BRITISH FILMS.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18896, 11 January 1927, Page 14

BRITISH FILMS.

LEGISLATION SUGGESTED. PROTECTED MACHINERY AND, BETTER PICTURES. V ' (lEOM OUR OWX COMIBPOMMST.) LONDON, . Novombcr -16.; : A great deal is being: written regarding British films at the present time,..possibly with'the idea> that in some indirect way 'it . will influence the delegates to the Imperial Conference" who have thiß subject under con- : sidoration. Sir Robert Donald takes up the Question in the "Sundiy,Times,", and refers to the Bill drawn up by the Federation of British Industries. ~'".lt is" a cautious anil conservative measure," eays Sir itobert. ",Xo comev to the gist -of .'it,■■-.tenters or distributors,, the middlemen in the,, .trade who. evidently desire no' change—would for every' seven feet : of foreign film released be obliged to release one foot of British film for the first year- , For the-second year the British quota would , 1 be * a. third, and for the third year ana ' afterwards three-fifths. A rcheme on; these lines has worked very satisfactorily in Germany, which :is. now able to-supply about .50 per cent, of its home requirements, and .hsfl- built up *; considerable export trade. . "Applied to exhibitors, the Federation-'-ol .British Industries- plan provides for - the exhibition of 12J per cent-.•; of- British pic tures'-'the first year, exclusive of news pictures arid'short reels, 25 per "cent.'the sec-> : drid '^year,' and 871 per cent.' • the. third year •and,' afterwards. It shbuld be understood that with the best wiTin the. world exhibitors will be unable to find places in their programmes for' a large proportion . of British picturesfor 'tine or even'two years; they are ■booked up ahead. That is why the abolition of ' block-booking should go hand-ih-hand . with the'quota. Access'-to American Market;. .-_..; "The monopoly of distribution would disappear when an industry was. established, as British producers would be their own distributors within the Empire, and the .quota would secure ; exhibition. 'With the recent advance, both in •• the quality ana number of British productions, wo-can now look forward to the. certainty that there will be-an adequate supply available for tho modest quota proposed. ■ -..'- "Another necsesary,' reform is the ■- abolition of all duty on -Empire-made films within the Empire,,! New Zealand and Australia have already abolished duties on British-made films There are other helpful reforms which have been applied in Australia, such as conditions attached to licences and an. extra income-tax on foreign distributing companies which contrive to escape full taxation. . "Access.to the American, market-is. admitted to be essential for the profitable exploitation of big feature pictures. There is ho reason why we Bhould not get into the American market on the merits of our pictures. Wo could do what the Germans have done. A large section of the American public are tired of the sort of stuff foisted upon them by the American picture magnates. The American magnates deliberately exclude British pictures ,regardless of their merits, but once we have introduced protective' machin-' ery and made more r and better pictures we shall have something to' bargain with, and can practico reciprocity on more equal'term's. Entry into the American.market has begun. A Government Lead. "The Home Government should set up, an Empire Clearing House to collect informa 1 tion and receive reports from all our representatives abroad, and disseminate this information., to the trade in eyery . Dominion. The-American Government ' has established ..a.department for this purpose in Washington.. The Government should also devote some of the .funds now boing used to promote the marketing of British goods to popularise British films and counteract the propagandist influences of foreign films. If the Governments of the Empire will take action on the lines which I have suggested, then private enterprise should do the rest." "Long before any regulations abolishing blind or block" Tbooking arid enforcing a quota, however moderate, can bo applied," says a Bpecial correspondent of the 'Observer,' existing interests will have extended l. their. contracts..and strengthened, their pnsi-. tion by eliminating the worst pictures and producing feature pictures, which, from a I British point of view, would be entirely unobjectionable. Several such pictures are al--1 ready--projected, including one-on Florence l .Nightingale. British .classics will, become a .feature of American production, as Americans r do not want to lose ■- their -most profitable 1 overseas market*: " " ■■ * : '.'There is, ..therefore, a stiff fight ahead for Empire' pictures: The' net -result all

round iwilJ be on improvement in the character of all films'. -The Imperial Conference , need 4ot hesitate about rocommend,ing strong . , action in order .to give, tho industry within the Empire facilities to re-establish itself v under fair arid equal conditions.": im The Human Interest Value. |" . Mr Robert Nichols, also writing in the I "Observer," sheds some .cnlightmcrit.on the I principles'of American film producers. v I : ''ln two years' in Hollywood,"' Kb says, I ,"I 'have heard neither American trade nor > custom mentioned as an attraction for filmgoers, who exist not only in the U.S., but in Chinaj Africa, Germany, Italy, arid the HulaHula Islands. For oven when a''Kentucky hill-tale is to be screened, what the director looks for and. attempts to have, incorporated in his scrip, is not a custom or a fade peculiar to tho Kentucky hills, but a custom or a.trade which,- while, ,if possible, peculiar to' the Kentucky hills, is of real advantage to him, and helps forward 'the, human in"terest value' of tho story as .told in visual image.-- ■■•■ "The background of the American story on tho screen is what it is bocause the chief .film market is. American, and Americans are rribro interested in the life around ■ them than in times and places remote —hence the paucity of 'costume' and ' 'foroign , atmosph'cro' pictures. That trade follows the : film is not to be danteil, but it does so only incidentally, and ,can only do so when a film is of good quality, is more or .less con- . tinnously supplied, or competitors hardly exist. Picture-goers don't 'go to see the ' Grand furniture in 'Stella Dallas'; they go to see a. fine .film. ■ magnificently acted and cuperbly directed." I • Talking ; rilm Industry. • The same writer also refers to the new , invention, the talking,.fiim,. .. "Lot the Conference spend a quarter of 'an hour deciding what the quota is to be, ■and let them devote tho remainder of the time available for the discussion of films to the problem of establishing, an English ' taiking film industry. For the talking film will sweep the market, and it will sweep the market not only, on account of ■.. its intrinsic interest, but. because of the. cold economic fact that when you can pack an entire symphony orchestra, carefully synchronised, with the film to be shown, into a. tin box, and exhibit- it for a gum and with trouble to yourself negligible as com- , "pared with that required to maintain even a Bmall orchestra, you have, -provided ydur film is not absolutely foolish, an advantage of nearly £6O per week over a competitor lacking your facilities. "But it is one thing to'bavo "both a talking film studio and proiectpr- attachment ready to be dispatched to any theatre on the globe, and quito another to be. able to produce good films. And it is for. Us, now that we are well in the way to have the first, • to see to it" that we are Capable of 4hd setfond. To that problem the Conference wonld do well to'address itself, both quickly and. effectually, for if we do not hurry up our rivals will soon .settle it for us." Probably more important than conferences •! and suggestions are' the dpfinite actions being taken in the Dominions. News comes from Melbourne of the big motion-picture merger with a capital of £3,500,000 involving Hoyts Theatres, Ltd., and J. C. Williamson. • Ltd. Again Sir James Parr has received a cablegram from a Ohristchurch solicitor that the British Film Services Company, Ltd., with a capital of £30,000, has'beon successfully floated. ■