Documentary News Letter (1947-1949)

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DOCUMENTARY film 19VUS VOL. 7 NO. 66 JUNE 1948 EDITORIAL BOARD STEPHEN ACKROYD DONALD ALEXANDER MAX ANDERSON EDGAR ANSTEY GEOFFREY BELL KEN CAMERON PAUL FLETCHER SINCLAIR ROAD GRAHAME THARP BASIL WRIGHT EDITOR DAVIDE BOULTING ASSISTANT EDITOR JANE DAVIES CONTEXTS Editorial Notes of the Month Censorship — How? . . . . Canada Goes to China Grant McLean 61 62 63 64,65 66 67 68 69,70 New Documentary Films. . Hamlet, Prince of Denmark Stuart Legg Donald Alexander Gregg Toland Film-maker Lester Koenig Normandy Diary II .. .. .. 71 List of Makers o\~ Film Strips . . . . . . 72 Published every month by Film Centre 'M Solio Sq. I Ion \\ I ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION 12 S. SINGLE COPIES If. DRAWING THE LINE for many years, stage producers in this country have played an interesting little game known as ( atching the Chamberlain I his consisted of submitting your play to the Lord Chamberlain and then amending it according to his stipulations while not losing any of your original themes. A musical coined \ producer won an I when he rewrote the line 'She sits among the cabbages and peas as 'She sits among the cabbages and leeks' and got away with it ' The screen producer has the same type of game with the British Board of Film Censors — this time it is known as Drawing the I ine. The idea is that the Board draws the Line at something in your film and then it is up to you to alter the material you have shot to fit the Line. Alternatively, you can try to assess the Line before submitting the film. Whether you win or not is anybody's guess and may well depend on what kind of breakfast the Board had that morning. The public isn't consulted — it takes what is left after the tug-ofwar. In fact, except for things like No Orchids for Miss Blandish, it doesn't usually know that there has been a fight. If you want your film to be seen in America you must conform to the Motion Picture Production Code — you must Be Careful (with capitals) about twelve main headings. They are: Crime, Sex. Vulgarity, Obscenity. Profanity. Costume. Dances, Religion, Locations, National Feelings. Titles, and Repellant subjects. If you manage to make a film avoiding all the pitfalls under these headings and yet being worth seeing you will have made a real film; if you manage to do it more than once out of every fifty films you make you can count yourself head of the class. But there's one comfort if your film is intended for Export Only — you know where to Draw the Line. Mind you, we're not going to say that the Line over there is in the right place — we wouldn't admit that for a moment — it just isn't. But if you employ an old man with a beard to sit in the corner of the set with a copj ol the Motion Picture Code in one hand and a blue pencil in the other, you can be sure that your film will get b\ with the Legion of Decency. You can also be sure you have made a more than averagelj bad and dreary film, but never mind about that. Here in Britain, the Code is non-existent; like our t onstitution it is unwritten. That is all to the good and should make the Bo Censors an enlightened body able and willing to judge every film on its own merits; the Board is. theoretically, able to realize that something quite out of place in a musical corned) maj well be an integral part of a documentary — we're not yet quite sure that it does in fact avail itself of this power. We certainly have n.< prool The Board of Censors is elusive as the Pimpernel never was; it is anonymous. We hereby issue to its members .^t open invitation. We'd like to hear from them, we'd like to know then ideas about the job with which they are entrusted We hope thev will accept and we promise to let them retain their anonymity. I et them introduce themselves to the public in our columns The Board of Censors exist foi the benefit ot the public, it is there to safeguard the public morality. Isn't it about time that the public was allowed to take part in this game o\ Drawing the I ine.