Business screen magazine (1942)

many American friends in that specialized field. Mr. Sun returned to China in 1940 and is at present .still leaching in the .Nanking University. This University, then, is the first one in China to have a course in visual education. It has heen mentioned in a previous paragraph that all the materials and equipment needed in the production of educational films, and. in fact, in making any films at all. have to be imported. This naturally puts many limitations on production. But the urgency and exigencies of war make it impossible to wait for ideal conditions in which to carry on the work, and there is nothing for it but to make the best out of the existing situation. China Needs Projectors As in production, so it is in exhibition. There are not enough projectors in Free China. But what is lacking in equipment is made up with manpower. Travelling projection units are organized, one to one projector. Each unii has a captain, a projectionist and a generator operator. These units are assigned to cover widely scattered areas. Once setting out on an a.ssignment. they are entirely on their own in regard to finding audiences and their means of transport. They wull ride on mule.s. when mules arc available. Otherwise, they will travel on foot, carrying all their equipment. Thev take the wonders of the motion picture to outlying districts where people have never seen a film before, and bring back with them experiences of hunger and privation and thrilling excitement. In 1935. the Ministry of Education ordered provincial and municipal governments to mark out their administrative areas into districts in order to facilitate the promotion of visual education. .\t that time, eighty-one such districts were marked out. In 1936. the number of districts had increased by thirtyone, and in 1937, by an additional twenty-three, making altogether a total of one hundred and thirlv-fivc districts. The Ministry of Education supplied each unit with projection equipment, so that in each district there are one slide projector, one cinema projector and one generator for their operation. The cinema projector is in most cases a machine for 16mm. .silent films. Districts Cover Wide Are.\ Each of these districts covers a rather extensive area. The audi * The ciiHltcts in China vary crwitly, but the characters used to represent the words ar« the same throughout the country. The standard dialect, which is now widely used, is the "Kuoyu." generally known in the West ns the "Mandarin dialect." ence is mostly confined to school students. On the average, there is one showing every week, the screening of foreign films not counted. Then, there is a small number of schools and other institutions which have their own projectors. Owing to the shortage of projection bulbs and some parts. howe%'er, the use of these projectors has now become extremely limited. In 1938. the Political Department of the Military .'\ffairs Commission founded ten mobile cinemas, each equipped with a 35mm. sound projection eipiipment and subject to army discipline. Their activities are chiefly at the front and in field hospitals. Most of the times, however, the screening is done on open ground. \ transparent screen is set up. so that on one side, there are soldiers, and on the other, people of the village or town. .According to a radio broadcast from Chungking on January 6. 1913. the number of audience for the past five years totals 56.700.000.667. half of that audience being soldiers. These are the returns gathered from 443 different localities. In 1912. one of the units followed the Chinese expeditionary force to Burma and showed films in eight different localities. YMCA Uses Mobile Units There are other institutions, like the ^'MCA. which have their own mobile cinemas. The \"MCA often uses a mobile medical unit, a mobile cinema and other facilities for popular education put on a barge, which travels up and down the river, rendering free services to those who need them. During the writer's investigation tour in the United States, he is very much impressed by the tremendous development that lias been made in the field of visual education in the country. Comparing two to three thousand projectors for a population of 400.000.000 in China (count gilllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll^^ ''jf^r-'^ iS t:? <!• miP . . . with a permanenl and {irowiiis slalT. complete facilities and the experience of years in the prodnction of films that do their johs well — these are Al'DlO assets which answer the call of INDUSTRY and GOVERNMENT for services urgently needed in those all-important tar.k> of training on every front. \\m PRODITTIOVS. i\r. 630 Ninth Avenue * New York City Film Center Building "^^iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii ing both 16mm. and 35mm. pro1 jection equipment and including! those owned by the government and I those owned by various institutions and private individuals) with the some 16.000 theaters and thousands j upon thousands of projectors available for furnishing visual education in the United States, he cannot but feel that there is yet a lot to be ] done in the field of visual education in China. Mobilization of Manpower The chief concern of China today is to mobilize her immense manpower to fight against the aggressor. .'\fler the war. she still has to make a great effort to develop her rich resources in order to meet the needs of an industrial society. In view of this, an instrument to help spread popular education is indispensable. The cinema will certainly exert a tremendous influence on the country in its reconstruction. Technically sjieaking. one may predict that the 16mm. sound film will most probably be more widely used in China than in any other country. There are at present only about three hundred theaters in the whole of China. ( In Free China, there are only 112.) Interests Closely Related .Since the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the relation between the Chinese and the .American people has been much closer than before. There is an eager hope to obtain .\merican technical aid and cooperation. For the sake of world peace, prosperity and human welfare, there is need for the development of China's resources. The motion picture, utilized as a means to promote technical education and to foster friendly international relations, is bound to make vital contributions toward the building of a ne\\' China and a new world. >tnnounce Organization ot Sutton-Malkames, Inc. ♦ Aimonnciinenl of ihe incorporation of .'>utton-Malkames. Inc.. new film production organization with offices at 605 Broad .Street. Newark, New Jersey, and production unit ollices at 2 >X'est 46th Street. New York (uty. was made last month. Key men in the new organization are X. F. Sutton. President, for four years head of Sound Pictures Corporation and formerly with the Jam Handy Organization: Don Malkames. Vice-President in Charge of Production and a well-known producer of many years experience in the industrial and commercial field; G. V^ . Kelly. .Secretary and Director of Technical Writing, and Mort Corwin. Director of Slidefili Production. I 22 Visual F.dufation for Vietorg