The Cine Technician (1935-1937)

Dec, ig36-Jan., 1937 The Journal of the Association of Cine-Technicians 115 Royal Photographic Society Annual Kinematograph Exhibition From the list of lectures and lecturers, it will be seen that the importance of this annual exhibition is yearly becoming greater. An informal private view for technicians was held on Friday evening, the 27th November, and in the evening a paper was read by Capt. Round, M.LE.E., on certain aspects of Sound Recording. The formal opening of the exhibition took place on Saturday afternoon, the 28th November, at 3 p.m., by Anthony Asquith. Selected competition films were also shown. On Tuesday, December the 1st, the British Kinematograph Society arranged an evening show, which was di\'ided into two sections, the first commencing at 7 p.m., dealing with new sub-standard apparatus, and the second at 7.45 p.m., with professional apparatus of recent introduction. On Tuesday evening, December the 8th, a joint meeting between the A.C.T. and the R.P.S. has been arranged . . . the time being divided into two sections as before, the first dealing with an amateur aspect of the art, and the second with a professional point of view. The lecturers are Norman McLaren and Bryan Langley, respecti\-ely. Mr. Langley's lecture is entitled "Studio Lighting for Kinematography." It is hoped that the affiliated societies will make this a good get-together evening, and that much useful information will be exchanged. On the following Tuesday evening, the 15th, the President of the R.P.S., Dr. D. A. Spencer, PhD., F.R.P.S., will give his Presidential Address, and the subject will be British Technicians — continued from previous page. discussing agreements with our representatives and it is hoped that this number will be considerably increased by the time that this article is published. "Conciliation, not conflict" has been adopted as the motto of the new organisation of band leaders. We share their views in our own industry. Appeal to Non-Members. ^Membership has been doubled during the year and is now 1200, representing at least 80°o of studio technicians eligible to join and a large percentage of newsreel technicians and laboratory workers. We want to reach the 100",, stage and to those still outside may I commend the leading article in the Daily Express of October 14th ; — "Join Your Union ! The trade unions rise with trade. New membership is already above 3,750,000 mark. That leaves 14,250,000 workers in this country still outside the trade unions. What are these folks thinking about ? They ought to get into the movement. How much trade imionism can do for its members you see this day in the award of the Industrial Court to the Civil Service. Mr. W. J. Brown, secretary of the Civil Service Clerical Association, wins the Government clerks higher wages worth more than a pound a week. The Daily Express urges 14,250,000 British workers to do their duty to themselves." I trust that the small proportion of film technical workers included in those millions wiU heed the above advice and make the joining of A.C.T. their New Year resolution No. 1 and keep it. one that is in the minds of many people concerned with pictures at the present time, i.e. "The Present Position of Colour Cinematography." This should provide plenty of points for discussion. The exhibition will close on Saturday, the 19th December, and the last lecturer will be Anson Dyer, who will deal with the "Story of the Cartoon Film," and practical examples will be shown . . . despite his being last, this should certainly not prove to be the least attractive of the shows arranged. During the period mentioned, the Exhibition will be open daily from 10 a.m. until 9 p.m. (Sundays excepted, of course) and admission is free. Tickets for the lectures, without charge, may be obtained from the Secretary of the R.P.S. at 35 Russell Square, London, W.C.I. For those members out of London, it is hoped to print a comprehensive survey of the Exhibition in the next issue of the Journal, so that they may be in touch with what is happening. S. W. B. Film Society The Film Society, now in its twelfth year, has an unusually interesting programme of films for its new season. At its first performance it showed Ptushko's celebrated fulllength puppet film The Neie Gulliver and Pare Lorentz's The Plough That Broke The Plains, the film produced in America by the Resettlement Administration ; and hopes to follow later in the season with the Russian films. Youth of Maxim, by Kozintsev and Trauberg, and We From Kronstadt, by Tsigan. Its next performance is on December 13th, when the feature film will probably be Hortobagy, a Hungarian film by Georg Hollering, made in the horse-breeding district of this name. Other films, from which a selection will be made, are Jean Renoir's La Vie est a Nous, Julien Du\-ivier's The Golem, Max Ophiils' La Tendre Ennemie ; two Indian films. My Beloved and Regeneration, and a Chinese film, 5//^. The shorter films will include some representations of tribal life from South Africa, some avant-garde films from Poland, a film of the working of the eighteenth century Royal Swedish theatre, as well as new work from Spain, France, Germany, U.S.S.R., America, Czecho-Slovakia and Great Britain. During its last season the Society showed Vertov's Three Songs of Lenin, Kuleshov's The Great Consoler, Dudow's Soap Bubbles, Jean \'igo's L' Atalante, Marcel Pagnol's Joffroi, and other films of outstanding interest, many of which have not been shown elsewhere in this country. We congratulate Basil Wright and Sidney Cole, members of A.C.T., on their election to the Council, which already includes A.C.T.ites in Thorold Dickinson and Ivor Montagu. Other newcomers to the Council are Robert Herring and Elsie Cohen. This season the Society has arranged to co-operate with the Film Group in the reciprocal provision of classes, lectures and other practical facilities for the study of film art. The polic}' of reduced rates of subscriptions for film technicians is being continued and the remaining performances of the season will be held on January 10th, January 31st, February 21st, March 14th, April Ilth and May 2nd, unless otherwise announced.