REVIEW OF MR. RANK

New Zealand Listener, Volume 14, Issue 353, 29 March 1946, Page 24

REVIEW OF MR. RANK

He Now Aims To Change The Face Of Britain As Well As Her Films

ITH all sorts of rumours floating about concerning J. Arthur Rank’s intentions towards New Zealand, the time seems ripe to have another look at this colossus of the British film industry who keeps getting his name into the papers almost as frequently as Mr. Bevin does. At the time of writing the position regarding New Zealand is still obscure. The report from London that Mr. Rank has acquired a controlling interest in Kerridge Theatres Ltd. (which, with 133 theatres under its wing, is now the biggest theatre chain in this country) has been deniedcategorically by Mr. Kerridge’s Auck-

land representative, a little less precisely in a statement issued in Wellingtonso that until we get fuller details we cannot be sure whether this is, or is not, a case where smoke has been ‘produced without fire. Apart from this, however, Mr. Rank’s organisation continues to make headlines. One of the difficulties of studying the Rank growth is that it goes ahead so fast that one cannot keep track of all the offshoots. But two main developments are becoming apparent. One is that Mr. Rank, on the face of it, stands to lose less than almost anybody if the American loan to Britain falls through, since this would inevitably mean a reduction in imports by Britain of such "luxury" commodities as American cigarettes and American films, leaving Mr. Rank even. more firmly entrenched than he is at present within the Empire. With Hollywood competition thus removed he would, in fact, be in virtually exclusive control of the total supply tas Britain’s movie entertainment. — This is speculation; the contingency / may not arise, and even if it did, it

might not last very long. But the second trend is much more clearly defined and may be much more far-reaching. It is also, I think, much more disturbing. For it is becoming increasingly clear to me that Mr. Rank is less interested in making films which will be popular in British countries than in making films which will also be popular in America. * * * SHALL not attempt here to disentangle the highly complex moves which Mr. Rank has been making lately inside the structure of American film finance to acquire tie-ups with U.S. companies and thus ensure distribution of his British-made films in the States. The latest of which I have notice was a deal

"ye A with the up-and-coming International Pictures Inc. (which made Casanova Brown and Woman in the Window) and with Universal Pictures Inc. (which is 20. per cent., Rank-owned), whereby Rank gets the right to put his films into American theatres in return for putting theirs into his British houses. Even more significant, though, is another move that Rank made at the end of last year and about which I have seen little comment. It is not finance that is involved here, but something perhaps more fundamental. If figures mean little to the average picturegoer, faces should; and Mr. Rank’s latest plan appears to be nothing less than an attempt to change the collective face of Britain-by means of cosmetics! By %* %* HEN he was in the U.S. last year Mr. Rank remarked, "I want to teach English women to look as well as American women." That remark has borne fruit in a deal announced by Time whereby Mr. Rank has handed over the faces of English women to the mercies of Hollywood’s famous House of West(continued on next page)

(continued from previous page) more-a firm of four brothers who between them have personally . applied glamorous make-up to 90 per cent. of Hollywood’s stars and have trained nearly 75 per cent. of Hollywood’s makeup artists. Under the terms of the contract, Mr. Rank will make and distribute Westmore cosmetics in Britain: in return, the Westmores will do their best to make Britain’s movie queens look just like MHollywood’s glamour girls. The influence of the cinema in other spheres may be debated, but in the field of fashion and make-up it is obvious to even the most casual observer. Therefore, if Hollywood standards of feminine beauty are going to be officially accepted as the pattern for British actresses, the triumph of the Hollywood Face will be complete throughout the English-speak-ing world. : * * * HOUGH cosmetics would seem a curious sphere for such a staunch Methodist as Mr. Rank to be dabbling in, many people may regard his new interest im lipsticks and face-cream as comparatively innocuous, Yet this latest development does, I think, indicate as clearly as anything can the goal at which he is aiming for British pictures. He has, of course, never disguised his belief that the only way in which British films can compete with Hollywood is by providing them with finance, studio facilities, and technical efficiency on the Hollywood scale. And I would be the first to admit that so far this policy appears to have produced some of the best films ever made in Britain-including The Way Ahead, This Happy Breed, and Henry V (the last-named of which, however, our public is still waiting to see). Mr. Rank therefore deserves our gratitude for what he has done already; and if he were working towards producing a truly "international" type of film, which would be acceptable to all the peoples of the world, he would deserve . it still more. Unfortunately, the coming of the talkies robbed the screen of the internationalism which, to a certain extent, it did once possess; and barring a return to silent film-making or the adoption of a universal language (neither of which is in the least likely), the production of films of world-wide appeal will * be beyond even Mr. Rank’s powers. Instead, he seems to be aiming to make British films which will be as popular in America as American films already are in Britain. While this ambition may have something to commend it, I cannot help feeling that British films are likely to get the worst of the bargain, are likely to lose something far more precious than they will gain. bad * * R. RANK is, in short, attempting to play Hollywood’s own game-and to play it according to Hollywood’s rules on Hollywood’s own ground. For the sake of gaining popularity in America, British films may have to sacrifice their individuality and become basically the same sort of films as Hollywood makes. I think this is bad. For although I am very far from being an advocate of nationalism in the political sphere, I feel that it has a value in the cultural sphere. British films have, or should have, a special genius of their own to contribute :

to world culture, just as there is a special genius in American films, and in Russian or French ones (particularly in French ones), Since complete internationalism is impossible in the cinema, I think it would be better if each nation cultivated and developed its own peculiar, indigenous style of film-making (and its own peculiar style of face), instead of submerging its national personality (and its own style of beauty) in the effort to secure uniformity, larger audiences, and bigger profits. This, I am afraid, is what may happen in the case of British films, if Mr. Rank goes too far. There are other reasons for tempering with some misgivings one’s enthusiasm for the present progress of British films-the fact that, however lofty and sincere his motives may be, Mr. Rank is becoming more powerful than any man should be; and the related problem, arising in all dictatorships and empires, of who will succeed to the throne. But this threat to the identity of the British cinema, developing from the attempt to win markets in America, is in my opinion the most serious of all. Mr. Rank has, I believe, so far done more than anyone to save British films from mediocrity, but one wonders if the time may not be coming when it will be necessary to save British films from Mr. Rank, |