West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954), Monday 23 January 1950, page 9


FILM WORLD ANNA NEAGLE: BIGGEST U.K. BOX-OFFICE DRAW (By "IlhurleL"' The blonde and blue-eyed British film actress, Anna Neagle, is the biggest box-office' draw in Britain and has a bigger following in her own country than any American star.

Second in popularity is Michael Wilding, the 38-year-old British actor who has frequently starred with her. For three successive years Miss Neagle has topped a popularity poll in Britain. The poll is taken from among British film exhibitors by an American film journal to discover how British stars rank at the boxoffice and how the. same exhibitors rank both British and American stars on a competitive basis. In the international list Miss Neagle and Mr. Wilding head Bob Hope, Danny Kaye, Bing Crosby and Jane Wyman, in that order. . In the British list they are followed by John Mills. Jean

Anna Neagle, the British st&r who draws more money to the box offices of Britain than does any other star, British or American.

Simmons, and Margaret Lockwood. It was the first time in 14 years that British players have headed the international list. Of the ten most popular films at the British box-office in 1949, "Third Man" was first, followed by "Johnny Belinda," (now in Perth) and "Maytime in Mayfair," in which Anna Neagle and Michael Wilding star. Miss Neagle, whose real name is Marjorie Robertson, was formerly a teacher of gymnastics and ballroom dancing until she made a stage debut in 1926. Among her latest films are "The Courtneys of Curzon-street," "Spring in Park Lane," and "Elizabeth of Ladymead." Poll For Ten Best Films Of 1949 NEW YORK, Jan. 22: Mr. J. Arthur Rank's film "The Red Shoes" was placed second in the 1949 "ten best pictures" poll con* ducted in America by the. motion

picture trade paper "Film Daily" it was anounced today. "The. Snake Pit," a Twentieth-Century Fox film dealing with the subject of mental illness, was voted the year's best picture. "The Red Shoes," the only one of the ten filmed in technicolour, was voted the best-photographed motion picture of 1949. "The Snake Pit" was placed second. [Both films have been screened in Perth.] Sea Shanties In New Disney Product It is a good guess that "Treasure Island," since it is a Walt Disney production, will have a musical score with fascinating tunes-a characteristic

of Disney products. This latest Disney venture is not a cartoon vehicle but a standard film in which the British actor Robert Newton plays Long John Silver. "The Heart of a Sailor," a new song, will be featured in the film, but for the most part refrains known centuries ago will be played. Mr. Disney has gone back to 'the sea shanties of the early 18th Century for a great deal of the background. Robert Louis Stevenson's own "Yo! Ho! Ho! and a Bottle of Rum" figures prortinently in the film, as it does in the book. Somalliand Agreement: The trusteeship agreement for the Italian administration of her former colony of Somaliland, which was finally approved on Thursday by the United Nations Trusteeship Council, 'provides for Italian administration ,of the territory for ten years, after which Somaliland will become an independent State.