NEW USE FOR CINEMA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19320, 6 May 1926, Page 11

NEW USE FOR CINEMA.

ADJUNCT TO CHURCH WORK. "i> . / ; • - MOUNT EDEN INNOVATION SPREADING A SOCIAL GOSPEL. The introduction'"of "the cinematograph will be a feature of a, campaign of special community work which commences this evening under the' direction of the Rev. Stanley Morrison, minister of the .Mount Kdon "'Congregational Church. A projector has been installed in the school hall and this . evening's film subject will be tliie "Life of' Abraham Lincoln." Mr. K. H. Potter, Mayor- of Mount Eden, will deliver a.short address. Mr. Morrison said yesterday tliat lie proposed to spread-a-social gospel. The solution; of the church, problem lay in the community idea.. It was no good bemoaning the presence of evil influences, from the point of view of the child spectator, in many of .the films now screened, if no serious attempt were made to take the matter in hand. His present move was to cater for this desire for visual entertainment, or instruction, by providing a class of film which would be unexceptionable. Tt was not merely a ease of providing for the children, for the films to be shown would be acceptable to an audience of any age. "Peter Pan," "Disraeli," and "The Three Musketeers" were, of a type such as he would present. It was proposed to preface each screening with a lecturette. These'gatherings would be held weekly and, say once a month, an afternoon programme would be provided for the elderly people of the district. Topical news films would be included. Thus would an atmosphere of wholesome fellowship be created, in contrast to the feeling of mournful repression which many claimed to experience in connection with the church.