Kinematograph year book (1939)

30 The Kinematograph Year Book. NEW ZEALAND. During the year 2,164 films of all classes, of a total length of 5,249,950 feet, were examined by the Censors. Of this number 6 were rejected in the first instance, 32 were passed subject to excisions, 203 were passed with recommendations that they were more suitable for adult audiences, and 5 were passed with the caution that they were not suitable for exhibition to children. For the third year in succession there has been no appeal lodged against the Censors' decisions. An analysis of the Censors' Report shows that of the 505 feature films 408 came from the United States of America, 93 from the United Kingdom, 3 from Australia and 1 from Canada. Xo feature film was made in New Zealand during the year under review. Of the 6 feature films rejected, 3 cam? from the United States and 3 from the United Kingdom. As compared with the previous year, 68 more feature films were imported into New Zealand ; the number of rejections was 6 against 5, the number of films requiring amendment dropped from 38 to 32, and the number of films recommended as more suitable for adult audiences further increased from 178 to 203 ; while the number considered definitely unsuitable for exhibition to young people was 5, the same as in the previous year. W. A. Keisenberg succeeded W. A. Tanner as Censor and Registrar of Films in New Zealand on April 1, 1938, when Mr. Tanner retired on superannuation. Fresh legislation passed in New Zealand relates to (1) the regulation and control of the exhibition of films, having regard to redundancy, etc., called " The Cinematograph Films (Issue of Exhibitors' Licences) Regulations, 1937 " ; and (2) the licensing of film operators, called " The Cinematograph Operators' Licensing Regulations, 1938." Licences will be issued only to applicants of 18 years or over, who have passed examinations in all phases of an operator's work and projection-room duties, by a specially appointed Licensing Board. CANADA. No event in the motion picture business in the Dominion of Canada during 1938 stands out more prominently than the co-operative trades drive for better box office returns, known as the Motion Pictures' Greatest Year Campaign, which was conducted throughout the last four months of the calendar year. In reality it was an effort on the part of theatre owners and distributors to hold the ground gained during the previous year, and in this it achieved success because, without the " Movie Quiz Contest " feature and national institutional advertising, the kinema would undoubtedly have experienced as much of the recession trend as did other industries of Canada and the United States. In a sense, the motion picture business went ahead by standing still as compared with months of the preceding year. Theatre managements having in excess of 60 per cent, of the country's seating capacity actually supported the Greatest Year Campaign on the basis of a self-imposed tax of 10 cents per seat and approximately S55,000 was turned over to the campaign headquarters in New York to cover general expenditures, this amount including a quota from each of the major film distributing companies in the Dominion. In addition, the exhibitors contributed further assessments, around two cents per seat, for locally organised stunts in large cities, such as the motion picture exhibition in Winnipeg and a street parade in Toronto. Regarding the industry itself, there was little to cause unusual excitementThe year closed with approximately 10 per cent, more kinemas in operation than at the end of 1937 because of a scattered theatre building movement