You won't be seeing Jules, Jim, Charles Foster Kane, Rashomon or King Kong around the Harvard Houses this semester.

In a verbal agreement with Brattle Films, Inc., which controls four Cambridge movie theatres, a major distributor of foreign films has promised to stop supplying movies to Harvard and M.I.T. film societies for the rest of the academic year.

The agreement is the latest development in a running battle between the societies and Cyrus I. Harvey '47, owner of Brattle Films. For a long time, but especially during the past two years, Harvey has complained that the societies are competing unfairly with his theatres.

Harvey's company, Brattle Films, owns the Brattle Theatre, the Harvard Square Theatre and the two Central Square Cinemas.

Harvey made the arrangement, effective from January to June of this year, with Janus Films, which distributes 66 movies, including most of the films of Ingmar Bergman and Francois Truffaut, such famous movies as Rules of the Game, Citizen Kane and The Blue Angel, and other, less well-known films. According to Carl King, executive vice-president of Janus, the company has the exclusive distribution rights to about 90 per cent of its films.

Last term, the Kirkland Film Society alone ordered six Janus films. Because M.I.T. has no film societies comparable to Harvard's, the agreement will primarily affect Harvard House societies. M.I.T.'s Lecture Series Committee, which does show movies, has no plans to order Janus films. Harvard's Ivy Films also does not intend to show any Janus movies. At least one House society did try to obtain Janus films this term, however, and its orders were refused.

Harvey plans to have a Janus Film Festival in the spring, shuttling the films through his different theatres. While he has scheduled many other Janus festivals in the past, Harvey said this would be his biggest one ever.

In 1955, two years after he opened the Brattle Theatre, Harvey, with a partner, founded Janus Films. Although he sold out his interest in the company 10 years later, Harvey has remained one of Janus' largest customers.

Harvey said he will show most, but not all, of the films in the Janus catalogue. A student trying to order any Janus film for a Harvard or M.I.T. film society will be told by the booking agent that no films are available.

However, King and Harvey both said, if a society wants to obtain a film that will not be shown by a Brattle-owned theatre, it can contact King and procure the film directly through him.

The agreement affects only film societies. Study groups of 60 or fewer students which neither advertise nor charge admission can order Janus movies.

Unfortunately, Harvard does not supply its film courses with money for ordering films. Many courses-such as Humanities 197, "Film Analysis" -work with film societies. The society orders the films that the instructor wants to show and then charges admission to make back its costs.

The legal status of Harvey's arrangement with Janus is unclear, especially since it is a verbal rather than a written agreement. Two Law School profes-sors-one an expert in anti-trust law, the other an authority on film law-said that this might be a case of "coercion from the buyer's side" and thus in restraint of fair trade. Both said they would need more information to make a judgment.

Harvey has complained that societies affiliated with Harvard Houses "show films for commercial purposes on tax-free property." Calling this "unfair competition," Harvey objects to societies that advertise in the Square or in newspapers, show popular, frequently seen movies such as those starring Humphrey Bogart, screen first-run films, or schedule movies at playing dates close to those Harvey has set for the same movies.

In a March 1969 letter to Robert B. Watson, former Dean of Students, Harvey complained about a House showing of Citizen Kane. He wrote that films shown at Harvard should not be open to the public, bursar's cards should be required at the door, and series tickets should be sold. Advertising should be restricted to the Harvard community, and films should not be used to raise money for organizations other than the societies themselves, he said.