Word: selznicks
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After $1,500,000 worth of ballyhoo, the costliest (some $6,000,000) and longest (134 minutes) horse opera ever made was finally being shown to the public. In Los Angeles, David 0. Selznick's Technicolored Duel in the Sun was running simultaneously in two theaters. Local reviewers found the extravaganza a titillating blend of wild oats and tame, well-worn plot, in which virtue emerged triumphant, but low-bodiced vice seemed to have all the fun. Nevertheless, the furor was up to Selznick's expectations-if not quite the kind of furor he had paid his advertising...
...Selznick was first "surprised," then "upset" at the complaints. He had Johnston office approval before releasing the picture, had not shown it to the Legion of Decency only because a Technicolor strike had delayed prints of it until too late. Moreover, the film had not yet been distributed nationally. Selznick murmured that there might be some revisions. But an extended ban by the Catholic Church would mean plenty of trouble. Duel, already expensively delayed, could not be held up and revised if it was to gross the $20,000,000 that Selznick expected...
...furor might also interfere with Selznick's more important plans to form his own distributing company (TIME, Dec. 23). Unlike Hughes, to whom movies are just a sideline, Selznick was in no position to capitalize, publicity-wise, on the objections of church organizations. Theater owners might refuse to show Duel rather than risk their displeasure, a decision which would cost Selznick about $2,000,000 in New York City alone...
Love & Kisses. Dauntless David Selznick stepped into the door in 1941. In return for a chance to obtain one-third of U.A.'s stock (now worth an estimated $4 million), David agreed to deliver ten pictures to U.A. within 20 years. At the contract signing, all was love & kisses...
What went wrong? Everybody had a different answer. Mary and Charlie accused David of using part of a $1,000,000 loan from U.A. to develop story properties which he later sold as packages (that is, complete with scripts and even Selznick stars) to other companies, with profit to David, none to U.A. David said that these were his babies and he could do as he liked with them. Besides, the three pictures he had already turned in on his contract (Since You Went Away, I'll be Seeing You, Spellbound) had all grossed more than $5 million each...