FILM CENSOR’S WARNING

Greymouth Evening Star, 11 August 1936, Page 12

FILM CENSOR’S WARNING

POLITICS MUST BB KEPT OUT

LONDON, June 25. The danger ot polities cWIWW nims was relerred to by Lo.d Ty Of Avon, president of tne Board of Film Censors, when he ao dressed members of the Cinema - grap? Exhibitors’ Association at Ea Xe r was a distinct = ment in the films now being produced, ne said The examiners had taken exco ition to 360 films during the year, £«. 50 per cent Jewer lh» ™ the previous year. On the hand 1 ,” he continued, “the Board h noticed tendencies of lat ® ™ h ‘ C £ ice think it wise to bring to your notice, so that you may give th ® “„ careful and earnest consideration. Ine first is the creeping of politicsi into films It is of course, done with im "X in titooe countries where the cinema is under the control of the State but it would be dangerous to make such an attempt in this countr Nothing could be more calculated to arouse the passions of the Biitish nublic than the introduction on the screen, of subjects dealing either with religious or political controversy. He believed that they were alive to this danger. They could not lose sight of one of the first regulations in their licenses, which stated tha n film must be exhibited which was likely to lead to disorder. “So far,” Lord Tyrrell continued, “we have had no film dealing with current burning political a u . but the thin end of the wedge is being inserted. The distinctly political film appears to be receiving the attention of outside producers. Consequently I think it would be well, in this early stage, to have some definite pronouncement from your organisation as to what would be your attitude towards these films, if, and when, they make their appearance.”

“HORRIFIC” FILM FINISHED. The “horrific” category of film had now ceased to exist, said Loid Tyrre , but he deplored the number of pictures in which hospital scenes were introduced, showing intimate details which could hardly be said to be either entertainment or amusement. He believed' that the cumulative effect of those films was unwholesome. The wave had reached its height, and was now on the wane. Mr S. Rowson, of London, suggesting a co-operative advertising campaign to reduce the enormous number of daily unused seats, pointed out that for every two eligible persons who went to the cinema three did not. An expenditure of £lOO,OOO to supplement present advertising appropriations would be fully met by an addition of 2,500,000 to the total of cinema admissions in a year and could be expected to repay itself many times over.

Last year the average weekly attendances at cinemas in Great Britain was between 19,000,000 and 20,000,000. This year the rate of increase, he was informed, had not been maintained, and they might expect an average of under 20,000,000. HISTORIC MANSION.

A new dignity and a touch of romance are soon to be introduced into the censorship of films for Britain’s cinemas.

Lord Tyrrell revealed at the conference that the Board is moving house from Wardour Street, busy hive of business, just 300 yards to an historic mansion in Carlisle Street, Sohosquare, designed by Sir Christopher Wren to the order of the first Earl of Carlisle.

In this beautiful Soho mansion, built first amid' gardens and fields, the censors will listen to the bark of the machine-guns of gangsters in American films and decide when the kiss of heroine and hero has been unduly prolonged. The fine decorations of the great house are to be maintained. It has had many vicissitudes. At first the home and the playground of princes and of peers, it sank to the status of a somewhat disreputable tenement house as fashionable London moved westwards. In Charles Dickens’s “A Tale of Two Cities,” it was the home of Dr. Manette.

Viewing it again yesterday, one found the facade, the old doorway with the wrought iron portico, with the big snuffers to extinguish the linkman’s torch, unspoilt. Within, the main staircase still stands in all its splendid proportions. The Chinese room is still there on the ground floor with its mural paintings carefully restored.

On the first floor is an oak room with splendid panelling, a marvellous ornate ceiling, and perfect furniture of the pericd. Alongside there is the Green Room, a splendid survival of the arts of nearly three centuries ago. In the covered courtyard at the back of Carlisle House men are busy building two miniature theatres where the film examiners can do their work. Apart from this little structural work or alterations are being done.