Word: film
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1940-1949
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...article in TIME, Dec. 22, concerning me in connection with Forever Amber and the Legion of Decency, cannot possibly be classed as factual reporting. You gave the mischievous impression that I slyly maneuvered the Legion into placing that film in the "C" or condemned classification for the sake of box-office stimulation, when you said that I "guessed, correctly, that Legion disapproval would whet public pruriency and boost attendance." Your guess as to my guess was completely wrong as to the facts. Let me state these facts...
...every day. The day after I received a letter from Father Masterson, Executive Secretary of the Legion, informing me of the classification, I met with him for an extended discussion, during which I told him that we were prepared to do anything possible to eliminate those features of the film which the Legion found objectionable. From that day on, officials of the Legion and executives of our company met almost daily in an effort to agree on changes. Two days after the picture opened, I proposed that a prologue be added to the film, and gave notice to Father Masterson...
20th Century-Fox Film Corp. New York City
...idea. Why not have singing commercials set to really good music? Before the ad man could say J. Walter Thompson, he had consulted promising young composer and Guggenheim Fellow Gail Kubik (best known for his score of the Air Force film Memphis Belle), and read him a little soap-flakes jingle that begins by asking: Any runs today, stocking runs today...
...Intimate pictures are the thing." Furthermore, M-G-M could no longer afford mobs and spectacles. Nor could anyone else, unless the mob included one of the few top stars (Bing Crosby, Ingrid Bergman and Betty Grable) whose appearance usually guaranteed a profit. Nor did Hollywood think it could film any plots or take up problems that cut deep into contemporary life. Such films might be branded as "subversive...