Documentary News Letter (1940)

10 DOCUMENTARY NEWS LETTER MAY 1940 NEWS lETTIR MONTHLY THREEPENCE NUMBER 5 MAY 1940 DOCUMENTARY NEWS LETTER is issued only to private subscribers and continues the policy and purpose of World Film News by expressing the documentary idea towards everyday living. DOCUMENTARY NEWS LETTER is produced under the auspices of Film Centre, London, in association with American Film Center, New York. EDITORIAL BOARD Edgar Anstey Arthur Elton William Farr John Grierson Paul Rotha 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 THE NEWS THEATRES AND SPECIALISED CINEMAS ji By MISS D. M. VAUGHAN, General Secretary of the Association of News and Specialised' Theatres. THE FACT THAT the English version of the Journal de Guerre, the official French war news, can now be seen at approximately forty newsreel and specialised theatres in Great Britain, has focussed attention on a group of cinemas which can claim to have an influence on national life differing fundamentally in quality from the general influence of the film. These cinemas have broken away from the tradition of the feature houses which show films with a universal appeal, and have deliberately set out to satisfy the special demands of sections of the community. Firstly there are the news theatres, which present, in the words of Sir Barry Jackson, "actualities and not painted faces," secondly the cinemas which specialise in the presentation of foreign films, and thirdly the repertory cinemas where the "classics" of the screen are revived. All these cinemas have a common aim — a desire to give their public regular intellectual recreation. The history of these three types of specialised theatre is a story of fifteen years of courageous experiment by isolated individuals, culminating in the formation, last year, of an Association to forward common aims and ideals. News Theatres The news theatres originated in an experiment in London by the manager of a small cinema in Shaftesbury Avenue, who, seeking to attract the pedestrian with time on his hands, devised a programme of news and news magazines of about thirty minutes in length, which was suitable for the passer-by who had half an hour to spare. This was an immediate success, and was shortly followed by other news theatres, situated in such suitable places as railway stations. Then, with the increased appetite for screen news resulting from the brilliant reels of the Coronation, further news theatres were opened, both in London and the large provincial towns. Spectacle on the grand scale such as was provided by the Coronation and the Royal tour of Canada and the U.S.A. created a new public for the newsreel, and news theatres faced the problem of keeping their new patrons when this rich material was exhausted. At that time fierce competition existed between the newsreels of the five British companies. It was possible for single companies to obtain "exclusive" rights to many events of national interest and all prided themselves on the individual character of their reels. In consequence the news theatres found that the showing of four or even all five of the reels gave a comprehensive and varied picture of current events which could not be seen elsewhere and which maintained their attendances. Since the war, the arrangements between the newsreels for pooling material, and the official provision of the same shooting facilities to ail, has reduced the number of exclusive items and caused duplication of content. As the chief market for the newsreels is the feature house 'ip where only one reel is shown, this is not a vitally serious problem to the producers, but it ha; forced the news theatres to seek new films fo their programmes. Thus the French newsreels an doubly welcome. There has been a tendency t( increased bookings of series like the March o_ Time and Point of View which already had ai important place in the programmes. The Mara of Time, with its considered presentation of ; topical issue — such as Czechoslovakia Today and Point of View with its debates on contro versial subjects such as betting and the national! isation of the railways, have a particular appea, ler to the news theatre audiences. Following the news, and of almost equal \m^\\ portance in the programmes are the short film? These consist of travel films, cartoons and corr edies as well as films of social problems. On cinema has made an analysis of the films show throughout the year and the results provide typical example of a news theatre programmt The films were classified under nine main heac ings and the percentage of each shown was £ follows : — News 18 General Interest 17 Cartoon 15 Industrial 10 Social Study (including films of a controversial nature) 9 Travel 9 News {March of Time) 6 Entertainment 6 Comedy 5 Sport 5 ■iT Bearing in mind that once the most acceptat composition of programme has been discover it must then be maintained, the problems of pr gramme building can be readily appreciatt particularly when it is remembered that there a shortage of documentary films of a hi standard. To assist them in their work, members of I Association of News and Specialised Theat pool their private reviews of interesting sh' films, and a monthly Short Film Review made from this material is circulated to members. W the same object in view examples of program make-ups are exchanged. Theatres for Foreign Films The first London cinema to specialise in showing of foreign films was inspired by the S cess of the Cameo in New York. From this ginning a courageous and discriminating chc of continental films soon built a regular audier The public quickly appreciated that in this cine they were always assured of seeing a film of 1 class quality. The programmes provided a c stant challenge to the American and English \ duct. In assessing the achievement of s