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5-
XHIBITOR HAS HIS SAY
ABOUT PICTURESi
Big WOWl tor 'Fanny'
WOW! A little slang word that can mean
so much. Congrotu lotions, Warners, for bringinq
us "Fanny"— another best-in-screen-entertainment.
It is superb and should be a must in
your theatre; not for just an ordinary playdate,
but your best. No complaints, no walkouts, ond
even the teenogers were quiet {for a wonder).
Bijou
Theatre,
Morrisville,
Vt.
ALLIED ARTISTS
KENN SPAULDING
Friendly Persuasion (AA, reissue)—Gory Cooper,
Dororhy McGuire, Anthony Perkins. Everyone, but
everyone, loved this fine old film. Made me feel
extra good to see so many pleased patrons. Let's
have more of these good old films reissued. Business
above overage, and during the Christmas rush,
toD. Weather: Very cold nights.—W. K. Riese,
Aurora Theatre, La Ronge, Sask. Pop. 650.
AMERICAN-INTERNATIONAL
Goliath ond the Dragon (AlP)—^Mark Forest, Broderjck
Crawford, Elenoro Ruffo. This was okay. My
potrons seemed to er>joy it on a Fri.-Sat. ctiange.
S. T. Jackson, Jackson Theatre, Flomaton, Ala. Pop.
1,480.
BUENA VISTA
Greyfriars Bobby (BV)—^Donald Crisp, Key Walsh,
Laurence Naismith. Not up to Disney's usual presentation.
Business normal. The acting was superb,
but It was hard to understond the Scotch "brogue."
This one's a sleeper, at least for our dear potronage.
Played Wed. through Sot. Weather: Cloudy.
Albert Aguiar, Lincoln Theatre, Lincoln Calif Poo^'
3,001.
COLUMBIA
Gidget Goes Howaiion (Col)—James Darren, Michael
Callan, Deboroh Walley. Here's a sweet little show
that moves right along, has beautiful color and a
host of fine young actors that oppeoled to the
* o,^"'^K^"'^''l°""^^''*- "° business.
Why??.' Played Sun. Mon. Weather: Nice.— Paul
°'^'° Theatre, St.
2
Leonard N. B. Pop.
"so"^''
'Poro)--Jeffrey
^.ill"";!""
Hunter, Dovid Jonssen,
Stello Stevens. Good picture that did above overage
business Most people considered this better thon
the co-feature. Fox's "Voyage to the Bottom of the
beo. Should do oil right olmost onywhere Ployed
y"- ^Weother: Snow.—Lorry
F^'C'^ffl
Thomos,
Foyette t'i,
Theatre, Foyetteville, W. Va, Pop. 2,000.
Company, The
n»Klf'"''D^ °*i!!" (Poro)—Fred Astoi're,
Debbie Reynolds, Tob Hunter. Good comedy, seemed
to please, had some cold weother and basketball
competition. It didn't die on us, though. Played Sun.,
Mon., Tues. Weother: Cold.—Met Danner, Circle
Theatre, Woynoko, Oklo. Pop. 2,018.
World of Suzie Wong, The (Poro)—William Holden,
Nancy Kwon, Sylvia Syms. The L of D blasted this
one, but the people come out to see it, anywoy.
Real fine. Suzie is beautiful. Hotden is okoy. Color
good. Played it late and still came out.—Don Stott,
Southwind Theotre, Solomons, Md. Pop. 950.
20TH CENTURY-FOX
I feel that Elvis
Snow White and the Three Stooges (20th-Fox)
Stooges, Carol Heiss, Edson Stroll. What o gem of o
picture! The CinemaScope camera captured more
beautiful scenery and color than I sow. We ran
into the worst opposition of the century—the opening
of
parents
on 8-iane
simply
bowling
dumped
oiley
the
and
kids
FREE
at the
BEER.
show
The
and
What they do not realize is that they are playing
left.
right into our honds, because one day these
same kids will be buying adult tickets. Played Sat.,
Sun., Mon. Weather: Fair.—Carl Anderko, Rainbow
Theatre, Castroville, Tex. Pop. t ,500.
Wild in the Country (20th-Fox)—^Elvis Presley, Hope
was miscast
Longe, Tuesday Weld.
in this picture. Did only overage business and he
can do much better with the right material. Played
Sun., Mon., Tues. Weather: Good.—Mel Danner, Circle
Theatre, Woynoko, Okla. Pop. 2,018.
UNITED ARTISTS
Alomo, The (UA)—John Wayne, Laurence Harvey,
Richord Widmork. Played this one over Thanksgiving
holidays to exceptionally good business. If you
can buy this one right, by all means ploy it. Thurs.,
Fri., Sot. Weather: Chilly.— 'Larry Thomas, Fayette
Theotre, Foyetteville, W. Va.
Tunes of Glory (Lopert-UA)—Alec Guinness, John
Mills, Susannah York. Two of the greatest actors of
our time in two great roles—ond in genuine Technicolor
yet. If this hod been American-produced both
stors would have been Academy Award nominees.
But to smalltown exhibitors— leave it alone. Fine
comments from my friends, but they don't even pay
the film express. Business below overage. Weather:
Very cold.— 'L. K. Riese, Auroro Theotre, La Ronge,
Sosk, Pop. 650.
X-15 (UA)—Charles Bronson, David McLean,
Patricia Owens. Great picture for on overage town
like mine. No sex, just a true story and the kids
ate this up. Business good—candy business, poor.
Ployed Thurs., Fn., Sat. Weather: Cold and cleor.
Albert Aguior, Lincoln Theatre, Lincoln, Calif. Pop.
3,001.
UNIVERSAL-INTERNATIONAL
Come September (U-l)—^Rock Hudson, Gino Lollobrigido,
Sandro Dee, Bobby Dorm. Simply delightful.
A moviegoer's dream from stort to finish. Rock
Hudson wos never better. Gino has her best role yet.
Bobby Darin very good in his first movie role. Excellent
musical scoring. Receiving mony fine comments.
It brought many out whom t seen for some
I
time. Give us more of this type, Hollywood. It rates
honorable mention and should be listed os one of the
best pictures of the year when Academy Awards are
honded out. Ployed Sun., Mon. Weather: Rain and
cold.—James Hardy, Shoals Theatre, Shoals, Ind.
Pop. 1,555.
Curse of the Werewolf (U-l) — Clifford Evans,
Oliver Reed, Yvonne Romoine. This was a good horror
picture. Played Thurs., Fri., Sat.—S. T. Jockson,
Jockson Theotre, Flomoton, Ala. Pop. 1,480.
Lost Sunset, The (U-l)—^Rock Hudson, Kirk Douglas,
Dorothy Molone. Above overage western that
did overage business. This seemed to please oil who
come. Excellent color. Sun., Mon., Tues. Weather:
Chilly.—^Lorry Thomas, Fayette Theatre, Foyetteville,
W. Vo. Pop. 2,000,
Marion Theotre,
Marion, S. C.
ARDEN A. RICHARDS
FOREIGN
FEATURE
The House of the
Three Girls
(Das Dreimaederlhaus)
LANGUAGE
REVIEWS
Ratio: Drama With
1.85-1 Music C3
Atlantic Pictures 102 Minutes Rel. Dec. '61
Fine Pix Zoomed His
Holiday Season Take
Christmos week, even though a holiday and
therefore not unexpected was the best week in
18 months. And why shouldn't it be, with pictures
like "Susan Slade" (WB); "Twist Around
the Clock" (Col); and a couple of good oldies
(for Saturday's children and country people)
like "Journey to the Lost City" (AlP), and
"Torzan the Magnificent" (Poro). Even the
week BEFORE Christmas, which is usuolly pretty
low, was among the top-rated weeks with "Blue
Howaii" (Poro) ond "Battle at Bloody Beoch"
(20th-Fox) ond "Kongo" (AlP) on Soturday.
By the woy, pols, don't forget to sell Merchants
Free-Movie Tickets (printed on ordinary
cord-stock) ot five cents each ticket (by the
hundred) to a few alert merchants. The "free"
tickets, given to paying customers by the cooperating
merchants, cost him very little, but
bring bigger crowds into his store ond into your
theatre; therefore, ore a big help to the community.
For the old-timers and those who remember
with affection that popular stage operetta,
"Blossom Time," which toured the U.S. hinterlands
for many years, this German-language
picture, filmed in Vienna in Agfacolor by
ASPA/ERMA, will have great nostalgic appeal.
Music lovers will also be interested in
Ihe film as the life of Franz Schubert and it
could be a change-of-pace lor some art
houses. But, it's a natural for neighborhoods
where German patrons predominate. The
bitter-sweet romance of the great composer
has been handled by director Ernst Marischka
in typical operetta fashion, with sentiment and
schmaltz, interspersed wtih lovely songs.
Although the timid, bespectacled Schubert is
disappointed in love, he plays his immortal
"Ave Maria" at the wedding of his beloved
to the handsome singer who won her from
him. Karlheinz Boehm (currently featured in
MGM's "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse"
under the shortened name, Karl Boehm)
does well as Schubert, while Johanna Matz, as
the lovely piano student he fall.5 in love with,
and the matronly Magda Schneider, will be
familiar to patrons of German pictures. Ewald
Balser adds a few touching moments as
Beethoven, who goes deaf while rehearsing
his "Fidelio." Exhibitors should stress the
"Blossom Time" tale to attract extra patronage
Karl Boehm, Johanna Matz, Magda
Schneider. Rudolph Schock. Ewald Balser.
Krzyacy
(The Knights of the
Teutonic Order)
fi Ratio: Historical
2.35-1 Spectacle
(£1 ©
Amerpol 180 Minutes Rel. Ian. '62
Easily qualifying as the most massive display
of spectacle emanating from the postwar
Polish film industry, this Film Polski production
in CinemaScope and Eastman Color, with
English titles, is released in the U.S. via
Amerpol Enterprise Films Corp. Since it's
grimly concerned with the life-and-death
struggle by thousands of knights in the events
leading up to and including the famous Battle
of Grunwald (Tonnenberg) in 1410, when
German knights, disguised as missionaries
conducted a "crusade" to convert the Polish
pagans into Christians, episodes understandably
verge well into the gruesome category
and it's not to be endorsed for fullfamily
viewing. Director Alexander Ford (he
collaborated with Jerzy Stawinski on shooting
script, based on the Henryk Sienkiewicz
novel) has a full, mobile command of photographic
effects, using panoramic dyaliscope
lenses. Urszula Modrzynska and Mieczslaw
Kalenik act out with standard conviction a
story of tragic-starred lovers against the vast
canopy of war-ravaged countryside,
Urszula Modrzynska, Grazyna Staniszewska,
A. Szalawski, H. Borowski, M. Kalenik.
'Victim' for Two Theatres
NEW YORK—Pathe-America's February
release, the British-made "Victim," starring
Dirk Bogarde and Sylvia Syms, will start
a dual American premiere engagement at
the Forum Theatre in Times Square and
the east side Murray Hill Theatre February
5. At the latter, the pictm-e follows
a 13-week loin for Kingsley International's
"A Summer to Remember."
t-
10
BOXOFFICE BookinGuide Feb. 5, 1962