World Film News and Television Progress (Apr 1936-Mar 1937)

Amateur Group Activities World Film News invites the amateur cinematograpliic movement to make use of its columns. News will be welcomed. All copy for this page must reach W'.F.N. by the 10th of each month. BLACKHEATH FILM CLUB has a membership of 148. Activities range from the maldng and showing of every type of film to technical discussions and social events. All studio and theatre equipment has been made and assembled by members. Club productions (16 mm. and 9.5 mm.) will be loaned to other clubs. BRADFORD CINE CIRCLE arranges lectures, discussions and projection evenings and would like to exchange 9.5 mm. productions with other societies. BRONDESBURY CINE CIRCLE, now in its fifth season, has a well-equipped studio and projection theatre seating 55 people. Eight productions are available for loan or exchange. C.\NTERBURY CINE SOCIETY. Film plays, lectures and projection evenings are the chief activities of this Society, which has three 9.5 mm. productions to exchange. CARDIFF AMATEUR CINE SOCIETY— formed this year — has made a good start with two films in production and is already spreading a leaven of film-consciousness in Cardiff by its monthly guest nights at which films are shown and discussed and lectures given. CATHOLIC FILM SOQETY. The monthly displays were resumed at Millicent Fawcett Hall on first Wednesday in September, when Rev. Dom Wilfred Upson, O.S.B., gave a film-lecture entitled "A Parish Priest and his Cine Camera." Fr. Upson's film might well be described as a Catholic Newsreel extending over an indefinite period. The most important development the Society has yet shown is the new C.F.S. Mime Unit. The formalised action, the essence of the mediccval Miming Plays is believed by the C.F.S. to be ideal as a medium for religious films. CINE-SOUND PRODUCTIONS (Beckenham) have made several films of local interest with running commentaries on disc which it will be pleased to loan to other societies. For the coming season a costume play based on the Greek legend of Perseus and Andromeda is planned. DONCASTER AMATEUR FILM SOCIETY used its foundation members, mostly acting enthusiasts, to make two costume and historical films. ■"HeaUng Through the Ages," propaganda for and in aid of the Doncaster Royal Infirmary will shortly be available for other societies and future plans lean rather to the making of short local interest and documentary films. DUNDEE CINE SOaETY, founded in 1931, aims at co-operation among users of cineapparatus and is not as yet a production unit. FL\MILTON AND DISTRICT CLNE SOCIETY recently acquired a studio and is at work on a documentary film. KENTON AMATEUR CINE SOCIETY arranges projection and technical evenings for its members and hopes to work as a unit shortly. LEDBURY AMATEUR CINE SOCIETY is a comparatively new society which provides local organisation for the production of films, delivering and holding of lectures and demonstrations, and social events calculated to advance the interest of Amateur Film Production and Film production in general. There are three 9.5 mm. films available for other societies. MATLOCK CINE CLUB has a special course in cinematography for newcomers and arranges visits to the International Amateur Cinematography contests. A local hiking film is in production. METEOR FILM PRODUCING SOQETY (Glasgow) holds weekly meetings for film production, lectures and projection. The Society is making a film for the Glasgow branch of the Y.M.C.A. and is to display its films to the Curtain Theatre and the Clarkston Literary Society. Members may have on loan, free of charge, copies of all the Society's productions and may use the studio privately for filming or projection. There are seven films available for other societies. OLDHAM ONE SOCIETY arranges projection meetings and lectures and is at work on a drama of local historical origin. PALMERS GREEN CINE SOCIETY concentrates on experimenting in sound, colour and film processing and titling. Four documentaries have been produced but are not at the moment available for other societies. SALISBURY AMATEUR CINE SOCIETY are willing to loan two comedy 9.5 mm. films and a newsreel "Silver Jubilee in Salisbury." "SEEALL FILM SOCIETY" (Loughton) is producing a series of Gazette films on 9.5 mm. stock and will lend them to other clubs. SUDBURY FILM SOQETY, formed in 1932, is the first amateur film society to be affiliated to the London Film Institute Society. Members of the Sudbury Society may now borrow films from the LFIS Film Library, they obtain special rates for LFIS meetings, a monthly copy of the London Film Guide and the Monthly Film Bulletin and other literature issued from time to time. The Society shows every kind of film on sub-standard stock and is always ready to help local institutions and societies in the arrangement and presentation of film programmes. Plans for the coming season include the production of a brief story account of Robert Owen's work among factory children. TEES-SIDE CINE CLUB has made a projection box, sound room, proscenium and apparatus for post-synchronisation. There are four 16 mm. films available and work is about to start on a comedy, a documentary and a cartoon. UDDINGSTON GRAMMAR SCHOOL AMATEUR FILM SOCIETY. Fifty boys and girls aged 14-17 each contribute twopence a week towards the cost of production of their own films, film classics are shown regularly and critical visits are paid to outstanding films ; production has been of a very high standard. "Preparatory Class" (350 feet, 16 mm.), an anti-war propaganda film, won a prize last January at the Scottish Amateur Film Festival. After a road-safety film for children of 5-8 years, the Society is producing a film contrasting the beauty of the countryside with the wretchedness of the depressed areas. "Preparatory Class" may be hired. WIMBLEDON CINE CLUB aims at encouraging the use of cinematography in all its branches "by everybody, for everything.' It off'ers advice, instruction, competitions, loans of books, apparatus, films, magazines, and has twenty-one films available for exchange or hire. Tyneside Opposes Double Feature At the third Annual Meeting of the Tyneside Film Society held at Newcastle the following resolution was moved by the Chairman, Mr. Ernest Dyer, and carried unanimously ; — "That this General Meeting of the Tyneside Film Society, which is an.xious to see the widest possible distribution of good films, regrets the anomaly of the Quota Act whereby many Britishmade films of the documentary class are considered ineligible for "quota." It trusts that this anomaly, which in eff"ect bans from the British screen films dealing with the British countryside, will be rapidly removed, either by administrative action or by legislation." In moving the resolution, Mr. Dyer pointed out that the Quota Act was at present interpreted in such a manner that many first-class short films, especially those dealing with the English countryside, rarely reached a public cinema screen. The Secretary of the Society, Mr. M. C. Pottinger, moved the following resolution which was also unanimously carried : — "That this Society strongly deprecates the prevalence of two-feature cinema programmes, which militate against the development of the production of documentaries and other short films of serious or inteihgent purpose, a field which represents this country's greatest contribution to contemporary cinema. Further, that the Society regrets that it is unable to support as it would wish good short films which are not advertised by local exhibitors, and appeals to exhibitors to realise that there is a large public on Tyneside prepared to support short films of good quality." Mr. Pottinger pointed out in his remarks that every leading "first-run" cinema in the district had adopted the "two-feature" policy, which meant in practice that one feature, the principal feature, might or might not be reasonably good in quality, while the second feature was practically always a second-rate "fill-up," which insulted the intelligence of the audience. Why was the second feature necessary when so many excellent shorts were available? The spread of newstheatres was clear evidence of a public demand for more short films. MERSEYSIDE FILM INSTITUTE SOQETY, Amateur Film Unit. An amateur film group was started this year as the result of a show of amateur films arranged by the parent body. Two documentary films are in production, one on 9.5 mm. stock showing the rise of Liverpool as a port, and a 16 mm. film dealing with the subject of ferry traffic on the river Mersey. A series of meetings has been arranged at which the prize-winning films from the Institute of Amateur Cinematographers will be shown. BIRMINGHAM FILM SOCIETY. Although the Society cannot yet publish its programmes for the season, plans for extended activities and services have been approved by the Committee. A monthly guide to films being shown at the local cinemas is to be issued by a sub-committee who are to attend trade shows by the courtesy of filmrenters. An extra meeting is being arranged at which films produced by the G.P.O. Film Unit are to be shown, and the Society has been asked to supply lecturers for three local societies. A special meeting is to be arranged in November to celebrate the fiftieth meeting of the Society which is now in its sixth season. 43