Boxoffice-Febuary.28.1953

'BWANA; 13
OTHERS IN COLOR
TO BE AVAILABLE IN MARCH
First 3-D Feature Among
31 New March Releases;
Also Six Reissues
By FRANK LEYENDECKER
NEW YORK—The first
three-dimension
feature. "Bwana Devil," and 13 other pictures
in color will be among the 37 features
available to exhibitors in March. This Is
more than for any one month in the
1952-53 season to date and compares to 35
released in March 1952. However, six of
the March 1953 pictures are reissues.
LIST OF FILMS IN COLOR
Of the 31 new features, the 14 in color will
include ten in Technicolor. They include
the prerelea.se of "Moulin Rouge." filmed in
FYance; four musicals, "The Star.s Are Singing,"
"I Love Melvin," "Down Among the
Sheltering Palms" and "All Ashore." and
"De.stination Gobi," "City Beneath the Sea,"
"Seminole," "Gunsmoke" and "Prince of
Pirate.s. " all in the action-adventure category.
"Bwana Devil" is in An.scoColor. "She's Back
on Broadway" is in WarnerColor, "The Lady
Wants Mink" is in Trucolor and "Fort Vengeance"
is in Cinecolor.
Important dramas, in addition to "Moulin
Rouge" and the other color films mentioned,
will include: "The Member of the Wedding,"
"The Star." "Battle Circus," "Golden Arrow,"
"The Blue Gardenia," "The Hitch-Hiker,"
"Five Angles on Murder" and "White Lightning."
More than the usual number of comedies
will include: "The Girl Who Had Everything,"
"Taxi," "Jalopy." "Confidentially
Connie" and "Bachelor in Paris." "Savage
Mutiny," "Port Sinister" and two westerns,
"On Top of Old Smoky" and "Son of the
Renegade," are the only programmers.
LINEUP BY COMPANIES
Broken down by companies, the March releases
will be:
ALLIED ARTISTS—"Fort Vengeance," in
Cinecolor, starring James Craig, Rita Moreno
and Reginald Denny; "Jalopy," starring the
Bowery Boys with Mona Knox, and "White
Lightning," with Stanley Clements, Barbara
Bestar and Steve Brodie.
COLUMBIA—"All Ashore," in Technicolor,
starring Mickey Rooney, Dick Haymes, Peggy
Ryan and Ray McDonald with Barbara Bates
and Jody Lawrence; "Prince of Pirates," in
Technicolor, starring John Derek with Barbara
Rush and Carla Balenda; "The Member
of the Wedding," a Stanley Kramer production,
starring Ethel Waters. Julie Harris and
Brandon E>eWilde; "Savage Mutiny." starring
Johnny WeismuUer and Angela Stevens' "Five
Angles on Murder" (originally titled "The
Woman in Question"^, with Jean Kent, Dirk
Bogarde and Susan Shaw; "On Top of Old
Smoky." starring Gene Autry with Smiley
Burnette ajid Gail Davis, and the reissue of
"The Bandit of Sherwood Forest," starring
Cornel Wilde, Anita Louise and Edgar Buchanan.
LIPPERT—"Bachelor in Paris." a British
picture with Dennis Price. Mischa Auer and
Film Industry Is
Backing Mason Bill
For Repeal of 20% Admission Tax
NEW YORK—The Industry will support
H.R. 157, the bill Introduced by Rep. Noah M.
Mason of Illinois, in its campaign for repeal
of the federjul 20 per cent admission tax. The
selection has been made by Col. H. A. Cole
and Pat McGee, co-chairman of the National
Tax Repeal Campaign Committee.
The Mason biU was introduced January 3.
It provides for an end to the tax in those
theatres presenting films as the main form
of entertainment. It is one of 26 such bills
introduced at this session of Congress, and
was chosen because it was one of the first
introduced and Ijecause Mason is a highranking
Republican member of the House
ways and means committee. There are 15
other bills with identical language.
The text of the bill follows:
"Be it enacted by the Senate and House of
Representatives of the United States of
America in Congress assembled, that section
1700 (a) (1) of the Internal Revenue code is
hereby amended by adding at the end thereof
the following new sentence: 'The tax imposed
under this paragraph shall not apply to the
amount paid for admission to a moving picture
theatre, if the principal amusement offered
with respect to such admission is the
Anne Vernon, and the reissue of "Perils of
the Jungle," starring Clyde Beatty.
METRO-GOLDWYN-MA'^ER — "I Love
Melvin," In Technicolor, starring Donald
O'Connor and Debbie Reynolds with Una
Merkel; "Battle Circus," starring Humphrey
Bogart and June Allyson with Robert Keith
and Keenan Wynn; "Confidentially Connie."
starring Van Johnson, Janet Leigh and Louis
Calhern, and "The Girl Who Had Everything,"
•starring Elizabeth Taylor, Fernando Lamas
and William Powell with Gig Young and
James Whitmore.
PARAMOUNT— "The Stars Are Singing," in
Technicolor, starring Rosemary Clooney.
Laurltz Melchlor and Anna Maria Alberghetti
with Tom Morton and Bob Williams and
Red Dust.
RKO RADIO—"The Hitch-Hlker," starring
Edmond O'Brien. Frank Lovejoy and William
Talman; "Port Sinister." with James Warren.
Lynne Roberts and Paul Cavanagh. and two
reissues, "Fort Apache. " starring Henry Fonda.
Shirley Temple and John Agar, and "Blood
on the Moon." starring Robert Mitchum and
Barbara Bel Geddes.
REPUBLIC — "The Lady Wants Mink," In
Trucolor. starring Ruth Hussey, DennLs
O'Keefe and Eve Arden.
TWENTIETH CENTURY-FOX — "Destination
Gobi," in Technicolor, starring Richard
Widmark and Don Taylor with Casey Adams
and Murvyn Vye: "Down Among the Sheltering
Palms," in Technicolor, starring David
Wayne, Gloria DeHaven, William Lundigan.
showing of moving pictures.'
"Section 2. The amendment made by the
first section of this act shall apply only with
respect to amounts paid, on or after the first
day of the first month which begins more
than ten days after the day on which this act
is enacted, for admi.ssions on or after such
first day."
Cole and Robert Livingston of Omaha
Col.
have been in Washington talking to the spon-
.sors of the other bills. They are said to have
been assiu-ed the others will back the Mason
bill and give preference to it.
Copies of the Mason bill have been mailed
by the Council of Motion Picture Organizations
to all state and congressional district
campaign committees. The request was
made that each committee tell its congressman
that the Mason bill Is the one the industry
wants enacted. Exhibitors located in
districts represented by the other sponsors are
asked to write their congressmen thanking
them for introducing their repeal bills.
The other sponsors ore Senators Dirksen of Illinois
and Butler of Nebraska, and the following representotives:
Dtngell, Michigan; Fisher, Texos; Boggs, Louisiana;
Frozier, Tennessee; Hagen, Minnesota; Potten,
Arizona; Elliott, Alcboma; King, California; McDonough,
Californio; Zabloski, Wisconsin; Davis, Georgia;
Thompson, Texos, and Von Zondt, Pennsylvonia.
Jane Greer and Mitzl Gaynor: "The Star,"
starring Bette Davis and Sterling Hayden.
with Natalie Wood and Warner Anderson, and
"Taxi," starring Dan Dalley and Constance
Smith with Neva Patterson and Blanche
Yurka. Also two reissues, "My Darling
Clementine." starring Henry Fonda, Linda
Darnell and Victor Mature, and "Call of the
Wild." starring Clark Gable. Loretta Young
and Jack Oakle.
UNITED ARTISTS—"Moulin Rouge," In
Technicolor, a John Huston Romulus production,
starring Jose Ferrer with Colette
Marchand and Zsa Zsa Gabor, for prerelease
only, and "Bwana Devil," in AnscoColor, the
first three-dimension feature produced by
Arch Oboler, with Robert Stack, Barbara
Britton and Nigel Bruce; "Golden Arrow,"
starring Jean-Pierre Aumont and Burgess
Meredith with Paula Valenska, and "Son of
the Renegade." a Jack Schwartz western with
John Carpenter and Lori Irving.
UNI'VERSAL-INTERNA'nONAL — "City
Beneath the Sea." In Technicolor, starring
Robert Ryan. Mala Powers. Anthony Qulnn
and Suzan Ball; "Seminole." in Technicolor,
starring Rock Hudson, Barbara Hale and Anthony
Qulnn, and "Gunsmoke," In Technicolor,
starring Audle Murphy, Susan Cabot,
Paul Kelly and Charles Drake.
WARNER BROS.—"She's Back on Broadway."
in WarnerColor. starring Virginia Mayo,
Gene Nelson, Steve Cochran and Patrice Wymore.
and "The Blue Gardenia," starring Anne
Baxter, Richard Conte and Ann Sothern.
16 BOXOFFICE
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: February 28. 1953