Canadian Film Weekly (Nov 22, 1944)

Vol. 9, No. 47 Address all communications—The Managing Editor, Canadian Film Weekly, 25 Dundas Square, Toronto, Canada. tions ADelaide 4317. Price 5 comts each or $2.08 por year. Entered Printed ky Eveready Printers Limited, 78 Wellington Street West, Toronto, Ontarip Censorship The recent. criticism of censorship in Ontario and Quebec is the revival of differences that have been in existence since the first day of the movies. They have never been settled. Years ago the distributors threatened to withdraw all films from Quebec because of the ngorous censorship and now the powers of the board are being disputed in court. The Ontario board drew journalistic censure recently and pointed questions about its purposes and accomplishments. It was suggested recently that there should be national censorship through one office rather than provincial censorship. It’s getting so that there’s nothing new under the movie sun. The following quotation is from an article by the late Fred Jacobs suggesting national censorship and appeared in the Toronto Sunday World, Dec. 25, 1921: So far as our movies go, Canadians are the most censored people in the world. Each Province in Canada has its own Board of Censors, and by the time eight of them get through cutting the things that they do not like out of a picture, it would make just as much sense of it were put into the machine backward, and run off from end to beginning. There have been pictures of late that might have been whit tled away until only the title was left without any great loss. But after all this multiplication of censorship machinery in Canada does seem wasteful and one cannot see what good purpose it serves. This article is not intended to be an argument in favor of na tional censorship. I am only telling about the thing as it looks to a person sitting in the audience. Far be it from a Movie Fan to express any opinion about Provincial versus Federal rights. There can be no doubt that a picture that has passed under the shears of the eight Provincial Boards in Canada ought to be as pure as the driven snow. I understand that an effort has been made recently to unify the standards of censorship in the eight Provinces. If a picture is certified in Ontario it ought to be fit to be shown in Alberta or Nova Scotia without corrupting the morals of the citizens of either Province. I may be quite wrong about that, but I venture to make the statement nevertheless. Get Them In! The War Services Committee is awaiting the arrival of scrap books so that the judging may be proceeded with and the prizes awarded. All who have made use of them should forward scrap books to their provincial chairman immediately. Reports are still coming in about the theatre effort in every community and these indicate that we can share with others the pride in having helped to put the Seventh Victory Loan over. Much emphasis was placed on what was expected of the motion picture industry and we have not failed our country and our defenders. Subscriptions within the trade were surprisingly powerful. Many theatre staffs were among the first to win pennants in their communities for 100 per cent subscriptions and the totals exceeded the quotas of the previous campaign considerably. The exchange workers did their share in a big way too, as did circuit head office folks. Odeon Theatres, for instance, invested 33 and one third more than during the Sixth Loan. Warners head office went 37 per cent over their quota in the first 20 minutes. Employees of the Orpheus, Halifax, went 200 per cent over quota shortly after the loan opened. We can roll down our sleeves for a while with a feeling of satisfaction, Nov. 22, 1944 HYE BOSSIN, Managing Editor of Canada Ltd, 2% Dundas Square, Toronto, Ont. Canadian FILM WEEKLY Will Join in Study Of Taxation (Continued from Page 1) of the existence of the committee and of its intentions. Post-war conversion, he said, would be a huge task which would require a departure from the present tax structure and the committee would endeavor to work out an organized approach to the problem in an endeavor to assist in bringing about change without chaos. A. large part of the task will be the gradual and smooth dissipation of present controls. Such controls, Tolchard pointed out, had removed a _ certain amount of unfair trade practices and the resumption of private responsibility would make it necessary to guard against them creeping back. Seven Trailers Shown The chairman, through information provided by Ed Wells, secretary of the Canadian Motion Picture Distributors Association, announced that during the year trailers of seven individual subjects requiring 973 prints had been shown in every theatre in Canada. Each trailer had dealt with a separate aspect of the war effort. There had been some complaints that indirect advertising became apparent in some but this has now been corrected. There were 30 news clips shown during the year and these totalled 4,266 feet. Officers Re-Elected The entire list of officers was unanimously re-elected by acclamation. The meeting elected Walter Kennedy of Sovereign Films to membership and ap— proved the replacement of Wolfe Cohen by Ralph H. Clark for Warner Bros. and accepted A. J. Jeffery for United Artists in the place of David H. Coplan. Cohen recently shifted to Warners International branch and Coplan had earlier moved to Great Britain as head of his company’s activities there. Officers for the next term are R. W. Bolstad, chairman; Sydney Samson, vice-president; F. TBab D. Tolchard, secretary-treasurer. ter Executive Committee: L. M. = Devaney, J. J. Fitzgibbons, H. sr Freedman. <m Membership Committee: R. W. Bolstad, Sydney Samson, Lt.-Col. John A. Cooper. Industry Relations Committee: F Herbert Allen, T. J. Bragg, Ralph ay H. Clark, L, M. Devaney, Samuel Fine, H. Firestone, H. Freedman, B. Geldsaler, O. R. Hanson, W. agit Redpath, IL. Rosenfeld, WN. A. ‘) Taylor, E. H. Wells, R. W. Bolstad (ex-officio). Uxbridge, Ont. 16 Mm Strand, Uxbridge, Ontario, 16 mm, situation, has been leased by Ferris Theatres, Limited and will be operated as the Capitol. It will be open four nights per week, Pioneers Set for Al Fun Festival (Continued from Page 1) At the directors’ meeting last week Jack Arthur, who heads the entertainment committee, implied that he had many a smart stunt up his sleeve, the like of which hasn’t been seen before by even such long-time seers as the Pioneers. The Old Maestro of mirth and melody, too long away from his favorite and famed forms of expression, 3 claims he will have the boys headed for the Grin Pastures beé fore they have warmed their oe chairs. a: The young men (old style) will be wandering in from many points to see the pals of their youth and share yesterday's and today’s laughter. Clare Hague, national president, has sent out some enticing literature in an endeavor to get aS many members into the fun as possible. The dinner -will follow the afternoon business session.