The Cine Technician (1938-1939)

84 THE CINE-TECHNICIAN September-October, 1980 CINEMA LOG By Kenneth Gordon Today We ? Tilings do not look so good for production technicians ; with the taking over of Pinewood by Lloyd's, and part of Denhain by the Stock Exchange, floor space is again limited. The much heralded re-opening of the GaumontBritish Studio at Shepherds Bush has very little substance. It just means that if wanted G.B. would produce for General Film Distributors, and under this scheme some use is being made of the roof for, I believe, "Band Waggon." Gaumont-British have kept together the nucleus of the production staff that worked at the Bush in its palmy days, and some floor space is being used by G.B. Instructional. At the moment Elstree is closed and rumour has it that attempts have been made to take over Sound City, Shepperton, for building purposes. The statements made in the Press that cinema production would stop if war came has not helped. It will be remembered that I made a demand in this column months back for the industry to set up studios in a safeposition for the continuation of British production should we have to go to war. Although it has been declared that the Government would engage in the production of propaganda films, and as confirmation of this a number of cine-technicians have been placed on the schedule of reserved occupations, it is essential for the successful showing of any propaganda film that it is sandwiched into a programme of entertainment films, and these should have a strong national character. These could only be made if our studios were kept open. As for the exhibiting side, it must be remembered that cinemas were kept open during the recent war in Spain, when the same class of bombs were dropped as we should expect here. Madrid and Barcelona are great cities and were in no way protected from raids as we know our towns are, and yet the open cinemas played a great part in keeping up the morale of the population during those nerve-shattering times — and this was in spite of the dearth of good films. Mr. Sorensen raised the question in the House of Commons when he asked if the Board of Trade had taken or proposed to take action to prevent studios being closed in time of national emergency . . . and whether they would ensure that film production would not be unnecessarily curtailed. Mr. Stanley, President of the Board of Trade, stated that negotiations were proceeding and were approaching completion for the use of certain studios, and that discussions as to the appropriate use of film studios in time of war were taking place and approaching agreement. Mr. Sorensen, representing A.C.T. interests, further asked if many studios were likely to be closed down in time of war, and Mr. Stanley replied: "All these matters have to be considered in regard to the relative value to which the premises might be put." He did not think anyone would expect that in time of war the cinema industry was likely to remain completely unaffected. As "The Cinema" said: "Let's hope emergency will never arise, because apart from its national implications, the British film industry would not easily weather another set-back like it had in the last war." Brit I3H Pfl ODUCTIOM Oct 1938 TO fluG. IS3<? Oct rwiDfr. I jflfi. iFrftirviAPR. 10 IS 10 5 0 It was during that war, in fact, that the industry lost its position as a producing country, and it has taken twenty years for it to regain a place in the world markets. The best use for our film studios is to make films — and it is to be hoped the time will come when every stage is busy. The latest news is that the G.B. Studios at the Bush are to be taken over. Oriental Film Artistes Organise Following the formation of a union by the Coloured Film Artistes, representing African and West Indian coloured people working in film production, the Oriental Film Artistes also formed a union (for Indian and other Asians) during their work on " Four Feathers." The General Secretary is S. Alley. Declaring that employers had not carried out their assurances to engage Oriental artistes and extras through the Lnion for "The Thief of Bar/dad," and save them 5% commission on their salary, a large demonstration was staged at Denham which received wide publicity. Since then the Oriental Film Artistes have met the Employers' Federation in Wardour Street under the watching eye of an official of the Ministry of Labour and I understand a number of differences have been adjusted. The Perfect Script When Samuel Goldwyn finished reading a fresh script from a newly optioned scenarist one morning, he called the anxious writer to him and said, "This is a perfect script. It's the only scenario I ever saw that there's nothing wrong with. I want you to have 100 copies made, and send one to every member of my staff. I want everybody at this studio to see a perfect script." The writer was delirious with pleasure. "And hurry," added Goldwyn, "before I start rewriting it." Lucky They Have Perforations News to hand of how a well-known West-end Laboratory is making ends meet these hard times. This lab being outside the Employers' Federation, and thus being limited to processing only a certain class of work, they have taken up the developing of "Leica" negatives for a firm dealing with a large clientele of amateur photographers.