Competition from London

Britain's most aggressive movie producer was last week conducting a recon naissance of the North American continent. Hollywood regarded him with just a little uncertainty. And well it might.

For J. (for Joseph) Arthur Rank, tall, well-set and methodical, a cinemogul of a type unfamiliar in Hollywood, let drop a few hints of his intentions.

A staunch Methodist, like his late multimillionaire father who had made a fortune in. the flour-milling industry in Great Britain, Rank entered the film business to produce religious shorts. But in ten years he has become the most successful producer in England, head of the United Kingdom's biggest chain of movie theaters, and as a result of a deal made last year, exchanges films with 20th Century-Fox Film Corp.

Last month he made a deal with French Gaumont for a picture exchange with the French--a deal that may leave Hollywood, which before the war was allowed to exhibit only a limited number of pictures a year in France, still further out in the cold. Visiting Canada, where a year ago he bought a half interest in the 110-theater Odeon chain, Rank let it be known through one of his aides (he seldom speaks for himself) that he would build 50 more theaters in Canada to compete with Hollywood's outlets and perhaps a "showcase theater" in New York, also that this week he would visit the U.S., "just as a tourist." Will H. Hays hastened to tender him a dinner.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.