Kinematograph year book (1948)

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The Road Ahead. 9 smaller independents were beset by uncertainties and valuable studio space was going unoccupied. Business looked up as autumn deepened into winter and the C.E.A. and N.A.T.K.E. held preliminary skirmishes for a new national agreement — the signing of the original one having been a most notable forward event in film affairs in 1946. At the same time the unions became very vocal in the studio world and complained of ineptness on the part of some producers. As the year shortened so it was obvious that all was far from happy in the British production field. On November 20, the Kine predicted, again exclusively, that Harold Wilson, president of the Board of Trade, intended setting up a film production council. This was soon confirmed. Lastly there was a splutter of excitement in December as the Rank group found itself being sniped at by two important newspaper interests. In the course of the wordy battle — which arose through a proposal that Odeon should purchase General Cinema Finance Corporation, another Rank company — it was revealed that this Rank company had lost over two million pounds in production in the previous three years. The New Quota Act This, again, did not help the general British production picture and the year ended with the publication of the first draft of the next Quota Act — which was made public at a time when it seemed that British production was more likely to restrict than expand. So 1947, which the Kinematograph Year Book had described in advance as " A Momentous Year," closed on a note of no little anxiety. No new films were coming in and it was obvious that the British studios, with all the will in the world, were simply not able to keep the screens of the country occupied. Nor was there any chance that production could be suitably stepped up in the next year or two. Obviously it is impossible to predict the course of events in 1948 when the all-important subject of product is represented solely by a question mark. It is this question mark which gave such an air of unreality to the major event at the opening of the new film year — the debate on the second reading of the new Films Act in the House of Commons. This occurred at the start of the new parliamentary session, and it was quite obvious from the tone and trend of the debate that all was far from happy. Only a week or two before the debate, Eric Johnston had issued a statement in Washington saying that his organisation had detected no readiness to compromise on the part of the British authorities and that the embargo on the shipment of pictures must continue. At the same time, Sir Henry French had assured a Press conference