TALKIES FOR TROOPS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 26 September 1941, Page 6

TALKIES FOR TROOPS

MOBILE CINEMATOGRAPH PLANT. PROGRAMMES PROVE POPULAR. (N.Z.E.F. Official News Service.) CAIRO, August 30. Inspired by the success of a Canadian chaplain who used a mobile cinematograph plant in Britain, the Senior Chaplain to the New Zealand Forces, with the assistance of a number of wellwishers in New Zealand, has a mobile cinematograph unit in the Middle East. A small library of 16 mm. talking films produced by the Religious Film Society of London is employed, together with other secular matter supplied by the New Zealand Government Film Studio. The first section deals with incidents from Scripture and history, and the second with interesting scenic views from New Zealand. The programmes have proved very popular 'with the troops, and already over 50 screenings have been given in such diverse locations as barns, lofts, schools, church halls, hospitals, marquees, recreation tents, and even the open desert. The talking picture projector, originally employed at the New Zealand Centennial Exhibition, was procured for the Senior Chaplain by Mr Ray Matthews, of Waiorongomai, Featherston, while New Zealand well-wishers, including Messrs A. B. Williams (East Coast), J. D. and F. Ormond and Herrick (Herbertville) contributed valuable film spools. The consignment of film from the Religious Film Society, London, experienced several vicissitudes before it finally reached its destination, while a motor generator and additional films purchased in England by Lt.-Colonel F. Waite, Overseas Commissioner for the National Patriotic Funds Board, was very nearly sent to Greece by mistake during the evacuation. The task of handling the 6 cwt. dynamo posed a problem, but experts of a New Zealand mechanical unit constructed a trailer to carry the set, utilising in the process a collection of bits and pieces gleaned from the British salvage authorities.