Documentary News Letter (1944-1945)

DOCUMENTARY NEWS LETTER FILMS FOR CHILDREN (The special Saturday morning cinema shows for children have for a long time been a matter of great concern to all those interested in the influence of the film on the youth of this country. We therefore welcome the recent article in "The Times" on this subject and gratefully acknowledge the Editor's permission to reprint it in full.) In the course of a sociological inquiry into the film in British life your Correspondent spent a score of Saturday mornings in Odeon and Gaumont-British children's cinema clubs in three widely different parts of the country. Each time he sat among the children in order to observe their behaviour, expressions, and attitudes. Sometimes his assistants came, too, to check his own observations ; and he took children (and their mothers) with him whose home and school life he knew intimately. Since the conduct of these clubs is guided by strict central directions, and since they receive their films from two central offices, the impressions derived from these visits may provide a reliable indication of the type of entertainment which will be offered to several hundreds of thousands of young children every week when the clubs resume their activities on a full scale. Children are enrolled in the clubs without any charge for membership, but pay 6d. or 9d. for each performance they attend. They appear to be admitted from the age of four or five, though the Gaumont-British clubs require children under seven to be accompanied by older ones. The clubs act to a certain extent as nurseries, especially in the poorer districts, affording working class mothers an opportunity for shopping on ; Saturday mornings. The Gaumont-British clubs make an effort to enlist the collabora i tion of local education authorities, though the writer has seen no evidence of such outside expert influence in any of the clubs he has visited. The Odeon clubs, on the other hand, appear to be entirely run by the central office and the local managers. Those managers who like their work show considerable understanding and tenderness in dealing with all the problems which arise when large numbers of children are crowded together ; other managers prefer to be correct and orderly and extinguish any child-like atmosphere in their < club's proceedings. A TYPICAL MATINEE What happens at a typical children's matinee? Hundreds of children coming in see coloured (and usually crude) slides on the screen: "It pays if you say thank you and please", or "Odeon Billy wishes you not to push when you are waiting in a queue", and so forth. Then the club "hymn" is sung: — To the Odeon we come To have our fun . . . We are thousands strong So we can't be wrong and more in similar vein. (The Gaumont-British clubs have no hymn.) Then follows the club promise — to obey one's parents, to be kind to animals, to make this country "a better place to live in" — and the singing of the National Anthem. The performance begins. First, an animal cartoon picture, usually not a genuine Walt Disney product but one of those plagiarisms which copy Disney's technique but lack his taste. Next, a full-length picture. Occasionally good films, like My Friend Flicka, aie shown, but it appears that "Westerns" or supposedly "comic" pictures of 10 or 15 years ago are usually considered appropriate for children. There are even films which antedate the familiar Tarzan pictures showing animals almost killing human beings in strangely absurd cinema landscapes; and some of the children are undoubtedly frightened and horrified. The writer's own son refused, after he and a friend of his — they were then nine — had attended two or three shows, to take further interest in his father's sociologicaf curiosity. Last comes the serial story of American origin, such as Don Winslow of the Navy. These films seem to have no coherent plot. A considerable amount of shooting goes on, with nerve-racking persecutions of the bad men who have kidnapped the beautiful innocent blonde secretary. To the children the serials are the high spot of the programme, but their psychological effects are deplored by psychological experts. As the writer sees it, the children are left at a high pitch of expectation for next week's show, with their daydreams poisoned and their play influenced by an utterly artificial unreality. And, whatever may be true of adults, it is extremely doubtful whether children appreciate the "good moral lessons" with which it is fashionable to conclude these films. From time to time good geographical or travel pictures are shown between the cartoons and the main film, but there are also films of another type. CHILD PSYCHOLOGY In the writer's opinion children under seven should not go to the cinema at all, even if accompanied, except on condition that special films for tiny ones are made, as they are understood to be made in Canada. But such films cannot be made without the effective assistance of child psychologists, the existence of whom appears so far not to have been discovered by the British film industry. When your correspondent discussed this matter with those responsible for selecting the films, one person confessed that he was far from able to see all the films sent out to the children's clubs. Another argued, quite rightly, that the supply of films suitable for children is far from sufficient, though new children's films arc being made which will in time replace those which are objectionable. The new films so far produced are, however, with perhaps one exception, unsatisfactory and insignificant, though evidently well-intended. Some people in the industry add that, anyway, their job is to provide "entertainment, not education". Yet it is not possible to provide entertainment divorced from moral and psychological norms. Even if it is intended to give nothing but "pure" entertainment, the child's power of visualisation creates moral patterns. As matters stand several hundreds of thousands of children will soon be constantly subject to an influence in this regard which is far below the level of the rules and standards of our educational system. This is not the intention of those who run the clubs. But the task they undertake requires a high and most carefully organised spiritual, mental, and technical equipment. The film industry has reached a stage where the old "showman" type, however well meaning, must genuinely enlist the effective and whole-hearted cooperation of the social scientist, the educationist, the psychologist, and, last but not least, of the children themselves, and not merely make an outward show of doing so. PUBLIC SUPERVISION There is evident need for expert public supervision of the films shown to children, though the form of such supervision requires detailed examination. Certainly there is a case for the education authorities to intervene vigorously, employing full-time and well qualified persons to make their supervision effective. Only the best producers and directors should be concerned with the making of children's films, as is the practice most notably in Russia, from which there is much to be learned. Nor can it be said that films given a "U" certificate (for universal exhibition) by the British {Continued on page 1 1)