to a L* spokesman, the The big boxoffice performers ■ text includIng the allusion t0 are interpreted m terms of per- .. marry whil .. is right out of the share, earnings with Warners | dial - o£ the soundtrack of t he ‘ Auntie Mame’ being an outstand- ■ fllm In its prepared ads the fllm mg example. Suppose this produc- . compan y has been giving exhibitors *? re !? U 2i a profit ° £ a choice of tbe “pass” and -marry" $4,500,000 for the film corpora- versions tion, which is not unlikely. It! ■ ' , . , . . would mean $3 per share, or two- ,, T , he U spokesman declared that and-a-half times the dividend re . Vic or Frees assistant to the editor quirement. If WB were to merely,?' , th « Pittsburgh Press, who re- break even on all other activities, 1 acted the ad copy, had admitted or even lose a few bob. the com- ‘ r hat , ie , had 1 °'seen ‘Imitation of pany would still be out in front ’ When informed that the fiscally via "Mame.” L ext w ? s right from soundtrack j- : - -—: - 1 -: Frees is alleged to nave stated •__ Explanatory _; ; that it mipht be okav for the pic _ That there are relatively few 1 ture but that he did not find it motion picture shares up for grabs suitaMe for the ads. Frees is also on the New York Stock Exchange . said to have nixed alternate copy can be shown in matching the out- reading. ‘Tm White, White, standing issues with the securities White . . .” of other industries. Frees’ action is puzzling to Uni- Majority of pic companies have;versal on two grounds—m because 2,000,000 or less on the market. ■ it’s the first situation it has expe- United Artists has 820,306. Univer- : rienced such a problem, the same sal is far less because of the Dec- ' ads having been accepted in Miami ca ownership of over 809c. land Oklahoma Cl.y and (2> because To pick at random a few non- i Frees suggested departing fom film company listings: - General the actual dialog at a time when Electric has 87.716.000, American the motion picture industry is be- Tele & Tele, 70,700,000. United ing accused of not accurately re- Aircraft 21,000000, and so on. vealing the contents of a film in Although the current high prices aC ~ ertls i n fr . are a deterrent for the time be- „ For scct >° ns of the south where ing, various film outfits have had he issue ih htgaly con¬ s' policy cf reducing their out-, ‘™verp] Universal has a differ, standing issues. Among them have eE ‘ advertising campaign Toe U been 2Qth-Fox, Paramount and ) "epresentative said that this policy Warners *has keen a( *opted f° r purely com- imercial reasons and not to avoid - - ■ — . . -- ! any conflict on the segregation _ ^ ■ j . I problem. It has been found, he Ex-iea Gaddv declared, that white southerners avoid films that are advertised as dealing w.’ih the race problem. Universal's dispute with the Pittsburgh Press Iras been placed before the Motion Picture Assn. of \merica which is considering tak¬ ing it up with the newspapers. ‘Volume Payoff’ s Continued from page 3 ^ Continued f:om page 3 vitality. There’s no problem cast¬ ing pictures in Britain today, Clay¬ ton maintained. However. : in “Room,” which is based on the John Erainerd novel, the smaller parts are all cast by “new” people. “I think -it’s a mistake to always use the same people over again. After a while, audiences begin to identify with them as names rather than as actors,” the director said.!, . „ „ , , „ - ... _ c -__ lute mass level. So far, tins He aaaea that Simone Signoret was , „ _ . ,_1, cast “because we just couldn’t find * Stttihnfinn° 5? anyone in England fitting the part.” • distribution end, although the sit- JZert , u ' uation is being constantly reex- l h *ll J?* amined by eC0n0m - V -P reSSCd CUyton smT‘‘Boom" stood a a . r ? f um£ f n , t , s a S? in . st goodjhauce of recoupiug Its *16, “SSon « ‘he mlV TfanTall 000 budget in Britain alone. It stars , the way from that basic <. onc< , pt o£ Laurence Harvey and Miss Signoret; achieving vo i ume . to a more senti- along with Heather Sears. Contm- menta i a p pro ach, i.e., that he’s part ental invested $150,000 in the pro- nd t of the business and duction and, apart from releasing , shou idn’t be cut out just because the picture in the States, shares j he > s fallen on hard times< There ' s proportionately in the worldwide j a j s0 tbe mor€ realistic attitude in- pr 9* lts - • | volving circuits which own key Clayton said his next picture houses along with a flock of smaller would be a filmization of Paul j situations which throw off very lit- Gallico s The Snow Goose,” a ; t j e reV enue story revolving around the rescue j* There are also , chiefs who> in the operations at Dunkirk. After that, if privacy of their offices, will admit the timing fits, he may make Ru- mer Godden’s “Green Gauge Sum¬ mer.” Though it’s hurt motion pictures, that they’d like to change their operations in tune with shifting market conditions, even though this probably would doom a lot of particularly in Britain, Clayton j smaller houses. But, they say, it’s said he loved television. “It’s the . go t to be done by all of the indus- best thing that could have hap- ■ try, not just one or two companies, pened to the film business,” he j n part this is due to the increas- declared. “This is the best time, , i n g influence and say-so of the in- the best, most promising moment dependents, who want their films for the industry. Television is sup- j widely distributed. At the same plying all the mediocrity. Now is j time, and paradoxically, it’s these the time for imagination in the ‘ same indies who tell the majors picture business. This thing has j that their distribution charges are forced us to get out of the rut.” . too high and that overhead must be Clayton, suddenly praised by • cut down. There have been in- the British press as a top director was assistant to John Huston on “Moulin Rouge” and “Beat file Devil.” IJe also produced pictures for ten years. His earlier produc¬ tion, “The Bespoke Overcoat/* rated an Academy Award in the shorts category. stances of indie sales reps actually nixing dates on the theory that they’d cost the producer money in¬ stead of earning it. If that mood spreads, a distribution overhaul, [ oriented towards the concentration of houses throwing .off .the big money, is definitely in the cards.