News Briefs From London

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26704, 25 February 1948, Page 7

News Briefs From London

From A. W. Mitchell, N.Z.P.A. Special Correspondent

Rec. 8 p.m. LONDON, Feb. 22. Just when general congratulations were being exchanged on the mildness of Britain’s winter compared with last year, the whole country has been lashed by blizzards sweeping across Europe from Siberia. The severity of the weather is now as bad as the worst period last year, with the entire country blanketed with snow. Forecasts are that the blizzards will continue for at least another two days. The only people to derive some slight satisfaction are those who previously surveyed shooting bulbs and budding trees, deceived by the unseasonal warmth, and nodded their heads sagely and murmured, “Ah We will pay for this. Just you wait and see.”

Theatre and Cinema Audiences One effect of the cold weather has been a slight increase in the audiences in theatres, concert halls, and cinemas, which have warming as well as entertainment propensities, and all of which have incidentally been in the news lately. Power is to be given to local authorities to build theatres and concert halls and help finance the orchestras by levying up to a 6d rate. When the subject was discussed in the House of Commons, Mr Aneurin Bevan said he believed there was “real hunger” for something beyond the feature film day after day. He instanced a cinema run by miners who, to avoid paying entertainment tax, put on Greek plays. Now they complained, said Mr Bevan, that they were making more profit from Greek plays than from films. I Film Industry Crisis While Greek words are spelling profits for these Welsh miners the British film industry is going through a crisis. Many studios are now idle, and Lord Strabolgi told the House of Lords that one-third of the available studio space was unoccupied and that employees “ were being sacked left and right.” The position is so bad that film woi'kers wired Mr Harold Wilson, President of the Board of Trade, asking for immediate talks to speed production and save “ the steadily deteriorating industry.” It is held that the film industry’s slump is directly due to Britain's 75 per cent, tax on American films, which reduces the cinema profits used for British film productions. Many people, however, believe that now is the chance for British studios to make a supreme effort to produce more films to take the place of American pictures.