Variety (Feb 1930)

c Wednesday, February S, 1930 FOREIGN FILM NEWS VARIETY See Cos. as Solution For Export Flms America's talker problem In. for- eign" fields, on6 of the most perplex- ing and one In which various syn- thetic treatments have aU admitted- ly iBp]>ped>.may be solved, physically, at least. Establishment of stock: companies composed of leading stage representatives of the four tongues seems to be th6 way out the bfg.producers have chosen. Paramount has already okayed the plan for linguistic units being permanently maintained in Holly- "Wpod.—It Is-seen- as-the-,flrst.mat5jr. rial move In What execs predict will, within a few months,' witness a great ingress of capable foreign players.. While the Latin countries are only second in returns, Germany Is also voted of sufficient importance to necessitate German units here. Undei* the new system, themes deemed worthy of all' or any of the four versions will first be shot in English. Scene by scene and se- quence by sequence the same will be sounded In . other languages, with members of the. various stock com- panies substituting In action and voice for their English predecessors. • There will be few pictures. Para- mount, at least, which will have all versions. Only in the cases of super- specials, thematlcally certain of ih- ternatlonal Interest, will the Span- ish, French and German-speaking casts form the linguistic parade. Despite the present heavy repre- sentation of foreign material in Hol- lywood, film authorities claim it Is composied largely of extras. Need for first-raters • will Ve resppilslbie for. additions. These, however, will be only of the highest calibre with established drawing value in their respective countries! . Of the various methods experl mented w:ith by producers, dubbing Is already waning, not so much be- cause of lack of synchronization as the dllTerence In vocal and physical characteristics often producing a ludicrous situation when shown abroad. System of superimposing titles, translating the lines spoken In English, also proved too much of a distraction for the average foreign audience. Radio, however, Isn't going to follow on the foreign stock com pahy idea. French and German don't mean a thing. Spanish is the only lingo that counts. ..So says Lee Marcus, acting chief In the absence of the Havana bound J. I. Schnltzer. Time Is the most expensive part of the production budget, Marcus observed. Four foreign languages would multiply the. studio duration on one programer at least 10 times Anyhow, reminds. Marcus, It's tough enough to get good English diction on the tiny sound track without bothering about a good part of the rest of the world. Hollywood, Feb. 4. Metro-Goldv/yn Is trying to line up a stock company of 25 French players to Import for the purpose of making French language ver sions. . , Mrs. Jacques Feyder, wife of the M-G director, has already started lining up some people on the other aide on i six month contracts. At the end of this time another group will be brought over. Lohdoii Chatter London, Jan. 25. Tennis shorts for the girls. Suburban sun. baths this winter. Tom Walls is back from vacation Ing, Oscar Asche has taken to writing novels. - Win Rogers has been hobnobbln; with Lady Astor. Monty Banks' big green barge Is parading around again. Isabel Jeans has got a parrot, and doesn't give a darn for the fever. Arthur Hopkins, New York pro -ducer^-=ls^.here^- - Got-A==slant; .ojv. "Michael and Mary.". Violet Vanbrugh's stage daughter Is her real one, Prudence. "All Our Yesterdays," by N. M, Tomlinson. latest war book to make a hit. Tooting in traffic blocks costs dukes ?2 these days. All the Americans over here are ■trying to get Intros to Shaw. M-G Wm Repeat Its Affidavits in iSerinany Hollywood, Feb, 4.. Preceding, the distribution of M-G's German version of "A Lady to Love," (They Knew What They Wanted), photographs of affldfivits by Vllma Banky and Joseph Schlld- kraut that they spoke German In the picture will be circularized through Germany and also given a big publicity blurb In the papers. Idea, used before by the same studio tiSt "Hollywood Reviie," is to offset in Germany the skepticism now existing from previously dubbed versions. . ■ FAB. MAN GOES TO KANE Paris, jan. 25. S, C. Colin, former assistant, to Victor Glover in charge of the pl.ay-^ reading department of Paramount's local office, succeeded GloVer In that berth. Glover, dramatic editor of the t»aris„editlQix__Qf:L_the New. York "Herald," has gone over with Bob Kane's unit as scenario editor, lent to Kane by Paramount, under a working agreement for French talker productions. HOLLAND'S SING CARTOON The Hague, Jan, 24. ' New feature for Holland, first time here, was Paramount's com- munity singliigf film, "iOaisy Bell" (animated, cartoon), at the Passage, with Valentino's "Blood and Sand" (silent) revivied. Passage is wired with Liitaphone. At the Asta is Ufa's "Melodie des Herzen," synchronized with songs. Ufa's "Woman in the -Moon" lasted but briefly here. Didn't click. Seidelman South J. H. Seidelman, assistant man- ager of Paramount's foreign de- partment. Is en route to Cuba. He will also visit Jamaica and Panama. HARLAN THOMPSON a veteran of talking pictures. Joined the—William-- Fox- -Company_ JtWP years ago. This week marks the beginning of hiS! third successful year with that company. An announcement will be made shortly 'covering the many out-r standing pictures Mr. Thompson has written and directed. Direction SIDNEY PHILLIPS 234 W. 44th St.; New York India By PHILIP GREAVES Calcutta, Jan, 2, Publicity board of Indian govern- ment railways has appointed an European pi'oducer to deal with the production and tree exhibition of educational films devoted largely to agriculture. Board has taken the view that speeded-up agriculture will Increase rail traffic. Open air shows of these commer- cial films will be given along! the rail routes. Sound, as well as silent films, along these lines, are likely to be produced. It must be rernembered that the bulk of rilral India remains prac- tically unchanged. Peopled by the fwholly illiterate with tbe crudest possible methods of life and work, ascribing disease and disasters to devils. Only in the, cities Is the film known and enjoyed, vast territories being in utter Ignorance of its mar- vels. ' RESORT BAHLE (Continued* from page 2) in advertising this year. This al- lowed the resbrt sheets to open up with all their superlatives, as their news columns operate almost ex- clusively on a chiselling basl&. First big break was the "Sunday Despatch" (London)* This papier played up a btory about all night gambling, queues of 5,000 people daily, one week's takings of 60,000,- 000 francs, and otherwise went the whole hog on hooey. The "Conti- nental Daily Mail," owned by the sanie Northcliffe outfit, reprinted the story for a front page spjread, crediting the "Despatch" and thus giving itself an "out" when sub- scribers from Nice wrote In saying the story was all wrong. Undercover Battle All this indicates that not only the players but the Casinos are fol-. lowing a reckless technique to haul themselves out of the red. There Is, in fact, a war raging between the Casinos. But it's all under the surface. Up to two years ago things were breaking so big for Monte Carlo that the syndicate was sagging with the weight of its .'own jack. It de- cided to unload for Its. own good. So It chucked $1,000;000 Into a rub- ber beach and $2,000,000 -into a bunch of terraced tennis courts. Scarcely had It pUlIed this strip act when Mussolini pulled a fast one and practically. pushed Monte Carlo outdoors In its underpants. This he did by opening the San Remo Ca- sino. San Remo, on the Italian Riviera, had been closed for years, but last year Mussolini not only lifted the ban but allowed no limit stakes to be played, thus topping Monte Carlo, This put these two into genuine rivalry, and things were not helped by Frank Gould opening his $5,000,000 Nice Casino a few months later. Thus, Monte Carlo was being clouted on both ears. Result has been that all of Mbnte Carlo's attractions are how under one syndicate with Sir Basil Zacha- roff, the Greek multi-mllllonalre, determined to wipe out Gould'o string, Gould now has three Ca- sinos, Thie ones at Juan-les-PIns and ReauUeu pay, but this Nice site is a thing of beauty and a headache forever. It neyer will pay on the present investment. -^^Tlie^goy^mmen t: i5^^_BlMln hands of£ policy. Fewer Casinos With bigger otakes .means so much velvet to the government as It takes 70% past a certain gross. "ihe mob reads only of winnings, but any croupier will tell you that In 25 years of observation he has never seen a man actually win a large sum.of money and to have left j without lo-sing it later. Picture Money Magic (Continued from page 1) people have seized it as a life pre- server. Backers since the Wall Street flop may be scarce, but this, picture money, which comes from the big picture Industry, Is con- sidered unaffected by ordinary con- ditions. Every shoestringer In town now says he has picture money behind him. Everything he puts oyer is on the strength of It, because ap- parently nobody really knows where the money Is or\isn't, Actors all prefer'a Job in a show with such money behind It. A show without it seems handIeapped.:And some persons are willing to come in on a production if It Is merely alleged that picture money is al- reiady there. Producers are calling up play agents, to say "I have picture money behind me, so send me a lot of plays with picture value." Agen<:!i say that this Is becoming; the real angle to the judgment of play& They, just must, be suited for pictures or no one In town wants to even T-ead them. Authors have, fallen In llnie and are obviously writing with pic- tures In mind. Keaton's .Italian Prolog Hollywood, Feb- 4. Buster Keaton will speak Italian In a prolog for "Spite. Marriage." It Is to be shown in Italy as a silent. A film entitled "Sacrifice," pro- .duced by _a Parsi firmtJias_done well here. It has also found some" f^v0"r in Europe. It has a good plot, based on a story by the Bengali poet,' Rablndranath Tagore, and the pres- entation and photography are much above the oi'dinairy Indian stand ards, . Encouraged by their success, the producers have fioated a concern called Orient Pictures Corp,, Ltd,, have Interested Europefin as well as Indian capitalists. and ordered out a technical.plant with mobile lighting. Modern studio, with. laboratory and offices. Is to be erected, and the company hopes to start on a film-a month plan. 2,200 Fpre^ Houses Wired At End of/29 At the New Empire, Kall'a Ha- waiian Troubadours are having -a successful seaison. Later the Rus- sian pianist, M, Morovltch, arrives for a short season. . At Madan'9 theatre Is the Imanoft Quartet, dancers, in * their third weiek. Gunboat Jack and other boxing stars at the Globe;, three circuses and a local pantomime comprise thei rest of Calcutta's stage shows.; Current films are as. follows: "The Beloved Rogue," "The Camera Man," "7th Heaven," "Way of All Flesh," "It," "Robin Hood,^' "Thief of Bag- dad." Films being shown in Bombay and district are: "Cabaret," "The Ace of Cads," "This Js Heaven," "Show Boat," "Noah's Ark," "Coquette," "Broadway," "The Only Thing." CAN'T DECIDiS POLICY Paris, Jan. 25. Whether the ' Capuclnes Cinema will continue to operate at a loss, go darlc, or revert to Its former legit use, Is undecided. Used as a Tijfany showcase by Wilton-Brockllss-TIffany and wired by RCA,, .the Capucines, which is only a 400 seater, had Its rent raised $4,800 when used for legit to $20,000 yearly as a picture house. Despite the admission scale being only about half that of similar houses of the neighborhood the Capucines could not. show much profit. Argentine By Harry E. Goldflam Buenos Aires, Jan. 14. Last year saw talking pictures foir the first time In the Argentine Republic, and In South America as a whole. The public responded to the innovation, though It might have been thought that Spanlsl/ and Portugueise-speaklng audiences would not tak«) kindly to Engli$h on the screen.. The result proved that screen revue and musical com- edies are to the taste of people In this part of the world. Minor suc- cesses, though ^nevertheless suc- cesses; were registered by sure piirely English vehicles as "Trial of Mary Dugan," "Madame X.," and "Doctor's Secret," demonstrate the importance to the business of the English-speaking colonic!^, in this and other Latin-American lands. - Argentina's first taste of the synchronized film was "Divine. Lady," which scored an instant suc- cess. In the same field of art was "Wedding March," which rather alarmed the religious feelings of this essentially Catholic country. And following It came "Four Devils," and "Show Boat," all seen here In the synchronized version. Later In the year "The Patriot" proved to be the most finished production of the season, while "King of Kings" SHared'^n^the^appreciatlonr "Broadway Melody" opened a new field to Argentine, this film break- ing records. Locally, M-G-M must be conceded the palm for super- imposing titles in Spanish by run- ning a second film over the parts where the English dialogue called for explanation, thus enabling au- diences to follow the action with- out having the picture interrupted. Unfortunately, the same process was not able to be carried out In the case of the Fox "Follies," the continuity of the picture being broken to insert titles. This caused protests from jthe. first night au- dience and wilhdra.wal after that perfOJfmance. Next day an expa- natlon was shot on the screen prior to the picture, and local audiences followed the plot as best they could. Last big effort of the year -was "Hollywood Revue," now In Its third month at the Palace, and which topped all . previous records in the city. Opening prices of $3 ($1,20 In the U. S.) being, main- tained for over six weeks, . There Is a lack of confidence here by theatre owners In Spanish dialog pictures. In making Spanish pic- tures—dialog—It Is; evident that the difficulty to be faced Is the ' ap pllcablllty of the Castlllan tongue to Argentina, seeing that this "coun- try Is stated to be the biggest quota in that tongue If producers Insist on making pictures with academically-correct dialog, they must run the risk of losing the best part Of the Argen tine market. In spite of Spain be inff--the:^motheE-.coiintry^Arge.ntlnai as a. whole. Is entirely out 6f sym- pathy with her. This market. If it Is valuable from a dialog point of view, must be guided by Indications from a local source. Unless money Is to be wasted In loads, the most care ful co-operation Is desirable be- tween Argentine branches and their principals up north. Washington, Feb. 4. In making, his summary for 192f covering foreign sales of Araericaa produced pictures N. D. Golden, as- sistant chief of the picture division of the Commerce. Departnxent, states that at the end of the year there were 2,200 wired houses abroad. These figures do not include Can- ada, ... • - OJ these about 1,600 are in Europe, 400 In the Far East, 250 in Latin Amerlcan_cpu_nhMes_ajid_the_remaIn- ing 50 in other parts of, the world. Golden adds, however, that .the rush to wit'e abroad is on to such an ex- tent that within a month any sta- tistics compiled become Inaccurate. American revenue from the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zea- land was So great as to far exceed any totals piled, up the preceding year (1928), says Golden. Touching on prospects of legislation of a detri- mental character in 1930, Golden states there is ho. anticipation of the situation becoming any worse than during the past year. The French adjustment acted as a definite stop- page to the spread of this sort of legislation In other coui^trles. Summary Situation ag it now stands sum- marizes as follows, says (Golden: Hungary, during' 1929, enacted mbre stringent quota rules. Czecho- slovakia and Spain niade gestures in that direction. Regulations based on the quota system In Great Britain were put In .force in Au- stralia and New Zealand. Germany, originator of the quota, Idea, is set as Is until July 1, 1930, with late re- ports Indicating this status mar continue through the 1930-31 sea- son. Patent , situation In Germany still continues acting as curtailment on the distribution of Amerlcan- ma^e sound pictures. That the figures recently publish- ed In "Variety" covering th6 11 months' period on exports, would find no appreciable change for the full year period.- . Combining nega- tive, positive and raw fllrh footage, the Increase runs to 60,000,000 feet over 1928 and In addition runs 9,000,000 feet over the peak year of all pr6vIous records, 1919. Figures covering Europe disclose In excess of 110,000,000 feet for the year as against 69,000,000 the year preceding. Four of the 10 leading film using, countries of the world are located In Europe: United King- dom, France, Germany, and Spain. Of the remainder three are In South America, namely, Argentina, third In the entire list; Brazil, fourth, and Mexico eighth on the same comparative basis for the year, Golden's figures disclose the fol- . lowing changes In the list of lead- ing countries: United kingdom first this year, fourth last; Australia, second, last year first; Argentina, third, last second; Brazil fourth, last year third; Canada, fifth this year, sixth last; Germany,, seventh. In 1928 elghUi;: Mexico, el^rhth this' year, seventh' last; Spain held tO the ninth position; Japan did likewise for b6th years in tenth position in the use of American produced pictures. On imports Mr. Golden discloses an ever Increasing market In thifl country for the foreign made raw film the. footage In. this cIa.S8 in- creasing approximately 97,00p,()66 feet. In contrast. Imports of finish- ed foreign productions (Ih th6 form of positives) still further declined. This entire footage dwindled to un- der 6,000,000 feet. NO ENGLISH VEBSION Hollywood, Feb, 4. Sono-Art will make the first fea- ture length talker in Spanish with- out any English version. Title !• "•Things of Life," starring Jose Bohr, With support of Lola Vendrell, Delia Magana, Cesare Vanonl and Tito JBa<yM9on^^^ _^..^^ _ George Crone will direct wHS production starting. Feb, 10. Born and Lawrence jblned Fan- chon- and Marco's "Idea In Green." "Sweat Cookies" Idea will open the F&M date at the Orpheum in Oklahoma City Feb, 24.