FRIVOLOUS FILM.

Putaruru Press, Volume V, Issue 175, 10 March 1927, Page 3

FRIVOLOUS FILM.

PROTESTS EFFECTIVE. Glasgow’s Patron Saint. One of the numerous and ingenious devices by which the Glasgow students sought to make their charities collection* this year a record was a frivolous kinema film, produced by the students, in which St. Mungo, the patron saint of the city, was portrayed by a film comedian appearing in the city. The film, after being shown in several of the city picture theatres was withdrawn owing to Roman Catholic protests. The main objections to lhe film were that it showed the saint’s ha.o I eng pawned to a Jew and introduced the Charleston. ! The withdrawal was decided not by the Students’ Representative Council but by the kinema interests concerned in tiwwijg and showing the film. The protest of those who objected to tne withdrawal of the film was as strong as the demand which was ruado for its suppression. Members of the Students’ Representative Council, interviewed, stated that their information was that the film, having been issued in the ordinary way as part of the “Gaumont Graphic” for the week, was withdrawn in the first instance by the La Scala management. A notice to the effect that the film had been withdrawn because of public protest was exhibited on the screen. Other managements took a different line, and one manager at least was threatened with a boycott of his theatre if the film were not suppressed. He refused, however, to submit to dictation. The Students’ Representative Council state that they had been careful to consult the leading Catholic students at. the University, who could see no objection to the film. The film was then exhibited privately to a number of students and press representatives, and the opinion of the producers —the students—was that the picture contained no real ground of offence to anyone. An official explanation of the circumstances which occasioned the withdrawal of the film was made by the Glasgow manager of the Gaumont Graphic Company. He said that he had taken the action because of a piotest by the Archbishop of Glasgow (the Right Rev. Donald Mackintosh). On the invitation of the Gaumont representative the Archbishop’s secretary viewed the film at the Gaumont theatre and indicated objections to the pawning and Charleston. The Archbishop, the secretary said, considered himstJf the living representative of Mungo, and object ed to those scenes as person:: 1 reflection upon himself. Telegrams had also been sent by the Archbishop to the managing director of the Gaumont Company in London, and, the whole matter having been referred to the Glasgow manager of the firm, he decided to stop the issue of the film.