THE MOTION PICTURE

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 67, 13 December 1926, Page 23

THE MOTION PICTURE

AN UNIVERSAL APPEAL FUTURE OF BRITISH MOVIES. Sir. N. B. Freeman, managing director for Australia and New Zealand of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, who recently arrived from Sydney on a brief tour of the Dominion, stated to a Dominion reporter that “at the present moment there was an opinion abroad that America had a complete monopoly of the motion picture industry, but while admitting their preponderance, he said it could not be stated that such films although made in America, were entirely American, because the motion picture of to-day nad passed far beyond the stage when a purely local appeal was sufficient to win success with the public. “Modern motion pictures,” he continued, “must be truly international in their appeal, otherwise they will fail when put to the crucial test of public opinion. That, to my mind, is the reason why British productions to-day do not occupy the position they could occupy—that and the fact that in the past English producers have not laid themselves out to study public taste in the matter of film entertainment.

“The function of the motion picture is to provide entertainment for peoples of all nations, and unless it does so it will fail. The idea that there is a restricted market for British films, and that American producers ‘desire to impede the progress of British production is pure nonsense. The more good motion pictures there are the more people will wish to see them. The ’security of the theatre owners in New Zealand lies in the quality of the pictures that are available for their use, and it matters not to them where the pictures have been made, so long as thev satisfy the motion picture public. It i's to the publi'i that producers must look for an appreciation of their work, solidly expressed by the demand for tickets at the puy boxes. “In the hands of this same public lies the future of the British motion picture industry. If the_ British producers present a really first-class picture to an exhibitor, it is safe to say that the exhibitor will like the picture and be mightily pleased to contract for it, and screen it after which the seal of public approval will be placed upon it by large audiences, and the success of the picture will be assured. As in the case of one picture, so it will be in the case of many. On the other hand, if the British producers should not succeed in presentirg what the public regards as first-class goods, then the public will have none of the pictures and will stay away from the theatre ng it. The distributor will have failed in his mission. “One point I would like to stress, and that is this: In addition to making a good picture, that picture, to oe a real financial and payable proposition to the man or organisation that makes it and to the exhibitor who presents it publicly, must go further and possess, a power of appeal that will make itself felt just as readilv in one country as in another. In other words, its magnetic influence must be universal, for the open sesame of the world markets is necessary to recoup a modern P ro " ducing organisation for the big outlay entailed. Merit alone will win recognition in everv country under the sun, and therefore'merit is the surest base upon which to build the future of the British motion picture. The good picture will never be lacking a market. Once British films of real merit are produced in usable quantities, they will speedily confuse those who allege that there is no market for them, and prove that such a statement is mere moonshine. . „ , "Mv organisation in New Zealand and Australia can handle, and are anxious to handle, British-made productions that reach the standard, just as we are handling, throughout Australia and New Zealand, the local product turned out bv the Government of New Zealand at the present time. For tariff reasons alone it would be a payable proposition, and, in addition, as mine is an all-Australian and New Zealand concern in every way, nothing would give me greater pleasure than to handle British-produced pictures. The day. IS coming when we will release British pictures, and I believe that day is not far distant. My sympathies, and the sympathies of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer s executives in America, are with the meritorious motion pictures production, whatever its country of origin. . lhe film industry of Britain bids fair to start shortly on an era of real prosPe “At the Culver City studios of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, eight pictures out of eleven now in course of production are altogether international in theme, locale and story, while 25 per cent, of the producing personnel of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer hails from beyond the boundaries of the. United States, and the proportion is being augmented day by day. British, Australian, French, Russian, Rumanian, Swedish, and Italian players, directors, and authors, are assembled under the firm’s banner, all brought together with the idea of furthering the internationalisation of the motion picture.”