The educational screen (c1922-c1956])

Page 88 The Educational Screen '■»:: ''.,ii&^^ j*«6§ii*-.i^. From two films in "The World in Action" series: (left) "New Soldiers ^ Are Tough," (below) "Battle for Oil." Grierson reiiiarked in a spcfch l)et(irc' tlic Xational Board of Revit-w, "We said from the first that we were not giving it away. We were selling it coinmercially because if it wasn't good enough to sell commercially, we weren't any more interested in it than the industry. In other words, we decided to ]:)ut our work on a normal entertainment basis and use that as a yard stick of our success." Giving a bad film away does not make it a good one. Another .series of films. "Canada Carries on," is dis- tributed in Canada on a commercial basis. Additionally, the theaters receive from the National Film Hoard a weekly item of national public interest which is spliced into the regular newsreel releases, and about a dozen three-minute trailers a year. Only the trailers and an occasional campaign film of greater length goes out to the theatres on a free loan basis. The theatres of Canada have cooperated magnificently with the Government in putting the grim realities of the war and problems to be met on the home front before the millions of people in the country. After a number of months theatrical releases become available to 16mni film u.sers, but in addition many subjects are i)roduced for relea.se almost exclusively in the non-theatrical field. A series of films has been pro- duced to improve industrial morale. One of these is Pic/hting Ships, demonstrating that the front lines also extend to the workers in the plants which fabricate parts. A recruiting film, fiattle Is Our Business, has just been completed, and .several more titles in this field are in l^roduction. IVoiiicn Arc Warriors showing the con- tribution of the women of Russia, England and Canada has been acce])ted with great enthusiasm by American audiences. All non-war film production has ceased with the exception of subjects on health and nutrition, and a .series of kodachroTue sound films on the peoples of Canada. These color films on the national groups of Canada are of value i)oth at home and abroad. They are used on war information film i)rograms and they are distributed to Canadian troops and officials abroad. .\ few^ carefully selected titles are being distributed in 16miu size in Latin-America in order to show life atid freedom in a democracy. Spanish and Portuguese ve5-- sions of Peoples Of Canada and Canadian Landscape have been made and sent South for general distribution. The National Film Board has jirodiiced some military training films, but in this, and in the industrial training field, Canada draws heavily upon the United States and liritain. Prints of all the Office of War Information releases approved for export by the Department of State are being distributed non-theatrically in Canada. A number of the subjects produced for the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs are scheduled for non-theatri- cal distribution. The United States Office of Educa- tion productions have been of great value to Canadian industries and training centers. Through the educa- tional film libraries of the country, productions of the I'ritish Ministry of Information receive wide distribu- tion in Canada, both theatrically (in a number of cases) and non-theatrically. The National Film Board distributes films non- theatrically by ])lacing ])rints with thirty educational distributors, who in turn make them available to ex- hibitors. With the exception of an occasional film for preview inir))oses the National I'^ilm Board itself does tiot engage in retail distribution. At the present time fifty-three o])erators on the Government payroll rurj circuits in order to take the story of the war and in- formation about other parts of Canada to rural and trade union audiences. Each operator covers an average of twenty communities, going to each once a month. Total audiences of over 300,000 different people living in more than a thou.sand Canadian communities receive these programs. .Study gtiides and pamphlets are dis- (Coticludi'd on page 93)