Minutes of evidence taken before the Departmental Committee on Cinematograph Films (1936)

144 COMMITTEE ON CINEMATOGRAPH FILMS 7 July, 1936.] Mr. Ivor Montagu. [Continued. 1549. The impression I have gained from talking to young people is that so many of them have been brought up on second rate films in their youth that they are very suspicious of the ability of the Film Society to produce anything they have not seen or do not know already? — The general growth of these repertory theatres which we naturally want to promote, because our aims are wider than the strict interests of our Society, handicaps increasingly the Society in getting interesting films, because the standard of those left available for us drops, but [ have found when on some occasion some of the famous old films are revived many film writers come and say they have never seen anything so remarkable and that it has been a lesson to them to see the old stuff. 1550. Have you any information as to how far that applies to the University towns? I do not mean merely Oxford and Cambridge, but the provincial University towns, Leeds, and Birmingham? — It is in those centres, particularly, that Film Societies flourish at present. Leicester and Birmingham, and Edinburgh and Glasgow are most notable, and in each of those the persons running them are connected with the Universities. 1551. That is an important point, and you have not mentioned it in your memorandum, that the Universities are supporting it? — Not officially, but Dons and Professors. 1552. University people? — They certainly do support it, yes. 1553. What about boys and girls who go to a .public or secondary school, until 16 to 17 years of age, and then leave to enter the world. Have you been able to form any groups, within the schools, particularly the day schools?— I do not think we have much contact directly with public schools because not many public schools have the facilities for projection. Eton is one which has, I recall, over the past number of years during which we have been going several times asked for films from us, and they have facilities. There are probably others (I am told Harrow, Rugby and Stowe have seen non-commercial films), but in general they have not until recently had the equipment, especially for sound films. 1554. But when boys leave school have you any indication they come on to you ? — We have a special category of membership for young people and technical students in our particular Society, but I do not know how many do that. 1555. Does it show signs of increasing? — I should perhaps say it does not show the same signs of decrease as some of the more expensive categories show. 1556. Is the case for old films due to their, what you may call cultural value, or to their purely technical merits? — I should say it is very difficult to separate. I think that when someone sees something that is technically quite unlike anything thaf is seen to-day, it is unusual and gives a general surprise; but a thing which has only technical qualities and no qualities of human content will bore after the first acquaintance with it. 1557. Does your repertory include the silent film ? — I should emphasise that we have no general store — ■ only in one of two cases have we any of these old films, because usually we pass them out of the country when they have been round the other societies. But we have a few silent films left. " The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari," I believe, is the only copy in the world, and we hope gradually to do a little work on the lines on which one of our Council has tried to do useful work in America, trying to preserve some of the more aberrant technically interesting films. 1558. Have you anything like a film librarj P We have retained a few we have shown. L559. Is there anything to be said for a statutorj film library? — I think certainly very much. 1560. What are the present regulations, if any, in this country, or any other? — There are no such regulations at all. As a matter of advertisement, or generosity, from time to time a firm will present films to the museums, or to the British Film Institute, but there are no regulations. 1561. So, so far as you are concerned, and so far as you know, there is nothing to prevent the complete disappearance from the face of the earth of all record of the sort of influences to which we are exposed? — Well, alas, yes, if I may put it in that sense. 1562. Thank you, Sir. 1563. (Mr. Cameron) : On the question that Sir Arnold Wilson raised as to the constitution of the audiences and provincial film societies, would not you say that the majority of them come within a range of income, probably, that would not enable them to live far out in the country, and that they would probably be more closely in touch with the centre? — They are very much less rich than the members of the Film Society. For example, it has been a matter of regret to us in the Film Society here in London that we have had to have such a high level of subscriptions, because when a single performance has to bear the entire cost of the duty, which is the same as for a commercial film, of the titling, and of music in the old days, which had to be specially composed, the subscription rate had to be very high indeed, and our production expenses were often £200 for a performance, whereas the Film Societies in the provinces usually pay £5 or £10 to us for the cost of that if they later take a film. They are therefore not such a rich class of person. 1564. Yet even so they sometimes find it difficult to pay the comparatively small subscription ?— That is the case. 1565. How far do you think that the present situation, with the help — or rather in spite of the benevolent neutrality of the Board of Trade, which has allowed you unofficially to act as renters — how far has that stifled the growth, do you think, of the piovincial Film Society, and of the specialist theatres? — Not of the provincial Film Society at all except in so far as it will stifle it in the future if more films are not brought in. The fact that they are private performances saves them from being stifled, but on the question of repertory, very much so, because the first test towards a regular repertory performance is for a provincial society to try to encourage an experimental short run in an ordinary theatre and see whether the public will support a film of different type; this has been brought often before the Film Society, but it is made difficult because the quota makes an uncertainty of future prospects even if the isolated experiment were to succeed. For when one has discussed the question of ultimately getting regular repertory the question has always arisen how many new films will be coming in, which is the particular uncertainty aggravated for special films by the present quota position. It has affected the character of the films shown even among the repertory theatres existing in London. I am sure a number of films of the experimental short type are not attempted by the repertory theatres in London because of the fact that they will only run for a week, if at all. Similarly, a Japanese or Chinese film, if there were no quota difficulty might be put on for a week to see if the public were interested, and those they will not attempt because of the apparent uselessness of attempting a commercial proposition with it. The last way in which it is affected is we have not adequate machinery for doing even the very passive renting that we do properly, and the rather academic point about the Film Society not being anxious to do the renting itself which it has now to do, because it is the only body given the grace of the Board of Trade. Our Secretary's nervous breakdown is in part due to the fact of inadequate commercial experience, and her trying to do work which is much more than an ordinary secretary of a society should have to do. We would much rather the theatres did