World Film and Television Progress (1937-1938)

and of the mrmi JFmm dmrnrnmi? "Our British Cinema, at the outset of its second decade of life, will be dependent for its prestige upon a large number of Foreign gentlemen," reports the IPUObM ©gWKgfllL THE Government's proposals for the revised Quota Act have created a sharp division of opinion both within the film industry itself and in the wider fields of public discussion. On one side are lined up those who conceive of British production as a magnetic field for attracting international capital and international personnel towards the making of films for the world market. Against this view the opinion is held that the original intention of the Quota Act was not only to make a British film industry economically possible, but also to ensure that such an industry, under the creative control of British people, should bring to the screen something of the life, tradition and culture of Britain and its Empire. Those who believe in this deeper purpose of the Act see in the White Paper SAN FRANCISCO CHELSEA, MASS, HILDrSHEIM BERLIN MAGYARAD MOR OSTRAVIA BUDAPEST TURKEYE RUSSIA J Schenck CALIFORNIA A.Soloman LOUISVILLE, KY. H.Sromberq JAMESTOWN, NY. RKane NEW YORK CITY W.Collier D. Fairbanks, Jr. D.Rock GENOA LToeplil-z ITALY M.Banks (Bianchi) VIENNA KGrune M.Schach RSl-ein proposals a preoccupation with money as a standard of judgment. They maintain that a revision of the Act on this basis will do little to encourage, and may directly hinder, the building up of a truly British film industry. Under these circumstances it has seemed to us important to make some study of the creative personnel at present controlling the output of the British studios in order to see how far ten years of Quota working have contributed to the formation of an industry British in ideology* and outlook. For the purpose of this survey we may consider British production under two heads: first, those British companies which were stimulated into existence as a direct or indirect result of the Act; second, the subsidiaries of the great American firms producing or about to start production in this country in fulfilment of their Quota obligations. Let us first consider the case of the multitude of British companies which, seven months ago, were plunged into the depths o financial crisis. The field has emerged somewhat bedraggled for its experience, but its structure is still tolerably recognisable. In association with United Artsts we may still notice London Films, Atlantic, Criterion, Pall Mall, etc. Distributing through G.F.D. are Capitol, Trafalgar, Buckingham and Gainsborough, while in affiliation with the G.F.D. producing organisation at Pinewood are the remnants of G.-B. B.I. P. maintains its output for the cinemas of A. B.C., and working through their own renters are A.T.P., British Lion and other units. Who, then, are the creative men behind these organisations, upon whose knowledge and interpretation of the British scene the prestige of the English cinema must stand or fall? At the head of London Films is Mr. Alexander Korda, born at Turkeye, Hungary, in 1893. Mr. Korda entered the American film business in 1915, directing some 14 films for First National, Fox and other companies in America before coming to England for Paramount British in 1931. Closely associated with Mr. Korda at L.F.P. is Mr. Zoltan Korda, born at Turkeye, Hungary, in 1895. Mr. Z. Korda directed films in Berlin and Vienna, and also wrote for Fox before coming to England to assist his brother by directing Sanders of the River and co-directing Elephant Boy. Chief of the scenario department of London Films, and therefore in a position of authority with regard to British authors and their works, is Mr. Lajos Biro, born at Magyarad, Hungary, in 1883, who was appointed to the board of L.F.P. in 1932 after a continental career as scenarist and story-writer. In the prominent creative post of producer to Atlantic Films is Mr. Alexander Esway, who was born at Budapest, Hungary. Mr. Esway entered the film business in 1922 in Berlin. He directed and wrote for UFA and D.I.S. (Berlin) before his arrival in England to associate himself with Gainsborough, B.I. P. and later with Columbia. Leading the British production staff of Criterion Films we find Mr. Douglas Fairbanks, Jnr., born in New York City in 1907, •'It is not true that we English have no "ideology " : we have one, and it is the hope of the world.' — Lord Eustace Percy in the Sunday Times, Aug. 15th, 1937. 18