Focus: A Film Review (1950-1951)

239 the century when the Abbe Brohee was commissioned by Cardinal Mercier to organise Catholic Action, and set himself to develop a critical approach to the beginnings of the cinema. The Catholic who is a critic is in a stronger position than most others, for lie is more likely to be equipped with an adequate moral and dogmatic background and is able to view tilings in that light. Indeed one might say ^ that only a convinced Christian is able to view things in their proper context since only he is able and willing to view tile things of time in the light of Eternity. That means that if a Catholic critic has made the effort to acquaint himself with the knowledge that is necessary to be able to follow his particular profession, his general background as a Christian gives him the opportunity to make judgments that are more valuable than those of critics who lack the transcendental standards against which to evaluate the forms he is considering. It may be said that critics in general and Catholics in particular have little influence upon the general public. That is not really true. The critic who is known to be painstaking and not afraid to express liis opinion truthfully has an influence beyond that of the critic who is known only as a confectioner of smart and biting witticisms. The latter may be read for amusement but the former will be read for information. Ultimately it is truthfulness in film criticism which will gain for the critic the position from which his attitude to films will assume something of the magisterial authority of the best critics in other arts. The film critic has a wearying task. Unlike the other critics he has not a ready-made audience capable of appreciating the finer points of his critical analysis. In the case of the cinema it is probably true to say that the majority of the audience have little or no appreciation of the cultural and artistic values which may or may not be present, which may or may not have contributed to the film they are viewing. The film critic has not only to give his readers information, he has also to provide them with sufficient knowledge to enable them both to increase in knowledge about the cinema and to be able to form their own judgments. The second part of our second object speaks about “influencing the type of films publicly exhibited”. Such influence will be real only to the extent that the critic is honest. It is not enough to allow prejudices to warp his views about films. It is when he is able to convince his readers that he both knows what the film is trying to say and whether the director of the film has succeeded in saying it, that his opinion that what the film is trying to say is either good or bad will have any value. People sometimes speak of films which are artistically excellent but morally worthless. This is, I venture to think, a contradiction in terms. No matter how apparently excellent from the technical point of view a film may be, it cannot really be said to be artistically good if its moral elements are faulty. If the Thomistic definition is valid, that is to say, if the artist is “in a condition of soul to envisage the proper ordering of the things to be made by him ” the thing made by him, whether it be a film or some other form of art, should conform to standards which are themselves the result of intellectual integrity. The Christian critic, therefore, in order to influence his readers to the greatest degree, must be completely equipped as a Christian. His evaluations must balance both spiritual and material and his judgments must take both into consideration. There are signs today that cinema audiences are becoming more selective. It may be due to the growth of television. That, if it is true, provides another cause for alarm since the television cabinet has the effect of destroying the last refuge of those who wish to unite the family circle. However, it may be that, in fact, the deplorable level of so many films has sent the people scurrying from the glamorous invitation of the local “Odorium”. The frequently heard refrain “Let’s go to the pictures” suggests that the industry is getting nervous. This is surely the opportunity for the Christian film critic to get to work to do what he can to help produce the audiences which will be able both to recognise and to appreciate the good films which we are convinced the future will provide. J. A. V. Burke.