International Review of Educational Cinematography (Jan-Dec 1932)

472 It may be said that the woman who is conscious of her responsibilities is always on the side of the man who in the cinematographic field, pursues educational and constructive aims. After having referred to the conference held last October under the auspices of the I. I.E. C, Madame Dreyfus-Barney concluded : In concluding this synthetic and incomplete exposition of woman's work in the cinema field, the art of the greatest humanity, I intend to make an appeal to those women who can offer it all their influence by writing scenarios or starting campaigns with newspapers or cinema directors. I appeal also to mothers of families, to teachers, to all women in fact who according to their circumstances and means can contribute to a work which, if well directed, will be a great help for happiness in our houses, for social tranquillity and a coming closer together of the peoples ". It is the earnest wish of the I.I. E. C. that Madame Dreyfus-Barney's appeal may awaken in women's hearts a full sense of their responsibility in the matter of the cinema. ITALIAN CATHOLICS AND THE CINEMA The General Meeting of the consortium of the members of the C. U. C. E., or Catholic organization of the Educational Cinema, an association which is affiliated with the Azione Cattolica Italiana, was recently held in Milan. The secretary general of the association is Abbot Canziani, who represents Italy at the International Catholic Cinema Bureau. The reports of the meeting afford us valuable indications regarding the action of the Italian Catholic world both with regard to the moralizing of public spectacles and the development of the use of the cinema in religious works and colleges. Abbot Canziani declared himself particularly satisfied with the working of the Italian censorship, which, in his opinion, was stricter than in other countries. At the same time, he urged greater energy in the application of the censors decisions. With regard to the national cinema output, it was not to be condemned in its entirety, but it was regrettable that the good will of the producers conflicted with financial considerations. Was the cinema to be considered a painful necessity to be undergone, as some people supposed ? Abbot Canziani protested against this way of thinking, and we are glad of his statement that the cinema should, on the contrary, be considered as a social force and a formidable instrument of propaganda. The secretary general of the C. U. C. E. perfectly agrees with the ideas we recently set forth in this review when referring to the protests raised by the Bishop of Cologne. In one year over 80 million lire were spent in Milan for amusements, and of this sum the cinema received 50 millions. These figures, stated Abbot Canziani, imposed on Catholics the necessity of not limiting their intervention to merely negative action. To speak of production, however, in the present state of things would be practically an absurdity, for the problem of a better cinema is certainly not solved by merely creating a good film. Other methods must be sought. The producer will be able to impose his views on the spectator and on the renter so long as the latter are not organized, but the day that sees an organisation of spectators and cinema proprietors come into being will mean that the problem will be examined in quite another manner. It is necessary also to come an arrangement with the producers for the making of good films of a religious, educational or historical character, guaranteeing a satisfactory profit for productions of this character. The Italian Catholic world comes definitely into line with the policy sustained by