"GREAT OPPORTUNITY"

New Zealand Listener, Volume 12, Issue 301, 29 March 1945, Page 16

"GREAT OPPORTUNITY"

The Future of British Films

[From a recent BBC talk by

Denzil

Batchelor

the Australian journalist and broadcaster

now in London. The talk was rebroadcast by 2YA.]

cinema was opened in New York, the first film applauded, and the first screen kiss deleted by the Censor at the request of a panel of outraged clergy before it had run a week. To-day, after five years of war, it is interesting to see where the first half-century of the cinema has taken us. The war has seen the coming-of-age of British films. Before the war these films were suffering from an apparently chronic immaturity; could not compare with Hollywood for entertainment, nor with the French films for artistry. In fact, the British film was well summed up by the answer given by a helpful colleague when I arrived late one day at a preview of the New Opus. I had waited for five minutes in silence and then turned to the critic beside me. "Is this a British film?" I whispered, "Very!" he replied. Well, that jibe is out of date. In the last five years the great majority of really adult films have been produced in this country: In Which We Serve, Western Approaches, The Way Ahead, The Foreman Went to France, Colonel Blimp, Kipps, and, above all, Henry V. Against this Hollywood has little to show-little that has the stuff of life in it. Hardly anything more enduring than the best of slick escapist thrillers or frothy ‘comedies or sticky sentimentalities. At least, that’s as I see them. The reason isn’t far to seek. Hollywood is still spinning entertainment to keep the pot boiling. But English film-makers have been face to face with death, and thus, by a grim paradox, have come to recognise the realities of life with such certitude that never again will they be fobbed off with the shine. | J ein half a century ago the first Shakespeare Makes Money! And so the great opportunity is placed. in our hands. Not just a chance for a shadowy future, but an opportunity of a lifetime — crystallised into hard reality in the triumph of Laurence Olivier in Henry V. This is more than a great film --it is, as I see it, an omen and a portent. Whef: it was made the impressarios, who are worse judges of humans than the tipsters are of horses, cracked the usual forebodings. Half-a-million pounds had been lavished on a film by the one author who in pre-war days was always a guaranteed flop in the West End — William Shakespéare. Outside the West End, yes, Shakespeare was sometimes a draw. For example, the Old Vic put him over to crowded and critical houses. But in the West End-well, according to my memory, he was likely to empty any theatre for you. To-day, the film’s gigantic, artistic success is matched only by its general acclamation. Shakespeare pays! Even more outstanding, actors can give unforgettable performances in films. This fact still needs assimilating in England, more’s the pity. As soon as it is digested perhaps our film industry will make use of two huge assets on its own

front doorstep. Assets which, properly used, would make British films the eighth wonder of the world. The first is our army of great actors and actresses, many of whom overseas audiences know intimately by name but have never seen, Now, with adult films produced by masters who do justice to the finest possible acting, you should, indeed you must, see them. Think of the stars never or very rarely seen in films-Edith Evans, Sybil Thorndike, Lilian Braithwaite, Beatrix Lehmann, Athene Seyler, Pamela Browne, John Gielgud, Lewis Casson, Godfrey Tearle, Robert Speaight, Donald Wolfit, Leon Quartermaine-the list is interminable. Chance for Immortality In a test match, Regular Film Actors v. the Rest, the Rest would win hands down, and then could travel to Hollywood to wipe the eye of the reigning title-holders on their own wicket. Some of our leading actors have, of course, made one or two terrified momentary appearances in celluloid. But that was in the bad old days, before producers had learned their craft and knew how to make the best of them. But now in films actors and acting have their chance of immortality-a chance which we so often wish that Irving and Tree and other giants had enjoyed in the past. Our actors are the first asset for the British film-maker with an eye for the future. The second asset is our national literature. And when I say literature I mean all of it-Shakespeare and Sherlock Holmes. Restoration comedy, if you like, and W. W. Jacobs, Kipling and Stevenson, and Conrad’s thrilling sagas of the sea. What film material awaits discovery in the past! And what film material our novelists keep on producing! And what happens to it? Oh, off it goes to Hollywood. There our best cons temporary novels are sold outright, just for their names. Then their plots are touched up and fitted with happy endings, so that they are sure to satisfy the tastes of the cinema audience. Integrity of Treatment We may expect integrity of treat ment, an immeasurable improvement in entertainment value from British films which have already proved that they can treat Shakespeare and Shew and Wells as they deserve. And by integrity of treatment I mean retaining the essential flavour and shape ,of the original work. I have for long thought that only the founding of a National Cinema on the lines of the Académie Frangaise of the French stage would purge, glorify, and exalt British films. It would certainly be a way to invest the art with its due dignity and thus enlist that great army of actors in the cause, Against this argument there are the usual objections to controls and pianning, and the fact that the British cinema as it is certainly seems to be gradually solving half the problem by making the best of our literature, though it has failed to lure most ef the stars.