Boxoffice-Febuary.28.1953

MORE ON THIRD-DIMENSION
—
cal and horizontal center lines are super-
imposed on the screen. The MPRC has prepared
a target test fita for lining up that
j
DeMille Holds Up Making
Next Film to Study 3-D
NEW YORK—Cecil B. DeMille has deferred
the starting date of "Ten Commandments"
for an opportunity to study third-dimension
developments, he said at a press interview
Wednesday (25). The original date set was
October, but it will be about another year
before the cameras go to work. He said his
production costs are always so high that he
cannot afford to take a chance.
"I am lucky that third-dimension appeared
when it did and that it didn't find me in
the throes of production," DeMille said. "I
was making "The Godless Girl' when sound
came into being. I should have waited imtU
sound proved itself, but I went ahead. We
tried to use sound in the final reels, but
the results were not impressive. I am not
going to get caught that way again. I am
delighted that I am in between pictures."
STIIX UNDECIDED ON TECHNIQUE
DeMille said that at the moment he favors
none of the actual 3-D simulated 3-D processes.
He had not decided to use any of
them in making "Ten Commandments," but
would choose whatever advanced method was
available at production time, and that that
did not necessarily mean 3-D.
The veteran producer—he is 72 years old
described the excitement over 3-D in Hollywood.
He said that executives from the various
studios were constantly visiting each
other's studios to observe production, and
that the industry there "is joyful and excited
to an extent that I think beats the
excitement over sound." He himself had seen
the daily rushes on "Sangaree," Paramount
Paravlsion film, and was impressed. He had
also seen Cinemascope demonstrations and
also was impressed.
"One thing matters above all else," DeMille
said. "If a picture is good, it will have an
audience; if not, it won't. Permanent success
can't be judged by the successes of the
Censorship in 3-D
A New Headache
COLUMBUS, OHIO—Ohio's board of
censors "is worried stiff" about what
three-dimensional movies might do for
Marilyn Monroe, Dagmar or Jane Russell,
said Larry Murphy, United Press
correspondent, after an interview with Dr.
Clyde Hissong, the state's chief film censor.
"Such three-dimensional beauties
might pass censorship standards pressed
flat on the screen but in 3-D movies
they're strictly a headache," said Murphy.
Dr. Hissong said the board might pass a
flat version of a 3-D film, only to find it
was an "eye-popper" on the 3-D screen.
The state film censorship division doesn't
have 3-D equipment. "As it stands now,"
said Dr. Hissong, "we see only the film
for one eye and without the polarized
glas.ses." Dr. Hissong thinks there may be
total conversion to three-dimensional
films within a few years.
first five or six pictures utilizing any special
process because the element of novelty is
present. That was true in the early days of
the movies and is now. And a process must
have a fine story suited to it.
"Methods of distribution and exhibition
have changed through the years but the
picture must be good. Dore Schary was right
when he said the public wUl supply the
answer on any process. A picture should not
have to depend on mechanical tricks to
bring an audience into a theatre. Sound
was not a mechanical trick but one of the
five senses.
DeMille saw nothing wrong with the future
of the industry so long as it has good dramatists
and directors.
"Pour years ago," he said, "I understood it
was taking a terrible beating from television.
There were double bills and talk of
triple bills. Then came 'Samson and Delilah'
with the top Paramount gross to that time,
then -The Greatest Show on Earth' which
has been seen by more people than any other
picture and has broken all Paramount and
DeMille gross records. The public will go to
see something they like. Motion pictures are
now in show business for the first time. People
will go to see them when they are good."
Sees 3-D as Immediate
Aid to Independents
HOLLYWOOD — Conversationally, as well
as productionally speaking, 3-D continued as
a dominant topic in the film capital, constituting
a rising flood of pro and con discussion.
Among the Independents, Jack Broder Productions
and its releasing organization, Realart
Pictures, came out with a flat-footed prediction
that widespread interest in thirddimension
by major companies means that
the number of new releases from those organizations
"will definitely be less" during
the balance of 1953 and that, accordingly,
smaller organizations such as Realart will
be called upon to supply, to drive-ins and
other theatres not equipped to handle 3-D,
a "tremendous" quantity of regular releases,
including reissues.
In a bulletin to Realart distribution personnel,
the Broder organization prognosticated
a "three- to five-year changeover
period," and that "eventually it is almost
certain that true 3-D will give way to the
panoramic screen process such as Cinerama
or Cinemascope." Meantime, however, Broder
said his company will "undoubtedly" make
some 3-D features before the end of the
year, but will do them in a process permitting
their release also as regular films.
Prom a major source came the prediction
that there will always be a market for twodimensional
fare, when Dore Schary, MGM
vice-president in charge of production, so
declared in a speech before the Rotary club
of Los Angeles. Certain subjects, he said, do
not and will not lend themselves to the
extra-dimensional treatment, and the use of
any such device is of little value unless
backed up by solid story content.
Dunning 3-D Camera
Latest on Market
HOLLYWOOD — Carroll
Dunning's
three-dimensional camera is being offered
to producers by Nat Levine. Dunning has
worked on the camera for over 14 years
and is ready to market it through Dunningcolor
Corp,
The camera has two lenses one and
three-quarters inches apart, holds two
rolls of negative in either black and white
or color and can be operated by the regular
studio camera crews without additional
men, according to the inventor.
The dual mechanism eliminates mirrors
u.sed on some three-dimensional cameras.
Two projectors and Polaroid viewers are
used by theatres and audiences. It is
understood that the terms are 10 i>er
cent of the production cost, plus 5 per cent
of the distributor's gross.
3'D Equipment
(Continued from page 9)
vision Engineers will publish its recommendations
in the February issue of its journal, due
in a few days, Henry Kogel, staff engineer,
said. Its stereo committee was completing
work during the week on standardized nomenclature.
It was considering a proposal that
one method of identifying the left and
right films be by notches in the camera
aperature which would be visible on film to
the projectionist but not on the screen. It
has been in daily touch with the Motion
Picture Research Council on the coast. The
latter was preparing instructions to projectionists
which include advice on splicing. One
of these will recommend the use of a synchronizer
when splices have to be made after
a break and the films have to be rewound.
This measures the frames and footage and
is in use in many exchanges. Its cost was
estimated elsewhere as between $25 and $70.
The SMPTE journal wiU say that the two
projectors must be aligned so that the verti- ,
is available either in short sections for
loops or in larger rolls. Loops in sufficient
lengths for the two projectors can be obtained
for $2.
The SMPTE will make the firm recommendation
that the reel flanges of the film
magazines be free-running to reduce inertia
to a minimum and prevent film damage. This
type of reel was demonstrated to the tradepress
the previous week by James Brigham,
theatre equipment installation supervisor for
United Artists, on loan from Natural Vision
for "Bwana Devil" installations. The SMPTE
said the MPRC believes the spindle diameter
may have to be increased.
As said before, the equipment men are
working all hours to meet the demand. Several
of them did not foresee any breakdown
in scheduled deliveries. They said the
main problem now faced by distributors In
getting 3-D pictures to the theatres is one
of prints, but they thought that would be t
solved shortly. One and all, they called the
advent of 3-D "an exciting event" and they
are watching its progress closely as a guide
to the future.
12 BOXOFTICE :
: February 28, 1953