FILMS IN THE EAST.

Waikato Times, Volume 96, Issue 15360, 8 October 1923, Page 6

FILMS IN THE EAST.

BAD EFFECT ON NATIVES. i There has recently arisen a good deal of dissatisfaction among British residents in our possessions in the East on account of the unsuitable nature of many of the films that are being shown in cinemas frequented by the' native population. A great many films that are sent to India and other countries are quite unsuitable for exhibition to natives. Either they are actively injurious, as when scenes of violence or passion are exhibited, or they are passively harmful, as when they exhibit the white man in a foolish or contemptible light. It seems that the time has come to regulate more strictly the importation of films from abroad into those countries and to examine more carefully those that arc imported.

The dangers of showing unsuitable films to natives have long been realised, and reference has already been made to them in the London Times, but it is striking that there should still be so much room for complaint when all over the world the standard of film production has been rising. In India probably nine-tenths of the population are illiterate. The native never seems to grow up mentally, and the average audience at these picture theatres is, therefore, composed of those who are mature in body and very immature indeed in mind. To them are exhibited "sex" films made in American studios, and films in which violence is the main theme. With these may bo sandwiched a comic film showing a white man carrying out a series of ridiculous antics. The result is inevitable, and a little Jtvhlle ago there was definite proof that the abduction by natives of an officer's wife was suggested by a serial film in which scenes of violence occurred.

Such films, of which there are many, are positively harmful, but there are others that do a great amount of insidious damage. It must be remembered that practically all the films imported into India arc 'American. There are no home-made productions there, and very few British productions are imported. The Americans have a monopoly in the market and they send films over in an indiscriminate way. Everyone has seen those films made in the United States which set out to give an idea of English life and manners. To the English they are merely ridiculous. To the native, who probably believes that

they give a fair idea of English life, they may be very harmful indeed. The same may be said of Alms that are shown in parts of Egypt. Film distributors do not realise that a film may be tolerated in one country and quite unsuitable in another. There is at present no system regulating the importation of Alms from one country to another, and very little check on those that are imported, because, so long as import duties are paid and local censoring regulations observed, anyone is free to send what films he likes to any part of the world. A certain amount of good can be done by strengthening the local cinema censoring rules in the different countries, and it might even be possible eventually to institute throughout the British Empire a roughly uniform system, but

far more good could be done by dealing with the matter at the root. ■ A suggestion was put forward in the Times more than a year ago which would go far to check the indiscriminate distribution of films throughout the world. It was pointed out that there was even then the need for a kind of Film League of Nations. It was suggested that representatives of the film industry in the different countries should form an international organisation which could be empowered to control the international exchange of films. At present in most of the big Aim-producing countries there are in existence bodies representing film manufacturers, distributors, and exhibitors, and it should be possible byarrangement to select representatives from these national bodies to form an International organisation with- power to supervise the international distribution of films. In this way obviously unsuitable films might be kept out of the East altogether. It must bo admitted that many are probably dispatched through ignorance. It is difficult to realise that what may be a perfectly unobjectionable Aim in New York can be very harmful in India.