Kinematograph year book (1949)

496 The Kinematograph Year Book. Sub-Standard Market Survey by HARRY WHITE TT is fitting that the 16 mm. film should celebrate its Silver Jubilee year with a record of achievement that has eclipsed any other in its history. Coincidence ? Maybe, but the fact remains that the past year has seen events which, important as they have been to the immediate operation of the gauge, give firm indications of even greater development in the future. Expansion Continues Contrary to predictions from a section of film experts, the entertainment, or commercial shows, branch of the 16 mm. industry has not only consolidated itself but has continued to expand. There has been a steady stream of new operators taking the road. And there has been the quota of failures. Few serious observers of the narrow gauge will deny that there will always be a certain floating population among road show outfits. But it is not only the number of mobile shows that reflects the position in the commercial field. Look to the source of film supply for these operators— the renters. The year has seen one of 35 mm. 's leading renting houses, 20th Century Fox, enter the 16 mm. market, through Ron Harris, of Maidenhead. It has seen the Kinematograph Renters' Society establish a special section to cater for substandard affairs. And it has seen the easing of a number of restrictions. Trade shows on 16 mm. prints have started. They are not yet on the widespread scale of 35 mm., but the important point is that they have been inaugurated. The system is likely to grow in the years to come. And above all, the Government, through the Chancellor of the Exchequer, has recognised the value of 16 mm. entertainment. In his budget of 1948, he made that recognition a tangible fact by giving tax exemption to shows in remote rural areas. To be fair, the tax plum was unexpected. But none would begrudge the newly-formed 16 mm. Film Exhibitors' Guild a degree of credit for the exemption. For a young body, it worked hard in notifying Members of Parliament of the financial position of kinema operators out in the wilds. What is more, it has not been content to sit back and rest — in its first year of operation, it has left its mark of good intention on the commercial side. But the organisation has reached a critical stage in its career — its survival depends on the skill of its executives. Again — and naturally because here there is the largest potential scope for 16 mm. — the film in education, as in the previous year, clocked up the largest number of advances. Certainly, the talking point of the year in this field of operation was the Educational Foundation for Visual Aids. Visual Aids It was only natural that a visual aids distributing body set up by the teaching profession and blessed by the Ministry of Education, should be treated with considerable suspicion by the film trade which, to a large extent, carried the educational medium for many years. On the other hand, the Foundation saw many barriers which had to be broken down — not a few of them within the trade itself — if visual aided teaching was to become an accepted technique in the country's schools. All that can be said for this record is that the Foundation hasmade an impressive start — and among