THE KINEMA PROBLEM.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 2713, 22 June 1925, Page 2

THE KINEMA PROBLEM.

SERVICE IN MODERN LIFE. INFLUENCE ON PUBLIC MORALS. 'There are no fewer than 1,076,675,000 attendances at picture shows in the United Kingdom in the course of a single year. On the basis of these figures the entire population of Great Britain visits picture shows approximately each fortnight. In the British Isles there are 4500 theatres with a mean seating capacity which affords accommodation for one in every 37 of the population. The recent comprehensive inquiry by the National Council of Public Morals also disclosed the facts that about 5000 new kinema "subjects” are issued each year, and that some 70,000,000 feet of 111 m are running through the projectors of the country each week. From 80,000 to 100,000 persons arc directly engaged in the various branches of the trade. And in thickly populated areas about 90 per cent, of the elementary school population from 8 to 14 years of age frequent this form of entertainment. Sir James Marchant, in a foreword dealing with the report, observes that, although the kihema is to be regarded primarily as a means of amusement and recreation, many praiseworthy attempts have been made by some producers of films to deal with natural phenomena from the educational standpoint, and films have been prepared in which the educational interest is predominant. Films of natural history, geographical and historical interest have been prepared with marked ability and at great cost, but It must be admitted that fhesd films ho,vc not proved sufficiently attractive to the general public to- warrant the expenditure involved in their production. "Teachers and children who have appeared before the Commission had little to say in favour of the educational film as it Is at present shown in a mixed program, though some 'mentioned the possibility of such films proving of educational value under favourable conditions and In close association with the work of the school. “We were also told by representatives of the trade that the public would not tolerate a greater admixture of educational films than 10 per cent. In a mixed program. Prom statistics of an investigation of the interest of children in different classes of films, it appeared that the total number who preferred educational films was almost negligible. The small percentage of children who liked this type of film more than any other was, however, markedly greater among those -with good home surroundings than among those from very poor districts. Such films were also shown to bo more popular among girls than among boys, but even among girls from good homes only three to four per. cent showed a preference for educational films. "The Commission was thus driven to the conclusion that under the existing conditions the educational film had failed to make an appropriate appeal to the school child. “It would,” continued the report, “appear to the Commission that, in the exhibition of films which combine matters of general with great educational interest, and which from their nature are not capable of direct observation by children, the kinema may prove a valuable adjunct to the school. This function of the kinema should, however, be clearly distinguished from that of its use as a means of direct education as a part of the apparatus of the school."