Word: bunin
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...This sort of competition should be encouraged rather than suppressed." With that comment, a Manhattan federal judge last week turned thumbs down on Walt Disney's effort to protect his forthcoming full-length Alice in Wonderland by staving off U.S. exhibition of Producer Lou Bunin's French-made version of Alice (TIME, July 16). Still muttering darkly of "deception," Disney announced plans for an appeal and put out pointed ads to hawk his Alice's Aug. i premiere: "There is only ONE Walt Disney! There is only ONE Walt Disney's Alicel...
...premiere Aug. i. Six days earner, Producer Lou Bunin's French-made puppet & live-action Alice in Wonderland (released through Souvaine Selective Pictures) is slated for its U.S. opening in two of Exhibitor Harry Brandt's Manhattan movie houses. Last week, after months of ominous rumbling, Disney and Souvaine entered into battle. Claimed Disney: Bunin's "inferior" Alice would deceive the public into going to see the wrong picture, thus spoiling his nice new Alice's box-office take. In good Tweedledee fashion, Souvaine retorted: Contrariwise...
...battle was joined in Manhattan's district court, where Disney and RKO sued Souvaine and Brandt to restrain them from unveiling Bunin's Alice and cashing in on the Disney picture. Souvaine countered that it was "happy" Disney had finally seen fit to bring the squabble to a head. Said President Henry Souvaine (TIME, March 12): "The time has arrived for a properly constituted court of law to determine the legality or illegality of Mr. Disney's efforts over many years to destroy Mr. Bunin's property...
...right to Lewis Carroll's 1865 classic have fallen into the public domain, making Alice fair game for any moviemaker. Disney announced his project in 1945, at about the time Bunin had the same idea. Bunin moved faster and held a 1949 premiere in Paris. In the U.S., Disney had gained an edge in 1938 by registering his Alice in Wonderland title with the Motion Picture Association of America...
...Disney wins the court battle, Bunin's $1,500,000 Alice will be barred from U.S. exhibition until 18 months after Disney releases his $3,000,000 Alice. To Disney's contention that Bunin's competing Alice would cause "irreparable damage" to him and RKO, the Souvaine outfit blandly replied: "Actually, it is healthy for the industry to have two entirely different conceptions of a beloved classic appearing at approximately the same time . . . We believe that the public is entitled to see either one or both. We doubt that the name 'Alice in Wonderland...