Evening star., 1953-08-24

oSphere, ardor cooled.
The great pinch, of course, is
not over. 1t is just that the
studios have grown stoical, or
found an occasional opiate for
the pain of it. AS. for instance,
Call Me Madam" the dizziest
current sensation of them all,
From Here to Eternity" and
many others, and a number of
other former Broadway and
bookstall items.
If these things pay, the idea
is to grab them. So the studios
are grabbing. PlaywrightS and
novelists, therefore, again can
begin to eye manor houses buried
deep in the wooded hills in
Westchester and Connecticut.
Perhaps not major manor houses
as in the days when a comedy
like Room Service" brought
100000 for the film rights.
Minor manors, however. To
which, on the second hit play
or best-selling novel sale, the
author owners can begin to add
wings.
A look at the current movie
boxoffice championS-and don't
think film executives ever stop
looking-shows the trend. First
on that list last week, as pub
lished in Variety, was Gentle
men Prefer Blonds;" second,
1.-The Band Wagon" % year old
and third, THE Moon Is Blue"
Climbing toward the all-time
top although it is likely to stop
before approaching the cham
pion, Gone With The Wind"
is James Jones From Here to
Eternity" It is just getting
started, in fact will open here
only this week.
Also among the first ten is
Nicholas MontSerrat's THE
Cruel Sea-" an off-beat item,
and H. G. Wells The War of
the Worlds" which is older than
a considerable portion of the
contemporary population.
Then, to be sure, there is the
adapted play. "Stalag IT," which
Paramount courageously turned
into a movie and out of which
it is making a vastly encourag-
ing amount of money.
There were doubts about
"Stalag IT," now in its seventh
week at the Columbia here and
keeping at bay the current box
Office champion, Gentlemen
Prefer Blends" It was a very
funny and popular stage comedy.
which encouraged Paramount,
studio of excellent literary taste.
But also, it's setting was a prison
camp and this was deemed a
possible drawback.
Paramount went ahead brave
w. however, and the abbreviatlon
pow began to lurk in the page
one banner lines when Korean
truce talk started two years ago.
A picture with a hotter theme
could not have been found and
one as we'll made and as funny
as this could hardly have been
dreamed.
So, the result of it all is that
non-Hollywood literature is back
in high repute. Oil, uranium ana
munitions contracts may be bet
ter and quicker. but writing hlts
is coming back again as a prom
Using way to get rich and own
three television sets. II anyone
dareS.
CASE IN POINT: Sometimes,
o movie studio does not even
wait to see if play is going to
be hit. There is the case. Tor
instance, of Samuel Taylor's
"Sabrina Fair" play which is
being readied for production in
New York.
The Playwrights' Company is
sponsoring it on Broadway, but
Paramount also is working on
the film version. It's top man.
Billy Wilder, is the man IN
charge. Wilder is a writer VINO
grew into being also a producer
and director, and he has quite a
cast set for the Taylor work on
the screen. It's top performers
include Audrey Hepburn H.
Humphrey Bogart, and William
Holden, the latter the most
rapidly rising leading man on
the screen.
The Playwrights' play version
is glittery. too. 1t includes
Joseph Gotten, Barbara Bel Ged-
des. and John Cromwell. Crom-
we'll, by the way, once was
Hollywood director and a gooo
ST
I'll n n RFR AA m