Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1933 - 1954), Saturday 21 February 1948, page 2


GINGEfc ROGERS GOES UP r,TOP WITH £94,000 A YEAR

? from — ? Our Film Correspondents

NEW YORK, (Special). — G i n ge,r Rogers took- top place among the Holly

wood stars on a salary list just issued by the Treasury covering the financial year 1945-46. ? Her salary was £A94,200 which made her eighth among the nation's 'big ten' salary earners. The highest Income was earned by Charles Skouras, president of Fox West Coast Agency Corporation and National Theatres Amusement Co., who had a total of £A183,240. Among the other big earners was v Louis Mayer, M.O.M. head, with EA162.120. Deanna Durbin earned £A84,800. The leading male star, was Dennis Morgan with £A84.200.

Revivals Flop TONDON (Special).— *-* British exhibitors' scheme of showing vintage films that enjoyed popularity before, during, and immediately after the war has misfired. The exhibitors, forced to scour film libraries, for old favourites so that they could fill in the programme gaps caused by lack of new American films, are consequently nibbling their fingernails harder than ever and some of the gloomier species are talking even more

seriously, if possible, of bankruptcy and ruin. ? The public, they've discovered, are not interested in screen souvenirs. 'Mrs. Miniver,' exhumed ten days ago, has been reinterred by a group of grief-stricken theatre managers. ? * ? IN local efforts to meet the crisis — precipitated by Britain's imposition of a 75 per cent, tax on American films and America's retalia-. tory action of stopping supplies — the J. Arthur Rank organisation is likely to be much more successful than its leading competitor, the Korda outfit. Sir Alexander Korda is concentrating on the super-colossals, and Mr. J. A. Rank on good and much less costly productions. Rank has 43 major feature films on his list this year, each costing between an average of £200,000 and £300,000 as compared with Korda's 'Anna Karenina,' which cost £700,000. Instead of the old haphazard method of the director with the megaphone asking, 'Where do we go from here?' after a scene has been shot, every detail is blue-printed like an architect's plans for a building. Two sets are employed, and while action is taking place on the one, the technicians are busy preparing the other for the next sequence. The process is then reversed and hardly a second is written off as wasted time. Result is a well-made movie from each of the Rank studios, every twelve to fourteen weeks. These films are not 'quickies.' They cannot be compared with the so-called films of the bad old quota days because they are films, not pot-boilers. They have high entertainment value and should find appreciative audiences in Australia. * * * , COME parsons / of the ° Church of England may soon find themselves working in film studios as technical trainees.The The Church Assembly is considering the proposition, made in a report by the Archbishop of Canterbury's film inquiry commission. One or two documentary films have already been made for the Church, but it is likely that there will shortly be increased activity in the production of religious films which will be able to stand on their own merits with commercial entertainment features.