CRIME AND THE CINEMA.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume IX, Issue 116, 2 May 1919, Page 5

CRIME AND THE CINEMA.

PROPOSAL TO SHOW TRIALS AND PRISON LIFE.

The members of the Stroll Picture Theatre Club, London, discussed last month the vexed question of “Crime and the Cinema,” the subject being introduced by an address by Mr. Holford Knight.

Air. Knight’s contention, which was warmly supported by most of the subsequent speakers, was that in certain directions the exhibition of crime on the films was for the public good. It could not bo denied that occasionally one came across a film which incited to crime. Such a film as that could be dealt with by the cinematograph industry itself. But a film which showed how guiltless people suffered when a crime was committed, or which showed the surroundings which often led to crime, was all for the good. The cinematograph was an excellent means of creating public opinion, and if they could show the squalid surroundings amid which some of the people lived the country would benefit.

It would be a great thing if the actual methods of the British administration of justice could be brought Liofore the people on the film. He was convinced that their respect for the law would be strengthened and it would be a great advantage if the authorities would allow proceedings in Conns of Justice and prison life to be photographed. Blit there must be careful and expert guidance to avoid some of the laughable results of past films. He regarded the cinema as one of the best possible instruments for educating the general public. It might have been open to abuse in the past Lint was so no longer.

In the discussion which followed, objection was taken to the American serial film which went on for countless weeks, and often introduced a fivsn kind of crime every week. The best way to meet that was in the presentation of wholesome jjays. In the old days, an escaped convict or a burglary seemed to be a necessary ingredient in almost every film, but they now had clean films with no trace of a villain.