Documentary News Letter (1942-1943)

DOCUMENTARY NEWS LETTER NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 1942 U.S. Dollar Winning Battle to Control British Film Industry As we forecast in our previous issues, the -^*Film Industry's clash between the representatives of American monopoly capital and British monopoly capital is rapidly coming into the open. Yankee dollar imperialism is on the march and British capital is losing ground in many of its chief industrial strongholds. The Film Industry is no Stalingrad, but it does retain one vital defence against the Americans that few other industries have. It has direct contact and source of revenue from the cash customer. While its production and renting sides would inevitably be taken over by the Americans, the exhibiting side, if it maintains its unity, can stil! hold out for some time against it and still play otf the competing American interests against one another. (An instance of this unified strength was the victory of the exhibitors over 20th. Century Fox in the matter of Sunday bookings. True this was only a temporary victory as film shortage will make the seven or four-day booking a necessity, but nevertheless the spearhead of the American renters will have been blunted.) Let us examine the situation as we thought it was likely to develop some months ago. We thought the conflict would arise from American interests having the films, and British interests having the cinemas. We thought that unless there was some form of Government action and /or protection, the British Film Production Industry would gradually become a vassal of American renter interests. What is the position now? It is generally known that the fight is on. The 20th. Century Fox campaign was a feeler. It is known that heads of American Companies in London have had discussions to get more money out of the English market. Their bosses in America have seen indications in many cinema reports that profits are climbing rapidly. It has been estimated that business is up 35 per cent in the cinemas. On a recent estimate the American Companies already recovered 27 per cent of their booking revenue from this country — they reckon this is their profit. More squeeze on our cinemas means more gravy all round — in the States. We may expect to see other squeezes in the near future. 'I here is the possible revival of block booking already suggested by interested parties in America as a wartime necessity whereby the apcray can be unloaded at inflated prices. Buying Cinemas The American Companies will undoubtedly try to buy up cinemas and form new circuits; Warner Brothers already hold a 50 per cent interest in the A. B.C. circuit. There are already a great many rumours about buying cinemas. The Americans may be a little chary of buying cinemas alter their experience in the 1929 days when they were all caught in a theatre operation and many companies virtually bankrupted. But the purchase of cinemas is a lactic they will have to employ. A squeeze they are already attempting is to take no more flat bookings. This will tend to put the independent exhibitors out of business who, by making a shrewd deal on flat rate, can hope to make a reasonable profit some weeks, whereas on percentage they can never hope to do the same. What is the focus of our opposition to all this? Rather, it should be who is? Because J. Arthur Rank is the person controlling the largest number of cinemas in this country. He controls both the Odeon and G.B. circuits and so is in a position at the moment to pick and choose what films he plays. He is interested in preserving as big a production industry as he can, because this will give him greater bargaining power, so he is deeply committed in Denham Studios, Shepherds Bush and Islington. He also controls General Film Distributors, probably the largest of the English renting concerns. Rank is the protagonist of the British side. The Board of Trade Interestingly enough our Board of Trade does not seem worried about the decline and possible capture of our Industry. Its recent revision of the American Companies' Quota obligations will not encourage the Industry here. They have lowered the Americans' obligation to the requirement that they shall spend £150,000 a year on making British films. Quite obviously we shall see the Americans investing this in one picture per annum produced probably on the lines of A Yank at Oxford. The Board of Trade, of course, have not buried the exhibitors' obligation, and by this order they will have even less choice of films to fulfil their quota. The feature production in this country revolves round a very few names now. There are Two Cities Films, British National Films, Gaumont British, the Archers — operating from Denham Studios, National Studios, Shepherd Bush Studios. Islington Studios, Welwyn Studios, Ealing Studios, Teddington Studios. Of these studios, Teddington and Ealing are already hitched to the Americans. The others represent a relatively small financial interest and could presumably be acquired. The Production Industry will survive so long as Rank and the theatre interests can maintain their bargaining power, because the cinema interests must maintain a minimum Film Industry as a bargaining weapon for itself. The British renting companies will, of course, go under if the British Production Industry is taken over. Maybe it is a good thing for Anglo-American relations that our Industry should go under American control. On the other hand, there are those who would wish to preserve some machines for presenting British life and ideas. It would be .in odd, but probably likely outcome of this war, to find this important reflection of our national life controlled by American monopoly capital. mir in i:\ii in NEWS LETTER MONTHLY SIXPENCE VOL.3 NUMBER 11-12 NOV.-DEC. 1942 DOCUMENTARY NEWS LETTER stands for the use of film as a medium of propaganda and instruction in the interests of the people of Great Britain and the Empire and in the interests of common people all over the world. DOCUMENTARY NEWS LETTER is produced under the auspices of Film Centre, London, in association with American FilmCenter, New York. EDITORIAL BOARD Edgar Anstey Alexander Shaw Donald Taylor John Taylor Basil Wright Outside contributions will be welcomed but no fees will be paid. We are prepared to deliver from 3 — 50 copies in bulk to Schools, Film Societies and other organisations. Owned and published by FILM CENTRE LTD. 34 SOHO SQUARE LONDON W.l GERRARD 4253