Cinema: Present Imperfect

Moviemakers, sweltering through the dog days of August, were distrustful of the present and worried about the future. ¶ At Warner Bros., the list of actors under contract reached an all-time modern low of six, including Virginia Mayo. ¶ The Technicolor musical Kiss Me Kate will be released in four shapes and sizes this November: 1) small screen flat, 2) small screen 3-D, 3) large screen flat, 4) large screen 3-D. Meanwhile, many movie-men were beginning to think that 3-D was less a shot in the arm than a bump on the head: box-office returns on the latest 3-D...