World Film and Television Progress (1938)

WAR DECLARED! Kettner s Restaurant, Soho BRITISH EXHIBITORS MOBILISE against HOLLYWOOD W. F. N.'s Special Investigator reports the first stages of war in filmdom. A silent civil war is raging in filmdom. Thrust and counter-thrust, determined offensive and stubborn defence is spreading the battle over a wide front. On one side a cabal of film tycoons ; on the other a quasi-democratic group which, in the manner of coalitions, is apt to be split by petty jealousies and ambitions. The cabal is known as the K.R.S. — the Kinematograph Renters' Society. The opposition fights under the Popular Front banner of the C.E.A. — the Cinematograph Exhibitors' Association of Great Britain and Ireland. The principal victim, however, will probably be the man in the street as usual. He certainly will be the sufferer if the cabal is victorious. Propaganda and counter-propaganda have inevitably clouded the vital issues involved, and to understand these it is necessary to trace the history of film renting from the pretalkie days. But briefly the main issue is this — Whether the average cinemagoer is to continue to see two big feature pictures for the price of his scat or be offered instead either one good and one indifferent picture, or, in some cases, two bad ones. In the pre-talkie era all films were booked to cinemas at a flat price which varied according to the picture. The only exceptions to this rule were an occasional super-epic which was road-shown, i.e., shown in legitimate theatres or halls at fixed time performances. The first talkies were, if only for their novelty value, in the super-epic class and could claim, and get, road-shown terms — that is, a percentage of the gross takings for the renter instead of a pre-arranged fixed rental. Once finally installed by the talkies, the percentage system was never repealed. Costs of film hire rose, but the cinema prices to the public did not. In other words, the producer and distributor of the pictures got more of the gravy, the exhibitor less. Then with the success of the talking picture came the big cinema building boom of 1931-37 which resulted in there being three cinemas where before there was one. Competition grew fierce, and bigger and better programmes had to be offered by rival cinemas to attract audiences. Two big features, and possibly a stage show in addition to a news-reel, cartoon and organ interlude became common. In 1936, however, the K.R.S. decided that the public was getting too much for its money. It didn't say so in those terms. It declared that film programmes were too long. An attempt was made to limit programmes to 3^ hours. It failed, within the K.R.S. itself because several members at that time owned theatres and opposed the move; and outside the K.R.S. because of technical difficulties due to stage shows and other such things. So another idea was born — the present scheme to grade pictures into two classes, "A" and "B" — in theory the "A" films to be those of top entertainment value, and the "B" films the routine programme pictures. Under this scheme, just being put into operation, all "A" films must be booked on a percentage basis, and two "A" pictures may not be played together in one programme. Nor could they be, as no cinema could afford to give away so great a proportion of its total takings. The public in other words must not be offered more than one top-class picture in one programme. "B" pictures, however, may be booked at a fixed flat rate. But who is to decide which films are "A" and which "B"? H.M. Government wisely decided, during their examination of the industry in connection with the Films Act, that it was impossible to classify films in terms of entertainment value. Not so the K.R.S. The movie moguls of that self-constituted trust decided that they could and would so grade them. To do this most satisfactorily they elected to meet weekly over the luncheon table at Kettner's restaurant, noted Soho theatrical rendezvous. A tentative suggestion on the part of the C.E.A. that a joint committee of renters and exhibitors should be set up to sit as jury was brusquely rejected. The K.R.S. felt quite competent to assess impartially the merits of its own product. But more startling developments were to come. The Film Star Chamber did not care for "nosey parker" curiosity as to their procedure. They decided not to disclose the result of their weekly inquests. As a result of 77