THREE LETTERS ABOUT FILMS
To The Editor, Sir,-I can see from two letters in your issue of August 13 that there is going to be a battle royal right away over your film critic "G.M.," and I am hastening to get in a few preliminary shots. In my opinion, "G.M." is the only film critic in this country. A film critic, I should say, is a person who criticises films, and "G.M." does just that, Can George Bell point to anybody else who even attempts to give criticism that is not tied up with newspaper advertising? Only in an independent paper can truth about films be given, and the strong meat "G.M." dishes up is certainly to my taste. His remarks are always penetrating and thoughtful; he does not limit himself to straight criticism, but discusses reasonably the social implication of a film; and he is obviously interested in raising the standard of screen plays in’ plot and technique. Does it never occur to George Bell and others who dislike "G.M.’s" comments that all the films which are now regarded as landmarks in the industry were given high awards in The Listener? I need only mention titles like Citizen Kane, Tortilla Flat, The Grapes of Wrath, Moontide, and Fantasia, to make my point. As for the palpably absurd statement by George Bell that "a good picture is one that pleases the public," does he suggest that a film such as A Yank at
Eton, which was bad in every way, should be given immortality because it ran several weeks in Wellington? Or that Tobacco Road was not a good film because it remained unappreciated by Wellington audiences during its run of one week? The obvious answer to Mr. Bell's remark is that the public is not any sort of judge of anything artistic, and this is especially true with movies. Any tripey film that can stagger through a few thousand feet is now sure of a lengthy run in this country largely because of a film shortage, but also because the discrimination of film-goers has almost disappeared. In short, we go to be amused, rot to think. And so the public needs intelligent critics to interpret films for it.
DENNIS
HARTLEY
(Wellington).
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 9, Issue 218, 27 August 1943, Page 15
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372THREE LETTERS ABOUT FILMS New Zealand Listener, Volume 9, Issue 218, 27 August 1943, Page 15
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