International Review of Educational Cinematography (Jan-Dec 1931)

— ' 369 — " Beyond all doubt the cinema is of the utmost value to young people. At the same time this great gift of modern civilisation must satisfy the exigencies of art and taste. The spectator's enjoyment must be aesthetic, if it is to contribute towards his moral improvement. The film must pursue moral, religious and educational aims if it is to have any cultural value for children ". " I consider the cinema one of the most powerful means of influencing the mind, especially the minds of people who for a variety of reasons are not easily reached by literature and the theatre. The commercial cinema by its very nature specialises in films of adventure and these are valuable, since they introduce the spectator to new horizons, various interesting manners and customs. Twenty years of cinematography have done more in this direction than a century of cheap literature ". " In order to profit children, the commercial cinema must conform to the following requirements: 1. For reasons of health, cinemas should not be visited too often and performances should not be too long, 2. Serious steps should be taken to make cinema theatres safe and healthy. 3. By a policy of cheap seats, facilities for visiting the cinema should be given to the very poor as a means of escape from their surroundings and of aesthetic education through the artistic representation of the misery and suffering they know only too well ". " For the young the recreational cinema should be brought up to a high standard of perfection, become a means of spreading moral, scientific and cultural values. This would seem to necessitate special cinemas for children, where recreational or educative films would be exhibited, specially suited to young minds and supplied with suitable captions and printed notes. These performances would be given in suitable premises during day-time hours so that young people could receive entertainment and instruction without the drawback of a morally and physically unhealthy atmosphere. These children's cinemas would become the normal meeting-place of the young, offering them pleasant entertainment along with food for the mind.> Economic difficulties should not prove insuperable. Something in the same direction has already been initiated through the obligation upon every Italian cinema to show a Luce film ". Most of these answers emphasise the cultural value of the cinema, if only in the form of aesthetic enjoyment. This may be derived from the representation of things and events outside our common experience which only the screen can show, or from the psychological self-examination the spectator may be led to undertake by an objective analysis of the mental and psychological processes which form the stuff of cinematographic action. As a rule, people go to the cinema after the day's work; they are tired either in mind or in body. The film must do something to remove, not to increase, this fatigue and must offer some element of healthy, bright enjoyment, arousing mirth rather than stirring the feelings by scenes of storm and passion. The recreational or entertainment cinema (by this term teachers mean all public cinema shows not intended for schools) offers educational food for the people. Some of the replies are specific on this point: " The cinema, which reproduces real life, may be a most powerful means of raising the standard of popular culture ».