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There are three main points of difference. The different social environment of the children to whom the enquiry applied (in Switzerland the high percentage of waifs and strays was lacking and the middle and lower middle classes were represented in a much larger proportion than the working classes) ; the diverse dispositions of the two populations, and the Swiss childrens' higher knowledge and experience of the film as compared with the Russian children.
It stands to reason, moreover, that a more homelike and domesticated manner of life, under a closer control over feeling and education, is conducive to a serener view of life and therefore induces a preference for its comic side and for the simple knowledge of its facts (comic and documentary types) rather than for those aspects that reveal a feverish longing for something new, for a different life with wider horizons, in the realm of dreams rather than of reality.
The detective type of film is most obviously and fatally on the wane. This points to a cinegraphic taste that is setting and has no chance of a new dawn.
The scientific-cultural film is still feeling its way. Dr. Elkin notes that this is due in Russia to the lack of the first essential element — good films of a cultural and educational kind. The same ought not to be true of Switzerland. But it is certain that everywhere, notwithstanding the very fine efforts made by educators and lovers of children, the production of films of a kind to teach and to render subjects of this kind popular is still far from being an accomplished fact, though excellent theories may have been formulated.
The producers of films of this kind must at the same time have a knowledge of science, teaching, and psychology ; or must obtain collaborators in these three fields, for all three are equally essential in the production of the celluloid ribbon destined to leave an impression on the developing mind.
Another very important point revealed by the Elkin enquiry (the other conclusions are lucidly commented on by the author himself) is the choice as between theatre and cinema ; 66% of the children interrogated expressed a distinct preference for the cinema. This too has its logical explanation and confirms once again the superiority of visual teaching. The cinema is synthetic, rapid in its development of the central action and all its details, allows of a minute and accurate care for technique, light, movement, and scene setting. It demands less brain effort and thus gives greater enjoyment. The theatre is based on analysis, the slow development of action — all excellent things for adults and critics, but bad for children ; it has not got the same technical possibilities as the cinema enjoys, the scenes are less moving, especially in the case of drama unaccompanied by music.
Our enquiries are being pursued all over the world. The cinema is in the forefront of social life at the present day. It is the magical instrument of the future, and its last word will perhaps never be said, because it has infinite possibilities of development. We have seen the progress from the silent film to the sound and talking film; from the flat film in its colourless monotony to the colour film
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