AMERICAN FILM BAN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26541, 16 August 1947, Page 7

AMERICAN FILM BAN

LITTLE ANXIETY IN BRITAIN PREFERENCE FOR HOME PRODUCTIONS N.Z.P.A. Special Correspondent Rec. 8 p.m. LONDON, Aug. 15. While the British motion picture exhibitors are anxiously conferring about the effects of the American film ban and predicting the wholesale closing of British cinemas unless the ban is lifted, the Cinemagoers’ Association of Great Britain, which claims that its 9000 members represent- a fair crosssection of cinemagoers in all parts of Britain, has ascertained, by means of a questionnaire, that the anxiety of the cinema owners does not appear to be shared by those who pay for admission. “ The great majority of those who answered the questionnaire,” said Mr Stephen Haywood, secretary of the association, “ placed four British films at the top of their list of preferences and hardly mentioned American films. The majority also expresses a preference for single-feature programmes and placed Westerns at the bottom of their popularity list.” Mr''Haywood expressed the opinion that many British filmgoers would not worry about the absence of American films and be quite content to see repeats of earlier American successes instead of new pictures. The London Evening Standard suggests that if the American film com-, panies. really feel the pinch as a result of the tax they should stop paying fabulous salaries.to their stars <and equally fabulous prices for film stories. It quotes £130,000 paid for John van Druten’s “Voice of the Turtle” and £500,000 paid to publicise the film “ Duel in the Sun.”