European motion-picture industry (1932)

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-201 The t.pes of films most liked bj the Moorish population are Western pictures with plenty of riding and shooting, or other adventure types with plentj' of action. Sophisticated drawing room stories, in which the action is mosf.y ps^cholc gical , is apt to appeal more to the European film-goers. Nearly anything, nevei theless , is accepted as entertainment v.hich cinemas, alcne, in this region, are equipped to provide. According to estimates received from the theater managers in Tangier, the average theater there takes in perhaps 2,000 francs a day, gross. This is based on three shows at 5, 7, and 9 p.m. daily. This would give an annual gross income of about 700,000 francs. SOUND All of the 21 cinemas in Tangier and the Spanish Zone have been equipped for sound, and except as their equipment wears out and requires replacement there would seem to be no prospect for selling sound equipment. * * * MOROCCO (French Protectorate) LEGISLATION French laws apply. CENSORSHIP According to local distributors, about 30 films are censored each year; no films have been rejected since 1930. Censorship is not strict films usually are admitted after perusal of the scenario by the Protectorate's Board of Censors. The Beard requires that they contain nothing anti-French or likely to excite Moroccan natives against the Protectorate authorities. In cases v.here the reading of the scenarios leaves doubt in the minds of the censors they may require private exhibitions of the films. COViPETITION The chief competitor in French Morocco for American films is the "MarcoFilm" company (affiliated to Is.y--Film), of Algeria, which buys French films exclusi, el;, , but the competition is secondary, as VO percent of the films shc.n in the Protectorate are /merican. There is no domestic competition, .'.ccording to local distributors the good reception given to American films (.vith sound accompaniment in the French lang:age) by local audiences of European origin is due principally to the poor quality and scarcity of French films and to the popularity of American film actors; if all things were equal, a marked preference would probably be shown for French films. 26.0