The Cine Technician (1938-1939)

Jan. Feb., 1939 T HE CLNE-TECH N 1 C 1 A N 1157 WHEN FILM STUDIOS BURN Professor Haldane on the Next War Although an enemy could not hope to win the war by setting film studios alight, experience in Spain has shown that an air-raiding enemy frequently sends over preliminary 'planes by daylight to start fires in large, ramshackle buildings in the suburbs of big towns (and most film studios correspond to this description); the fires, which cannot be extinguished before nightfall, then serve as flares to guide the main Meet of enemy planes, arriving "by night. Something should be done to make film studios considerably less inflammable. This statement was m ide by Professor Haldane at the inaugural meeting oi the Left Hook Club Film Group held last month at the Trade Union Club, with Mr. Sidney Bernstein in the chair. The meeting heard a witty and penetrating address on A.R.P., a subject oi considerable interest to A.C.T. members. Professor Haldane claimed that it is perfectly possible to give everyone protection against every type of bomb, but that the great mass of ] eople in this country had no really adequate protection. While not disparaging the distribution of gas masks, he was of the opinion that the real danger lay in the high explosive bomb. In many towns in Spain, he said, bomb proof shelters had been provided for everyone, but scarcely any had been built in Britain. He estimated that underground protection could be given to the population of Great Britain at a cost of about £10 per person. In this connection he claimed to have lost the Walsall by-election for the Labour candidate. He made a speech there in which he pointed out that the cost of burying a person is about £10, and that he would prefer the £10 to be spent before rather than after he was dead. ("nfortunately he discovered too late that his chairman was the l( »cal undertaker ! In the lively discussion which followed his speeih it was stated that no studios or laboratories had anything like adequate protection for their employees at th ■ tine of the recent crisis, and most had done nothing at all. One had even removed film from fireproof laboratories into open wooden sheds. Professor Haldane urged ihe organisation of the film trade to press for adequate protection for its workers, instancing the successes in this direction already scored by other unions such as the aircraft workers, and pointing out that shelters under sixty feet of alternate layers of earth and concrete are the only real protection against quarter-ton bombs. With "2, 000. ODD workers waiting lor something to do, and the crying need of our crowded cities for underground parking space, the building of such shelters would serve two objects at once. The Film Group hopes to hold monthly meetings at which similar subjects of special interest to film workers will be discussed; future lecturers include "Vigilantes," the former League of Nations official, Jean Renoir, Thorold Dickinson, and Edgar Anstey. Anyone interested will be welcome, and can get notification of future meetings by sending his name and address to the Hon. Secretary, Elizabeth Coxhead, H. Lloyd Square, W.C.I. B.F.I. REPORT (Continued from previous page) For all its good work, the Institute must surely, if it is to live up to the first two words of its name, take more cognisance of the state of the studios and their staffs. Only from a healthy British film industry can it continue to gain real Jife and strength. LEAGUE OF NATIONS JURY DECIDES FOR EXPERIENCED FILM MAKERS Some time ago, "The Cine-Technician'' announced a competition, held by the League of Nations, for a scenario. On September 7th the jury of five (including Mr. Neville Kearney, a Governor of tic British Film Institute) issued their report. The scenarios, submitted by 24 authors, were divided into two categories — those dealing with the general principles and activity oi the League and those dealing with some special branch or aspect of League work. In both classes only one script w;s accepted and no first prize was awarded. In the first section a prize of 500 Swiss francs was awarded to Mr. Roger Dessort of Nice (France) and in the second section a prize of 200 Swiss francs to Mr. Francois Schembry of Rakat ( Morocco ) . In general the jury found in the scripts submitted a divorce between knowledge of film technique and knowledge of the League oi Nations. They unanimously recommended that, in view of the importance of the cinema as i means of publicising the League's principles and activities, the Secretariat should enlist the services oi experienced film authors. With reference to the big general film, the jury stressed that considerations of cost should not be allowed to stand in the way of the best possible production while, with the smaller films on particular subjects, it should be possible to combine technical information with a quality equal to modern documentary standards UNITY THEATRE Goldington Street St. Pancras, N.W.1 Telephone : EUSton 539/ A TOUCHING TALE OF TWO INNOCENTS BASELY BETRAYED IN THE A PANTOMIME WITH POLITICAL POINT . . a cure for despondency " — New Statesman NIGHTLY, except Mondays, at 8.30 Seats: 1/-, 1/6, 2/6, 3/6, Members only. MEMBERSHIP COSTS ONLY 1/ A YEAR, plus a shilling share in the club. Apply to the Secretary for details. 6000 joined Democracy's Own Theatre Club last year !