Reel and Slide (Jan-Sep 1919)

14 REEL and SLIDE a feature of the campaign to enlist the pupils in "greater food production" have been a great success. One government lecturer tells of holding one hour lectures twice each day every school day for two weeks. These lectures were attended by from 200 to 400 children of varying ages and only once in the twenty lectures was it necessary to call "order." This test gives food for much thought upon the advisability of adopting visual instruction as a regular part of our educational system. One of the chief benefits of such an introduction into our schools would be the condensation and the cutting down of the curriculum due to the greater efficiency of pictures as against printed words to get across to the student the right conception of the subject upon which education is desired. A few years hence, this suggestion will have become history, for already educational authorities have recognized that visual educational films cannot long be denied. Here and there throughout Canada they are being taken up with almost phenomenal results, both in imparting information and in holding the students' interest. Up to this time, little thought has been given to this phase of the educational film by the Provincial Motion Picture Bureau. Its chief work has been in the cause of better farming, for the reason that in the present crisis this is the more important phase, and until after the war is won the Bureau's major efforts will be concentrated upon the problem of producing and conserving foodstuffs. The subjects of visual education and vocational guidance by means of films, can well wait till the big job is finished. There will be time and pleasure, then, in taking up these kindred phases of visual educational work now that the war is over. The fact that Canada stands out in the forefront in the matter of the utilization of motion pictures for educational work is the great big thing t I ■■ HI Canada's sheep raising and wool industry is being visualized by means of films While Ontario has taken the lead in the development of the motion picture as an educational force, it does not follow that it is the only province using films for this purpose. Other provinces, especially the western provinces, have followed Ontario's lead and are now busy endeavoring to reduce it. The Dominion Government is becoming interested in the motion picture and at the present time is having films made of its seaboard fisheries and hatcheries. This is but one of many that will soon be in course of production. What Ontario has accomplished is but the beginning, yet it is indicative of what the future holds for the visual educational film. The attendance at the Agricultural Representatives' meetings and at the showings of the films of interest to women in the test made in Simcoe County circuit of the Woman's Institutes, can but have_ one meaning — that the public appreciates and approves of this method of education. During the coming winter the government plans to establish a much wider distribution of the films than it has been possible to arrange in the short time the Bureau has been in existence. Mr. S. C. Johnson, Director of the Provincial Motion Picture Bureau, tells of many incidents cropping up during the past few months which indicate the advantages of moving picture demonstrations over the lecture demonstrations. During the showing of film No. 115, "The Conformation of a Holstein Dairy Cow," a discussion arose about the comparative merits of a local Holstein cow and Mollie Rue Rattler of the O. A. C. To settle the point, the agricultural representative took his projector right into the cow barn and hung his screen beside the local Holstein, enabling those present to compare the two cows. At the Winter Fair in Guelph, during the showing of film No. to remember. Even in the matter of "War Records" Canada 154, "Growing Mangel Seed," a farmer informed the representa was the first to adopt moving pictures as part of its permanent tive that he had hesitated about growing mangel seed because he War Records system and is to-day far in advance of any other did not understood how the "young shoots" were planted, but that combatant in its organization for this purpose. The great picture after seeing how this was done in the movies he was going to of "The Battle of the Somme" is but one of many that will grow mangel seed. Thus, the practical side of farming owes vividly depict the valorous deeds performed. much to the moving picture. — Every Woman's World, Toronto. aiHIIII!llll!lllll!lllll!ll!llllllllllll!ll!ll!lll!lllllll!llllllll|[|||l!lllllllllllllllllllllllll!l Wants of Soldiers Indicate Future Ideals of Screen By Edward L. Hyman {Director Picture Division, War Department Commission on Training Camp Activities) THE soldier and sailor really began to live as nature and the rules of health meant he should soon after he entered the service. Naturally his mental attitude changed. No matter how lacking in education he might be, he gradually gained a wholesome dislike for Sham Cheap Sentiment Weaklings Social Mockery Insincere Society Sex Rot The Grouch — and an unlimited number of other elements which before the war characterized the very core and heart of the picture producing industry. "Keep the men satisfied in camp and you make true soldiers," said the commandant of a vast military reservation. The Liberty theater, healthy child of the War Department Commission on Training Camp Activities, has in great measure kept the soldier satisfied. It has seen khaki-clads crystallize and bloom from the dominated picture fan to the dominant film devotee. At first he sat meekly and suffered the sex plays of the day, the social nests of suggestion in film form, and the milk and water comedy. But as his military training progressed, his heart and soul and his mind grew. And he arose and demanded his rights as the picture fan of the future. He "booed" the mawkish scenes alive with slender hero chaps in dinner "duds." He sneered at the cheap conventionalities and impossible situations. And he applauded healthy, on-the-level action and sentiment. The Liberty theater soon learned what he wanted and booked only those pictures, and will continue to book them as long as they are available, and there are soldiers in camps in America. Matthew H. Whitman, director of films for the Liberty theater in the Southeast, summed it all up when he, after a wonderful experience in booking for seven soldier theaters, said: "The impossible situation in motion pictures is as lifeless today as the Sphinx to the new American — the soldier. He has bayoneted it. He has crossed it off the lists of elements necessary to a good motion picture. Upon that list he has left these component elements : "Sincere heart atmosphere, "Love that is love, "Joy builded on foundations of smiles, "Comedy that whirlpools eddies of gayety. "The soldier has seen enough of the drab. He wants the sunshine of hope that will erase old visions of trench cruelties and sacrifices that have made his heart as tender and receptive as the heart of a child." The Committee on Public Information has authorized the following statement : At a conference held in Washington, Friday, November 29, between representatives of the Treasury Department, the Customs, the War Trade Board and the Committee on Public Information, it was decided that on and after Monday, December 9, there will be no censorship of films for export by the Customs or the Committee on Public Information. Shippers will be required to obtain licenses from the War Trade Board as heretofore, the elimination of the censorship having no connection with the War Trade Board procedure. Uncle Sam, judged from the standards of efficiency in production, transportation, supply and the preparation and serving of food, is the champion caterer of the world. That "eats" is the basic necessity of an army is shown in No. 2 of "Winning the War" series, released by Pathe on December 8.