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Greece Seeks More Foreign Lensing In Bid To Hike Hard Currency Income

By GENE MOSKOWITZ

Paris, Sept. 29. Victor Michaelides, Greek dis­

tr ibutor of most major Yank films in his native land and also a pro­ducer there, said here last week that heavy taxes and stiffer cen­sorship are making things extreme­ly difficult for film importers in Greece. He is in Paris to look over French and American pix for the Greek market,

Michaelides has been talking to various American, British and French producers with an eye to lensing in Greece. He feels the government may ease taxes and perhaps even censorship as it gets more international recognition. The government 's atti tude, how­ever, hinges on whether it ^an find a source of hard currency in­come through more outside film U.S.

Of course, there is still a cer­tain amount of touchiness about the present military regime. But Michaelides asserts that most po­litical prisoners are now free and the government has promised pub­lic elections in a few years.

Michaelides notes that taxes have always been crippling in Greece, but they became more the last two years due to many im­portant films being censored and the growth of television. Video has cut filmgoing up to 30% in major cities and 50% of the gross, along with ren ta l payments, films have become a losing proposition for importers.

He has been helped by some European films bought outright and some Greek pix he produced. Lat ter have been aided at the b.o. by the many foreign films kept off the market. Greek product now gets 40% of the nation's overall gross as opposed to about 10% a few years ago.

Weekends, the t ime of heaviest atendance, play to almost 100% Greek films, Michaelides said. And the top admission price of 60c is also making it difficulty for the Greek industry to come up with a profit.

He revealed that a recent visit here by Motion Picture Export Assn. rep Marc Spiegel led to some easing of censorship. Also, a new minister involved with blue pen­cilling who has some understand­ing of film problems is offering hope that these barr iers may be lifted.

Michaelides feels that such American pix as "Easy Riders" (Col) , "My Lover, My Son" (MGM), "Last Summer" (AA) , "Woodstock" (WB), "Bob and Carol & Ted & Alice" (Col) and "The Strawberry Statement" (MGM) may soon get the green-light here.

The National Bank of Industry is ready in Greece to advance as much as 50% for big scale foreign films to be made there. Such an advance would be mainly for transportation, local expenses, etc. Michaelides feels that such pro­duction would cost 50% less than in any other European country.

He also cited low cost extras, use of the Greek army, reasonable equipment, etc. as well as favor­able weather and no union trou­bles as further inducements. He has already invited such Yank producers as Ken Hyman, Carl Foreman and Robert Littman; British filmmakers Josef Shaftel and Nat Cohen; and Frenchman Robert Dorfmann, among others, to visit Greece and most have ac­cepted Incidentally, Michaelides, whose company is Th. Damaskinos, has represented Yank film firms there for 30 years.

Sapper Replaces O'Brien On TUC General Council

London, Sept. 29. Alan Sapper, general secretary

of the Assn. of Cinematograph, Television & Allied Technicians, has been elected to the vacancy on the T.U.C. General Council caused by the recent death of Sir Tom O'Brien.

Sapper, the youngest t rade un­ion general secretary—38 when he was elected 18 months ago—has been a strong officer, roundly con­demning Metro for closing its Boreham Wood Studios and also helping to ban British television and "film work under the new re­gime in Greece.

VIDCASSETTE MFRS. VIE FOR U.K. MKT.

London, Sept. 29. Battle to gain the upperhand in

videocassette hardware acceptance is flaring here in London, where yesterday (Mon), Sony of Japan staged its first European demon­stration. This will follow last week's demo here by CBS EVR of its color unit, produced by British manufacturing licensee Rank Bush Murphy. (Yank licensee is Motor­ola).

Separately, and relating to vi­deocassette cartridge production momentum, a local software pro­ducer recently premiered a 35-minute colortape instructional. It was made, on spec, by Flying Spot Productions, a small independent set up two years ago specifically for cassette output, and has been picked up by EVR for classroom distribution. EVR is amassing a blacklog for layoff in school and industry.

Hopes For Censorship Easing In Argentina;

Gov't Tightens Screws Buenos Aires, Sept. 29.

Hopes for a relaxation of film censorship are fading here. The new Argentine government has shown more respect than its pre­decessor towards freedom of the press (banning of three magazines were lifted), but in matters of film censorship it is by far surpassing the extreme severity of President Ongania days.

Censors have just banned "II Giovane Normale" (The Normal Young Man), an Italian comedy produced by Franco Cristaldi and directed by Dino Risi, and the Municipality of Buenos Aires re­fused to authorize the posters of an Argentine pic, "La Fidelidad" (Fidelity), which has been already mutilated by the censors. Mean­while, "Easy Rider" and "Bob & Ted & Carol & Alice" remain blocked and seemingly won't get release certificates if producers don't accept the cuts demanded by censorship.

As for "Teorema," the courts are handling this case for second time. In the first round, the court de­clared unconstitutional the special law forbidding the Pasolini opus. Lawyers of the Interior ministry have appealed.

India Film Federation Would License Distribs

Bombay, Sept. 29. Dissatisfied with government

proposals for the Film Council, the Film Federation of India has sub­mitted an alternate draft for the consideration of the Government. The FFI draft suggested a program of licensing of producers, distribu­tors and exhibitors.

Licenses will be required by these elements to operate in their respective fields if they are new entrants or if they are not cur­rently operative but would like to come back anew to these fields. The draft suggests prescription of minimum qualifications.

Cast Mia Farrow For 'Buff' London, Sept. 29.

It 's to be Mia Farrow in "Buff," a Filmways presentation for re­lease by Columbia. The actress was signed this week for the Mar­tin Ransohoff-Leslie Linder pro­duction which Richard Fleischer will direct on locations in England.

Script concerns a series of vio­lent events in a small English town.

HUMPHRIES UPS POPE London, Sept. 29.

Dennis Pope, a senior man at Humphries Film Laboratories, has been named manager of the cine­ma and television commercials de­partment. Lee Stork has joined the same section as consultant and ad­viser.

Stork has been an exec producer at the S. H. Benson ad agency since commercial tv began, -

1,598 Houses In Britain London, Sept. 29.

According to the Cinemato­graph Exhibitors' Assn, there were 1,598 cinema operating in the United Kingdom as of Aug. 31.

During the period of Janu­ary to August, 55 cinemas had closed, 12 new ones had opened and 47 re-opened. Comparative figures for the same period last year were 88 closed, 22 new ones had opened and 47 houses re ­opened.

Scotia Inv. Forms New Global Distrib

London, Sept. 29. A new global distribution entity,

Scotia International, has been formed here under parent Scotia Investments, the British leisure activity complex which previously set up a production subsidiary, Benmar. Latter 's exec tier in­cludes producer S. Benjamin Fisz and former 20th production topper Bob Goldstein. (First " pic, "A Town Called Bastard," just wound in Spain.)

First fully staffed offshoot of Scotia International is the U.K. sales entity, Scotia-Barber Distri­butors, officed in London's War-dour St. film row. It was formed "in association" with Arnold Bar­ber, U.K. distrib veteran most recently in charge of now-dis­solved Warner-Pathe. Barber i s chief exec. Another Warner-Pathe alumnus, Frank Ratcliffe, has signed on as p.r. chief.

Disclosed at the same time is that Philip Yordan (with close ties to Benmar) will rep Scotia International in the U.S., with Allain Vannier in charge of Eu­ropean sales.

Chairman of the parent leisure company is Keith Stainton, though key man in the corporate setup, and diversification sparkplug, is one Robert Marmor, London real-estate tycoon.

As previously r e p o r t e d in VARIETY, Marmor envisions further film biz thrusts per one or two London firstrun exhlb situations; also, production of video cassette software.

Rank To Set Up Lab In Greece; Buys Musical

Athens, Sept. 29. The musical stage hit of this

summer, "12 Months of Summer," written by George Lazarides and composer Stavros Xarhacos, will be adapted for the screen by the Rank Organisation. Most of the film's sequences will be shot in Greece with Greek members of the east. Terence Young may be signed to direct this picture.

The Rank Film Laboratories, meantime, is planning to establish a plant in Greece for processing in black-and-white and color. It is stated that the capital to be invested will amount to $41,000,-000.

WB's Baumohl To U.S. For Pix Bally Talks

London, Sept. 29. Mike Baumohl, Warner 's Eu­

ropean pub-ad chieftain, has planed to New York and the Coast for campaign huddles with home-office and studio execs.

Films that will be discussed are Ken Russell's "The Devils," Stan­ley Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange," (both currently filming in London), Carlo Ponti's "The Priest 's Wife," Luchino Visconti's "Death in Venice," "There Was a Crooked Man," and "The Last Warrior."

Mannheim Fest Sked . Mannheim, Sept. 29.

Mannheim International Film Week, Oct. 5-10, is set to demon­strate the mose recent develop­ments in film production. Two pro­grams will focus on "The Other Foreign Cinema" (about under­ground films) and "Films from the Year 1970," featuring unusual films being shown for the first time in Germany.

Every film brought to Mannheim will be shown even if not accepted for the competition.

Cristaldi Back To 'Genuine' Italo Pix & Col Reportedly Bids For His Slate

AUSSIE BANNED 7 PIX IN JULY, CUT 11 MORE

Melbourne, Sept. 29. Seven films were banned for

Australian showing and 11 cut out of the 66 viewed by the Common­wealth Film Censorship Board during the month of July, accord ing to figures just released by the Minister for Customs of Excise.

The films refused registration were a reconstructed version of "The Gay Deceivers" (U.S.), "I Love Blue" (Denmark) and "Venus in Furs" (U.S. and W. Germany) for indecency; a reconstructed ver­sion of "Paranoia" (Italy) and "Devil's Angels" (U.S.) for inde­cency and violence; "Taste the Blood of Dracula" (UK) for violence and "Ages of Sin" (Italy) for indecency and drug taking.

Cuts were made for indecency in "Adalen ' 31" (Sweden), "Hello Goodbye" (U.S.-France), "How When and With Whom" (Italy), re ­constructed "De Sade" (U.S.­Germany) and "Like Night and Day" (Sweden). For indecent lan­guage deletions were made in "False Witness" (U.S.) and "The Happy Ending" (U.S.). For vio-ence: "Executioner" (Britain) and "Grazie Zia" (Italy). For both violence and indecency, "Fellini Satyricon" and violence and In decent language, "The Corridor" (Sweden).

Appeals were dismissed against rejection of "God Forgives, I Don't" (Italy-Spain) and the re­constructed version of (The Bas tard" (Italy).

Gance Preps Synched 'Bonaparte' Classic For

7 1 Release Via Lelouch Paris, Sept. 29.

French film pioneer Abel Gance, 81, is synching "Bonaparte," his 1926 silent masterpiece, and will release it as a talking pie in 1971. He plans a three and a half hour version from the original four-hour and 10-minute original which had many scenes on triple screens a la Cinerama.

Some lost reels will have some special shots made of maps, etc. to compensate for inability to reshoot with the 1926 actors. However, the original Napoleon, Albert Dieu-donne, now also 81, is dubbing himself. And Gance played Saint Simon whose lines he will speak.

Claude Lelouch, maker of "A Man and a Woman," who has his own production and distribution setup tagged Films 13, is backing the new version of Gance's pic. He will also distribute it. He feels the film is a fitting tribute to Gance as well as a solid biz propo­sition to modernize this classic.

WB Names Personnel For U.K. Ad-Pub Dept.

London, Sept. 29. Warner Bros.' U.K. ad-pub team,

headed by Mike Baumohl, is now fully set.

Al Shute is in charge of adver­tising and Mike Russell will look after press and public relations. Andrew Kennedy has been named promotions and marketing head, with Carol Futrall as topper of the photo section.

German Cinema Data Detmold, Sept. 29.

This German city with about 30,000 residents ranks as the top cinema town in the country. With five houses, there were 388,978 tickets sold last year, meaning that each resident went to the theatre on an average of 13.13 times in the year.

Lowest-ranking on a new study made by the Trade Assn. for Film and Dias Advertising was Franken-thal, which has 41,914 residents and four cinemas. There were only 13,373 tickets sold last year, so each resident went to the thea­tre an average of .32 times in the 12 months.

In the large cities of over 500,-000 population, Frankfurt came first with an average of 5.66 visits to the theatre per person.

By HANK WERBA

Rome, Sept. 29. Producer Franco Cristaldi find*

it hard to believe that several American distribution companies have been patiently waiting for him to come out of limbo and start negotiating to release a sizeable •program sight unseen.

The Vides chief has been in-ac' e since he coproduced "The Bed Tent" with Mosfilms of Russia. "I deactivated for two reasons," he said last week. "I needed t 'me-to complete the Italian version of my coproduction with Russia and needed even more time to work on the English version. But that only partially explains it. The real rea­son is my own dissatisfaction with a series of films produced by my company."

Cristaldi now admits "we were turning out bastard films that at­tempted to straddle the Italian and the American markets Without the authentic ingredients that could create a common denominator for both Italian and American text ."

The new Vides program, reflect­ing lnng months of study and realistic appraisal, marks a throw­back to the time when geninue Italian pix were those that fared best in America and other foreign markets.--•Cristaldi feel* certain that Italy started losing foreign markets when it stopped making the pure Italian film popular with audiences in many countries.

Ambitious Program By the middle of next month,

Cristaldi will have one project completed and three before cameras. "Heart Murmur," a Louis Malle film with Daniel Gelin and Lea Massari, is his completed co-production with France and Ger­many. Last week, Duccio Tessari started "Force G"—an adventure story of daredevil parachuters and a project Vides took over front Robert Haggiag, Michael Haggiag and Nanni Deramo.

Marco Ferrer i keeps the pro­gram rolling with the start this week of "The Papal Audience" (formerly called "Eat The Pope and Die") with a big cast topped by Ugo Tognazzi, Claudia Cardinale. Vittorio Gassman, Michel Piecoli, Alain Cuny and Lionel Stander.

Taking off next Monday (5) i« Marco Bellocchio's "In the Name of The Father," with an unknown cast except for Lou Castel and budgeted even lower than the original estimate when Bellocchio re turned to the Vides fold with this project.

Cristaldi is also banking on the triumvirate of director Elio Petri , actress Gian Maria Volonte and screenwriter Ugo Pirro, who scored in Italy and at the Cannes festival with the "Investigation of a Private Citizen" (Col). Reunion under the Vides banner is for "The Working Class Goes to Paradise"—a mid-November start for this hard-hit­ting, socially-slanted story.

Around the end of the year screen actor and former legit di­rector Adolfo Celi will helm his first full-length feature, "Condo­minium"—the closest Cristaldi in­tends to get to the run-of-thermill social comedies that continue to hypnotize the Italian filmgoer.

Six months from now, Francesco Rosi will take "The Enrico Mattel Affair" before cameras with a story about one of Italy's most influential postwar civil servants. Mattei be­came a public service gasoline tycoon at home and abroad only to die at a relatively early age in what is still regarded as a myster­ious airplane crash.

Moving Into TV VMDB will round out this pro­

gram with a first stab at tele­vision. Project is based, on Harri­son Salisbury's "Orbit of China," and with Salisbury telescripting and available as a consultant.. Carlo Lizzani and Furio Colombo will film seven one-hour segs in those countries bordering Red China—sharing a common frontier or separated by some geographical barrier: Columbia is reported to be dealing with Cristaldi for his entire program. U.S. major is known to be interested particularly in the four name directors—Fer­reri, Bclloechio, Petro and R o s t ­and could end up financing and ao-nuiring their' group of four pix, 'i '• ' current talks extend, to

everything on the Vides chart. :