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educational value. Schools and cultural organizations for adult education had the right to use the cinemas outside the ordinary performances. The most important provision of the new Cinema Act was the establishment of a Film Fund to promote the production and use of educational and cultural films. The income for this fund is derived from a sliding-scale proportion of the profits made by the cinema licensees. In 1940 it was 62,906 Kroner; in 1947 it was about 2,700,000 Kroner. The income was devoted mainly to the two official companies for the production of documentary films, Dansk Kulturfilm, established in 1932, and Ministeriernes Filmudvalg (The Film Committee of the Danish Government), founded in 1941. It also maintained the Statens Filmcentral (Central Film Library) which was established in 1938 in terms of the Act 'to procure and distribute educational and instructional films'.
Before the invasion of Denmark, the Government's film policy had begun to yield some result. In 1935 Poul Henningsen made Danmarksfilmen [The Film of Denmark), a long documentary of life in Denmark with a characteristic emphasis on the everyday activities of the people. In 1938 Nordisk and Dansk Kulturfilm in collaboration produced On the Order of the King, a documentary historical feature on the liberation of the Danish peasants in 1788.
When the country was invaded, the unique features of Danish film legislation had been accepted and, through the Film Fund, finance was available for production. The German invasion might have extinguished the small flicker of film activity in Denmark. Instead it was the means of fanning it into a steady flame. From 1 94 1 onwards the production of documentary films developed at a pace which would have been remarkable in peace-time and which, for years of war. was quite extraordinary. Dansk Kulturfilm, founded as a voluntary body and financed partly by large national trading and cultural groups and partly from the Film Fund, broadened its basis under the direction of Thomas P. Hejle. It was joined by the Government Film Committee, charged with the responsibility of supporting the Employment Committee, whose aims were to combat the effects of unemployment and divert man power from the use of the Nazis. In charge of production for the Film Committee was Mogens Skot-Hansen, a young official from the Ministry of Education, who quickly showed his skill as a script writer and director. He formed a group of lively young film-makers who engaged in a battle of wits with the Nazis. Many of the films they made dealt in a straightforward way with Danish industry, agriculture, and crafts, and were of value in sustaining the faith of the people in their own way of life. Others which appeared to be dealing with mundane subjects had a secret meaning for Danish audiences. They helped to stimulate a spiritual resistance which was complementary to the underground movement.
During the five years after the occupation of Denmark, about 150 short documentary films were made by the two sponsoring agencies. Each year's production reflected the prevailing mood of the country. In 1941 films were made which
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