Motion Picture Herald (Apr-Jun 1955)

V. $. POOR SECOIVD BEST TO REDS IN FILM ESE Soviet Employs Screen as Propaganda Device with Far Greater Effect by J. A. OTTEN WASHINGTON : Communist propaganda pictures are cutting plenty of ice in the cold war. Last year, the Soviet Union distributed 100 issues of its Government-made newsreel in 60-odd countries. The United States Information Agency sent out to some 60 countries 12 issues of “Our Times,’’ a monthly digest of current happenings. At a recent youth festival in East Germany, 30 Russian motion picture cameras were trained on the stadium, for a film which was then distributed all over the world. The USIA was fortunate enough to place one camera at the inauguration of President Eisenhower. U.S. Budget Is Only Fraction of Soviet* s USIA’s film program this year is operating on a budget of slightly over $3,000,000. For the coming year the Motion Picture Division asked for $4,484,000. The House cut this to $3,000,000 and the Senate restored it but the final compromise figure probably will be less than the amount asked. It’s impossible to set a comparable figure for the Soviet Union’s annual expenditures on film propaganda, for the simple reason that every Soviet-made film — whether “entertainment” or “documentary” — is actually used by the Government as a propaganda film. In addition, no one knows how much slave labor the Russians use in production. Turner Shelton, chief of the USIA’s Motion Picture Division, estimates that the Soviet Union is currently spending some $200,000,000 a year to produce, distribute and exhibit films which follow the Kremlin’s line and will help the Soviet in its battle to win the minds of people throughout the world. USIA observers say that just one powerful Soviet propaganda picture, “The Circus,” would have cost between $3,000,000 and $4,000,000 to produce in the United States — more than the entire Motion Picture Division budget. All Product Devoted To Propaganda Russia has always recognized the propaganda value of the motion picture. Before the Second World War, its finest pictures, distributed aboard, were artistically produced stories of incidents in Russian history. Now in the struggle for the minds of men, all of its pictures are propaganda, and the total output of Russian studios — full-length feature entertainment films, documentaries, newsreels, cartoons — is designed SENATE RESTORES HOUSE FILM CUT WASHINGTON; The Senate Tuesday voted to give the U. S. Information Agency's film program the full $4,484,000 it sought for the fiscal year starting July I. This would be a sizable increase over the current year's appropriation of $3,087,000. The House has voted only $3,000,000 for the film program for the coming year, and the final figure must now be worked out in a House-Senate conference. The Senate gave the Agency as a whole $88,350,000, just $150,000 less than requested. The House approved $80,500,000. This year's U.S.I.A. budget is $77,1 14,000. to influence and mould the attitude of its audience. The Soviet union’s 90-minute feature entertainment films, briefer documentaries, numerous newsreels and cartoons are all used as propaganda pictures, to be distributed wherever possible all over the world. The top-grossing picture in the Far East today is a full-length Russian film, “The Circus,” running for 90 minutes in magnificent color. It is, incidentally, the top Far East moneymaker of all time. “The Circus’’ tells the story of the skilled artists who come from all the provinces of the Soviet Union to merge their art and their patriotism in the development of a spectacular and breath-taking circus. In some of its mob scenes the picture uses up to 10,000 people. Films Calculated To Be Popular Several other Soviet-produced pictures, Mr. Shelton says, are doing good business for the homeland, both in terms of boxoffice receipts and in terms of giving a false picture of the United States. These are full-length entertainment films, produced with care and talent. “Doomed Village” tells its audience that the Catholic Church in West Germany is a pawn of American big business. “Council of the Gods” make the same appraisal of former President Franklin D. Roosevelt and former Prime Minister Winston Churchill. “Silvery Dust” shows United States monied interests attempting to build up a great monopoly of atomic weapons in order to destroy the world, and casually using negroes as experimental guinea pigs in the process. The Soviet drive to gain the minds of men through motion pictures has been increasingly supported by the production of propaganda films in satellite and other Com munist countries. Last year, according to Mr. Shelton, a total of 150 propaganda films was unleashed by the Soviet Union, Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, East Germany and Communist China. Communists Building Industry in China The story of Communist China’s motion picture industry points up more than any other the weight accorded to motion pictures by Communist governments. Before the Communists controlled the country, Mr. Shelton says, China had no film industry. Production was not started until 1953, and then only in a minor way. In that year a huge studio was built in Peiping and a handful of pictures was made. During 1954, however, Peiping turned out 155 pictures — 14 full-length features, 15 educational films, 37 documentaries, four cartoons and puppet films, and the rest newsreels. Peiping’s product is distributed all over the Far East, and 1954 was just a beginning. A second mammoth studio is under construction now. USIA films are generally shown to small audiences — at U. S. embassies, through local labor groups, civic organizations, and so forth. There is no charge for admission. In the past few years the Division has requested and obtained the use of industry distribution channels abroad, in order to show a few special pictures in commercial theatres. The most recent picture shown this way was “Flight to Freedom,” the story of the escape of two ballet dancers to the free West. Russia uses the same local channels as the USIA — plus the local Communist party. Russia also pays for the use of halls, when it cannot get them free. In addition, Russian films are shown in commercial theatres, either with or without paid admission. Recently the Soviet Government bought longterm leases on six commercial theatres in the Far East, for showing propaganda films. According to Mr. Shelton these will be shown for paid admissions, or, if people just aren’t paying, for free. Stories Built Entirely on Anti-American Themes But whether the audience pays or doesn’t pay to see a Russian propaganda picture, the picture can be depended on to tell a viciously anti-American story. In “Doomed Village,” an American Air Force officer orders the destruction of a West German village, in order to build an airfield on the site. The dazed villagers go to their priest, to discuss ways of halting the project. The priest in turn goes to his bishop, who is living in a palace, only to find that the bishop is on the side of American dollars, which have bought him out. The people are (Continiwd on page 16, column 3) MOTION PICTURE HERALD. JUNE 4, 1955 13