TAKING THE CINEMA SERIOUSLY

New Zealand Listener, Volume 14, Issue 359, 10 May 1946, Page 28

TAKING THE CINEMA SERIOUSLY

Film Societies Here and Overseas

which is developing in several parts of New Zealand is apparently by no means peculiar to this country. Recently the Wellington Film Institute wrote to the British Film Institute applying for affiliation and asking for background information about the British organisation. In his reply, the Deputy-Director of the B.F.I. gave some interesting facts, "The film society movement," he said, "appears to be spreading rapidly throughout the Empire. In the last two months, for example, we have had similar inquiries from South Africa, Australia, Malta, and Ceylon... In view of the greatly increasing interest which appears to be shown throughout the Commonwealth in film societies I am, quite frankly, wondering whether it would aot be possible, now that air services are so much improved, for all the Commonwealth Film Societies to co-operate and interest in film societies

purchase a number of copies of films for their own use which could be forwarded from one to the other. In other words, the formation of an Imperial Federation of Film Societies on the lines of the present Federation of Film Societies existing in Great Britain." * * PA ‘THOUGH there may be special activities in each locality, the general purpose of a film society anywhere is roughly the same. It can perhaps be most easily indicated by quoting from the constitution of the group in Wellington: "The Wellington Film Institute is an association of people who are interested in the motion picture as art, entertainment, and education." Translated into practical terms, this interest resolves itself into regular meetings of the full membership at which $elected programmes of films (usually 16mm.) are shown, studied, and discussed. But the Institute aims to be something more than a collection of highbrows, dissatisfied with —

ordinary movie entertainment, who get into a corner to comfort one another and talk knowingly about documentaries and montage; for inside the general membership there are special selfoperating groups to study such aspects of the cinema as censorship, films for children, film criticism, scientific films, and the technique of production. In the event of some aspect of the cinema becoming a public issue (for example, censorship, or the licensing of 16mm. _ screenings), the organisation hopes to be in a position to present an informed viewpoint from a body of "consumers" who have taken the subject seriously. So far, the most popular of these internal groups has been studying criticism. The members do not stay in a high-brow corner, but apply themselves to the ordinary week-by-week shows at the commercial theatres, attending one or two shows each Friday night and meeting afterwards to discuss them together. Later, and if possible in conjunction with other New Zealand film societies, thoy hope to produce a regular bulletin about all types of films available to the public in this country, on the lines of what is done by the British Film Institute in its monthly bulletin, by the U.S. National Board of Review of Motion Pictures, and by other American groups. * * * ‘THE Wellington Film Institute actually: developed out of W.E.A. activities. Although it only got under way at the end of last year, and in spite of several handicaps (of which the chief ones ate the difficulty of securing films and a meeting-place in Wellington suitable for screening and discussing them), the Institute already has a membership approaching the 300 mark, and the enthusiasm of members has been well maintained. An Auckland Film Society Started about the same time;-it also has a big membership and an ambitious programme of activities. Meetings have been reported from Dunedin to form a similar organisation there, and interest in the project has been shown in Christchurch and other places. All this would seem to indicate that in New Zealand, as in Britain, America, and other countrie3,~ there is a growing body of picturegoers who are taking their entertainment more seriously than ever before, and by directing attention to what the movies in their best moments are capable of achieving are trying to raise the standard of public appreciation; and through that ultimately to raise the standard of production. * * HAT has been done in Great Britain is the model for what is being atternpted in New Zealand. However, the British Film Institute is in a very favourable position, for it enjoys .official Government recognition and status. According to the letter from the DeputyDirector of the B.F.I. received in Wellington, this organisation was founded in ‘1933 as the result of a Royal Commission set up to report on The Film in National Life. During the past 13 years ‘its main objects have been "to encourage the use and development of the cinematograph as a means of entertainment and instruction." For this purpose the B.F.I. receives a grant from the Privy Council out of the Sunday Cinematograph Fund (a fund subsidised by contributions made by those cinema theatres

in Britain which open on Sundays). It works under a Board of Governors, three of whom are appointed by the Government, three by the cinema industry, and three by educational interests, The present president is the Duke of Sutherland. The letter continues: "After 13 years of work we have managed to increase the interest in visual education to such an extent that it will shortly be undertaken by the Ministry of Education direct, and we shall be free to concentrate on our other object: ‘the use of the cinematograph as a means of entertainment.’, We also run the National Film Library, subsidised from the same fund and which, in brief, preserves films for posterity for their artistic or historical interest. We have managed to secure the co-operation of all film companies in this country, who give copies of any film that we require for preservation; and also as a side-line we make available to interested bodies such as film sodieties’ reprints of film classics." x * * QNE other quotation will emphasise what is now being done overseas to arouse public interest in the capabilities of the cinema. In a BBC broadcast a month or so ago, Sewell Stokes spoke about "Films of To-day and Yesterday." He reviewed current London attractions, but reserved most of his enthusiasm for several classics of the silent screen which are being revived by the New London Film Society. He mentioned The Birth of a Nation, made by D. W. Griffith in 1935 ("it caused something of a sensation when I saw it again the other night | at the Scala Theatre"); Intolerance, another classic Griffith production; The Story of Gosta Berling, a film ‘made in Sweden in 1922 featuring a new young actress named Greta Garbo; Robin Hood, starring Douglas Fairbanks; Greed, made by Erich von Stroheim in 1924; Potemkin, the great Russian classic; and the German masterpiece of 1921, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Then Sewell Stokes said: "I wish you could see these films. I am sure you do, too. Londoners are seeing them because the demand has been great enough to make it worth while getting them sent over from the Museum of Modern Art in New York. They are masterpieces which ought to be shown throughout the world. And perhaps if enough enthusiasts got together, this priceless collection might be shown wherever in the world there were people who wanted to see them. Copies of these films I have mentioned, and many others, will one day, I expect, be in museums in every large city. That is looking ahead, I know. But now that a start has been made, it can only be a question of time." : * * x. ‘THE idea of film societies is not, of course, by any means new to New Zealand; but they seem to have a much better prospect of success now than in the past, thanks to the development of ‘the 16mm. film which enables the societies to draw on various free sources of supply (such as our National Film Library ahd the U.S. Information Service) instead of having to import or hire the much more expensive-and in-flammable-standard 35mm. film. (continued on next page)

THE FILM SOCIETIES

(continued from previous page) However, although the: New Zealand societies are concentrating on the 16mm. film, particularly documentaries, it was felt from the start that an attempt should also be made to hire from the film exchanges here certain 35mm. features which have long since disappeared from the normal theatre circuits, but which are of particular interest to the student of the cinema; films such as Winterset, Grapes of Wrath, Fury, The Informer, and French productions like Mayerling, Un Carnet du Bal, and The Cheat. All chese films were at one time or another screened theatrically in this country, and sopies of at least some are probably still in the distributors’ vaults, even though the films have long since been milked iry of any general box-office value they may have once possessed. It would’ appear, however, that the film exchanges are not favourable to the idea of helping the film societies in this matter, For when the Wellington Film Institute wrote recently to the New Zealand Motion Picture Distributors’ Association seeking to hire old films of the type mentioned for the purpose of reviving them at non-public screenings, the following reply was received from the

Secretary.of the Motion Picture Distributors’ Association: "Your letter was very fully considered at a meeting of this Association yesterday and I was directed to reply stating that instead of screening the old films mentioned for the study of your members, it would probably be better if your members were influenced to ‘attend the theatres at which current films ¢@of a similar type were screened from time to time. If your Institute is particularly interested in any film listed in the current year’s product, application to this Association would result | in information regarding the theatre and date being _ supplied in. sufficient time to enable arrangements to’ see it being made." % Bg 3k HEN. this. letter was read at a recent meeting of the Wellington Film Institute, together with that from the British Film Institute, some very frank criticism of the film distributors’ attitude was expressed oy. members. Their letter was described as "a contemptuous brushoff, resulting either from ignorance or poor taste, or perhaps a combination of both." The ignorance, it was said, was _ revealed by the fact that the Association was obviously unaware of the developments in the film society movement overseas and particularly of the co-operation between the film industry and the British Film Institute; and the poor taste was shown by the fact that "the distributors had simply tried to use the opportunity to sell some more seats for their current films."

It was pointed out that the Institute had not sought any special concession. but merely wanted to hire old films on a commercial basis to show to members. The aims of the film societies were not in the least antagonistic to the film industry: on the contrary, by drawing attention to the best that the cinema had to offer, by emphasising the artistic potentialities of the screen, and by seeking to encourage a higher standard of public appreciation, they were actually giving valuable assistance to the industry in its efforts to make better and better pictures. One member pointed out that there had been an announcement to the effect that the industry was proposing to launch an intensive national publicity campaign in New Zealand "to combat injurious criticism levelled against the industry" and to emphasise the cinema’s service to the community. "That’s a good idea," he said, "but if the industry wants to draw public attention to the virtues of the cinema, the attitude shown in the letter that has been read seems a curious way to go about it." Another member expressed the view that in this matter the New Zealand distributors were swimming against the tide of public opinion. It was decided to acquaint the Association with the

televant contents of the letter from the British Film Institute. The meeting also decided that an attempt should be made as soon as possible to form a federation of New Zealand Film Societies and to co-operate with the B.F.I. in investigating the possibilities of an Imperial Federation of Film Societies. x bg % N the meantime, although it is not at the moment possible, because of the distances involved, to get films on loan in New Zealand from the Loan Section of the British National Film Library, the British Film Institute has expressed its willingness to make prints of classic films (such as Potemkin, The Last Laugh, Dr. Caligari, etc.), available to New Zealand societies at cost. And the cost, particularly for 16mm. prints, is remarkably small. The Wellington Film Institute is already in a position to purchase on its own behalf two or three of these film classics; it intends to get them here as soon as possible; more will come later; and the proposal is that after these copies of early screen masterpieces have done the rounds of the filra societies they should be presented to tha New Zealand National Film Library, where they will be widely available, particularly for use in schools if desired.