Word: selznicks
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There were too many horrible examples of money-losing pictures. Despite Ginger Rogers, Universal -International's The Magnificent Doll was having trouble getting into some first-run theaters. Only blitz tactics by razor-sharp David O. Selznick saved his Duel in the Sun from losing the box-office battle. To combat the panning of Duel by critics, Selznick shrewdly ran Duel simultaneously in several theaters in selected cities. Thus he cashed in before adverse comment could get around. Hollywood guessed that Duel's box-office gross is over $7,000,000, half of what Selznick needs to break...
...house lights come up, and above the hubbub in the aisles one can hear a spectral voice pronounced in awe-filled tones, "The overture...Duel in the Sun..." And thus begins David O. Selznick's nine-million dollar horse opera. Of this pile of cash a very substantial share has been invested in what has been perhaps the most immense hoopla campaign since Thomas A. Edison invented the motion picture. Such an unparalelled barrage of publicity has been such a long stretch of time that quite a sizable fraction of the population already is intent upon seeing the picture...
Producer David O. Selznick, whose outdoors extravaganza, Duel in the Sun, had shocked moralists of several faiths, tinkered busily here & there, finally won from the Catholic Legion of Decency a "B" rating-meaning that the picture is now considered bad only in spots. Number of spots pared out: 46. But the costly, sure-fire Duel, Selznick assured the world, was practically as long as ever, and "its dramatic values and integrity have not suffered in the least...
...picture adds nothing to his reputation as a producer of quality entertainment, it will be because Mr. Selznick's profit motive is showing. All costly films, to be sure, are manufactured for profit, but the successful works generally keep pointing winningly to their warm hearts and remain sentimental about their subjects (The Razor's Edge) or their characters (The Yearling) or their audiences (It's a Wonderful Life). With no pretense at all to having a heart, big, beautiful, humorless Duel remains shrewdly cynical about both itself and its sensation-hungry public...
...Duel is currently showing only in Los Angeles; the plan is to blanket the country, area by area, during the spring and summer, releasing some 350 prints before fall. Reasons for the distribution delay: 1) labor troubles have delayed Technicolor processing; 2) difficulties with United Artists have forced Mr. Selznick to set up his own distribution machinery (Selznick Releasing Organization) overnight; 3) Duel has raised more eyebrows and run into more censorship trouble than any other movie since The Outlaw (TIME, June...