BRITISH FILMS

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 156, 30 December 1925, Page 11

BRITISH FILMS

"BOOSTING THE INDUSTRY"

COMPETITION WITH AMEMCA.

Australia's,bold'bid with'the America film trusts has made the English movie world wake Up,' states the London correspondent of the ''Melbourne Argus," Both the lay and the professional Press have been quoting freely .from the evidence before the Commonwealth -Tariff Board, and Australia's,, experience is being, utilised as a goad to drive the British industry to- action. At present America can! boast that 95 per- cent, of the films shown in Great Britain and 99 per cent, of the. films shown throughout the British Empire are of American origin. We are told that the export of films yield America: a profit of yearly; that four out of five of the-movie pictures shown in France, Italy, Sweden, Argentina, India:, and Japan are also Americanmade. Moreover, as American journals recently confessed, the matter does not end with the;hundred million dollars profit from the sale of films. "Theue pictures are the greatest travelling salesman a commercial community ever had. • They sell a constantly greater volume of American goods of all kinds.'all over the world," to ! which, may be-added the harm done to America's, chie'f commercial rival. by holding up British traditions and customs to the ridicule of the world. The onlyre.medy for the evil is to ensure that, side by side with American films, pictures of British origin shall be shown, and, in this movement, Australia is leading, and Britain is following. This .week a subcommittee of the! British film trade issued draft proposals whereby no renter will bo able to exhibit foreign films'unlcss ho acquires and exploits a quota of British, films. After :Ist January, 1927, it is proposed that, for, every foot of British film exploited by renters, or shown, by. exhibitors, not, more than the following number of feet, of foreign film.may be exploited or shown: Three Months Ending. Feet of Film. 31st, March, 1927 .... 9 30th June, 1927 .... 3 30th Sept., 1927 .... 6 31st Dee., 1927 ...... 6 31st March, 1938 .... 5 30th June, 19'd/...." 6 30th Sept., 1928 :... ! 4 ' 31st Dec., 1928 .. . 4 . , 31st Marchj 1929 .... 4 . 30th June, 1929 .... 4 After , ,30th .June, : „ ,1?29. .......... 3 „'., The effect, of-this scheme will b.e to ensure that a year hence 10 per cent, of all films' shown, will be British, and the proportion will rise to 25 per cent; "by-1928. Many people in the British film trade, however, consider that the proposals, far from being drastic, «rr on the side of leniency and urge that the 25 per cent, should be- secured much quicker. It is hoped to . give the; proposals the force of law by embodying them in an, Act lof Parliament. An authority should be set up by the'; Board' of Trade to decide whether there is a sufficient supply of good British films in sight to enable the,quotas to be adhered to, and it is also suggested >th«t anyi exhibitor-should be allowed to stand qut of th,e quota obligation if Ahe can show that the price asked by the British makers is too heavy. One clause in' 'tW report gives, this defi.nitiqn,pf a British film:—-(1) The producing■■'company!mu,st : b> Britishpwned and British-controlled; (2)' the studio scenes must (as far as possible) be taken in a British studio; (3) three-fourths of the salaries and Wages, not including the fees paid to the producer and one principal artist (who may be of foreign domicile), spent *on the film production, must be paid' to persons domiciled in Great Britain. ''."„.' >

The report- also suggests, that on and after Ist January, 1926, every, new contract for exhibition of films must satisfy the following, conditions: (1) Every film shall have passed the censor and be capable of being shown' to an exhibitor on demand; (2) the exhibition date for any foreign film must not be more, than six months from tho booking date; (3) in the cage of a serial or series, each part or number not being more than 2000ft in length, these conditions shall apply to the.first three parts or numbers.. ' '..,'■' .. :; ■. '.

Naturally, a section of tho movie industry, is fearful of Government intervention, and would prefer that the trade made its own arrangments. It would seem, however, that some legislation is neeeasary to ensure compliance 'with so far-reaehing a scheme, The film industry' also requires more capital, and better brains ans better studio appliances are needed if the British Empire is to compete with the United States in the production of films/ There seems, however, no real difficulty in securing the capital, and'a British syndicate has just acquired a 46-aere site near London for a film studio. ' British National. Pictures, Limited, J aa. the company is called, at present has a. capital of £50,-. 000, but it proposes to make a large public ' issue directly its production plans are complete, and it has wares to sell. At present an etght-floor studio, measuring 250ft by 100ft, is being built on Ilollrwood lines. Bosiness men with international experience already realise that the demand for British films must be satisfied,'and that there is money in Imperial film sentiment. The committee responsible for the quota- report,, however, favou*s more drastic.reforms on the production Bide and says that the establishment of a permanent British film production industry would be materially aided by the establishment of a large central studio. The central studio scheme, however, depends upon the British Government's co-operating with the industry in connectionjwith the exhibition' of Empire-made films. The syndicate has already bought two British films, one of them being "Nell Gwynne,." with Mibs Dorothy Gish in the chief role. For the time being it is impossible to do without American technical, knowledge. Indeed, Americans are.buying and building cinema theatres in England on a most generous scale. No fewer than three large houses are projected in the West End of London, which will be built with' American capital, and run by American'producers. The American film magnates exercise their power through the block booking system, under which exhibitors book films 6, 12, or even 18 months ahead, in such quantities that small, independent producers, who arc usually Briti' can find no catlot for tfieir fu'. The operation ot' the blockbooking system alone shows the necessity for drastic reform, even if this requires Government intervention, and a measure of control, f