The Cine Technician (1943 - 1945)

THE CINE-TECHNICIAN The Journal of The Association of Cine-Technicians Jioria! & Publishing Office: 2, SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W. 1 . f/ertisement Office: 5 & 6, RED LION SQUARE, LONDON, W.C.I. V ociats Editors : Sidney Cole. George H. Blvin, Kenneth Gordon, Walter Greenwood, Fred Hyson, M. J. Land, Frank Sainsbury Telephone : CERRARD 8506 Telephone : HOLBORN 4972 s mber Fifty, Volume Ten September — October, 1944 Price One Shilling EVERYTHING IT TAKES A.C.T.'s Treasurer reviews the Films Council Monopoly Report BY the time you read this H.AI. Stationery Office will have published the Films Council report on Monopoly*. I conceive it to he A.C.T.'s duty and the duty of every one of our members to see that it gets the widest possible circulation. Here's my reason. The film industry is one of the most complex structures in our national life. It is no more than fifty years old and yet has already become one of the largest industries both here and in America, outstripping many others three or four times as old and more. Thirty million people go to the cinemas of this country every week — which, averaged out over a year, probably represents most of the fortysix million inhabitants of the country. Films are shown in schools, in clubs, in village halls, in factories. Every age of person and every kind of person se ss and understands films. In other words, as a commodity the film has so large an amount of capita] invested in it that we must look upon it as pari of our national wealth : as a means of expression it has an influence probably more powerful than either press or radio because it is more direct and can appeal to all ages and all types of intellect. Partly because of its rapid development and partly because of its associations with the traditional methods of show business, the economics of any industry comprise the manufacture, distribution and marketing of its products. In a well developed and well organised industry these activities follow orthodox and well known principles. Tn the film industry they are anything but orthodox. In this country, until quite recently, each • ■' the three main trade divisions — production,, distribution and exhibition — formed a separate independent grouping of individuals, of capital and manpower. Each was suspicious of the others. Tendencies to Monopoly in the Cinematograph Film Industry." Report of a Committee appointed by the Cinematograph Films Council. H.M. Stationery Office, (jd. and as a result a great many trade practices grew up based on cut-throat competition and a blind preoccupation with the profit-making motive. The place of the film in national life was forgotten. The fact that the exhibition of films has become a public service was hardly considered. Xow we are hearing a great deal about the tendency in our industry towards " vertically integrated monopolies" a frightening phrase which simply means the combining under one financial control of the means of production, distribution and exhibition. In view of the way the film industry jn-ew, this is a perfectly natural development. It is the obvious way to overcome the muddle which existed as long as the three sections of the industry were separate and to a great extent in opposition to each other. But it has one aspect of ever-riding importance. Because film making is a very expensive progress, and public consumption of the product requires large numbers of expensive cinemas all over the country, only an individual or a group with vast financial resources can afford to combine the facilit ies necessary for production, distribution and exhibition within one organisation. And because such a large capital investment is necessary, in order to get an adequate return the organisation must be a large one. So a comparatively large proportion of production, distribution and exhibition facilities have to he grouped together to make it worth while. That is why in this country at the present time two organisations alone — the Bank group and the A. I '>.!'.( '. group — together control the greater part of the cinema industry as a whole. An additional respect in which the British film industry differs from most other industries is, as we are all only too well aware, that for nearly thirty of its fifty years of existence it as been dominated by American interests. The grip which America has maintained on the British market was obtained by a Dear-monopoly of distribution