Motion Picture Commission : hearings before the Committee on Education, House of Representatives, Sixty-third Congress, second session, on bills to establish a Federal Motion Picture Commission (1978)

MOTION PICTURE COMMISSION. 193 regulations here in the Daily Consular and Trade Reports, and I find that there are several provisions there providing for that. I find that there are several provisions providing that children are not allowed at all to attend what they call their regular performances. Then there are several provisions in these reguhitions of Nuremberg in which the films intended for exhibition before the young are especially to be censored for that purpose. In this connection, Mr. Chairman, I offer fcr the record these Daily Consular and Trade Re- ports, covering the subject of " Moving pictures abroad in Germany," being the reports of Consul George Nicolas Tfft, of Nuremberg, con- tained in the Daily Consular and Trade Reports under date of May 10, 1913: also the matter contained on page 730 of the Daily Consular and Trade Reports of the same date, regarding the Quebec board of censors, and also a further excerpt from the same volume on the pro- posed system of licensing films, the system which is proposed in Great Britain by Mr. W. Cavazzi King, secretary of the Cinemato- graph Exhibitors' Association. I ask that these be printed in the record, Mr. Chairman. The Chairman. If there is no objection, that will be done. (The matter referred to is as follows:) Moving Pictures Abroad. GERMANY. [Consul George Nicolas If ft, Nuremberg.] Under a ministerial order of .January 27, 1912, a board of censorship for motion pictures was created for the Kingdom of Bavaria, such authority being vestefl in the Royal Police Commission of the city of Munich. All motion-picture films must be approved by this board before they may be exhibited in any moving-picture show house in Bavaria. Applications for such approval must be accompanied by a statement giving name and trade-mark of the manufacturer of the film, name of the owner, length of film, name of the petitioner, and title i^nd description of the pictures. The film is then actually exhibited to the board, and, if passed and approved, a card to that effect is Issued to the petitioner. Such approval cards must be produced before the local authorities will issue permits for the presentation of motion pictures. The ministry of the interior reserves to itself the right to recognize permits from other German States, and also expressly reserves to the local authorities the right to refuse, for local reasons, permits for the presentation of motion- picture films, even though they may have the approval of the board of censors. NUREMBERG POLICE REGULATIONS. By resolution of April 24, 1912, the police senate of the city of Nuremberg adopted the following rules for carrying into effect the ministerial order above referred to: (1) Only such cinematograph pitcures may be shown the public presentation of which have been approved by the Royal Police Commission of Munich and which have been entered in the list (rule 2) to be laid before the city magis- tracy. The showing of other pictures is forbidden, the right being reserved to authorize exceptions in particular cases. (2) At least one day before the exhib'tion a double list with the censor's certificate is to be presented for examination to the city magistracy. The list must contain the particular picture, with title and subtitle, if any, under which it is publicly advertised and exhibited, the manufacturer's number, and the oflScial notice of approval (number and day of approval as well as name of censor). When the exhibitor is not in possession of an official notice of ap- proval, only the name of the censor shall be inserted in the list; in such case the exhibitor is responsible for the correctness of this insertion. Notice must also be given immediately of unforeseen changes in the order of exhibition.