FILM CENSORSHIP

Waipa Post, Volume 45, Issue 3208, 26 July 1932, Page 2

FILM CENSORSHIP

SOME DECIDING FACTORS. TREATMENT COUNTS. In cutting out sections of talking pictures which he regards ias Unsuitable for public exhibition, the Government, film censor, Mr W. A. Tanner, does not work, as many people are inclined to suppose, according co a priVately-compiled set of rules. "Almost any subject may be pi'cltiurised or filmed provided the treatment is correst," he told "The Dominion" recently. "It is frequently the treatment more than the actual subject which has to be watched," said Mr Tanner. "] remember at about the time when talkies first came in I said to myself, 'Well, I'll never let a lynching scene go through.' Almost immediately afterwards a Western story arrived for examination, and I realised, not for the first time, how very important the method of treatment of any partiiular subject is. The film had a lynching scene in it. You saw momentarily the rope placed round the man's necn and then the feet of the horse move away suddenly. That was all. The rule against lynching scenes was one I had almost established in my own mind but on that particular occassion it was not necessary to apply it. "In one recent picture, an American one, if the central part had been taken by any other actor it would have 'been an ur.srfuitiablp film. But tine artist was so good, and did things in such a way of his own, that no one could possibly have taken objection to it. Another artist could not have 'got away with it.' " CHILDREN AND TALKIES. "A good many people r&ise the cry about the children and about films which, are unsuitable for them," said Mr Tanner. "As a matter of fact, it has been discovered by the exhibitors, who discover these things faster than anyone else, that children won't come along to these sophisticated plays. The talkies, it was found, did not appeal in the same way, and the result was that they have had to make cartoons, and so on. The subtitles of the sophisticated pictures are generally right over the heads of children. The dangerous age for children, of course, is always from 15 to 20. But you can't blame teachers, or parents, or even censors, for what children pick up. "Some folk are under the impression that I am a sort of czar or dictator that decides just what they are to see at the pictures and what they are not to see," said Mr Tanner. "But that's wrong. You can only deal with

what comes along. The censor doesn't decide what pictures are to be made. And it's wonderful what you can do in some cases by making a sight alteration here and there when necessary." PICTURES WITH LESSONS.

"I can say this," Mr Tanner continued, "that quite a number of the big films that are coming forward have lessons in them. There was some talk recently about the propriety of allowing the film of 'Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde' to be shown. But there was quite a lesson in that picture. One man who objected to the showing of the picture said that it was absurd that a drug should change a man's whole character and appearance. But you've only got to consider your own experience of the world to see how drink or drugs can change a man's whole personality and being. It is the same sort of thing en another scale.

"And just very recently I saw a British picture which is a real thor-ough-going satire upon the American police, the American gangster, and the Am-srican judiciary. It was quite interesting. This year I have seen the two horror pictures which were possibly the most gruesome that have been filmed. But when a picture is taken from a book that is part of the literature of a race you can't very easily turn down. There is also a certain amount of discrimination among the people, which acts as another kind of censorship. In the Old Country there are the West End shews and those in the industrial districts. There are certain pictures which don't go to the industrial districts and others that don't go to the Mayfair end of the town. Tastes are

very different." FINER PICTURES BEING MADE. "In the last year or two," Mr Tanner continued, "the producers have been able to depict so much more than they used to the things of human interest. But one of the problems they are up against is that about 90 per cent, of the people,. I suppose, who go to the pictures, go simply to be amused, to be entertained. They recoil rather disappointed when some strong dramatic picture is shown —a piciMse with a lesson. Some of the pi||pres coming along shortly seem t<rbe wonderfully sweet and simple little stories. I think there is a wonderful improvement in the direction of finer pictures being made. But of course you have always those picturegoers whose mental level is not very high. And the demands of that section of the public have to be met. Nevertheless the better sorts of pictures are more frequent than they were." Mr Tanner thought that of the 400500 licensed picture houses in New Zealand—a figure which included all the town halls that were equipped for the projection of pictures—the very lare majority were capable of showing talkies. Perhpas 100 of them were what were known as "first run houses." The disappearance of the silent film as a means of entertainment meant that for him it was now the rarest thing to see a new silent picture. "I don't think I have seen one for 12 months or more. As a matter of fact, I would probably find it rather painful to sit out a silent picture now." CENSOR'S RESPONSIBLE JOB. To show the vast extent to which talking pictures had captured the

amusement public, Mr Tanner quoted the figures for the Victorian amusement tax returns for the year ended March 31 last. Of the total of 253 million people who had attended taxable amusements, millions had been to the pictures. Racing accounted for 1,400,000, the ordinary theatre for 1,300,000, and dancing for 2 500,000. The picture shows provided 60.2 per cent, of the total amusement tax revenue, and racing was next with 15.5 per cent. "It shows the popularity of the talking picture," said Mr Tanner, "and it shows how warily I have got to tread. But one can only do what one thinks right and do what he thinks is in the interests of the public."