FRENCH FILM’S SCREENING

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25796, 6 May 1949, Page 8

FRENCH FILM’S SCREENING

EVIDENCE GIVEN IN COURT PAYMENT OF RENT FOR THEATRE ORDERED (New Zealand Press Association.) WELLINGTON, siay 5. Reactions to a newspaper advertisement drawing attention to a French film which was shown in Wellington last year were mentioned in the Magistrate’s Court before Mr A. M. Goulding, S.M., to-day. The J. C. Williamson Picture Corporation claimed £96 from Natan Scheinwald, a picture exhibitor, of Wellington, as the balance of money owed by the defendant for the hire of the Opera House 'during the screening of a series of Continental films. In evidence, • witnesses described how objection had been raised to the insertion in two Wellington newspapers of an advertisement dealing in “offensive terms” with a film called “Nine Bachelors,” in December last year. The advertisement was discontinued and Scheinwald’s contract to exhibit in the Opera House was terminated by Kerridge Theatres, Ltd., which exerted control through the plaintiff company. The advertisement explained that an incident in the film in “A House of 11l Repute” had been censored, but that there were “other similar priceless, incidents.” In evidence, Scheinwald told the Court that he was charged £175 a week rent for the Opera House. He thought the price excessive as the company had plenty of money. To the Magistrate, he admitted that he might perhaps have a complaint to make about the censor. The incident mentioned lin the advertisement was screened in Australia and other parts of the world. He described the.film as artistic and very clever. The Magistrate gave judgment for the plaintiff for the amount claimed. He said that whether the opinion was puritanical or not he thought the company had every right to terminate the contract on the ground that defendant’s action detracted from their reputation.