Minutes of evidence taken before the Departmental Committee on Cinematograph Films (1936)

50 COMMITTEE ON CINEMATOGRAPH FILMS 12 May, 1936.] Mr. P. W. Baker, Mr. M. N. Kearney. [Continued. Mr. A. Korda, Mr. N. Loudon and Captain the Hon. It. Norton. of view of the consumer are these new companies starting up without resources in the background, and are they going to have the capacity to produce really first-rate pictures? — My view is that the facilities in the newly erected studios, or the proposed studios, are considerably in advance, their prospective output will be considerably in advance, of any quota that we have suggested, and I can see activity in that field increasing considerably. There is every evidence, we see it all the time in the business, in these new promotion schemes for studios, and so on, and I have every confidence there is more than ample studio accommodation to-day to fill this new quota which we suggest. 278. I am thinking more of quota. Is there a danger that I, as a member of the public, may have to go and see genuinely produced British films which are indifferent in quality because of lack of resources instead of a first-rate foreign film ?■ — I do not think the danger will be increased. (Mr. Korda) : It depends largely on whether £10,000 or £200,000 is spent on a picture whether jou see a bad picture or not. 279. But the working of the Act is that concurrently with the increased quota the quality of the genuine British pictures is improved? — (Mr. Baker) : Yes. 280. So that they can challenge the best products from abroad ? — Yes. 281. If you go up by sudden mutation ?— It does not go up suddenly ; the scale we propose goes up just as gradually as the existing scaledid. 282. And much more suitably? — (Mr. Kearney): Slightly more quickly, perhaps. 283. And it is your view that the public will not suffer by the growth in the quantity of British pictures? — I think if they suffer at all they will " suffer " in the opposite sense to that which you suggest, that they will get a much better quality of picture in the future than they have had in the past. 284. It is an important point? — Yes. (Mr. Korda) : If, let us say, through a new quota, 15 per cent, of foreign pictures or American pictures were excluded from this country, obviously the 15 per cent, would be the worst of the American pictures and not the best. The pictures which are really good would still come in if there were a 75 per cent, quota, but the lower strata of American pictures — the very bad American pictures — would be eliminated from the British market. I dare say there would be lots of bad British pictures, you cannot help that, I do not think there is any legislation in the world which could help that, but certainly you might substitute indifferent British pictures for very bad American pictures; but the good American pictures would come here just the same. 285. But would you agree, from the ultimate object of the best for the industry, it is desirable that the average quality of British pictures should tend to improve, as it is improving? — Yes. (Mr. Kearney): ( lertainly. 286. And not to risk a set-back by over-production numerically ?— That is so. (Mr. Loudon): The new technical facilities that exist to-day in the country, and that will be here when the new studios are completed, will improve considerably. (Mr. Kearney) : Very vast sums have been expended in the erection of studios in the last few months, and further considerable sums are still being spent today; and they are not being spent solely for the purpose of producing bad pictures. 287. Quite. One other point on that same cultural question. There is a type of film that has just been referred to by Mr. Korda, the foreign film, the European film, of admittedly cultural value, which it is difficult to get into England and to distributein England owing to the difficulty of finding renters' quota? — (Mr, Baker): What film are you referring to? 288. I am referring to cultural films from the Continent?— Those which are shown at the Academy, and so on? 289. Yes? — Well, the main reason why those films are not imported into the country, is that they are not commercially practicable. (Mr. Kearney) : They are not understood because they are recorded in a foreign language. There is nothing in our legislation to prevent their import, and we do not want in any way to discourage the distribution of such films. (Capt. the Hon. B. Norton): I think they get as full a showing as they deserve commercially, if not culturally. (Mr. Korda) : The situation is exactly the same in France, the whole of France will not play a British picture. Our pictures are played in France in small theatres of 400 or 500 seats, and we are allowed 14 other cinemas in the whole of France. They make exceptions for pictures of very special distinct merit, but if we want to play our pictures in the other cinemas of France we have to put French language instead of English which makes it sometimes very amusing and sometimes very strange. (Mr. Kearney) : You mentioned that the foreign picture finds difficulty in securing a renter to rent it and provide the British quota. The reason is not that the renter has any objection to the foreign film in itself; the reason why the renter will not provide English quota to go against it is that the foreign picture you are speaking of will rent to so few exhibitors, because the general public apart from a few specialised audiences, does not understand foreign languages. 290. That is the point, but if you increase the renters' quota you may make it still more difficult to import films with a limited circulation. I do not want to make it more difficult for them to come in? — (Mr. Baker) : My Lord Chairman, Mr. Cameron is dealing with a very limited number of films of a very special class that are shown only at the Academy and such-like theatres, and there is no real difficulty in bringing those films into the country; and if I may just correct what has been said, the Board of Trade has not taken very serious notice of the default of (say) the Film Society. They have not complied with the quota for obvious reasons, and I know that the Board of Trade have not looked upon that seriously at all. They have permitted these films to be shown and have not compelled the particular renter to supply the quota. 291. Thank you. On a quite different point, is there any substantial market for British films outside this country, in countries that are non-film producing, European countries? — You mean Spain, and so on ? 292. Spain and Central Europe? — Yes. the market in those countries is very poor indeed, because, of course, of the language difficulty. There is a market and the market is open not only to ourselves but to other countries. (Mr. Korda) : I do not think the markets are really poor. I think there is a very distinct improvement all over the Continent. I would say, if there was a good British picture or a good American picture on the Continent to-day people would go to see a good British rather than a good American picture. (Mr, Kearney): Definitely, in certain countries,, in Scandinavian countries, for instance. (Mr. Korda): And in France and in Denmark. (Capt. the Hon. B. Norton): For a big picture costing £200.000, 20 per cent, of its total revenue may come from foreign countries, hut a picture costing only a small sum to produce can earn no revenue abroad. (Mr, Korda) : But pictures that cost £10,000 or £15.000 have no difficulty whatsoever and every successful picture has a very important market on the Continent, and 25 per cent, or 30 per cent, of our revenue conies from overseas. 293. So that it is a market for your major pictures which is quite important0 — (Mr. Kearney): Quite important. 'JIM. Tn paragraph W (r). Note 2. I am not quite '•ure that 1 have gol this rifiht. you speak about stigma pictures. Then you go on to say at the