OUR FILM REVIEWS.
Sir-L. D. Austin is in a tough spot. He shifts his ground, misquotes me by adding to what I said, and attempts to pre-judge the issue by the use of derogatory adjectives. These are the time-honoured malpractices of debate; let us get back to the point. He wants G.M.’s film reviews scrapped because some films contain "risque" situations. I want the reviews retained for the same reason, so that those who fear the effects of such films on themselves can stay away, while others, whom I call adult, may go if they want to. The dangerous thing about the Puritan is that he cannot trust others to form their own judgment; like the Fascist he wants to suppress what he doesn’t —
like. If it involves suppressing Aristophanes, Jonson, Shakespeare, Gay, Sheridan, Maugham, O’Neill, so much the worse for them. L. D. Austin belongs to that short era when the masterpieces of all time were bowdlerised so that "not even Mrs. Grundy could take exception to them." That is the moral standard he quotes with approval! These tactics do not serve true morality. Historians and psychologists agree that the era of such tinkering, of draped statues (and incidentally the heyday of Gilbert and Sullivan) was also a period of unparalleled evasion and hvpocrisv.
H.
WADHAM
(Wellington)
Sir-Your correspondent "Just Curious" has taken a leaf out of the editorial book by characterising my plea for decency in public entertainment as "humbug," and even "hypocrisy." May I suggest that his quite unnecessary exposition of the plot of Mozart’s "Cosi Fan Tutte" approaches the limits of propriety? Let him be satisfied that the various English adaptations of that work, to which I referred in my previous letter, conformed to their respective titles but not, perhaps, to "Cosi Fan Tutte."
L. D.
AUSTIN
(Wellington).
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19411010.2.11.1
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 5, Issue 120, 10 October 1941, Page 4
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302OUR FILM REVIEWS. New Zealand Listener, Volume 5, Issue 120, 10 October 1941, Page 4
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
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