CENSOR'S BLUNDER

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 128, 1 June 1936, Page 10

CENSOR'S BLUNDER

PEACE FILM BANNED Public opinion has won th'e day to a situation which arose as a result, of th# action of the British Film Censor, Lord Tyrrell, in banning a peace film, say* the London correspondent of the "Cape Times." It has been announced that the film, which expresses briefly but effectively the general desire for peace through collective security, had received the board's certificate after "delicate negotiations." The censor's revocation of the ban followed significantly after a private showing to a large body of members of Parliament, most of whom ridiculed the censorship, declaring tint the film was only too mild. The general view was that the censor had blundered, -and this impression was strengthened when the War Office, to which he declared his intention of submitting the film, disowned him.' "We have not seen the film," a War Office official said. "We are not like* ly to see it, and do not want to see it. It does not concern us at all." 1 An earlier message stated that LpT& Tyrrell had created a stir by refusing a certificate for the peace film, the reason £iven being that it was. controversial and the censor intended t® submit it to the War Office. "OUTRAGEOUS." Mr. H. G. Wells, who was present at a private showing, said that the cen» sor's action was outrageous. "We cannot allow our affairs to be ruled by a gang of mystery men," he said. "Hpw can we produce peace in the world if we do not allow talk about peace?" Mr. George Lansbury declared in an interview that the film should be shown ias quickly as possible. It was vitally important that people, particularly young people knowing nothing of the last war. should be shown what war is really like. .... The film was produced at the insti* gation of the League of Nations Union, and demands for it have come from cinema managers all over the coimtiy. It. is very brief, showing a series, of shots of military operations pointing out that the world is arming, - and telling the grim story of gas. Irony is lent to the situation by the announcement that a British film company is preparing a recruiting film, "An Epic of Army Life," with the assistance of the War Office.