CORONATION FILMS

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27089, 11 July 1953, Page 3

CORONATION FILMS

Private Showings To Eire Audiences (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, July 9. Films of toe Coronation, which have been banned by theatre managers in Eire after consultations with the police authorities, are being shown privately in 26 counties to packed audiences, according to the “Irish Times.”

Dublin churches and charity organisations of all kinds are staging benefit perfornvnees that are “sold out,” although most of them are on an jpvitation basis. The newspaper says that, as a result of the widespread popularity of the film, “more people will have seen the colour version of the Coronation at private showings than would have been the case if the films had been shown at the normal cinemas for a limited period.” The London correspondent of the New York “Herald Tribune,” says: “The decision of the theatre managers to boycott the films was taken before the Coronation. At toe time one journalistic version of their judgment was that ‘a tin of Coronation film is a fin of dynamite. Dublin cinema managers prefer bangs on the screen to bangs in the stalls.’ “Subsequent events showed that the theatre operators had some grounds for apprehension. “One cinema in Northern Ireland was severely damaged by a bomb explosion early on the morning of June 15, when the theatre was closed. The management had advertised in the Dublic newspapers that toe film version of the Coronation would be on display for three days, starting on June 25.

“The incident seemed to provide fuel for controversy over the Republican ban, which started six weeks ago in toe letter columns of the' Dublin papers. “The decision is still being acclaimed and deplored with great feeling on both sides. “The pros have charged that only ‘minority interests’ resented toe boycott. Just as vehemently the charge of censorship was tossed back by the cons. The private showings may take the debate a step further.”