SHATTERED BY WAR

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 January 1941, Page 8

SHATTERED BY WAR

HOLLYWOOD'S FOREIGN MARKET.

The war did more to Hollywood than shatter its foreign market, representing 35 per cent, of its income. For another thing, it practically ended the importation of all those thick-tongued (and sometimes thick-waisted) dramatic and singing finds from European countries. Maybe fans have a lot to be thankful for there.

Time was. and not so long ago. when any major producer who toured the Continent and failed to return with a bag of at least one startling foreign discovery had a lot of explaining to do when he checked Ln.

The head of Hollywood's largest lot spent his vacation abroad three summers ago. A few weeks after his departure. feminine strangers. who ; couldn't make themselves understood j began clamouring at the studio's gates. I The total finally reached seven. They I waved contracts given them in Europe j by the excursioning boss, j Today, none of these actresses is left . r,n tho lot's payroll. Three were so stout and so tongue-muddled they were I used in only one picture apiece. The | others weren't considered worth a dej but. It was an expensive experiment. I But for many years it was duplicated I in a more modest way by every studio in town. Up to the time Adolf Hitler went on the march and clamped down on American movies, there was some sense in Hollywood’s occasional acquisition of a European player. The inclusion of a few such aliens in Holly-wood-made movies often had a stimulating effect on box office returns from over there. And even though. American audiences paid these imports scant heed, producers could well afford to ignore their unpopulartiy here. But now the situation is reversed.

Today Hollywood oilers hope for only a small handful of actresses catalogued as Europeans. Garbo, with her Strong comeback in "Ninotchka," which had plenty .of domestic appeal, is still first lady of the accent brigade. Marlene Dietrich is still struggling to hold her own for second place, and now “Seven Sinners" looms as a likely follow-up for her fairly successful "Destry Rides Again." In third place is Hedy Lamarr, who in spite of her tremendous build-up as the most gorgeous creature of the screen, is still a sharp question mark nt the box office.

Producers are in perpetual trouble trying to cast these three Europeans. They can play only one type of characterisation. and always must be surrounded by strong name easts. A sure sign of their cascading value as drawi ing cards is the word through Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer that the No. 1. Garbo, has agreed to a £15.000 salary cut on each future picture.