NOVEMBER

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HOLLYWOOD—
Declaring the tome pre-
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"Adventures
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Sam Katzman to Increase
Annual Output to 20
HOLLY WOOI>— Producer Sam Katzmaiis
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«even-yenr contract with Columblii. which
called for 15 features annually, has
been revised upward and the filmmaker will
supply the company with 20 pictures a
Hl.s 1953 slate will comprise 17 features,
ten of them In Technicolor, and three serials.
lineup Includes "Prisoners of the Cas-
"Charge of the Lancers," "Jesse James
Meets Bill Dalton." "The Kiss and the
Sword," "Tripoli to the Sea," "Battle of Rogue
River," "Fort Ticonderoga," "Chief of the
Senecas," "The Beach at Walklki" and the
titled "Meet Me at the Fair," all
In color; "Valley of the Headhunters" and
"Killer Ape." in the Jungle Jim series; "Baron
of Brooklyn." "49 Men." "St. Valentine's Day
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"Jungle Man Eaters "Lure of
the Underworld," all black-and-white; and
of Captain Kidd," "Fighting
With Fremont" and "Smashing the Spy Ring."
cllffhangers.
Boxer Asks Writ Against
'From Here to Eternity'
him up to "public contempt and ridicule,"
Wayne Davis Choate, representing him-
as a boxer know'n as Chief Choate. filed
a $250,000 damage suit in superior court, naming
Columbia, the publishing firm of Charles
Scribner's Son.s and author James Jones the
defendant.s and seeking an injunction to prevent
Columbia from filming the Jones novel,
"Prom Here to Eternity."
Choate contends that one of the characters
In the volume is patterned after him and that
the character, using "vile, indecent and
opprobrious" language, places him in a
"humiliating" position.
Columbia some time ago cast Montgomery
Clift in the starring role of the Buddy Adler
production and signed Fred Zinnemann to
direct.
Tucson Citizens to Raise
$10,000 to Fight Ozoner
TUCSON. ARIZ.—The Broadway Neighbor-
A.ss'n has announced that it intends to
raise an additional $10,000 to continue its
legal battle against Harry and Meyer Agron,
property owners who plan to build another
drive-in on Broadway near Wilmot road. A
superior court trial, set for January 13, will
test whether the ozoner would result in unreasonable
use of the land. There is no zoning
law involved.
association has already raised S4,000
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for the battle. Raphael Brandes, a member
of the group's executive committee, said some
of the money will go for a.campaign to get a
sound zoning ordinance established in Pima
county.
27th Regiment Picks Doris Day
HOLLYWOOD—Dons Day. Warner singing
star, has been named queen of the 27th regiment
in Korea in balloting whereby members
of the famed Wolfhound regiment each contributed
50 cents for the privilege of choosing
"the most popular American woman." The
proceeds, amounting to more than S3.000. has
been donated to a Japanese orphanage.
SOMETIMES a mere observer of the Indu.-stry
scene flnd.n it a bit difficult to
understand the publicity and udvcrll-s-
Ing approach to certain Important major .itudio
pictures.
A current cxaniple seems to be Metro-
Goldwyn-Mayer's upcoming "Above and Beyond."
When that sterling feature was unfurled
for apprai.sal by the Hollywood press,
the lush, specially printed credit sheets distributed
among those attending the preview—
and assuming that they had little or no preknowledge
of the film's subject mattercreated
the impression that they were about
to witne.ss a romantic, .sexy photoplay. Illustrating
the cover of the slick brochure were
stills of the two stars. Robert Taylor and
Eleanor Parker, in various ardorous pases,
dripping with about as much sex a-; the production
code allows. Captioning the page was
the message: "Now it can be told . . . the
dramatic love story behind the best-kept
secret in history!"
What little advertising on behalf of the
film that mighty Metro has thus far directed
at either the public or the trade has pursued
the same idea.
Which can add up to only one conclusion:
The top brass in Leo's distribution and advertising
departments has the thought that the
love angle in the story will have a wider
appeal to ticket buyers than its main theme.
As concerns the picture itself. It is the
story of Col. Paul Tibbets. who commanded
the unit of the air force which, under the
strictest possible secrecy, prepared for the u.se
of the first atomic bomb in warfare and who
piloted the plane from which that dreadful
instrument of death and destruction was
dropped on Hiroshima. The feature, written,
produced and directed by Melvin Frank and
Norman Panama, is a well-nigh flawless example
of masterful filmmaking. Because little,
if any, compromi.se was made with historical
facts, it is unavoidably grim and
frightening in many aspects. True, there is
a mitigating thread of romance, the economic
and emotional relationships between a typical
young American couple whose marriage is
placed in jeopardy because of the stringent
demands of the husband's duty to his country.
But this marital romantic phase is only
moderately sexy, and is definitely secondary
to the picture's basic subject matter.
Probably those responsible for selling the
offering to the cash customers decided that
a war-weary, frightened public—possibly facing
the threat of atomic attacks—might not
be attracted in profitable numbers to a movie
which, despite its admirable realism, might
be considered too severe to qualify as escapist
entertainment; and, having so decided, re-
-sorted to that overworked modus operandi:
When in doubt, sell 'em sex.
In this humble opinion. "Above and Beyond"
is sufficiently meritorious as a stern
celluloid chronicling of one of the most significant
pages in modern history to be widely
merchandised as just that. It is undoubtedly
presumptuous to project such opinion if opposed
to those of the experts responsible for
the co