East and West

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 59, 2 December 1933, Page 20

East and West

“It is a frequent complaint about the cruder sort of film turned out for American or European amusement that it is apt to give a wholly wrong impression of our Western civilisation to the peoples of the East and of Africa. How is the white man to carry his burden with dignity if a large part rf his woinenkind is depicted for the delectation of the Bantu as frivolous and even f:»ithless? How establish the rule of law among backward races if Serowe is seen to be a haven of peace compared with Chicago? “We do not so often reflect that the Eastern peoples may have their own grievance against the film; but it has just been firmly propounded by the representative of Ib’n Saud’s Arabia at an international film conference that included members from Turkey, China, Egypt, Persia, and Siam among other nations. He complained that ‘no single film was made anywhere that gave an Eastern man a decent part. He was always the concentration of vice. “The protest might perhaps have come more filly from the spokesman for China, for it is unquestionable that the film has followed readily the ancient tradition of the stage in rarely introducing a Chinese unless there is need for a subtle and heartless master of crime. It such sensitiveness grows, the film producer of the future looking for a world market may find his style badly cramped by the limitation put upon his choice of a villain.’ “Manchester Guardian.”