Manawatu Daily Times [ESTABLISHED 21st MAY, 1875.] THURSDAY, MARCH 16, 1922. THE CINEMA.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLVI, Issue 2075, 16 March 1922, Page 4

Manawatu Daily Times [ESTABLISHED 21st MAY, 1875.] THURSDAY, MARCH 16, 1922. THE CINEMA.

i Among the various forms of cnlerjtainment that are provided for the people of New Zealand, none is more popular than the cinema. In spite of the amusement tax, the picture theatres in the cities and towns continue to attract thousands of patrons nightly. It can scarcely be said, however, that the average entertainment of the day appeals to the higher intelligence of the people. A correspondent of the London “Observer" remarks upon Hie fa'ct that the cinema eaters for one type of mind only. “It may sound like high treason,” he says, “to suggest that there are people who do not find Charlie Chaplin particularly amusing, and who are bored by the sentimental American romance; but so it is. These exceptional people arc catered for by the providers of other forms of recreation. They have their own concerts, their own lectures, their own theatrical performances, tHeir own books, periodicals, newspapers. They have money in their pockets., and would be glad to spend some of it in the cinema, but the cinema makes no bid for it, And so they do not go to the cinema. Apparently there has hitner,to been so good a living for everybody in the film industry in catering for flic Charlie Chaplin public that there has been no need to think of any other. It may be that timidity has something to do with it. The Charlie Chaplin public is ready-made. The other would have to be created in the sense that these potential patrons would have to be taught the habit of attending the picture house. That, I think, would not be difficult. If one cinema boldly announced that it intended to cater for thoughtful people the novelty of the announcement would in' itself constitute an excellent advertisement, and the example would, 1 suggest, be followed all over the country. The preparation of the programme would require careful thought. It would be a critical house -—critical, but appreciative of good stuff. A cheap programme composed of odds and ends of interest films and news pictures would produce fatal results. There would be news films, films of travel and scientific interest, and perhaps a good short fiction film. As these houses became firmly established the business of providing them with films would become a wellorganised international industry engaging the best minds in the world.”