Kinematograph year book (1944)

270 The Kinematograph Year Book. THE SHORT SUBJECT. CONCERN is felt regarding the future of the short subject, which in these days has been wholly occupied with propaganda or instruction respecting one phase or other of our war effort. Shorts producers have used their present opportunities to good advantage. On the whole, they have evolved a formula based on accepted documentary technique, which has so successfully combined instruction with entertainment, that this type of theatrical release has not proved inacceptable to patrons. It is beginning to be appreciated, however, that the existence of a pre-ordained release is not the best incentive to the highest technical quality. The question arises as to what effect four or five years' saturation of the kinema screens with these war-effort films will have on the post-war public, and, more important, to what extent production facilities directed for so long to the one class of subject will survive the switch over, if and when it occurs. The implied doubt exists because it was recently announced that the United States has earmarked one million pounds for carrying on a post-war psychological warfare programme abroad, and it must be expected that there will be no lessening of effort to present on screens of the world Great Britain's part in world reconstruction ; consequently, our shorts producers may well be busy for years to come. Even so, such prosperity will be relatively short-lived and would exist largely on subsidies. Plans must therefore be made for the utilisation of current facilities and the use of the technical knowledge gained in the production of sponsored " pot-boilers " under the most difficult conditions in the building up of a strong and healthy shorts industry which will bear comparison with that of Hollywood. The change over will present many problems, but the refreshing enthusiasm shown in our short studios and the imaginative approach displayed in the direction of the most unlikely material should prove a secure basis for the rehabilitation of the British short. There is evidence, too, that the short field will be the most promising source of recruitment for feature personnel : Sydney Box, the Two Cities' producer, who is also managing director of Verity, and Harry Watt, and Cavalcanti, of Ealing, are two outstanding examples. An interesting comparison of the cost of producing documentary and instructional films before and during the war is given in a recent report of the Finance Committee of the Manchester Corporation. The figures were submitted in the course of a report on a proposal to sponsor a film at Manchester. They are as follows : — Films produced before the war : " Children at School " (28 minutes), £2,581; "Enough to Eat" (28), £1,825; "The Smoke Menace" (15), £2,000 ; " Manufacture of Gas " (15), £375 ; " Men Behind the Meters " (19), £1,540; "Housing Problem" (16), £1,262 ; " News by Wire " (18), £1,300 ; " Proof of the Pudding " (9), £900 ; '* The Good Old Days " (21), £2,800 ; and •' The Londoners " (23), £4,400. Films produced during the war : " The Village that Found Itself " (35), £3,820; "Hot Evidence" (17), £1,370; " Choose Cheese " (5), £550; "Eating at Work" (11), £1,700; "Green Food for Health" (5), £550; " What's for Dinner ? " (9), £550 ; and "It Comes from Coal" (11), £1,600. If the Government-sponsored subject has not entirely eliminated the reproach with which the word propaganda was associated, it has, to a certain degree, accustomed the public to its appearance on the screen. This has been accomplished by the fairly high level of quality achieved in most releases, but more particularly by a few outstanding subjects such as the series assembled for news footage by the U.S. Office of War Information and the M. of I. in co-operation, by Colonel Frank Capra and Major Hugh Stewart, the British Army Film Unit, and Paul Rotha's " World of Plenty." Several feature producers are also identified with these propaganda subjects, including Two Cities, Sir Alexander Korda, of M-G-M-British, etc. One of the most recent newcomers has been Alfred Hitchcock, who is engaged on a series of shorts in foreign languages for distribution in European Countries.