Documentary News Letter (1947-1949)

documentary film news VOL. 7 NO. 69 SLPT-OCT 1948 EDITORIAL BOARD STEPHEN ACK.ROYD DONALD ALEXANDER MAX ANDERSON EDGAR ANSTEY GEOFFREY BELL KEN CAMERON PAUL FLETCHER SINCLAIR ROAD GRAHAME THARP BASIL WRIGHT EDITOR GEORGE SEAGER ASSISTANT EDITOR JANE DAVIES CONTENTS This month's cover still is from Robert Flaherty's Louisiana Story International Scientific Film Congress John Maddison An Exhibition About Documentary Films? Peter Bradford The Stuff of Documentary Leslie She paid Manhunt Eric Goldschmidt 98 99 100 101 Edinburgh in Retrospect Basil Wright D for Denmark Films Shown at Edinburgh 102 104 105-108 Published every month by Film Outre .1 I Solio Sq. I Ion \\ I ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION 12. V. SING IF COPIFS 1 QUOTA mi i \si lew rugged miles to the promised land are traditionally the hardest on the feet and documentary lilm-makers u\> not always appreciate how close they may be to the end ol a lung journey. For adequate theatrical distribution is nearer than at any time since John Grierson brought his herrings home nearly twenty years ago. The cynic will here break in with hard and pessimistic words. He will argue with some justice that it remains as Herculean a labour as ever it was to persuade the exhibitor of the virtues of the film of fact; that the national home of the Philistines is still in Wardour Street; that there are plenty of good supporting films still unbooked. The incontrovertible fact remains that the exhibitor, however unregenerate, is now required by law to find 25 per cent of his supporting programme in the British market. The law that says so has been in force since October 1. Moreover, the reliefs from its full impact that are to be granted to a very high proportion of exhibitors because of their special competitive circumstances, will apply only in the case of the first feature film, and will provide no escape from the obligation to fulfil the full quota in second features and shorts. There is, of course, a snag. Those who will not be comforted are light when they point out that the conditions for the marketing of short films and second features could scarcely be worse than they are at present. A quota may have been fixed but there remains no guarantee of revenue commensurate with the cost of first-class supporting films. Distributors and exhibitors are only too ready to admit that their financial arrangements do not at present provide for the paying of adequate rentals for anything but the feature film. The burden of their argument is that the feature producers demand the last penny that can be wrung from the public, lea\ ing nothing for the makers of supporting films. The problem is not new. It has always been clear that hand in hand with the fixing of an adequate quota there must come some reform in the processes for marketing supporting films. The need for new methods has been recognized in many influential quarters and, in particular, within the Board of Trade \h Harold Wilson has promised to set up a Committee to investigate and report upon film-marketing and it can confidently be expected that the case of the supporting-programme makers will receive sympathetic attention. But how soon? It is of the most vital importance that the Board of Trade should realize the urgency of this inquiry into marketing and disti ihution. and should be aware that in the interim its quota legislation could become undermined. Some solution to the immediate problem may perhaps be found in an increase in the suppK from Governmental, commercial or other national organizati his oi sponsored films suitable for theatrical showing. (Presumably we are now past the point where it will be argued that sponsorship automatically excludes entertainment.) The new Quota \cl does indeed provide an opportunity for sponsors who wish to see the cultural and entertainment level of the supporting programme raised, since the chances of theatrical distribution foi their films are considerably greater than they have ever been before Ihe fact remains that the numbei ol sponsors who will take a sufficiently enlightened view of then responsibilities to the community is always likely to be limited. There is no escaping a final conclusion that it is the President oi the Board oi hade who. having brought us thus far. must e induct the makeis ol supporting films those last few painful miles to then propel place in the public service.