TO MEET QUOTA.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 186, 7 August 1936, Page 15

TO MEET QUOTA.

AUSTRALIAN FILM.

RKO PRODUCTION POSSIBLE. COMPOSERS' BIG EARNINGS. Following a discussion at the RKO film corporation's convention at Hollywood on tlie quota situation in Australia, tentative arrangements were made to bring out to the Commonwealth a complete company from the American film capital. This news was brought back by Mr. Ralph R. Boyle, Australian executive of the company, who passed through Auckland this morning on the Mariposa, accompanied by his wife. ; :•••

If the application of the Quota Act faced American distributors with the necessity for sinking finance in Australian film productions, he said, the RKO corporation would prefer to spend that finance under its own control, rather than by financing other companies. Australia still faced big technical difficulties, he said. The technical side of picture production in Hollywood had now reached the stage of perfection. Anything that a producer could conceive could be carried out by the technical side without any need "for amendment. Thus it did not matter how bizarre, for instance, the producer's idea might be— it could be done. What the film companies were now facing as their primary problem was a dearth of new stars —who were stars in their own right. There was definitely a shortage. There were many actors and actresses appearing in film 6, he said, but the number who were really stars was amazingly few. A feature of the trade that had followed the tremendous development of the musical production was the big earnings of composers. They could demand, anything from 15,000 dollars to 100,000 doliars for a score. As coming productions of note from the RKO studios, Mr. Doyle mentioned "Mary of Scotland," which would deal with the life of Mary Queen of Scots from the time of her proclamation in Scotland until her execution. On the lighter side was the latest Fred AstaireGinger Rogers film, "Swing Time." The new "swing" music was proving immensely popular. He mentioned also the success of Bobby Breen, a new child actor.