1939: Motion Pictures

According to surveys made by trade publications, the motion picture industry in 1939 revealed definite signs of recovery from the doldrums of the previous year. But no little uncertainty has been caused by a Federal anti-trust suit and also by the Neely bill to put a stop to block-booking. The war, with its blackouts, curtailed receipts from the British and European markets, but toward the end of the year entertainment conditions in London and elsewhere improved.

Cost of Production and Prices Paid for Films.

The high mark in cost of pictorial production for the year was reached by the picturization in color of Margaret Mitchell's widely-read novel, Gone with the Wind, in which the David Selznick corporation invested close to $4,000,000.

Variety, the oldest of the trade papers, published a list of prices paid by film producers during 1939 for novels and plays. Two stage works, bought by RKO-Radio Corporation, headed the list. They were: The American Way, by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman, for which $250,000 and royalties was paid, and Robert E. Sherwood's drama, Abe Lincoln in Illinois, which brought $225,000, plus royalties. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer paid $100,000 for the play, The World We Make, and $36,000 for Susan and God. John Steinbeck's Pulitzer Prize drama, Of Mice and Men went to Hal Roach for $5,000 plus royalties, and Sol Lesser got Our Town for $35,000. Paramount invested $50,000 in the rights to Clare Boothe's comedy, Kiss the Boys Goodbye, and $85,000 in rights to Skylark. Philadelphia Story, in which Katharine Hepburn appeared, was sold for $30,000 and royalties. These and other plays brought Hollywood's investment in this particular material up to a total of $1,011,000.

The major studios paid a total of $728,000 for the rights to novels, the highest price going for John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath. Ethel Vance's book, Escape, went to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for $60,000; Daphne DuMaurier's Rebecca brought $50,000; Howard Spring's My Son, My Son, $25,000; Lloyd Douglas' Disputed Passage, $50,000; Rachel Field's All This and Heaven Too, $50,000. The purchase price of Gone with the Wind is not included in the total, for it was purchased two years ago, the figure being $52,000.

Awards.

The New York Film Critics decided that the best picture of the year was Samuel Goldwyn's production of Wuthering Heights. Notwithstanding the high praise given to End of a Day, the picture called Harvest was voted the outstanding foreign language work. Alexander Korda scored with his prismatic film of A. E. W. Mason's novel, Four Feathers, and the screen version of James Hilton's Goodbye, Mr. Chips surprised many theater managers throughout the country by drawing crowds to the box-offices.

Just after the close of 1939, Goodbye, Mr. Chips gave further evidence of its worth and popularity in Film Daily's survey among critics throughout the country. In this, the eighteenth critical canvass, the pictorial version of James Hilton's charming story of an English schoolmaster was the first foreign-made production to win. It received a total of 472 votes out of a possible 542 — this figure representing the number of critics and reviewers participating in the Film Daily's coast-to-coast ballot. The winner received more votes than any picture in any previous poll, which included only those releases from November 1, 1938, to October 31, 1939.

Although Goodbye, Mr. Chips was produced in England, it actually was made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It is the first time since 1933 that two pictures made in foreign countries have been included on the list of the Ten Best of the nation's critics. This survey lists as 1939's other foreign production, Pygmalion, the first of George Bernard Shaw's plays to reach the screen.

Jack Alicoate, publisher of Film Daily, announces that in his opinion 1940 will bring no drastic curtailment in production. He adds that when the program re-alignment does come, it will probably mean the end of the so-called B class pictures from major studios. Production costs are put at $165,000,000. Approximately an additional $1,500,000 was invested in the construction of new cinemas.

Excellence and Popularity of Other Films and Players.

The French production, Entente Cordiale, with Victor Francen as England's Edward VII, thoroughly deserved the good reports in the newspapers and magazines.

The New York Film Critics also voted that one of the two best performances of the year was James Stewart's portrayal in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, the other being Vivien Leigh's Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind, John Ford won the accolade for direction with his Stagecoach.

The members of the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures picked Confessions of a Nazi Spy as the outstanding film of the year. Their choice was made from productions released prior to December 15. The Board of Review's ten outstanding pictures were: Confessions of a Nazi Spy, Wuthering Heights, Stagecoach, Ninotchka, Young Mr. Lincoln, Crisis, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, The Roaring Twenties and U-Boat 29.

The Board gave out another list on the basis of pictures with a popular appeal. These were: Goodbye, Mr. Chips, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Ninotchka, Pygmalion (released at the end of 1938), The Old Maid, Wuthering Heights, Dark Victory, Juarez, Wizard of Oz and Love Affair.

The Board's five foreign-language films, chosen in order of their preference, were: Port of Shadows, Harvest, Alexander Neusky, The End of a Day, and Robert Koch.

The National Board of Review decided that the following players were entitled to special praise for their performances: James Cagney in The Roaring Twenties, Bette Davis in Dark Victory and The Old Maid, Henry Fonda in Young Mr. Lincoln, Jean Gabin in Port of Shadows, Greta Garbo in Ninotchka, Francis Lederer and Paul Lukas in Confessions of a Nazi Spy, Thomas Mitchell in Stagecoach, Laurence Olivier in Wuthering Heights, Flora Robson in We Are Not Alone and Michel Simon in Port of Shadows.

'Gone with the Wind.'

Although Gone with the Wind was a sort of second choice with the New York Film Critics, its presentation was accorded more space in newspapers than any motion picture has ever been given. Since buying the rights to the novel, David Selznick had attracted attention by his suggestions for the part of Scarlett O'Hara. The picture was first presented publicly in Atlanta, Ga., and some of the newspapers, including The New York Times, sent staff writers to attend that opening. The accounts were printed on the first pages of some editions of the afternoon newspapers in large cities all over the country. Gone with the Wind was launched in two theaters in New York — the Astor and the Capitol. In The New York Times the review was spread over four columns with a two column cut, and an added account of the celebrities present. The critic referred to it as 'a handsome, scrupulous, unstinting version of the 1,037-page novel, matching it almost scene for scene with a literalness that not even Shakespeare or Dickens were accorded in Hollywood, casting it so brilliantly one would need to know the history of the production not to suspect that Miss Mitchell had written her story just to provide a vehicle for the stars already assembled under Mr. Selznick's roof.'

Gone with the Wind runs for 3 hours and 45 minutes. Among the best performances are Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara, Leslie Howard as Ashley Wilkes, Olivia de Haviland's Melanie, Clark Gable's Rhett Butler and Hattie McDaniel's Mammy.

Other Notable Successes.

A motion picture that took many by surprise and was an excellent entertainment was Ninotchka, directed by Ernst Lubitsch. It is the first time that the actress and the nimble-minded director have been teamed. Miss Garbo goes through the first half of the film as a determined Bolshevik, frowning upon 'capitalistic propaganda,' worshiping a portrait of Lenin. Soon afterward, however, this Moscow emissary to Paris succumbs to laughter, love and the pursuit of happiness. The pictorial comedy well deserved its place among the ten outstanding films and was a much more fluent story, even though a comedy, than some of the other pictures preferred by the New York Critics.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, with James Stewart and Jean Arthur, was well mounted and splendidly acted by the cast. It is not precisely original from a story viewpoint, but it succeeded in generating sympathy for the upright young Senator and proper disdain for the grafting contingent. But, like so many Hollywood tales, it was not especially moving, for it was obvious what would happen in the end.

For some unknown reason, RKO-Radio decided to make another and costly production of Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame. It was splendid from the angle of settings, photography and acting; Charles Laughton, who appeared as Quasimodo, assuredly did everything possible, with the aid of the studios' experts, to make himself thoroughly hideous. The narrative was loosely told and, judging by the attendance at the Radio City Music Hall in New York it was not what the public wants. Reading the book is one thing and looking at a more or less haphazard adaptation is quite another.

Rudyard Kipling's novel, The Light That Failed, which has not been neglected by film producers in other years, was brought forth again, this time with Ronald Colman as Dick Heldar. It was a poor treatment of the story and dialogue which seemed to have been written on the run. The whole thing appeared to have been directed and produced by persons who had never wandered very far from a Hollywood studio. As for Mr. Colman, he struggled against tremendous odds, which were too much even for his ability.

Although some of the screen critics included it in their lists of blue-ribbon pictures, the shadow version of Clare Boothe's tartly written play, The Women, did not measure up to the parent work. Some of the players garbled Miss Boothe's clever lines and two of them turned their scenes into farce, which did not suit the proceedings. The picture treatment seemed to have been written with both eyes on the box office, with little thought being given to timing. Then, too, the players behaved as though they were above the parts, evidently hoping that the cutting comments of the characters would not hurt them with their public.

Box-office Angle.

The Motion Picture Herald made its usual annual survey to ascertain how the screen performers stood from a money-making angle. Young Shirley Temple has tumbled from top to fifth place. Mickey Rooney proved to be the outstanding box-office attraction. Tyrone Power was second; Spencer Tracy, third; Clark Gable, fourth. They were followed by Shirley Temple, Bette Davis, Alice Faye, Errol Flynn, James Cagney and Sonja Henie.

In an honorable mention list, Bing Crosby has one vote less than Sonja Henie, who had 219 to Mickey Rooney's 870. Looking over the list discloses that Gary Cooper has only 108 votes and Cary Grant 100. Ginger Rogers has 72 and Henry Fonda 71, the latter being the last on that particular list. Claude Rains, Basil Rathbone, Rosalind Russel, Akim Tamiroff, Loretta Young, Brian Aherne, Gracie Allen and Annabella, John Barrymore and his brother Lionel, are far down the list with a number of others in a section known as 'Group 111.'

Walt Disney continued to supply the cinemas with his clever cartoons. Pete Smith distinguished himself by another series of bright short subjects, and now and again there was an excellent example of Robert Benchley's wit.

Strike threats sent up the cost of production for all studios by $5,000,000. The declaration of war between the Allies and Germany at first worried Hollywood, for the main income from their foreign market comes from Britain. Also restrictions were imposed on sending money out of Britain.