Canadian Film Weekly (Dec 21, 1960)

Christmas Number censor as a person with a very limited look at life which he tries to impose on others is plain nonsense, as anyone will tell you who has the pleasure of acquaintanceship with any of the 30 or so who administer and staff the eight film assessment boards that serve nine of this country’s ten provinces. It’s true that Canada is just about the most overcensored film country in the world. Don’t blame the censors. They didn’t appoint themselves. And they are film people who approach their jobs with conscience and care. That doesn’t make their jobs any easier; it makes them harder. In the minds of many they operate in a climate of absurdity because Canadian television, being within federal authority, is not subject to the wishes of provincial governments. Theatre film censorship belongs in provincial rights. Thus feature films made for theatres are censored and the per-reel charge adds to the operation costs of distributors and exhibitors; the same films or others in that category are untouched when they are to be shown on TV. Also theatre films are telecast from the USA, where film censorship is now illegal, into Canada without any interference. And why should there be any, since the ordinary fare created for TV is free from interference? [= COMMON concept of the DOES ALL this negate the need for censorship? Provincial governments don’t think so. There has been some suggestion that the profits from the censorship process is cherished by them. That certainly can’t be true in several of our rich provinces. There is no doubt an honest desire for it based on the marked differences of most of our provinces from each other in ideas and beliefs. Can there be common ground in censorship? The probable answer is that there can be in some aspects but the lack of it or measure of it might just result from the unusual number of aforesaid ideas and beliefs in our young country. Our ten provinces have over the past decade had governments subscribing to such varied political creeds as Socialism, Social Credit, Liberalism, Progressive-Conservatism, a combination of Liberals and Progressive-Conservatives designed to meet the challenges of the Socialists and the Social Crediters, and a party in Quebec that officially was not part of any of those mentioned. Quebec is heavily Catholic and French-speaking, Ontario is heavily Protestant and English-speaking. There are French-Canadian groups in Ontario and the Maritimes. There are Mormon towns in Alberta and large Slav groups in Manitoba and British Columbia. There seems no end to the varied nature of population and ideas. CANADIAN FILM WEEKLY Please Don’t Shoot The Censor! (HE’S DOING THE BEST HE CAN) O ASK for common views in re lation to motion pictures in such a climate is to ask a great deal. The position of the censor in Canada was easily recognized even with a quick examination by St. John newspapers during the recent convention of the Provincial Censors of Motion Pictures in that city. “Censors Caught in Squeeze,” was the heading on a story in The Telegraph-Journal, which quoted George S. Enos, the New Brunswick censor, as_ saying that “boards are pressed by the movie industry, struggling against dwindling boxoffice returns, to take a NESE NEE STEEN EE EE ETE ENE EE EE ees \ My 300 New Hargrave Bldg. NEE EEE ENE EEN ENE ENE EEE EE LEE EEE ETS Season's Greetings and Best Wishes To All the Members of the Motion Picture Industry MANITOBA MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITORS ASSOCIATION PARADA RASA PS RS RA RASA RA RASS RA FARA Pa SA DA RATE SARS SATA TESA PS more liberal outlook in the matter of classifications.” The same paper, in an editorial, said of the censor’s job: ‘‘Sometimes, indeed, it must seem like a thankless responsibility — for undoubtedly censors get no praise from the public when their job is well done, as audiences have no way of knowing what has been done, but they are inevitably in line for criticism if they pass something which offends some factions.” “One Censor’s Family Film Another Man’s Poison,” said another newspaper heading, which began by asking: “What constitutes blas Winnipeg, Manitoba PAPA IZIAPAPOFAPAFS FAOPAPAPAPAPA SAFE PASAPAN PAPA PA PD PASAPA PA PATA PASAT FA PAPA SA RAPA SAPS ‘ Be Page 7 phemy? When does sex become objectionable in a filmed story?” It reported the differences of opinion, quoting Enos as regarding a certain film as ‘‘no more than a lesson in prostitution,” while O. J. Silverthorne, chairman of the Ontario board, called this same film ‘‘educational’’ in that it served as a deterrent by showing adolescents and family groups what could happen. HAT is the best way for the censors to bring themselves in line with the times? That is, if they agree that there are some among them who aren’t. Said Silverthorne: “There is only one sensible answer that I can see, and that is to establish a Central Board of Censors acting, by consent, for all the provinces. I don’t mean a federal board under federal jurisdiction, but a board representing each participating province, formed and operating by agreement amongst the provinces concerned. No abrogation of provincial rights would be involved. Such a board would be responsible to a minister in each province and, in the initial stages at least, could be organized so that treatment could still vary, if so desired, from province to province.” He pointed out that fees and inconvenience to the motion picture industry would be reduced by 75 per cent and inconsistent rulings by 90 per cent. ‘‘As originally planned fees were only to cover the costs of censorship and were never conceived as a source of revenue and should not be so now.” The benefits would not only accrue to the censors, he said, but “to a harassed and sickly industry which has done much for this country; which even today, beset by its own problems as it is, is doing so much. What industry cooperates so freely with every organization from community to national level as does the one to which most of us here have devoted our lives? Who sold millions in War Bonds and Savings Certificates? Who shows — and in many cases provides — trailers for every campaign for Savings Bonds, Community Chest, Easter Seals? You name it — the movies help. “Who helps the millions of new immigrants to quickly assimilate? The movies. Why should we unnecessarily harry and heckle with exorbitant fees and niggling technicalities this industry which has enough trouble aready?” R anyone to think that the motion picture censor is not a friend of our industry because he performs a function so many disagree with and others think outmoded is a bad mistake. The censor’s lot, like the policeman’s of Gilbert & Sullivan’s musical observations, is not a happy one. Like an umpire, he calls ’em as he sees ‘em — and hopes he's right. And he’s not always wrong just because we think so.