Variety (Nov 1928)

VARIETY FOREIGN FILM NEWS Wednesday, November 28, 1928 I 3 Mos. of Idleness Looms Ahead for Gennan Studios; 59 of 181 1* • Wasliington,. Nov; 27. . , Comli'tipn o£ pi-pdugtliDn '. In Ger- hiany Indicates an idle thrt'e to four months ahead with . the! opehini?.. of the calendar year for the OfTman !studiOR, reports George Canty, ,,U. S, trade, commissioner. . ..That, d^^^ of - all film an- nounced for '28;-'29, .states Canty, has. i)f;en released to date Is looked uiion as alarming to the Industry there inasmuch that it is now ex-' pectexl this will. leave no .German film.s for the larger cities in. Febru- ary, March and April of next year <i929)' ■ Total of 131 features announced .for the year. Fifty-nine have been released .and IS are completed or in. production- •. . Canty forwarded the . following line-up of the situa:tlon on the in- dividual companies: Ufa annouhced 21 wjth jprpgram realized to 100 per cent; Sudfilm, 18, to 89 per cent; Aafa, 15, to 80 per cent; Dt, Uni- versal, announceid 1.4, to 71 per cent; on these already realized; Terra, 13,-to 79 per cent;, Bayerische, 12, to 83 per cent; D, L. S.. 12, to 50 per cent; Orplld, .11, to 82 per cent completed; Defina, 10, to 90 per tent; .National, 10, to 70 per cent; ;Starf)lm, 10, to 50 jjer cent; Nego-. ■tt-ald, .nine.to 44 per cent; Derissa, eight, to 75 per cent; Fox, seven, to 100 per ci?nt; Bruckmann, fivci to CO per cent; Strauss, Hve, to 60 per cent, and Parufamct one. This will make it necessary for unannounced productions to be got- ten underway if the production lievel of last year is to be reached. Whether the unannounced pro-- dui-ai^n will be started is depend- ent upon what the new contingent develops. If it has no increased ef- fect tin n the idleness for the. stu- dios over a three months! period is fully expected, saj's .the trads com- missiener. Phototone in London s Show Case Theatre Leiidoh, Nov;. 2 Count Anthony bef Bosdari, Ital Ian .business, man, wlio came to farivo only last week as the announced prospective husband, of TalUilah Bankead, the actress, is negotiating for a site on the south side of Lei cester Square . now occupied, by Shakespeare House. De Bosdari is chairman of British Phototone and on the board, of di rectors of I'Yench Phototone. Understood the site in Leicester Square is desired for the erection of a 4.000-seater to be iis^d a.s a key theatre and show.case for the talk- ing device. Site is directly oppo- site Lpew's new Empire. Fox was reported after same location last, year but gave it up as unfeasable. A demonstration of Phototone was held recently at the Scala. It impressed favorably ih. coriiparison .with Vitaphone, the only , device \\'ith which the British; trade has any familiarity.. Ten talking shorts were shown at the demoh.stratiOn Teddy Brown Faiyre, Herschel Hen- lere and the Four Admlraljs were the best of the numbers. ■ Phototone . costs $2,500i. to . install and it Is ^"Claimed they have cohr tracts how signeid to, make 500'in stallations. by nex,t summer. Several attempts were made to ruin the. Scala demonstration. ■Vital wires were found ciit shortly before the .showing. ' French Musicians Oppose Synchronized Pictures Gaumont May Take Standard's 110 Houses Uondon, Nov. 27. Purchase is expected shortly hy Giuimoht Britl.sh of the Standard Filriv. Corporation from Lords. Bear vcrbrook and Ashfield, , Standard holds control of Provin- cial Cinematograph Theatres and associated provincial picture houses for a total of 110 theatres, Deal would give.Gaumont control of 340 houses and bring ,this firm's, total capital up to. JTO.OOO.OOO, Bu- rners of the ' arrangement. raised GaUmont-British stock pO cents, Russian Peasantry Wr^^^ With Pictures' TM^^ and Speed Chatter in Italy ' ■ —~. . Genoa, Nov. 16. ■\^ith Mussolihi iand the Pope giy^ ing educational films a. pat, things begin to look up here; Conte Baldissare is turning out a sort <if Fascist" "Ten Command- ments," called ."Judith and Qlo- ferne," Author is Jack . Mannei-s,' who really is Jack. Salvatori. He started as prop boy with "Ben- Hur."- Plttaiuga in Turin coniinues to be the real power in Italian pictures, such as it is..' Italiana have not been over seriously considered in. the various ententes under consid- eration among French, English and German producers, but that, the Italiana feel, "wjll come soon. ■ Tunney's Popularity . Italian hews photographers are working • to get an inter-national blank-plate agreement on Tunney. After honeymooning wears off, champ, they figure, is sure to pine for more close-ups again. But his camera-smashing in Rome and gen- eral poor treatment of the tribe hag left them burning plenty. So they;re all for giving him jIs much privacy as a dead crab for the next huh dred years. Exc. Rights for League Of Nations Pictures A monopoly has been granted the Sociiete Generale Des Films Of Paris, giving it exclusive film rights, silent and talking, to any. pictures taken in the palace or on the grounds of the I/cague .of Nations' headquarters at Geneva, Switzland. The. monopoly was granted by the seci-etariat office of the League. Consideration, if any, not reported. Societe . Generale has all distribu- tion rights. . Michael J. Gourland, American distributor of foreign product. Is a member of the board of directors of Societe Generale. . It is understo'od the Societe Gen- erale will sell to the highest bidder. Situation parellels the monoply of Italian company, Luce, at the Olym pic gamos In Amsterdam last spring. Japan's Tafos Paris, Noy. 27, Anticipating the trend towards sound pictures, the French Mu sicians* UnlOri is taking a hell.iger^ ent attitude. They have appealed to the Minister of. Public; Instruc- tion to .bar foreign Alms with syn- chronized score. The .Musicians' IMiion is very powerful In Paris and have sue ceeded.in eliminating all but Fi'ench men in the regular orchestras. A few visiting name orchestras from America have been the exceptions. Musicians* idea is to force through guarantee in.suring perma nency of their jobs regardless of developments... U.S. Losing Grip on Finland Washington, Nov. 27 European pictures are beginning to get control of the ppograrhs .In Finland, reports vice-consul G. L. Tolman, Helsingfors, to the De partment of Commerce. American pictures formerly occu pied 95 per cent, of the running time of the theatres. Theatres have ..increased, J^;dds Tolman, from 131 houses in 1923 to 235 now In operation. Los Angeles, Nov. 27. ' ' Jii|)iin Is K.v-ing in for taVkint; film production, John. Totoyania, y.ouTig J«iP<'<-"3S<^ electrical engineer, has come to Hol- lywood to learn the details, of sound apparatua for a Japanese syndicate •which will "make .sound films. Wise Cardinals American press agent, who played the Vatican in the hOpe of lariding; the Pope to pre-view one of his company's pictures which had a sharp religioug angle, failed to get. a tumble. Knowing he'd publish even a refusal the shrewd councll- Icrs of the Vatican didn't even an- swer his letters—all nicely couched in the finest diplomatic Italian. For a while the p. a. fumed over such studied neglect.: But in time he grinned, and then struck cardinals off the sucker list. As a result every tirne the .press agent passes a church now he tips his hat. Pietro M:a3cagnl, who Wrote "Cavalleria Rusticana" hJis giv^n jazz his henediction. Blues ; have no national flavor any more and some day, siays the Maestro, they will have great composers, but just now the compogitions are young and crude. Which ought to send George Gershwin into a tailspin. M Moriaud is shooting "The Prenuptial Contract" on Italian Riviera. Baron of Old Family Gaetano Ventimlglia, a baron really of the old family whose name Is known to all Riviera travelers as it is the name of the town on the Franco-Italian frontier, has gone Gaumont. definitely. He wag the best cameraman in Italy and Is wanted baick here," but the Eng- lish have tied him . to a term eon- tract. Nice Chatter By Frank Scully Nice, NoVi 1$. . Al Smith can get what little con- solation the cases afford. by glanc- ing into the histories of Mons. Pathe and Gaumont, who are down here at the moment looking for an .open- ing to cra.sh through. pi course these fellows arc in the amusement business, whore skids and skyrockets are used instead o f ladders. . • Kicked-politely out of the flicker thing yeairs ago, Pathe and Gaumont have been wondering ever since What they can do about it. Gau- mont iand Pathe have been figuring oil quitting Paris and entering by the less frequehted gate' of Nice."' Doing Producing But now French pictures fo) Frenchmen by Frenchmen with French capital and protefcted from urifairv or even fair, competition by French laws seems to be the^ for mula. And so M. Leon Gaumont, 6a, cruises around his old Studios, dust- ing co'bwebs out of corners, and while mumbling mysterious stuff about a hew talking equipment which will laugh these others out Of court, announces a new cornpany which will produce four; pleturcs this year under the name of Hbjera Films. ' So, too, does M. Charles Pathe, looking longingly for the return of Adolphe Menjou, announce that he will be producing a picture hirh nelf before long. "Free Trade" The Societe des Films Eclair, an- other pre-war baby, one of the most important in those days, also has been revived, thanks to. the quota pulmotor. Their first film will be Bataille's "The Foolish Virgin." And the inside stuff is that the Gaumont theatre, one of Loew- Metro's siege guns in Paris, goes Franco Film soon. Thus does a bare-knuckled law come to the a;id of a feeble industry and treats "free trade," "quality as an only, test" iand "fair play for all" like so many push-overs. The last check made by the Soviet Government showed that there were. 232 regular film theatres and 1,81« traveling cinemas in Russia outside of the big cities. These figures refer to the rural sections only. Through Sovklno, the Russian film producing subsidy, an effort has . been made by means of iquestion- nalrcs to get the reaction of peas- ants to moving pictures, still very much of a novelty to the majority of the Russian peoples. . . The peasants are fond of pictures, .but complain the fllins run too fast, -ThBit^rin<^Ipa-l—eoniplalTit-seems-to— be that the, movies "move" too much. They want more time to read the sub-titles, tleading is still difficult for them, as it Is generally a new accomijllshment. Lecturer Popular When-a-lecturer-accompanies the picture to clear up difficulties of continuity that puzzle the farm workers , the event is exceedingly popular. Peasants like mostly films that make them :laugh. High-tension melodramas are next in preference. They also prefer pictures explain-, ing the mechanical workings of tractors, automobiles and other ma- chinery with which they are still . little acquainted. . Traveling cinemas have been, hanaicapped by the non-availability of electric cui-rent . and have had. '.o generate their own juice. Mnny of the film showings are held in the outdoors with no shelter. Teamwork To reward the politicians for their help Franco Films produces "Madame Recamicr," "Madame Recamier" was written by M. Her riot. M. Herriot is the cabinet min- ister invwhose hands the execution of the quota law rests. Teamwork! Imagine a Washington Cabinet member being flattered, into a film production of a book of his after putting a dead industry on its feet But, then, alas! you must first im- agine a Coolidge adviser writing, a book about an eighteenth century hot mamma. No, really, the French are different. BRITISH CHARY ON AM. FILM ADAPTATION 350 Shorts in Argentine Washington, Nov. 27. Argentine picture makers are now turning out approximately 350 short suljjects yearly with a ready local market available, says tlie Com-. mcrce Department. Programs are divided into hourly showings, ono hour to the feature and the next to shorts. Patrons buy =f Gi^ea ch- h ou rr-.i)aying..Ac<Lord.! n£^ J-.a whicli program they wish to .see. Syd Ghaplin for B. I.? London, ^'ov. 27; Report here l.<? that Syd Chaplin ha.s.bcpn signed by Briti.sh Int*M-iia- tional to a ono-year contract. It also dcclartHl that a now German fomnio Ic;u1. Margot Lan- dou, has l)(!('n civh-m.-tciI lo play op- posite. Chai)lin in tlu- ])ictiiro3 he will make for this firm. Vandamm^s Reason / . • . London, Nov. 27. Vivian Va,ndamm, former man- ager of the Ne\t Empire,- Loew's film house, claims that he tendered his' resignation before the "house opened because of taking over the general management of the United Dirt Track Association, $1,250,000 corporation. Vandamm denies any suggestion of a disagreement with Harry Port- man. Previous report stated Van- damm withdrew because of being denied authority over the theatre's program. First British on Coast ^Lo s. Angele s, Np_y.Jg7.^ Herbert Wilcox, production chief" of 1lritl.'<h and Dominions .Film Cor^ poriiLion, is here; for three nionths. With Wilcox came J. R. Macardle, London studio manager of the com pany. Marshall Ncilan, directing the first picture hero for tlic couu'any, will bo given uii iiTititlcd story other tlian the one first annouhced, "Be- hind the Headlines," \ Ofilces and production will be at Molropolitan .studio. Egypt Bars War Films Paris', NOV. 27.- Egypt haa issued a .ban agiiihst all pictures with war as a theme or a part. Bad Ideas seems to be the ex planatlon. English Censoring on Sound and Silent Films Washington, Nov. 27. British film censor will act on both silent and sound pictures, reports the American commercial attache, London, to the Department of Com- merce. ~T5ngIhur^houphf^"^ sta.ge. censoring group would pass on the talking pictures, but this did not mat<'rlalizo.. '.. ' - "Wings" Takes Paris ■ ■ PaiiH, Ni)Y. 27, "Wings," the second sound pictur(* .to arrive in Paiis, has created a very favorable, impression. General comment that sound ef- fects heighten dramatic Illusion. Los Angeles, Nov. 27.. Hollywood producers,. making talking pictures, have hit a snag !n their efforts to secure the dialog rights . to the . -woi^ks Of British dramatists Since gcttlng an eye and: earful of Edgar Wallace's "The Ter- ror," which recently reached Eng- land, the English have become a cagey lot. ; Disappro-yal of Warners sound -version of. the- Wallace play was practically unanimous in Wallace's native land. Many objected to the manner in which the Wallace drama was handled, to alleged technical errors In the British background, and the distinctly Americiin accent? of the pve.<iumably British charac- ters. It was this which cau.sed the present holdup of M-G-M-ls i)ro- duction of Frederic Lonsdale's "The Last of Mrs. Cheyricy." M-G-M didn't care to go ahead with th picture until it also possessed .the diaioirrighr^"ftiTd=Tjcms?inic-"d^ to glVe.tlie company blanket rights oil his dialog. • Lonsdale is now In Iho United States' and.- M-G-M is nv.Udliuting With him to come to Hollywood to personally supervi-se the iMt lure's proiluelion, piirticu larly the talking version. Lon.sdale's altitiule is said to re- fiect tli;it of virtually all lirjlish playwrights who have works that may i'm-ovo available for talking pic lure production. Faked "Sound Opera" Makes Audience Laugh . Los Angeles, Nov. 27. A weird attempt to capitalize on sound picture popularity by releas- ing a conglomeration called "the first sound film opera" died after one Invitational showing. "The first sound film opera" was shown to a group of about 50 at the Los Angeles fcbell Club and proved to be an ancient foreign-made fijm of Verdi's "RigOletto," photographed about 10 years ago combined v/ith •sorne equally or more ancic»t records. • It was pre.sented under the name of the Paul Jordan Productions. Many years ago, the Victor Talk^ ing Machine Company recorded the entire opera. The.se records were apparently. those used for the al- leged synchronization. Efforts were made to make the records fit the film and vice versa. During some of the arias, suffi- cient film action bein;< lacking to cover the length of the song, the singer -was made to repeat his ac- tion, while the song lasted, or, this resource failing, the aria record was stopped short,- sometin.es in the middle of a word and the jump made to the next action. English subtitles were u.sed on the film, which sometimes wore entirely different in meaning from the Italian words sung from the record apparently by the player on the screen.- ' — — --^-r — Before two reels, of the • picture had been shown the audience was howling. The Paul Jordan prodtic- tlon hasn't been heard bt since. Dolores' Mind Switch Los Angeles, Nov. 27. The singing of two songs by Do- lores Del-Rio In "Evangeline"-will- mark the capitulation ' of another anti to the talkers. Just before she went to Europe some months ago, Miss Del Rio de- clared silent pictures Were her meat and that she would not, now or ever, be heard on the screen. FITZMAUEICE'S FUTURE Los Angeles, Nov. 27. George ,Fity,maurice has one more picture to direct for First N.-itional before his present contract explre.s. In the event a new ticket at t^ie dl¥" ra tF"Q f ?Tf)TOO orl^^^ not written by First National. Fit=''- mauri.ce Avill turn producei" anci make his own pi<.-tur.rs for tli.'^ dppend<M-it market. Wallis As Asso. Prod. When Warner Brothers' st'.i.ho reopens the first part of n-'Xt V' Ilal Wallis. prc:-;'-nt studio i.iilih>"'.y director, will ;;he transferred to il:*' production a'-partin-nl to a<-t associate producer.