"TALKIES" AND CENSORSHIP.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 223, 20 September 1929, Page 6

"TALKIES" AND CENSORSHIP.

In tho interesting debate on talking films and the censorship in the Legislative Council this week, there was some confusion of ideas. Everybody who values the purity of our tongue and of good British accent (which may be defined as being no accent) is concerned about the effect of the "talkies" on our speech. To other American influences that threaten to be injurious to our culture has been added that of the spoken word. But the suggestion that this threat can bo met by a censorship is not practicable. A censorship is concerned with morals, not manners. It is tho censor's province to delete a suggestive incident or an obscene word, but not to prevent the New Zealand public from hearing the idiom and accent of Chicago or Zenith. In our abbreviated report yesterday the Leader of the Legislative Council was reported as saying that, owing to technical difficulties, it was not considered practicable to censor tho "talkies." A fuller report shows that he was referring only to the preservation of the purity of spoken English. Tho best way to counteract American speech is to provide British speech, and it is only fair to American producers to say that some of them are going to a great deal of trouble and expense to improve the speaking in their productions. Preference for British films is provided by legislation and an agreement that has only just come into force, and it seems to us rather early to talk of a larger cpiota just at present. British producers are in a difficult position in that the advent of the "talkies' caught the industry just when the manufacture of silent films was beginning to gather momentum. No doubt the industry will move quickly on the new road before long, but in the meantime the Government would be wise to await developments.