^(mdoK ^cfiont THE MUCH-DISCUSSED "group scheme" of production came into being recently and James Lawrie, managing director of the National Film Finance Corp., gave details to a press conference of the scheme's operation when it is started. About 30 of our leading producers and directors have signified that they will take part in the scheme and they are divided between those which normally operate from Pinewood and those whose films have been made under the wing of Associated British at EUstree. Each team will form a production company quite distinct from any other and will undertake to produce films for the two companies formed by NFFC. One financial company will take charge of all moneys invested in productions at Pinewood and another will work from Elstree. These companies will have as their board in the one case a delegate from NPTC and Earl St. John, and In the other an NFFC man and Robert Clark. Both companies will have as chairman Sir Michael Balcon who continues as the advisor to the NFFC. The production company will choose Its own subjects and approach the financial company for money and this latter firm will handle all the necessary financial details including the bank discounting, insurance and guarantee of completion. The job of the producer will be to produce and he will have no money worries at all. His company will be paid a flat rate of 5,000 pounds a year which will be received monthly and during the course of his agreement with the NFFC the producer will not be allowed to work outside the scheme. He will also be required to give three months notice if he wishes to withdraw. In each case the distributor will put up 70 per cent of the budget with the NFFC finding the rest and producers will receive a share in the profits as well as their flat salary. Profits will be divided in the same ratio between NFFC and the distributor after allowing for abortive story costs and other losses that may occur. Apart from the operations at Pinewood and Elstree a new company will be formed known as Group Three, Ltd. This will operate from Southall studio and will be used to encourage new talent among producers and directors. John Grierson and John Baxter will be in charge of this company and the finished films will be distributed through Associated British Film Distributors, Ltd., which has no connection with the Associated British Picture Corp., controllers of Elstree studios and participants in the larger scheme outlined above. ABFD is a smaller distribution house which handles mainly reissues and cofeatures and is tied up to Ealing Studios. According to Lord Reith, NFFC's chairman, the corporation will have about 1,200,000 pounds to spend during 1951 on the operations given here. He stresses that there will still be a certain amount of money available for producers outside of the group scheme who have a distribution contract, but in spite of this there is still considerable criticism in the industry which maintains that a government corporation under a socialist government Is financing the big film production groups at the expense of the small. By JOHN SULLIVAN "MR. DRAKE'S DUCK" was made largely on location with finishing work at Nettlefold studio, Walton on Thames. It is an Angel production distributed by Eros and produced by Daniel Angel with Val Guest directing. The stars are Douglas Fairbanks and Yolande Donlan and there is a fine supporting cast of British character actors. "Mr. Drake's Duck" is a crazy comedy almost in the Preston Sturges tradition. It shows us an American who has inherited a farm in England taking his daffy young American bride there for their honeymoon. The bride goes to a farm auction and buys, by mistake, a pen of young ducks. To the consternation of the honeymoon couple one of these ducks lays an egg which turns out to be of pure uranium and international complications ensue when the British army occupies the farm in an attempt to isolate the particular duck. On this slender idea Val Guest, who wrote the script as well as directed, has hung a very funny comedy that seems certain to do as big a business as last year's comedy winner, "The Happiest Days of Your Life." Like that picture, the present one will be released on the Associated British Cinemas circuit and will enjoy one of the best release dates around the Whitsun holiday. Angel and Fairbanks have been in the U.S.A. negotiating an American release for the film and, properly handled, it should do a good trade in the specialized cinema there. « * * "BLACKMAILED," a new independent production distributed by J. Arthur Rank, was tradeshown recently. It was produced at Pinewood by Harold Huth and directed by Marc Allegret. It stars Mai Zetterling, Dirk Bogarde, Fay Compton and Robert Fleming. This is one of those pictures where a good, workmanlike structure has been placed on a poor foundation. In Britain, in 1951, few people have enough money left to be blackmailed and the central situation of the blackmailer and his victims has an old-fashioned air about it, although an effort has been made to bring it up to date by making his customers middle-class people and the sums demanded comparatively small. The film sets out to show the misery that ensues when a good woman murders a blackmailer, almost by accident, and is persuaded against her better judgment that she should not confess to the crime. Ultimately, she goes to the police, but not before several people have suffered and one more man has died. In contrast to its mediocre plot the acting talent is on a high level. Bogarde is excellent as a young army deserter and the same applies to Michael Gough as a self-pitying invalid. The film is most notable for the introduction of young Joan Rice, whose wide-eyed innocent look and considerable talent make her a possibility for stardom. « * • THE FINANCIAL EDITOR of the Kine Weekly, in a report published recently, calculates that the total value of film and cinema industry shares has risen by nearly 18 million dollars since this time last year when most of them were at a low ebb. He attributes this to a feeling among financiers that the industry has put its house in order and that sounder value is now being offered to the public which is in turn reflected in higher boxoffice takings. This may be so, but it is more likely that the increased take is due to the effect of the current rearmament drive on the workman's pay envelope. With increased wages and more overtime it is natural that some of the extra money should be spent on entertainment and with money not quite -so tight patrons might be less inclined to shop keenly for their films. Whatever the reason all the cinema shares have risen by quite considerable amounts, Associated British Pictures Corp. for example going up from $1.25 to nearly two dollars and Odeon from 80 cents to $1.70. Investors can look for even better gains than this when the arms program gets into top gear. * « * PRODUCED TWO YEARS AGO and held up until now owing to an agreement with the author of the play, the Gainsborough picture "Travelors Joy" was screened recently and will be released in March. Sydney Box originally bought the story when he was still at Shepherds Bush studios and agreed that the film should not be released until six months after the end of the run of the stage play on which it was based. At that time it looked like a safe bet since the play, although a good one, was not expected to run more than another year at the outside. To everybody's surprise it ran for considerably more than that and the film has been on the shelf for nearly 18 months. Antony Darnborough produced "Travelors Joy" and Ralph Thomas directed with Google Withers and John McCallum starring. It is a comedy which deals with the tribulations of British business men marooned in Sweden without sufficient currency to see them home or even to pay their hotel bills. Since the regulations controlling currency to Scandinavian countries came off some months ago it might be expected that the piece would appear dated, but this is far from the case. On the contrary it is a pleasant, fast-moving comedy with brilliant acting from everyone from the principals down to the smallest of bit players. "Travelors Joy" will come as a welcome event to British exhibitors who are crying for comedy. At first sight it would not appear to be a propMDsition for American theatres, but after the enthusiastic reception of "The Happiest Days of Your Life" in New York, which your correspondent did not see as a success in the U.S., it might be better to leave the question for the American reviewer to decide. Detroit Monroe Dark; Cut-Price Policy Fails From Mideast Edition DETROIT—The curtain has been rung down for the last time at the Monroe, 250- seat downtown house and one of the halfdozen oldest theatres in Detroit, by Edward Jacobson, who has operated it for the last couple of years. The property will be converted to a store. The dramatic last-minute cut-price policy inaugurated by Jacobson, who slashed adml.ssions from 35 cents to a dime in an effort to hold returns at a profitable level, failed despite the generous use of handbills In the downtown area. 94 BOXOFFICE March 10, 1951
BOXOFFICE BAROMETER • EXHIBITOR HAS HIS SAY BookiriGuide FEATURE CHART • REVIEW DIGEST • SHORTS CHARl' SHORTS REVIEWS • FEATURE REVIEWS • EXPLOITIPS BOXOFFICE FIRST RUN REPORTS This chart shows the records made by pictures in five or more of the 20 key cities checked. As new runs are reported, ratings are added and averages revised. BAROMETER TOP HIT (Not OF THE WEEK an Average) Bitter Rice Indianapolis .210 Computed in terma of percentage in relation to normal grosses. With 100 per cent as "normal," the figures show the percentage above or below that mark.
- Page 1 and 2:
Errol Flynn and Dean Stockwcll in a
- Page 3 and 4:
UP! "THE GREAT CARUSO" One BIG M-G-
- Page 5 and 6:
l(bur Next Demonstration of the Pow
- Page 7 and 8:
I I THE NATIONAL FILM WEEKLY Publis
- Page 9 and 10:
No Shortage of Carbons Seen by Manu
- Page 11 and 12:
I I I I I Independents Confident Of
- Page 13 and 14:
Independents Confident Of UA Succes
- Page 15 and 16:
...Easter , * . The PARAMOUNTS VERY
- Page 17 and 18:
ITS 34.928.741 READERS THE w im EXC
- Page 19 and 20:
Hughes, Government File Stock Brief
- Page 21 and 22:
IRES PRODUCED BY REPUBLIC! THAT [7O
- Page 23 and 24:
National Theatres Executives Discus
- Page 25 and 26:
He Tells of His Success Paramount E
- Page 27 and 28:
^re's theJk^^at SjEZIS/ 2" X 3" DIE
- Page 29 and 30:
British Economic Crisis Expected to
- Page 31 and 32:
aucer-Director Clarence Brown's age
- Page 33 and 34:
MGM Promotes Four In Realignment NE
- Page 35 and 36:
CHESTER FRIEDMAN EDITOR HUGH E. FRA
- Page 37 and 38:
I Tadi( adio Contests Spark New Hav
- Page 39 and 40:
It The army brought up its heavy ar
- Page 41 and 42:
' beside Doyleslown, Pa., Key Seeks
- Page 43 and 44:
Left, the Eastman 16mm. Projector,
- Page 45 and 46:
I6th MMPTA Is Opposing Booth Standa
- Page 47 and 48:
Eastman Kodak Net For 1950 Increase
- Page 49 and 50:
. . . . Herb Jersey Showman Given C
- Page 51 and 52:
. . Melvin . . The PHILADELPHIA par
- Page 53 and 54: (Hollywood Office— Suite 219 at 6
- Page 55 and 56: Left, the Eastman I6mm. Projector,
- Page 57 and 58: 'Hornblower' Debut In London April
- Page 59 and 60: i [ ment i during Waive Wage Freeze
- Page 61 and 62: Tcane Seattle Lioness Gets Film Con
- Page 63 and 64: . . Edward PHOENIX nctress Virginia
- Page 65 and 66: Kansas Bill Seeks To End Censorship
- Page 67 and 68: Enjoy GREATER PROFITS because it's
- Page 69 and 70: Allied Board Plans Spring Conventio
- Page 71 and 72: [alco Chain Starts Profit-Sharing P
- Page 73 and 74: $310,000 Theatre Honors E.R. Rogers
- Page 75 and 76: Mayor Brings Change To Higher Type
- Page 77 and 78: I with a large assortment of tropic
- Page 79 and 80: MIAMI Tack Cohn, executive vice-pre
- Page 81 and 82: VARIETY LEADERS WILL SPEAK AT OKLAH
- Page 83 and 84: 'Air Cadet' Will Open In San Antoni
- Page 85 and 86: I Ben Cockrell Denver, Buys Out Gam
- Page 87 and 88: . . . Jean Drive-In Near Waukegan F
- Page 89 and 90: Stench Bombs Tossed In Louisville S
- Page 91 and 92: Gordon, who operates a commercial f
- Page 93 and 94: 'On Demand' Garners Top Deiroit Gro
- Page 95 and 96: CINCINNATI . . f^eorge Fetick, oper
- Page 97 and 98: Conn. Film Men Join To Discuss 8 Bi
- Page 99 and 100: BOSTON piizabeth Taylor, Anthony De
- Page 101 and 102: Variety Village Affair To Be Held A
- Page 103: People in Greece Look For Invasion
- Page 107 and 108: attendance. Played Sat., Sun.—C.
- Page 109 and 110: Alphabetical Picture Go/1/0 ladex a
- Page 111 and 112: ++VerY Good; + Good- ±Fair; -Poor
- Page 113 and 114: CHECK RUNNING TIME WITH LOCAL EXCHA
- Page 115 and 116: REPUBLIC _j (S5) Driuna SOOS MACBET
- Page 117 and 118: 20th Century-Fox Universal-Internat
- Page 119 and 120: Opinions 00 Correof Prodaetlons; Ex
- Page 121 and 122: I CLOSING DATE: Monday noon pracadi
Change language