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Story of the Year 13
such they not only enhance the status of the Trade wherever they may be, but they prove the confidence of their proprietors in the future growth of this iovm of entertainment.
Our Studio Output
In connection with this evidence of public support the most heartening feature of all is the genuine and well-earned welcome which is nowadays accorded to British pictures. It only seems a short time ago that the showman, as good a patriot as anybody else, would obliterate from his posters any indication that a film was British. He knew.
Well, those days are over. Our studios are giving some of the most attractive and entertaining pictures that can be seen, pictures that people really want to see. Curiously enough, we have come out on top in a department which we at one time used to look upon almost as the prescriptive right of the American producers, for our fulllength comedies, in essentially British settings, have established a position of their own and are fit attractions to appear on the best programmes.
They have been criticised because a large proportion of them are film versions of stage plays, and the purist will have it that they are not true screen art. The purist however, has always been the worst possible guide to public reaction and we may well be satisfied with the reception our pictures have earned, particularly in a year rich in good attractions. On many groimds we have had a remarkably good year in film fare, and the way in which our home product has been able to hold its own is a very fine achievement.
The most critical commentators on the Quota clauses in the Films Act have had the ground cut from under their feet by the unquestionable success of our product, and it is important to realise that while our biggest production units have kept up a fine output the smaller studios have done extremely well. Had the quality of British pictures been in IQ26 what it is to-day there would have been no need for the Quota Act.
In the actual administration of this Act, with its direct contacts with each branch of the Industry, every honour should be paid to the Advisory Board which serves as a liaison office between the Government and the Trade. Its work has been done behind closed doors, and in most quarters its activity has hardly been appreciated, but it has been ceaselessly carrying on its duty of explaining, guiding and watching during all those difficult times when the best regulations, rigorously administered, might bring hardship, and when, on the other hand, the most plausible pleas needed shrewd analysis.
Overseas Sales
Of all the achievements that have been heralded in the year, the improved position of our product in the overseas market has actually been the most far-reaching. For years America has protested that she was willing to welcome British pictures on their merits, but none