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

MINUTES OF EVIDENCE 171 14 July, 1936.] {Continued. Suggestions for Incorporation in any New Act which mini be Framed, for the Improving of the Position of Short and, in Particular. Documentary Films. We recommend that the qualifying clauses contained in the Act, part 4, 27, (1), should be abolished, so that all shorts can be considered. The quality of short film production can be safeguarded by the permanent establishment of the sub-committee recommended inj;he.last part, which would consider each short on its merits. We suggest that this could be best accomplished by each short producer depositing with the committee a copy of the treatment of each film before the film were put into production. The completed films when they were submitted would be judged on their relation to this treatment. In this way the committee could be assured that adequate preparation and production value were being given to each film. There can be no doubt that if documentary and short films were generally admitted to registration for full renters' and exhibitors' quota it would stimulate production in this country which is even at the moment leading the world in documentary film production, and would create a new growing point for the film industry. But it is not enough for the films to be bought by foreign renters solely to satisfy their legal requirements. At the moment exhibitors are balancing their showing of foreign shorts by showing British longs. We suggest that under any new Act exhibitors should have to show the same percentage (20 per cent.) of British shorts against the number of American shorts, as in the case of longs. It is conceded by most authorities that documentary films have a great educational value and, in securing the protection of their production it would, in the words of Dr. Leslie Bnrgin " bring to each one the knowledge of what is happening in the greater world outside, an achievement which represents one of the greatest contributions which the film industry is making ". 12th Mav. 1936. (!/> Memorandum by the Theatrical Artists' Filji Society. The Committee of the Theatrical Artists' Film Society is in favour of maintaining the quota film if proper safeguards are provided to improve the quality and make it worthy of being a British film. At the present time it is a common practice for foreign waiters and other aliens, gathered from the foreign quarter of Soho and other districts, to be employed for parts and as extras. To make matters worse these people are not, and never have been, artists and this seriously affects the artistic value of British quota films. To prevent this happening in future the Committee suggests it be laid down in the regulations that only artists, who are members of one of the professional organizations devoted to the entertainment industry, be employed. In the interests of art, and where the story required that a foreign artist should be engaged for a principal part, the Committee would not raise any objections, but it is strenuously opposed to the wholesale engagement of foreigners in British quota films. The Committee urges that steps be taken so that the minimum rate of pay, for small parts and extras, be that laid down in the agreements entered into between the studios and the aforementioned artists' organizations. The Committee also urges that the regulations in future demand that all artists must fill in and sign the printed form declaring their nationality before engagement and not after the production at the studio. The latter is the usual practice at present. 13th June. 1936. \li) Memorandum by thf. Trades Union Congress. Introduction . The Trades Union Congress General Council is the representative central body of the British Trade Union movement. The unions and societies affiliated to the Trades Union Congress include within their membership workers in all branches of industrial and commercial activity. This memorandum has been drawn up by the General Council of the Trades Union Congress after full and careful consideration of the present position of the British film industry and of the Quota provisions of the Cinematograph Films Act of 1927. and after consultation with those unions affiliated to Congress who are directly interested in the British film industry. The observations made and the proposals put forward in this memorandum are those of the Trades Union Congress General Council. They are concerned with, and are submitted in the light of, wide considerations of social significance. General Observations. 1. A film industry, particularly production and distribution, occupies a unique position. Wireless broadcasting alone approaches it. It is distinguished from industrial and commercial activity generally by reason of the influence it possesses in affecting the general level of education and culture — in acting as an advertiser and a propagandist, at home and abroad, of particular products, ideas and standards of conduct. 2. Of the possession of this influence by the film industry there is ample evidence in the post-War experience of films in this country. The one-time almost completely ail-American character of cinematographic performances and the existing preponderance of American films shown in this country has had the effect of familiarising and popularising American products, American speech, customs, social arrangements and ideas amongst British cinema audiences. Americans themselves are convinced that the film is a powerful influence in increasing the sales of American products in other countries. The influence of American films upon speech and dress in this country is so obvious as to have passed the stage of general comment. Equally, it can hardly be doubted that many people in Britain base their judgments of the United States and its people upon tile impression tlie\ derive from visits