DAY BY DAY

Waikato Times, Volume 94, Issue 14585, 7 February 1921, Page 4

DAY BY DAY

Film censoring fs a difficult and invidious task with more Censoring kicks than ha'pence atof tached to it. The latest Pictures, decision of the Minister of Internal Affairs is that pictures in which "thieving, robbery, murder, and suicide" are "made a feature" are to be banned. This, we are kid, means the end of the picture, business in New Zealand. The Ministerial edict is a sweeping one, and a great deal depends on the interpretation of it. Crime that is not "made a feature" may, it seems, still be presented on the screen. The Minister's object, we take it, is the very good one of making an end of the "shilling shocker" type of picture which lias no other object than the presentation of a series of scenes of violence. There are too many such pictures about, and the bulk of the public is not lively to shed tears over their disappearance. At tiie same time if the instruction were read in too narrow a sense numbers of pictures might be banned to Which it would lie unreasonable to take exception. Tiie task is one calling for a nic: tense of discrimination, and the censor, it may be hoped, will take a commonsense view. in Britain, from correspondence appearing in the press, it appears that a distinction is made by the censor between romantic crime and realistic crime, between murder in Mexico and murder in the Mile End. "Guilty love" may be portrayed, but not the "pursuit of lust." A lightlyclad lady may be shown swimming, but may not be seen at rest. Even a Jesuitical casuist should be hard put to distuguish between "guilty love" and tlu "pursuit of lust" I