The Cine Technician (1938-1939)

88 T HE CINE TECHNICIAN Sept. -October, I'XlH WHAT IS THIS BRITISH FILM INSTITUTE? by an Official of the Institute FROM time to time, as we of the British Film Institute go about our business, people come up to us and say: "But what is your concern, anyway, and what does it do'.' What is this National Film Library we read about?'' We get these queries — although, praise be to Allah, with rapidly decreasing frequency — from every conceivable type of person, from Air. Jones of Tooting to the Rajah of Bong. And, of course, we are often mistaken Cor a film producing or renting company. So just in case any of you readers of the CineTechnician also have not heard of us, here are the answers in advance. The Institute will be celebrating its fifth birthdaj next October. ■ It was established as a Company Limited by Guarantee — that means, among other things, that it has no shareholders and makes no profits — as a direct result of a Report called The Film in National Life issued by the Commission on Educational and Cultural Films which deliberated from 1929 to 1932. The objects of the Institute, put broadly, are "to encourage the use and development of the cinematograph as a means of entertainment and instruction." This phrase, of course, might mean anything, but in point of fact it has been carefully defined. In consequence it may now be said that the Institute's main functions are as follows : 1. To act as a "clearing house" for information on all matters affecting films at home and abroad, particularly as regards education and general culture. In this connection the range of questions we receive is wide in the extreme. They vary from requests from newspapers for details of such and such a film that was produced "just before" the war to queries from English, Empire and Foreign Government Departments on all types of subjects connected with films. 2. To influence public opinion to appreciate the value of films as entertainment and instruction. This, incidentally, does not mean that we are highbrow, but merely that we try to help — through lectures and our publications— the average man in industrial areas and in the country to shop for his films. We attempt to tell him in our Monthly Film Bulletin what the entertainment films of the month are about and whether they are good of their kind — i.e., whether they are good westerns, or love stories or dramas, and whether his children are likely to enjoy them. We never attempt to preach at him and tell him this film, although boring, is good because of its "art" or that that one, although thoroughly amusing, is bad because it is produced to succeed commercially. In addition, naturally, we try and review all the educational films as part of our service to schools. ■J>. To advise educational institutions and other organisations and persons on films and apparatus. 4. To establish a national repository of films of permanent value. The National Film Library, formed to ' airy out this object, is probably the best known of all the Institute's functions, and almost certainly the one by which it will be remembered in time to come. Founded in .Jul\ 1935, the Library has already acquired about a million feet of film and tins is being added to steadily. It might, I suppose, he described as an embryo British .Museum of films. At any rate it has acquired, or is attempting to acquire, as many as possible of all films which are valuable either to illustrate the history of the film or for general historical purposes. Like most similar institutions, it is hard pressed lor money and has to rely for the most part on the generosity of the owners of films to present copies for preservation. In this connection the Library has received very welcome co-operation from the great film companies which, with very lew exceptions, give copies of their more outstanding pictures whenever requested. And the results? Considering the financial difficulties under which the Library works and the short time it has been in existence, they may he considered very good hided. The latest catalogue shows that film records are being preserved of such famous people as Lord Roberts. Earl Kitchener, Lord Baden-Powell, Lord Baldwin, Lord Reavcrbrook, .Mr. de Valera, Hitler and Mussolini, King Farouk, President Roosevelt, Mr. Anthony Eden, Sir Austen Chamberlain and Mr. Neville Chamberlain, Mr. Attlee, Mr. Ramsay MacDonald. Noel Coward, Miss Gracie Fields. Shirley Temple, Haile Selassie, Lord Nuffield, Fred Perry, George Bernard Shaw, King Edw ard VII, King George V and, of course, numerous pictures of every member of the present Royal Family. Apart from records of famous people — and there are many more than those listed above — historical events of which films are preserved include the funeral processions of Queen Victoria and King Edward VII, the Coronation piocession of King George V and the Coronation ceremony inside Westminster Abbey of the present King ; scenes taken during the abdication crisis and during the recent royal visit to France, a comparison between Derby Day at the beginning of the century and in 1937 ; scenes from the Great War and the present Spanish and Chinese wars ; the Delhi Durbar of 1912 ; a typical meeting of the League of Nations; the Cup Final in 1911, and many other such events. In addition, as mentioned above, the Library also contains copies of most of the more famous entertainment films which have delighted cinemagoers since the days of the first "picture palaces." Among the most intriguing of these are " The Life of Charles Peace," one of the earliest story films to be produced in Britain. "Drame chez les Fantoches," made in 1908 and one of the first cartoon films, the first Mickey Mouse — "Steamboat Willie" — and the first Silly Symphony — "Skeleton Dance." There are also copies of famous modern feature films, such as "Blackmail," the first British talking film, " Elephant Boy," "The Private Life of Henry VIII." "Green Pastures," "Three Smart Girls" and many others. The problem of the permanent preservation of these films — which are never, on any account, projected — is one