FilmIndia (Feb-Dec 1949)

SUBSCRIPTION RATES The annual subscription, for 12 issues of "filmimlia", from any month is : INLAND FOREIGN: Rs. 24|Shillings 50| Subscription is accepted only for a col lective period of 12 months and not for a smaller period. Subscription money should be remitted only by Money Order or by Postal Order but not by cheques. V.P.P.s will not be filmindia PROPRIETORS FILMINDIA PUBLICATIONS LTD. 55, SIR PHI ROZESHAH MEHTA ROAD, FORT, BOMBAY. Telephone: 26752 Editor : BABURAO PATEL Vol. XV. JULY 1949. No. 7. ADVERTISEMENT RATES : The advertisement rates are as follows : For Insertion Full Page Inside Half Page Inside i Page Inside 1 1 3 Page Inside 2nd & 3rd Cover Rs. 400 210 120 ISO 500 600 1.000 4th Cover R9. 1st Cover Rs. Plus 61 % Tax The cost of the advertisement should be submitted in advance with the order. The advertisement will be subject to the terms and conditions of our usual contract. &ommuni*t5 -flndl Ttaitotd / In the "Red Paradise"" of Stalin, the entertainment nil lions is ruled by two slogans: "The cinema is the t powerful weapon of propaganda" (Lenin) and e cinema is the greatest means of mass agitation"' din I. These two slogans in gold letterings are disced on the right and the left of the screen in one loseow's higgest cinemas. Mrs. Vijayalaxmi Pandit, our ex-ambassadress for sia. of course, did not notice them because the slogans b in the Russian language and Madame was bus) lishing her embassy. However, these significant slogans emphasize the that in Soviet Russia, entertainment or amusement is least part of the cinema and the film is basically used in instrument of Communist propaganda and educa. The Soviet film industry does not at all care for -office receipts or popularity of films. Cinema tickets priced very low and happen to be perhaps the ipest commodity in Soviet Russia. Whatever the masses may want for their entertainit, their desires are neither consulted nor catered for. sexy, murder or mystery films are ever shown in pia, nor any glamorous musicals nor even any psy[ogical dramas, so popular in other parts of the Once in a while some one commits the "mistake"' >roducing an entertainer, as in the case of "The n Goes to the East", which told the story of a young agronomist going Fast — of course, Soviet East — and ng in love with a young naval officer during the vay journey. (You can't do that in Soviet Russia out Stalin's personal permission. They have a fixed je and procedure for falling in love according to the jmunist ideals I. The picture had many amusing ktions and the dialogue was sharp and lively. It ed the censors somehow (there are censors in Rusln spite of what Communists in India say) and came |ie screen and drew large thirsty crowds. But "Pravda", Stalin's official tomtom, declaring the as empty-headed and frivolous and not the true type Soviet woman, wrote: "The makers of the film have "ly aimed at amusement simply for the sake of cement and have clearly forgotten the noble educatasks of Soviet art. The story of the film is stupid petty, its humour forced and trivial, its moral conons dubious and unconvincingly presented." After the picture was banned. In Soviet Russia, you can*t produce a film merely lor the sake of amusement, however innocent the amusement Every film uhatever the colour of its celluloid must have a Red tone. In fact only four types of films are produced in Soviet Russia: Political. Biographical. Documentary and Scientific Informational films! "Hie Russian Question"', a screen version of Konstanbn Simonov's play shows the constant persecution of a journalist in America who believes in co-operation with Russia as vital for world peace. Asked to go to Russia and write an anti-Soviet book which would bring him a fortune, he refuses and writes an "objective" book which makes him poor and penniless. Another good instance of the "Political"' films fc the short film, "Christopher Columbus Rediscovers America . It shows Columbus discovering an America <>l slums, of police attacking democratic meetings, of lynching of negroes, of labour strikes, of unemplovment and racial hatred. The picture shows that Columbus, at first not believing the evidence of his own eyes, soon comes to the reluctant conclusion that America todaywas definitely not worth discovering. We are, fortunately, saved from Columbus' open approval of Soviet Russia, as the only land worth discovering again and again. The "Biographical"' film mainly concentrates on popularizing famous Russians, of course Red Russians. Most of them are war heroes but quite often men of science, medicine, literature and arts also feature as themes for pictures. Strangely enough all these biographic., never go beyond 1917 and the present day Russians seem to inherit a tradition only 32 years old. "Pirogov", the story of a Russian surgeon, was a verv popular recent film. The main aim of such films is to show Russian heroism or Soviet achievement in different spheres of life, thus promoting national pride and patriotism. Then there is the "Documentary" film which mainly deals with the Soviet Union as a whole and the life and work of individual republics. One of the most successul films m this class was "A Day in the Life of the C.S.S.R. which gave a pictorial summary of all happenings from the Baltic to the Black Sea and from Moscow to the Pacific. Rut easily the best film produced last year was "A Tale of the Siberian Land", which in quality would probably surpass the best British or American