Celluloid : the film to-day (1931)

REPERTORY FILM MOVEMENT 6j making and because of their influence on later production, should be available to the student and the filmgoer for reference as well as reminiscence. There are many pictures of the silent period which for emotional value and sincerity of purpose remain unsurpassed, and in my opinion it is a matter of grave importance that these films should be preserved, not only for the benefit of students to-day but for the pleasure of future generations. The extraordinary growth of the private film society movement in England during the last few years — there are now, I believe, some fifteen or more active groups — clearly indicates that serious interest in the cinema is increasing. The film is first and foremost the art of the people, for of all the arts it comes nearer — or shall I say it has the capacity for coming nearer — to presenting ideas of common interest than any of the lesser means of expression. Year by year, film by film, more and more people discover that the cinema is the natural medium of the twentieth century, a synthesis of art and science that has long been the aim of intellectual activity, until to-day there must be thousands of persons who wish to see its attributes employed as they properly demand. There are two ways in which this desire to see good films, both current and repertory, can be met — either by the private film society or by a permanent repertory cinema. But both of these solutions possess their obvious drawbacks. A film society is limited in its programmes by expense and by the increasing difficulty of procuring desirable films. A repertory cinema, if made available to the general public,