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. . . Ray<br />
. . . Rudy<br />
. . "Not<br />
^oUytwHut ^efcont<br />
By<br />
Republic Western Lineup<br />
For Year Raised to 24<br />
Republic has never been one to scorn<br />
the sturdy sagebrusher as dependable marquee<br />
bait. The company under whose guidance<br />
both Gene Autry and Roy Rogers rose<br />
to their present heights as boxoffice lures<br />
now discloses that with the recent signing of<br />
Rex Allen as a new cowboy star, the number<br />
of series westerns to be produced yearly on<br />
the valley lot has been upped to a record 24.<br />
As it stands now, Republic will turn out<br />
four starring Rogers, eight with Allan<br />
•Rocky" Lane, six with Monte Hale and six<br />
with newcomer Allen, a former radio singer.<br />
Furthermore—and although their contributions<br />
are not tallied among the 24—William<br />
Elliott and Rod Cameron will star in at least<br />
two each in the so-called "super" western<br />
category.<br />
Lancaster and Hecht Get<br />
Long-Term Pact With WB<br />
IVAN SPEAR<br />
Continuing its drive to augment the studio's<br />
list of acting and production talent, Warners<br />
has booked Burt Lancaster to a long-term<br />
non-exclusive contract on a deal which also<br />
includes the services of Harold Hecht, Lancaster's<br />
partner in the independent Norma<br />
Productions. Details of the commitment have<br />
not been worked out, but it is understood<br />
Lancaster will star in at least three films<br />
directly under the Warners banner and will<br />
appear in several others to be co-produced<br />
by him and Hecht as a sharecropping unit.<br />
Lancaster also has a long-term acting<br />
ticket with Producer Hal Wallis and is committed<br />
to Universal-International for several<br />
films.<br />
Screen Guild to Produce<br />
Eight Films April-June<br />
Rounding out his filmmaking commitments<br />
to Screen Guild Productions after having<br />
secured financial backing from several San<br />
Francisco banks, Robert L. Lippert has set<br />
starting dates for eight pictures to roll In<br />
April, May and June.<br />
The schedule includes "Come Out Fighting,"<br />
a prizefight yarn co-starring Don Barry<br />
and Tom Brown, with Ron Ormond as associate<br />
producer, and two outdoor action features<br />
toplining Barry, also to be produced by<br />
Ormond; "Cross Currents," melodrama of international<br />
spies, with Cy Roth producing':<br />
"Grand Canyon," toplining Richard Arlen<br />
and Mary Beth Hughes, which Carl K. Hittle-<br />
Four Overseas Productions Charted<br />
By MGM, 20th-Fox and Lasky Unit<br />
Evidence is at hand that MGM's brass<br />
wasn't talking into a dead mike when, at<br />
a recent Hollywood conclave of the company's<br />
top eastern and western executives,<br />
both long and loud were the proclamations<br />
that big things could be expected<br />
from Leo the Lion during the<br />
next year or so. At that parley Dore<br />
Schary, the studio's production chief,<br />
placed great emphasis on the elaborate<br />
plans being drafted for filming "Quo<br />
Vadis" abroad this year, which plans now<br />
have been completed by Schary and Louis<br />
B. Mayer.<br />
To be launched in June, "Vadis" will<br />
be made at the Cinecetta studios in<br />
Rome, Italy, on a budget said to be the<br />
highest in MGM's 25-year history. Functioning<br />
as business manager for the project.<br />
Henry Henigson has been in Rome<br />
for the past month or more completing<br />
arrangements for launching the Arthur<br />
Hornblow jr. production, which John<br />
Huston will direct.<br />
Casting will get under way immediately,<br />
with more than 30 top speaking roles<br />
to be filled. The studio will pursue the<br />
policy of selecting top Hollywood players<br />
for most of the important parts, while<br />
supporting portrayals will be entrusted to<br />
European thespians.<br />
A demonstration of the magnitude on<br />
which the historical opus will be filed<br />
is contained in the discosure that a majority<br />
of the exteriors will be filmed in<br />
the story's actual locales, such as the Colosseum<br />
in Rome—but that if the Colosseum,<br />
which is in a sorry state of repair,<br />
cannot be used, MGM will construct a<br />
replica of the structure.<br />
Another major outfit, 20th Century-<br />
Fox, also is finalizing plans for the overseas<br />
production of two high-budgeted<br />
efforts this year. "The Black Rose," based<br />
on Thomas Costain's best-seller, will go<br />
before the cameras on location in Morocco<br />
next month as a Tyrone Power<br />
starrer, with Louis Lighton producing<br />
and Henry Hathaway set to direct. The<br />
film will be made under the supervision<br />
of 20th Century-Fox's British headquarters,<br />
with the cast to include both American<br />
and English players. Lighton currently<br />
is in London polishing the script,<br />
while Hathaway has been scouting locations<br />
in North Africa.<br />
Additionally the Darryl F. Zanuck company<br />
will launch production in Germany<br />
this summer on the tentatively titled "The<br />
Air Lift Story," to be made in cooperation<br />
with the war department. Written and<br />
to be megged by George Seaton, who<br />
recently spent several weeks in Berlin and<br />
Frankfurt gathering material, the opus<br />
is on William Perlberg's productional<br />
agenda.<br />
Another overseas venture is that<br />
charted by the independent production<br />
team of Jesse L. Lasky and Walter Mac-<br />
Ewen, who have booked Joan Fontaine<br />
and Anton Walbrook to co-star in a new<br />
version of "Trilby," and which will go into<br />
work in Britain in June. No release has<br />
been set, although the Lasky-MacEwen<br />
firm previously has distributed through<br />
both RKO Radio and Warners.<br />
man will produce; a William Stephens production,<br />
"Skyliner"; "Treasure of Monte<br />
Cristo," which Leonard Picker will produce,<br />
and another Hittleman production, "The<br />
Baron of Arizona," based on the life of the<br />
fabulous swindler, James Reavis.<br />
MGM Assigns Sam Wood<br />
To Direct 'Ambush'<br />
"Ambush," the Armand Deutsch production<br />
at MGM, will be megged by Sam Wood<br />
Enright's next megging assignment<br />
at Warners will be "The Return of the<br />
Frontiersman" . . . Dramatist Zoe Akins is<br />
scripting "Harvest" for Samuel Goldwyn, who<br />
has set Dana Andrews to star . . . William<br />
Beaudine will direct Monogram's "Forgotten<br />
. . .<br />
Women" . for Publication." upcoming<br />
Pine-Thomas production for Paramount,<br />
is being screenplayed by Whitman Chambers<br />
Mate has been booked by Producer<br />
Harry Popkin to meg "Sheila," his next for<br />
"Quarantine" will be<br />
United Artists . . .<br />
directed for 20th Century-Fox by Robert<br />
Wise as the first picture under his new contract<br />
Republic's<br />
with that company<br />
"Flaming Fury" will be under the directorial<br />
guidance of George Blair.<br />
Columbia Elevates Simon<br />
To Executive Producer<br />
Columbia elevated Producer-Director S.<br />
Sylvan Simon to executive producer status,<br />
working directly under President Harry Cohn.<br />
Simon will supervise the pictures to be<br />
turned out by Producers Alex Gottlieb and<br />
Buddy Adler, in addition to personally producing<br />
several others . . . Warners ticketed<br />
Everett Freeman to a new contract as a<br />
writer and producer . C. Roy Konkright<br />
. .<br />
has been appointed chief accountant at Monogram,<br />
filling the vacancy created by the<br />
recent resignation of Albert F. Martin.<br />
Paramount's roster of producers was augmented<br />
through the signing of Jules<br />
Schermer. Not yet handed an assignment,<br />
Schermer was last at Universal-International,<br />
where he made "Illegal Entry," and<br />
previously turned out two pictures for Columbia.<br />
Wheat Financier to Enter<br />
Film Production Field<br />
Marking the entry into production of a<br />
financier from still another field of American<br />
business endeavor—the wheat market—plans<br />
are being completed for an early starting<br />
date on "Johnny Holiday," with R. W. Alcorn<br />
heading the independent unit which will film<br />
it and Willis Goldbeck as his associate producer.<br />
The topline goes to Wallace Beery, MGM<br />
contractee, who is going on loanout for the<br />
first time in nearly 15 years. Much of the<br />
yarn, a reform school story, will be filmed<br />
on location in Indianapolis. There's been<br />
no announcement as to distribution plans.<br />
Three Dog Stories Added<br />
To Monogram Schedule<br />
To the Monogram schedule for the coming<br />
year have been added three dog stories, to be<br />
turned out for the company by Lindsley Parsons,<br />
who has completed arrangements to<br />
produce film versions of a trio of James Oliver<br />
Curwood novels. Kicking off in April will be<br />
"Tentacles of the North," followed by "The<br />
Wolf Hunters" and "The Captain's Courage."<br />
A white German shepherd dog, name<br />
of Harvey, is set for the canine lead in each.<br />
BOXOFFICE :: March 26, 1949
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