Picture Stories Magazine (Sept 1914-Feb 1915)

On the JScreen EVAN STRONG GEEAT deal has been said about the opportunity of British film producers during this war, but as far as I have been able to discover little has been done by the general picture loving public to help them in this opportunity. For some reason or other there seems to be a definite prejudice against British manufacturers — a prejudice bred of the old days when British productions were not, truly, worth a snufF of the candle, and when American, French and Italian films were the only ones worth considering. It is hard to kill prejudice in Great Britain, so to-day, when British manufacturers should be reaping the advantage of this opportunity, foreigners step in and gather all to themselves. Now it is untrue that the British film is not so good as imported films — in numerous cases they are better ! For instance, the plot and story of a British film is usually superior. In production, again, the Britisher has advanced by leaps and bounds — maybe he does not stage the " thrilling " incidents which come across the waters, but, at anyrate, as far as British stories are concerned he is naturally more exact in setting. Who has not seen and laughed at the anachronisms of foreign films — Charlotte Bronte's tales with motor-cars ; the ' stately homes of England" with wooden verandahs of the colonist type ; the scion of an English noble house " with the inevitable blackrimmed monocle and thick black tape attached? Such things never occur in British films, and our manufacturers could not render the country "copper" conspicuous with the stripped armlet of the Metropolitan police. One could go on all day pointing out where the British film producer has the better of the stranger, but the greatest feature of all, to my mind, is the fact that till now the obsession for white slavery " incidents has not taken hold of the home film man. When one considers all these things one only realises the stubborness of the British people in the matter of prejudice. It is the time to talk of helping our " brithers," and all of us should consider very seriously the question of spending to benefit the people of these islands before sending our money into the pockets of people abroad. When I write like this — taking up the cudgel for the Britisher — it is not to belabour workers over the water. We have still a large need for foreign films — our output is not nearly sufficient in itself — but if the manufacturers were backed by the demand of the public they would quickly increase the home supply, and by so doing increase employment in the British film trade. During the past month I have visited theatre after theatre to get an idea of the leavening of British films in the programmes at the picture halls. The result has been most disappointing. The leavening has been almost negligible. Aiost programmes are entirely American, with the exception of a scenic (French or ItaKan), and the topicals and gazette. Below I give some calculations from a number of programmes at theatres at the end of December. Out of fourteen programmes there were not more than five actual British pictures, or out of the total of pictures five per cent, only were British, about thirty per cent, were various topicals (British and foreign), interest and scenics about fifty per cent, were American, and the remainder Continental and doubtfuls. In two special programmes there were seven and five American films, one and nil British, two and one French, nil and one Australian, and nil and two Anglo-American. Let U8 try again. A large new theatre in the Thames Valley, recently opened, presented a programme of eight numbers, about 10,000 feet of film in all. 6,000 feet were American (three firms — two of which are headed by German names), 3,500 feet by a French firm, and 500 feet Italian.