N.Z. FILM CENSOR

Grey River Argus, 8 December 1932, Page 5

N.Z. FILM CENSOR

MANY CRITICISMS | By Members of Parliament I (From Our Parliamentary Reporter.) PARLIAMENT BUILDINGS, December 7. | A vote On the Estimates for assist- | ante to the Film Censor gave members I the opportunity to criticise this branch in thc House to-night, Mr Barnard (Napier) commencing with an indictment of picture posters, and asking whether the Censor was responsible for allowing their display. Rev. C. Carr (Timaru) declared he had noticed during the holidays, when | a large number of children were at- ' tending the picture theatres, that films I bearing A Certificate were screened, | which he had no hesitation in describing as salacious. Air Barnard asked why the film describing the Five Year Plan in Russia had been barred when it had a great educational value. Apparently the people were not being allowed to know that the Russians were making a success of a system which was not a capitalist system. He also objected to a large proportion of American films showing the worst features of American life. Why was not a larger pro- • portion of English films provided? , “Over forty per cent, of thc films shown iu New Zealand arc British/’ ‘ declared Mr Coates. Minister of Public Works, who added that this matter was pretty closely discussed at Ottawa. There was, however, a difficulty that the film exchanges handling British films bought on tho British Cen sor's certificate, but the films which got ]>ast in England might not fit in willi the ideas of thc New Zealand Censor. Efforts were being made to standardise, as far as possible, the requirements, and to give the British producers an idea of what films might or might not be passed in New Zealand. Mr Coates said he had seen several films dealing with Russia in New Zealand theatres. “You get tliv American twang and the American slang wherever you go,” declared Mr K. A. Wright (Wellington Suburbs). Young New Zealanders had been fairly clear of slang, but this could not be guaranteed to-day under these conditions, and, as for the certificate that certain pictures were to be shown only to adults, that was humbug. Mr Carr: Half price for children! Mr Wright added that he could understand the difficulties of the Censor, who realised that it would be ruinous to the film importers if he cut the films too severely, but something ought to be done to prevent such a large supply of undesirable American pictures. There should be a prohibitive duty. We did not seem to be getting all tho good British pictures available, and he had heard that the Americans were cornering them. “I object to the whole vote, because I think the Censorship is a nuisance,” said Mr I*. Fraser (Wellington Central). It neither protected the old nor the young, he continued. The tragedy was that Elstrec was making a silly attempt to imitate Hollywood with its comedies, though some of the best pictures seen in New Zealand came from Elstrec. He did not object much to bright American speech, though he thought the nasal accent had been a bit worn out. Anyhow, it did not appear on thc estimates! The Chairman (pointedly): <f That is The Minister of Internal Affairs, Air Hamilton, assured members that the Film Censor was quite free to exercise his good judgment, and no direction was given him that Russian or any other films should be banned. If members had an experience of a censorship task, they would realise its difficulties. The Censor did cut out a lot, and he censored picture posters too. Air Barnard (Napier): “Then he dees it poorly.” Thc Alinister: “You have to consider the material ho has to deal with. T think tho standard has been improved of late.” He said there had been quite a number of appeals against the censorship lately, and tho picture people, he believed, were just as desirous as the Government to keep thc standard high. Air Richards (Roskill) asked why thc organisation Friends of the Soviet Union, was prevented from exhibiting a Russian film in Auckland after they had taken a theatre. Who controlled the films—thc police or the Censor? he asked. “Both.” replied the Minister. “Thc police have a right to control a film.” Air Richards protested that partiality and injustice had been shown towards the intellectual section of people because one part of New Zealand could see this film, and in Auckland it was barred