New Dimension

On Stage 17 of its Hollywood lot last week, Paramount Pictures Corp. held a press preview of White Christmas in VistaVision, its new wide-screen process and the newest entry in moviedom's gadgetry sweepstakes. Viewers thought that VistaVision resulted, as advertised, in greater clarity on the screen, but few predicted sensational effects at the box office. Said one producer: "CinemaScope got there first amd VistaVision isn't novel and different enough."

Twentieth-Century Fox not only got there first with CinemaScope, but has virtually captured the field. Its wide screens are already installed in just over 6,000 theaters, justifying the faith Fox President Spyros P. Skouras and Production Chief Darryl F. Zanuck had in the new process. The first CinemaScope film, The Robe, has already grossed around $21 million at home and abroad and is crowding the alltime record of $35 million for Gone With the Wind. Another testimonial came last week in Fox's earnings report for the first half of the year. Net climbed to $3,096,000 v. $158,000 a year ago. Directors raised the quarterly dividend to 40-c- a share from 25-c-.

New Gimmicks. Not all of filmdom's new gimmicks turned out so well. Most moviemen were agreed that 3-D is dead. But 3-D had left some benefits behind. Said M-G-M Production Boss Dore Schary: "The defeating factor was the eyeglasses. But 3-D was . . . responsible for the upturn in the movie business . . . It showed that the people wanted something new and would pay to see it."

Television, which Skouras once called "the greatest enemy the film industry ever had," had also helped Hollywood in a backhanded way. By killing off the market for B pictures, it forced Hollywood to concentrate on bigger and better productions. This has paid off at the box office, where gross is running about 5% ahead of a year ago, and in moviemakers' net profits, which may reach the highest level since 1948. As a result, movie stocks have gone up faster in the past year than the Dow-Jones industrial average (see chart).

Old Saw. The new gimmicks have been responsible for some of the rise. But more important is the new brand of films. Hollywood has once again proved the truth of the old saw that "there is nothing wrong with the movies that a few good pictures won't cure." A prime example of how good movies have paid off is Columbia Pictures, which has grossed about $17 million with the old-fashioned black-and-white movie From Here to Eternity. It has more hits on its hands in The Came Mutiny and On the Waterfront. Columbia's earnings for its latest fiscal year are expected to top $4 v. 99-c- a year ago. And its stock has shot up fast, closed last week at 30 3/8, double its price a year ago.

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