"LE CINEMA."

Kaikoura Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 58, 29 July 1943, Page 4

"LE CINEMA."

;.la , /WOOFS. A SHOW «i — * 1 Sometimes' I take taiiijtTbll around while the show -fa ' on 1 , from near the serfceh one sees against the black backcloth of the night the pin points of light fwm hundreds of cigarettes shining fike so many glow worms.” This is a sentence from a word picture givpn by an officer of the Army Education Welfare Service, when on a shorty visit to the Dominion recently, of one pf the number of cinema shows given, regularly in the open air for the benefit of New Zealand troops at New Caledonia. He said there were three 16-milli-metre picture plants and a mobile 35millimetre machine. The 35-millimetr« projector, which was taken to various parts of the island in turn, was mounted on a truck and behind was towed a trailer fitted with a generator to supply the power for the plant. The A.EJD.S. organised and ran the picture programmes on behalf of the National Patriotic Fund Board, which, in addition to the provision of projection equipment, had arranged with the Film Exchanges Association of New Zealand for supplies of film to be sent regularly. Through tie co-operation of the American servief authorities, the New Zealanders also J had the use of 16millimetre films Especially provided in the reduced size {for the American service. Buch f as “The Glass Key” and “The Commandos Strike at Dawn” have be!n shown recently, so it will be gathered that these films are really up to date. The A E.W.B. ofticer was enthusiastic about the service fciven by the National Patriotic Fund Board in this and in other directions, especially in view of the shipping difficulties. He also placed a high value on the screenings as a means of entertaining troops. Apart from these shows and the performances by the Kiwi Concert Party, another enterprise financed by the Patriotic Board, he said, there was little offering in the entertainment line. ’ NO RESERVED SEATS. A portable screen is part of the equipment which accompanies the mobile cinema. Sometimes this is erected on iron pipes, sometimes it is strung up between trees, but in one spot it is dispensed with entirely, for a whitewashed wall of a bakery serves equally as well. As for the audiences, they range from 250 in some parts of the island to 2000 in others. Troops are brought in for distances of up to 30 miles in trucks, anc£ are taken back to camp again after tfie show. The men bring boxes, grount sheets, and blankets; officers have • leir folding stools. But there is no cert nony. and there are no reserved seats, open air is the theatre, and the audience sits back from the screen ii a semi-circle. The programmes usually consist of a couple of shorts and a feature film, the show lasting for two hours. The French and native population look forward to the different showf as much as the troops. 44 Le Cinema, ’ they call it, and they are always represented in the audiences. ( Although the luxury of the city theatre, supper in a snack bar, and a taxi after the show, are but memories to the men at New Caledonia just now, there will probably be many who in after years will look back with a great deal of pleasure to the shows held in the open when they were on service in the Pacific. As for the natives, well, they will probably find life less interesting when the free “Le Cinema” is no more.