Documentary News Letter (1944-1945)

52 DOCUMENTARY NEWS LETTER No. 4 1944 No. 18 THE FOX AND THE HUNTERS A fox devoured a goose. The hunters caught the fox and began to beat him, whereupon he cried: "In vain do you beat me: it is not my fault that I have a bushy tail; God made me so." But the hunters said: "We do not beat you for having a bushy tail, but for eating the goose." REALIST FILM UNIT LTD. 34, SOHO SQUARE, W.l Telephone: GER: 1958 Correspondence DEAR SIR, While I consider that Mr. Forsyth Hardy hai given excellent advice to Film Societies (D.N.L Vol. V, Nos. 2 and 3), I doubt if he has gone far enough into their functions as an advance guard. It is part of the problem of Film Societies that a number of the members would like tc make films but have never bothered to do anything much about it, and that this negative attitude characterises a great many of the activities of Film Societies. The members are pleased to have good programmes and will put up with limited inconvenience but they do not want to do anything more positive. In Birmingham, only two or three per cent of a large and financially sound Film Society ever bothered tc come to discussion meetings, and when it became difficult to get cinema space only this small isolated intellectual clique was left. The societ) temporarily closed down. Film Societies need to be more than a convenience; they need a policy as well as film shows if they are to justify their existence and become an advance guard. Their members should be people who genuinely care about films and are prepared to take on some responsibility towards them. This is not an easy polic\ to put across, because it is in the nature of films that audiences accept even utter rubbish with the mildest of grumbles. But, as Mr. Forsyth Hardy said, a Film Society is not doing its job unless its activities generally are helping to further the development of the film medium. And this development is not only linked with technical research or aesthetics, it is deeply concerned with audiences and box-office receipts, with methods of film production and the availability of facilities for making films. Therefore all Film Societies must consider the Report on Monopoly Tendencies in the Film Industry, to discover how monopoly affects both film production generally and the showing and distribution of films in their local area. They should follow this up by inquiring if their Member of Parliament intends to take action, and if necessary they should agitate locally for better distribution of films. Film Societies should find out how the Ministry of Information film shows are working and developing, so that their members can be informed of this valuable activity. Popular support can help to guard and develop this vital use of films. Equally important is a full knowledge of the role of the Central Film Library and an appreciation of the part that a free. State-controlled, film library' can play in developing films, particularly educational films, and in keeping their production on relatively democratic lines. In several cities the local authorities are considering the production of civic films. Film Societies can campaign to show and explain, to town and council, the part films can play in replanning our cities, in increasing ci\ ic responsibility and combating prejudice and ignorance. They should consider it part of their work to see that these are good films, made by the best possible technicians. Similarly they might interest themselves in the wider use of educational and scientific films. These activities, and the building of programmes, can be helped by joining the Scientific Film Association. BILL M VSOH