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68 CELLULOID
which I deem essential, is open to restriction of its programmes through censorship. Yet whilst neither of these movements fully meets the requirements of the enthusiastic film student, they nevertheless deserve the warmest encouragement from anyone who cares for the future of the cinema.
Although in many ways the film society movement is admirable, there is always an inclination amongst restricted membership groups towards preciosity, which in the case of the cinema is fatal to a proper understanding of the medium as a whole. There is a prevailing tendency at the moment for film society members to favour vague phrasings of a distinctly " arty " nature, attributing a variety of meanings to films and their directors of which the latter are quite innocent. It is fashionable to talk airily of subjectvalue and attach too great an importance to irrelevant theories of technique, which not only defeats the aim of societies but brings general disfavour upon the works of perfectly competent and simple-minded directors. Too few of these enthusiastic amateurs penetrate to the heart and meaning of cinema; they are happy to bandy slick phrases one with another and avoid the real significance of the film medium.
This effeminate dilletantism would, I think, be largely eliminated if a permanent specialist cinema could be established, possibly on the lines indicated, but not as yet realized, by the Film Group. It is essential that this movement for better cinema should originate from the public itself and not from the wishes of an elite few. The successful but brief career of the Avenue Pavilion, London, to some extent met the