A TIGHTENING PURSE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20988, 26 September 1931, Page 11 (Supplement)

A TIGHTENING PURSE.

PRICES FOR FILM RIGHTS

HUGE SUMS OF THE PAST. Has Hollywood struck at last against the enormous sums demanded by dramatists and novelists, particularly the former, for the screen rights of their works ? asks Mr. CJ A. Atkinson in the London Daily Telegraph.

It would seem so, because the weeks pass and there is no news that either Mr. J. B. •Priestley's " The Good Companions " or Mr. Rudolf Besier's " The Barretts of Wimpole Street " will reach the screen, despite their great success in England and America. It is understood that the price asked for " The Good Companions " is £30,000, and the price of " Th'e Barretts " is not likely to bo less. One American producer who went to see the latter play said that it would make an excellent film "if those confounded hoops could be taken out of it," but it is improbable that Elizabeth Barrett will ever be seen in short skirts or Browning in plus fours! English dramatists and novelists have found Hollywood a wonderful milch-cow, but those halcyon days seem to be vanishing, and it looks as if English writers will be at last compelled to assist the native film industry. England has not been able to compete with America in the prices paid for film rights, but if that lucrative market crashes Elstree may come into its own. Hollywood producers paid £51,000 for the film rights of " Broadway." They paid Erich Remarque £45,000 for " All Quiet on the Western Front." " Street Scene " cost them £30,000, and " Strictly Dishonourable " £25,000, which was also the price paid for " The Front Page " and " Cimarron." " The American Tragedy," against the exhibition of which the author, Mr. Theodore Dreiser, is now trying to obtain an injunction, cost £IB,OOO. The price paid for Mr. R. C. Sherriff's " Journey's End " was £16,000. Mr. Rupert Hughes received £15,000 for " Ladies' Man." I?or " Late Night Final " Mr. Weitzenkorn was paid £IO,OOO. - Mr. Arthur Hopkins received £IO,OOO for ' Holiday," and for his " Rebound," in which Miss Ina Claire has made a great hit., £7500. Dramatists and novelists, in demanding such prices, have unwittingly done the screen a good service. Ihey have forced film producers to explore the possibilities of creating original stories.