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Pulling Ambersons Plow Through Exhibition Here are ads from The Magnificent Ambersons . There are thousands more for whoever might give effort to flush them out. The truest story of public reception to any film is told by ads, not critics or reviews. Showmen had to gauge pulse of their customers and sell accordingly. They k new better than Hollywood what a public would buy, and how preference could change from one week, or day, to th e next. The Magnificent Ambersons would have been but vaguely familiar to most theatre men. There was a novel source, but published in 1918. How many busy exhibs read it, or car ed to? Radio listeners may have recalled the story from Welles' Campbell Playhouse of several years before (ad for that above).  The Magnificent Ambersons would have been part of a season commitment with RKO for independents not part of that compan y's theatre chain. A pressbook might advise on how to sell, but that help only went so far. Much of management considered

Nice Girl? (1941) Puts The Question Mark To Deanna's Screen Persona At least from advertising standpoint, Nice Girl? seems to have been an effort to tart up Deanna Durbin, that not apparent from watching the picture today. The title's question mark was a tease, Deanna at nineteen and in receipt of a first screen kiss two years before, so where might she go where faced by moral crossroads? The answer was foregone, there being a public and Universal still vested in her virtue, plus Code authority to prevent a stray. To tweak was to vary a formula that needed freshening. "Deanna Kicks Over The Traces," plus the ? punctuation, was reason to imagine, at least for gullible patronage, that Nice Girl? might "go places and do things" the star had not d ared before. Nice Girl? was tentative test as to whether Durbin's public would make the leap, exploitation ready to take a gamble even if the movie wasn't . Durbin was here in protective bosom of a scree n f

Battle Of Rogue River (1954) An Oft-Told Tale Sam Katzman produced, Bill Castle directs ... which means not a dime will be spent unnecessarily. Whenever there is mass formation of Indians, you can bet it's borrowed footage, "Battles" otherwise small-scale. Personality was needed to prop up tired 50's cowpoking, but major stars could do but a fraction of outdoor action a hungry market needed, thus second stringer George Montgomery and like others busy throughout a decade in shows that couldn't help turning profit. Katzman had a profit share with Columbia and office space on the lot, being   independent after a fashion, even though most financing came by way of the Cohns, who had prior approval on whatever projects Sam initiated. By the 50's, he was picking titles out of exploitation's hat,  none less than sure things for theatres and mostly drive-ins voracious to fill short dates. Battle Of Rogue River is numbingly commonplace, but if caught HD, and in

Menzies Makes Much Of Address Unknown (1944) Paul Lukas is tempted into a Nazi net while pre-war vacationing in Deutschland. Lukas was the Hungarian import that made Hollywood grade as opposed to countryman Bela Lugosi, who struggled. Was it Lukas' greater proficiency with the language, or was he the better actor? If nothing else, Lucas rang warning bells re Axis menace, what with this Columbia "B," plus higher-profile Watch On The Rhine and Uncertain Glory for Warners. Address Unknown was directed by design maestro William Cameron Menzies, who wrings visual elegance from a very limited budget, this a Menzies signature that would persist into the 50's and Invaders From Mars . More money might have increased scrutiny of script content; as it stands, this is bolder with regard SS persecution of undesirables than even mainstream propaganda engaged. Much of termite art was practiced by B's for their ability to glide under radars. Address Unknown shows up occasion

Did The Boys Know A Place Even Better Than The Beach? Shawn Nagy's Super Oldies is where I set my online dial each morning. They choose b eyond rigid playlists of Sirius and whatever radio still plays way-back hits. The Beach Boys came up this week with a 1964 tune called Drive-In , which I don't recall as a single, and barely, if ever, heard anywh ere before. Drive-In was written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love. There were plenty of pop songs about moviegoing culture and drive-ins in particular, but few spelled out why young people preferred under-stars viewing, though as Drive-In tells it, "viewing" was a least of reasons to attend. I listened closely to the lyrics and tried plugging my own drive-in concept to the what the Beach Boys knew. We differed first and most decidedly on climate and when those outdoor screens were lit. California screenings could go year round, and did. Our drive-ins had a busy season (late spring, through summer), had to take winter months

The Big Combo Is A Bracing 50's Slap Getting goods on the "Organization" is mission for bitter cop Cornel Wilde, who's hobbled by love interest in moll Jean Wallace, she having begun as a good girl corrupted by Richard Conte's untouchable hood. Conte was a last minute substitution for Jack Palance, the latter dropped when he insisted that his wife be given a top female spot. There is violence bracketed by talk (lots) staged in dark spots like RKO once used for economy. Trade ads promised shock along lines of recent Dragnet and On The Waterfront , both hits, and positive reviews looked back further to Scarface and Public Enemy . Cornel Wilde's independent Theodora Productions teamed with producer Sidney Harmon and writer Phillip Yordan's Security Pictures to do The Big Combo , set for tee-off on 9/10/54 in color/widescreen (later down-sized to black-and-white), Allied Artists aboard as of 7/54 with commit to distribute. The latter's Steve Broidy wa

Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. Wants Success At Any Price (1934) Released just ahead of strengthened PCA enforcement, Success At Any Price took aim at shifty business practice, and thanks to writer and committed communist John Howard Lawson, delivered its haymaker to far greater effect than later films where Lawson and other Hollywood Reds could but salt scripts lightly with political content. Success was based on a play of Lawson's that was well received, denuded of Anti-Semite theme, but otherwise laying timber to amoral Wall Streeters. Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. starts off a rotter and pretty much ends that way; the picture doesn't pull punches like you'd expect even of pre-coding where romantic leads are involved. Finality of Fairbanks with darkened and hollow eyes must have given pause to those who came, but this being RKO in doldrums, fewer did (a mere $150K in domestic rentals). Much of what this studio generated was like Warner programmers with life sucked out of them, Succes

G.I. Blues (1960) Has Edges Polished Off Presley The Pelvis in uniform, being comeback error if we're to regard Elvis as iconoclast or rebel figure, which he'd been to varying degree in a first four before his country called. To tame the beast was Hal Wallis' aim. Presley needed to be industrialized, a consumer good minus potholes that controversy or poor press might impose. His knowing fans would protest (the Beatles maintained Elvis was essentially through after his service hitch), but how much of this singer's public caught merchandising drift? Wallis was experienced, perhaps cynical enough, to know fads could be sustained but for so long. If Presley was to last, it would have to be in safe vehicles recycled on two-or-so a year basis like contract stars Wallis herded at Warners and for his independent set-up with Paramount, for which distribution all his Elvis output was made.   Et, Tu, Caricaturist? Squares In Selling Maintain Bungle Of The Pic Just as other rock a

The Leopard Man (1943) Brings Out The Beast In Showmen Two Lewton Thrillers Combine For Chicago First-Run Horror films were considered as good as means used to exploit them, a title the most critical element, thus B units told by memo that their next would be called Cat People , or I Walked With A Zombie , or The Leopard Man . Arthur Mayer could decorate his Rialto front before seeing the product or receiving the print, provided a title said it all. Art supplied to Mayer, from which he scissored best images and then enlarged the lot, told all that was necessary for sidewalk passers to know, in this case a leopard man preying on women “For A First Time On Any Screen.” Such had been good enough selling for stage melodramas and freak shows, the product stripped-down to barest essentials so a Rialto premiere could pro sper, and venues down the line would know better how to promote product labelled  The Leopard Man . Chillers by the 40’s looked more urgently toward novelty, as in what your