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INTERNATIONAL REVIEW

OF

EDUCATIONAL
CINEMATOGRAPH

1929
JULY

MONTHLY PUBLICATION OF THE JNTERNATIONAL

EDUCATIONAL CINEMATOGRAPHIC INSTITUTE

- LEAGUE OF NATIONS ~

INTERNATIONAL EDUCATIONAL
CINEMATOGRAPHIC INSTITUTE

LEAGUE OF NATIONS

ADMINISTRATIVE COUNCIL.

ROCCO Hon. Prof. Alfredo, Minister of Justice. President.

CURLIS Dr. Hans, Director of the Institute for Cultural Research in

Berlin.
FOCILLON Prof. Henry, Member of the C. I. C. I. Prof, at the Uni-
versity of Paris.
KELLOGG Dr. Vernon, President of the National Council for Resear-
ches in the United States.
KNOPH Ragnar, Prof, of Law at the University of Oslo.
KRUSS Dr. Prof. Ugo, Director General of the Prussian State Library

in Berlin.
LUMIERE Louis, Member of the Institute of France.
MILLIKEN Carl, Secretary General of the Motion Picture Producers t£

Distributors Inc. (U. S. A.)
MISTRAL Prof. Gabriela.
MURRAY Prof. Gilbert, President of the International Commission for

International Cooperation.
NITOBE Prof. Inazo, Senator, Member of the Imperial Japanese

Academy.
PARANJPYE Dr. R. P., ex Minister of Instruction in Bombay, Member

of the Indian Council.
REYNOLD Prof. Gonzague de, Member of the C. I. C. I. Prof, at the

University of Berne.

SANGRO Y ROS DE OLANO don Pedro, MARQUES DE GUAD-

EL-JELU', Prof, of Labour Legislation in Madrid.

The Secretary General of the League of Nations.
The President of the International Agricultural Institute.
The Director of the International Labour Office.

The Director of the International Institute for Intellectual Cooperation,
are present at the meetings with consultive vote.

OPRESCU Prof. Giorgio, Secretary.
de FEO Doctor Luciano, Director.

YEAR I. JULY 1929 N° 1

INTERNATIONAL REVIEW

OF

EDUCATIONAL CINEMATOGRAPH

MONTHLY PUBLICATION

OF THE INTERNATIONAL EDUCATIONAL CINEMATOGRAPHIC INSTITUTE

— LEAGUE OF NATIONS —

ROME - Via Lazzaro Spallanzani 1 - ROME

By Transfer
Bureau of Standards

MAR 1 7 1932

I X D E X

Introduction

Louis-Dop - The role and the purpose of the

International Educational Cinemato-
graphic Institute 12

G. Santini - The Film and Instruction 26

J. Destree - Concerning the Cinema 31

E. Seeger - State control of Films in Germany . 34

H. Carton de Wiart - Childhood and the Film 45

G. A. Sartorio ...- Art in the Cinema 50

A. de Vincente ... - Good and Evil Effect of the Cinemato-
graph 55

H. Curlis - The Child and the Film 60

W. Jerofejew .... - The Documentary Film : Afghanistan. 64
N. A. Stroukov. . . - The Documentary Film : In search of

the Meteorite in the Taiga 70

Fire and Film 74

The Storage and Preservation of Negatives 76

The Family Cinematograph 78

First Demonstration of Sound Motion Pictures in Lifelike Pers-
pective on World's Largest Picture Screen 79

The Life of the Institute : 83

The Technical Aspects of the Cinema : Talking Films .... 84

The Cinema at the Service of the Scientific Organisation of Labour 90

The Legislative Aspects of the Cinema : The Tariff Question . . 91

The Institute in the Field of Agriculture 100

The Cinematograph used for Hygienic Propaganda and Social

prevention 106

Xotes taken from Reviews and Papers no

The « International Review of Educational Cinematograph taken
to-dav the first step along the road of its future.

The programme of its work and activity is synthetically outlined
in the Statutes which have governed the creation of the International
Educational Cinematographic Institute, viz.: to promote the produc-
tion, circulation and exchange between various countries, of educational
films dealing with education, art, professional and agricultural orien-
tation and teaching, hygienic and social propaganda and with all the
other numberless and varied fields of activity and study that are based
on. and connected with, every cultural expression as applied to the
screen. Or that derive their origin from the moral and social influence
which the cinema may exercise, and actually exercises on the masses
and more especially on children.

The discovery of movable types in a small printing-shop in the
fifteenth century gave a first and powerful impulse to what became
the vulgarizing and diffusion of culture in the world. Science and
knowledge, enclosed within the silent walls of convents and limited
in time and space by the great difficulty of diffusion, become from the
privilege of few individuals the patrimony of all.

« Vulgarization » of knozvledge and science must not be taken
in the elementary sense of the word but denotes that they became open
to all, and the immortal works which to-day inspire the life., spiritual
and otherwise, of peoples come within the reach of all.

The discovery of the camera oscura marked the second funda-
mental stage in the progress of human knowledge and constituted the
second tool placed at the disposal of man for the conquest and diffusion
of culture.

Cinematography came next, after a very interesting series of
studies and apparatuses. Which sometimes had even a fantastic or
magic appearance. It surpassed by a single stroke the power of appeal
of both word and book. The life of men and things, far and near,
the life easy to understand or that hidden from us for infinite reasons,
the life of microscopic beings contained in a drop of water, everything
appears on the luminous screen neatly and plainly with a clearness
and suggestive efficacy which no other medium possesses, and surpassing
in descriptive and persuasive power the most impassioned words of
educators and the most analytic and cleverest writings of scientists.

The cinema is the most comprehensible language in its great
simplicity. It appeals directly to the eye and the visual representation,
causing a perfect state of emotion and sensibility, fixes on our mind
and soul conceptions which are not easily forgotten — sensations com-
plete in analysis and synthesis — , and permits to see and therefore to
feel, through the psychical reflections of the vision, what no word
or written description, however precise, could possibly render.

Our Review desires in fact to become a free field for this
form of activity . At the same time it will be the mirror reflecting
the work carried on by the International Educational Cinemato-
graphic Institute.

The book, the word, the lantern slide are auxiliary factors of
science and knowledge but do not attain the limit which only moving
pictures can reach. This accounts for the fact that motion pictures
are destined in future to dominate more and increasingly better the life
of the peoples and the intellectual movement of the various Nations.

The first and fundamental result of this will be a mutual and pre-
cise understanding, a mutual co-operation among all the peoples and
the cinema will be regarded as one of the greatest and most powerful
factors towards social peace, especially if, by divulging from one con-
tinent to another documentary visions of the life, strength and characte-
ristic aspect of the other countries, it may help to dispel the erroneous
or false impressions created by the words or writings of men conveying
a one-sided or impassioned view or conception.

The fundamental purpose of the International Educational
Cinematographic Institute is to help knowledge and science through

the utmost development of the cinema as means and instrument of
education.

The work of the Institute is carried on wit h confidence and keen
enthusiasm in the small Medioeval Villa Tor Ionia enclosed in pine
and fir trees, in the heart of Rome, or in the silent recesses of Villa
Falconieri. Built towards the middle of the 16th century, this
historic villa which the Italian State has offered to the International
Institute, was erected on the ruins of ancient Tusculum, where Cicero
places his dialogue « De Divinatione » with his brother Quintus,
where he wrote « De Orator e » and « De Gloria », where he read out
to Sallustius the first books « De Republica » and wherefrom the
philosophical conversations on the problem of happiness derive their
name « Tusculanae ».

The surroundings in which the work of the Institute is being
carried on serve to give an idea of its lofty ideals.

The activities which the Governing Board and Executive Com-
mittee have assigned to the working organs of the Institute are ma-
nifold and wide. The first business has been to collect documentary
evidence of the world industry of Educational Cinema and of the
industries allied to it — an inquiry which necessarily had to be
extended to the theatrical cinema in view of the fact that there exists
as yet no definite line of demarcation between the purely educational
and cultural province on the one hand and the theatrical province of
life and action on the other. At a later stage, that is, when this de-
marcation will be established, this work will be confined to the Edu-
cational cinema. At the same time the collection of evidence has been
extended everything which has any relation with the cinema in the legi-
slative field. This work, however, is not being proceeded with for the
sake of collection or erudition, but as an indispensable preparation
or studies and proposals which will give the cinema a wider range
of action more in keeping with its own cultural and scientific appli-
cations.

Side by side with the documentary branches which take note of
the activities of similar international and national institutes, the techni-
cal fields of action are being developed day by day.

The historico- scientific knowledge of the cinema, of its innume-

rable applications and its subsidiary and integrative discoveries has
led the Institute to undertake the collection of the world's patents
relating to cinematography and at the same time to provide for their
classification, selection, filing and examination.

This work will in due course render possible the formation of an
extensive archive which will be at the disposal of all students who will
thus be in a position to apply to the Institute for information regarding
the precedents of certain principles or systems. This Review will
at the same time start the systematic publication, divided according
to subject and speciality, of all patents registered with those States
in which the relative examinations are carried out under proper control.

Pending the gradual organization of the various sections and
services of the Institute, the work of study and investigation is also
being pursued in the field of cinematography as applied to agricidtural
teaching and propaganda, hygienic and social propaganda, the various
grades of teaching, the problems of the new methodology and pedagogy,
the orientation, professional training and scientific organization of
labour.

At the same time, with a view to enabling the various departments
to acquire a perfect knowledge of the activities of other countries,
hundreds of newspapers and Reviews are systematically read, all the
books which appear on the cinema are collected and read with the grea-
test care, various files are used for consideration by the officials
concerned.

Side by side with this work, an inquiry into the social and moral
aspects of the cinema is being pursued. This work which has been
started already, is inspired not by negative criteria or by opposition
to the cinematographic industry, but by a spirit of fervent and sincere
co-operation. To enquire into the direct and indirect influence which
the screen exercises upon the spirit and education of peoples, sexes
and minors does not imply a preconceived condemnation of the cinema;
its object is, on the contrary, to indicate to the industry the paths
to be followed, the mistakes to be corrected, in the interest of the pro-
ducers themselves, who otherwise will see artificial but necessary
barriers being set up bv law , prohibiting the admission of minors to cinema
halls and introducing several forms of censorship. These studies and

investigations covey the fields of psychology, pediatric psychiatry,
sociology, pathology and criminology, and tend to ascertain what, if
any, may be the necessary consequences of cinema-shows, propose
practical remedies and find out the progress made from year to year.

The cinema is described as the most powerful means of propaganda
and culture in the Reports that reach the International Institute
from far India and torrid Africa, and are full of symptomatic elo-
quence. These reports as well as legislation concerning the cinema,
which becomes more complex every day, will be reviewed and illus-
trated. The influence exercised by the cinema over peoples amongst
whom illiterates are still a high percentage, proves the evident im-
portance of this new instrument of civilization, the need of it that is
being felt everywhere as a medium of science and knowledge, and the
necessity felt by all nations to take an interest in it with a view
to directing it towards the maximum welfare of the peoples .

For these reasons the International Institute has decided to edit
and distribute this Review, which is at once a living field of battle and
action, of investigation and thought and which will contain a record
of all the work of the Institute in all the branches of its activities.

To give the greatest circulation to the Review, the Institute has
not hesitated to publish it in five editions, respectively printed in
English, Italian, French, German and Spanish.

All those, individuals or moral bodies, who are animated by faith
and good zvill and throughout the world apply themselves to science
and culture as universal elements of life, and zvho are in a position to
indicate new systems or new paths enabling the educational film in
its vast range of action to take root, are invited to collaborate openly
and freely with us. The columns of our Reviezv are from to-day open
to any suggestion, advice and information in the interest of the In-
stitute and of the ideal that the Institute serves.

THE ROLE AND THE PURPOSE

OF THE INTERNATIONAL EDUCATIONAL

CINEMATOGRAPHIC INSTITUTE

{From the French)

A fact that characterises particularly the political, economical
and social history of the begining of the 20th. century, is the
tendency more and more marked in the different peoples to direct
their various efforts and conceptions toward a collaboration and
a cooperation which becomes every day more close between the
nations, in view of realising progress in all its forms, and to
establish a more perfect cognisance amongst the peoples, a soli-
darity always more close between them, and to establish the foun-
dations of the kingdom of peace amongst the men of goodwill.

These principles and these ideas, were already in the minds
of statesmen from the end of the 19 th. century, and the attempt
to create at the Hague a sort of Peace-Tribunal was a clear indica-
tion of this movement and of the pacific tendencies of the peoples.

It was reserved for the 20th, century to give reality and life to
these tendencies and also practical effect by concrete realizations
to the principles which corresponded to the needs of the peoples ;
to establish between them the collaboration and cooperation re-
quired to give satisfaction to their material and moral interests.

Amongst these realizations, it is essential to refer in the first
place to the high and generous inititive taken in 1905 by H. M.
Emanuel III, King of Italy, to assemble in Rome an international
agricultural conference, with the view of resolving, in the interna-
tional sphere, all the technical, economical and social problems
concerning agriculture in all countries of the world.

This happy initiative was chiefly intended, in the mind of
»ts August Promotor, to create a solidarity amongst the agricultural
classes in all countries, thus establishing one of the peace ties
amongst the peoples.

The undertaking was hard and difficult, but the brilliant suc-
cesses which have been obtained, the favorable reception which

— 12

has been given by various Governments, who consented to create
in Rome a State Institution under the name of International
Institute of Agriculture, are a certain proof that these ideas and
principles responded to a need of the peoples.

The number of the adhering States which was originally 40 is
now 75, thus clearly demonstrating the almost universal character
of this institution.

The first efforts of the League of Nations, specialized and
tending to resolve technically one of the problems most difficult
in world economy, agriculture, showed clearly the tendency of
governments and peoples to study and resolve within a constantly
expanding international plane the various problems closely con-
nected writh the well being and the prosperity of nations, and to
insure as a consequence international solidarity and peace amongst
the peoples.

After the tragic upheaval caused by the war in political, eco-
nomic and social conditions, the peoples experienced in a deci-
sive manner the necessity for Governments to arrive at an under-
standing in order to realize on a large scale the aspirations and
tendencies and resolve by a common entente the difficulties which
arose at every moment between the peoples in the field of poli-
tics as well as in the field of economic and social questions.

In accordance with the wishes and aspirations of the peoples
of the different continents, the creation of the League of Nations
represents without any doubt the historical fact of the most consi-
derable importance of the begining of the 20th, century.

During the terrible years 1914 to 1918, hitherto only faintly
discernible, mourning, sadness and privations were the lot of the
peoples who were directly involved in the great conflict.

Every one may be said to have been concerned, for every
nation has felt either.

Consequently the proposals for the creation of a League of
Nations appeared to humanity as a symbol announcing the advent
of a New Age, in which peace is promised to men of goodwill.

In order to insure and guarantee this peace, the States have
realised that it was necessary to sacrifice to the Entente Cordiale

13

■9BBBB1BP

amongst the peoples, some of the privileges that up to now have
been jealously defended by them, and to entrust them to a body of
an international character but with deeply human and disinterested
as well as highly moral ends, which impose themselves to the
consideration, the respect and gratitude of the Nations.

The mission thus reserved by the Pact to the League of
Nations was of a higher, more important nature, so that it could be
applied successively to all subjects and to all problems in the poli-
tic, economic and social fields, which have their final object to
assure peace amongst the peoples, and in this way to promote
the happiness of humanity.

The work of the League of Nations was thus full of great
difficulties and reponsibilities. Although it covered a multitude
of complex subjects and problems that have been successively
referred to it by various Governments, the activity of the League
of Nations forms, in spite of all, a harmonic whole in which the
component parts are subjected to the principles and to the rules
which derive from its constitution.

If in the human body the organism forms by itself a single
whole, a single individual, it is not the less true that nature has
herself specialized and adapted certain parts of the body to certain
functions essential to the life of the human being, the function
rendering necessary the organ.

In the same way in the organisation of the League of Nations
the complexity of the work has rendered necessary the creation
of new organs which, without destroying the unity and harmony
of the whole, ensure in a more perfect manner the working and the
increasing progress of the main organism.

It is from this principle and from these necessities that the
various international organisms that depend more or less directly
on the League of Nations, have been created. It is also to
meet one of these necessities and to satisfy these needs that the
Italian Government, under the inspiration of its chief,
H. E. Benito Mussolini, proposed to the League of Nations,
which willingly has accepted the duty, the creation of the most
recent International Official Body, The International Educational

— 14

Cinematographic Institute, which is under the direction of the
council of the League of Nations.

Full justice must be rendered here to the noble and generous
initiatives so opportunely taken by H. M. the King of Italy
and his Government for the creation of international organisms
tending towards humanitarian ends and towards international co-
operation such as we have mentioned above.

The creation of the International Institute of Agriculture
in 1905, and then, after the foundation of the League of Nations,
the establishment in Rome of the « International Institute for the
Unification of Private Law7 », and quite recently the opening there
of the International Educational Cinematographic Institute, these
two latter institutions being placed under the direct autho-
rity and control of the Council of the League of Nations,
show in a significative and eloquent manner the effective and
disinterested contribution made by the Italian Nation to the
admirable work of the League of Nations.

Thus the International Educational Cinematographic Insti-
tute is now placed and classed in the official list of the
official International organizations, with a programme, an object
and a purpose which deserves to be made known.

* * *

The specialization, which is continually more marked, of the
various international organisations, is a phenomenon which is the
natural and logical consequence of the complexity of life, of the
necessity to study in a special and thorough manner certain
problems interesting more especially the pacific development of
nations. This is the reason that has induced the League of
Nations since its foundation to create certain auxiliary organi-
sations.

Amongst these organisations, the first place may be assigned
to the technical organisations, which constitute the most original
and practical creation of the League of Nations. The reason for
establishing these organisations is known. In the international life
there exist a large number of problems of a technical order, which

IS

are susceptible of causing conflicts of a political order. The
technical organisations of the League of Nations are intended
to deal with technical problems before they degenerate into po-
litical conflicts, and proceed then to resulutions by technicians
belonging to the different countries. These auxiliary organizations
deal in particular with : Organisation of Communications and Transit,
Economic and Financial Organisation, Organisation for Hygiene.

Above these technical organisations placed on a higher plane,
are the organisations of an autonomous character, and a more in-
dependent constitution and these can receive the collaboration
of other States which are outside the League of Nations. These
autonomous organisations are :

i. The Permanent Court of International Justice, founded in
conformity with article 14 of Pact, under the auspices of the League
of Nations, and which is juridically, a judicial international and
independent organisation, based on an International Convention
outside the Pact.

This Court is open to all the States of the World, including
those which are not members of the League of Nations.

2. The International Labour Office is a branch of the League
of Nations. This organisation was created, not by the Pact but
by a special provision in the Treaty of Versailles (Part. XIII, Tra-
vail). It is founded on the basis of Social Justice, with the object
of suppressing injustice, miser}' and privations in the conditions
of human labour.

With a sense of justice and humanity, as a well as with the
desire to ensure a durable world peace, the contracting States
have resolved to regulate the organisation and the working of
this autonomous organisation, with the object of realizing the
purposes fixed by the principles stated above.

In consequence of the brilliant results obtained by the Inter-
national Labour Office, the States can realise that the specia-
lization of work placed under a direction having a certain degree
of independence, and the development of the efforts for reaching
the results desired, can only facilitate, and help the progress and
purposes of the League of Nations.

16

5^ H= *

3. The special Institutes under the League of X at ions. A third
group of Institutions, called special Institutes, created by the
member States, and placed under the jurisdiction of the League
complete the groups of the specialised organisations which combine
to insure the regular working, the development and the progress
of the League of Nations .

The first of these special organizations is :

1. The International Institute for Intellectual Co-operation
founded in Paris by the French State in 1925.

Juridically distinct from the League of Nations, retaining its
special institutional character of internal right, this international
official organ maintains nevertheless very close relations with
the League of Nations, as it serves as an instrument of preparation
and execution for the Commission of Intellectual Co-operation,
which is a proper and direct branch of the League of Nations. The
Governing Body of the Institute is on the other hand formed
by the same members who constitute the Commission of In-
tellectual Co-operation.

The scientific, literary and scientific objects followed by this
organisation, require necessarily a close, cordial and loyal collab-
oration with other international organisms, which on the technical
side it contributes efficiently to the development of scientific
progress.

2. The International histitute for the U nification of Private Law.
created by the Italian Government, with its seat in Rome, con-
stitutes a second form of special Institute under the authority of
the League of Nations, its object being to realise the unification of
the principles regulating private law in the membre States of
the League of Nations.

The composition of its Board, of Governors composed of the
most eminent legal personalities belonging to all the States interes-
ted is a sure guarantee of the success which will be achieved
by this Institute.

3. The International Educational Cinematographic Institute
The most recent, but not the least important, of the special interna-

2-ingl. 17 —

tional organisations placed under the authority of the League
of Nations is the International Educational Cinematographic
Institute.

This official organism comes also within the sphere of the
special organisations the object of which is to facilitate and assist
the general aims of the League of Nations, although directing
its particular efforts to a very important object which, as stated in
art. 2 of its Statutes, consists in ((promoting the production, the
diffusion and the exchange amongst various countries of educational
films relating to instruction, art, industry, agriculture, commerce,
hygiene, social education, etc., by employing all the means that its
Governing Body may consider necessary ». From this enumera-
tion, it may be gathered how important is the role assigned to the
International Educational Cinematographic Institute.

Educational films interest all branches of the activities on
which scientific, artistic, industrial, commercial and other forms
of progress depend.

The task is difficult, hard and complex, and in our opinion
can only be realised by a close, cordial and whole hearted collabo-
ration and understanding between the existing international asso-
ciations which by their Statutes, could deal with similar activities,
as those which the International Educational Cinematographic
Institute is required to occupy itself, from a technical point of
view so as to realise the purposes which have been assigned to it.

It is not our object to make a special study of the Statutes of
the International Educational Cinematographic Institute.

The Statutes were drafted by the Italian Government
and were submitted for approval to the Council of the League
of Nations, taking into account the observations put forward by
the Commission of Intellectual Co-operation attached to the League
of Nations, by the Commission for Child Welfare and by the
International Labour Office.

The Council of the League of Nations approved the Statutes
definitely on August 30th, 1928.

We may be permitted to point out, that art. 6 of the Statutes,
provided, from now onwards, that cordial collaboration that we

— iJ

have foreseen earlier in this article. In fact, the Secretary General
of the League of Nations, the Director of the International Labour
Office, the Director of the Institute for Intellectual Co-operation
and the President of the International Institute of Agriculture
may take part in the meetings of the Governing Body or they
may appoint their representatives, as consulting members.

It is necessary in addition to point out that, like all other special
organisations already in being, the International Educational Cine-
matographic Institute, is juridically distinct from the League of
Nations. It has been created by the Italian State in order to develop
an international collaboration in the educational field by means of
the educational film. Nevertheless it has been established accord-
ing to the terms of agreements made between the League of
Nations and the Italian Government, so that this new Institute
maintains close relations with the League.

The official opening of the International Educational Cine-
matographic Institute took place at the Villa Falconieri near Fra-
scati on November 5th, 1928, in the presence of H. M. the King
of Italy, members of the Italian Government, members of the
Council, members of the Diplomatic Corps and high officials of
the State.

Eloquent speeches were delivered during the ceremony, by
His Exc. Benito Mussolini, Chief of the Italian Government, by
His Exc. Villegas, Chilian Ambassador in the name of the League
of Nations, by the Marquis Paulucci de' Calboli Barone, Under
Secretary General of the League of Nations, and lastly by His
Exc. Rocco, Italian Minister of Justice and President of the In-
ternational Educational Cinematographic Institute in which were
clearly shown the programme, and the ends to be achieved by the
new Istitute, the creation of which was due to the generosity
of the Italian Government. We are unable to repeat and even
less to comment the speeches made by these illustrious persons.
We may be allowed however to insist here on the educational

19 —

role assigned by its statutes to the International Educational
Cinematographic Institute.

Its social mission is destined to have considerable impor-
tance. If it is true that in our time all the peoples are trying to their
utmost to diffuse instruction amongst their peoples, it is not the
less true that one sees everywhere a general dearth of education.
It is therefore education which must be placed in the first rank,
receive the best attention, and become the ideal achievement of
the new Institution. This has been perfectly understood and rea-
lized by its organisers who have given to it a name which suggests
a sort of definition of its object, « Educational Cinematograph ».
Without doubt, the cinema is called on to exercise a great in-
fluence in the general development and instruction of the peoples, and
the efforts accomplished up to the present are already considerable.

But it is the educational role of this new instrument for the
diffusion of thought that appears to us to represent its particular
essence.

The new means for the diffusion of thought and ideas the
progress of which appears to be a special feature of the 20th, Cen-
tury, represents at the present day, in the hands of the Go-
vernments through the organisations created for the purpose,
not only an instrument of control but above all a particularly
efficient means of impressing the spirit of the peoples and by the
repetition of the imagery, to exert a direct influence on the deve-
lopment of national education : It is therefore essential to examine
from the start these new problems, the evolution of which call
into play the relations of influences among the peoples, as well as
constantly increasing international collaboration. No one ignores
the influence of the film on the customs and on the sentiments of
the community. All the spectators in a Cinema look for entertain-
ment rather than a lesson.

Nevertheless, all pictures possess an instructive force, good .or
bad, attractive or repulsive, and by the sentiments of symphathy
or antipathy that they arouse, they constitute a factor that re-
presents in reality a powerful means for the education of the
masses.

— 20

■-— —

By the cinema language frontiers and even the limits of
civilizations are overcome. The customs, the manner of living, the
fashions, the ideas with which the public conceives social or private
relations, all in fact, is material for the cinema that penetrates through
various peoples, and if the films produced and presented to the pub-
lic have for their object the elevation of the intellectual and moral
level of the individual, it follows that the film exerts in this way its
educational mission and contributes largely to create a solidarity
of sentiment amongst the different peoples.

To-day the film has become a means of propaganda stronger
than the newspaper.

The film gives to the citizens a more exact notion of the civi-
lization of other peoples, the peasant is made to acquire a better
understanding of city life and viceversa. The result is that cus-
toms, traditions, hygiene and social relations may beneficially
be influenced by the film.

From this follows the imperious necessity of watching and
improving film production, and in consequence also the neces-
sity to insure the technical quality of the film. From the above
considerations follows the essential and dominant role of Educa-
tional, allotted to the International Educational Cinematographic
Institute by its promoters, who might rightly be called « The
Gothenberg of to-day ».

The encouragement and the impulse given by the In-
ternational Educational Cinematographic Institute in spheres so
closely concerned with the progress of civilization: instruction,
art, industry, agriculture, commerce, hygiene, social education etc.,
the diffusion of educational films in the various countries of this
great international official organism, acting as a sort of technical
regulator for the production of films in all countries constitutes
also a guide for the direction to be given, from the educational
point of view, to this new and powerful factor for the diffusion of
thought, *. e. the Cinema of to-day.

To accomplish this high and noble mission, the moral aid
and the material and financial assistance of the States will not be

missing. On the part of the different Governments and in parti-
cular of those who are members of the League of Nations, there
is a moral obligation to participate practically to the development
and to the progress of this new organisation.

At a time when the soul and the mind of the crowds in all
countries are attracted towards Cinematograph productions which,
too often, deviate from the path leading to the general educa-
tion of the peoples, and which consequently largely discount the
moral principles and traditions of civilization, it is well, it is
indispensable that the Governments should recognise the high
educational and moral power possessed by the new organization
to develop sentiments of international solidarity and pacification
amongst the peoples by means of a deeper reciprocal knowledge
of their customs, traditions, and their way of thought and of living.

This way will lead, slowly but surely, through the exterior
diversities of fashion, of tendencies and of customs proper to each
country to the formation of a kind of « Common thought)) having for
its basis and for its purpose the constant development and the free
observation of the principles and of the rules which tend towards
the betterment of the material and moral wellbeing of the peoples.

Thanks to the means for action which the administrative
Council of the new Institute will place at the disposal of a Director-
ate full of intelligence, faith and enthusiasm, the role of the In-
stitute will grow and develop at a pace which will depend on the
interest accorded to it by the Governments, on the material and
financial contributions which they will grant to it, as well as on
a collaboration which will not fail to be established on a cordial
and confident basis with the other international organisations.

*%* "j? -tP

Being in direct dependence of the League of Nations, the In-
ternational Educational Cinematographic Institute will necessarily
fall under its influence and direction, with a view to contributing
effectively to the realization of the objects for which it has been
conceived and founded by the League of Nations. In its turn,
and reciprocally, the new Institute will exercise a direct influence

which will be all the more effective from its techical and specia-
lised character, which will confer on it a competence and action
which will be felt in all the fields that have been allotted to its
activity.

In addition to its official relations with the League of Nations,
the International, Educational Cinematographic Institute in order
to carry out efficiently its mission, will be obliged to establish
regular, cordial and confidential relations with the international
official organisations, which directly or indirectly are interested
in the Educational Cinema.

By official organisations wre mean the International Labour
Office, the International Institute for Intellectual Co-operation, the
Hygiene Section of the General Secretariat of the League of Nations,
the International Institute of Agriculture of Rome, and the Com-
mittee for Child Welfare.

The relations with these official organisations do not exclude,
in fact should encourage also relations with private organisations
which are also engaged in educational cinematography.

The activity of the new Institute will consequently, in accor-
dance with the provision laid dowrn in its statutes, develop in
close connection with the other International Institutions. From
this follows the obligation to establish understandings with the
other International Institutions to facilitate the development of
its programme by co-ordination and co-operation, both national
and international.

These agreements will not be difficult to reach if, as there is
no doubt, the representative organs and directors of these inter-
national Institutions will realise the important mission that has been
assigned to the International Educational Cinematographic Insti-
tute, which by reciprocal services, will be in a position, by its
information, its special data and its technical character to facilitate
the special work in which these institutions are engaged.

A practical and concrete example of the possibility and practi-
cability of these understandings may be found in the creation by
the International Institute of Agriculture of the International
Commission for Co-ordination in Agriculture, the purpose of

23 —

which is to submit to the representatives of the various interna-
tional bodies dealing with agriculture which meet at the periodical
conferences held at the Institute in Rome, the questions which
could create difficulties by an overlapping of activities, by the
dissipation of effort, of expense and of competing activities.

The Commitee of Co-ordination for Agriculture has the
task of settling all these difficulties, in a spirit of conciliation, of
mutual understanding and of cordial collaboration to attain the
ends which respectively devolve son each of the International
organisations.

Another no less practical example which could be mentioned,
relates to the creation of the Advisory Agricultural Committee, in-
stituted on April 5th, 1922 following an Agreement concluded bet-
ween the International Labour Office and the International Institute
of Agriculture in Rome. This Committee which has succeeded in
establishing the most cordial and close relations between the
two official organisations of Rome and Geneva, make a joint study
at periodical meetings, of the agricultural questions which are exa-
mined respectively by the two organisations as provided in their
respective Statutes, with the view of establishing in common and
in cordial agreement the distribution and division of the work.

Agreements of the same nature, made in the same spirit of
« entente cordiale » and solidarity appear to us to be of easy attain-
ment for the greater wellbeing and for the lasting progress of
international institutions .

The close collaboration which is bound to be established
between the International Institute for Intellectual Co-operation
and the International Educational Cinematographic Institute which
co-exist in cordial and effective association for the progress
scientific, literary and artistic of the various peoples, is a safe
guarantee of the successful and happy results which will result
from a close co-operation on parallel lines, and will lead to the de-
velopment and to the indefinite progress of the work followed by
these two Institutions. Their successful progress will be in pro-
portion to the close and cordial co-operation and collaboration
which will be necessarily established between the two.

24

The International Educational Cinematographic Institute
by virtue of the principles and rules on which its creation has been
based, has its position well defined, an essential position in the
field of the official International organisations whose mission it is
whether they are dependent or independent and are or are not
placed under the control and authority of the League of Nations,
to work for the mutual comprehension of the peoples, to create
amongst these an always greater sentiment of International solida-
rity, and thus establish a general aspiration towards Peace, following
the spirit of the League of Nations. The way which leads to
the realization of this Ideal is hard and difficult. It depends to a
large extent on Science, Faith and the Enthusiasm of the men who
are called by the confidence of their respective governments to
direct the efforts and the work of this new Roman Institution
towards ways and results which will command the confidence
and the esteem of the States and individuals qualified to judge
of the work accomplished and of the favorable orientation impres-
sed on international co-operation in view of the fixed end to be
attained.

Under the high impulse of the eminent President of the Council
of Administration and of the Executive Committee, cordially
seconded and assisted by the eminent Personalities composing
Council of Administration, the Directorate of the International
Educational Cinematographic Institute will find in its knowledge,
in its high competence, and above all in its faith and enthusiasm,
the power and the assistance to develop the new Roman Institu-
tion into a machine which will contribute largely, in cordial col-
laboration with the other international organisations, to establish
amongst the peoples an ever closer solidarity by means of the
educational film, and thus ensure progressively the Prosperity and
the wellbeing of Humanity.

Louis Dop.

Member of the Agricultural Academy of France
Vice-President of the International Agricultural Institute of Rome,

25

THE FILM AND INSTRUCTION

(From the Italian)

Omne tidit punctum, qui miscuit utile dulci.

The film used as a didactic instrument, apt to supplement
and at times even substitute the word of the text-book, responds
fully to the always more apparent need created by the wider dif-
fusion of culture and knowledge, for a minimum of mental effort,
in fact for the enjoyment of the pupils.

Throughout the centuries, it has been the constant aim of
the pedagogues, particularly in Italy, to experiment new forms
of teaching to relieve the mental fatigue of the pupils.

It is sufficient to recall Pietro da Ravenna, who in 1491 intro-
duced a method of teaching by pictures, so as to explain more
clearly to the children, the value of vowels and words. Gio. Bat-
tista Porta, who in the XVII century invented new phonetic and
visual methods for the pupils of the elementary classes, and at the
present day, Maria Montessori, who through her wonderful sy-
stem has developed the memory of the senses.

Our Institute, will deal extensively on the problem of educational
cinema. In fact it represents one of the basic themes on which is foun-
ed the life of the Institute. The pages of the Review will contain articles
referring to the divers and complex aspects of the didactic and scientific
films, to methodology and pedagogy with regard to the film used as an
auxiliary for teaching.

In our next number, we will publish an article of exceptional interest
by Thos. E. Finegan, great American educator and President of the
Eastman Teaching Inc.; — organisation which is attached to, and dependent
on Eastman Kodak Co. — Mr. Finegan explains with great precision,
the system adopted in the United States, to carry out an experiment on
11.000 pupils.

In the following numbers, we will continue to publish many ar-
ticles, classified with regard to their contents and in accordance with the
organic character of the problem. {Editor's Note).

— 26

The attempts made by the educators, to arrive at more simple
didactic methods, introduced in the schools the placards, the
large graphic illustrations, the ichnographic maps, and in the last
century the magic lantern ; but the cinema has done more, it enter-
tains while it teaches and awakens in the children an exceptional
and absolutely new interest for the problems of culture and science.

This is easily explained. Let us take for example, natural
history taught with the help of the cinematograph. Text-books
on that subject are abstract and obscure, but the wonderful visions
obtained with the cinema, have awakened the enthusiasm of the
children for the secrets of nature. The cinematograph, can offer
to the astonished gaze of the child, the spectacle of the process
of the complete metamorphosis of the caterpillar into a butterfly,
within the space of a few minutes; it can show him the life that
exists in the smallest leafs; the slow process of growth in a plant,
from the moment it springs from the germ to the opening of
its blossoms.

The same can be said for animal life.

Of late, many countries have understood the importance of
the didactic film and everywhere initiatives to promote its growth
have been encouraged.

I will allude briefly to what has been done in that line by
some States.

In 1926, an Association was founded in. Belgium, called Les
amis du cinema educatif et instructif which created a film-library for
instructive purposes.

In France, the Musee pedagogique de Paris, founded under, the
auspices of the State, an educational film-library, the films of which
are distributed gratis to the institutes that claim them. Furthermore
the « Cooperative de V enseignement par la cinematographic » of Paris
has a specially organised service of motor lorries equipped with
apparatuses, which bring to the remotest village schools, the
advantages offered by the didactic film.

In Germany, there are apposite associations united in federa-
tions for the use of the cinema in the schools.

In England and the United States the use of the didactic

27 —

film has greatly developed, and governmental and private offi-
ces, lend out educational and scholastic films free of charge.

In Sweden, cinematographic projection has become a normal
part of the school curriculum. Teachers with special degrees act as
cinema operators. A society created for that purpose, distributes
cultural films.

It is a well known fact, that the educational and didactic ci-
nematograph has made great strides in Italy and that Rome is
the worthy site of the Intertational Educational Cinematographic
Institute. Also in this field, the geniality of Italy's Prime Minister
is apparent. In 1924, before any of his predecessors had given this
subject a thought, he understood the possibilities offered by the
cinema as an instrument for the social and intellectual develop-
ment of the people. He established the Luce, which in the course
of a few years has progressed flourishingly without weighing on
the State Budget.

The Hon. Fedele. Minister of Public Instruction, studied
the actual organisation of the big enterprises in the scholastic field,
and created the 19 film-libraries (one for each province in Italy)
which are run by the R. R. Provosts.

Every provincial film-library has a rich collection of films
supplied by the Luce which are carefully examined and chosen
by a special commission of teachers. The distribution of films to
the various schools, is made gratis. The Hon. Fedele has also esta-
blished the first 30 film-libraries for propaganda of hygiene with
films provided by the Luce. These film-libraries, have been multi-
plied and endowed with new films, through the initiative of the
Hon. Belluzzo, the present Minister for Public Instruction.

The experiment of the State, has been further developed by
private initiative and that of Institutions.

It is no exaggeration to assert, that all over Italy, firms have
nobly competed to supply the schools with projecting apparatu-
ses and complete collections of films.

I will quote data concerning elementary schools, taken from
recent statistical investigations (not yet completed), ordered by the
Minister Belluzzo.

— 28

In Piedmont there are 431 apparatuses belonging to elementary
and private schools ; 3419 in the province of Venice ; 342 in Tu-
scany, 174 in Emilia ; 150 in Lazio ; 113 in Sicily ; 107 in Lom-
bardy ; 78 in the Marche ; 55 in the Puglie ; 52 in the Abruzzi ;
30 in Sargegna ; 34 in Calabria ; 22 in Basilicata ; 19 in Umbria ;
17 in Venezia Giulia ; 6 in the Venezia Tridentina ; 5 in Molise.

Data for Liguria and Campania is still missing.

Much has been done by the various States, notwithstanding
the great difficulties that lie in the path, to make use of the cinema
as an educational factor, but the goal to be reached is still far ahead.
The most essential condition, is the improvement of the didactic
film, but to obtain this, a clear perception between the so-called
documentary and educational films ought to be established.

The documentary films, compiled with judgment, artistic
sense and technical skill, have rendered great services, awakening
the interest of the children in cimematographic projections, and
showing the great importance that moving pictures have in the
field of education. However these films are often lacking in the
didactic and scientific qualities required.

With regard to this question, the ideas and schemes formu-
lated by the special technical Commission created at the Luce and
composed of : the Hon. Prof. Fedele, the Senator Corrado Ricci,
Prof. Raffaele, Prof. Galassi Paluzzi, Dr. de Feo, Prof. Trabalda,
Prof. Paribeni and the undersigned, must be remembered. Films
used for instructive purposes should, according to the opinion
of the above mentioned Commission, impart precise know-
ledge, coordinated in the same logical order as the school cur-
riculum for each class. It is useless to show children, that which
they are not capable of fully understanding or remembering,
and which is not in keeping with the grade of knowledge they
posses. Keeping these facts in mind, it will be found that the only
method of creating a new form of instruction is realised by cinema-
tographic pedagogy. Projections should accompany the teacher's
lesson and the facts recorded in the text-books. The interest and
enjoyment obtained by moving pictures, awakens the perceptions
which engender an easy assimilation of knowledge in the pupil.

29 —

The problem of adequate distribution of cinematographic
apparatuses amongst the schools, will also have to be studied
with particular care.

The mission of the International Institute, in the field of
the didactic film reveals itself as necessary and valuable. All the
States and schools of the World, animated by the same fervent
zeal, ought to collaborate with the Institute.

Now that the efficacy, nay the necessity of teaching with the
auxiliary of the cinematograph, is a recognised fact, it is essential
to examin and face the problem in all its grand and imposing aspects.
In this Review, the various forms and possibilities are discussed,
the experiences and the results obtained are compared, the techni-
cal systems of projection and preservation of films are studied as
well as every other item, which can contribute to this new form
of instruction.

It is well that all the influential classes and the political men
of all the States should understand the importance of this problem
and give it the attention it demands.

Now, that the League of Nations possesses a powerful techni-
cal organ which examins these questions, it is necessary that all
the Nations which have signed the Covenant should give the at-
tention required to the important study of educational and didactic
cinema !

Giulio Santini.

General Director of Elementary Instruction
at the Ministry of Public Instruction.

— 30

CONCERNING THE CINEMA

(From the French).

There are various kinds of cinemas. The cinema which enter-
tains, and that which instructs ; spectacular and cultural films;
which are two distinct fields.

The former kind commandes attention at first sight, and its
career has been brilliant and rapid beyond all expectations. The
world could be spanned at the Equator, if all the films which have
been produced were attached end to end. The number of specta-
tors that have enjoyed cinema shows, amounts to millions of mil-
lions. The budgets of the greatest nations could be easily surpass-
ed by the sums invested in the cinematographic enterprises.

These enormous devolopments are beyond all control. They
depend on the liberty of trade and industry, and of art itself.
Difficult as it may be to submit this giant to international
restrictions, persuasion, with the help of public opinion may
exercise its influence.

We must make an effort to direct cinematographic produc-
tion towards beauty, truth and morality.

Towards beauty : The cinema offers new possibilities for
esthetic emotion. Too often, in order to please the mass of the public,
these possibilities have been neglected. Too often, instead of aim-
ing at the specific effects of the cinema, spectacular success has
been found sufficient. However, here and there, where industry
alone presided, art makes its appearance ; it is a tendency to be
encouraged.

It may be foreseen that variations will ensue for the cinema,
as it has happened for the theatre (opera, drama, comedy, vaude-
ville, variety show, etc.), and some day the art cinema will appear.

Towards truth : Especially with regard to historical recon-
structions. On account of its international character, the film
excludes nationalist passions, all doubtful or contestable affirma-

3i —

tions, all inaccuracies of the truth. To guard the mutual compre-
hension amongst the peoples and the international fraternity en-
suing therefrom, it is necessary to control the films.

Towards morality : On account of the deep influence it may
exercise, the film must not be of bad counsel. Here, I do not refer
solely to sexual emotions ; in all civilised countries, there exist
laws repressing outrage to morality. But also and principally to
the scenes of violence and artifice that may become deplorable
examples.

I believe in the future of the cinema. It is a wonderful tool
in the hands of the educator and instructor. It may some day great-
ly modify human conceptions. If one considers that, at the present
day, the cinema has enlarged, in time and space, the mental
horizon of millions of men and women, that it attains the furthest
hamlets where poor and humble folks dwell without other possibi-
lity of acquiring any general culture, one can but be thankful to it.

The pleasure experienced at the sight of fine spectacles, will
be completed by radiophony, thus enabling all mankind to parti-
cipate in the enjoyment which the union of these artistic manifes-
tations can procure.

Educational cinema moves in another domain. The question
of entertainment, diversion or emotion is not of paramount im-
portance here. Stress is laid on the depth of meaning, not on
appearances. Cinematographic shows sustaint themselves, edu-
cational films depend on, and sustain study.

The weak power of the spoken word in pedagogics, has been
admitted long ago. To explain a new notion to a child, it is not
sufficient to express the facts in words, but far better to expose
them in their real aspect, or to reproduce them by pictures, if a
concrete subject is dealt upon. The moving picture, will be the
most impressive method. This does not exclude the use of lantern
slides. Moving pictures often pass too rapidly on the screen and
consequently leave but a fleeting impression on the mind. Con-
fronted by something new to him, the child must have the oppor-
tunity of observing and reflecting : He cannot, at first sight grasp
and retain every detail. The combination of the two systems, ac-

32

companied by appropriate explanations, will often prove most
efficacious. It is above all, important not to weary the attention,
which, in the child is always of short duration.

Therefore, it is essential to dispose of good teachers as well
as good films for school purposes. The methods adopted for the
use of the films, is as important a factor as the projection itself. Pro-
jection, as a pedagogic science is still to be developed.

The film can be a powerful auxiliary to the teacher in the
humblest school, and to the professor of the most famous univer-
sity. He can give to his words, a demonstrative value which, unat-
tended by the film, they would not possess. This shows the vast-
ness of the domain to be explored. But it attains still greater pro-
portions, if one considers the possibility for the film, to examine
and expose the technicalities of all productions in art, industry
and agriculture, and the help it can be to the scientists in their
laboratories by showing them, with the means of the slower move-
ment of the reel, phenomena and processes which the eye could
not discern and the mind never fathom. It is a splendid opportu-
nity for the investigation of the secrets of nature.

Jules Destree.
Former Minister of Fine Arts
Member of the Belgium Parliament.

3-ingl. 33 —

STATE CONTROL OF FILMS IN GERMANY

{From the German)

The Constitution of the German Reich provides in art. 118:
« There is no censure, but restrictive measures may be established
by law on cinematographic performances ». According to the
authorisation given by the article above cited, the Reich law on
Cinematographic performances was passed on May 20th, 1920.
After the abolition of theatre censorship which took place
in 19 1 8, this represents the only legislation censorship which
is in force in Germany at the present day. Cinematograph
Censorship is of a preventive character, viz. it operates before the
film reaches the public. All films, without any distinction, which
are publicly shown in Germany are subject to it, as well as films
placed on the market and intended for public representation, films
sold or hired, whether it is proposed to produce any such film in
Germany only, or in Germany and abroad, or abroad only. The
law, however, extends only to public representation. Private

The masterly statement made by the Counsellor, Dr. Seeger, with
regard to the organisation and the methods of censorship in Germany,
is based on the fundamental problems of the cinematographic industry
and the educational questions related thereto. Be it with regard to
the special revisal of cultural and educational films, or with regard to the
moral and social problems connected with the cinematograph.

Dr. Seeger exposes synthetically the fundamental regulations of the
great organisation of control in Germany. From the statements made,
by him one understands that the Reich has already adopted a kind of
internal code, which has come into being through general practice. Will it
be possible in the near future to obtain a classification of the fundamental
rules upon which universal censorship can be based ? This achievement
would be of great utility to all those interested in the industry and to
everyone who has the moral problems of the cinematograph at heart.

To-day, cinematographic censorship is carried on with absolutely
different methods in each State. In the United States, for instance,
there are hundreds of cases where judgment varies from State to State.

To follow up the inquiry, there will appear in the next numbers
of our Review some articles dealing with the organisation of censorship

34

cinemas are not subject to censorship, and this possibly covers the
case of films shown in shools, in Universities and in the projection
rooms of cinematographic firms. Productions at clubs and at
any kind of closed association, are regarded as public represen-
tations. Any evasion of the law by private representation is in
this way obviated. Foreign and German films are alike subject
to censorship.

Censorship is effected by two Offices of Control, situated the
one in Berlin and the other in Munich, these being the two prin-
cipal cities for film production in Germany. Authorisation issued
by either of these Offices is valid for the whole territory of the Reich,
so that any film that has received authorisation from an Office
of Control may circulate freely and may be shown anywhere., Ap-
plication must be made for approval. Such application cannot
be made by the proprietor of the cinema hall but in the case of
films of German origin by the producer, and in that of the films of
foreign origin by the renter.

Police censorship has been abolished in Germany.

According to the Cinematograph Law, censorship is of po-
pular character (Volkscensure). Accordingly it is effected by

in other countries. Simultaneously, there will appear a topic of parti-
cular interest to the International Institute, i. e., the censure of educa-
tional and cultural films. This problem has not been differentiated from
that of the theatrical films, except in Germany and a very few other
countries, but the difference of valuation, judgment and technical
understanding vary enormously. To this end, we will publish in our
next number an article by Prof. Lampe, Director of the central Institute
for Education and Instruction.

The whole of the censorial system for the cinema, requires a radical
revision, equal to the needs of the important part played by the cinema
in the life of the people. Good censorial laws disciplining entirely
fundamental casuistry, is the best safe-guard for a country desirous to
solve the difficulties of the cinematographic problem. A perfect organi-
sation for the control of didactic films can greatly increase the popularity
of the educational screen.

Our Review will deal extensively on this problem, also with regard
to the activities of the International Institute and of the commission of
Experts which will be created by it.

35 —

—

Committees composed of private citizens, presided over by State
officials. Each of these Committees is composed of five persons,
viz. ; by the presiding officer and by four private citizen members
who receive due notice of all meetings. For this purpose, the
great Associations representative of the Cinematographic industry,
art and literature, National economy, popular education and the
moral protection of the young, indicate to the Minister of the In-
terior suitable delegates, and the Minister who is free to select,
nominates the members for a period of three years.

Each Committee is therefore composed besides the Presi-
dent who must be an official, of a representative of the Cinemato-
tographic industry, a representative of art and of literature and
two members representing the groups of National economy, of
popular education and of child welfare. The members are inde-
pendent, and are not bound by the instructions of their respective
associations in giving their judgment. Also the members of the
Cinematographic industry do not represent the interests of their
group, and are, like the other members, simple exponents of popu-
lar censorphip. The comittee views the projection of the film,
hears the applicant or his representative, and authorises the public
performance of the film within the German State, or else prohi-
bits it. The prohibition may extend to the whole film, or it va^y
refer to single scenes or writings, which are cut from the copy pre-
sented and kept in the Control Office.

The authorisation may be given in general, that is to say,
both for adults and young persons, or limited to adults (persons
above 18 years of age). Admission to the Cinemas for German
children of less than 6 years of age is absolutely forbidden.

If a film is prohibited, completely or partially, the applicant
firm may lodge a complaint within two weeks of the decision.
On this protest the Higher Control Office in Berlin decides. This
is composed in the same way as the offices of control. No member
of the control office may be at the same time a member of the Higher
Control Office, or viceversa. The procedure here is identical
to that of the control office. The decisions of the Higher
Control Office are final, so that it represents the highest authority
for censorship in Germany. If the Higher Office approves the

-36

previous decisions and rejects the appeal, the film previously con-
demned remains definitely prohibited. If, in contrast with the
judgment given on the first examination, it is decided that the film
may be passed, the previous decision is cancelled and the produc-
tion of the film is authorised.

This authorisation is granted to the applicant in the shape of
a document or censor's card which serves as a pass with respect of
police officials specially appointed to control film productions.

The Higher Office operates not only in cases of prohibition
issued by the first examination office, but also in cases of authori-
sation as well as prohibition. The President of the Control Office
or two dissenting members, may lodge a complaint and obtain
a new decision from the Higher Office. In addition, the govern-
ment of each of the provinces composing the Reich, can apply
for a succesive prohibition against a film previously authorised.

The reasons for which a film may be excluded from public
representation in Germany are exactly specified in the cinemato-
graph law. According *to the German law, all films are absolutely
prohibited that may endanger the public order and the safety of
the state, offend religious feeling, have a brutal and demoralising
influence, compromise the prestige and the relations of Germany
with foreign States. The Control Offices have to decide on the
application to individual cases of these principles which have
been expounded by the Higher Control Office as the highest
authority on the subject of censorship, during its activity extending
over nearly eight years, rules have been laid down for their appli-
cation which the control offices must equally consider.

The endangering of public order and the public safety is the
effect of those films the representation of which gives rise to a
lasting and direct disturbance of public order and safety. In this
group is included films that endanger the stability of the State ,
excit different classes of the population to violence against one ano-
ther, cause danger to the health of the spectator, or bring into
disrepute certain professional classes who perform certain public
duties (judges, teachers, physicians, lawyers).

Production of propaganda films is not prohibited. As a safe-
guard, the law prescribes that authorisation is not to be refused

37 —

on the ground of a political, social, religious or ethical tendency
or any general view of life, as such. The words « as such » indi-
cate that a special judgment is only justified by the fundamental
conception of a film, in so far as that conception would be the sole
ground of the prohibition and none other of the usual grounds can
be established. The Higher Control Office however, consideres
as equivalent to an endangering of public safety the case in which
the special view or tendency is developed along with incorrect
motives, exaggerations and misrepresentations which go beyond
what is admissible.

As dangerous to health is considered the representation of
surgical operations, and the treating of the body with surgical
instruments, such as probes, catheters and the like, because the
representation of such operations in public, implies an excessive
tension on the nervous system of the spectator. The physical
or sanitary state of the individual is not considered, but exclusive-
ly that of the normal spectator. From the point of view of risks
to the health, the cinematographic representation of hypnotism is
also prohibited, inasmuch as the representation is an infringement
an of police regulations in Germany which forbids any public
spiritistic activity.

In issuing a censorship's decision for the protection of cer-
tain professional categories, a distinction is made as to whether
the reference is to an individual or to some occurence affecting
the whole profession.

The administration of justice and the police, enjoy a particular
protection, under German cinematograph censorship. In the
description of judicial procedure there is a certain permissible
exaggeration and distortion of facts and of the situation, but the
film representation should not go beyond this to the point of giving
the lay spectator the impression that the tribunals give irrespon-
sible, superficial or even partial judgments, in a word that caprice
takes the place of justice.

Any bringing into disrepute of the police is also a ground
for prohibition as likely to endanger public safety. It is suffi-
cient reason for prohibition that the police should be shown to
act in a preposterous and inefficient way in prosecuting the cri-

-38

minal, that it should neglect its duties or that it should be domi-
nated by the criminal. At this point however there is a distinc-
tion to be made as to whether the police represented is German
or a foreign police. The Higher Control Office is of the opinion
that a distorted representation of the activity of foreign police,
does not compromise the German public safety.

It is forbidden to popularise methods of detecting criminals,
such as the finger prints : also the special system used by crimi-
nals, for example their work with gloves, the placing of the wea-
pon near the murdered person so as to simulate suicide, and other
systems of the kind. It is the object of the censorship here to
avoid any warning to the criminal element to exercise caution
in leaving traces of the crime, thus rendering the action of the po-
lice even more difficult.

Offensive to Religion, are considered, according to the pro-
nouncement of the Higher Office, those films whih are either
actually blasphemous or in some other way tend to degrade the
rites or usages of any of the Christian Curches, or of any
other religious community having corporative rights within the
German State. To this category applies, for example, the
obvious misrepresentation of rites, religious usages and ornaments.
On the other hand a truthful and reverent reproduction of an object
of religious faith and adoration must not be prohibited only on
account of the fact of its inclusion in a film. All films that throw
discredit on the organisation and on the members of a religious
order are prohibited.

It is thus, on the whole, considered as injurious to religious
sentiment to represent the admission of a fallen woman into a con-
vent. The wearing of priestly robes is also protected, although
the Higher Office refuses to regard this as a case of abuse of offi-
cial dress, remarking that from the point of view of offence to
religious sentiment, the dress of a priest cannot be compared to
that of any other uniform. The appearence of a priest in a masked
ball is viewed differently by the Higher Office according to whe-
ther the priest's robes are used as a masquerade without the due
composure, but not sufficient to cause prohitition, or that under
the sacerdotal attire, a criminal is hidden and the one who is thus

39 —

represented does not appear as a mask, but participating in the
festivity in a priestly attitude, with the cross on his breast.

Also the representation of the Pope in a film enjoys the pro-
tection of German censorship. Thus the Higher Office has pro-
hibited the production, otherwise unobjectionable, of the Pope,,
as an advertisement of a film equally unobjectionable which re-
presented the marvels of the Vatican, for the reason that a Catholic
will not tolerate the effigy of the living Pope to be utilised as an
advertisement or for it to be placed on an advertisement stand near
the picture of a dancer or the notice of a review.

As disgusting and brutalising, are considered the films whose
projection can revive dormant primitive instincts in such a mea-
sure that moral resistance disappears and a desire to do similar
actions is set up. This does not necessarily occur when a brutal
objective action is represented ; the film must rather show relevant
subjective influences to be condemned. The representation of
a bull fight, cannot be prohibited because the events represented
are objectively brutal and for the German spectator are considered
as torture for men and beasts. They do not operate in a subjectively
brutal way, but excite on the contrary horror and have a deterrent
effect. The place and time of the action represented, are factors
to be considered, in judging of the brutality, as well as the ever pre-
sent subjective influence produced by the brutal action that can de
strengthened by the details of the representation of brutal objective
actions, or it can be eliminated by means of equivalent values,
ethically or otherwise.

Sensations are not considered repulsive when reproducing
sporting or artistic actions that are intended only to cause the excite-
ment or tickling of nerves. In the grotesque American film an
influence, even subjectively irritating, may be excluded on account
of the absolute unlikelihood and preposterousness of the action,
for reasons of abnormal conditions of place and things which are
beyond imitation. If however the grotesque performance refers
to the reproduction of likely circumstances which can be imitated,
and by which the grotesque action is brought back into the field
of possibility and imitation, then such action will dull the better

— 40

feelings and excite the brutal instincts and becomes liable to act
also subjectively on the brutal sense. This applies for example,
to scenes of savage lights and of struggles.

A film is demoralising if the representation injures the moral
feelings and thoughts of the spectator, viz., if it is offensive to
the moral sense or grossly injurious to habits and to decency.
The representation of the nude acts in a demoralising manner only
when it is shown in lewd form, exciting the senses, such as the
reproduction of the Bauchtanz or naked dances. The effect
is also demoralising, according to jurisprudence of the numerous
films of criminals and detectives in which the representation of
the crime is shown as its own and onlv object, or in which the action
of the criminal is glorified, and the police shown as stupid and clum-
sy. On the other hand, the Higher Office has permitted any loca-
lity- to be used as surroundings for the dramatic plot of a him, even
when the representation is drawn from the life of prostitutes and
criminals, provided always that there is no infringement of any
of the prohibitions above mentioned. Thus for instance, the life
of the prostitute must not be represented as pleasurable and as
a life which can be at any time abandoned, unless at the same time-
it is shown as reprehensible and it is made quite clear that the
return of the prostitute to the normal social life is full of diffi-
culties and disappointments.

Special protection, falling under the class of prohibition of
demoralising films, is accorded to the subject of marriage.

The Higher Oxfi:e recognises that marriage and adultery,
cannot be excluded as subjects of the dramatic plot of a film, con-
sequently there are no objections to the farcical representation of
the rapid alteration of matrimony, adultery, dissensions, separations
and reconciliations. It is required however, that for these repre-
sentations of matrimonv and for the development of conjugal pro-
blems, the conflicts should be represented in a serious form and
have a psvcholocical basis. In particular, matrimonial deceptions
must be based on grave motives of a spiritual order and must not
be based exclusivelv on levity and frivolity, which might be inter-
preted as a low valuation of matrimony.

41 —

German prestige is injuriously affected by those films which
either in their contents or tendencies offend against the national
honour or by reason of mendacious representation of German
events are ap to diminish the prestige of the fatherland. It invariably
tends to compromise the relations with foreign states when an-
other Nation is described as knowingly aggressive or unworthy, so
that the spectator may be induced to consider it as such, thus
inducing him to show to its citizens less respect than what he would
have done without the influence of the film. This however, must
refer only to prejudice in a political sense and not for other con-
sideration. The false representation of the cultural and religious
characteristics of a country can result in compromising foreign
relations only in cases when it is of such an offensive character
that it may endanger political relations with the respective country.
However, it is not the object of the law, nor the duty of the Control
Offices that have to apply it, to have regard for the excessive sensi-
bility of foreign nations.

The films that are to be represented before young people from
6 to 1 8 years of age, are examined by the censor, in addition to the
conditions stated above, to ensure that their moral, spiritual and
physical development may not be prejudiced, nor their youthful
fantasy overstimulated. The same more severe regulations apply
also to advertising with writing or pictures, which are likewise
subject to censorship, but these only when shown in public places,
in the cinema halls, in shops, etc. Advertisements in newspapers
are not included in cinema censorship.

In this field, fall under the prohibition of censorship chiefly
the pictures showing criminal acts of violence against persons that
may give rise to acts dangerous to life, and the piquant views of
feminine charms who are intended to arrcme lascivious feelings
in the spectator.

The above is a summary of the main principles on which rests
the Cinema Censorship in Germany. Every year, about two
milion metres are handed in to be submitted to examinaition by
the Control Office, who has also to inspect about as many photo-
graphs and adevertising posters intended to be shown in public

— 42

places, and lastly, within the period of time, they have to provide
also about half a million censor's cards bearing the authorisation
stamp of the office, a work which can only be accomplished by the
continuous use of stamping machines worked by electric motors.

Apart from cinema censorship, the circulation of films in
Germany is not subject to any limitations. There are however,
still certain kinds of control which are exercised by State organs,
but not from the police point of view from that of schools as well
as fiscal reasons. This control refers to films adapted for teaching
(Lehrfilms) which takes place independently from the general
censorship, and consists exclusively in subjecting the film to exa-
mination in order to ascertain whether it can be utilized for tea-
ching in the schools. The fitness for this purpose is decided by
competent authorities on each particular subject.

These authorities are the cinematograph offices in Berlin and
Munich. The Berlin cinematograph office is independent from
the central Institute for education and teaching, while the Ba-
varian cinematograph office has a special character. Neither of
these offices are authorities of the Reich. A large number of
experts in all branches of science are co-opted to serve in these
offices and to assist the President in the examinations.

It is provided, by means of Ministerial Ordinances of the
various provinces, that in representations made in schools or in
institutions which are connected with schools, only such films may
be showrn as have passed examination in one of the said offices,
and are found suitable for teaching purposes.

The Cinematograph office decides on the fitness of a film
for school teaching, for evening entertainment for school pupils
and their parents, and expresses at the same time its opinion as
to which Institutes, types of schools, branches of teaching, age
of pupils and kind of performances the films are more especially
suited for. The certificate thus issued has an official value.

In addition to the declaration of fitness of the films for tea-
ching purposes the cinematograph office is called also to give its
judgment as to their educational and artistic value. This is done with
the view of individualising those films which by the quality of

43 —

their contents <xre entitled to enjoy a preference with regard to
taxation. As it is known, in Germany a tax is levied on the gross-
profit made by the entertainment cinemas, which tax is reduced
when the programme of the projection includes films in respect
of which educational or artistic value has been declared by the
cinematograph offices. In using instructional films, in some
cases, it may even be possible to obtain complete exemption from
taxation. This principle has reference to the great interest taken
by the State in promoting good films because on account of
this fiscal privilege, the proprietor of the cinema hall of theatre
is induced to include in his programme, some films of this
category.

The institute of inspection of the educational films, known
as Kulturfilmprufung has been in existence for many years already,
and it has demonstrated that a good number of films were entitled
to receive the qualification of educational or artistic films. Also
this control is made quite independently of Cinema Censorship
in its proper sense.

During the years 1919 to 1927, the cinematograph office in
Berlin alone has examined 2,226 films having a total length of
1,315.325 metres, and of these, 1583 films, 820.000 metres in length
have been found suitable as films for teaching, as valuable from
an educational and artistic point of view, and consequently subject
to a preferential fiscal treatment.

From the controls above described, which relate to the con-
tents of the films and to the mode of using them, it is necessary to
differentiate the other precautionary measures which relate to the
suitability of the rooms or places for cinematographic projections.
These include the police regulations on the conditions of safety
which are applicable to the construction and arrangement of cinema
theatres, meeting halls, schools, etc., a subject which cannot be
considered in this article as it falls outside the range of the State
Control of films.

Dr. Ernest Seeger

Oberregierungsrat in the Ministry of Interior of the Reich
Director of the Higher Office for Cinema Control.

44

CHILDHOO D A N D THE CINE M A

(From the French)

« Motion Pictures ». This is the term chosen by the English
to qualify the cinematograph. Living pictures. One can also trans-
late it into : pictures that stirr the emotions. In fact, the reper-
cussion of the impressions produced by animated pictures on the
mind and heart of the spectator, is direct and deep. If this specta-
tor is a child, therefore a highly sensitive and emotional creature,
the influence exercised by the screen on its mentality, surpasses
anything which can be experienced by an adult. The youthful
being, who, in the dark is following the phases of a filmed story, is
incapable of discerning between fiction and reality ; he gives him-
self up entirely to the enjoyment of the show. As Mr. Jean Re-
nouard says : « The shadows, which to us are merely shadows con-
tinue long after their vision on the screen, to impress the child.
They haunt his dreams, mysterious intangible beings persecute

(N.d D.). On the 12th. of April 1929, presided by the Italian Delegate,
H.E. the AmbassadorMarquis Raniero Paulucci de' Calboli, the Internatio-
nal Committee for Child Welfare, discussed in Geneva the problems of the
formation of the character, mentality and intelligence of children, through
the influence exercised by the cinematograph. In former Sessions, the
Committee had examined the discussion of this problem and the le-
gislative situation of the greater Nations was studied with great care and
special attention. Very important reports were presented and discussed.

The Director of the International Educational Cinematographic
Institute, was invited to be present at the Meeting of April 12th. He
exposed at length the programme of the Institute in accordance with
the aims considered by the Committee. Described the various aspects
of the question, illustrated the fundamental problems which are discussed
to-day in the numerous countries by various institutions and committees,
which have been created for that purpose, proposed a practical plan of
action by means of an international inquiry, which should make an accu-
rate study and take into consideration the opposed interests, the observa-
tions made by the industry, the data collected by eminent scientists, so-
ciologists and jurists of many countries.

45 —

— _ ___

and frighten him like ghosts. They take the shape of living persons,
with whom he can get into touch. For, has he not been allowed
to see them, with the consent of his parents ? He gives himself
up to their influence, thinks about them, reflects and tries to under-
stand and often guesses at the meaning of certain scenes, which
at first appeared confused to him ».

It is thus, that in the mysterious sub-conscience of the child's
soul, notions and decisions take shape, of which we cannot guess
the consequences. Thus, that films can become dangerous to his
moral and physical health. This danger is far greater to him than
the perusal of literature and the contemplation of pictures not adapt-
ed to his childish mind. This peril has been denounced by all
those who have studied child psychology. In spite of the measures
taken by most legislations, which organise certain forms of con-
trol, inspection and censure ; educators and judges are unani-
mous in declaring that the cinema is one of the most active factors
in juvenile delinquency. Certain groups, impressed by these state-
ments, have gone so far as to demand that the access to public
cinemas should be absolutely prohibited to children.

A complex action, with a practical and positive form has to be de-
veloped. To quote a great American educator, it is not to throw stones
at the cinematographic industry, but to study with full knowledge the
influence which it can exercise and exercises on the formation of civil,
political, national and religious consciousness and the mentality and for-
mation of character, especially in the child. Concrete results must be
achieved, and such that can contribute to direct the film industry towards
a production always more in keeping with the social morality, and to
improve the- legislative institutions which have been created by the
States to form barriers of protection against low morals. Undoubtedly,
it is a very wide field of action and its problems are arduous, although
of extreme utility and importance. The Institute, has requested the Com-
mittee for Child Welfare to direct every technical research concerning
this problem, towards the organ specially created by the League of Na-
tions, so as to avoid the springing up of innumerable other Institutions,
often not wholly uninterested and quite uncontrolled, which could hinder
the unbiased examination of the practical schemes.

The detailed report of the Director of the Institute, was unanimously
approved by the Committee. The Vice President of the Polish Senate,

-46

For my part, I do not think that the remedy lies here. The
success of the cinema is a fact against which it is vain to react. It
is impossible to go against the stream, but its irregular course can
be so directed as to obtain better results for the general good. But
how ?

From an educational and pedagogical point of view, it is more
and more evident that the cinema is a great factor for instruction.
The cinematograph is an object lesson which enables the poorest
child of the humblest primary school to see the wonders of the
furthest regions of the World. For the teachers, it is an excellent
procedure for demonstration, and a means of awakening in the
child the habit of observation. Be it for natural history, geography
or history, they always find documentary information and even
educational subjects which can give the scholar better than any
verbal recital, an object lesson which, to quote Montaigne : « hap-
pens like a meeting and passes without being felt »,

How much time has been devoted to the teaching of hygiene,
botany, and mechanics ! To initiate the pupil in the phenomena
of the circulation of the blood, the microscopic system, the pro-
cesses of the germination of plants, the analysis of movement,

Mr. Posner, the Minister of State, Count Carton de Wiart, the French
Ambassador, Mr. Regnault, the Spanish Delegate Mr. Amador, the
Delegate of the Red Cross League, Mr. Humbert, Mademoiselle Hein,
the British Delegate Mr. Harris, the Delegate of the International Labour
Office, Captain Johnston and other delegates expressed their approval
to the schemes proposed by the Director in the name of the. Institute.

The Minister of State, Count Carton de Wiart proposed a resolution
which was unanimously approved, inviting the International Educational
Cinematographic Institute, to examin with particular care, the question
of recreational films specially adapted to minors.

In fulfilment of the promise made to the Committee for Child Welfare,
and in accordance with the decisions of the Committee of the Institute,
the executive organs have already begun to investigate the problem.

Concerning the problems of childhood and the cinematograph,
as mentioned in the preceeding note — our Review intends to esta-
blish a vast debate and discussion.

47

nothing will amount to the value of photos taken by the objectif,
which reproduce the movements of life, greatly slackened on the
screen if accompanied by good verbal commentaries.

The cinema must not only be an infinitely precious auxiliary
for the instruction and education of youth. It is essential not
to neglect any further, what I would call, its recreative value. It
is not enough, that pegagogues use the cinema, with ever improv-
ing and more ingenious methods, for strictly scholastic purposes ;
what I consider no less important, is to supply the children and
the young with films which divert and entertain as well as with
those which instruct. Films, which are not, as is often the case
now a days, mere trashy novels more insignificant than those offe-
red to the adult audience, or so called comic scenes, painfully
lacking in witt !

It is well that the action of those interested in the problems
of childhood, should be protective with regard to the cinema. But
it should above all be constructive. To discard the bad films is
not sufficient. Good ones must be provided, and should they not

In our next number, will appear an article due to a great scholar
and apostle: professor Maurice Rouvroy, Director of the Central Esta-
blishment for the special observation of children, and laboratories .of
psvcho-pedagogy in Moll. Professor Rouvroy — who is an expert
in these matters, has studied the problem with great attentiton for many
years and has realised noteworthy experiments which he describes in
the above mentioned article.

If any reader of our Review wishes to collaborate and expose his
opinions, specific studies or experiencies, he is cordially invited to do so.
Essays should have a technical purport, without controversial character,
but be equal to the noble debate which such a study and inquiry demands*

In fact, discussion is of exceptional importance and can help to en-
lighten the executive organs and the special commission of experts which
will collaborate with the Institute, as well as the International Committee
for Child Welfare, the first which faced with competent knowledge and
authority the problems it now pursues in accordance with the Institute.

— 48

be available in sufficient numbers, every effort should be made to
promote their production by inducing the families and the cinema-
tographic industry to encourage their popularity, by giving them
the preference.

What about literature for the young ? Many writers and
designers have revealed themselves capable of understanding the
childish intellect. They have imagined, animated and embellished
the stories which have charmed the young readers of 10 to 15 years
of age. The works of the Countess de Segur, are still, after well
neigh three quarters of a century, the books which appeal to the
young. Why ? Because, notwithstanding the oldfashioned attire
of her young heroines in crinolines, this good grand-mother has
devined that which is eternal in the child's soul. Why does the
cinematographic art, which has the capacity of reproducing not
only life, but its dream, remain poorer than the traditional Guignol,
in its supply for the young audience ?

I know that very laudable efforts are being made to create « film
libraries » corresponding to the needs and tastes of children. In
almost every country, measures have been taken to counteract
a danger and scarcity which is universal. No doubt, this will be
one of the most useful tasks of the International Educational Cine-
matographic Institute, created under the auspices of the League
of Nations; it will encourage, assist and co-ordinate all endeavours
of this kind. Although the films reveal to a certain extent their
national origin, through the choice of their subjects and scenario,
the physiognomy, and play of their actors, it does not hinder this
new art to be understood everywhere. No other means of expressing
thought is more appropriate than this one, for a systematic co-opera-
tion and a regular exchange from country to country. Thus what
some have created, will become the possession of all.

Good scenarios and good films are requested for the children.

H. Carton de Wiart

State Minister
Former President of the Council of Ministers of Belgium.
Hon. President of the International Committee for Child Warfare.

4-ingl. 49

ART IN THE CINEM

{From the Italian)

The cinematographic art, having met with an immediate suc-
cess exempt from criticism inclined to regard it as a perfect art,
has grown into gigantic proportions too soon. Interests, fabulous
profits, greed, unheard-of morbosity have falsified its development
so suddenly that this great invention has had no time to recognize
itself on its own merits.

Talking-films are to-day the object of all expectations. They
are welcome, and when they come, we shall greet the stereoscopic
and coloured images also.

I cannot here deal with the educative or scientific cinema
whose field of action in the study of life in all its external and
organic phenomena, is immense; my purpose is to speak of that
art of telling stories by means of moving pictures, of the so-called
screen representations, which, in the fervid life of the present day,
have apparently taken the place of all the arts, especially of the
theatrical art.

The so-called « star-worship » of to-day is about to be con-
quered and greater importance is being attached to other gifts
requisite in the actors — the great theatrical gifts, for which
physical beauty represents an asset of secondary importance.

What is then going to happen?

First of all, the perfect revival of the classic tragedy. The
present vain and hybrid attempts, out of the proper setting, among
the ruins, are a grotesque travesty rather than a failure.

I remember having once attended at Meiningen a revival of
a classic tragedy on a scale which cannot be attained unless there

(Editor's Note :) On the artistic problems of the screen and on the
future of the Cinema, we will publish in the next number, articles of great
interest by Mr. F. T. Marinetti, and Mr. Norbert Jaques.

50

is, as in that case, a despot who is disposed to sacrifice his whole
fortune for the sake of theatrical art. A structural copy of the
Scena had been built, adorned, after the celebrated theatre of
Aspendoo, with niches and classical statues; on the podium of
the theatre the actors, dressed in white and gold and wearing masks ,
looked like living crisoelephantine statues and recited in a dead
language, in Greek. Although I was unable to understand the
text, I knew perfectly well the plot of Oedipus King and appreciated
the complete harmony of an artistic production that belonged to
an age gone by for ever.

It is possible that the talking film may again perform the
miracle, completing it in all its decorative elements, and that it
may aptly stage before the cathedrals in the surviving piazzas
the sacred representations of the Middle Ages, the humanistic
performances of the Rome of the 16th century, the first Italian
tragedies, the first melodramas, the compositions of Gliick and
Mozart in their original version, the representations of Bayreuth.
And it may, if no longer with the voice of Malibran and Patti, or
the acting and modulations of Talma and Duse, succeed in re-
cording the present historical conditions of the stage .

The talking-film will be a sudden and unforeseen addition
to the real theatrical art, the art of the stage, and is about to go
back into the framewrork of that dramatic art which it threatened
to supplant.

In spite of so many revolutions the arts are destined to remain
what they are; within their limits, as Lessing affirmed. And, as
in the case of the plastic arts which, after the rage of realism,
impressionism, futurism and many other --isms, remain what
they were, the theatrical art, through the evolution of the « silent
Art », is being brought back to its proper limits.

What are then, one may ask, the destinies of the (^silent
Art » ? The reply is easy : it will become the great « silent Art »,
the incomparable « silent Art ».

We have seen really good films on the screen. In spite of
many aberrations, we have admired excellent chiaroscuri, sublime
visions of fantastic things which have taken the place of that

Si

romantic art which, allowed to influence literature and painting,
falsified both these arts.

Thanks to the cinema, we are witnessing the revival of the
centuries — old mimic art — a primordial and universal perfect
art which followed in the trail of civilization from the semi-bar-
barous expressions to the exquisite forms of Hellas, Latinity and
the Rinascimento. We are thus able to enjoy again the spectacle
of the eternal manifestations of civilization, condensed by culture
and picturesque sensitiveness to which all the schools of art in
Europe have contributed; we are witnessing the revival and staging
of spiritual life as it appears to the eye.

Triviality would, however, be fatal; more than this, it must
be stopped altogether. I would not be opposed to a strict State
censorship with the object of preventing all works of doubtful
taste; this danger, in fact exists and indeed is far greaetr than that
represented by the exhibitions of plastic art which are necessarily
open to all attempts. Arts of a public nature, such as the cinema,
must be absolutely perfect and irreprehensibly moral; and the con-
viction must spread among the people that what they see on
payment is above their capacity and that there is a limit to their
right of criticism.

Some time ago I occupied myself with film-production and
know by experience that a flawless film is not impossible. The
natural enemy are the speculators and industrial managers, men
with a second-rate intelligence, who, concerned merely with im-
mediate profit-bearing possibilities, place themselves between
the public and the creative mind of the artist on the strength of
the following sentence, which is complete in its banality — « This
is what the public wants ! ».

Then as now, the object of my profound hatred are those glass-
covered hot-houses which are improperly called « studios ». I
have good reason to believe that the profuseness of papier-mache
and artificial light and the foul atmosphere at once and completely
put in a false light the character of the individual actors, even of
those in a secondary role.

I was then able to see for myself to what extent are the people

52

accessible to a representation when they are asked to take part in
it. I had conceived the plot of an old classic fable adapted to our
epoch, and I selected the protagonists from amateurs, friends of
mine, and picked out the « supernumeraries » from among the
inhabitants of the place where I was, whom I knew one by one,
as if I were their mayor. It was the people of Anticoli Corrado,
the people of « models ».

This experiment has never been shown in public, and it is
not such as can affront the general public. The means at our
disposal were limited although our operator was unquestionably
able and uncommonly intelligent: he is now engaged in the same
capacity by one of the leading film-producing companies in
England.

The opinion of those intelligent people was examined, the
production was that never before had reality and fiction been
amalgamated so completely in one single vision. The buildings
were suitably chosen amid those monuments and the « supernu-
meraries » to whom I had explained the plot, grasped it thoroughly
and acted convincingly in their own homes and in the streets of
their own village and afterwards in the buildings, imbued as they
were with the event and the eloquence of the places where I had
asked them to act. The sun shining upon us all completed the
show.

I came then to the conclusion that it is necessary to create a
literature for the screen, because the adaptation of dramas and
celebrated novels to the cinema is an absurdity and an aberration.
It compels the scenario-writers to make an exaggerated use of
sub-titles, which is at once tiresome and inadequate, and obliges
the artists to have recourse to those unbearable and monstrous
colossal grimaces.

A proof of the possibility of creating a plot and of developing
it through a series of images was affored by Gabriele d'Annunzio;
Cabiria is undeniably a harmonious succession of enticing scenes.
It proves that no art can evoke the extraordinary and cause the
transfiguration of the actors in the fabulous reality — which is
precisely the characteristic virtue of the cinema. In the hands of

53

a far-sighted artist the cinema becomes, the pallet of a creative
and superlatively romantic painter.

In its present conditions the cinema is already an adult art;
it is technically perfect and needs no superfetations to be more
convincing. Just as no one feels the absence of colour in the
engravings of Rembrandt and Piranesi, which are in themselves
so rich in colour; just as no barbarian would dare to paint the
sketches of « Christ and the poor » or the « Basilica of Maxentius »,
it is useless to insist on colour or stereoscopic relief in the represen-
tations of objects and men in motion.

The art of the story-telling cinema is, in its present stage,
perfect, as I have already said. If the talking-film restores to
the stage all that the screen has taken from it, its power of expres-
sion as a whole will stand to gain. When the cinema will have
restored to the stage what belongs to the stage, it will start its de-
finite and, for this very reason, essential progress, ready to face
criticism worthy of its aesthetic standard.

Giulio Aristide Sartorio
Member of the Italian Academv.

5 +

GOOD AND EVIL EFFECTS OF THE CINEMATOGRAPH

(From the Portugese)

The cinematograph is quite an impressive phenomenon
which has aroused the stupor, admiration and enthusiasm of the
crowd in barely thirty years of existence. Theatres of prose and
music have passed into the second category ; and all other means
of visual enjoyment have been far surpassed by the fascinating
cinematograph projection. Today, about thirty to forty millions
of people daily frequent the Cinematographic Halls. In a country
like the United States 90 to 100 % of its inhabitants go weekly
to the Cinema. Colossal edifices are built, majestic in architect-
tonics and splendidly decorated inside, which cost millions and
millions of dollars. These buildings are rapidly transformed into
great halls destined for the theatrical and musical culture of
the people. Orchestras of hundreds of persons play symphonies,
extracts from operas known and beloved by the audience, and the
most modern compositions are also played and criticised by the
crowds. The organ plays while tens of white robed singers, hidden
behind columns or scarcely visible raise their voices in song.

This is the cinema of to-day in many centres of the United
States ; even in London and Berlin, it is taking root, soon it will
have reached Madrid and Rome, Buenos Aires and Rio Janeiro.

Parallel to the magnificent phenomenon of expansion and
conquest of the people, especially in the last years, is the war
waged by the highest intellectual and scientific class against the
Cinematograph. Not all, but a great many among the philosophers,
psychologists and criminologists have set their face against it and
credit it with all the evils of civilisation of today and all the con-
sequences of the present perversion. Is the cinematograph alone
responsible for all the evils ? Is it then true that the indubitable
perversion of customs is due to the white screen which shows
us real and ephemeral life and which makes us often forget all
sorrows and sufferings that surround the daily battle for life ?

55

Let us not exaggerate. I, for example, defend the cinemato-
graph.

And, in defending the screen I do not intend to deny the
social consequences, sometimes evil, that it has been able to
exercise and exercises ! But I remember that the wonderful inven-
tion of Edison, of Lumiere, and of Marey, has only lived for thirty
years. Does not this time represent a brief and transient moment
in front of the perfecting and establishing of so great a means of
amusement ? Well, one cannot hesitate in giving an opinion ;
the cinematograph of ten years ago compared to the cinematograph
of today, is with regard to social morals and education of customs,,
as the Pao d'Assucar which dominates Rio is to the Himalaya !

During the first years of the cinematograph it was an instru-
ment in the hands of uncultured persons, industrials without any
faith or any human and organising spirit ; they were the eternal,
the fatal speculators of the new revenue of civilisation ! This
has always been the case. Even the first producers of automo-
biles were men who were driven very quickly from the market
by the great and real automobilistic industry ! To speculation
succeeded the scientific organisation of the industrial production.
In the cinematograph this happened in a more complex manner.
The cinematograph, owing to its very character, attracted actors
and actresses who knew as much about morals as 90 % of men
know Sanscrit, and through the pressing need to amuse the people
at any cost and of amusing the special audiences that flocked to
it (let us remember that for about twenty years writers, men of
letters, political and prominent men were ashamed to be seen in
a Cinematographic Hall, considering the film a shame and depra-
vation compared to the theatre). This is why the Cinematograph
turned out detective, adventurous or worse films, exalting and illu-
strating the mortal sins of human beings and so on. And it is
the logic, fatal consequences of such cinematographic projections
that it should have a great and incalculable effect on the formation
of spirits and tastes, of habits, not always good and very often evil,
of the spectators, and it is only logic that this kind of production
(like the dramatic and Granguignolesque scenes in a theatre vio-

56 -

lently aroused enthusiasm in the criminal quarters of London and
New York up to the time when they were prohibited because they
caused moral harm and showed the perfection of criminality)
should have had a great influence on criminology in general and
on infantile criminology in particular.

Not only, but I think that when one protests against all the
cinematograph, one does not think, instead, that one of the best
and most rapid means to combat the harmful influences would
be to suspend the projection of all the films produced up to 1925
or 1926. Today these films, in every country of the World, espe-
cially in our countries of South America, in the Far East, in the
provinces of European countries are being continually shown, ex-
ploited (might be said in technic slang) by the Firms renting Films.
And they are exploited with copies, ruined, lined, ugly inside and
out. These hundreds of subjects belonging to the production of all
countries (it must be borne in mind that they were produced from
1 9 14 to 1925) are shown to simple folk, unable often to read and
write, peasants and artisans, to persons who do not know and will
only know the worst sides of our so-called civilisation by these means .

These films had been censured; the renters are therefore in
the right ! But can a vise of the Censor given ten or fifteen years
ago, when the cinematograph had not the same moral, social and
political importance that it has today (or, better still, when such
importance had not been valued exactly) be considered efficacious
in time and duration also when the mentality or the industrial
necessity of once upon a time has passed ?

I do not hesitate to affirm that if all the great cinematograph
critics, the scientists who aim their arrows at them often justly >
the psychologist who in school and hospital trace the tragic
consequences of the screen ; the judges and magistrates who in
numerous cases of infantile crime find in cinematographic projec-
tions incitement and instigation to crime ; the sociologists, who
in the films and their projections, see very serious and dangerous
consequences in the cultivation of tastes, customs, habits on the
mental and psychic formation of the population, were to make
a full enquiry to catalogue the films that bring about such results,

57 —

if they wished to discover the first cause they would find that it
is a question of that great industrial rubbish that still turns and
turns, the prey of small speculation, from the village to the pro-
vincial town, and shows the people who ingenuously absorb all the
good and evil which is communicated to them.

The first practical result of a vast action made by the Inter-
national Institute and by the International Commission for
Child Welfare should be, according to me, that of demanding
each State to make a revision of all the films up to 1925
and also 1926 which had passed the Censure. I am sure that the
inference of such an act would be exceptional. Nor would the
syndical Cinematograph organisations that, today, are striving
with every means and with evident excellent results to reach an ever
increasing improvement in the intent of art and culture, be contrary
to such a work. And the merit of the International Institute
would be gigantic. The first great battle for the social purification
of the Cinematograph would be won, and perhaps the consequen-
ces obtained would be the elimination of 70 % of the evil.

It is necessary to recognize that the improvement of the pro-
duction is not owing only to the desire of the industrials but also
to the perfecting of the Censure institutions in different countries.
Ten years ago in a number of nations the revision of the Cinema-
tograph did not exist, today only in a few States it has not been
introduced, but will be very soon. The Cinematograph industrials
have felt the increasing pressure and have bowed before it, and
such a movement aided by a sense of responsibility which has come
to them through the practical knowledge of the evils that the Cine-
matograph, abandoned to itself, spreads among the masses.

I said before, I defend the Cinematograph ! And, now I shall
explain. I have admitted the social consequences of it, while assi-
gning the greatest importance to the past, today I ask : Why not
illustrate the merits of the Cinematograph ? Why does one not
remember the great good that it has done, and may bring to the
education of the people and to the development of culture ? Can
we forget the popularity realized by means of the Cinematograph
of the great historical works that brought to the knowledge of

58

those who were ignorant of the far-off epochs, customs unknown,
episodes unheard of, the life and customs of the long past Roman
Empire and of the Middle Ages ? Can we forget the great
work of geographical diffusion realized by means of the Cinema-
tograph ? The knowledge of the nature and of its secrets and of
the enchanting poetry which surrounds all that which is unknown,
and that the Cinematograph has revealed with admirable art?
Can we forget what we owe to the Cinematograph in the fields
of architecture, of scenery and the progress it has brought to optics,
electricity and mechanism ?

Great films that have caused to live before our eyes all the
moral and spiritual beauty of people lost on oceanic isles, people
that our civilisation, or the so-called civilisation subdued, destroy-
ing them ; films that have caused us to live again with delightful
poetic sentiment the struggles of humanity for the possession of
riches and gold ; films that have shown us the great social picture
of life which tends to level men and destroy the genius ; films that
have shown us the distant regions of exploration interprises, the
life of the jungles, and the immensity of the forests ; all these pro-
ductions are essentially educative and their beneficial results
are of such importance as to annul and counterbalance at least
all the evils that are imputed to the Cinematograph.

I am certain that the debate the International Institute proposes
to establish with regard to the Cinematograph and the conse-
quences it has on life and in the universal spirit, will be a discussion
of the highest importance. And it is well that it be guided and
directed by an Institute of a technical character, without interested
apriorisms ! To find all the good and to detect all the evil of this
great invention of our century ! So that the good will become
greater day by day and may permeate all social classes ; search
for all the evil, the reasons for it and the consequences it brings
to civil, political, intellectual and social life, to make of the Cine-
matograph that ideal instrument of culture, of social peace and of
moral elevation which should be desired by all ! A formidable
undertaking to which all must collaborate with sereneness of spirit.

Aloysio de Vincente.

59

THE CHILD AND THE FILM

(From the German)

If the educational film is essentially meant for the instruction
of the young, it does not follow that its beneficial effect as an edu-
cator of the people should be neglected. The question arises
however, as to the age at which a child should be exposed to the
influence of the film.

In Germany this question is answered by a law which pro-
hibits a child under six years of age to be present at a cinematogra-
phic show. The kind of film exposed does not come into conside-
ration. The law, therefore is applicable to those who wish to edu-
cate, as well as those who entertain with films. We will not discuss
here, to what extent the law is justified with regard to entertain
ment films. The attention must be drawn to the fact, that the
enaction of this law was influenced by the consideration that the
normal representations take place in the late evening hours, and that
parents could be tempted to take their children. As at special
representations given for young children (and we are only discuss-
ing these), the hour is specially chosen to suit them, these
objections do not arise. The question only concerns the subject,
and the essential performance to be produced in juvenile presence.

Regarding the film plot : It is obvious, that everything which
is classified under the name of « theatrical film » must be discarded.
Also the films labelled by the Censor : « suitable for the young »,
are not to be considered, as these are only films which, in their
essential parts do not present harmful characteristics, but were
originally created for adults. In Germany, people of 18 years of
age, are still classified under the category of « Youthful ».

Even the educational and cultural film cannot always be pre-
sentes to the child, as the subjects often surpasse the capacity
of understanding of the very youthful folks. Only a special mate-

60

rial without particular character or title can be used for this pur-
pose.

But before entering upon the fundamental theoretic question,
I should like to report the test which was made in Berlin on January
19 th, 1929 by the Association of German educational and cultural
film producers. A film performance was given in the presence of
an audience composed of about twenty children from 4 to 6 years
of age. The representatives of the daily and cinematographic press
were asked to attend. Professor L a m p e , Director of the Central
Institute for Education and Instruction, had undertaken the task
of acting as interpreter between the children and the film.

The representation resulted in the complete assertion, that
films can be shown with advantage even to the very young. Se-
veral animals were shown on the screen : marching and galloping
horses, cows, pigs, sheep, hens, chickens just creeping out of the
egg, geese, marmots, camels and zebras. Also children engaged
in all sorts of occupations and games. And finally, motor-cars,
ships and trains in locomotion. All these views were taken from
the most varied scientific and educational films, none of the scenes
were especially composed for a youthful auditorium.

The results were astonishingly positive. All the children follow-
ed the scenes with the greatest enjoyment. Without being prompt-
ed, they exchanged their impressions and spoke to each other
although they were not acquainted and placed in strange surround-
ings, amongst grown ups. They answered very intelligently
to all the questions addressed to them by Professor L a m p e .
Their many observations were unerring and spontaneous, which
showed that the scenes, often abreviated and changing, were
fully understood by the children.

No weariness was noticed among the audience. Many details
and perculiarities of the show were observed and remembered.

Some children were examined after a few days, and it was
remarkable to notice how much they had retained of the impres-
sions received. The children had really acquired knowledge and
experience.

Comparative observations made in the Zoo, show that the

61

child is more easily tired at the sight of domestic animals and shows
less interest than he does when confronted by the same subjects
in film form. That a simple reproduction in the form of a picture,
has still less effect is obvious. Professor Lampe emphasized this
question in his lecture. An unprejudiced observer of children is
aware of the fact that a child's attention is attracted by life more
than by theories.

Besides the fundamental recognition of the value of cinema-
tographic shows for children, no real theory on the subject is advan-
ced. Some observations of a practical order should however be
made, regarding the content and length of films. It is obvious
that an ordinary cinema programme cannot be carried through.
As to the length of the film, it should not exceed 1 000-1200 metres.
During the representation described above, 600 metres of film were
shown. It is also necessary to interrupt the performance, and
during that interval a teacher could be made to give useful expla-
nations to the children. Not more than 25 pictures should be
projected in one second. A special objective must be kept in mind
for the choice of the pictures, so that length, style, and order of
subject are in accordance with the assimilating capacity of ther child.

With regard to the choice of the subjects, it is advisable to take
into account the surroundings in which the child has been brought
up, and to alternate the views of things known and unknown to
him. The town child will show a preference to machinery and
means of locomotion of every description, but his interest will
be aroused at the sight of animals because they are a novelty
to him. For country children the opposite will be observed.

There remains the question, whether it is advisable that very
young children should be « taught » anything at all. If one takes
into consideration that a child « learns » more than the bulk of adults,
it would be advisable to help the child in his work and to direct
and simplify his studies. As an auxiliary to instruction, the film
is undoubtedly superior to any other means. It appeals directly
to the child and is in itself a means of acquiring knowledge. The
film can achieve what is usually so difficult to obtain, and is of
great importance for the child, namely, it can widen his general

62

outlook and explain many things to him. It can enlighten the
obscure notions that often cling to a childish mind for years, thus
eliminating the dangers that accompany ignorance.

How can the film achieve this ?

A more genial means of instruction cannot be imagined, and
if the saying « children and fools, say the truth », is correct, the
happy enthusiasm with which young children follow the pro-
jections, is the best justification for the adoption of this method
of teaching.

Dr. Hans Curlis.

Director of the Institute for Cultural Research

in Berlin

63-

THE DOCUMENTARY FILM

FILMS OF AFGHANISTAN-MY PAST EFFORTS
AND FUTURE PLANS

i"

{From the Russian)

How did we get permission to run off a reel ?

It is indeed not easy for a man carryng a cinema apparatus to
enter Afghanistan, and the « forbidden country » tenaciously kept
its frontiers closed to American and British operators in spite of
their several efforts to get on its soil.

At the start, we had no better luck : In April 1928, the Afghan
Government refused to deliver the necessary visa for our expedi-
tion until... the return of the Padishag, Amanulla-Khan, to Afgha-
nistan. We did not however abandon our plan and when Ama-
nulla came over to the U. R. S. S., we reeled off his journey
from Moscow to Constantinople.

At Leningrad, we threw on the screen at the Winter Palace
one day, before the Padishag, his visit to the Moslem Mosque,
which had been cinematographed two hours before.

Puzzled, Amanulla exclaimed, « Plow could you have done it
so quickly ? » And then came the question we were waiting for,
« How can I thank you ? »

By granting us permission to go to Afghanistan !

After a minute's thought, Amanulla Khan agreed and I trust
he will not regret it.

The journey out.

On the map, Afghanistan is not very imposing, especially when
compared to the U. R. S. S., but when it is a matter of actually
travelling across it, from the Soviet frontier to its Indian boundary,
the wearying journey, made on horseback, with a caravan, entails
by the most direct route, three weeks full time. It was our method
of advance, from the River Amou-Daria to Kabul (via Mazar

64

and Cherif, Gaibak, Bamyan). On our way back we took another
route, going through Ghazuy, Kandagar, Ferrakh, Gueratte, Kou-
chkou, which entailed still greater loss of time, in spite of the fact
that we journeyed by motorcar, driving the car along inaccessible
roads. Further, we went on a number of expeditions starting from
Kabul in various directions (more especially to Djelalabad) so

•■■:■;::,,„ y'5,yy :;■■:-'■ \y •• 'yyy :yyyyyy

:

that over three months were covered in Afghanistan merely by
moving from one place to another.

Conditions of Work.

On virgin soil, work naturally proceeds with extreme difficulty,
and we began facing our difficulties as soon as we had crossed
the frontier.

The population of Afghanistan is made up of numerous tribes
speaking a multiple number of languages. It was an arduous task,

5-ingl.

65 -

at first, to arrive at any understanding of the strange medley of
type, costume and dialect.

A film depicting life and custom is always more difficult to
reel off than one properly staged, and in Afghanistan, we faced an
obstacle typical of that country only, - extreme religious fanatism,
and an extraordinarily reserved population. We were not looked
upon merely as ' foreigners , , but as ' Khafirs , (infidels) and a
Moslem believer can not allow Khafirs into his house, cannot sit
to meals with them, and must hide from them his ways and cu-
stoms.

Scenes of nomadic life were particularly difficult to take.
For a number of days we followed nomads on the high road and
across the mountains, but only twice did we succeed in entering
their camp, and then only for a few hours.

Nor was work in the cities any easier. Who could have
thought that in Afghanistan where the sun shines daily, pouring
its blinding rays of light ceaselessly from morning to night
our worst enemy would be, -shade ?

Yet it was so. At Mazar-et-Cherif, at Take-Kourgane,
at Gaibak and even at Kabul, we did little else but struggle against
the shade. The sun not only shines, it is bakingly hot, and every
living thing aims only at avoiding its rays.

The centre of activity in all oriental cities is the market place
and market places are almost always covered. Often, very often
we met with opportunity of watching astounding scenes, but ever
impossible to cinematograph.

All one sees of women in the cities can be described as moving
mannequins, covered from top to toe. At the first sound of the
apparatus (naturally automatic), such grey shadows move off,
tryng to hide behind some corner, or inside a gate.

The first school for girls has been opened at Kabul, but all
the school girls that attend its classes, ranging from eight to twenty
years old, are covered by the 'tchadra'. Often one meets them
on the street, black, nun-like figures, carrying their satchel — but
it would be futile to try and take a full view picture of them.

Among nomads, the women do not cover their faces, but it

66

is impossible to take a picture of them : on catching sight from a
distance of the 'kaphirs' carrying their monstrous, shining machine
the women hastened to seize their children and dashed off to the
same tent, seeking shelter. In another tent, the men received
us with all due ceremony, and entertain us with sour milk and con-
versation.

Everywhere in Afghanistan we come upon striking contrasts :
cities of the middle ages - - yet at the centre, at Kabul, modern
life ; an extraordinary rapid penetration of European material
civilization in an Asiatic country decidedly retrograde.

My Credo :

The film « At the heart of Asia » (Afghanistan) is entirely
documentary, as are also the fruits of my previous work, « At
the back of the Polar Circle » and « The Roof of the World », (Expe-
dition to the Pamir).

In my opinion, even in its present imperfect condition, the
documentary film is of much greater value than any series of « arti-
stically » staged tableaux. Films based on real facts can alone
convey a true idea of the world around us and make a contribution
towards the enlargement of the intellectual horizon of mankind.

The development of the documentary film had in its process
to overcome not only conservative tendencies of producing firms
and those of rental contractors, but imperfections in the technique
of today as well. In perfecting this kind of film (ultra sensitive film-
fabric strong light exposure, perfected automatic apparatus, etc. as
in perfecting the « sonorous » cinema production, there grows
the possibility of elaborating new methods in taking scenes for
documentary films. Routman has partly indicated this in his
« Symphony of a large city ». The new expression of Mankind,
the language of the cinematograph will not have its birth in the
theatrical cinema, which follows but one goal, - the entertainment
of the public.

While working for the cinema, I have not entirely given up
literature. My book, « The Industry of the Cinematograph in

67-

Germany)) resulted from my trip to Germany (1926). After
completing the film, « The Roof of the World », I published my
book, « On the Roof of the World with a Cinema Machine », and
I am working now on new sketches of « Modern Afghanistan ».
My literary work compensates me somewhat, for the lack of satis-
faction the production of my films gives me. My 'Cinema lan-
guage' is as yet too imperfectly developed to enable me to give,
through its channel all that should be given. The 'meagerness'
of my cinema language is due partly to the conditions of work
in isolated countries, during my expeditions.

The various authorities concerned created an infinite number
of difficulties. The local governor of Djelalabad, Akhmed-Ali-
Khan (who made such a poor figure recently as head of the army)
wTent as far as prohibiting the taking of views. We had to seek a
special permit from the central Government before we could start
work in that typical and most interesting of all Afghanistan regions.
At Kabul, one of the ministers refused to allow us to take a photo-
graph of the « filkhane' (elephant stable) giving the following reason:
<( The elephants are too thin ; they are far too tired out for a long
march ».

It is only at Pagmane, where Amanulla-Khan resides, that
we felt entirely free. We could, there, reel off even the women,
those lovely ladies « fashionably attired » in Parisian frocks, but
still wearing a veil over their face, below the eyes.

Amanulla-Khan loved most to be taken in the company of
the Europeanized deputies 'djirguy' of the Afghanistan Parlia-
ment — who hastily donned their frock-coats. Possessing his
own automatic cinema machine he took pictures and constantly
plyed us with questions regarding the technique of view-taking.

Leading principle in Film production.

Our cinematographic expedition aimed at the production
of a cinema sketch of the country. I believe we have achieved
our aim and that when our film is thrown on the screen, the veil
of mystery hitherto covering Afghanistan, will have dropped.

68

From the very start, I actively opposed experimenting along
strictly formal lines. To carry out experiments which cannot be
verified, i. e., thrown on the screen, is impossible.

Every effort was centred in another direction. Contrary to
Vertoff whose starting point for most of his works was the material
on hand, I endeavoured to « take » that material, laying greater
stress on the fundamental lines of the picture even during the
taking of the views. These lines had already been traced, based
on a study of Afghanistan through literary works, — from ancient
civilization to the Middle Ages, on the mountains, in villages and
towns, — and starting anew from European civilization. We
succeeded in maintaining them in spite of all difficulties, and in
my opinion, that constitutes the principal merit of our enterprise.

Ruins of towns founded thousand of years ago, with wild
nomad tribes grazing their flocks in them. A village next to a feu-
dal castle where the 'kichlaks' of the serfs till the soil from morning
to night, using most primitive methods

I feel certain that work will be possible under better conditions
in the future, so that it will be easier to pass over the material on
hand, even unknown to the spectator, in a more perfected form.
I shall then feel satisfied to entirely give up literature as regards
films !

Wladimir Jer; fejew.

69 —

THE DOC MENTARY FILM
IN SEARCH OF THE METEORITE IN THE TAIGA

(From the Russian)

Telegram : Send immediately operator Taichete (i) Koulik.

Summoned to the director's office, I was informed that I had
been appointed cinema-operator to the L. K. Koulik expedition,
organised by the Academy of Sciences, to the Ta'iga, in search of
the meteorite. On the following day, the train carried me in the
direction of Taichete, where I hoped to join the expedition.

When I reached Taichete, the expedition had left. Taking
advantage of the winter road, the travellers had started 5 days
earlier, bound for the farm of Vanavare.

Every minute was precious to me, I travelled day and night
by post-chaise, changing sledge at each relay. The winter road
had disappeared ; to cross the chain of mountains, I was obliged
to go by the summer road. The horses sank up to their necks in
the snow. I had to give up one of the sledges, and riding the horse
thus left free, I traced the path for those who came after me. Cross-
ing a river in the mountains, I was dragged in by my sinking
horse. The water rose up to my waist. The horse broke the ice
and thus made a track to the other shore.

The twilight... The postillion far back in the rear, ... The
snow... The Taiga dumb and solitary.

At last, after waiting an hour and a half, the postillion overtook
me, and I was able to change my clothes, there where I was, in
the midst of the snow.

After enduring many similar hardships, I reached the river
Angara. The ice was thawing within some yards from the shores
and its breaking up was emminent.

(1) Taichet - The last station of the railway on the road of the
expedition, 5.000 kilometres from Moscow.

— 7o

There was no time to lose. The horses and the sledges were
made to cross the river in the centre, where the ice was still strong,
while with great precautions, we started out in the direction of
Kejma. Half way, near the cataract of Alpinsk, a horse succumbed.
The shafts of the sledge were cut at once, but it was too late.
The horse sank deep under the ice.

After five days of toilsome walking, harrassed with fatigue,
I reached Kejma. But... the expedition was no longer there ! At

* fJ

the local base of Gostrog, I was given horses with which to con-
tinue my route to Vanavare farm. Along our way in the Taiga, I
was several times obliged to built rafts, with the help of my 3 po-
stillions, so as to be able to cross the rivers. At last, with great diffi-
culties, I reached Vanavare farm, where I found the whole of the
expedition of the Academy of Sciences. L. K. Koulik had given
up all hope of my arrival.

We started out towards the spot where the meteorite had
fallen proceeding by canoe, always keeping up the same speed.
Every minute was precious, as the river in this locality, has many
floating sand banks. Notwithstanding my entreaties, the expedition
refused to halt so as to enable me to take cinematographic views.

7i

At a mile from the spot where the metorite had fallen, the
Taiga disappeared. In its stead, we found many burnt trees, all
of them uprooted and fallen in line with the tops in the same direc-
tion. They seemed to have been swept away by a formidable gust of
wind. In that locality, there is a swamp, with many furrows similar
to those made by the explosion of heavy artillery shells. This region
is absolutely bare, and there is no vegetation or animal life whatsoever.

The weather and the scenery were favourable to my work.
No life — nothing but the burnt out Taiga. I shot all the views

that could be of interest and at the same time fixed on the nega-
tives all the activities and vicissitudes of the expedition.

But a new obstacle, I had not foreseen, made its appearance :
«the paoutes » (i). We were obliged to protect our heads and
shoulders with nets, like those used against bees. Thus I worked
for more than a month. Towards the end of this time, I felt the
first symptoms of scurvy. As I had taken all the views required,
I went towards Angara, taking with me the sick workmen. There
I composed an ethnographic film called : « The Land of Angara >:.

(i) The « paoutes »- the oestres - the gnats, the thrips and other
insects.

— 72

After having worked over two months in that country, I drifted
down the Angara in a canoe, as far as Enissei (750 kilometres), re-
turning by boat as far as Krasnoyarsk. Finally, I travelled back
to Moscow by train.

With the views I had taken, a five part film was composed.
It was called : • In search of the Meteorite in the Taiga 1 . The
film is an artistic narrative of the exploits of the scholar L. K. Kou-
lik, leader of the expedition organised by the Academy of Sciences
of U. R. S. S., in search of the meteorite.

N. A. Stroukov (cameraman.

FIRE AND FILM

The disastrous tragic fire that has caused the destruction of the Cle-
veland hospital and has caused a sense of deep commotion in the public
of the whole world, has been, in part at least, caused by cinematograph
films stored in the radiograph room. A precise confirmation of this is
not yet to hand, in any case several chemists have each explained in a diffe-
tent manner how the poisonous gases that have withspread death amongst
patients, doctors and nurses, have been produced. There is no doubt
that other factors have contributed to produce this great disaster.

As the problem of fires produced by films is of first class importance,
especially for education, which reverts to the utilization of non-inflamma-
ble films, or to use special systems for the storing of the films and for the
use of projection apparatuses suitably protected, we think it useful to give
herewith a large resume of an article written by Mr. Thomas Mc. Ilvaine
who possesses a high competence on this subject. The immense quantities
of films produced annually is sufficient to demonstrate the importance
of the peril.

Only in the U. States of America the annual production of films
amounts to more than 400 millions of metres (about 270.000 miles). The
films are today stored by the hundreds in distributing offices, schools,
institutes, etc., and in some of these places there are thousands and tens
of thousands metres of films.

Some years ago a Pittsburg fire caused the death of ten persons and
twenty more were severely injured. The fire commencing in a room of
a film-hire office rapidly decomposed the films stored in the room, and
the gases produced, reaching a very high temperature exploded, causing
the fall of the main walls holding the first three stories of the building
although these walls had a thickness of over 8 inches.

Expert technical people were called to examine the debris, and repor-
ted that nearly all the regulations relating to the storing of the films had
been neglected. The vaults were provided with double doors, but these
had been left open, and there were no fire extinguishers at hand. The
ventilators that could have carried away into the open the gas produced
did not exist ; also large quantities of films had been placed outside the
strong rooms ; in a room some employees had fitted a kitchen into which,
evidently by mistake, pieces of films were found. The heating pipes in
the building had been left uncovered, and many of the films had been
left outside their metal boxes. The doors leading to the landing of the
staircase were left continually open so that the current of air produced
permitted of a rapid circulation of the gases in all parts of the building.

— 74

At Bayonne a few years ago, a terrible fire started in a chemical works
v\ere the silver salts were recovered from old films by dipping them into
a hot solution of caustic soda. The accumulated gases caught fire and the
whole building was blown up killing dozens of people. One of the most
impressive features in this case was the extraordinary production of ra-
diant heat, which at the distance of over seventy yards was still sufficient
to melt telegraph wires, and to produce fires !

In the year 1925 in a laboratory at New-Jersey, placed into a so-called
« fire-proof » building, and fitted with fire doors automatic extinguishers,
with walls lined with asbestos, etc., a great fire took place. The inquest
showed that the disaster had been caused by someone leaving open some
of the doors.

Air. ~SIc Ilvane suggests a number of arrangements which we think
it useful to report here : r° The vaults of the storage rooms must be
well built. 20 Provide several fire extinguishers and aspirators in every
storage room. 30 The doors must be made to close automatically and must
remain always closed. 40 The electric wire circuits must be enclosed in
lead pipes, and the light lamps must be made of globes containing steam
or rarefied gases, and the switches must not give out any sparks when
opening or shutting them. 50 Smoking must be strictly prohibited. 6°
Film rolls must always be kept in metal boxes. 70 The boxes containing-
the films must be kept at a good distance from the heating pipes or heat
radiators, these latter should be enclosed in metal cages. 8° The glue
for attaching the films, which is very inflammable must be kept always
well closed and preferably in small quantities. 90 When preparing the
films, the various small pieces or fragments must be thrown into special
boxes which close automatically. io° Any other materials such as prints,
paper, photos, etc., must be kept away at a good distance.

To these very necessary recommandations of Mr, Mc Ilvane, we may
add that it is not difficult nor impracticable to follow even the most com-
plex forms of fire prevention and order, especially for schools, Institutes,
clubs and the like where a stock of films is generally kept. It is also advi-
sable that the films should be stored in rooms situated at convenient
distances from the school rooms, assembly rooms, etc., and in any case,
in places which have no direct communication with the stairs, so as to
avoid in case of mishap, that the smoke and fumes produced may not
block the exit thus avoiding the possibility of grave disasters.

All that has been said above will have no value when the non-in-
flammable film, which is bound to come, will be introduced everywhere
to replace the present film, and more especially in the field of educational
cinematography which does not require to project great lenghts of films
on the screen.

75 —

STORAGE AND PRESERVATION OF NEGATIVES

The recent great development of film production with its repre-
sentation of subjects of exceptional documentary and historical or artistic
value, makes the preservation of negatives of the highest importance.
The solution of the problem of storage, when dealing with negatives that
should be preserved for tens, of for hundreds of years, when such films
represent the life of today, its folklore, the ethnical boundaries of countries
in process of establishment, explorations, discoveries, the imposing flights,
the great conquests achieved by human daring, is of the highest interest.
(Today everyone carries at least a kodak ).

Experimenting on old photographic plate negatives, or on printed
copies of positives prepared by means of an emulsion of collodion and ge-
latine, has proved that pictures can very well be preserved, provided certain
fundamental precautions are taken.

Cinematographic processes are relatively too recent a practise to
enable us to draw comparisons between the preservation of plates and that
of films. Unfortunately also, many films of historical interest, taken in
the latter years of the last, or the first years of the present century, were
left in such pitiable condition that little of them has been preserved.

Cinematographic film negatives based on a nitro-cellulose compound
were introduced for the first time in 1889, and the emulsion was neither
at that time nor for a considerable period after, as sensitive as the emulsion
used today. Up to the year 1895 the same emulsion was used in the pre-
paration of positives. It was only at the latter date that the commercial
production of film positives was started, and, two or three years later, a
definite distinction was made between negatives and positives.

Photographic negative films however, had been used in increasing
proportions during the period mentioned and their preparation which is on
a basis exactly similar to that of cinematographic negatives, was subjected
to identical processes and received the same treatment, we are able to
form an opinion on the comparative qualities and possibilities in the pre-
servation of films, making allowance for differences in manufacture.

Tests carried out by the Kodak Co. tend to show that provided the
washing and impression of negatives is properly carried out, their preser-
vation can be ensured for a long time. The constituent parts of a negative
cinema film are a basis of nitro— cellulose, and a layer of gelatine contain-
ing silver bromide. The basis of nitro-cellulose mainly consists of cotton

-76

nitrate which substance, though apparently fixed, undergoes a slow tran-
sformation, while the gelatine containing the emulsion is absolutely
fixed, provided the impression, washing and drying are properly carried
out.

Transformation or deterioration in the nitro-cellulose basis will be
of no importance, if a constantly low temperature is maintained, but will
become increasingly marked through the influence of high temperature
as the latter favours the formation of peroxide of nitrogen which acting
on the physical properties of the basic compound may penetrate the emul-
sion and gradually destroy the picture.

An impression insufficiently fixed, imperfect washing of the film
allowing traces of hyposulphite to remain, greatly increase deterioration,
producing a typical yellowish decoloration of the layer of gelatine. This
is what makes the fixing of the impression and the washing so extremely
important, and it is essential with a view to greater care that, after the
ordinary washing after fixing the impression, the negative be once again
fixed in new hyposulphite solution, then lavishly washed, — if the nega-
tives are of great value, it is advisable that the water used be distilled water!

Again, when negatives are being prepared for a long period of pre-
servation, it is advisable to reel them on cylinders made of wood, packing
in chemically pure paper ; they should then be placed into corrugated
boxes, preferably of fibre or of vulcanite, which in turn should be enclosed
into metal boxes. Contrary to what is almost always done in actual prac-
tise, it is advisable that during its time of storage, a negative should not
come into direct contact with metal.

As has already been said, owing to the influence of temperature on
the nitro-cellulose basis, it is advisable that negative boxes should be stored
in cool, dry and properly ventilated premises. The ideal conditions
for the purpose can be imagined as those of a good house refrigerator
Such precautions tend to effectively avoid physical alterations of the basic
compound, of the layer of gelatine, as well as any shortening or crinkling
of the film, so disastrous to any subsequent impression or projection, be-
cause of possible misplacement of perforations.

In conclusion we would say that care should be taken not to let films
lie untouched for any considerable number of years. At least one impres-
sion should be made every year in order to allow of the dissolution of any
gases that might form ; in case this is impossible, it is advisable to unreel
the cylinders once a year, which will also enable all traces of deterioration
to be controlled.

77 -

THE FAMILY CINEMATOGRAPH

A fact which has been apparent of late and cannot be overlook-
ed, is the collaboration for the improvement and development of moral
and educational ideals, with regard to film production, in the United Sta-
tes. The producers have manifested the wish to be informed, before and
during the performance, of criticism and advice expressed by the represen-
tatives of the most important educational organisations, so as to facilitate
in the United States, the circulation of the list of films recommended
for family use.

Mr. Will Hays, President of the Motion Picture Producers and
Distributors Inc., has proposed in New York a programme of work to
the representatives of the 46 organisations which number at least 52.000.000
members. Mr. Hays, recalled attention to the existence of a special
Committee composed of 16 members, whose duty it is, to be in direct
and continuous contact with the manufacturers, scenario directors, etc.,
at Hollywood. The members of the Committee make the opportune
suggestions and indications according to the characters they represent.
The producing companies, have begun to send in the manuscripts of the
plays to be filmed, to obtain an estimate and an amicable control. If indu-
strial misunderstandings arise, the Committee appeals to technicians which
have been named by mutual consent.

All the free comments which appear in the press are systematically
collected by the Public Relation Department of the Motions Picture P,
&. D. I. Mr. Hays declares emphatically that this does not represent a
second censure or a means by which the Governmental cinematographic
supervision is substituted, but a useful integration of the repressive system
of public powers with a srystem of intimation, which results from the main
currents of public opinion. The second goal at which this collaboration
aims, is to spread as widely as possible, cinematographic projections in
the family circle. For this purpose, the necessity has arisen, to compile
special monthly lists of films which have been passed as moral, educational
and subject to be shown in the home.

A large national organisation is being created in North America, to
promote this scheme. The film produced will have to be specially viewed
by the authorised representatives of the most important organisations.
The films are subsequently controlled by the Academy of Motion Pic-
ture Arts and Sciences. The Committees of the national Federations
of Women's Clubs, educators, etc., will make special reports, according

78

to which the lists of films adapted for family use, will be based. Amongst
the groups present at the Meeting, were the Boy Scouts of America, the
Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America, the Federation
of Women's Clubs, the International Federation of Catholic pupils, the
daughters of the American revolution, the Union of English speaking peo-
ples, etc.

FIRST DEMONSTRATION OF SOUND MOTION PICTURES

IN LIFELIKE PERSPECTIVE ON WORLD'S LARGEST

PICTURE SCREEN ANNOUNCED BY RCA PHOTOPHONE

A new system of motion pictures, synchronized with sound by RCA
Photophone, and projected on the world's largest motion picture screen
in lifelike perspective, was demonstrated for the first time to a private
audience of leading engineers, motion picture executives and newspaper
men at the Gramercy Studios of RCA Photophone, Inc.

The new system, described as natural vision photography and projec-
tion, is the work of George K. Spoor and John J. Berggren of Chicago
and represents over ten years research and laboratory development, in
the effort to overcome the present-day limitations of the silver screen
The new system projects pictures of characters and scenes with lifelike size,
detail and perspective on a vast panoramic screen, hitherto unattainable
m the motion picture art.

Synchronized with sound by RCA Photophone, the new development,.
it was forecast by engineers and motion picture experts, opens a new field
of opportunity in motion picture production.

To show the startling contrast in size and perspective between the
standard motion picture of today and the natural vision picture of tomor-
row, a standard 35 mm. film was first thrown on the screen, in the size
as normally viewed in motion picture theatres. It seemed like a postage
stamp on the vast area of the new screen employed for the projection
of the Spoor-Berggren film.

Immediately following this, the identical scene recorded and repro-
duced by RCA Photophone on the Spoor-Berggren film, was flashed upon
the great screen, 30 feet high and 52 feet long, sweeping across the immense
studio proscenium from post to post, although pictures under the same
system can be projected to a lenght of 70 feet. The line of a musical comedy
chorus, dancing and singing in rhythm across a stage that extended the

79 —

entire width of the studio, was caught in its entirety by the camera and
projected with threedimensional effect upon the screen. With the vast
screen reaching from the floor to the vaulted roof it seemed as if the whole
musical comedy chorus were walking in among the audience. The long
line of chorus girls, singing and dancing across the stage, filled the screen
from end to end, creating a perfect illusion of living dancers.

The application of the new system of natural vision pictures to great
outdoor scenes and spectacles was next demonstrated, when a scenic film
of Niagara Falls was thrown upon the immense screen. The audience
found itself seated before one of Nature's wonders, with the majestic spec-
tacle of water rushing from a great height down to their very feet, crea-
ting such an atmosphere of reality that one could almost feel the spray
of this great cataract as it poured across the screen. So perfect is the focus
attained by the camera in the new system that details in the picture
as far as five miles away from the camera lens, stood out as harply as
the figures in the immediate foreground. The Niagara Suspension Bridge
was shown clearly outlined in the distance against the Falls, although the
bridge was 2 % miles away from the camera when the scene was taken.
A lightkoues tower in the background was photographed at a distance of
five miles.

By means of the Spoor-Berggren system the flat, shadowy, black
and white images of present-day motion picture photography are elimi-
nated for pictures that retain all the natural imagery, shading and pro-
portion of the objects photographed. Recorded on the usual panchro-
matic motion picture film, differing only in that the film is approximately
twice as wide as the ordinary film, the projected picture can be made to
cover a screen filling the entire stage opening of the largest theatre. The
new system, it was declared, marks an important forward step in ulti-
mately bringing lifelike, full-stage, musical comedies and dramatic pro-
ductions to the talking motion picture screen.

The natural vision system of motion picture projection does not
produce merely magnified objects, formerly shown on enlarged screens.
The new screen serves to contain the widely increased limits of picture
which the special width film of this system embraces, and to heighten
the natural vision effect. Actually, human figures on this screen closely
approximate natural proportions.

Great panoramic battle scenes in natural perspective, covering im-
mense areas of action, outdoor spectacles, broad stretches of natural sce-
nic beauty, tremendous crowds photographed as a unit on the new film,
are among the applications opened up for the natural vision camera.
The travel picture, penetrating into foreign cities, jungles and deserts,
will bring the full life and action of its scenes to the mammoth screen.
The newsreel, will capture a range of action vastly wider and more diver-

80

sified than is now possible. All dramatic action, in fact, will be powerfully
heightened, by that same illusion of reality.

In the Spoor-Berggren system, according to the inventors, the picture
starts with the screen and extends into the background. The picture re-
tains the real, natural perspective of all objects photographed, because
a camera focus approximating that of the human eye is contained in
the special lens system. The new camera captures two images and resol-
ves them into a single picture on a special width film, bringing to the
negative the full relative shadow values of the photographed object.

Optically, the projected picture permits the spectator's eye to see
with natural vision what the special lens system (in effect an eye itselfy
sees in photographing the scene. The new lens system gives a widely
increased angle of vision over the scene being « shot », thereby permitting
close-up views of groups instead of individuals. Thus, the facial expres-
sions of a number of persons may be noted simultaneously where, here-
tofore, in standard motion picture work the camera has been forced by
its restricted angle of vision to concentrate on individuals.

The importance of this element to the filming of stage plays and musi-
cal comedy is very great, allowing full-stage action to be photographed
in one picture with complete detail of the players 'actions and expressions.
No longer need motion picture audiences feel « blinders » being applied
to their vision as the picture fades into an individual close-up. Now all
characters stand out in their full pictorial values as the eye sees them
in a stage play, permitting observation of every bit of action on the stage
at the moment.

In explaining the relation of the lens system to the eye it was stated
that the double perspective or image action of the eye was eliminated, retain,
ing only the double angle shadow effect which in normal vision gives
objects their three-dimensional characteristics. The human eye normally
represses double perspective, except in cases where intoxication or a
similar condition paralyzes automatic control of the optical system, causing
the eye to see two images. In this respect, again, the new camera dupli-
cates the human eye, except that it continually corrects for the double
image, photographing only the double angle shadow.

By means of this double angle shadow, motion pictures that are flat
and two-dimensional, will simulate, real, three-dimensional objects with
all the warmth of light and shadows which gives depth and space in normal
vision. The contours, flat areas, vistas, and panoramas in the range of
the Spoor-Berggren camera « eyes » will be recorded on film, as they are ;
delicately shaded in curvature, or reaching back in straight lines of true
perspective ; in other words, modeled, to use a sculptor's phrase, in their
true physical and optical proportions as the eye sees them with normal
vision.

6-ingl. ol

The Spoor-Berggren camera resembles the ordinary motion picture
camera in external appearance, except that the magazine cases that carry
the film are larger to accomodate the wide film. As many as 1,000 feet
of film can be carried in these magazines, the maximum footage which
is employed in current standard-size film practice. Thus, with the addi-
tion of sound, lenghthy sequences of singing, talking and sound, action
may be filmed without a break for reloading the cameras. In the position
where the single lens of the standard camera is normally located, are two
lenses, side by side, resembling two « eyes ». The images they see are
combined and transferred to the film through a duplex lens system* A
special mechanical system in the camera prevents the wide film, used forn
these pictures, from bulging and flapping as it travels through the mecha-
nism. Operation of the Spoor camera is not radically different from
that of the standard camera.

In « shooting » pictures with the Spoor camera, the usual lighting
of a motion picture set is employed. The lens system of the camera func-
tions under precisely the same conditions that prevail in standard ca-
mera operation today, but will produce a much clearer and better defined
picture at the same time.

This latter is one of the outstanding features of the new camera.
It will focus sharply on foreground and background simultaneously, giving
none of the blurred effects noted in ordinary motion picture close-ups.
In the scenic film of Niagara, objects two miles away retained a sharpness
of detail rivaling the Falls in the foreground in which particles of water
could be clearly discerned.

The Spoor-Berggren projection machine closely resembles the stan-
dard motion picture projector in current use, except that its mechanical
systems are arranged to carry the double width film. This requires spe-
cial gearing and a compressed air control on which the wide film rides
to prevent buckling or twisting. The lens system is standard optically,
but larger to project the oversize picture. A special shutter arrangement
is employed which differes radically from standard types.

At yesterday's demonstration, the picture was thrown on the screen
from a distance of 144 feet. The lenght of the « throw » makes no difference,
and may be increased or decreased to fit all theatres. The only require-
ment in projection, aside from the projector, is a large screen, usually
covering the proscenium opening of the theatre.

82

THE LIFE OF THE INSTITUTE

Besides the original articles which fully describe the various
aspects of the educational cinematograph and the aims which
must be attained by the Institute, the Review will assign some pages
even7 month, to the chronicle of the work accomplished, by giving
information of the inquiries made, the results obtained, the com-
parisons that can be drawn up and the schemes approved by
the Council and the Committee.

By this means, each field of action will be discussed in its
twofold aspect : doctrinal and explanatory. Agriculture, hygiene
social prevention, films for didactic use and for professional and
vocational training, the technical and legislative problems of the
cinema ; all these subjects will be duely considered.

In the next number, the Review will initiate the publication
of articles written by well known authors and specialised techni-
cians such as : (Leon Bernard, Chodzko, A. Lutrario, D. Otto-
lenghi, C. Thomalla, etc.), for hygiene and social prevention.
(Seyewetz, Xamias, etc.), for cinematographic technic. (Viborel,
Urwick, etc.), for professional and vocational training. (Plugge Van
der Moesen, Rober, etc.), for legislative questions. (Gabriela
Mistral, Barak Coissac, Gottheiner, Eckardt, Roux Parassac, etc.),
for the didactic and scientific film, (don Pedro Sangro, Michels, etc.)
for the social problems of the cinema with regard to childhood ;
and all other fields of action of the Institute.

All these personalities have accepted our invitation to colla-
borate in these and all other fields of action of the Institute and
have consented to provide the Review with their valuable articles,
thus assuring to the publications of the Institute, the moral and
spiritual value which it hopes to attain and develop to an always
increasing measure.

83 -

TECHNICAL ASPECT OF THE CINEMATOGRAPH
«TALKING FILM»

The Cinematographic industry is passing through a phase of restless-
ness and uncertainty. The talking film has appeared like a hurricane
on the cinematographic horizon creating a general confusion in this im-
portant branch of human activity.

What will happen when the storm has blown over ? How many en-
terprises will have succumbed and how many will have survived ? Like
all violent phenomenon it will be of short duration and, after the crisis,
the right path will appear.

Why does the International Educational Cinematographic Institute
take an interest in the great problem of synchronised and talking films ?
Such a question could only be asked by those who do not take into account
the immense possibilities of education, science and art which the modern
cinematograph offers on the screen.

First of all because it is a question of art. The sound is part of the
aciion, this is the opinion of those who favour synchronisation, and we
agree with them. It is not a simple musical accompaniment but a valuable
complement to vision. The mute art asserted itself on account of its atmo-
sphere of silence and concentration which is usually associated with cine-
matographic projection. However, we consider that talking films can gain
greater favour only through perfect synchronisation.

Orchestral accompaniment during the last decade has played a very
important part in cinematographic performances. In every country at-
tempts have been made to adapt the accompaniment to the subject pro-
jected and to modern orchestral instruments, but still it is often far from
the original interpretation, chiefly because the method of rendering
the music is at the mercy of any conductor of local orchestras. The
talking film does not tend to abolish and suppress the orchestra but to
give the film that multitude of sounds, songs and intimate expressions of
local colour, which no orchestra can produce.

The cinematograph is gradually becoming an art. The talking film
cannot impede the advance of the screen on this path, for in such a case
it would be doomed to certain death. The power of art does not only
impress, exalt, or move to emotion, but it suggests ideas and vision, de-
termines feelings and state of mind, interpretations and sensations which
rise beyond the pure and simple reality offered to the senses.

84

If the talking film succeeds in being the integration and perfect artis-
tic complement of cinematography, it will confirm the latter as an art. On
the contrary if it is limited to a mere substitution without that interest
which can be aroused by the material existence of an orchestra in a projec-
tion theatre, either sounds or words would diminish the artistic power
of the cinematograph.

If the success of the talking film in the theatrical filmistic production
could be doubted, we believe that no doubt can possibly exist of the excep-
tional importance that sounds and words might have in educational, scien-
tific, ethical, folklore and documentary visions, where the scarce interest
could be quickened by sounds or words and where the lessons and com-
ments of illustrious masters could, in every part of the world even in the
smallest centres, illustrate cultural and didactic films. Besides the very
vast application of the talking film which is being adapted to the small
scholastic apparatuses and especially to those of small size films, shows
what new paths and possibilities are opening for the educational film.

Serious problems of a social and legal nature have arisen in connec-
tion with the talking film, and the International Review of Educational
Cinematography cannot but be interested, and it proposes to handle them
with the full collaboration of International Institutes devoted to the study
and solution of such problems. The Review and the Institutes could
supply said organisations with a valuable amount of news, information
and elements which are really part of our programme and which we
can easily collect.

There are social problems connected with the substitution, unfor-
tunately unavoidable in the small centres, of the orchestra with the talking
film. In the great cities we believe that the orchestra, even where it has
already been suppressed, must return, as we have seen in the enormous
halls of New York, where side by side with the talking film, are orchestras
of nearly ioo players, whose performance is to be regarded as an important
function in the musical education of the people. But in the small centres
the substitution will be fatal ! Many musicians will lose their employment ;
small companies of clowns and music hall artists will be replaced by the
sound pictures where many attractive numbers are being spoken and sung.
The International Labour Office with its well-known competence and
good-will is taking an active interest in the solution of this problem.

There is also, in addition, the legal aspect of the question especially
with regard to the new valuation of author's rights. Quite opposite con-
ceptions could be reached by considering the possessor the author or by
considering the author the actor ! But, today, confronted by a composite
performance how is it possible to determine the author's rights ? And in
the same talking film would it not be possible to find differences according
to whether the disc system and a photographic system of words and music

8S-

are used in the film system which does not permit the separation of words
or music from the projection ? Will not all this create the problem of
a different protection than that which the law extends to literary, musical
and photographic works ? And, in the specific case, which of the two
legislative provisions might be applied ? And will the artistic and musical
rights already granted for theatrical and phonographic reproductions be
also extended to sound, musical or talking films ? And vice versa how
will the obligations assumed by great singers be regulated ? Will the whole
of the pictures be considered as a performance or remain only pictures ?
What will become of the relations between Authors' Societies and cine-
matographs and producers ?

These are only some of the fundamental aspects of the problems
which interest our Institute fully, directly or as a suitable technical in-
strument to present a basis of study for the International Institutes.

Therefore we must follow up this phenomenon with interest since
we believe that Cinematography is one of the greatest means that human
genius has placed at the service of knowledge for the education of peo-
ples.

If we consider the silent cinematograph such a powerful means for
education what will it be when sound, word and colour have made it com-
plete and perfect ? We think that some technical information on this sub-
ject might be appreciated.

For many years scientists and inventors have been at work on the
interesting problem of synchronisation of sound with the image ; it
can be said that this problem was faced immediately after the invention
of the cinematograph and it would be very difficult to give its exact his-
tory. Perhaps the talking film, rather than an invention, could be defi-
ned as a series of improvements of scientific principles.

Today, the systems that are aiming at the practical realisation of the
reproduction of sound and its synchronisation with pictures, are nume-
rous and varied. For the present we shall limit ourselves to dealing with
those only, that have had an industrial application. There are two prin-
cipal methods of making these films industrially : the first is the disc sy-
stem, that is, the sound is registered on gramophone records and mecha-
nically synchronised with the pictures ; in the second, sound is photo-
graphically registered on the film.

In the first system the disc is mechanically coupled with the projec-
ting machine and is driven by the same motor, on the disc, on which
there is a starting point corresponding to a similar point marked on the
film ; both must be started simultaneously, and must maintain a perfect
synchronisation every moment, since a very slight difference (even the
eighth of a second) is sufficient to produce disastrous results. This system
has the advantage of rendering possible an easier registration of sound in

86

synchronistation with the silent films previously taken, of permitting the
projection of the films independently from the sound, because both the
film and the photogram are in no way altered in their normal dismensions
and, especially, it has the advantage of not requiring that scrupulous care
in handling which renders difficult to work the system in which sound
is photographically impressed.

Against these advantages there are, however, numerous drawbacks :
the registration of sound does not reach the perfection that is obtainable
by the photo-electric system, this is due to the reduced scale of vibrations
registrable. The sound waves that strike against the diaphgram of a mi-
crophone cause the vibrations of a steel point which incise undulations
on the disc, corresponding to the volume and intensity of the sound
itself. One of the chief drawbacks of this system is that the energy ne-
cessary to incise the disc must be reduced from that generated by the
sound and as these energies are very weak, every loss is a detriment to
the result. Therefore the supertones, necessary in harmony, are never
perfectly registered on the disc. Another defect in the mechanical inci-
sion is that both the low and high notes cannot be registered in proportion
to their intensity, because in the case of notes too low, the side oscillations
are too wide and there is the risk that the steel point may break into the
preceding path. In the case, instead, of notes too high, the point vibrates
too rapidly and jumps on the surface of the disc, thus distorting the re-
production of the sound.

The discs are easily deteriorated, fragile and voluminous. Today,
celluloid discs are being made greatly reducing the weight and volume,
but will these resist equally well to the work they are ment for ? We
believe that in the near future this system, will be completely abandoned,
and will be replaced by other more practical means, such as appears to
be the case with the electro-magnetic registration on a steel wire, which
Doctor Stille is bringing from the experimental stage to that of working
practicability.

The photo-electric method permits a sound reproduction to be ob-
tained with greater facility and allows the registration of a much wider
range of tones, both, high and low. This method is divided into two sy-
stems, one with variable density and the other with variable surface. The
system of variable density consists of lines of varying density horizontally
disposed across the space reserved for the impression of the sound, the
density of the lines is the result of the strength and quality of the sound.
If the souna is light the lines will be more transparent ; more marked if
the sound is stronger and of larger volume. In the system with the va-
riable surface, the sound is registered by means of oscillations which form
a black demarcation on their passage with an irregular edge on a transpa-
rent background, greatly resembling the uneven teeth of a saw : the irre-

87-

gularity of the indentation is in proportion to the density of the sounds.
To the advantage of a faithful reproduction of sound, the photo-eletric
system adds the advantage of a perfect and constant synchronisation, since,
even in case the film, should break, a disynchronisation would not occur,
but the sound would only stop for a moment and would restart together
with the film, because both are impressed onto the same support. Against
these advantages, there is however, the difficulty of handling and using
these films. A difference in the development, an imperfection in the emul-
sion, some specks of dust, a scratch on the sound picture, are sufficient to
produce alterations in the sound, the consequence being a higher cost
in the production, and a shorter life of the film.

In the photo-electric system both by density of light and by variable
surface the reproduction of sound takes place in the same manner. A ray
of light, passing through the sound picture, falls on a photo-electric cell
which produces variations of current.

In the system of variable density, the light that falls on the photo-
electric cells is regulated by the density of the sound pictures ; in the
system of variable surface, the quantity of light that passes through it
is given by the difference of the transparent surface. The variations of
current passing through an amplifier composed of thermojonic valves
reach the microphone of a loud speaker which in its turn gives out the
sound.

Also in the photo-electric system, the reproduction of sound still
shows some imperfections. The photo-electric cell, containing selenium
or potassium, shows a certain amount of ertia which causes alterations
although less serious than those of the disc system such as to make the
talking film still far from absolutely perfect.

In the field of sound amplifiers, the various systems in use, today,
are not yet capable of registering all the vibrations, and these often be-
come superposed thus producing distortions of the sound causing un-
pleasant effects, especially in the reproduction of the voice.

The systems of amplification more commonly used are divided into
two categories : the trumpet and the cone. The trumpet systems are less
sensitive and require large dimensions if an exact reproduction of the sound
is needed ; the diffusing cone system is more sensitive to the vibrations
and renders the production of sound with much greater precision.

These are the systems used today by industry for the production
of sound and talking films. Together with the imperfections of the means
there are the difficulties of handling, which present a hard 'test for the
ability of the technicians and for the purse of the industrial enterprisers.

Technical difficulties of scenes, and complex acoustic problems
may be added to the already great optical difficulties. If practical expe-
rience has rendered the technique of the silent film** relatively easy, the

— 88

technique of the talking film is still little known, and therefore requires
continual tests, accurate study and keen observation of the various phe-
nomena, in order to overcome the difficulties that have continually to be
faced. Problems of acoustics, of place, and of materials, problems of
laboratory, of development and of printing, are still awaiting solution and
stabilizing in exact laws. In addition to the artistic and inventive sense,.
in addition to the complete mastery of the laws of optics and photogra-
phic chemistry, the technique of the talking films requires a knowledge
and a profound study of the complex laws of acoustics. The mistakes
made in the early stages of the silent cinematograph and which make us
smile today, are being repeated in the case of the talking film, but men of
talent, endowed with great ability and means are working unceasingly and
we shall soon be able to smile also at the first steps of the talking film.

We have tried to give a general idea of the present state of the talking
film, without entering too deeply into technical arguments of a detailed
character. We have touched on the salient points of this interesting pro-
blem, which is still in its childhood, and which is full of fascination for all
those who take an interest in cinematography. Every day famous scien-
tists, technical men with high reputation, inventors and industrialists are
strenuously endeavouring to bring this new instrument to perfection.
We think that the progress of the talking film will be rapid and sure, and
that it will not be long ere men and machines reach perfection. Then as
we have said at the beginning of these pages, human genius will have
placed another powerful tool at the service of the people and for the grea-
ter progress of civilisation.

THE CINEMA AT THE SERVICE
OF THE SCIENTIPIC ORGANISATION OF LABOUR

The development of industry and trade, has in the past decade creat-
ed many problems, amongst others, that of the scientific organisation of
labour. Many thinkers and scientists consider their solution, as a means
of improving work and a remedy for the difficulties that agitate the world
since the war.

The importance of this problem is so great, that the International
Educational Cinematographic Institute is devoting special attention to it.
However, the opportunities afforded by the cinema for the methodical
development of professional training and tuition, and the scientific orga-
nisation of labour are such, that the difficulties are greatly simplified.

The cinematographic projections used for educational purposes
are a means of propaganda, they improve the methods of production, dis-
cern childish tendencies, spread the knowledge of machineries with their
various systems and the means by which labour accidents are prevented,
becoming thereby a real benefit to modern society.

For this purpose, our Institute, in accordance with the International
Labour Office, is organising a vast inquiry and documentation. But to
arrive at positive conclusions, it is necessary to be systematically informed,
of the experiments that have been attempted, of the films which have been
edited and the results obtained therewith. It is also important to be
acquainted with the opinions of those who dedicate their attention to
this problem.

Therefore, our Institute is making vast and accurate inquiries upon
these various subjects. During the Session of May 12th. 1929 of the
Administrative Council of the International Institute for the Scientific
Organisation of Labour, at Geneva (with which our Institute has already
collaborated) presided by the Hon. Prof. F. Mauro, deliberations were
made which will greatly facilitate our task. The resolution decided
upon was, that the duty of collecting and documenting all material con-
cerning films related to labour questions, should be devolved to our
Institute; and that all documents collected up to this day by the Scien-
tific Organisation of Labour, shoul be passed on to the Institute, thereby
simplifying our researches.

— 90

THE LEGISLATIVE ASPECTS OF THE CINEMA
THE TARIFF QUESTION

The juridical system governing the various aspects of the cinemato-
graphic film in general and of the educational and cultural film in parti-
cular, is one of the main questions affecting the life and future of the ci-
nema to the consideration of which the Institute intends to direct its atten-
tion.

A study of this problem must, however, be preceded by an exami-
nation of the legislation concerning the cinematographic film by means
of synthetical and precise comparisons between the systems existing
in the various countries throughout the world.

Before proceeding further, it is necessary to make a preliminary
remark. The film is to-day an element and instrument of life and progress.
It is perhaps the most powerful element of kuowledge and science, the
most efficacious medium of persuasion of our century ; there are no limits
to its advance other than those which lie along the path of the technical
and scientific progress of humanity.

It may cause the greatest harm just as it may be productive of the
greatest good. It may be a stimulus to perversion and a pure source of
entertainment and culture. In all cases, it is always a document, even if
misapplied, of psychological and social research, of a revival and represen-
tation of life .

Its power of appeal extends beyond the barriers of language and will
of peoples. It is a universal weapon which may strike to death, but which
may also promote wellbing and happiness in the world and may engender
a radiant conception of Peace, however far may this ideal appear from pre-
sent conditions and the hearts of men.

The film realizes its human form of life, activity and knowledge not
only when it retains its character of a medium of culture, education and
documentation, but also when it distinctly invades the dramatic and thea-
trical territory.

There are certain films depicting scenes of real and intense life, whose
telling educational value cannot be denied. By telling their passionate
stories they acquire, on the contrary a pre-eminent educational value.

Editor's Note : The Institute has in the short time of its existance, opened an archive,
containing the cinematographic legislations of almost all the countries, with regard to customs,
censure, minors, etc. The question will be treated and extensively developed in chis Review.

91

A distinction based exclusively upon the formal and external characte-
ristics of the film is, for juridical purposes, purely and essentially arbitrary.
At present, however, we can do nothing more but accept this distinction
just as we find it in existing legislation. Our task in future will be to unite
our efforts with a view to a revision of the cinematographic « values »
and also of those factors which form, the nucleus of the film and may be
classified among the ideal '< values » of life.

This question is not yet within sight. And the systems of tariffs or
censorship obtaining in the various countries are still founded upon con-
ceptions which theory and conscience have overcome but which are in
practice recognised by law.

We must therefore confine our present inquiry to legislation now
in force : on this basis alone it will be possible to formulate the theories
of the near future.

Nearly all the countries of the world have, for reasons of protection,
subjected the cinematographic film in general to tariff treatment. The
absence of any discrimination between theatrical and cultural films com-
pels us once again to go into the whole problem in order that we may be
able to dissociate its educational aspect in which we are interested to exa-
mine it thoroughly and formulate the opportune proposals.

The tariff system and the amount of duties charged on films vary
a great deal from Nation to "Nation.

In the course of the Geneva Conferences for the abolition of import
and export restrictions, the idea prevailed that films cannot be regarded
as ordinary goods and that national production cannot, in the long run,,
be protected by prohibitive and excessive fiscal barriers.

The term « trade », the foundation of mercantile relationships, even
if in economics it is appropiately used to denote an article (and therefore
also the cinematographic film) that may have an exchange value and there-
fore be matter of speculation and offer mutual utilitarian advantages to the
contracting parties, is in itself incompatible with the antimercantile cha-
racter attaching to every artistic or cultural conception.

If the work of an artist (and therefore also the educational film) is to
be regarded as an article, its economic value will be in direct proportion
with a utility of a purely spiritual nature. This utility is almost entirely
the product of the creative element of the work. The material element has
a limited importance which can be valued almost on a standard basis. What
in economics is known as the cost of production, and what may lead, by
means of the fluctuations of the market and the play of supply and demand,
to a more or less objective fixing of the exchange value of the article, con-
sists entirely, in the case of a work of art, in a purely subjective estimation
of its utility not on mercantile considerations but from a spiritual and in-
tellectual standpoint.

92

The day will perhaps come when the work of art, in all its manifold
and infinite manifestations, though treated as an object of economic
relations, will be regarded as lying outside the business sphere. It will
then be possible to reconsider the matter and discuss the creation of special
legislative safeguards on the same lines of that special protection which,
through doctrinal and judicial elaboration, has been accorded to the pro-
ducts of the human genius by means of the copyright and of that system
of prevention and repression of plagiarism which by itself serves to esta-
blish the value of the work of art as being capable of a peculiar and ini-
mitable form of protection which cannot be claimed in the case of all
kinds of articles. (It would be useful to consider the work of art from the
standpoint of its future sphere of influence in lite and to find out the diffe-
rences and limits existing between an article, taken in its stri ,-r sense as
means for the satisfaction of material needs, on the one hand, and an
article of art created for universal entertainment, on the other).

Since its origin as a strip made of gelatin and celluloid, the cinemato-
graphic film has been subjected in the various countries to tariff treatment
which varies in the case of :

a) blank film ;

b) exposed negative film ;

c) printed negative film ;

d) positive film ;

e) film of less than standard width ;

/) theatrical or cultural and educational films ;
g) films intended for purposes of advertisement.
We think it advisable to examine these items one by one, on the basis
of positive legislative data obtained from almost all the countries of the
world and, in the case of those States which have not supplied them offi-
cially : on the basis of information which the Institute has been able to
collect.

# * *

i. Blank Film. — There are considerable differences in the import
tariff system adopted by the various countries. Duties are charged on the
basis either of weight or of length (footage) two fixed elements of valua-
tion — or ad valorem — an arbitrary and variable standard. There is
no doubt that, in its present primordial stage of life, the film possesses
all the characteristics of an ordinary article.

With regard to imposition of duty on the basis of weight, it should
be borne in mind that the standard film weighs 7 grammes per metre and
that therefore there are almost 143 metres of film in a kilogramme. As

93

weight is adopted as basis for tariff purposes by most countries it has been
considered useful to give all data in terms of weight with a view to a
better understanding of the differences in the tariffs of the various nations.
The following States impose customs duties on blank film having
regard to its weight :

Austria*

Tariff n. 307 of the Austrian Customs Law : 1,20 gold kronen equal

to: 1,73 sch. per kilo, equal to 1,255 gold francs, in addition to an

exchange duty of 2 °/0 ad valorem.

Brazil.

§ 835 b. of the customs tariff : 10,000 Reis per kilo, equal to 16,284 gold
francs.

Bulgaria .

Public Tariff Law. Official Gazette n. 2 of April Ilth. April, 1922, as

modified by the Official Gazette nos. 289, 525, 158, 43, 225 and 32

of 1923 : 6 gold francs per kilo in addition to a municipal duty

of 20 °/0 on customs duties ,

Czeclw-Sloi akia .

N. 36 c of the Customs Tariff and Government Decree of January 12th.

T923 : 3>6° Czecho-Slovakian crowns per kilo, equal to 0,54 gold

francs.

Chile - Unofficial information.

0,45 gold dollars per gross kilo, equal to 2,33 gold francs.

Columbia - Unofficial information.
o,io pesos per gross kilo, equal to 0,5019 gold francs which owing to
are increased to 0,5907 gold francs
which is increased to 35 % if the films are sent by parcel post.

Costarica - Unofficial information.
0,40 cents of colon per kilo, equal to 0,519 gold francs.

Cuba - Unofficial information.
2 gold pesos per kilo, maximum tariff, equal to 10,364 gold francs. One
gold Pesos per kilo, preferential tariff, equal to 5,182 gold francs.
Imports from the United States are granted a 20% tariff reduction.

Ecuador.

Exempt from duties. They are liable to an entrance-duty of one fourth

of a centago per gross kilo. Section 16, artiche 11 27 letter B. Y. C.

of customs duties without customs duties.

Esthonia,

Customs Regulations. Decrees of the Ministry for the Interior « Riigi
Teataja » n. 77-78 of 1925 : 0,728 gold francs per net kilo.

94

Preferential tariff with a 40% reduction is granted to imports from
Belgium, Luxembourg, Spain, Italy, Austria, Greece, Latvia, Poland,
France, Sweden, Germany, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland, Switzerland, Denmark, Czecho-Slovakia, Hungary,
the United States and Japan.

Finland.

Law of 28th January 1927. : § 462 ed. 1929 marks 25 per kilo, equal to
3,25 gold francs. Prefential tariff is extended to the following coun-
tries: Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Esthonia, Spain, the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern. Ireland, Italy, Austria,
Greece, Latvia, Poland, France, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland,
Denmark Czeho-Slovakia, Hungary, the United Stated and Japan.

Germany .
§ 640 of the Customs Tariff Law : 4 marks per kilo, net of tare, equal to
4»95 gold francs.

Japan.

Sections 7,8 and 10 of the Customs Tariff and section n. 636 of the Im-
port Tariff : one yen per Kin (1), equal to 6,29 gold francs per kilo.

Greece.
Section 186 of the Customs Tariff and Decree of 22nd December 1923 :
1 gold drachma per net kilo, equal to 0,91 gold francs. All countries
enjoying most-favoured-nation treatment are granted a preferential
tariff. The following States are excluded : Poland, Spain, Portugal,
Soviet Russia, Japan, Abyssinia and the United Stated.

Guatemala - Unofficial information.
1,50 Dollars per kilo, equal to 7,77 gold francs besides the 8% ad valorem ,
under the paragraph : Consular rights, of which only 2 % actually
goes to the Consulates which legalise the account. The total Cus-
toms duty including the 8% in of 15,25 gold francs for the nega-
tive and 11,04 gold francs, for the positive.

Honduras.
0,15 Dollars per kilo, equal to 0,77 gold francs.

Iraq.

Section 12 of import Tariff and section 19 of Customs Law, n. 27 of 1928 r
3 Rupees per kilo, equal to 9,44 gold francs.

Irish Free State.

Section 12 of Finance Act of 1925 and Section 18 of Finance Act of 1928:
exempt from customs duties.

(1) One kin — 1.323 lb.

95

Italy.

Item n. 948 of Customs Tariff in operation since 1st november 1926 :
10.20 gold francs per gross kilo, including the tariff of maj oration
on the fundamental customs duty.

Unexposed films are subject to half the ordinary duty.

Jugolsavia - Unofficial information.
3,25 gold dinaro per kilo, equal to 3,23 gold francs, « maximum » tariff;
2,50 gold dinaro equal to 2,48 gold francs, preferential tariff.

Latvia.

§ 169 Section 3 Customs Tariff: 2,25 Lats per gross kilo, equal to 2,24

gold francs ; all countries who have concluded to commercial treaties

with Latvia are granted a preferential tariff of 1,50 Lats equal to 1,49

gold francs.

Lithuania.

§ 215 5 Customs Tariff: 1 Litas per Kilo, equal to 5,70 gold francs.

Mexico - Unofficial information-
One piastre per kilo, equal to 2,591 gold francs.

Norway.

Item n. 97 of customs Tariff : 2 krone per kilo with a temporary increase
of 5O°/0) equal to 4.14 gold francs.

Palestine.
75 mils per kilo, equal to 1,89 gold francs.

Poland - Unofficial information.
6,20 zloty per kilo, equal to 3,58 gold francs. For all those countries with
whom commercial treaties are in force, the tariff is reduced to 4
zloty per kilo, equal to 2,31 gold francs.

Portugal Unofficial information.
o,33 gold escudos per kilo, equal to 1,74 gold francs. For all jthose coun-
tries with whom commercial relation are in force, the preferential
tariff is reduced by half.

Rumania.

Art. 1788 of the Customs Tariff. 30 Paper Lei per kilo, equal to 0,92 gold
francs.

Russia (1) U. R. S. S.

1,50 gold rubles per net kilo, equal to 1,80 gold francs.

(1) Regulations issued by the Council of the People's Commissaries and of the Central
Executive Committee of the R. S. F. S. R., dated April 12th 1923, relating to foreign trade,
the quota, licences and certificates for importation and exportation ; instructions issued by the
Council aud the Presidium of the U. R. S. S. see also Decrees of 1923, n. 31, pag. 345, n. 40,
pag. 424 and n. 32, pag. 559. The monopoly and control is entrusted to the Sookino by the
Decree of the People's Commissaries, dated 13th June, 1924, n. 57 in the Collection of De-
crees for 1924, pag. 559.

-96

Salvador - Unofficial information.

0,40 Dollars per kilo, equal to 2,073 gold francs.

Spain.

Section 691 of Customs Tariff of February 12th., 1922 : 2 Pesetas per net
kilo, equal to 1,70 gold francs ; preferential or second tariff, amoun-
ting to 1 peseta per kilo, equal to 0,85 gold francs,is granted to coun-
tries with whom commercial treaties are in force, that is, to all coun-
tries with the exception of Albania, Danzig, Esthonia, Latvia, Li-
thuania, Poland and Soviet Russia.

Sweden (r).

Item n. 300 of the Customs Tariff : 80 ore per gross kilo, equal to

1,10 gold francs.

Switzerland.

Item n. 694 a of the Federal Customs Tariff of October 10, 1922 ; Federal
Law of October 1st, 1925 ; Regulation of June 10, 1926 ; 0,40 Swiss
francs per kilo, equal to 0,365 gold francs, Exemption from duty is
granted in cases when the weight does not exceed 100 grammes or
when customes duties would have been less than twenty cent.

Tunis.

Customs Tariff of May 30, 19 14 : 10,20 francs per kilo, equal to 2,02 gold

francs.

Turkey.

Item n. 766 of Customs Tariff and statistical n. 1186-1187 : 37,50 Piastres
per kilo to be multiplied by 5 , equal to 4,72 gold francs. This tariff is ex-
tended to all the signatories of the Lausanne Treaties, as from August
1929; for the other countries, the co-efficient of multiplication varies
from 5 to 8. In addition to this, there is a 6°/0 ad valorem duty covering
forwarding insurance, unloading and douane expenses, besides a muni-
cipal charge of 0,40 piastres per kilo.

Hungary - Unofficial information.

Exempt from customs duties.

Venezuela - Unofficial information

1,96 Bolivars per kilo, equal to 1,95 gold francs.

The following duties are chargeable in respect of length of film.

Belgium (2).
Customs Law, May 8,1924 : 0,30 francs per metre in the case of films for
negatives 0,15 :

(1) No deduction is made of the weight of boxes, paper or other kind of packing. If the
article which comes under this item ;is presented unpacked, it is subject to a surcharge of 30
ore per kilo.

(2) Unsensitized films come under the normal ad valorem tariff, which, in the case of
preferential tariff of 30%, is reduced to 10%.

7-ingl. 97

Francs per metre in the case of films for positives 15,38, equal to
30,75 gold francs per kilo. « Maximum » tariffs are, respectively, of
0,60 and 0,40 Belgian francs per metre. There is in additim a for both
tariffs, on the 1,5 ratio. All nations are granted preferential tariff
which is, as a result, reduced in all to 0,30 and 0,15 francs, respectively.

Great Britain.
Import duties. Sections 3 and 9, and Part III of Finance Act, 1925 ;
Section 4 of Finance Act, 1927 ; and Sections 7 and 8 of Finance Act,
1928 : One penny per linear foot, equal to 16,29 gold francs per kilo,
standard tariff. Preferential tariff is fixed at of a 2/9 penny. These
tariffis are applicable to films of standard width of 13 8 th of an inch.

Luxembourg.
Belgian Customs Tariff.

Ne7v Zealand.
Customs Law of 1921 as amended in 1927 : One penny per linear foot, e
qual to 49,20 gold francs per kilo, besidts of everything and also of
suplementary tariff. 1 % ad valorem There is also a supplementary
duty of one penny per English foot. Films coming from the British
Empire are granted a s. o. called British preferential tariff equal to 1%
ad valorem.

Siam.

Customs Law B. E. 2469. Decree for Customs Tariffs D. E. 2469 : 30
Satangs for every 100 feet, equal to 14,08 gold francs per kilo, for films
of standard width.

Union of South Africa - Unofficial information.
Two shillings and six pence per 100 English feet, equal to 46,60 gold francs
per kilo, or about 20 °/0 ad valorem.

United States of America :
§ 1453 Tariff Law 1922 : cents. 40 dollars per 100 feet equal to 9,73
gold francs per kilo for, standard width. Films of variores width
are taxed according to size.

The third group of fiscal tariffs is]fixed in respeet of the variable value
which may be given to blank films according to the cost of manufac-
ture.

It should be noted in this respect that the cost of blank film varies
considerably in the case of films.

In view of the fact that with regard to almost all the countries men-
tioned below no difference is made between the two kinds of film, it is
only possible to give the official data received from official or other sources
and reduse them presumptively to a basis of 0,6514 and 0,285 Eo\d francs
per metre for negative and positive films respectively.

— 98

Argentine - Unofficial information.
25 % ad valorem, equal to 24, 87 gold francs per kilo. The value is establi-
shed on a fixed basis of 5 Argentine dollars per kilo.

Egypt.

Customs Tariff and Item n. 37 of Import Tariff for films : 8°/ 0ad valorem^
besides the supplementary duties of o,5°/0 on goods for delivery in
Alexandria, o,45°[0 for delivery in Suez, o,8°/0 for delivery in Port
Said, equal to 25,74 gold francs per kilo. The value is established on
a fixed basis derived from the weight. A kilo of blank film is given
the estimated value of one L. Eg.

France.

Decree of October 28, 1921; Law of March 29, 19 10 and Decree of Septem-
ber 6, 1922 ; 30% ad valorem duty, equal to 20,49 gold francs per kilo
in the case of negative films, and to 8,96 gold francs in case of positive
films, inclusive of everything. Compresing a duty of importation
of 20 0 ad valorem. The value is established in agreement between
the Administration and interested professional groups on invoices
legalized by the Diplomatic or Consular Authorities.

Morocco.

12,50% ad valorem together with a duty of 1,50 francs per net « deportes »
per quintal equal to 11,23 g°ld francs per kilo in the case of negative
films and to 4,91 per kilo in the case of positive films. The tariff
is reduced to 5 % for films imported through the Algiers-Morocco
frontier.

Monaco (Principality of).
French Customs Tariff.

Nicaragua (Unofficial information)

15% ad valorem duby, equal to 13,97 gold francs per kilo for negative
and to 6,12 gold francs per kilo for positive films.

Holland.

Customs Law of 1924 : 8°/0 ad valorem ; equal to 7,45 and 2,86 gold francs
per kilo for negative and positive films respetively.

Panama - Unofficial information.
15° 0 ad valorem, equal to 13,97 and 6,12 gold francs per kilo for negative
and positive films respectively.]

Dominican Republic - Unofficial information.
i5°/0 ad valorem ; equal to 13,97 and 6,12 gold francs per kilo for negative
and positive films respectively.

Syria And Lebanon.

Customs Tariff: 5o0/o ad valorem, equal to 46,57 and 20,38 gold francs
per kilo for negative and positive films respectively, for all the States
not belonging to the League of Nations.

7*-ingl. 99

25% ad valorem, equal to 23,29 and 10,19 gold francs per kilo for negative
and positive films respectively, for all the members of the League
of Nations.

15% ad valorem for Turkey, equal to 13,97 and 6,12 gold francs per kilo
for negative and positive films respectively.

Imports from Palestine are exempt from all customs duty.

(To be continued).

THE INSTITUTE IN THE FIELD OF AGRICULTURE

Among the tasks essentially assigned to the Institute, Article 2 of
its Statutes places that pertaining to the agricultural field.

It is but natural that the founders of the Institute should have in-
cluded agriculture in the special mission entrusted to the Institute. Not
one among the enterprises and activities of mankind better deserves the
attention of public authorities, of governments, and more espacially that
of international organizations. States have long given weight to the im-
portance of an international investigation of agricultural problems with
a view to study a solution of the problems of agricultural industry, —
an industry so vital to every nation. A living and edifying example of
this is the creation in 1905 at Rome, of the International Institute of Agri-
culture. It is therefore evident that agricultural cinematography could
not fail to be assigned a place — one among the foremost — in the pro-
gramme of an international institution such as the International Educa-
tional Cinematographic Institute of the League of Nations.

The special properties, acting both by suggestion and demonstra-
tion, of life pictures projected on the screen, prompted everywhere the
development of Agricultural cinematography, in the hope of more ably
reaching the rural populations and making a contribution to their
education.

Cinematography is therefore destined to develope into an effective
means of agricultural propaganda as regards methods of cultivation, of
cattle-rearing, of agricultural machinery, of electrification of small rural
industries, even of association and cooperation. Moreover it is of a
nature to offer to the people of the country both an attractive entertain-
ment and one of educative and instructive force. Its influence moreover
may also tend to stop the exodus towards towns, encouraging families
to settle rather in their own native villages.

With a view to the attainment of its far reaching social aims, the
International Educational Cinematographic Institute endeavoured to
establish on a systematic and sound basis, the programme that had to
be followed in order to fulfil its purpose and to follow the lines that its
Administrative Council and its Executive Commitee had traced for it.

From the time it came into action, — i. e., end of December of
last year — the Agricultural Section of the Institute decided that it
was difficult, if not impossible, to lay down beforehand a concrete plan
of what educational cinematography could achieve in the agricultural
field, from an international point of view. There were already in exi-
stence a number of official national, and even private organizations, and
more especially international bodies actively busy on the subject. This
however, did not discourage our efforts, nor impede the action the In-
stitute intended to display in order to fully grasp the extent and direction
it had to give its activities in the agricultural field. It seemed rational
and logical at that point, to first establish a kind of inventory of possi-
bilities.

« To know and make known » had to be our motto .

With this end in view, the following steps were taken :

i. To get into touch with the various Ministers of Agricultur
of all countries — by means of an official circular letter — in order to
acquaint them with our existence and with our purpose asking them to
inform us with what sections of their Administration we might find it
useful to open relations.

2. As soon as advised of these sections, to forward to them, as the
answer of the Ministries came to hand, a « Questionnaire » by which
we would be apprised of all Official and Private bodies dealing with agri-
cultural cinematography.

3. As soon as replies to this « Questionnaire » reached us, advising
us of the such Official and Private bodies existant in all countries, wre des-
patch another « Questionnaire » to such bodies, in order to be informed
of their individual activities in the field of agricultural cinematography.

The first part of the programme laid down was realized in the first
ten days of the month of January. In that short while, the Agricultural
Section of the Institute sent an official letter, getting into touch with the
Ministers of Agriculture of 63 countries, 54 of which are members of the
League of Nations.

101 _

Passing on to the second item on our programme, entailed receipt
of the various governments' replies, hence time and patience were required.
Similarly, the third item on our programme depended on the replies
received to the first questionnaire sent out.

However, since the start of February, replies reaching us are such
that the development of the future activities of the Agricultural Section
of the Institute is of most favourable promise; we can foresee at not too
distant date a new phase in its progress, and a definite settlement of its
organization, brought about by the growing cooperation of the various
Governments and the Institute. The former have indeed fully appreciated
the work entrusted to the Institute along the agricultural field, and the
undoubtedly great benefits that will accrue to the development and pro-
gress of the rural populations of their countries.

It will be easy to form an exact idea of the importance of the results
already achieved and of the lively interest shown by certain Governments
in the organization and development of the Agricultural Section of the
Institute, first by judging of the number of the States that have already
responded to our demand for collaboration and with which we have defi-
nitely entered into regular relations, and secondly, by the very importance
of some of those States, from a political as well as from an economic
and agricultural standpoint.

We are happy to name, among them, French West Africa, South
Africa, Germany, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Egypt, Esthonia, the United
States of America, France, Guatemala, Haiti, the Free Irish State, the
Grand Duchy of Luxemburg, Madagascar, Morocco, Paraguay, the Ne-
therlands, Sweden, Switzerland and Venezuela.

A detailed account of the active relations entered upon with some of
these States will further allow the reader to form an impartial opinion of
the importance that they have given to the development of agricultural
cinematography, and of the interest aroused in their countries by the
establishment of the International Educational Cinematographic Insti-
tute; also of the great encouragement they have given to the activities
of our Agricultural Section.

Union of South Africa: The Secretary of the Agricultural Department
of the Union of South Africa at Pretoria replied assuring us of the enthu-
siastic collaboration of his services. The South African Department of
Agricultural indeed, resolved to make use of our films as a means of adver-
tisement of its own services in rural districts, and has recently launched
its first representation, « The Peasant's Friend », a film prepared in con-
formity with the instructions of the Department of Agriculture of South
Africa, destined to acquaint the peasants with the services of the Depart-
ment generally, and to encourage them to take greater advantage of the
facilities the Department places at their disposal. « The Peasant's Friend »

is the first of a series of South Africa films. Judging from the success
films of foreign importation have hitherto obtained, a still greater sucess
is expected for those of national origin.

The Union of South Africa is therefore distinctly entering, in its
public functions, into the field of agricultural cinematography, and its
collaboration with the Institute promises to be particularly advantageous.

Germany: A great agricultural State like Germany, that is ever on
the look out for technical improvements and better methods for the in-
crease of its revenues, could not fail to grasp the importance of the mis-
sion assigned to our Section and its purpose, and we have received from
the Reich Minister of Foodstuffs and Agriculture an assurance of his
entire collaboration. He particularly called out attention to the « Zen-
tralinstitut fiir Erziehung und Unterricht » and to the « Deutscher Bilds-
pielbund », both at Berlin, indicating that both bodies were well qualified
for cooperation with us because of similarity of aims. Cooperation
between Germany and our Section is but at its start and will doubtless
develope rapidly, especially after the recent agreements of general order
arrived at between our Institute and the prominent German bodies work-
ing in the interests of educational cinematography and its industries.

Belgium : The Minister of Agriculture in Belgium has warmly praised
our initiative in the work, and, failing a Government body in charge agri-
cultural cinematography, has pointed out as more particularly active along
those lines in Belgium the « Friends Educational and Instructive Cinema »,
at Bruxelles, not a money seeking institution. The Interantional Educa-
tional Cinema Review will not fail to call attention in one of its subse-
quent issues on the brave and fruitful work done by that body.

Brazil : The Brazilian Government has given us the name of the In-
stituto De Expansao Commercial de la Secretaria de Estado dos Negocios
da Agricultura Industria e Commercio at Rio de Janeiro, as the best Bra-
zilian Service for collaboration with the Agricultural Section of the In-
stitute in the field of agricultural cinematography, thus showing that our
activity met with approval in that immense agricultural State of South
America.

United States of America: Extensive and most valuable has been the
collaboration of the Secretary of the Federal Department of Agriculture
of the United States Government. The -Agricultural Section of the
Institute gains assurance of vitality and efficiency through the full coope-
ration of America, which can but rejoice the hearts of all who pin their
hopes on agricultural cinematography as a means of world-wide amelio-
ration of rural districts.

Dr. C. W. Warburton, Director of Extension Work to the United
States Department of Agriculture at Washington, has been appointed
to ensure collaboration with our Agricultural Section. We have already

tot

obtained first rate information regarding the United States through
Dr. Warburton, which will greatly help to the further development of
our Section. It is enough to state for the time being, that the Depart-
ment of Agriculture has at its disposal for cinema activities an annual
budget of $ 63,000, that it has already put into circulation nearly 300
agricultural films, and that more than 65 State institutions are directly
concerned with agricultural cinematography. The number of private
organizations whose activities centre round the same problem is legion.

The Review will not fail to keep its readers informed of the vast
proportions that agricultural cinematography assumes in the great Ame-
rican Republic and of all subsequent developments in the existing co-
operation between the Section and the United States.

France: Among the great states with whom we are already in touch,
that of France seems to offer equally immediate and important cooperation-
His Excellency Mr. Jean Hennessy, Minister of Agriculture, personnally
replied to our letter, writing most warmly and promising the entire col-
laboration of his services; he has appointed M. Paul Drouard, Chief
of the Agricultural Cinematographic Service at the Ministry of Agricul-
ture at Paris, to ensure such cooperation. Mr. Drouard who has been
a firm believer of Agricultural Cinema for nearly twenty years is at the
head of an official Service which can justly claim to be a model of
its kind. Readers of our Review will be able to avail themselves of
all information regarding the development and organization af agricul-
tural Cinematography in France, in an article to appear in that pu-
blication.

The generous documentation already supplied by the Ministry of
Agriculture is of the greatest value to the Agricultural Section of the
Institute. Indeed, the co-operation entered upon by the Agricultural
Section and the Ministry of Agriculture at Paris, is on the point of taking
more concrete form, as a result of the goodwill and interest that our
young Section has aroused in H. E. Minister J. Hennessy, and in
M. M. Lesage, Director of Agriculture, as well as in the Permanent
Committee for Agricultural Cinematography so ably presided over by
M. Alfred Masse former Minister; this will probably result in more
autonomous action towards the achievement of its purpose.

Netherlands : We also met with warm response and fruitful in-
formation from the Dutch public authorities. Dr. A. J. Swaving, General
Director of Agriculture at The Hague, has furnished us with very de-
tailed documentation which will be embodied in an article to be publi-
shed in one of the next issues of the Review.

Sweden : The Royal Administration of Agriculture has also sup-
plied us with interesting information regarding agricultural cinemato-
graphy in Sweden — also to be embodies in an article of the Review.

— 104

These, in short, are the most important steps in the activities of the
Agricultural Section of the Institute during its first months in connexion
with States whose cooperation promises to be most active and fruitful.

Elsewhere, the Section is attempting to carry through a technical
agreement (which is about to be concluded) with the International In-
Institute of Agriculture at Rome.

After having sought information in this manner at the heart of
governmental and official bodies, of agricultural cinematographic industries
ever spurred on by our motto « To know and make known », we are
about to carry our cause into the rural centres. Many hundreds of
agricultural associations the world over will receive a questionnaire aiming
at probing their views and wishes regarding the question of agricultural
cinematography. Thus the Section will be in a position to « make itself
known » directly to the strictly agricultural circles, and to declare its
action as regards agricultural cinematography. Such incessant increase
of our documentation tends to lead to the second phase of the activities
of the Section, when we shall be in a position to appreciate our own
documentary knowledge and, strengthened by acquired experience,
we shall be able to draw up, even to impose a general constructive pro-
gramme which will ensure universal victory to agricultural cinemato-
graphy.

One essential factor that will enable us to overcome all difficulties,
and attain the final goal, must be to ever seek inspiration above all, from
the very noble mission assigned to the Institute, which more particularly
entails international mutual assistance and a greater mutual appreciation
among the peoples, — under the guiding spirit of the League of Nations.

To reach this goal, no better means can be used than the cinemato-
graph, no field is more propitious to it than that of agriculture !

105 —

CINEMATOGRAPH USED FOR HYGIENIC PROPAGANDA
AND SOCIAL PREVENTION

The great development of the cinematograph in the brief period of
a few decades from the time when the unsteady nickering of the pictures
induced doctors to achdse their clients not to go to see them, up to today
when the cinematograph has become an ally of medical and surgical
science, leads to some reflections on the greater or lesser knowledge that
it possesses of medical-surgical subjects in each of the clinics and labo-
ratories, etc. The material of which we are speaking only rarely corre-
sponds to the requirements of the case having been conceived either in
an excessively popular form or with speculative-commercial finality.
On the other hand the need of a good filmistic production of the kind
is confirmed more and more as the exceptional suggestive and persua-
sive possibilities of the cinematograph are being ascertained.

One of the fundamental questions that our Institute has faced — in
the field of cinematographic hygienic propaganda and social prevention —
has been the study of the practical systems of the knowledge of what exists
of good in it and the divulgation of the material itself. In accordance with
the Section of Hygiene of the League of Nations — to which the Insti-
tute has considered its duty to submit the initial programme of activities
— the Institute has addressed each Governement in order to find out
what use is made of the film in their respective countries in the above-
mentioned fields.

We believe it would be useful in this initial period to refer objectively
to the organisation in each State.

The questionnaire was the following :

i. Do any official sections charged with cinematograph propa-
ganda in the field of hygiene and social prevention exist at the different
Ministeries or, is it centralized in one sole Governmental office ?

2. Do laws, decrees or regulations that discipline this propaganda,
exist ?

3. Do the offices make propaganda in direct form or do they use
organisations, associations and official institutions or semi-official offices
or private ? (For example : works for the protection of maternity, infancy,
works of social prevention of workmen, « After Work >>, social prevention,
prevention of accident, aid in professional illnesses, professional re-edu-
cation following upon misfortune, etc.).

a) In what manner is the propaganda developed and how are
the projections executed and in what manner are illustrative lectures held ?

106

b) Is an adequate hygienic propaganda and social generic preven-
tion provided for in the programme of the primary and secondary schools ?

c) Do industrial and commercial enterprises exist that make use
of the non cursive film (lantern slides) as hygienic propaganda of social
prevention of health among their workmen ?

4. Does a special Censure exist for this kind of film, and is the Cen-
sure developed with technical or scientific criterion ? In the affirmative
case kindly indicate how the Censure Commission is formed.

5 . Who sees to the distribution and renting of these films ? (kindly
indicate each House, Firm or Institution).

6. Is there a complete detailed catalogue of filmistic material refer-
ring to the present Questionnaire ?

The Institute provides for the attentive examination of the replies
which come from accurate study of the publications that are sent,
and models of abridged pictures, on the state of each country. We think,
as has been said, that it would be useful to reproduce systematically the
said pictures in the Review,

Austria. — A collection of diapositives and films exists at the Fede-
ral Ministry for the social administration of the Office of Public Health.
This office informs the authorities depending on it and doctors through
circulars on the consistency of the collection of matter of social and hy-
gienic propaganda by means of the film. Communications are made from
time to time by means of the daily political press. The penal doc-
tors, provincial doctors, sanitary officials, etc., may avail themselves of
this material projecting it in halls existing in the industrial enterprises,
works, or assistance of social prevention, schools and institutes of culture
and education, first aid societies etc. The projections must be accompanied
by illustrative lectures (1).

(1) The hiring of material and texts of illustrative lectures will ba made on request of the
hiring department of the Office cf Public Health to the Federal Ministry for social adminis-
tration: Vienna 1, Hanuschgasse 3, and according to the following conditions:

i° the matherial will be hired out only to doctors who wish to give lectures on hygienic
propaganda ;

2° he who hires the material is responsible for any damages which might eventually oc-
cur from the time of its consignment until he delivers it back ;

3° the renters domiciled at Vienna must provide at their own expense for the fetching
and brings back of the material. The renters that live out of Vienna ate bound to pay the
effective expenses of the return shipment of the material, the shipment must be made accor-
to te tariff for bulky goods ;

40 generally the hiring will be made for a period not exceeding four weeks ; in case they
wish to keep the material for a longer period of time a prorogation must be demanded with
a suitable period of notice ;

5° as to the price of the hiring, necessary for the keeping up of this material and for
new purchases, the central office charges 1 schilling for series of dispositives to 53.2 sch;llings
for series superior to 50.10 groschen for every lecture. Prices are counted for each week calcu-

I07 —

The projection machines necessary are at the disposition of the
above-mentioned Institutes as the Central Cinematograph located in
the Ministerial does not dispose of any.

The programmes of the High Schools and Grammer Schools pro-
vide for the teaching of hygiene, and for its general principles : the struc-
ture and the functioning of the human body, etc. In the normal school
instead, hygiene is one of the official studies to be taught ; in the esta-
blishments of the « Oesterreischische Montangesellschaft » the doctors
hold systematic lectures on lifesaving in case of accidents in the mines, on
first aid, on industrial hygiene and so forth. The Ministerial Office of
Public Health has not undertaken, for the moment, a direct production
of films of the kind. The material has been purchased from national
and foreign Companies, as, for instance, the Hygiene Museum at Dresden.

The hygiene propaganda is exercised either by the Government
administration or by the Provincial authorities and by the Insurance In-
stitutes for sickness, by the private and special Institutes , and by Socie-
ties for the health of the people.

At Vienne, through the Municipal Aid Office a vast hygienic pro-
paganda for married people, is made. The aim of the Office is that of
calling the attention of those who wish to contract marriage to the dan-
gers that may be derived from the contagion of venereal diseases and
tubercolosis, and the consequences that it may have on the future
generation. The Commune of Vienna has also instituted a premium of
40 schillings for those women who during the first four months of pre-
gnancy, consent to undergo a blood examination (reaction Wassermann)
and in case of positive results put themselves under an antiluetic cure.
The examination and the cure are free of charge. Propaganda of this
kind is called « Aid for Mothers ». The Cinematograph in largely used
for publishing purposes to make known legislative conditions, to show
all the possibilities and utility of the work it accomplishes, and show
it to be in the interest of all the people to take advantage of the above
systems. So the Cinematograph is used to instruct the pregnant women
and to bring to their knowledge the consulting Institutes where they can
be visited free of charge, and instructed on hygiene of the body and nourish-
ment. And moreover the women at confinement receive as a free loan

lating the time from the shipment of the goods to the day of their return. Every week begun
counts as a whole week. Payments are made by special postal orders.

Given the very grest importance of popular hygiene instruction undertaken by doctors it
• s recommended to make large usage of still and animated projections.

The governors of the provinces are begged to call the attention of its doctors under their
iurisdiction and also invite all doctors in general to take advantage of such means. The invita-
tion is especially given to doctors specializing in social prevention, accidents j»nd so forth, or
those who devote their activities to schools, consultations for pregnancy, maternity rooms, anti-
tubercolosis dispensaries for venereal diseases, etc,

— I08

the cradle and the linen necessary for the birth. The propaganda con-
tinues, it is being developed in an efficacious form. It brings to their
knowledge that in Austria exists a network of places of lactation Cat
present five hundred), it brings to their knowledge that they can receive
free a complete package of baby equipment and all that is necessary
to dress the newly-born hygienically.

Also the Insurance Institutes against disease make a great deal of
propaganda, and women even though not of the Institute itself, have the
right to obtain during the first twelve weeks of nursing a premium in
monev if the mother herself does the nursing. The premium may be
extended to a maximum of 26 weeks if the mother nurses the child beyond
the usual period.

The propaganda of prevention that is made among the tuberculosis
to make them understand their duty in contributing to avoid the spreading
the contagion among the relatives or those near them, is very vast. The
same propaganda is followed for venereal diseases.

All the Institutes use the cinematograph largely as a means of sug-
gestion, of education and of propaganda.

Czechoslovakia. — The hygienic propaganda and the social pre-
vention by means of the cinematograph is carried on by the Ministry
of Hygiene and of physical education ; it is therefore centralized at the
Department of social Hygiene wThich in its turn, is divided into sections
of education and sections of hygiene propaganda.

In conformity with the circular of the Ministry of the Interior of
1 7-1- 1922 the permits of projection are conditioned and are annulled
if wTithin a determined period of time the pictures have not been projected.
This disposition also regards films of culture and education. Competent
authorities may demand a prorogation of the perm.it. The Ministry
of Hygiene lias entrusted the technical part of the programme of the
spreading and the hiring to the section of culture of the Masaryk Institute
for the education of the people and has consigned to the same the greater
part of the films of the kind produced directly or pru chased.

The hiring of the films is made with payment of a small tax which
covers the general expenses, transportation and ammortisation of the
cost of the films. The films, if adapted to young people are also used
in the schools. Also the social-hygiene organisations dispose of films
reserved for the use of internal propaganda. The Czecho-Slovakian Red
Cross possesses four circulating cinematographs furnished with films
and diapositives. Each circulating cinematograph when touring the pro-
vinces has with it a doctor who illustrates the contents of the projections.

The official Censure exists for all the films. The prescriptions refer-
ring to the licence or censure are determined by Decree of the Ministry
of the Interior No. 191 (Imperial Code).

109

NOTES TAKEN FROM REVIEWS AND PAPERS

To facilitate the study, documentation and knowledge of what is being said, done and prepar-
ed, the Institute is systematically examining over 20c publications. The number of weekly and
periodical reviews received by the Institute is constantly increasing. All the news which can
be liable of revision, comparison or study is examined by the various departments and bureaux,
and is immediately distributed to the respective functionaries. A large collection of notes concern-
ing everything which has been published regarding special subjects or arguments, have been
filed and can be consulted at any moment.

The Institute, will open a monthly column in « The International Review of Educational
Cinematugraph » which gives the chronicles of the most important news collected ; in it will
also appear information, not strictly connected with the constitutional characteristics of the Insti-
tute, but which can, on account ofits artistic, intellectual and social import, be of interest to the
readers of the Review.

In the next number, the column will also contain information and notices directly collected
by the Institute, through its corresponding and editorial agencies. A rapid survey of these pages
will enable the reader to gather monthly information of what is being done, thought and publish-
ed on the problem of educational cinema.

For this special department, as well as for the other fields of action of the Review, we repeat
to all our rearders our cordial invitation to collaborate with us, by spreading our Review and thus
contributing to the victorious ascertion of the cinema as a means of education, of high, moral, in-
tellectual and social value.

FILMS AND CULTURE

With the collaboration of the director
of the Zoological Gardens in Berlin, a
film has been drawn up dealing on the
life of the bison in the secular forests
of Poland, the mountain eagle of the
Bavarian Alps, the black stork of Ger-
many, etc. As some of these zoological
species are disappearing, this film will
have a great documentary and scientific
value. (Der Bund - D. 6/33).

The Badischekulurfilmspiele, in accor-
dance with the popular University and
the Union for the education of the young
is organising in the city theatre at Frei-
burg, in Br. important projections of edu-
cational films, specially adapted for the
people. These representations will be
gratis and will be held on Saturday
afternoons of next winter. (Badishe
Br esse - Karlsruhe. D. 3/2).

To vulgarise the Cinematograph as a
means of teaching history, science and
geography, the Film Bureau of Ameri-
ca is equipping a large number of

halls, exclusively for the projection of
scholastic films for children and educa-
tional films for adults. Many of the re-
presentations will be gratis. The Asso-
ciation is not interested in the profits.
(New Yor\ Herald - New Yor\. D.
3/24)-

Several hundred educators and tea-
chers were present at an important show
of educational films, organised by the
Stoll Picture Theatre and the Visual
Educational Ltd. in London. To awa-
ken the interest of teachers in cinema-
tographic pedagogy, regular monthly re-
presentations will be held. (Daily Tele-
graph - D. 3/ 33).

An article by Lotar Holland called:
« Films and the new Generations »
treats on the opportunities offered by
the cinematograph. It states that art and
industry of the present day are in oppo-
sition with the actual iorm of film indu-
stry. New artistic conceptions will have
to be applied to productions in the fu-
ture, also for educational purposes.
(Vorwarth - Berlin. D. 2J21).

no

\ Film on « Egyptian Pastoral Life »
is announced depicting the daily lite
of the labourers, in the ancient land of
the pharaons. which leaves aside the
well worn decorum of sphinxes, mos-
ques and the like. The him illustrates
in a particularly interesting way, the
difficulties against which the modern
Egyptian, like his ancestor of the times
of Ramses II, is fighting to overcome
the aridity of the soil. (Comedia - D.

6/27).

The Tagore Film Company directed
by the cousin of the poet, has acqui-
red land in the neighbourhood of Cal-
cutta to establish art studios, Associated
with the Wadan Society, it will pro-
duce cultural and religious films. Ci-
nematography has made very great
progress in India. Over iooo natives
are employed in the studios. Bombay
possesses 4 producing companies, one
has been created at Benares. (Film-Ku-
rier - Berlin. D. 20/9).

The future of Indian cinematographic
production is founded on films that
have a spychological, historicaal or my-
thological plot. The Indian National In-
dustry of Bombay for the production of
cultural and artistic films, is under the
auspices of the Indian Cinematogra-
phic Committee and is subsidised by
the Government. (The Times1 - D.
26/14).

The Parliament of Rumania is passing
a Bill proposed by Mr. Michaiesco, con-
cerning the obligatory introduction of
cinematographic performances in the ru-
ral schools.

Benito Perojo, in an article entitled:
« El Cinematografo en Rusia », an-
nounces that: The Ministry of Instruc-
tion prepares all the programmes of
the Russian cinematographs, with the
cooperation of authors, artists and Uni-
versity Professors. The Government pro-
duces two kinds uf films: cultural and
theatrical. The fixst deal on chemistry,
botany, zoology, hygien, social preven-
tion, etc. The theatrical films deal on
communistic politics with sentimental
episodes.

All Russian citizens are asked to col-
laborate in the cinematographic indu-
stry for the duration of 3 months; the
authors propose the plots, the artists
superintend the scenarios and the adver-
tisements, photographs, sculptures, etc.
each lends his assistance in his parti-
cular capacity. Cinema actors receive a
fixed salary no higher than the wages
of an expert workman. (A. B. C. - Ma-
drid. D. 25/6).

The Yalta University in Boston is
producing a series of films illustrating
the political, moral and cultural ideals
of America. The films will have a stric-
tly historical character. (The Christian
Science Monitor - Boston. D. 3/3$)-

The Minister of Instruction of Czecho-
slovakia has ordered a general revision
of the cultural films produced through-
out the Republic, to control and or-
ganise in a rational form, the distri-
bution of adequate films in the schools
and the Institutions for popular culture.
(Prager Presse - Prague. D. 25/20). —

A research expedition, organised by
the <• German Society of Cultural Expe-
ditions » has set out for the virgin fo-
rest of Brasil. The cinematograph will
be a great auxiliary during the expedi-
tion for documentary and scientific pur-
poses. (Film Kurier - Berlin. D. 3/36).

An article by H. E. Wilson, examins
all the means apt to spread the use of
the cinema in schools, to awaken the
interest of the pulpils, to create strictly
didactis films, particularly for science
and the history of social sciences. (The
Historical Outloo\ - Philadelphia. D.
37/7)-

An article written by Ehrler, deals on
the safty of the cinematographic halls in
the schools and of the regulations that
ought to be adopted in that respect. (Le
Travail - Geneve. D. 37/6).

An interesting article explains the
organisation of the first film school
« Film seminar » which will have the
character and the grade of a higher
Lyceum. (Konigsberger Allgemeine Zei-
tung - Konigsberg. D. 37/1).

Some films have been made repre-
senting the life of human tissues. Such
films are of great interest for the study
of cancer. (Daily Telegraph - London.
D. 14 J 1 5) l.'

Andre Laphin, in an interesting ar-
ticle speakes of the study of the pene-
trability of matter with the cinemitrail-
leuse and of the new invention of Ma-
gnan e Sainte-Lague. (Intransigeant -
Parts. D. 36 1 25).

Thomas Edison declares in an interes-
ting article, that cinematography has
increased the rapidity of human thought.
(8 Uhr Blatt - 'Nuremberg. D. 34/26).

In the University for Ingeneers in
Holland, there is a project of organising
a section for the cinematograph and
phototechnic. (Kinematograph - Berlin.
D. 8/27).

A documentary film was presented in
Paris which dealt on the life of the
termites (ants) created by M. H. Du-
fane. (Comcedia - Paris. D. 6/48).

The. British and Dominion Films Cor-

poration announces

the creation of a

series of talking and synchronised films
which will reproduce the most pro-
minent facts of the history of the Do-
minions. (Daily Telegraph - London.
D. 6/44)".

Daniel C. Knowlton of the Yale Uni-
versity, publishes an interesting article
on the improvement of the means of
teaching history with the help of the
cinema, and the possibility of subdivi-
ding the study in groups and sub-groups.
(The Historical Otttloo\ - Philadlphia.
D. 3/5o).

The Council of Ministers in Czecho-
slovakia has given to the Millenium-
film company, a subsidy of a million
crowns to produce the national Czecho-
slovak film « St. Vencelas ». (Licht
Bild Buhne - Berlin. D. 6/43).

Michel Garel writes in an article
« L'avenir du documentaire » of the re-
turn of the films which reproduce na-
ture. (Ami du Peuple - Paris. D. 6/42).
The Lord Mayor of London has
shown great interest in the problem of

the educational films and assisted at ma-
ny moving picture shows and prognosti-
cated a widespread circulation. (Daily
Telegraph - London. D. 3/51).

In the University of Hamburg there
have been representations of synchroni-
sed cultural films. (Kinematograph -
Berlin. D. 3/53).

The first results of the great expe-
riment made by Thos. E. Finegan, Presi-
dent of the Esatman Teaching Inc. on
the educational value of films, made
in 200 schools and experimented on
11.000 children, have been published.
(The Film Daily - New Yor{. D. 3/34).

The Institute for Cultural Research
directed by Dr. Ciirlis, has produced a
film with views of the Danube and
beautiful landscapes, emographic views,
country and costumes. (Vossische Zei-
tung - Berlin. D. 6/30).

George Pikler has written an intere-
sting article on the esthetic problems of
film industry and art. (Niiremberger
Zeitung - Nuremberg. D. 2/20).

Peter Micklechwaite bas written a long
letter to the editor of the Daily Tele-
graph dealing on the progress of the
cinema with regard to art and science:
( Daily Telegraph - London. D. 2/26).

A seilies of scientific and cultural
films have been projected, ordered by
the Empire Marketing Boards of New
Castle-on-Tyne, before an audience of
48.000 children. (Times - London. D.
3/45)-

IN THE TECHNICAL WORLD
OF THE CINEMA

A new system « Bonne Presse »
for augmenting the luminousness of
lamps used for cinema apparatuses, has
been notified. The system is that of a
compensating lenz of a special focus
which is introduced at a certain di-
stance between the condensator of the
lamp and the projector. The lenz con-
centrates the luminous rays so that lu-
minosity of 20 % is thus obtained. (Le
Fascinateur - Paris. D. 36/24).

112

In America a new screen for syn-
chronised film projections has been ex-
perimented; it is called Cinevox. This
screen is very porous and allows the
free passage of the sound waves. This
screen enables the loud speakers to be
placed at the normal place from where
the sound comes, as compared to the
photographic riproduction and imme-
diately behind the scren. (Cinemato-
graph Times - London. D. 10/68).

Jaques Faure, has remarked upon and
studied the grave inconveniencies ob-
served when projections are made with
old films having spoilt parts. Such pro-
jections make the public nervous and
every interruption prejudicies the suc-
cess of the film and often jeopardises
its artistic value. (Comcedia - Paris. D.
36/66).

Attention is drawn to the microcine-
matographic technical systems of great
importance. Lately it has been possible
to take films on the Coanoleuceciti.
(Bulletin of the Societe Franca ise de
Photographie et de cinematografie - Pa-
ris. D. 13/15).

Experiments have been made in the
United States with a film of three di-
mentions. with which it is possible to
obtain the effect of perspective, depth,
width and altitude. (Comcedia - Pa-
ris. D. 21/133).

Eugene Alauste, explains a new sys-
tem for talking films in which the
reproduction of sound will be provo-
ked by the means of a apparatus which
will transform the electric variations in
sound waves without mecanical con-
triviences. (Movie Makers - New Yor\.
D. 21/124).

A new system for the registration
and riproduction of sound has been
experimented. It appears that the me-
thod is a simple one and can be applied
to small apparatuses and amateur ma-
chines. It is an invention of George K.
Spoor. (Exhibitors Herald World - Chi-
cago. D. 12/108).

The English Company Colour Snap-
shots has put on the market a new
type of three coloured films for colou-

red photography. (Science & Industries
Photographiques - Paris. D. 4/14).

Herbert E. Ives, of the Bell Labora-
tories, gave a lecture at the Colum-
bia University on the new system for
taking and projecting films which pro-
duce a perfect plastic effect. (Ameri-
can Exhibitors - New Yor{. D. 21/138).

SOCIAL ASPECTS OF THE CINEMA

R. Jaquillard, Chief of service at the-
penitentiary in the Canton de Vaud
(Switzerland) publishes an article
which deals on the criminological in-
fluence exercised by the cinematogra-
phic spectacles on the minors. Taking
into consideration the great psyco-
logical influence exercised on the spec-
tator through his visual faculty, the
writer says that at least in Switzerland,
censure is being applied to all scenes
which could seriously influence the de-
velopment of the instincts of criminali-
ty in the child. An enquiry was made
to that effect, which resulted in the
following statistics: 30 % of the young
criminals had never visited the cinema
halls, 6 % had forgotten everything
they has seen, 48 % had frequented
cultural spectacles, and only 16 % had
seen detective scenes and criminal
plots, (he Cinema Suisse - Montreux.
D. i5/4).

A large American Firm has made a
contract with prof. W. M. Marston
psychologist and professor at the Co-
lumbia University, naming him Di-
rector of a new section for the study
of the psychological influence of the
cinema and the means by which they can
be attenuated and made beneficial.
(Word - New Yor\. D. 20/51).

An article notifies the pernicious in-
fluence that the cinema can exercise on
the mind and the education of the
minors, if allowed to assist without any
contiol at the normal cinematographic
shows. The foundation of special cinema
halls for children is proposed. Minors
should not de allowed to frequent the
ordinary cinema shows. There should

"3

be Governmental intervention and a
strict control on all publications and
photographs exposed to the public. (Po-
litico- Sociale - Rome. D. 15/28).

An article in the Indian Daily Mail
of Bombay, entitled « The Influence of
the Cinema » says that the cinema is
one of the most important characteri-
stics of modern life. While, some years
ago, the leisure hours of the evenings
were spent in the homes of the citizens,
to-day they are spent at the cinema.
Therefore it is most necessary to have
a regular control of the censure, which
will by this means enable the cinema
to become an instrument of instruction
and of cultural and scientific vulgari-
sation, rather than a means of per-
version. (Indian Daily Mail - Bombay.
D. i8/35).

In a letter from S. Tiistan Webb to
the editor of the Daily Telegraph cer-
tain films projected in India are much
critisied because they give a wrong idea
of the Western life and customs. The
writer claims that the vision of these
films is highly pernicious to the na-
tives, which receive a false impression
of the morals and manners of the
Western populations. (Daily Telegraph
- London. 18/37).

The Russian Commission for the
control of national and foreign films
has, in the last months, prohibited the
projection of several hundred films
stating simply: « because thev do not
present anything of interest for the
public and because they are demorali-
sing ». Amongst the prohibited films
there are also those of national pro-
duction. (Film Kurier - Berlin. D
18 16).

In the meetings of the « Semaine du
Cinema Farncaise » the following vote
has been unanimouslv accepted, which,
although voted for France, could be
generalised for all the Nations:

Considering that a great number of
spectators in the cinema halls are apt
to judge the foreign countries accor-
ding to the films which presumabely
reproduce the habits and the mentality

of these countries; France protests
against the deformations of her phy-
siognomy and is too often the victim
of false interpretations of her habits.
Her people are repiesented as pleasure
loving folks, Paris as a frivolous city,
the colonial soldier as covetous and ra-
pacious being. Such scenes are often
inserted in French films projected in
foreign countries. At the meeting the
vote was carried that the authorized
representatives of the cinematographic
industry should protest energetically
against this and publicity against misre-
presentation of this kind which come to
their knowledge. (Comoedia - Paris. D.
22/45)-

Boisyvon publishes an article in which
he declares that it is absurd to consider
the cinematograph as a school for crime.
(Comoedia - Paris. D. 33/25).

A new regulation in New Jersey al-
lowes children of 14 to visit the cinema
halls unaccompanied. (The New York
State Exhibitor - New Yor\. D. 15/27).

After an inquiry made by the de-
partment of psychology at the Univer-
sity of Columbia, on the influence of
films on children, Dr. G. L. Holmes
states that the delinquency of children
cannot be attributed to that cause.
(New Yor\ World - New Yor\. D.
i5l23)-

It has been proposed to use the
talking films in the compilation of cri-
minal records. (Exhibitor Herald World
- Chicago. D. 10/91).

The necessity of classifying the films
according to their character and the
preferences of the public has been felt
for the coordination of the performan-
ces in the cinema halls. The advertise-
ments should state whether the films
have a tragic or comic character. (Co-
moedia - Paris. D. 2/22).

Seymour Stern in an open letter to
Mr. Beaton criticises the cinematogra-
phic production of to-day and exposes
the essential qualities which an artistic
and moral film should possess. (The
Film Spectator - Los Angeles. D. 2/24).

The Canadian Government has pas-

— 114

sed the Law of the National Council
which prohibits the access to the cine-
ma to children under 16 years of age.
The National Council for Education
has ordered that all the educational
films destined for the schools should be
controlled by the Council.

RELIGIOUS FILMS

Two films dealing on the Sionistic
movement have been projected. One
was entitled « Spring in Palestine », the
other, « The exaltation of the Jor-
dan ». (Neue Ziircher Zeitung - Zu-
rich. D. 2/15).

The Catholic Cinema of Berlin has
opened a projecting hall in the Nie-
drewall street with 360 seats, where
only films treating on catholic educa-
tional propaganda films will be shown.
(Film Kurier - Berlin. D. 11/7).

The municipal Kuomintang of Can-
ton has ordered the proprietor of the
Poary theatre nel Bund to cancel from
the film « Ben Hur » the sections which
are « Inaccessible and supersticious ».
The Ministry for Instruction was asked
to cancel the following scenes: the birth
of Christ and the vision of the comet, the
Resurrection, the healing of the leprous
by Jesus, the eclips, the earthquake and
the other natural phenomena which took
place at the moment of the crusifi-
xion of Jesus Christ. The office declared
that it was obliged to effectuate these
cuts because otherwise the film could
have produced an immense effect on
the social education and religion of
the Chinese. It is interesting to note
that many catholic authorities were
against the production of the film,

whereas others, as for example in Fran-
ce, found nothing which could be consi-
dered as irreverent.

PROFESSIONAL TRAINING
AND THE CINEMA

The cinema offers great possibilities
for advertisement and can be used to
show the methods of fabrication and
the movement of machinery. To illu-
strate this argument, a long article by
Henry W. Hough is published. (Scien-
tific American - New Yor\. D, 5/16).

The « Each film » of Berlin has edited
several films dealing on the technique of
the various trades. (Der Wer\sleiter -
D. 51/26).

The « Verband Sozialer Baubetrieb »
or Federation of the Constructors of
Berlin has edited some films on the
methods of construction and house buil-
ding with steel.

The « Dresdener Bank » has edited a
film illustrating the advantages of the
use of the calculating machines in the
large banks, showing also the modern
technic of work.

The Governmental School of Franc-
fort has adopted the film to advertise
the advantages of professional training.

The Committee for steel of France
has edited an important film dealing
on steel and the progressive manipula-
tion of steel in Lorena.

The Film « The March of Machi-
nes » has met with great success. No
actors appear; only the machines and
their movements are seen. (Daily Tele-
graph - London. D. 5/13).

115

THE TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FOUNDATION
OF THE (dNSTITUT FUR KULTURFORSCHUNG» IN BERLIN

Ten years ago, the « Institut fiir Kulturforschung » was founded in Berlin
by Dr. Curtis, who at the present day is still its director. The purpose in
founding this institution was to create an organisation, capable of favouring
and inquiring upon the possibilities of development of the scientific film,
especially with regard to the most important educational and cultural questions.

From the first, it was attempted to create similar Institutions in all the
countries.

During those ten years, the Institute, has endeavoured to assure both the
progress and the educational value of the film. It has also examined with
the utmost care, the films for scientific researches and has produced a great
number of films such as : « Hands that create » dedicated to the teaching of
sculpture and paiting, and other film of a cultural-geographical character.
The Institute, believes implicitly that the films is the best method for teaching.

It perseveres in its design to make know by means of the film, to all the
children of the various countries, for the purpose of a universal entellectual
cooperation, the other important countries of the globe.

Dr. Ciirlis' Institute receives no subventions either public or private
and is only sustained by its own work. Besides the scientific researches, a
cinematographic encyclopedia is being compiled which the Institute in the
occasion of its 10th anniversary , is dedicating to the International Insti-
tute in Rome.

We are happy to be able to mention this high and noble collaboration. The
Institute of Berlin maintains the most cordial intercourse with our Interna-
tional Institute and the new work which Dr. Curlis is preparing with so much
competence, is another manifestation of what can be done with the auxiliary
of the film, for the progress of culture and the education of the peoples.

We hope that in another ten years' time, we zvill be able to give infor-
mation of the ever increasing activity and development of this Institute,
so worthily directed br Dr. Curlis.

Dr. LUCIANO De FEO — Editor and Responsible Manager.

« La Cardinal Ferrari » S. A. I. — Tipograha — Via Germanico, 146 — Roma

116

INTERNATIONAL REVIEW

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19 2 9
AUGUST

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YEAR I. AUGUST 1929 N° 2

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INDEX

L. Bernard ... - The cinema as an instrument of education . . 123

N. Jacques ... - Poet and stage-manager 127

T. E. Finegan . - The results of the experiment with Eastman

classroom films 131

F. Lampe ...- The activities of the Central German Insti-

tute for education and teaching in the field

of the cinema 149

M. Rouvroy . . - For childhood and adolescence 154

- The religious film : Religious cinematography

in India 163

W. Plugge ... - Copyright in cinematographic productions . . 171

R. Namias ... - Colour cinematography : The present and the
future of the various processes with special
reference to those in which chemical principles
are applied 176

D. Ottolenghi . -The cinema in higher public health education 182

G. Reymond . . - Catholics and the cinema . 185

V. Chneideroff . - The documentary film : In the unexplored

regions of Pamir 192

The life of the Institute :

The technical aspects of the cinema 196

The technical tendencies of the cinematograph as revealed by an

examination of patents 198

The cinema as an auxiliary to the scientific organization of la-
bor 202

The legislative aspects of the cinema : The tariff question .... 204
The cinema at the service of agriculture : Agricultural cinemato-
graphy in France 216

The cinema as a means of propaganda of hygiene and social wel-
fare 220

Notes taken from Reviews and Papers 222

THE CINEMA AS AN INSTRUMENT OF EDUCATION

{from the French).

The success which the cinema has achieved in all the countries
of the world, the almost universal fascination it exercises upon the
young generations, whose preferences are gradually being shifted
from the traditional forms of the stage to the luminous visions,
the miraculous reproduction of these visions throughout the whole
world — in itself an indication of a profound spiritual revolution
— give the exact measure of the value of the cinema and of
the concern it has aroused in the minds of educators. It is
the moral task of the League of Nations to deal with problems of
an international character aiming at the welfare of humanity.
It could not remain indifferent to a phenomenon of such scope and
significance. Under its auspices an International Institute has
been very opportunely set up in Rome, with the definite task of
studying not only all technical questions relating to the cinema

{Ed. N.) In the 3rd Number of the Review we shall publish an
article of exceptional interest from the pen of Professor Alberto Lutrario,
of the International Health Committee of the League of Nations.

Prof. Lutrario deals in the masterly way that distinguishes him
with the Biological aspects of Educational Cinematography.

The great possibilities of the screen, either for good or evil, in
engraving feelings, ideas and passions deeply on the minds and souls
of spectators are generally recognized, but up to the present few have
paid any attention to the bio-physiological reasons which determine the
special influence of the cinema.

Lutrario deals a fond with this subject and we have no doubt that
his paper will give rise to interesting discussions.

Leon Bernard, the eminent French scientiest, who has done so much
for medicine and hygiene propaganda, suggests in his article what the
cinema can and ought to be in order to arouse the spectator's attention
and interest in hygiene propaganda. We are able to assure the illustrious
scientist that the Institute is devoting its earnest efforts in the very direc-
tion to which he points.

123

but also the influence exercised by this new art on the feelings of
men and the possibilities it opens in the vast domain of education.

The cinema can avail itself of two forms of representation.
In common with the stage, it can give life to mere fantastic creations;
but it can also, more effectively than can ever be attempted on the
stage, present the exact reproduction of the phenomena of real
life. Moreover, the recent technical improvements which have
made possible the synchronisation of sound and action, have
enabled the cinema to offer a perfect and complete vision of life.
The motion-picture may thus perhaps supplant the theatre al-
together, including the opera, or at least rob it of a hegemony
dating from the dawn of the formation of human thought. We
are confronted with a phenomenon which will be remembered for
ever in the history of humanity, at least in that part relating to its
forms of entertainment.

The influence exercised by the stage on the mind, and espe-
cially on the minds of youths, has always been a matter of concern
for moralists. From the Fathers of the Church to the philo-
sophers of the Encyclopaedia, from the old teachers of the Pagan
era to the dramatic critics of our own times, all have been con-
fronted with the same preoccupying question: what value must
be ascribed to this influence? to what extent does this influence
impose duties upon the stage?

It is far from our intention to re-open such a dangerous dis-
cussion, in which no decision seems possible. In its application
to the cinema, its limits are, however, clearly defined.

It is not possible, in fact, to extend to the cinema the degree
of independence that must be given to literature. So far, at least,
the art of the screen does not come within the province of literature
and its interests claim that it should be kept quite apart from
it. It would be much better, in fact, to leave the theatre
within the sphere of pure literature as it can only contrive to
express fictitions situations on the stage, and to reserve to the cin-
ema the task of recording real life. These two forms of scenic
representation would then prosper and live, each in its proper
autonomous province, without mutual encroachment or harm.

— 124

Each might suit particular needs and tendencies and would be based
upon different systems and technical means. It is imperative to
watch the development of the cinema most rigorously, in the first
place, because it offers visions of real life, and, secondly, for the
fundamental motive that its cheapness makes it accessible to vast
masses and widens its sphere of influence.

One need only attend cinema shows to realize the deep im-
pression that motion pictures leave on our mind. Whether trivial
or interesting, comic or tragic, the pictures on the screen are
endowed with an emotive power which only few cinema-goers
can escape. It is certain, however, that this force is so powerful
that youthful minds cannot possibly offer any resistance. This
perhaps accounts for the film-craze among the youth of to-day,
but at the same time this is the reason which makes the screen so
useful and so dangerous.

Others may, if they wish, emphasize the danger-element of
the cinema. I shall confine myself to underlining its value. The
cinema must become more and more an instrument of education
and teaching, for, in this field, it has no rivals. No teacher,
whatever the subject he deals with, can deny the importance of
visual impressions for a better presentation Of his lesson. Who
amongst us has not made use of the blackboard and has not sup-
plemented his oral or written lessons with drawings and diagrams ?
Images would acquire a greater demonstrative power when they
are photographic reproductions of life in action. In the same
manner medicine and surgery are compelled, in a greater degree
than other sciences, to make an increasingly large use of the ci-
nema, for purposes of illustration. The showing on the screen
of an operation or of the movements of a patient suffering from
nervous troubles, possesses a degree of persuasiveness that no
other means can attain.

Speaking of the cinema as an instrument of education, I
wish to draw attention in this paper to its value in the field of
hygiene. It may safely be proclaimed that hygiene will not
become part of our own life unless instruction in health matters
is given a psychological basis. No benefit is to be expected from

125 —

coercion or from instruction based merely upon theory. It is
necessary to show the dangers of a lack of health precautions, the
facility and efficacy of preventive measures, the benefits, individual
and general, resulting from their application. These suggestions
can easily be realized. Nothing will be more useful to social
education. In every country film-experts have, for purposes of
health propaganda, created small perfect productions, of a docu-
mentary nature or the work of imagination. To follow all possible
improvements in this field, bearing in mind what has already been
accomplished, will be one of the most fruitful tasks of the Inter-
national Institute of Educational Cinematography. The cinema may
contribute to the attainment of an ideal which to-day seems dis-
tant and beyond reach, that is, to make of hygiene an inter-
esting subject for the spectators of a film. This would be one
of the greatest services rendered to humanity. Let this be one
of the first successes of the Rome Institute. It will achieve other
triumphs, but none will reflect greater honor upon it. It will
be able in this way to contribute more and more to the aims of the
League of Nations which has the activities of its Health Committee
much at heart. This body will tender all its enthusiastic help
to the International Educational Cinematographic Institute in its
march towards progress along this path.

Leon Bernard

Professor of the Faculty of Medicine of the Paris University
Member of the Health Committee of the League of Nations

— 126

POET AND STAGE- MANAGER

(from the German)

Even to-day, for many cultured men, the film is a question
and a form of purely visual enjoyment. We are, in fact, more
impressed by the exterior and purely technical appearances
of the film than by its content, and regard the essential
part of the film as the synthesis and expression of elements
that we already know, but that are put before us in a new form.
Hence the conflict between the technical or formal and the sub-
stantial part of the film. This conflict grows more intense every
year because the eye, being the first element of vision, claims more
and more the right to become the controller and the only essen-
tial examiner of the projections. The film is even to-day too de-
pendent on the word, whilst the word should represent in the
film only what it does in music, namely an element on which
musical harmony is woven. Therefore the word is an element of
the least value, harmony of the greatest. When the film gets rid
of this form of sub ordination and, like music, succeeds in stimulating
through the sight our sensitive faculties of perception, a complete
blending of both sensitiveness and mind will ensue and the film
will have the same emotional value as music. Nevertheless, this
language of intimacy between the film and the performance is
still to be achieved by cinematography : an intimacy which will
enable the spectator to understand at once what is displayed on
the screen and have a prompt and easy insight into the silent dia-
logues, impregnated with sentiment and emotion, which take place
in a landscape, in the relations between clouds and earth, between
nature and man.

Only in this way shall we have the intimate perception of the
things of which the word will only be a bond of union.

Only in this way will it be possible to make poetry by means of
the film and create the new language, the music of the picture that

127 —

will be reflected on the raw and primitive element of human na-
ture.

The stage-manager, to whom is reserved the privilege of seek-
ing for and harmonising this musical form of vision, will be undoubt-
edly the man of the future, and he alone will be able to make
perceptible to the bulk of the spectators what the author of the
film has felt and accomplished, from Thibet to the Andes, from
the North Isles to the far ofTTierra del Fuego. No representative
art has ever been able until to-day to bring forth with efficacy this
musical and poetical effect proper to the film which must remain
purely visual, because the sound film, which superadds other exter-
ior elements to the purely visual and intimately musical element,
means for the cinema a relapse into barbarity.

We have mentioned poets sharing in the film. They are now-
a-days held aloof from anything connected with the conception
and creation of the motion picture. As soon as a poet comes near
it, he is at once put aside and his place is taken by the so called
« Carpenters » whose task is to build a rough edifice out of the finer
stuff of the poet's brain, in other words, to render, in coarse,
common-place and illiterate language, the words and thoughts of
the only true creator, thus giving rise to what is a mere form of
trade.

I should like some of our chief cinema-managers to imagine
that they must adapt to the stage some of their most elaborate crea-
tions in the studios : creations teeming with false sentimentality
and the most absurd psychological situations. I should like to
know from them for how long yet the technique will be able to
give an appearance of honesty and seriousness to the products of
cinematographic industry. The modern cinematographic tech-
nique unduly saturates the film with all those exterior elements
that should only serve to make the central creation technically
possible. But in the long run no film will be able to live if the
basic element given by the creative imagination and constituting
the centre of the action is neglected, and if its value is not fully
recognised.

The cinema-manager of the future will have to grant that

:28

only in harmony with the work of a poet will he be able to compose
something lasting, which can pass from the screen directly into
our soul. The stage-manager and the poet must have an equal
share in their common work. The former will put into the film
his experience, his knowledge of technical possibilities ; the lat-
ter, the prodigious strength of his soul, his faculties, his realisa-
tion of the sensitivity of the environment. For a long time yet,
the stage-manager will have to be the leader in the common task,
on account of his greater knowledge of the technique required.
The poet, accustomed to use the word as his only means of ex-
pression, will have to submit his creative imagination to the cri-
tical control of his collaborator.

In the actual life of the cinema this collaboration, which the
public does not yet realize and appreciate, has already achieved,
though in a fragmentary way, things which are perfect.

This is due, above all, to the fact that the stage-manager, not-
withstanding his not being a poet, has in himself often the sense
of poetry and of beauty. He, therefore, feels all that is pure and
lofty, all that is deeply emotional in the central creation of the film,
so that he achieves his task in such a way as not to spoil that cen-
tral creation, but to bring it into harmony with the necessities
of the action. He accomplishes therefore that which would be
difficult to the poet as a poet. He understands the representative
value of light in the life of the sensitiveness and intimacy of things.
In this artistic part of his work he refuses to be regarded only
as a business-man. He allows us to believe in the possibility that
in a near future the poet, creator of the central soul of the film,
and the stage-manager may be blended into one person, a condi-
tion which is to-day realized only in part.

From my desk my eye wanders beyond the lake to the far
off Alps, rendered more than ever plastic and harmonious by the
mist that surrounds them. They are before me like so many arches
of secret bridges of the universe. Through them, beyond the boun-
daries of unknown and far off lands and languages, I perceive
blendings and harmonies between all men in regard to the questions
that have or may have a general interest, which will set up beyond

129

the mist that encloses the Alps, the true, deep and no longer secret
bridges of union, not of separation, bridges of universal know-
ledge and beauty.

Boundaries and languages limit, in space, the life of peoples.
Art and music overcome and go beyond every limit set by the
human will. The film, like music, with the universal power that
is given to it more than to any other expression of art, by its un-
spoken language, is likely to help in the overthrowing of these
boundaries between peoples of different languages, owing to the
efficacy that it can draw from the emotion of visual representation.
And precisely because of this very power of suggestion, the stage-
manager, until he succeeds in being also the poet of the film, must
learn not to impose his own technique on the creative imagination
of the poet, but rather to follow it harmoniously and to limit his
work to a heartfelt and deep collaboration.

NORBERT JACQUES

130

THE RESULTS OF THE EXPERIMENT WITH
EASTMAN CLASSROOM FILMS

At a meeting of this Association, held at Lake Placid in
September, 1927, I had the privilege of presenting a general out-
line of the plan and scope of an experiment in classroom films
which had been undertaken by the Eastman Kodak Company in
cooperation with the National Education Association. To-day
I am to present the results of that experiment.

It is desirable, at the outset, to have a clear understanding
of the conditions and reasons which made it appear advisable

(Ed. N.) As announced in the first number of this Review, we pro-
pose to deal fully with the question of the cinema as a didactic auxiliary
to the teaching of masters and text-books.

Before, howerer, dealing with the special aspects of the problem
and opening the discussion on the methodological and pedagogic criteria
to be followed, or dealing with the relation between cinema and text-book,
new methods of teaching, etc., we propose with the help of leading author-
ities of the different Countries, to illustrate the results which have been
achieved so far through the medium of enquiries and experiments.
Professor Santini, in our first number, called attention to the noteworthy
work done by the Italian Government ; we now publish a highly interest-
ing paper by Thomas E. Finegan, an eminent educational authority in
the United States, who is to-day at the head of a powerful Corporation
formed by the Kodak Company for the diffusion of scholastic films.

Later on, we shall publish articles from other authorities, such as
Coissac, whose careful and interesting study will give our readers an
opportunity of appreciating what France is doing in the field of education-
al cinematography ; de Maday, who will tell of a remarkable experiment
carried out in Switzerland, some few years back, on some thousands of
scholars ; as well as other papers contributed by the technical and peda-
gogical authorities of several countries.

This broad treatment of the subject will open up the way for a
discussion of its particular aspects and for the formulation of practical
suggestions.

I31

to the teachers of the country to have this experiment conducted.
The opinion was common among teachers and others who had
experience in the use of films that motion pictures could be
utilized to great advantage as an aid in classroom instruction.

Films had not, however, attained a recognized position in
schoolroom practice. Their use in the schools was not only gene-
rally restricted to the service of the auditiorium or general assem-
bly, but they were intended more for entertainment than for
systematic instruction. Very few films had been especially deve-
loped for the service of teachers in their regular daily work in
the classroom. The films generally used were either made by
industrial or commercial corporations for propaganda purposes,
or they were assembled from extant material obtained from various
sources. No criticism of these films is intended. They rendered
good service to the schools which were fortunate enough to obtain
them. The point is made simply that these films were not prepared
for teaching purposes and could not, therefore, yield the full mea-
sure of service that films prepared especially for giving instruction
on a classroom topic would provide.

No adequate experiment to determine the value of films as
teaching aids had been made, nor had an experiment been made
to ascertain if there were losses which would outweigh the gains
afforded. The effectiveness and the value of motion pictures in
classroom work was more a matter based upon individual opinion
than upon exact knowledge. Under these conditions it did not
appear that motion pictures could be given general recognition
as a teaching agency until definite and reliable information,
based upon a comprehensive and definite experiment in their use,
was made available.

Under the conditions which have been described three fun-
damental questions were presented :

i . May a series of motion pictures be developed which are
coordinated with modern standard curriculums, and which will
be effective teaching agencies ?

2. May a reliable measure be obtained of the contribution
of such films in regular classroom service ?

— 132

3- If there is a gain in the use of such films, is it sufficient
to justify the expenditures required to make them available to the
schools?

The purpose of the Eastman experiment was to reveal basic
knowledge, not only upon these practical questions, but also upon
the essential features of a sound classroom film program.

A knowledge of the details of the plan of the experiment, and
the thoroughness with which such details were executed, is essen"
tial to an adequate appraisement of the reliability and significance
of the results obtained. These will be stated briefly.

The enterprise was organized in twelve cities, widely distri-
buted throughout the United States. These cities were Newton,
Mass., Rochester, N. Y., New York City, Winston-Salem, N. C,
Atlanta, Ga., Detroit, Mich., Chicago, 111., Lincoln, Neb., Kansas
City, Mo., Denver, Colo., Oakland, Calif., and San Diego. Calif.
The Atlantic Coast, the Central West, the South, the Mountain
States, and the Pacific Coast were represented in this experiment.

These was such general enthusiasm and such a fine spirit
of cooperation manifested in each of the cities that more classes
were organized and a much greater mumber of pupils included
than we had anticipated would be possible. This of course makes
the experiment of much greater value. Approximately 11,000
pupils were organized in 300 classes under the instruction of 200
teachers. Two courses of study, covering a period of twelve weeks
each, were prepared. One course was adapted to Geography in the
fourth to the sixth grades. The other course was related to General
Science in the seventh to the ninth grades, or the junior high school.

The pupils pursuing each of these courses were divided into
two groups. One of these groups was known as the experimental
group. There were no restrictions or requirements on this group
except that the films prepared for the experiment should be used
in an adequate manner. In this paper the experimental group will
be called the Film Group.

The other group was known as the control group. There was
one restriction placed upon this group. The use of motion pictu-
res in their classes was, of course, prohibited. This group did, how-

2-ingl. I33

ever, use photographs, charts, diagrams, stereographs, slides, and
other illustrative material. In this paper the control group will
be called the Non-Film Group.

Thus there was in each of the twelve cities participating in
the experiment one film class for each non-film class in each of the
two courses. The number of pupils in each film class was approx-
imately the same as the number in each corresponding non-film
class. There were about 7,500 children in the Geography classes,
or 3,750 in each group, and about 3,500 in the General Science
classes, or 1,780 in each group. In nearly all cases the film groups
and the non-film groups were in different buildings.

It is obvious that in an experiment of this type in which the
superiority of devices and results are to be measured, the instruc-
tion of each group must de confined to identical areas. The course
of instruction in each of the two subjects was built around ten to-
pics. The topics and the order in which they were presented were
as follows :

Geography General Science

1. New England Cod-Fisheries 1. Hot Air Heating

2. Wisconsin Dairies 2. Atmospheric Pressure

3. Wheat 3. Compressed Air

4. From Wheat to Bread 4. The Water Cycle

5. Cattle 5. New York Water Supply

6. Corn 6. Purifying Water

7. Cotton Growing 7. Limestone and Marble

8. Irrigation 8. Sand and Clay

9. Bituminous Coal 9. Reforestation

10. Iron Ore to Pig Iron 10. Planting and Care of Trees

Detailed Study Guides were prepared on each of the above
topics. This enabled all the pupils participating in the experiment
to direct their study upon the same body of material. These guides
were also of service to the teachers of each group by prescribing
the general limitations of the field which the instruction should
cover. The Geography guides formed a syllabus equivalent to

— 134

69 printes pages. A copv was given to each of the pupils in each
of the two groups. The General Science guides formed a syllabus
of 60 printed pages and a copy was given to each of the pupils in
each group receiving instruction in this field . These guides were
uniform in plan of organization, and contained headings and sub-
headings of each topic and notations of the various aspects of
these divisions. They also contained elaborate notes in highly-
compact form upon the important features of the topics in gen-
eral. In fact these guides served the usual purpose of a textbook.

The teachers of the film groups generally were without expe-
rience in the use of motion pictures. Xo teaching technique in the
use of motion pictures had been worked out, and the teachers were
not skilled in the use of a projector. They started in the experiment
with this disadvantage. To meet this situation Teachers' Guides
were prepared. These guides were purely suggestive. They indi-
cated in a brief way how and when to use the films. Teachers,
however, were given a free hand in their own method of the use of
the films. The non-film teachers were not accorded the use of
these guides. The films and the Teachers' Guides suggesting the
plan under which the films should be used were the only aids accor-
ded the film teachers which were not accorded the non-film teachers.

It was intended in carrying out the experiment that each class
should be conducted under normal conditions, and that the chil-
dren and teachers should maintain the usual study habits and atti-
tudes toward their work in these courses that prevail in normal class-
room instruction. Teachers were ur^ed to regard their part in this
experiment as if they were teaching a regular course prescribed by the
school authorities for all the schools of the city, and to avoid if pos-
sible the development of a spirit of rivalry between the two groups.

It is an essential requisite in an undertaking of this type that
the two groups participating in it shall possess a common level
of intellectual ability. To approximate this condition as closely
as possible the school having a film group was selected in the section
of the city having the same general home environments and the
same racial, social, and economic background that the school having
the corresponding non-film group possessed. An examination

i35

was also given to ascertain the intelligence of each group and to
ascertain the achievement of each of the Geography groups in the
subject included in their course of study. A similar examination
was given to ascertain the achievement of each of the groups in
the General Science subjects.

It was likewise important that the teachers placed in charge
of the groups should be of equal training and teaching ability. The
superintendent of schools in each of the cities selected the teachers
for the experiment in his city and so far as it was possible to deter-
mine, chose teachers upon this basis.

In order that the experiment might be conducted on a sound
professional and scientific basis, and without prejudice in either
direction, it was placed under the charge of two leading educators
of the country, who are experts in testing and measuring practices
and accomplishments in school procedure. The men chosen were
Dr. Ben D. Wood, of Columbia University, and Dr. Frank N. Free-
man, of the University of Chicago. Each of the twelve cities, except
the two on the Pacific coast, were visited by one of these directors
before the work of the experiment was opened. The importance
of an honest, thorough, professional contribution by the teachers
was pointed out. The purpose of the experiment, its value to edu-
cational practice, and the conditions under which the whole
enterprise should be conducted were thoroughly presented to all
teachers identified with the undertaking.

The classes in each group in each of the cities, except the two
on the Pacific Coast, were visited by one or the other of these direc-
tors during the progress of the experiment to ascertain if the expe-
riment was being properly carried out, and also to get first hand
information on the use of the films as a teaching device.

Considering the general scope, the number of teachers, pupils,
schools, and school systems involved, the extensive and detailed
preparations for it, the period of time occupied, the funds expended
in conducting the enterprise and its importance to educational inte-
rests, the Eastmann experiment is the most outstanding experiment
in education that has ever been conducted.

The next important aspect of the experiment to be considered

— 136

is the type of film used. The scenarios on which the films were
based were prepared by groups of trained, experienced teachers.
Each topic was studied to determine the fundamental knowledge
related to it which should be presented in the classroom. Those
features of these basic elements which are readily adapted to mo-
tion pictures were incorporated in the scenario. In other words,
the first determination was, what material on this topic might be
shown more clearly, accurately, and comprehensively with the
aid of motion pictures than by means of still pictures and other
teaching devices ?

In developing these scenarios no thought was given to the enter-
tainment aspects of a film. The traditional story and the usual
dramatic features of motion pictures were purposely avoided. The
scenarios were prepared with the sole thought that the films deve-
loped from them should be rich in teaching material and an effec-
tive aid in the hands of a teacher in her classroom instruction.

Having specified in the scenario the type of film best adapted
to the teachers' needs in giving the instruction required in the cour-
ses specified for this experiment, we then proceeded to obtain the
scenes necessary to the production of such films . The films used
in the experiment were thus developed. One. film was prepared
on each of the topics in each of the courses. The procedure,
therefore, in preparing scenarios and in the production of the films
was based upon a sound teaching philosophy.

The films used in the Eastman experiment were not planned
to make the work of either the pupils or the teacher easy. There
is no royal road to learning. No sound teaching device will make
it easy for the child to learn. Schoolroom devices, practices and
methods should stimulate the mental activities of a child and cause
him, through his own efforts, to explore new fields of knowledge
and to acquire an interest in the manifold phases of our social and
economic life.

These films, therefore, were not built to do the thinking for
a child which he should do for himself. They were constructed
upon a plan intended to arouse the child's mental powers and there-
by stimulate his interest in the subject presented by the film.

i37

They were designed to create in the child's mind a desire for more
information, to induce him to ask questions, to lead him to make
his own investigations, to become an accurate observer, to improve
his descriptive ability, and to make application of his knowledge
to new experiences and real situations.

The use of the film in this experiment was stressed to be
that of a supplementary aid to the teacher. It was not used in any
way as a substitute for any factor in present classroom practice.
The verbal explanations of the teacher, the text books, maps,
charts, still pictures, and all other agencies which have enabled the
teacher to illuminate situations or processes, were used. The film
simply took its place as an additional agency to render service in
teaching, which it is better adapted to perform than other exist-
ing agencies.

The directors of the experiment, in their report, confirm
these general observations of the place and service of the films
as they state that the distinguishing characteristics of the films
were as follows:

« First and foremost is the pedagogical nature of the films.

« In the second place, the experiment involved enough film
material, and continued over a period sufficiently long so that the
contribution of the films formed a large enough fraction of the total
life experience of the individual for that period to be measurable.

« In the third place, these films became an integral and regular
part of the curriculum and of the classroom procedure, so that in
our comparisons we are concerned with the contributions of a
normal classroom and curriculum agency, and not with that of
a novelty.

« In the fourth place, this experiment involved a very large
number of students in the six school grades, from the fourth to
the ninth inclusive, scattered in a dozen cities, taught by nearly
two hundred teachers in about seventy-five different schools ».

One of the purposes of the use of films is to give pupils a
concrete notion of the appearance of objects, events, and conditions
in the physical world. This experience is a valuable one for the
pupil, as it constitutes an important part of the foundation of his

thinking and action. It is an appropriate attempt to measure the
accuracy and vividness of concrete impressions obtained by pupils
in the non-film group as well as by those in the film group. A
comprehensive unit of instruction must include not only concrete
experience but reflection and thought about this experience for the
purpose of giving explanations and making generalizations. For
this reason the Study Guides already described contained many
items which called for discussion and explanation.

Some portion of the class time in each of the groups was,
of course, occupied in the discussion of these topics. In other
words, it was essential to a fair evaluation of the use of the films
to frame questions which would not only reveal the definite and
clear-cut concrete ideas which pupils had acquired, but also the
value of such an agency to stimulate pupils to make adequate expla-
nations of their experiences. Effective teaching in the classroom
should result in a continued interest of the children in a topic
on which they have received instruction, and therefore implies
the practice on their part to think about that topic not only as it
is presented in the classroom, but outside of the classroom. This
interest of the children may be considered as undoubted evidence
of the thought provoking powers of films.

With these considerations in mind two types of written tests
were used. These were known as Comprehensive Objective
Tests and Topical Tests. This procedure had two purposes in
view. The first was to secure a broader and more reliable measure
than could be obtained from one set of tests alone. If two in-
dependently organized sets of tests give the same results they
strongly confirm each other. The second purpose was to measure
somewhat different forms of achievement.

The Comprehensive Tests were given at the beginning and
end of the experiment. They consisted of an extensive series of
items organized on the plan of True-False and Multiple Choice
tests. These tests measure judgment and reasoning to some extent
as well as a knowledge of subject matter. By the use of tests of
this type a knowledge of the film group and the non-film group
could be measured at the outset of the experiment, and their com-

i39 —

parative progress during the period of instruction could also be
measured at the end of the experiment.

These test papers were based exclusively upon the Study
Guides, which constituted the syllabi during the courses of study,
a copy of which was given each pupil in each group at the beginning
of the experiment, as previously stated, to serve the purpose of
text or study material. The first and second of these tests were
constructed without reference to the specific content of the films
and related almost wholly to ideas and concepts such as are ordina-
rily presented in verbal terms, and which are free from immediate-
visual material. The third of these tests was also based strictly
upon the Study Guides with a view to testing the information,
ideas and relations which could be derived from reading and
from films. The directors in charge of this work stated that they
purposely avoided in this test the framing of questions, the an-
swers to which were found in the films and not in the Study Guides
used by the students in each group.

The Topical Tests were intended to measure the attainments
of the pupils upon each separate topic. This type of test also
accorded the pupils somewhat greater freedom in organizing their
answers, as well as in expressing themselves in other than verbal
terms. In form these tests were mostly of the essay type. The
questions were of two classes, one descriptive and the other ex-
planatory. In the descriptive questions pupils were asked to re-
produce by words or diagrams the appearance of things which
they had seen, or about which they had read. In the explanatory
questions they were asked to explain why certain actions or events
occured as they did. Each of these types of questions was also
based upon the subject matter of the Study Guides. In other
words, scrupulous care was exercised to make sure that the pupils
in the non-film group as well as those in the film group had ample
opportunity to acquire the information which was called for in the
questions used in each of the two types of tests. The tests were
given at the completion of the instruction in each two topics.
Five of these tests were, therefore, given.

All of the test papers used in the experiment were prepared

— 140

by Dr. Wood and Dr. Freeman, assisted by graduate students
of ample training and large experience in the formulation of tests.
The tests were given on the same day and hour to each group in
each of the twelve cities, and covered the same prescribed length
of time. Xo teacher in the experiment was permitted to have
any relation of any kind with any of the tests. They were not
permitted even to see the test papers. A special representative
of the directors in charge of the experiment was designated in each
city. Either the Superintendent of Schools or one of his assis-
tants, the Director of Research, a director of a division of instruc-
tion, or a school principal was selected to serve in this capacity.
He received and administered all tests, and returned promptly
all test papers written by the pupils. Comprehensive Objective
test papers were reviewed and rated under the immediate supervi-
sion of Dr. Wood at Columbia University, New York City. The
Topical Test papers were reviewed and rated at the University
of Chicago, under the immediate supervision of Dr. Frank N.
Freeman.

The results of the experiment show that the work of the film
group was distinctly superior to that of the non-film group. The
film group gained more than the non-film group during the twelve
weeks of instruction. In General Science the average gain of the
film group was in % of the average gain of both film and non-
film groups taken together. In Geography it was 117.9 % of the
average of both groups.

Not only did the film group gain more than the non-film
group during the period of instruction, but the average score of
the film group was higher than the non-film group at the end of the
experiment, although the non-film group was superior to the film
group in intelligence and grade placement, and made better
scores on the tests given before the instruction began.

In General Science the average score of the film group on
a test given at the end of the experiment was 1 1 1 .8 % of the average
score of both groups taken together. In Geography it was 1 1 5 .6 %,
of the average score of both groups.

On the essay type of test the average score of the film group

in General Science was 1 1 1 % of the average of the scores of both
groups taken together and in Geography it was 115 % of the ave-
rage of the scores of both groups.

It will be noticed that these figures do not represent the supe-
riority of the film group over the non-film group, but show the
percentage by which the average of the film group is above the
average of both the film and the non-film groups taken together.
A simple illustration may make this clear. If one group of stocks
average $ 10 a share and another group of stocks average $20
a share, the second group is 200 % of the first group, but it is
only 133 73% °f ^15 which is the average of both groups of stocks
taken together. In like manner the percentage in favor of the
film group would be distinctly higher if based on the average of the
non-film group instead of on the average for both groups.

The term Standard Deviation is commonly used by the spe-
cialist in educational measurements. There seems to be no simple
way to make this term understandable in common language.

In General Science the gain of the film group over the non-
film group was 14.5 % of the Standard Deviation. The average
of the film group on a final test given at the end of the experiment
was superior to that of the non-film group by 78.2 % of the Stan-
dard Deviation. On the essay type of test the film group was
superior also by 23.2 % of the Standard Deviation.

In Geography the film group showed a gain superior to the
non-film group by 33.2 % of the Standard Deviation. In a final
test the average score of the film group was superior to that of the
non-film group by 84.5 % of the Standard Deviation. In the
essay type of test the difference in favor of the film group was
29.3 % of the Standard Deviation.

We have now given those concrete results achieved in this expe-
riment, which were revealed by written tests and which are measured
on a percentage basis. There are, however, other results achieved
by the skillful teacher in her classroom work which are vitally im-
portant and which go to the very heart of efficient instruction and
of the real purposes of education, even though we are unable to
measure accurately on a percentage basis their full significance.

— 142

The directors in their report confirm this viewpoint on the
limitations of written tests. They say, « These tests, or any other
written tests, could not adequately measure or even roughly regis-
ter all of the contributions of these films. A large number of
attendant features are embodied in each film that the tests do not
reveal, but which afford a body of marginal material that greatly
enriches not only the topics treated, but enriches also the incidental
experience of the pupil ».

The directors further pointed out a most significant service
of the film which should be emphasized in any fair evaluation of
the achievements of this undertaking. The material shown by
the films was selected primarily because it was believed by the
experienced teachers who prepared them that such material could
be presented more clearly and vividly through motion pictures
than expert writers could present it by means of detailed and ela-
borate written descriptions. The directors state that it is obvious
that any written test wrould fail to bring out fully those aspects
of a topic which were the prime considerations for the selections
of the subject matter of the film on that topic.

Furthermore, as every person knows whose experience gives
him knowledge of the power and influence of the film, each film
affords opportunities for the translation of visual impressions into
verbal forms of expression that carry a quality of meaning far
richer and more integrated than the meanings acquired through
verbal impressions alone. On this point the opinion of the di-
rectors, as stated in their report, is most emphatic and conclusive.
They say, « It is doubtful if any known technique of testing can
reveal adequately this difference. It is probable that the film
groups' visual impressions were consistently in advance of facility
for expression. The converse of this proposition follows, and that
is, that in the non-film groups, instructed more largely through
verbal forms, facility in expression naturally has a tendency to
out-run the acquisition of meanings based upon experience with
reality ».

When the three hundred teachers who participated in this
enterprise entered upon this work, each one of them was requested

H3 —

to make a detailed report on the completion of each topic in the
course. Near the close of the experiment each teacher was re-
quested to express his opinion upon several features of pupil
activities and interests during the period of the experiment which
had transpired. The data supplied through such reports give
much reliable information in evaluating the service of the films.
Time will permit only a brief reference to these, and yet they
constitute such a valuable contribution to the achievements ob-
tained in this experiment that they should be reported.

In considering this aspect of the experiment we should keep
in mind that one of its primary purposes was to ascertain the ma-
gnitude and nature of the contribution which classroom films make
to the usual objectives of good teaching, such as the arousal
and maintenance of interest, the development of originality and
larger participation in self- activities, improving the quality of
reading material, increasing the ability to discuss topics and to
write about them, enlarging the vocabulary, enriching personal
experience, correlating the work of the classroom with community
life, the ability to concentrate mental activities, and many others.
The attainment of these ends are among the most imperative and
outstanding functions of the schools.

It was announced by the directors at the outset of the expe-
riment that they would seek the unbiased opinions of these three
hundred teachers upon these points. A summary of the opinions
expressed by the one hundred and fifty film teachers at the end of
the experiment indicates that:

i. Over 90 % of the teachers expressed the opinion that
the films were highly effective in stimulating the interests of the
children. Furthermore, they state that this interest was not a
passing one but a sustained interest. Weeks after a topic had been
demonstrated through the use of a film, the children would bring
material to the classroom related to such a topic, but which had
just come under their observation.

2. The teachers were almost unanimous in saying that the
films stimulated their students to an extraordinary degree in un-
dertaking projects and other types of self- activity. These types

144

of activity were such as the making of models of windmills,
schooners, farm implements, railroads, cotton fields, coal mines,
and scores of other endeavors which were suggested to their minds
by the film scenes and readings. The evidence is conclusive that
the films are superior in developing the imagination and skill,
and in increasing the knowledge of the children.

More than 5,000 separate articles made by the children were
received at Columbia University. The boxes and crates in which
they were shipped filled five average sized rooms. This is an
indication of the extent to which the pupils voluntarily entered
upon this type of self-activity.

3. The teachers stated that the films increased the quality
and quantity of children's reading, a main objective of good teach-
ing. This opinion is confirmed by administrative officers of the
school system and in other instances by the school librarians.
In many cases librarians reported that library facilities were not
adequate to care for the increased library demands of the children
involved in the experiment. The teachers stated that values
growing out of this were the ability of the children to learn how
properly to use reference books and how to select main points
bearing on a definite topic; that they also acquired the ability to
organize material in logical form.

4. The teachers are practically unanimous in saying that
the films stimulated greater facility and freedom in discussion
and resulted in more extensive writing by the children than they
had ever been able to secure without films. The two directors
also gave testimony upon this particular point and stated that
during their years of teaching experience and observing classroom
practice, they have not observed such liveliness or such sustained
discussion as in these classes.

5. The teachers state that there is a better correlation and
interpretation of materials due in large part to the fact that the films
develop greater immediate self-activity and promote longer and more
vivid retention. In many instances children visited a local bakery,
a dairy, a farm, or some industrial or commercial enterprise, where
they could see in actual operation scenes suggested by the films.

i45 —

6. The teachers also testified that the films contribute
to richness of material and accuracy; that the children get clearer
information in many ways than they can get from reading; that
many things which are difficult to understand from the printed
page are clear in the film.

7. There is unanimous opinion that the films contribute
to an ability to concentrate mental activities, to think more accu-
rately, and to reason more soundly.

8. Likewise there is unanimous agreement that the films deve-
lop a marked improvement in the range and accuracy of vocabulary.

It is the overwhelming testimony of the teachers of the film
group that the films made large contributions to the major objec-
tives of classroom instruction. The directors of the experiment
state that their own personal observations of the work in the schools
of ten of the twelve cities confirm at every point the opinions
expressed by the teachers.

The service which a film renders a teacher in the arrangement
of her material and in the presentation of a recitation is a matter
of major importance in classroom practice. The teachers of the
film group are practically unanimous in stating that the films were
a distinct advantage to them in making a thorough preparation
for the classroom work. They testify that they were able to pre-
pare a more logical presentation of a lesson with than without
the film. It is their opinion that the film presents the basic ele-
ments of a lesson or a topic. In the selection of classroom material
they were able to choose from a mass of available material that
which was most essentially related to the vital factors of the topic
under consideration. They expressed the opinion that the film
compels a teacher to conduct a more orderly and logical recitation,
and that the film prevents her from digressing from the main
points which should be clearly brought out.

In my address before Lake Placid meeting in 1927, I
stated that the experiment was undertaken in the belief that it
would reveal the essential information necessary to the develop-
ment of a sound program in Visual Instruction through the use
of motion pictures. The outcomes of the experiment have amply

— 146

justified that belief. The report by Dr. Wood and Dr. Freeman
is comprehensive and convincing, but considerations of time made
it necessary to confine attention to questions of immediate interest.
It is the opinion of those who have examined the materials derived
from this experiment, that it affords valuable data for a number of
additional research studies in education that will reveal still further
the many advantages to be derived from the use of motion pictures
of this type in the classroom.

New York was one of the twelve cities in which the experiment
was conducted. It was under the general supervision of Dr.
Straubenmuller, Associate Superintendent, and one of the best
known and most highly respected school administrators of the
country. Dr. Straubenmuller made a thorough and comprehen-
sive study of the experiment and of the report submitted by
Dr. Wood and Dr. Freeman , which he reported to the Board of
Superintendents of New York. In his report he says, « While
there have been experiments which were controlled to an extent,
your committee feels that no experiment has been so thoroughly
conducted, so scientifically pursued; it is undoubtedly the outstand-
ing report on this subject and will not be duplicated in its com-
prehensiveness for many years, if ever ». Dr. Straubenmuller
further says: "Your committee, after careful study of the ma-
nuscript of the report about to be published, and from observation
of the experiment as conducted in the schools of our city, believes
that the motion picture can be successfully and profitably used
if the pictures are made specifically for instructional purposes
and fit exactly into the course of study )\ This report was approved
by the Board of Superintendents of New York City and adopted
by the Board of Education.

I am gratified in closing this paper to offer this confirmatory
judgment of the comprehensive and painstaking report of Dr.
Wood and Dr. Freeman by such an eminent authority as Dr. Strau-
benmuller and his colleagues.

Thos. E. Finegan
President Eastman Teaching Films, Inc.

147

THE ACTIVITIES OF THE CENTRAL GERMAN

INSTITUTE FOR EDUCATION AND TEACHING

IN THE FIELD OF THE CINEMA.

{from the German)

In Germany the initial stage of the Cinema had hardly been
overcome — the motion picture had already gained popular fa-
vour because life in action was actually reproduced on the screen —
when on the one hand attempts were made to exploit the motion-
picture as a form of amusement, while on the other, teachers
insisted on using it as a means of illustrating life in action, covering
more especially biology, geography and technique.

At first the school authorities waited until the results of these
tendencies were known, without either encouraging or thwarting
the attempts to utilize the films as a means of education. It was
only in 19 1 8 that the Prussian Minister of Culture entrusted to me
(I was at the time Director of the Pedagogical Section of the Cen-
tral Institute for Education and Teaching) the task of examining
the material possessed by the Cinematographic and Photographic
Office — Bild und Filmamt — (a Cinematographic office of the
Reich run on military lines) and of finding out whether there were
any films that were suitable for educational requirements. This
may be said to have been the first step taken by a German admi-
nistration towards the use of the film as a means of visual education.

The German Reich has no school organization of its own.
Education and teaching are, according to the Constitution, under
the control of the 17 German States. The guiding principles in
education, and therefore also the tendency to transform the film
into an instrument of education, overstep the boundaries of indi-
vidual States. Thus, in 191 5 a Central Institute for Education
and Teaching was founded. Although this body lacks independ-
e nt authority, it is regarded by the Reich and the States as an organ
common to all ; it must follow the general education policy, sti-
mulate it in certain cases and help the Ministry of Education with
advice.

148

With a view to ensuring the satisfactory fulfilment of these
tasks also in the field of educational films, in 19 19 the cinema office
{Bildstelle) was turned into an autonomous section of the Central
Institute. When I completed my examination of the material of
the Photo-cinematographic Office, I was put at its head.

After the war several big producing companies were formed,
most of which, like the Ufa, Phobus, Terra and Emelka, set up
cultural departments of their own ; and educational films covered
ever new ground for presentation in the class room. It became
necessary to see that all cultural films were examined, compelling
the schools to show only such films as were passed by the Central
Cinema Office (Bildstelle).

This Office had already functioned for one year when the
Reich set up two special Control Bureaux (Priifstellen) which,
to say the truth, had nothing to do with the examination of edu-
cational films. A law was, however, passed by the Reich, enacting
that no film could be shown on its territory, whether in public
halls or privately, unless it had been examined by the Control
Bureaux of Berlin or Munich, which granted the necessary per-
mission only when they were satisfied that the provisions of the
Law had been respected.

The competence of the Munich Control Bureau extends to
all films produced in the Southern States, Bavaria, Wurtemberg.
Baden and Hesse ; the remaining thirteen Central and Northern
States come under the competence of the Berlin Bureau. A
Bavarian Cinema Office was set up as a counterpart of that of the
Central Institute, with competence on a territorial basis.

There exists the following difference between the Control
Bureaux (Prufstellen) of Berlin and Munich on the one hand, and
the two Cinema Offices (Bildstellen) on the other, namely, that the
action of the former organs is, one might say, negative, in that, by
withholding the necessary permission, they prevent infringements
of the law, and the action of the latter bodies is positive, because
they encourage the production of good films.

This stimulating action is carried out in two ways. In the
first place, only those film scan be shown in schools which one of the

3 ingl. I^g

two Office has recognised to be suitable for educational purposes ;.
secondly, because when educational films are shown in public
cinema-halls, they are granted a considerable reduction on the ordi-
nary entertainment tax. Complete exemption from this tax is
accorded in the case of a display in which nine tenths of the films
shown are of a cultural character.

Two other groups of cultural films are recognised, namely ,
those made for popular education and artistic films. In both cases
they may be entertainment films (Spielfilme) ; they must, however,
either be of an educational value because of the way in which they
deal with, or present a problem, or the creative power of their author
must be such as to make of them works of art. These films also
are accorded a reduction on the entertainment tax. By their work
these Cinema Offices, therefore, encourage the production of
good films, acting directly from the moral point of view and indi-
rectly from the financial standpoint, while their decisions are taken
as a standard in the demand of good films.

The task of giving advice on artistic, educational or cultural
films rests to a very great extent with the Office of the Central
Institute because the film production of Southern Germany is
far below the level reached by the Northern and Central. States.
On the other hand, the number of films examined by the Berlin
Cinema Office is small compared with that of films submitted to
the Berlin Control Bureau. The fact should not be forgotten that
the Berlin Control Bureau has to examine every year more than
2.000.000 metres of film, representing the whole production of
Northern and Central Germany on the market ; of these films, only
a few are submitted to the Cinema Office, that is to say, such pictures
as are considered by the producers to be superlatively good. In
its turn, the Cinema Office subjects these picked films to a fairly
severe examination.

In the course of eight and a half years the Berlin Control Bureau
has rejected slightly over 460 films ont of almost 21.000. These
figures should be compared, on a percentage basis, with the
following number of films rejected or passed by the Cinema Office.

From April 1,1919 to the end of March, 1929

— 150

3616 films 2,664.504 metres long were examined
2863 » 1,870.134 » » » approved

and 753 » 794.370 » » » rejected

divided as follows :

a) films for teaching purposes

approved Rejected

2139 films, 1.128,740 metres long. 325 films, 152.814 metres long

b) films intended for popular education
Approved Rejected

628 films, 499.157 metres long. 331 films, 406.726 metres long.

c) Artistic films

Approved Rejected

96 films, 242,237 metres long. 97 films, 234.830 metres long.

The duties of the Cinema Office are by no means limited to
the giving of advice. Producters, renters and public authorities
may apply to it for information on all matters related to artistic,
educational or cultural films. The Office may also, on request,
tender advice to producers as to whether a rejected film misfit
with certain « cuts », additions or modification of sub-titles, be
allowed. Naturally the Office is not concerned with the production
or marketing of films (sale or distribution), so as to be able to give
an absolutely objective judgment. It merely lays down the general
principles that should guide producers in their autonomous work,
gives advice to their collaborators and examines the scenarios
before the film is produced.

The campaign for « better pictures » is not enough ; it is also
necessary to see that the understanding of the value of cultural
films on the part of teachers and of the school authorities is increased
and intensified. By means of writings, lectures and meetings the
teaching staff is unceasingly kept informed of all that is related
to motion-pictures, as opposed to still figures, the value of using
the cinema for educational purposes as a means of training the pupils
to see, observe and grasp the significance of what they are showrn
and of acquiring positive knowledge. With this object in view,
methodical instructions have been compiled touching upon the

151

proper way of showing cultural films in the schools and upon the
training of pupils, whether these films are shown in schools or in
other halls lent for the purpose in the presence of pupils from other
schools. The question of the advisability of referring to the subjects
treated by the film in a series of lessons in class belongs to the
methodology of visual education.

As regards the requirements of the methodology of visual
education, the Cinema Office must concern itself also with the
technique of the showing of films in classrooms. The use of the
projector should be left to those teachers or operators who have
undergone a special examination and secured the « certificate of
technical operator (Vorfuhren) of luminous projections in schools
and in juvenile education ». Special regulations dealing with
the examinations of these ((technical operators)) (Vorfuhrer have
been introduced in Prussia and have been adopted in other German
States. The first board of examiners was set up in the Cinema
Office of Berlin ; its chairman is at the same time the head of a
syndicate of directors of Cinema Offices in Germany and keeps
in touch with the chairmen of the other twelve boards of examiners
in Prussia.

The Cinema Office has hardly any direct connection with
the German Cinema Federation (Bildspielbund) and with its re-
gional associations. This Federation practically represents all the
German teachers who buy films for use in the schools, or on the
occasion of scholastic ceremonies, or for special displays reserved
to parents. It controls a sufficiently large number of regional
associations or local branches and is presided over by Dr. Giinther.
To ensure a certain degree of cooperation between the Cinema
Office as the competent body for the examination of films, and
the Cinema Federation as the organ of. distribution, Dr. Giinther
is the director representing the Cinema Office, and the latter body
is, in its turn, a member of the Cinema Federation and honorary
member of its managing committee.

Prof. Dr. Felix Lampe

Head of the Central Institute
for Education and Teaching at Berlin

T5:

FOR CHILDHOOD AND ADOLESCENCE

{from the French)

My friend, Dr. Luciano de Feo, the Director of the
« International Educational Cinematographic Institute, » has re-
quested me to contribute a series of papers on the psychological
reaction of the child and adolescent to the action of the cinema.

I desire, in conjunction with him, to launch an appeal to all
those who, throughout the world, feel their hearts wrung with
anxiety for the morrow when watching the youth of to-day.

{Ed. N.) As announced in our first number, we now have pleasure
in publishing a paper by the illustrious scientist, Professor Rouvroy. The
splendid faith with uhich this apostle of social welfare deals with the
problem of the protection of childhood and youth from the perils of the
cinema, calls for no comment from us.

As stated in our first number, this Review proposes to deal compre-
hensively with this problem, in connection with which the Institute —
acting in perfect understanding with the Committee for the Protection
of Childhood — ■ has already started a great international enquiry to
ascertain the views and experience of those who have devoted themselves
to studying the social, moral, psychological and criminological aspects
of the Cinema.

Maurice Rouvroy is one of the Institute's most valuable collaborators
in this enquiry. The object we have in view does not and cannot tend
in any way to handicap the progress of the cinematographic industry ; but,
on the contrary, it aims at promoting it and improvingit in its several
aspects, so that the progressive improvement of films — of which there
have been so many unmistakable signs of late — may lead to the removal
of those artificial barriers which many countries have felt it their duty to
raise for the protection of children and adolescents.

In a later number the Review will publish on this subject an article
contributed by an authority on labor problems, the Spanish representa-
tive in the Childrens' Welfare Committee : Don Pedro Sangro y Ros de
Olano, Marques de Guad-el Jelu. In like manner we will consider and
describe the many notable publications on this subject which have
reached this Institute, among others a highly interesting paper by Carl
E. Milliken in answer to the report of Roger W. Babson.

153

Proof of competence should always be the opening part of
every plea ; when social interests are at stake, false modesty is
out of place. As far as I am concerned, I do not believe all that
is written : and I think others are of the same opinion,

I am not writing this in a drawing-room, a study or a
library ; I am writing in my laboratory, where day by day I
deal with some three or four precocious social wrecks, aged
from six to twenty years, sent by our Judges to the Observation
Station of Moll-Huttes, at a few metres' distance from the
pavilions occupied by the moral wrecks of children and ado-
lescents whose past life, present personality, moral responsi-
bility and future possibilities it is my business to study.

For more than thirty years I have been living with children,
adolescents and youths ; for nearly twenty years I have been « sal-
vaging wrecks » ; thousands of juvenile offenders have passed
through my hands, before my eyes and soul i ailing in body and
senses, sick, backward ', abnormal, lunatics... perverse and perverted
by all perversions, both inborn and acquired. I have been dealing
with these unfortunate creatunes, whose life it was my business
to endeavour tore-create while waiting for those who discuss
the eternal problems or dissert upon petty theses in the acade-
mies to come to some sort of agreement.

I have had to make them live for weeks under my eyes be-
fore proceeding to dissect their inner psychology in the laboratory ;
I have had to watch them closely everywhere, even while they wrere
asleep or engaged in manual labour or in the playground, in all
the activities of the students' city... And every time that I wrote
of any of them, that he was a difficult subject to deal with, that he
was an obstinate incorrigible to be brought back to moral and
social discipline by the most careful and direct methods... or that
he was a psychical abnormal to be re-educated by degrees before
reintegrating him socially, I knew that by doing so I took it upon
myself to look after him and train him anew either at the Etablis-
sement pour « difficiles » of Moll-Centre, or at the Etablissement
special pour « anormaux » close to the Station d' Observation. I have
had no time to discuss the eternal speculative problems or petty

— i54

academical theses. My time was taken up exclusively by studying
the children thoroughly and by causing them to react in order to
acquire a better knowledge of them, one by one.

I know what I am saying (and I say it without anger or arro-
gance, but with, I hope, moving emphasis). My complaints are
directed :

against society, which does not take enough care of children
and adolescents ;

against those who set up psychological systems wherein
there is no place for the living child ;

against those who bring up children on ideological methods,
where regulations are all-important and the child counts for
very little ;

against those who in their teaching devote their whole atten-
tion to the object of their didactic profession, to the matters to be
taught and to be distributed piecemeal, as if it were only a case of
portioning it out in dishes of the same form and dimensions...
without giving a moment's thought to the subject himself, to the
child with delicate nerves, with a psychology so varying in its
inclinations, powers of reception and possibilities.

My experience is that of a life-saver who knows how wrecks
come about and who must be forgiven the rough words and ways
he learned in the midst of storms.

It is not by an unusual product that one should form an
opinion of a machine. I judge a machine by the average value of
its daily output, and, above all, by its imperfect products and by
its useless and costly wasteage of raw materials.

I cannot form an estimate of a system of education and teach-
ing merely on some unusual success, but, above all, on the cur-
rent results of a long-tested method and also on the number of

155

subjects whose physical, mental or emotional constitution has been
injured by the method itself.

The instruments of education multiply themselves, are stand-
ardized and mechanized, are transformed into tools. Improved
tools, of course.

Tools, however, demand of those who handle them or look
after them, skill and care proportionate to their perfection. This
is what is overlooked by most teachers who regard these tools
merely as labour-saving devices for themselves.

The more complex the machinery is and the less skilfully it
is handled, the greater is the quantity of raw material and product
wasted. Educative tools must be regarded not as devices desi-
gned to spare the master time, efforts and thought, but as an aid
for the child, whose intelligence thereby finds its avenues of ap-
proach invigorated.

Our schools of every rank have been supplied with projectors,
wireless, « linguaphones » and « parlophones » of every form and
description. And I already anticipate the scholastic records at
the end of the year, giving the number of slides and recitals in
statistical tables, that leave one in the dark as to the method of
application of these tools which have the lure of mechanical
contrivances for the big children which we ourselves are at times.

Among the educational tools there is also the cinema , with
its appeal of life, reality in action and movement. The offer is
too tempting not to engage the attention of all those who are
interested in children and adolescents, and of all those who are
being brought up and taught.

But, in less than no time, without training, the pedagogue
becomes a « cinema expert ». Just as he had turned himself into
an « economist » all of a sudden, on receipt of advice or instruc-
tions to that effect ; just as he had become an « expert in gym-
nastics », «musician», « painter », « designer »... without the least
preparation, in conformity to the trend of programmes, State
circulars, the whims of chiefs, fancies of congresses, suggestions
of technical reviews or occasional contributors...

Some persons may agree with me here who, perhaps, will

— 156

presently bear me ill-will for failing to see eye to eye with them on
other points, and for having met them by this first concession :
« Modern educational tools, including the cinema, are not properly
employed. The teaching staff should be told how to use them ;
and perhaps it may be necessary to improve the tool itself, in order
to facilitate its handling ».

This, however, is not all : because this is true of all kinds of
tools. It is almost negligible compared with what I would like to
convev .

It is not the « tool » alone that is standardized and mechanized
in education. The same applies to the child and adolescent, whom
it is desired more and more to exploit industrially . An attempt is
being made to transform the subject of teaching and education into
a productive machine whose nervous and psychological system is
tested in order to discover its qualities rather than its defects,
and with a view to getting better results from the better-gifted,
rather than to helping the less gifted.

I know certain schools in a great number of places where
very soon the child himself will become nothing better than a
receiving-apparatus, a sounding-board, a screen...

The child is not an inert screen which can be spoilt only by
the mishandling of workmen who knock it about.

The child is a screen that vibrates, reacts, rises and sinks under
the flux of images and sometimes stretches itself to breaking-point*

When land is subjected to forced treatment, that is to
say, to energetic manuring, it is necessary to know its proper-
ties thoroughly, the sowing time, the quality of the soil, its possible
reactions and its resources, which should not be exhausted all
at once... as is the case with children, adolescents and the feeble-
minded, whose nervous and psychical resources are rapidly exhaus-
ted by applying to all of them, no matter when and how, the
moving luminous vision.

When a machine is employed for industrial and commercial

157 —

purposes, one must reckon in the final accounts not only the gross
returns of production, but also the wear and tear of the machine,
deteriorations, breakages, irregularities of movement to be set right
at a great cost.

From the profits one expects to make in future from the appli-
cation of new modern scholastic and educative tools, one must
detract what represents the wear and tear of the child's personality,
not only to be fair, but also lest one should be faced at some future
date with a lack of the necessary capital for further exploitation.

For instance, I have near me, repairing a picture of which I
have awkwardly broken the fragile frame, a youth 18 years old,
the son of a neuropathic parent and slightly neuropathic himself,
in a permanent toxic state which renders him susceptible to sudden
reactions, of the toxi-glandular type, under the least nervous or
emotional excitement.

Having caused trouble in his family circle, he had been sent
to an institute where tranquillity and diet at last overcame his
violent crises, and for some months eased his trouble.

One evening (thinking it was all for his good) he was taken
as a reward to the cinema. Fie spent an agitated night.

On the following day he smashed the furniture of his small
room while in a delirious state, stopped only by a shower-bath,
which calmed down his nerves by decongesting the brain
and by driving the blood back to the periphery and extremities.
The thrill of animated scenes had invaded his feeble mind ; the
« agitation » of the cinema had, through the sight and the nervous
channels, reached the brain-centres themselves... it had destroyed
the work of months, prostrated his body and soul and demoralized
the young man.

And yet this is not one of those in a serious toxic state which
the doctors must disintoxicate sytematically by means of a special
medical regime — nor is it a case of disturbance of nutrition
to be drugged — nor a case of an advanced neuropathic patient
only to be calmed by saturation with stupefying drugs. It is a
« temperament » which opportunity and environment alone imperil.

Amongst those who are brought to me there are many intox-

- 158

icated youths, whose intoxication is neither a crime nor a vice ;
they are, however, exposed to unusual dangers when their nerves
and passions are carelessly aroused. Even in a group of normal
children there are 20 % at least of such cases.

It is not my intention to make use of the cinema here. The
few shows which I formerly offered to my small world of feeble
minded gave rise the same night or the following nights to such
fevers that 1 did not dare to repeat them.

One may admire a machine for what it yields when it is set
going and is watched by an expert mechanic. When the wheels
and transmission function as they should, very soon, to-night
may be, the mechanic will pull the lever up to the stopping-point
and the machine will remain inactive until it is again set going.

The spirit of the child and adolescent, which modern pedagogy
more and more treats on industrial lines (as if it were a machine of
production, or a production in accordance with carefully laid down
tables), the emotional capacity of the child and adolescent stimu-
lated by interest in order thereby to concentrate their attention
on a given subject, the nerves of the child and adolescent have no
stopping-points when the pedagogue-mechanic abandons them,
their machinery continues to vibrate night and day... creating
in its turn, once the impulse is given.

While I am writing, a lad fourteen years old, with abundant
gesticulations and feverish cheeks has joined the neuropathic
referred to above (in order to help him in his work of repair).

It is certainly far from my intention to write in this connection
a treatise about illusion and hallucination . Those who suffer from
illusion fasten to a given object or fact non-existent details of wiiich
the object or fact perceived is but the central element.

We have all suffered from illusion, wrho has not made of a
tree dimly perceived in the night a gesticulating fantastic being ?

Those suffering from hallucination, on the other hand, see

159 —

and hear nothing, but they conjure up imaginary visions and hear
imaginary voices.

The boy of fourteen is in the initial stage of his adolescence; in
the evening he is a prey to fear and during the night he has fearful
dreams. Moreover, he was formerly given to somnambulism.

He went to the cinema and it was on his return from these
shows that his crises became more frequent.

One night he did a criminal action, while in some sort of
nightmare.

I set him to open-air work... but the least digestive or
nervous trouble brings him back to that state of toxication. Last
night, he was again restless and feverish. To-night, I shall have
him closely watched, because, at times, his eyes have a strange
fixed look with flashes, and immediately afterwards they are lit
up with reflexions springing from a hidden thought, from an
inner storm.

There are between this lad and the perfect human being, a
non-existent ideal, numberless gradations, there are children and
adults whose inner constitution secretes a kind of torpor and
dizziness, whose blood, slowed down by their lymphatic under-
circulation forms, as it were, certain swamps wherefrom rise to
the brain a feeling of excitement or stupor according to cir-
cumstances, whose cerebro-psychical system secretes also dreams >
illusions, hallucinations, nightmares, like those which we, who regard
ourselves as super-normal beings, come to feel as a result of a badly
digested dinner, of a suffocating or over heated atmosphere
when we are tired, or of the faintest distant and confused premo-
nitory warning of grippe.

Have you ever thought that with all these people (in varying
degrees, but always) the multitudinous figures on the screen and
the sensation of movement conveyed by them, impress upon their
cells and intimate memory millions of details which cross and
intercross one another, like elements in suspension in a liquid
under reaction, ready to crystallise themselves into phantasma-
gorical images connected with objects or facts seen, or to cry-
stallise themselves into pictures of fear and suggestion ?

— 160

There must be agreement also on this point, friends and fellow
pedagogues, who realize that the single method (and, with greater
reason, the single « tool ») is not applicable to a group of children
and adolescents indiscriminately... and that, in the case of several
among them, it is necessary to proceed with the greatest care and
precaution.

In how many cases of gravely deranged people have you
claimed that the cinema had at last succeeded in awakening their
attention ? You have not, however, outside your classes or lecture-
rooms, noticed the convulsive reactions similar to those of an epi-
leptic whose attacks disappear for weeks as a result of treatment,
but who, when the treatment is interrupted, wakes up again like
a volcano. Come here and I will furnish you with a proof. In
how many cases of « turbulent » people have you claimed
that the cinema had restored balance to their minds ? You were
unaware, however, of their cerebral drama of imagination...
they went elsewhere to reflect without your knowledge... Unless
the act on which their attention of « types moteurs » concentrates
itself to the exclusion of other details of the show, unless this
act is dormant at the bottom of their minds for weeks and months
at last to break out again... when least expected.

We must indeed come to some understanding on these
questions.

It is not for me, but for the 30 % of my morally lost children
for whom the cinema, such as it is, appears to ms here as one of
the wreckers, for the 25% of them who will never recover.

Maurice Rouvroy

Director of the Central Institute of Observation

and special Institutions of Moll — Professor of Pedagogic Psychiatry

at the Higher Institute of Pedagogy of Brussels.

[61

THE RELIGIOUS FILM

RELIGIOUS CINEMATOGRAPHY IN INDIA

{from the italtan).

In ancient India, the inhabitants of the country shut in by
the upper reaches of the Ganges and the Rivers Yamuna, Sara-
svati and Drisadvati, were called the Kauravas, after Kuru, the
ninth descendent of Bharato. Their territory was regarded as
sacred. It was from here that there spread all over the Penin-
sula and beyond it, right into distant western lands, the wisdom
of Veda, and the theological, legendary, philosophical and ritual-
istic collections of Brahminism, which, with the magnificent bounty
of the old, forgotten wisdom, sowed far and wide a prodigious
sense of faith and culture.

In this garden of the world is performed the epic cycle of
Mahabharata, gathered together by Vaieampayana, the pupil of
Vyasa, in 18 parvas or episodic cantos, consisting of over one
hundred thousand sloki.

Everything is chaunted in this Sanscrit poem, composed
for the glorification of the Lunar Dynasty, for the possession of
the City of Hastinapura, achieved by the death of the Kauranas,
with the magnificent victory of the Pandavas, those pallid beings,
descended from the blind Dhritarastra, who later on, after the
victory, devoted themselves to improvement and to pilgrimage,
that they might rise, after death, to Svarga.

On to this poem, with its sacred background, is grafted the
splendid gem of the Bhagavadgita, the Divine Song, with its purely
philosophical conception of the universe, remembrance, tradi-
tion, and ritual.

Around these two songs there blossom in India, Mother of
peoples and of human thought, the age-honored Veda legends,
the Rigveda — a collection of 1028 hymns attributed to seers, inspired
bards, holy priests and rtsi, who lived two thousand years before

62

the Christian Era : the content of this is both liturgic and profane ;
the Yajurveda, the science of sacrificial formula ; the Samaveda,
whose rites the priests repeated while drinking the soma, that sa-
cred beverage dear to the Divinities and to the profane Atharveda.
There blossom also the Upanisada, works supplementary to the
Veda, theosophical speculations, passionately in quest of the inti-
mate essence of Atman, the universal soul, and which offer to
mankind meditation as a means of rising to the solar conception
of life, in order that his earthly soul may identify itself, in the not
distant future, with the soul of the world and of all things.

Thus the true devotee learns that this life is but the product
of illusion — of Maya ; that in truth the Supreme Being
alone exists, and that all forms of life as we live and enjoy it, are
but a mockery of the senses. Thus too he learns that there are,
in this world, three guna (qualities) which he must shun : satva
(goodness) , ragias, the life of the senses, tamas, spiritual darkness*

Like Arjuna in the Divine Song, he learns that man must
free himself from these three qualities in order to suppress his
own individual life, to break the chain that keeps him bound to
mundane things, to drive away all those impressions of the senses,
whence are derived pleasure, pain and desire. Thus the truly
wise and devout man will have done with earthly achievements,
since he knows the way of rightly adoring the Supreme Being,
which is truth and knowledge, in its deepest and innermost essence,
through the medium of contemplation, and he will keep at a safe
distance from politheistic life, which is the forest of error. He
does not desire rewards (phalam) for his deeds on earth or in
the svarga, since he must free himself also from sattva, those qua-
lities that make him good, and, in order that he may himself be
extinguished in the divine soul (Brahmanirvana), he must culti-
vate Brahvana, that is to say meditation, introspection, the quest
of the sense which tends to identify his soul with that of the Su-
preme Being. Only those who perform their actions as a means
towards obtaining immediate or later rewards, will suffer again,
throughout successive births, their souls for long ages bound by
the iron bonds of corporeal life, to the city of the nine gates.

163 -

In the Mahabharata there appears the hero of the Ya-
dani, Krishna ; the Madhusudana (slaughterer of the Demon
Madhu) ; the Jhanardana, or tormentor of mankind (Vishnu) ;
the Varsveya, or descendant of the Vrisni. A cow-herd in his
youth, or govinda, son of Vasudeva and Devaki, reared in hiding,
on the flowery banks of the Yamuna, in the care of Nando, amid
flocks and the pastoral loves narrated by Jitagovinda, (the Shep-

Krishna and Shishupal (from the Mahabharata)

herd's Song) of insuperable lyric beauty, akin to the Song of
Songs— allegorical, maybe, as the Song itself is, and symbolic of
the longing of the earthly soul for the Divine.

Side by side with the Mahabharata, and the Divine Song
of India, is the gem of the Ramayana, the epic of Rama, an exile
in the woods with his mate Sita, until Ravana, the prince of de-
mons, seized her, from the hut in which she was hidden, after
killing Jhatayasi, the guardian vulture. And Rama reconquers her,

— 164

in the Poem, with the help of Hanumat, the ape-like son of the
Wind, at Lanka (Ceylon), after launching a living bridge into the
sea and fighting, with the help of Sugriva, against the demons loosed
by his foe.

Rama and Krihsna are earthly incarnations, the avatar of
Vishnu, the active, industrious, mystical solar God of most ancient
India, who united in himself the two conceptions, the speculative

Droupady invokes Krishna's help (from The Mababharata)

and the popular, of the Hindu Religion, and became the God of
the Pantheist synthesis of the world.

The sacred and the profane are merged in the songs of old
India. They sing of the trdilokya, of the three different and
only worlds : the heavens, the air, and the earth. They sing of
Prajapati, the Lord of beings, the central theme of the 121 st.
hymn of Book X of the Rigveda ; the unknown God, whose power
is manifested in all created things, of whom the lesser Gods them-
selves execute and obev the command : the One, the Absolute,

4-ingl.

165

Rama shows Sita the woods of the Dekkan (from the Ramayana).

W^\

Tjm

HBBBMP^*^-^ ^ *ffl

Nf' k^^5^v»:' * 1

Rama asks for Vishamitra's blessing (from the Ramayana)

— 166

the Indestructible, the Aksara-m, in whom and of whom is pro-
duced the ethereal substance which envelops and forms the world
and all things.

With powerful lyric impulse, it hymns the sweet and radiant
death of warriors, of those who fulfil their duty, dying in battle,

Marnti bows before Shiwa (from the Ramayana)

and who ascend to the Paradise of Indra, in the svarga ; for heroic
death in the field — the highest symbol and example of duty —
purges of all sin.

It sings of the Acvini, the Indian Dioscuri, the twins, proto-
types of eternal beauty and eternal youth, who appear in the dim

167

morning light on a golden car drawn by winged horses, eagles,
and falcons, preceding the rosy pathway of Dawn ; they are the
doctors of the Gods, dispensers of health to mankind, and the
patrons of seamen.

To-day, after the long flight of ages, the Cinematographic
Film reproduces, with all the color of local action, amid the sug-

Rama in exile attended by his faithful Guhak (from the Bamayana).

gestive scenery of Nature, the most striking episodes of this great
Epic, these legends, and these Divine Songs.

Religious and Documentary Films are a signpost on the
pathway of the ascent of the spirit of man, of culture and science
towards the highest and most luminous altitudes, which mark a
revival in the life of nations ; they make of the Screen, which we
look to for amusement and entertainment, an instrument — and
the most powerful instrument — of universal knowledge, of
that knowledge which comes down to us from the remotest past.

168

A Cinematographic Company in Bombay, the Hindustan
Cinema Film Co., has started and is about to publish a film illus-
trating the life and religious customs derived from the wisdom
of the old world.

Xarada, who is also known as Wisha Manya, the lord of thun-
derbolts, the Jarasandha episode, the scenes of the Mahabharata,
the figure of Krishna, all are brought before us to-day by means
of the screen.

Side by side with the splendid French and Italian efforts
for the production and elevation of Catholic films, (i) and with
the Zionist attempt to show us the far-away glories and sufferings
of the Flebrew people, the Brahmin tradition is creating the his-
toric and religious film of India.

Thus the power of the Cinema as a means of spiritual uplift
for the people of the immediate future grows greater day by day.

(i) Films of a religious character, bearing the titles of The Infant
Christ's Theresa » and The Holy Crusade » are about to be produced in
France, by the Films D'Art Company, under the auspices of Cardinal
Dubois, Achbishop of Paris.

In like manner a Zionist Committee has in hand the production of
two Films, « The Springtime of Palestine » and « The Exaltation of the
Jordan ».

It is further announced in the press that, with the support of the
Vatican State, Italy has set up a Religious Cinematographic Company,
the purpose of which is to produce films of a religious character.

169 —

COPYRIGHT IN CINEMATOGRAPHIC PRODUCTIONS.

{from the German)

A codification of copyright regulations relating to the cinema
industry has not yet been effected, either by international treaties
or national legislation. Cinematographic productions are gen-
erally protected as literary or artistic works. This may be due
partly to the fact that the invention of the cinematograph is of
recent date and, for this reason, does not yet lend itself to a defi-
nite codification of copyright questions relating to it. A further
reason may be traced to the fact that erroneonsly the film is not
regarded primarily as an industrial product but as a form of art,
and therefore the juridical provisions relating to literary and art-
istic works are applied to it.

The cinema is a technical-economic process by means of
which ideal values are shown to an unlimited number of persons

{Ed. N.) With the paper by Dr. Walter Plugge, the renouned authority
on the German cinematographic industry, this Institute opens its exami-
nation of the problem of authors' rights in connection with the film.
This study and enquiry is being conducted by the International Insti-
tute of Intellectual Cooperation with all the competence which we asso-
ciate with its name. By close collaboration, these two organs of the
League of Nations should be able to find the right way to a solution of
this problem, which is so intimately connected with and reacts so directly
on that of educational cinematography. Indeed, an enquiry into the whole
question of copyright, important as it is in the field of industrial cinema-
tography, is certainly not less important in connection with the special
production of educational and general culture films.

In any case, the I. E. C, which is anxious to give, wherever possible,
its disinterested contribution to the solution of any problem affecting
cinematography, tho' determined as ever not to encroach beyond the bound-
aries of the very wide field with which it is concerned, is happy to open
this series of articles, and in its quality of technical organ, will always be
found ready by the Paris Institute and more than happy to welcome in
the pages of its Review the results of the enquiry which the Institute of
Intellectual Cooperation is carrying out.

170

for purposes of education or entertainment. In its ideal form it
combines the characteristics of a work of art and of an economic
process, as opposed to dramatic works and also to industrial
activity proper that is characterised by the production of goods.

The film itself may be regarded as an article only when one
considers the substance it is made of. The film ribbon has a
commercial value fixed in accordance with the general rules of
the market. But what makes of the film an object of trade is not
the string of celluloid, but the Filmlizenz which implies a right.

The international copyright regulations with regard to cine-
matograph productions are contained in art 14 of the revised Berne
Convention. The International Copyright Conference held in
Rome in 1928 has not modified substantially the provisions of art.
14 ; it has, however, inserted in the Berne Convention an article
recognizing the « droit moral. » The admission of the •< droit
moral » essentially affects copyright in cinematographic films.

The much-debated question as to who is the author of a cine-
matograph production or as to who may be regarded as such, has
not yet received an international solution. The provisions of
national legislations reflect the attempts that have been made to
settle this question.

Italy, for instance, admits in regard to the film a collective
copyright in which the scenario-writer, the producer of the film
(Filmhersteller) and the composer (Komponist) participate in equal
shares ; Poland, on the contrary, by her law of March 29th, 1926,
confers the copyright in cinematograph films upon the impresario
exclusively and in the case of works made on commission, upon
the person who gives the order.

The most advanced application of the idea of collective copy-
right in films is embodied in the Egyptian Copyright Law of March
12th., 1927. Under the provisions of this law, the following per-
sons share in the copyright : 1) the original author ; 2) the scenario -
writer ; 3) the stage-director ; 4) the producer ; 5) the Komponist.
It is not easy to understand how this law works out in practice
especially when one considers that the actor and the hair-dresser
(Filmfriseur) might have been included in the above list, on the
same level with the other co-operators.

171 —

National legislations in regard to the fundamental question
of copyright — namely, who is the author — contain widely
differing provisions. The same applies to the duration of the
« period of protection » in the case of autonomous film productions.
In the absence of a special reference in national legislations to
the period of protection of cinematograph production, the general
rule relating to the duration of the protection of literary
and artistic works is applicable. Special provisions exist in Po-
land and Russia. In the former country the term of protection
in the case of cinematograph productions expires after twenty
years from the creation of the film, while the period of protection
extends generally for 50 years after the author's death. In Soviet
Russia, under the Ordinance on Copyright of January 30, 1925,.
which is to-day in force, the term of protection for cinematograph
works and films extends for 10 years, this being an exception to
the general duration of the protection which is 25 years from
the first representation of the work. This protection, however,,
is limited to national production ; the Soviet Union has not yet
concluded any international agreement in regard to copyright,
although negotiations to this effect are in progress.

In the Copyright Conference of 1928 no definite agreement
was reached, in regard to the term of protection in the case of cine-
matographic productions. Attention should therefore be given
to the fact that the duration of the protection of the author's rights
in regard to cinematograph works will continue to be regulated
in individual States by widely differing provisions.

Up to the present day in Germany copyright is duly assigned
to the film-producer by contract and is valued by him. This
transfer of copyright to the producer has in practice presented no
difficulty. Anyhow, the German cinema industry is, and will be,
opposed to the tendency favourable to the creation of a collective
copyright in the film.

The following considerations may be useful to a better under-
standing of this point of view.

It is the film producer who bears the risk of the marketing
of the film. He advances the capital required for the production

172

of a film, which he cannot recover until after its sale. It is possible
to know whether the producer's expectations will be fulfilled when
the capital has already been invested. The scenario-writer, the cinema
director, the operator, the Komponist, are the producer's necessary
collaborators, but they do not share in his financial risks ; on the
contrary, they are the producer's salaried employees. And every-
body knows how big a salary they draw. Those who take
no personal risk in the production of a film cannot claim a share in
the financial results of the exploitation of the film itself, after having
been already paid for their services. This at least is true when
the participation of the film-producer's cooperators in the exploi-
tation of the film is imposed by law in the form of a collective
copyright .

The suggestion that the droit moral should be inserted in
domestic legislations relating to copyright is based upon the idea,
which finds a logical application in the Czecho-Slovakian law, that
an author should be protected against the deformation or muti-
lation of his work as a result of its adaptation to the cinema. In
so far as this principle is correct, it has long been accepted by na-
tional legislations.

In Germany, for instance, an author whose work has been
deformed as a result of its adaptation to the cinema, might invoke
the protection accorded by the law against illicit actions. This
reason alone makes the recognition of the droit moral as a distinct
principle of law altogether unnecessary. Since, however, the
droit moral has been, in spite of this, inserted by the Rome Inter-
national Conference of 1928 in the Berne Convention, individual
countries must judge whether such an addition is necessary wherever
the droit moral comes under the general protection accorded by
the law.

Moreover, the film-producer would be continually exposed
to the danger of being disturbed in his business transactions by
claims advanced by the author on the strength of his droit moral.
The participation in the financial benefits resulting from the mar-
keting of the film under a collective copyright without any corre-
sponding financial risk, renders the amortization of capital in-

i73

vested in the film much more difficult, because the number of those
who, as collaborators of the author, might put forward claims
is considerable. If the term of protection is prolonged owing
to the recognition of both a collective copyright and the droit moral,
the author would be in a position to put forward legal claims which
go far beyond the economic possibilities of the exploitation of the
film. As a rule the industrial exploitation of a film seldom extends
beyond the period of 10 years, also for technical reasons. The
author and his heirs, on the other hand, would be legally entitled
to a much longer term of protection.

The consequences of all this would be a sharp break in
the economic, organizing and commercial forces combined in
the film-producer, to the individual advantage of a number of
his collaborators.

Dr. W. Plugge

Official Representative of the German Confederation
of Cinematographic Industries.

174

COLOUR CINEMATOGRAPHY

THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE OF THE VARIOUS PRO-
CESSES WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THOSE IN WHICH
CHEMICAL PRINCIPLES ARE APPLIED

General Topics.

Cinematography may be said to be the eldest daughter of
photography. Apart from the scenic part, form and working of
the camera, all the rest does not differ in the least from the technique
of photography. It may therefore be stated that the progress of
cinematography is intimately connected with the progress of photo-
graphy. Thus, with regard to the preparation of photographic
emulsions, special mention should be made of the great progress
achieved in the increase of general and chromatic sensitiveness : it
has already had a very great importance, which may increase in
future, in the taking of motion pictures in any place and under
any light conditions.

The technique in the toning process of the image by the re-
placement of reduced silver by other coloured compounds or by
lake colour has had a great influence in increasing the suggesti-
veness of motion pictures, and has succeeded in obtaining, up
to a certain point and in certain particular cases, by means of
a proper blending of the toning and colouring of the film,
something resembling to the natural effect of colours.

Nor can the progress made in the optical field be overlooked,
especially as regards the luminosity of the lens, by which cinema-
tography will profit more than photography, because a great
luminosity necessarily implies a very much reduced focal depth,
which can only be tolerated by cameras fitted with lenses with
a short focus, suitable for small size pictures, as in the case of
negative cinema films.

Thus, the very recent Meyer F 1,5 lens is described as a
lens merely for cinematographic cameras.

i75 —

Compared with the lens F 4,5 which up to few years ago
represented the type possessing the highest luminosity obtain-
able, the new instrument possesses a luminosity at least ten times
as great ! If we exclude the films produced in the studios where,
owing to their powerful light installations, large aperture lenses are
unnecessary, it may be said that the cinematographic representation
of current events will receive a great impulce by the progress
made in optical photography.

It may be added, without overstepping the limits of this ar-
ticle, that also for cinematography in colour, the exceptional
luminosity of the lens will greatly facilitate the trichromatic se-
lection of animated natural subjects.

Photography and Cinematography in colour.

While, on the whole, the progresses made in photographic
technique generally react upon the cinema technique, it cannot
be stated that colour photography produced with coloured pattern
plates, which is the method most generally in use at the present
day, has found its counterpart in colour cinematography. The
wonderful process introduced by the Lumiere Brothers in 1906
under the name of autochromatic process, is largely used to-day
by amateurs who fesl the fascination of colour.

In addition to the autochromatic plates, the coloured Afga
plates are to-day to be found on the market ; in these plates the
mosaic is considerably different from the mosaic in the autochro-
matic plates, although the principle is identical.

The usefulness of the plates prepared with mosaic colours is
gradually gaining ground also as a means of recording landscapes,
customs, monuments, works of art, etc., and certain American
reviews, taking advantage of the great attractiveness of colour
plates, reproduce trichromatic prints obtained from autochromatic
pictures, including several illustrations of Italy and her Colonies
taken by a very able colour-photographer, General Pellerano of
Rome.

The principle of the three-colour mosaic applied to the or-
dinary colour plates could not, however, be extended to cinema-

76

tographv, and all the attempts made so far, which the author of
this article has been able to follow, have failed.

In any case, even admitting that a mosaic film may finally
oe obtained, if it implies the process of inversion in order to trans-
form the negative into a positive, it would be available only for
amateur cinematography. And in this case too, and apart from
the great difficulties of producing anyhow an even mosaic upon
a celluloid film without incurring an excessive expenditure, there
would always remain the very serious disadvantage of having to
increase the light in the projector, given the great absorption of
light by the mosaic; damage to the film would be the unavoidable
result.

In 1928 the Kodak Company of Rochester elaborated a process
of Colour cinematography for amateurs, which is based upon
the principle discovered many years ago by Lippmann, the great
physicist, and styled by him « integral photography ». In this
system lenticular elements come into play, which are founded
in the « gaufrre » celluloid film, as it was called by the Frenchman
Keller Dorian, who was the first to employ in practice, to a cer-
tain extent, the principle discovered by Lippmann.

The Kodak lenticular film, with a coating of panchromatic
emulsion and used with a special trichromatic filter, splits up
the image into its coloured elementary constituents, which are
subsequently reconstructed during the projection of the film,
showing the positive image obtained by inversion.

This process has already been applied in the United States
of America, and those journalists who have had occasion to see
the results obtained, have spoken of it with great admiration.
In Europe, however, this system has not yet been introduced.
As also here it is a case of a positive image, the reproduction of
which appears to be very difficult, it is not likely that this process
can be applied to ordinary cinematography.

Three-colour photography.

All processes of colour photography, including the autochro-
matic system, apply what is known as the three-colour principle,

17'

discovered by Ducos de Hauron in 1869, which consists in split-
ting up the image into the three fundamental colours of the spec-
trum, red, green and violet, and afterwards in re-composing it.

But while, in the case of coloured plates, the analysis and syn-
thesis of colours is produced automatically on the same stand,
in the three-colour process the two operations are completely
separated.

In colour cinematography it is precisely the three-colour
system proper that has been applied; and with the improvements
which are certainly bound to be introduced, it will lead to comple-
tely practical results. It may be said that no substantial change
has been made in the three-colour process since the time of its
discovery as regards the analysis of colours; this operation has
merely benefited much by the great improvements that have been
realized in chromatic sensitiveness.

The apparatuses which have been devised for producing the
three-colour selection are innumerable; the mechanical and optical
characteristics required in apparatuses for the production of fixed
images are somewhat different from those necessary in cinema-
tographic cameras. With regard to the former, the use of plates
has made possible the construction of apparatuses, which by only
one exposure, or by three exposures in very rapid succession can
produce the three selected negatives through the three corresponding
red, green and violet filters. A typical example of this method is
employed in the camera invented by Prof. Miethe as far back
as 1900, an improved model of which is to-day constructed by
the Uvachrome Company of Munich. With this camera the
Uvachrome Co. took the very large number of colour photographs
of monuments and paintings which appeared in the fine
volume Roma Sacra, published in 1927, on the occasion of the
Holy Year celebrations.

Other cameras fitted with only one lens, permit the taking
of photographs with only one exposure, which allows of a greater
speed.

These cameras are based on the use of semi-transparent mirrors
combined with light filters for selection. They are, however „

very costly and delicate, and up to the present day their use has
been very limited.

I will not omit to mention the simplest of the methods that
is applicable to the three-chromatic selection for photography,,
the so-called < Tripack » which may be adapted to any camera*
In the Tripack, three films are superposed, and are separated
by coloured strata; the sensitized stratum itself, suitably coloured r
can act as filter for the successive film. This process represents
the maximum of simplicity, but the colour selection is always
imperfect, owing to the lack of a sensitive stratum capable of
selecting the rays: should this be possible, also coloured filters^
such as we are compelled to use in the Tripack, the action of
which is now far from being perfect, might be found adequate.

An English Company is stated to have recently succeeded
in obtaining fairly good results by this means, but we are sceptical
on this point.

On the whole, it does not look, at least for the time beings
as though the Tripack method can be applied to colour cinema-
tography.

Importance of Chromatic Sensitiveness in three-colour processes.

As we have already stated, the three-colour process has become
a practical realization, owing mainly to the discovery of chromatic
sensitizers. Any process in colour photography or cinemato-
graphy, such as the autochromatic process, interferential chromo-
photography (a process which is important mainly for scientific
purposes), the new process of the lenticular film, etc., need a sen-
sitive stratum with a sensitiveness extending to all the rays of the
spectrum. This stratum, which is called panchromatic, has now
been found, and its practical realization has required long and
difficult research work in chemistry relating to dyeing materials.
Although it may be said that the research work relating to
chromatic sensitizers was somewhat helped by the principle
discovered by Vogel in 1870, which formed the starting-point
of this important technique, namely, that Silver Bromide can

179 —

extend its sensiti veness to diverse radiations when in combination
with colours which have a strong absorbing power for such ra-
diations, it is, however, an undoubted fact that of the thousands
of organic synthetic colours which have the above-mentioned
property, very few show any appreciable effect.

The research work concerning cyanide derivates, commenced
by Miethe and Traube in 1900 and continued afterwards by
Koenig, led to the discovery of those organic compounds, based
on most complicated formulae which were called ethyl red, ortho-
chrome, pinachrome, pinacyanol, dicyanine, etc., by which although
it has not been possible to reach such high level of chromatic sen-
sitiveness, especially in the case of green, as the three-colour
process requires, notable results have been obtained. We cannot
enter here into the chemical constitution of these colours or into
their spectrographic and practical action. The subject has been
dealt with in detail in a manual on Chemical Photography published
by the author of this paper.

Until recently the maximum chromatic sensitiveness was
produced only by emulsions having but a very moderate general
sensitiveness. At the present date, however, owing to the great
progress made in the chemistry of sensitive emulsions, which have
made it possible to attain very rapid results without an eccessive
increase of the grain and to produce panchromatic emulsions
having a sensitiveness of 700-800 H and D, there is no doubt
whatsoever that colour cinematography will not be handicapped
as a result of insufficient sensitiveness of the film.

Independently of its application to colour cinematography,
the Kodak, Agfa, etc., panchromatic film, possessing a high general
and chromatic sensitiveness, has found an important application
in the ordinary cinematography in studios, illuminated with in-
candescent lamps.

It is also worth while mentioning here the hypersensitive process
discovered by Monpillard and applied by Ninck to autocromatic
and panchromatic plates, although this process cannot easily
be applied to cinematography. This process consists in the use
of an ammoniacal solution of silver salt, preferably silver chloride,

— 180

by means of which a great increase of sensitiveness is obtained in
the panchromatic plates or films.

This process has found an important application in instan-
taneous autochromy and has made it possible to reduce the exposure
in full sunlight, from x/2 second to ljm. of a second; also in night
photography this process has proved very useful.

Having thus reviewed the basis on which colour photography
and the three-colour processes are founded, as well as the pan chro-
matic material which is available at the present day, we shall deal
in the next article with three-colour and bi-colour selection as
applied to colour cinematography.

(to be continued),

Prof. RonoLFn Namias.

s-ingi. 181 —

THE CINEMA IN HIGHER PUBLIC HEALTH EDUCATION

{from the Italian)

From its appearance the cinema was rightly hailed as a
powerful instrument of culture and education to be used either
through parables or for the reproduction of natural phenomena
or the works of man.

But after several attempts, in some cases really remarkable, the
cinema was for long a time monopolized by the industry providing
theatrical entertainment, which alone seemed to gain public fa-
vour. A profound change, however, has gradually taken place and,
partly spontaneously and partly as a result of a deliberate policy
on the part of the Governments, educational films have made good
progress and tend more and more to be recognized as a branch
of the cinematographic art in the service of lofty ideals, amongst
which the protection and improvement of public health occupy
a prominent place.

In the field of propaganda, for instance, the methods of realizing
films relating to health instruction have no doubt considerably
improved, and not very seldom we are shown pictures which, while
being accurate from the scientific standpoint, succeed in arousing
the interest of the public and in amusing it at the same time.

I have had the opportunity of seeing health propaganda films
produced in several countries and have been able to note that the
fantastic element was, for the purpose of rendering scientific in-
struction more accessible, so ably blended with the traditional
element of local customs, habits and tendencies as to render the
films really fine works of art. There is, therefore, every reason
to hope that, in the field of health instruction, still more admi-
rable results may be obtained by avoiding in every case the absur-
dities, mistakes and exaggerations which necessarily were found in
the first attempts in the sphere of educational cinematography and
which, instead of attracting and convincing the public, kept it away.

— 182

Public health propaganda, however, presupposes the exi-
stence of a solid system of hygiene principles and also the conti-
nous training of a considerable number of health experts capable
of turning propaganda to advantage and of directing it towards
the supreme aim of the struggle against disease.

The cinema can doubtless render immense services in giving
a practical and scientific training to these experts. The difficul-
ties in the way are in this matter greater than those which had to
be overcome in connection with the employment of the cinema for
popular health instruction.

A few months ago in Geneva the the League Health Committee
was shown a series of films prepared by various bodies and in-
tended for use in the higher training courses for health experts. We
were all agreed in recognizing the beauty of certain of these films,
but at the same time we came to the unavoidable conclusion that the
main object for which they were made was seldom attained.

The outstanding difficulty lies in the clear and accurate render-
ing of the really instructive and important elements in the subject
treated. It often happens that the films merely deal with scen-
ery — which may be magnificent but not instructive enough -
or that it gives too much prominence to trivial or tedious details,
leaving the vital elements in the background.

There should be established, therefore, an intimate coopera-
tion and a deeply-rooted sense of mutual understanding between
the health experts and those who know all the resources of the
cinema. The League Health Committee had this cooperation
in view when it proposed that its Public Health Instruction Sub-
Committee (which deals with the teaching of hygiene in the schools
of all grades, above all in the Universities and in the special
public health schools) should become almost the technical advi-
sory body of the International Educational Cinematographic In-
stitute on public health problems. In view of the fact that the
members of this sub -committee belonged to various countries, they
would be in a position to tender useful suggestions in regard to
the conditions, customs and needs of each people and in this way
to help the International E. C. I. in the fulfilment of its highly
humanitarian mission.

183 -

In spite of the many obstacles in the way, I feel sure that
the cinema, as a medium of higher public health education, will
soon succeed in gaining a recognised position. The advantages
will be really great. The practical achievements of hygiene extend
to the whole world. Its progress as well as the training of health
experts require that these achievements be known everywhere in
all their smallest details : educational cinematography should regard
the attainment of this end as one of its greatest and most noble
conquests.

Prof. D. Ottolenghi

Director of the Institute of Hygiene, Bologna University
Member of the Health Committee of the League of Nations.

CATHOLICS AND THE CINEMA

(from the French)

A Catholic International Congress of the Cinema has been
held in Munich from June 17 th to June 20 th. This is the second
Congress to be held, the first having taken place last year at the
Hague from April 22nd to April 25th. In this first meeting eight-
een nations were represented. These gatherings are merely
the outstanding manifestations of a continuous activity ; there
exists, in fact, a permanent body, the International Catholic Office
of the Cinema, the seat of which is in Paris.

{Ed. N.) We have pleasure in appending to the highly inte-
resting contribution of Canon Reymond, that unflagging and inspired
apostle of the Catholic cinematographic movement for educational and
moral purposes, the text of the Resolution unanimously adopted by
the Catholic International Cinematographic Congres held at Munich in
Bavaria. The discussions which took place at the Congress were of the
highest interest, and we hope, in later numbers of the Review, to exam-
ine them attentively together with the reports sent in on the several subjects.

The Resolution unanimously adopted :

The Second International Catholic Cinematographic Congress held
in Munich, Bavaria, on the 17th., 18th., and 19th. June 1929, on the
point of closing its proceedings :

1. calls the attention of Catholics to the enormous influence which
the Film exercises on sensibility and conscience, to the serious responsi-
bility incumbent on them to direct their efforts without delay to the Cine-
matograph, to the necessity of organizing themselves in all Countries in
concert with the International Catholic Office in Paris ;

2. affirms its desire to collaborate in the fullest measure possible
with the cinematographic industry, for the common good ;

3. recognizes the necessity for an official censorship, asks that films
which are offensive to morals and religion should be prohibited, that Catho-
lics should be represented in the Censorship Commissions and that these
should devote special care to the protection of childhood and youth ;

4. considers it desirable that the cinematographic industry should
be relieved of the over heavy taxation burden now borne by it ;

5. invites ths Public authorities and especially Catholic Deputies
to promote the production of educational, instructive and healthy recrea-
tional films.

185

In order to attain such a degree of development in the inter-
national sphere, Catholics must not confine their activities to ini-
tiatives of an international character, and, in fact, Catholic cinema
organizations, varying in form but animated by the same spirit,
have been set up in Italv, Belgium, Holland, France, the United
States, South America and other countries.

Some of these organizations edit periodicals of their own,
such as the Dossier du Cinema of Paris, the Rivista del Cinemato-
grafo of Milan, and the Revue du Film of Brussels. Other asso-
ciations have held Congresses of considerable importance, such
as the one which assembled in Cologne in June, 1928, on the occa-
sion of the Press Exhibition, and the Congress held in Paris on
November 6th, 7th and 8th, and attended by one Cardinal and
several Bishops.

These facts and the activity of which they are the indica-
tion, should surprise none but those who have no knowledge of the
Catholic Church or are unable to understand the significance of
the cinema.

In the Report which Mgr. F. Martin (1) submitted on behalf
of the League of Nations Commission for the Protection and Wel-
fare of Children on March 19th, 1928, he wrote : « This industry
(of the cinema) does not possess the ordinary characters of indu-
strial enterprises : the moral question crops up at every turn »...

If this is true, could Catholics refrain from taking an inter-
est in « this industry », without neglecting all that they stand for ?

The answer is obvious.

The screen, whether one likes it or not, is always, more or less,
« an educator ». It is not that one goes to the picture theatre seek-
ing a lesson to learn ; the cinema-goer's object is to amuse him-
self ; « sermonizing » films have no box-office value. None the
less, the images, as they pass on the screen before the spectator's
eyes, act upon his feelings and, at least by reaction, on his mind and
conscience. They impart a lesson, however unintentionally ;

(1) Published by the League of Nations ; Social questions C. P. E.
149 ; Page 2.

186

by the mere fact that they disclose « a fragment of life », they con-
tain and set forth a « conception of life ».

This influence exercised by the cinema is powerful, surpassing
in intensity that of the press and of broadcasting. This may be
easily accounted for by the old principle of elementary psychology
that impressions obtained through the medium of the eye are
more vivid than those obtained through the medium of the ear.
The spoken or written word is a symbol that operates only through
the image and, successively, through the idea it conjures up ; every-
body gives it his own interpretation; it may even be said that every-
body finds therein what is already in his mind. It is not a ques-
tion of minimizing the power of speech or of the printed page
but it must be recognised that the image has over the word this
advantage, that it requires no translation ; it acts immediately upon
all audiences.

Its action is all the more powerful as it is unconscious. Speeches
and newspaper articles are manifestly intended to convince and,
therefore, stimutale criticism. Before the screen, the spectator
does not dream of defence. More than this, he abandons him-
self completely. He goes to the picture-theatre to get enjoyment
and expects to derive from the « motion-pictures » the maximum
possible entertainment in mirth or excitement. And the attraction
he proves, the music and the darkness, tend to concentrate his
passive attention. At no other time and in no other place is it
possible to come across factors which render audiences so accessible
to all kinds of suggestion.

What finally renders this influence extraordinarily powerful
is the fact that it acts on, andthrough, one's feelings ; in other words,
in order to be in the right, the film needs no reasoning. A story
with nothing in it, provided it causes deep emotion, will succeed
in modifying the conception of life as seen by a young girl or the
man in the street, much more effectively that a very solid argument
might succeed in doing.

Realizing this power of the cinema as a medium of persuasion,
the Church could not regard the cinema as a negligible quantity.
Being responsible for faith and morals, the Church owed it to

187

its mission to direct its attention to this new invention, just as it
had given its attention to printing from its first appearance. It
cannot remain indifferent to anything that acts upon conscience.
Catholics must, therefore, in so far as they are worthy of this name,
turn their attention and their activities to the problem of the cinema,
and at once.

So important is the part that the cinema already plays in our
society that further delay in dealing with it would be fraught with
serious consequences.

It is well-known with what enthusiastic infatuation large crowds
all over the world attend the « pictures ». If France , Italy, Germany
and the other countries of the old continent are far enough from
knowing the meaning of the « cinema-fever » with the intensity
which every week fills the picture-halls of the United States
with a number of spectators, raging from ioo to 120 millions,,
the fact remains that in the cities of Europe all the children and
young people regularly frequent the cinema, that the attendance
increases year by year and that the country has now been « captured ».
I will only mention the fact that in hundreds and hundreds of French
villages permanent cinema-halls have been opened during last
spring and autumn.

This influence, which has already grown to vast proportions
and is continually on the increase, cannot fail, such as it is, to
arouse alarm amongst all those who have morals at heart. Mgr. F.
Martin says in his above-mentioned Report : « What cannot be
open to doubt is the influence of the Cinema upon child delinquency.
A German neurologist has drawn up a statistical table which
condemns most of the adventure films ; in 250 films examined by
him, he found 97 murders, 50 adulteries, 19 scenes of seduction,
22 kidnappings and 45 suicides ; the leading roles in these films
were divided as follows : 176 thieves, 25 prostitutes, 35 drunkards...
The influence of the film is felt also in another direction. While
public opinion does not appear to be inclined to allow in adult
classes scientific discussion on biology, the film practically imparts
instruction in public under conditions which cannot but over-excite
the imagination of the young and arouse a natural curiosity which

is gratified in an unhealthy atmosphere «... This evidence, coming
as it does from a body absolutely above suspicion as a result of
thorough investigations and methodical inquiries conducted from
1925 to 1927 by the Secretariat of the League of Nations, renders
unnecessary the producing of proofs, which can easily be multi-
plied. No other justification is needed by Catholics who, in the
name of their faith and with all their charity, occupy themselves
with, and are perturbed by, the cinema.

Who can then find fault with them ?

It is the right of all to take an interest in what is nobody's
monopoly ; at the same time, as Mgr. Julien, Bishop of Arras, said
in the course of the address he delivered at the Mass of the Catholic
Cinema Congress in the Madeleine Church of Paris on November
7th, 1928, «there is nothing in the spirit of our organizations that
can give umbrage to the ideas or interests of film producers in
France or even in the world ».

It should not be thought that these organizations are concerned
merely with certain productions of a religious character or with
wTorks adapted to children ; on the contrary, they are interested
in the cinema as a wThole. They are not known as the« Committee
of the Catholic Cinema » or as the « International Office of the Cath-
olic Cinema », but as the « Catholic Committee of the Cinema »
and « International Catholic Office of the Cinema ». They could
not have acted otherwise because all films are always, more or
less, « educational » or « anti-educational ».

It is, however, far from our thoughts, as a few foolish and malig-
nant people have insinuated, to turn all picture-houses into au-
stere temples or every screen into a tedious teacher of morality.
The Church has never recognised as its children those who want
to rob the flowers of their colour and fragrance . We do not insist
that the screen shall become an untiring « preacher of morals » ;
we know and teach the adage « everything at its proper season »
and « everything in its proper place ». More than this, we
affirm (and this may cause surprise) that the « moralising film »
should be banished from the public picture-theatres, convin-
ced as we are that the cinema can hope to « teach public

morals » only by means of productions with no « moralising
pretensions ».

No doubt we wish with all our heart for as many elevating
and « moralising » productions as possible. But we are not opposed
to any particular type of films: drama, comedies, novels, documen-
tary or historical records, feeries and burlesques, spectacular films
and all that the distant or near future has in store for us, we approve
of every kind of cinema production, provided that faith and morals
are safeguarded. Healthy entertainment, healthy emotions ; Catholics
have no right to demand anything more ; they do not claim
anything more ; no one, however, will find it strange that they
claim this much.

Finally, they do not insist upon their legitimate claims in
a harsh tone. From its first public statement the Catholic Com-
mittee of the Cinema gave proof of its goodwill as well as of its
intransigency : « If we are in duty bound to defend with firmness
the principles of faith and morals, we are at the same time animated
by the genuine desire to collaborate with all men of good will and
to serve, within the limits of our power, the interests of the cinema
industry. » It is in this spirit that the Catholic organizations meet
the producers, stage-directors and distributors : with all frankness,
without trying to throw a veil over the principles that must guide
them, but also with all courtesy, offering to all concerned their
widest co-operation with a view to realizing, as Comoedia (i) so
intelligently put it, « the best cinema ».

These intentions were instantly appreciated ; this attitude
met with a favourable reception. Relations were rapidly estab-
lished between our organizations and cinema circles, and are
now being developed to the great satisfaction of both parties.

A striking manifestation of these good relations took place in
Paris on November 7th, 1928, when the Catholic Committee of the
Cinema invited producers, artists, stage-directors, scenario-writ-
ers, film critics and distributors to the « Mass of the Cinema ».
The ceremony was presided over by the Cardinal- Archbishop,

(1) Comoedia (51, rue St. Georges, Paris) June 30th, 1927.

— 190

surrounded by several Bishops. Artists, stage-directors, producers,
scenario-writers, distributors and cinema critics attended in great
numbers, headed by the chiefs of their professional organizations ;
the immense Madeleine church could hardly hold them all.

After a few days it was possible for Cinemagazine (i) to state:
« When the ceremony was over, a conversation took place between
our officials and the prelates and Catholic leaders. Satisfaction
was expressed on both sides that the meeting had taken place render-
ing possible a mutual understanding. The last prejudices if
any were left, have certainly fallen to the ground. »

Canon. Joseph Reymond

Director of the International Catholic Office
of the Cinema

(i) Cinemagazine, periodical (3, rue Rossini, Paris), november 16th,
page 296.

191 —

THE D O C U M ENTARY FILM
IN THE UNEXPLORED REGIONS OF PAMIR

{from the Russian)

In May 1928 the Academy of Sciences of the Union of Rus-
sian Soviets and the Notgemeinschaft for German Culture organized
a large expedition to study the unexplored regions of Pamir.

The desert of Pamir is situated amongst the high mountain
of Asia Minor, within the Russian Soviet territory, near the Chinese

gi

k

and Afghanistan frontiers. The western part of this desert com-
prises a region totally unknown and which has, up to now, been
an enigma for the scientists of all lands. The greatest explorers,
comprising Sven Hedin, have tried to open a way, but the moun-
tain torrents and the formidable glaciers broken by enormous cre-
vices as well as the impenetrable glacial masses closed the access
to the most ardent explorers.

To open up this region of mystery an expedition was organ-
ized in which the scientists of Soviet Russia and Germanv

— 192

took part. They were joined by a group of German and Soviet
specialized Alpine troops to help them overcome the particular
difficulties which this attempt presented.

A cinematograph section especially prepared and supplied
by the Mejrabpom Film, composed of the director Chneideroff
and operator Coltchan, also took part in the expedition.

Towards the middle of June the expedition started from
Oche, a city in the Ferghan region, fully equipped with food and

193

fuel loaded on 200 horses and 250 camels. They first crossed
the Aliysk and the Saaliysk mountain ranges where, however,
several horses were lost, being unable to withstand this most diffi-
cult march.

After having passed Death Valley, a desert at the entrance of
Pamir and the Kara Kul Lake, which is situated in the midst

of mountains almost as high as Mont Blanc, the expedition arrived
at the Tanemas River which is found at the border of the unexplo-
red region. Here the horses were left behind and the food and
fuel were taken up by the Tadjiqs carriers engaged especially for
this occasion. At this point the column entered the mountainous
region following the course of the Tanemas.

The members of the expedition spent more than a month in
this mystery region, often at heights of more than fifteen thou-
sand feet, suffering from the lack of oxygen, mountain sickness and
from the heat and the cold. Under these extremely difficult con-

— i94

ditions they succeeded in exploring a land which was still a « white
spot » on all the geographic charts of the World.

The largest glacier in the World, the Fedchenko, was discov-
ered, together with other very high peaks, new valleys and
new roads. The expedition found gold, copper and other
metals. They systematized considerable meteorological data,
compiled detailed maps of the region, etc. In such a brief article
it would be impossible to enumerate all the results obtained.

As a feat of mountain sports, the Lenin peak which
is the highest in the Russian Soviet Union, 21,600 feet, was scaled.

The filming section accompanied the principal group in all
its explorations and succeeded in taking the entire glacial region
in all its austere magnificence. The life of the local inhabitants ;
the fatiguing progress of the expedition ; the difficulties encoun-
tered and the adventures of the trip were all accurately filmed.
The loss of the horses as they fell over the precipices ; wading
the dangerous, rushing mountain streams ; the glaciers and hang-
ing bridges and even the fall of one of the men into an ice cre-
vice are faithfully reproduced by the films and within a short time
the cinemas throughout the world will show this unknown land
which up to a short time ago was only a little white spot on the
map of Pamir.

V. Chneidfroff.

i95

TECHNICAL ASPECTS OF THE CINEMATOGRAPH

Dr. Mihaly has invented steel wire cinematography. It is highly
probable that the eminent Hungarian scientist was inspired in his resear-
ches by the experiences of the German engineer, Dr. Stille, who has
recently perfected a system for registering sound on steel wire by means
of electromagnetic variations.

So far, we lack precise details on this new invention, which -may
perhaps still be in the experimental phase, and, while awaiting that Dr. Mi-
hali may endeavor to resolve the problem of television, we trust that the
fullest success may soon crown his researches.

The scientific principle that guided Dr. Mihaly in his research has
"been much talked of. It is not new; it was already applied several years
ago, and now again claims our attention, thanks to Dr. Stille's studies,
which have rendered it of practical industrial value.

We feel sure that our readers will be interested in a brief description
of this invention.

At the Paris International Exhibition of 1900, the renowned Danish
scientist, V. Poulsen, exhibited an apparatus invented by himself, which
he called the Telegraphone, which at the time roused keen interest in
all who had an opportunity to see it.

This was a simple mechanism which, by means of a steel wire, re-
gistered and reproduced sounds through the medium of electro-magnetic
variations. This brilliant invention seemed to promise the greatest suc-
cess, but it has, on the contrary, been overlooked for 30 years; so much
so that, being brought before us again in its present form, as perfected
by Dr. Stille under the name of the Mnemophone, it claims all the in-
terest of a novelty.

Poulsen 's invention was based on the property of steel to receive
a geater or lesser degree of magnetisation, and to preserve the same for
a greater or lesser period of time, when placed close to a natural magnet
or an electro-magnet.

Just as a variable electric current can create a proportional magnetic
field, in like manner a variable magnetic field can create electric currents
of identically the same variations.

Relying on this principle, Poulsen ran an electric wire between the
nearly adjacent poles of an electromagnet inserted in the circuit of a
pile and a microphone. The wire registered all the electro-magnetic
variations produced by the vibrations of sound passing through the mi-
crophone.

196

When the wire thus magnetized was fixed between the poles of an-
other electromagnet connected directly with a loud speaker, the electro-

SOUND RECORD :

1. Eletromagnet 3. Cells

2. Steel wire 4. Microphone

magnetic variations of the wire were transformed into identical currents,
which, by causing the membrane of the loud speaker to vibrate, repro-
duced the sound registered with the most perfect accuracy.

SOUND REPRODUCTION:
1. Electromagnet 2. Steel wire
3. Loud speaker

Dr. Stille has perfected the invention of the Danish scientist, by
making it available for practical use. Thanks to a very tenacious steel

6-ing],

197

band, he has succeeded in registering the sound in a perfect and permanent
manner on a very fine wire of barely a few tenths of a milimetre.

Poulsen's wonderful invention, as perfected by Dr. Stille, seems at
last destined to a brilliant future. It may very advantageously be substi-
tuted for the phonograph disc, thanks to its small volume in proportion
to the amount of sound registered; the elimination of all friction will
afford perfect clearness, while its sensibility being so much greater than
that of the disc, will ensure absolute faithfulness of registration and re-
production.

We may anticipate an early and practical application of the steel wire
in the domain also of the Talking Cinema. If it is found possible to
synchronise this system with the film, we shall be able to enjoy entire
auditory spectacles without any need of changing the discs, and above
all, with sound so faithfully and so clearly reproduced and sustained as
to be infinitely superior to the phonographic or the photo-electric systems.
Apart from the phonograph and the cinematograph, the Mnemophone
will be of the greatest service as applied to the telephone, as it will make
it possible to receive messages automatically.

This new rediscovery of man's genius is no doubt destined to an
immense number of further applications and uses, besides those mentioned,,
and future experience will certainly show the whole importance of the
listening and speaking wire.

THE TECHNICAL TENDENCIES OF THE CINEMATOGRAPH
AS REVEALED BY AN EXAMINATION OF PATENTS.

It looks as tho' Cinematography were rousing itself from a long and
tranquil slumber and giving manifest signs of agitation in its sudden
awakening.

Sound, color, relief — all these qualities which impart so much beau-
ty to Nature — have hitherto been regarded as fascinating problems, but
not urgent ones ; to-day they seem to have become a sine qua non of the
very existence of the Tenth Muse.

This up-to-date Muse, who combines a very practical business sense
with her artistic spirit — a sense so keen indeed, that she is often tempted
to abandon Parnassus and descend among men, shining with gold and
full of its lure — is surrounded by such a throng of admirers and fanatics
as often to arouse the envy of her elder sisters.

Few branches of the knowable have such an attraction for human
ingenuity as the cinematograph. The allurement of big profits, the pas-

— 198

sion for progress, man's innate need to wrest her secrets from Nature and
to imprison Life itself so as to bend it to his will, all these things tend to
sharpen mens' wits and to urge them on in their researches.

A review of the patents taken out during the last thirty years would
certainly show that in this field they have outnumbered those taken in
any other single field. This alone is evidence of the engrossing nature of
the problem and of the multitude of the followers of this bizarre tenth
Muse.

Apart from the need which impels him to seek new things, man is
often influenced, albeit unconsciously, by the atmosphere created by some
necessity of the moment, which emanates and spreads, as from an invi-
sible source, and penetrates the spirit of human ingenuity.

It being reasonable to suppose that the influence of this exceptional
atmosphere affects more readily the world of inventors and students >
in proportion to their higher intellectual level, we will endeavour by a
review of the patents taken out in England in a given lapse of time, but
at an interval of ten years, to analyse the trend of the cinematograph.

From January 191 8 to June 1919, the British Patent Office issued
a total of 168 cinematographic patents. 10 of these were concerned with
color cinematography, 4 with synchronising sound with the image; 7 with
relief and stereoscopy, 7 with continuous motion film projectors, 5 with
mechanisms aiming at preventing the films taking fire in the event of a
stoppage during projection, 17 are apparatuses for taking the pictures,
18 mechanical systems for film manufacture, — such as printing the
positives, developing, fixing, washing, etc., 30 improvements or new me-
chanisms for photographing and projecting, 37 minor modifications to
parts of mechanisms, 23 sundry inventions in the technical and photo-
graphic field.

COLOUR

SYMCRONISM

STEREOSCOPE
EFFECTS

COMTINOUS

MOVEMENT

PREVENTION
OF
FIRE

CAMERAS

MACHINERY

PROJECTORS

PARTS

JF

MACHINES

NS

iO

I*

7

7

5

17

18

30

37

23

%

30-

204
10-r
0-=

6%

2M%

U°/o

U%

Z%

\o%

10.7%

17

.9

9

2

2%

13,6%

199 —

By contrasting the percentage of the separate branches to the total
number of patents, we have very clear evidence of the fact that at the pe-
riod in question the most pressing need of the cinema was for the impro-
vement of its technical means. Altho' cinematography was then in its
twentieth year, it had attained but a limited degree of perfection, both in
its expression and in its means of production. The inventions which
give the highest percentage are those dealing with apparatus for taking
the pictures, for projecting them, and for the mechanical preparation
of the films : these needs were too urgent to leave much scope for attempts
of a more ambitions kind. Color, sound, relief, were attractive ideas,
but cinematography pure and simple had to be perfected in its essential
elements before paying attention to the superflous.

Let us now glance at the patents issued by the Patent Office, during
1928-1929, during the same lapse of time. Out of 256 patents, 52 are
concerned with color, 57 with synchronism, 21 with stereoscopy, 8 with
continuous motion, 10 are mechanisms to avoid fire, 9 filming apparatus,
5 mechanisms for preparing films, 30 for perfecting projection, 23 sundry
inventions in the technical and photographic field.

This review shows that the highest percentage of patents are concern-
ed with synchronization and color ; there is a noticeable increase in the
number of stereoscopic inventions, hardly any difference in the number
of those dealing with continuous motion and with anti-fire devices. On
the other hand we find a striking decrease in the number of inventions
for perfecting material for film manufacture, filming, projection and si-

milar devices. All this tends to demonstrate that, while the possibilities
of further perfecting existing systems are not overlooked, the spirit of
invention is mainly directed to the solution of three problems which were
almost entirely neglected three years ago, but which to-day represent the
goal of all inventors.

Now, what are the reasons for this change in the general trend? Cine-
matography had attained during these last ten years almost absolute per-
fection : machinery and technique together had placed men in a position
to produce rapidly and well. But this very perfection and rapidity of
production had led by degrees to the exhaustion of one of the main fac-
tors in the cinematographic domain : subject matter. The enormous
output had well nigh exhausted the accumulated stocks of imagination
and history ; perfect technique had accustomed the public to impeccable ex-
hibitions from every standpoint. Many subjects were dished up afresh
and the public ad.nired them as tho they were new, because they had
been transformed by up-to-date technique. Cinematography, having
reached this degree of perfection, had continued for some years at a dead
level, and began to run the risk of growing monotonous. To-day the need
of change is making itself felt. Something new is demanded : man grows
too easily accustomed to the good and wants something better, and then
again something new.

Mute pictures, pictures flat and colorless, have given us all they
can give,, but in their numerous and varied manifestations, they have opened
up a vision of vaster horizons. It is necessary to raise tbe cinema from the
now too narrow circle of its past possibilities, and endow it with those gifts
the lack of which have kept it up to the present too far removed from Na-
ture, and which have implacably limited its field of acticn. We must endow
the cinema with color, sound, relief, and supply this dynamic branch
of human activity with all the means it requires, we must enable it to re-
produce faithfully and in their full splendor all the marvels of creation.
to make visible and give form to the unreal, in order that it may pursue
its giddy ascent. Thus only can Cinematography at last become a true
and complete form of art.

This pressing and prepotent need has created of late a special atmo-
sphere, which has influenced human ingenuity towards satisfying the
need of the moment. Sound, color, relief — our review of the 1928-
1929 patents all point to these needs. The plutocratic Muse is stirring
round among the inventors to incite and guide them in their studies. The
synchronism of sound, of the word and the image, has been achieved ;
color is on the right road, and relief will not lag far behind. Before
long we shall be able to admire the marvellous results of this triple con-
quest. Then our Muse will be able to return and take her place, smiling
and proud, among her companions ; she will be on an equality with them,
and indeed the bonds of kinship and friendly collaboration with some
of them will be greatly strengthened. While resting awhile on her
laurels, she can wait placidly till some new and imperative mission brings
her down once again among men, to urge them on to new effort and new
conquests.

201

THE CINEMA AS AN AUXILIARY TO THE SCIENTIFIC
ORGANIZATION OF LABOR

In our last number, we illustrated briefly the desirability of getting
into touch with the several International and National bodies that are
concerned with the scientific organization of labor, in order that we
may direct our investigations more effectually towards the most practical
and helpful utilization of the cinematograph in the domain of labor.

The Institute, in this first phase of its activity, has traced the lines
of a fertile program, and we are justified in feeling some satisfaction in
the fact that we have already entered into practical relations with the In-
ternational Institute for the Scientific Organization of Labor, in Geneva,
the International Association for the Study and Improvement of Human
Relations and Conditions in Industry at the Hague, the National Insti-
tute of Industrial Psychology, in London, and lastly, with the « Ente Na-
zionale Italiano per l'Organizzazione Scientifica del lavoro » (Italian Na-
tional Institute for the Scientific Organization of Labor) in Rome.

Our first contact with the above mentioned organizations has been
followed by closer relations, which we may well expect to lead to a fertile
collaboration in the study of their respective aims, for the achievement of
which the cinema could do so much as a means of propaganda, both by
demonstrating the actual methods on which the scientific organization
of labor is based and the many important branches connected therewith:
the prevention of accidents in workshops and factories, the study of
fatigue and automatism, industrial psychology and individual and col-
lective psychotechnics, occupational selection and the general wellbeing
of the worker.

It is surely not necessary to emphasize the enormous help that the
screen can give in promoting these aims, by demonstrating the methods
best suited to their diffusion and, above all, in seeking out the most ra-
tional systems for their achievement.

Nobody to-day is ignorant of the efficacy of the method of « visual »
instruction represented by the screen, and we are more and more convin-
ced that, especially in the domain of labor, it is capable of giving the most
fertile results. The International Educational Cinematographic Institute
is bent on arousing the interest of the business and labor world in these
problems, and while waiting for its documentary enquiry to gather suf-
ficient material to enable it to arrive at a concrete conclusion, it pro-
poses meanwhile to carry out an analytical enquiry into the systems of
organization in the several Countries in the specific field of labor and to

ascertain what steps they have taken towards making practical use of the
Cinematograph.

We call attention in this number to the activity displayed by the Ital-
ian National Institute for the Scientific Organization of Labor. This In-
stitute, which was founded in 1926 in Rome through the initiative of the
•« Confederazione Generale Fascista dell'Industria Italiana » (the Fascist
General Confederation of Italian Industries), with the adhesion of all
the leading organizations in the Kindgom, has aroused throughout Italy
the keenest and most widespread interest in the technical and economic
problems of labor.

The Propaganda of the « Enios » (Ente Internazionale Italiano per
1' Organizzazione Scientifica del Lavoro) was during its earlier stages
necessarily of a general charater, its aim being to get employers to under-
stand that, only through the use of the best machinery and the adoption
of more rational criteria of labor, could they expect a more intensive out-
put and a decrease in the cost of production. Thus both manufacturers
and farmers are gradually coming to understand that, without any need
of having recourse to complicated formulae, they must rely on their own
commonsense for a revision of the organization of their business, and that
such revision and improvement are necessary and urgent especially in
view of the difficult conditions of world business ; and lastly, that in this
alone lies the secret of ampler means and fuller development.

Thus the employers came to be the best collaborators of the Insti-
tute, helping it towards the achievement of its various initiatives and im-
parting a practical content to the scientific organization of labor. The
Hon. Gino Olivetti is the Secretary General of the « Enios ». We wish
to call particular attention to the work carried out by the section for « Stu-
di e ricerche originali » (original studies and research), which has opened
competitions, with the award of handsome prizes, for studies on the fol-
lowing interesting questions : « the cycle of production » « labor fatigue »
and « Experimental Institutes ». The « Edizioni » (publishing) Section has
started a chain of publications comprising up to the present 15 volumes,
dealing with the general and specific problems of labor : these publica-
tions are supplemented by an excellent monthly review « L 'Organizzazione
Scientifica del Lavoro » the circulation of which has in a short time increased
to 12000 copies. This year the « Enios » will be responsible for the
publication of two fortnightly reviews : « L'Agricoltura razionale » (ration-
al agriculture) and the « Casa del Lavoro » (the house of labor).

But the Italian National Institute for the Scientific Organization
of Labor could not evidently neglect the most efficacious of all means that
modern progress has placed in mens' hands: the Cinematograph. Thus
during 1927 there were published under its direct supervision 8 films,
illustrating the practical benefits to be derived from the scientific organi-
zation of work in the several branches of industry.

203

The said films illustrated :

i . The Scientific Organization of labor in the Electro-siderurgic
Mining industry (This film illustrates the organization of the plants of
the Cogne Mines in Val d'Aosta).

2. The progress of the scientific organization of labor in the wine
industry of the Societa Anonima « Francesco Cinzano & Co. » of Turin.
(This film illustrates most effectively the whole cycle of work in the pro-
duction of Vermouth and sparkling wines, and contrasts the old fashioned
with the up-to-date systems employed).

3. The scientific organization of labor in Textile Factories. (This
film illustrates the organization of a big cotton mill, into which various
innovations have heen introduced with great advantage, among which the
most important are : decrease in the number of hands employed ; spe-
cialization of the workers, saving of time, etc.).

4. The Fiat factory at Lingotto, showing films of certain processes
connected with the manufacture of motor cars.

5. The scientific organization of labor in a Tobacco Factory. (This
illustrates the whole cycle of production of cigars and cigarettes, with
the functioning of the automatic machines for their manufacture. It con-
trasts in a striking manner the old and new methods of production).

6. The « Fabbrica Italiana Magneti Marelli » (Marelli's Italian Ma-
gneto Factory). This is a short film showing the Psychotechnical Room
where the factory's staff is selected).

7. The Class in the Scientific Organization of Labor at the Turin
Military Academy. (This is a short film illustrating the experiments ca-
ried out under the supervision of Professor Fossati on the cutting of metals,
by the students of the Turin Military Academy).

8. The Scientific Organization of Labor in Italian building yards.
(This illustrates the organization of one of the building yards belonging
to the S. I. P.).

THE LEGISLATIVE ASPECTS OF THE CINEMA
THE TARIFF QUESTION

{Continuation) .

The foregoing statistical tables show the difference in the fiscal po-
licies adopted by the several Countries with respect to blank films. From
the absurd maximum duties charged by Brazil, Turkey, England, France >
Siam, Russia, Belgium, etc., — without counting the unofficial figure
of the Union of South Africa — we come to countries — such as Equa-

— 204

dor and Ireland — that exempt films from all duty whatsoever, and to-
others whose tariff rates are kept within the limits of 14 gold francs per
kilogram, or lower.

The present world system appears all the harsher in view of the normal
weight of films, which average 7 per metre; thus, as we have seen, only
about 143 metres of film are obtained from a kilogram of raw material.

Dividing the several nations into groups, according to their tariff
rates, we have the following position:

Tariffs exceeding 12 gold francs per kilogram: — Belgium, Brazil,
Turkey, England, Siam, Union of South Africa, Argentina, Egypt, France,
Principality of Monaco, Nicaragua, Panama Dominican Republic, Rus-
sia, Syria and Lebanon. — 14 Countries.

Tariffs exceeding 4 gold francs and under 12 gold francs per kilogram: —
Bulgaria, Cuba, Germany, Japan, Guatemala, Italy, Lithuania, Marocco,
Norway, Holland, Poland, New Zealand, United States. — 13 Countries.

Tariffs under 4 gold francs: — Austria, Chekoslovakia, Chile, Co-
lumbia, Costarica, Esthonia, Finland, Greece, Honduras, Yugoslavia,
Latvia, Portugal, Rumania, Salvador, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tu-
nisia, Venezuela. — 19 Countries.

Exempt from Import tariffs: — Equador, Ireland, Hungary. — 3
Countries .

Among the English speaking countries considered, we find the
highest rates in England and the Union of South Africa, while the United
States and New Zealand are in the second category.

The Countries of Central and Northern Europe and Eastern States
are divided between the intermediate categories.

The Latin Countries are to be found almost all either in the highest
or the lowest category; the greater number are included in the 4 gold-
francs per kilo category; but the countries with the biggest consumption
and output are mostly in the higher category.

These data are of course insufficient as a basis for any definitive va-
luation; especially as they are to a great extent unofficial. They do how-
ever serve to show what an abnormally heavy burden is imposed on
films, which are the raw material of works of art, education and science:
a fact which certainly cannot remotely contribute towards making of the
Cinema a universal means and instrument of recreation, science, and know-
ledge.

So long as the criterion for the valuation of « goods » for Customs
Tariffs fails to discriminate between what is useful or necessary for purely
material ends, and what may influence the moral trend and development
of life, so long the splendid efforts of manufacturers and educators, which
do not run counter, but parallel with one another, — since both pursue
the same purpose, albeit by different routes — will be entirely frustrated.

205

This criticism cannot be disposed of by an argument which lies
indeed at the root of the present system of taxation : i. e. that the
blank film, which clearly counts as goods in its raw state, may be
applied indifferently to scientific and educational purposes, — that is to
say to moral, educational and artistic ends, which would justify its being
accorded privileged treatment — but also to theatrical and dramatic
purposes, purposes which have a strictly relative affinity to science
and culture, and whose outlook is to a great extent bound up with quasi
mercantile speculation and the satisfaction of popular tastes and needs,
often the brutish needs of the masses; and that, consequently, given the
uncertainty as to which purpose they may be devoted to, it is proper
to tax them.

This argument is so trite in its simplicity as to be very easily dis-
posed of.

First of all, there is the fact that the blank film, as it stands, can be
devoted to cultural purposes. Until a method is devised for manufac-
turing a separate kind of film for scientific and artistic purposes — a
type of film which would have an a priori claim to exemption or relief
from duty — the normal film will have to be used. And since such a
special type of film is out of the sphere of practical possibility, we have
but two alternatives. Either to grant a different and special regime to
films destined to cultural purposes, which would necessitate special vigil-
ance to make sure that they were actually so used, or to reconsider the
present regime and discuss and tackle it in a serene spirit.

We must also bear in mind the difference in the value of the scientific
and cultural film from that of the ordinary theatrical one. The former is
produced in the laboratory, and is the fruit of the patient and intelligent
research of students and enquirers. It constitutes a document which has
no limit in time or space. The negative that shows natural phenomena,
that reproduces a moment of life which tomorrow will be gone for ever,
but which will thus endure throughout many tomorrows as a living testimony
from the past, possesses an innate creative value, an intellectual value,
the value of the cerebral and spiritual synthesis of the creative and scien-
tific mind. It has little or no business value, but its ideal value is very
high. It offers but restricted possibilities of exploitation. The value of
the cultural cinematograph lies in its depth, not in its superficies.

As regards the theatrical film, on the contrary, the negative consti-
tutes an infinitesimal economic part of the actual value of the film, given
its wide possibilities of diffusion and exploitation. The theatrical negative,
therefore, within certain limitations, comes within the trade description
of « goods », and, as such, is properly the subject of fiscal revision and
taxation.

These considerations lie at the very core of the problem. It is for

— 206

this reason that an International Institute, whose main object is to protect
that branch of cinematography which partakes of the universal dignity
of science, culture and art, must emphasise the two diverse aspects of the
question and demonstrate how impossible it is for the creations of pure
genius and intellect, the vision of all the beautiful things which form
the spiritual patrimony of the nations, to be considered in the same light
as the trade products of speculators.

There is a further reason. The old fashioned, abnormal film, which
was a source of perversion, commonplace in matter and form, clumsily
fashioned and fit only for a primitive -minded audience, no longer exists
or is on the road to extinction. New conceptions of art and a new sense
of life, are unfolding around the cinematographic screen. The screen
directors are seeking for collaborators among men of thought and creators
of new artistic tendencies. Scenography is beginning to assume scientific
and artistic importance; the plots are delicately wrought or are deserving
of thought and consideration. The new fields of action in the cinema
vanguard are, at the same time, a sign of this revival and a promise
for the future victory of the artistic film.

Nor can we consider even the theatrical Cinema industry merely
as manufacturing, financial, commercial or speculative business. The
same may be said of the men directing the big companies. So keen is
the competition, and so acute the need to attract and please the public,
that they are bound to sense the wishes and the needs of the new times
and to steer straight towards the goal of the future, that is to say towards
a wider, saner, nobler, more educational and artistic conception of
the Cinema.

Whether this may, in the long run, lead to some more subtle form of
speculation does not concern us. The mere fact that there is a general im-
provement in the tons of films, due to the change in the intellectual and
-spiritual outlook of the masses of the people, lends a certain savor of
culture and education even to films of a purely theatrical kind.

But while we are only indirectly concerned with this field, by reason
of the reflex educational influence it may exercise, there is another in
which we are immediately interested and which cannot fail to claim the
attention of the governments — namely, the educational film, in the proper
sense of the word; the film which is not concerned with speculative ends,
but aims solely at raising the intellectual tone of the masses. The more
diffuse this branch of cinematography, the more urgently it claims the
attention of the governments.

Protectionist arguments cannot stand against an interest such as
this, given the peculiar character of this article, scheduled for customs
purposes as « goods », but which cannot properly be regarded as such,
especially when it is used, or is able to be used, for the purposes of science

207 —

in the same way as a microscope, or a scientific instrument in schools, and
laboratory and experiment articles by research students.

In considering films, we are not dealing with a standardized merchan-
dise which can be produced equally everywhere, or of which any parti-
cular country possesses or claims the monopoly, and which it is therefore
sought to launch in large quantities on foreign markets, while preventing
possible invasions of the home market. We are here concerned simply
with the quality of the product, quality being the sine qua non of a first-
class film. This consideration is important for theatrical films, with
commercial or technical aims; but it is clearly of paramount importance
in the educational film, necessarily used for illustrating phenomena
which demand the utmost precision and clearness and things which, in
certain instances and instants, may constitute documents of incalculable
value.

2. Positive Films. — The tariff treatment of positive films varies,
in certain countries, as between exposed but undeveloped films and the
normal exposed film that has been technically treated to bring it to the
state of negative or positive.

The following tariff rules are in force:

a) According to weight:

Austria..

Negatives and Positives: Gold crowns 1.20 per kilogram, equivalent to
Sh. 1.73; equivalent to gold francs 1.255, *n addition to an exchange
duty of 2 % ad valorem. The rates are identical with those ap-
plying to blank films.

Brazil.

Negatives and Positives: Reis 25,000 per kg., equivalent to gold francs 40.71..
The rates are higher than those applying to blank films.

Bulgaria ..
Negatives and Positives: Gold francs 6 per kg., in addition to a communal
duty of 20 % on customs duties. The rates are identical with
those applying to blank films.

Chekoslovakia..

Negatives and Positives : Crowns 30 per kg., equivalent to gold francs 4.58
(normal tariff). A preferential tariff of 12 crowns per kg., equivalent
to gold francs 1.83, is applied to countries which have commercial
treaties with the Repuiblic: i. e. France and Belgium. The normal
tariff applies to all European countries, with the exception of the
U. R. S. S., and also to the United States, Canada, Japan, Turkey,.
Persia, the Union of South Africa and the Colonies of all the said
Countries. The rates are higher than those applying to blank
films.

— 208

Chile - Unofficial.

Negatives and Positives: Gold dollars 9 per gross kg., equivalent to gold

francs 46.60. The rates are higher than those applying to blank

films.

Columbia.

Negatives and Positives: Pesos 1 per gross kg., equivalent to gold francs
5.019. The rates are identical with those applying to blank films.

Costarica.

Negatives and Positives: Cent di colcn 0.40 per kg., equivalent to gold

francs 0.5 19. The rates are identical with those applying to blank films.

Cuba - Unofficial.
Negatives and Positives : Gold pesos 12 per kg., equivalent to gold francs
62.18 (normal tariff). A preferential tariff is of gold Pesos 6, equivalent
to gold francs 31.09. Imports from the United States are granted
a reduction of 20 % in the tariff. The rates are higher than those
applying to blank films.

Denmark.

Customs Act of 29th March 1924, No. 766, on the tariffs on Negatives
and Positives, ore 70 per kg., equivalent to gold francs 0.97. The
importation of exposed films is allowed in the case of a single country,
to which Customs duties are repaid at the time of exportation.

Equador.
Negatives and Positives : Sucre 3.50 per kg., equivalent to gold francs 3.626.
The rates are higher than those applying to blank films.

Esthonia.

Negatives and Positives: Gold francs 0.728 per kg. The rates are identical

with those applying to blank films. The Countries enumerated

under No. 1 of the Blank Film list, are granted a preferential tariff,

allowing a reduction of 40 % on the normal rates.

Finland.

Negatives and Positives: Marks 25 per kg., equivalent to gold francs 3.25.
The rates are higher than those applying to blank films. For pre-
ferential tariff, cf. No. 1, Blank Films.

Germany.

Negatives and Positives : Marks 4 per kg., net of tare, equivalent to gold
francs 4.95. The rates are identical with those applying to blank films.

Japan.
Negatives and Positives: Yen 8 and sen 25 per « Kin », equivalent to gold
francs 45.70 The rates are higher than those applying to blank
films.

209 — -

Greece
Negatives and Positives: Gold drachmas 2 per kg., equivalent to gold
francs 1.82. The rates are higher than those applying to blank
films. For Preferential tariffs cf. No. 1, Blank Films.

Guatemala *
Section No. 1922 of the Customs tariffs of 15 May 1929. Negatives
and Positives: Dollars 1.50 per kg., equivalent to gold francs 7.78, in
addition to a duty of 8 % ad valorem, under the head of « Consular
duties », of which, however, only 2 % actually goes to the Consulates
which legalize the invoices. Thus the total duty, including the said
8 %, amounts to gold francs 15.23 on negatives, and gold francs 10.64
on positives. The rates are identical with those applying to blank
films.

Honduras - Unofficial.

Negatives and Positives: Dollars 0.15 per kg., equivalent to gold francs-
0.78. The rates are identical with those applying to blank films ►

Irak.
Negatives and Positives : Rs. 5 per kg., equivalent t gold francs 9.41. The
rates are identical with those applying to blank films.

Yugoslavia - Unofficial.

Negatives and Positives: Gold Dinaro 3.25 per kg., equivalent to gold

francs 3.23 (maximum tariff). Gold Dinari 2.50 per kg., equivalent

to gold francs 2.48 (Preferential Tariff). The rates are identical

with those applying to blank films.

Latvia.

Negatives and Positives: Lat 3.50 per gross kg., equivalent to gold francs

3.48. The rates are higher than those applying to blank films.

A preferential tariff, allowing a reduction of Lat. 2.50 per gross kg.,.

is granted to countries which have commercial treaties with Latvia.

Lithuania.
Negatives and Positives: Litas 1 per kg., equivalent to gold francs 5.70. The

rates are identical with those applying to blank films.

Mexico - Unofficial.
Negatives and Positives: Piastres 5 per kg., equivalent to gold francs 12.95
The rates are higher than those applying to blank films.

Norway.

Negatives and Positives: Crowns 2 per kg., subject to a temporary increase

of 50 %, equivalent to gold francs 4.14. The rates are identical with

those applying to blank films.

Palestine.

Negatives and Positives: Mils 150 per kg., equivalent to gold francs 3.77*
The rates are higher than those applying to blank films.

Poland*
Negatives: Zloty 50 per kg., equivalent to gold francs 28.90; preferential
tariff Zloty 27.50, equivalent to gold francs 15.89. Positives: Zloty
62 per kg., equivalent to gold francs 35.83; preferential tariff, Zloty
34.10, equivalent to gold francs 19.70. The ratas are higher than
those applying to blank films.

Portugal - Unofficial.

Negatives and Positives: Gold Scudi 8 per kg., equivalent to gold francs
42.40 (normal tariff). The preferential tariff is reduced by one half.

The rates are higher than those applying to blank films.

Rumania.

Art. 855 of the Customs Tariff. Negatives and Positives: Paper Lei 160
per kg., equivalent to gold francs 4.97. The rates are higher than
those applying to blank films.

Russia. U. R. S. S.

Negatives and Positives: Gold Rubles 1. 50 per net kg., equivalent to gold
francs 39.80. The rates are higher than those applying to blank
films.

Salvador - Unofficial.

Negatives and Positives: American dollars 0.30 per kg., equivalent to gold
francs 1.55. The rates are lower than those applying to blank films.

Spain*

Negatives and Positives : Pesetas 45 per kg., equivalent to gold francs 38.47.
The rates are higher than those applying to blank films. For pre-
ferential tariff, applicable to the countries enumerated under No. I
blank films, a duty of 5 pesetas, equivalent to gold francs 4.27, is
in force.

Sweden*

No. 349 of the Tariff: Negatives and Positives: Ore 75 per gross kg.,
equivalent to gold francs 1.035. The rates are lower than those ap-
plying to blank films.

Switzerland.

Negatives and Positives: Swiss Francs 0.60 per kg., equivalent to gold
francs 0.548. The rates are higher than those applying to blank
films. Cf. the special regulations mentioned under No. 1, Blank
Films.

Tunis*

Par. 469 quater Customs Duties: Negatives and Positives: Exempt from

duty.

Turkey*

Negatives and Positives : Piastres 67.50 per kg., multiplied by the coefficient
5, equal to Piastres 337.50 per kg., equivalent to gold francs 8.49
The rates are higher than those applying to blank films. For addi-

tional duties and the treatment granted to the several countries,
cf. the rules mentioned under No. i, blank films.

Hungary - Unofficial.

Government Decree of 12th. January 1929. Negatives: exempted from

duty. Positives: Gold Crowns 25 per kg., equivalent to gold francs

22.56. Up to 30th. September 1930 a reduction of 10 % is allowed.

Gold Francs 20.30.

Venezuela.

Negatives and Positives: Bolivars 75 per gross kg., equivalent to gold francs
0.75. The rates are lower than those applying to blank films.

On the basis of meterage (length), exposed films are subject to the
following Tariff rates:

Australia.

Section 52, Customs Act 1901: Negatives and Positives: Pence 1 3 4 per
foot, equivalent to gold francs 86.10 per kg. Films imported from
the United Kingdom are subject to a special preferential British
Tariff, and certain series of films are exempt from duty.

Belgium.

Undeveloped exposed films. Negatives: Belgian Francs 0.30 per metre,
equivalent to gold francs 42.90 per kg. Positives: Belgian Francs
0.45 per metre, equivalent to gold francs 64.35 Per kg.

Exposed Films: Negatives: Belgian Francs 0.30 per metre, equivalent to
gold francs 42.92 per kg. Positives: Belgian Francs 0.40 per metre,
equivalent to gold francs 53.62 per kg. The rates are higher than
those applying to blank films.

Canada - Unofficial.

Negatives and Positives: Centimes of a Dollar 3 per foot, equivalent
to gold francs 72.99 per kg. Under the preferential British Tariff,
the rates are reduced by one half for imports from the United King-
dom. Italian and French films pay % a cent per foot.

India.

1894 Customs Tariff amended 1st October 1928. Negatives and Positives:
Rupees 0.46 per foot, equivalent to gold francs 58.617 per kg. When
the negatives and positives are produced in India, a tariff of Rupees
0.10 is applied. Both Tariffs are subject to an additional Customs
duty of 15 %, which raises the normal tariff to gold francs 67.41.

212

England (i).
Negatives: 5 pence per foot, equivalent to gold francs 246.02 per kg. Po-
sitives: 1 Penny per foot, equivalent to gold francs 49.20 per kg. The
rates are higher than those applying to blank films. When the pro-
duction of the film is organized by a company having its headquarters
in the United Kingdom, or when the producer and the principal
actors and artists (in the proportion of not less than 3 4) are British
subjects or domiciled in the United Kingdom, the films are taxed,
under Art. 3 of the Finance Act of 1925, at the same rate as blank

films.

Ireland.

Section 12 of the Finance Act of 191 9 and Section 18 of the Finance Act
of 1918. Negatives: Pence 5 per lineal foot, equivalent to gold francs
246.02 per kg. Positives: 1 Penny per foot, equivalent to gold francs
49.29 per kg. The rates are higher than those applying to blank
films. The tariff is reduced by ' 3 in the case of films manufactured
in, or imported from, countries belonging to the British Empire.

Italy

Tariff Item No. 9486. Statistics File No. 2496. Negatives and Positives :

Gold Lire 22 per every 100 metres, equivalent to gold francs 31.40

per kg. The rates are higher than those applying to blank films.

This includes the supplementary tariff at the rate of 1.2.

Luxemburg.
The Belgian Tariff is applied.

New Zealand.

Negatives and Positives: 1 Penny per foot, equivalent to gold francs 98.40
per kg. The rates are identical with those applying to blank films.
Plus a supplementary duty7 of 1 % ad valorem. The preferential
British Tariff, with the 1 % ad valorem duty, is applied to films
coming from the United Kingdom.

Siam.

Negatives and Positives: Satangs 30 per every 100 foot, equivalent to gold
francs 14.08 per kg. The rates are identical with those applying to
blank films.

(1) It may be of some interest to give here the following (unofficial) data respecting the regime
applying to cinematographic films in a number of British Dependencies :

Bermudos : Pence 5 per every 100 feet ; Birtish New Guinea : exemted from duty ; Zanzibar :
exempted from duty ; British Honduras : 1.50 of a pound sterling on each roll of film ; Barbadoes : 10
Pence per every 100 feet ; Kenya : 1 Shilling per every 500 feet; Bahamas : from 10 to 12% ad
valorem ; Tonga : 4 Shillings per every hundred feet, conditional to re-exportation within three
months ; Nyasaland : exempted from duty on condition of re-exportation within three months;
Somaliland : exempted from duty on condition of reexportation within three months ; Dominica :
6 Pence per every 100 foot ; Gold Goast. 10% ad valorem ; Gambia, exempted with the obli-
gation of re-exportation within six months ; Nigeria, exempted from duty ; Sierra Leone
Metropolitan tariff.

7-ingl.

213 —

United States.
Negatives: Exposed but undeveloped. Dollars 0.02 per foot, equivalent
to gold francs 48.66 per kg. Developed: Dollars 0.03 per foot, equi-
valent to gold francs 72.99 per kg. Positives: Dollars 0.01 per foot,
equivalent to gold francs 24.33 Per kg. When the negative has been
produced in the United States, and exported for some addition
(the film being however, produced to the extent of 60 % in the
United States), Customs duties are fixed at the rate of one cent of
a dollar, as in the case of positives, upon a substantiated application
being made by the interested party to the Secretary of the Treasury
Department, and upon the ordinance of the latter.

Union of South Africa.
Negatives and Positives: Two shillings and six pence per 100 feet, equi-
valent to gold francs 46.60 per kg., or 20 % ad valorem.

c) The variable system of taxation according to value gives us a
third group of data. In considering exposed films in the form of negatives
or positives, it is necessary to bear in mind the big difference that may exist
between the rough product (raw material) and the manufactured article,
which lends itself to unlimited possibilities in the industrial field and owes
to this circumstance its variable value. We have no precise information
as to methods of classifying and specifying value. Thus the only way,
presumably, is to follow the same system adopted in respect of blank
films, and to consider merely the intrinsic value of the raw material

Argentine Republic.

Negatives and Positives: 25 % ad valorem, equivalent to gold francs 28.47

per kg. The rates are identical with those applying to blank films.

For the assessment of the value, cf. No. 1, Blank Films.

Egypt.

Negatives and Positives: 8 % ad valorem, equivalent to gold francs 25.74

per kg. The rates are identical with those applying to blank films.

For accessory duties and the assessment of the value, Cf. No. 1,

Blank Films.

France (1).

Negatives and Positives: 20 % ad valorem, equivalent to gold francs 20.49
per kg., for negatives, and equivalent to gold francs 8.96 for positives.

(1) It may be of interest to give here the following data respecting territories belonging to
the French Republic, notwithstanding the fact that the said data is not culled from official sources :
Algeria : the French Continental tariff is in force, films coming from France are exempted ; Indo-
china : French continental tariff, films coming from France are exempted ; Madagascar : French
continental tariff, plus an exchange duty of 10 centimes per Kg., films imported from France are
exempted .

— 214

The rates are identical with those applying to blank films. This
includes a special import duty of 2 % ad valorem (1).

Morocco.

Negatives and Positives: 12.50 % ad valorem, besides a « de portes » duty

of Francs 1.50 per gross Quintal, equivalent to gold francs 11.23 Per

kg. for negatives and to gold francs 4.91 for positives. The rates are

identical with those applying to blank films. Cf. No. 1 Preferential

Tariffs for blank films.

Principality of Monaco.

Identical with the French Tariffs.

Nicaragua - Unofficial.

Negatives and Positives: 15 % ad valorem, equivalent to gold francs 13.97
per kg. for negatives, and to gold francs 6.12 for positives. The rates
are identical with those applying to blank films.

Holland.

Negatives and Positives: 8 % ad valorem, equivalent to gold francs 7.45

per kg. for negatives, and to gold francs 2.86 for positives. The rates

are identical with those applying to blank films.

Panama - Unofficial.
Negatives and Positives: 15 % ad valorem, equivalent to gold francs 13.97

per kg. for negatives and to gold francs 6.12 for positives. The rates

are identical with those applying to blank films.

Dominican Republic - Unofficial.
Negatives and Positives: 15 % ad valorem, eqidvalent to gold francs 13.97
per kg. for negatives, and to gold francs 6.12 for positives. The rates
are identical with those applying to blank films.

Syria and Lebanon
Negatives and Positives : 50 % ad valorem, equivalent to gold francs 46.47
per kg. for negatives, and to gold francs 20.38 for positives, for coun-
tries which are not Members of the League of Nations.

25 % ad valorem, equivalent to gold francs 23.29 per kg. for nega-
tives, and to gold francs 10.19 Per kg. for positives, for countries which
are Members of the League of Nations.

15 % ad valorem, equivalent to gold francs 13.97 per kg. for negatives y
and equivalent to gold francs 6.12 for positives for Turkey. The rates
are identical with those applying to blank films. Importations from
Palestine are exempt from all customs duty.

Uruguay - Unofficial.
Negatives and Positives: 45 % ad valorem, equivalent to gold francs 5.33
per kg. The value is calculated at a fixed rate of 1 Uruguayan Peso
per kg.

215

With the exception of a few Countries, the same Customs regime is
applied to exposed films and to blank films.

Certain Countries, on the other hand, put such a heavily increased
duty on exposed films, as to be accounted for only by a determined pro-
tectionist policy.

This is more particularly the case with English speaking Countries,
including North America.

This fact, which renders almost prohibitive the introduction of ex-
posed films into these Countries, is of particular importance when we
bear in mind that the arguments put forward to justify the high rates
placed on blank films cannot hold good for exposed films.

In the case of exposed negatives and positives, it is possible to dif-
ferentiate clearly between films of a purely theatrical order and those whose
value is purely scientific and educational. It is in this connection that
the need for this Institute makes itself felt.

Indeed, while we are not concerned with Customs tariffs on impor-
tations of cinematographic material of a distinctly theatrical character,
we cannot fail to attribute the greatest possible importance to the educa-
tional and cultural aspect of the film, and to make every endeavour in or-
der that they may be accorded a different treatment.

It behoves us, therefore, to examine whether this view of the question,
so obviously sound and logical, has been anywhere applied, and what
legislative measures may have been enacted to differentiate the two kinds
of films.

to be cotinnued).

THE CINEMA IN THE SERVICE OF AGRICULTURE
AGRICULTURAL CINEMATOGRAPHY IN FRANCE

As already stated in the first number of our Review, the very ample
and valuable information furnished us by the Service du Cine'matographe
agricole du Minister e de V agriculture (Cinematographic Service of the Min-
istry of Agriculture) of Paris, enables us now to give our readers a
comprehensive account of Agricultural Cinematography in France, of the
highest interest.

Foundation and Organs of the Service. — The Act of the 5th. April
1923, by placing at the disposal of the Ministry of Agriculture funds allo-
cated from the general Paris-Mutuel funds, rendered possble the foun-

2l6

dation of the Agricultural Cinematograph service. The credits thus as-
signed to it amount to 1.500.000 francs for the current year.

The Decree of 20th. May 1923 laid down the bases of its work.

The principal organ of this departement is a Commission known
as the « Commission Permanente du Cinematographe agricole ». This
commission studies all questions appertaining to Cinematography and
considers the forms in which it can best serve the interests of agriculture •
it submits to the Ministry its substantiated views on these matters.

An administrative Secretariat forms the liaison between the Commis-
sion and the central Administration and discharges its business.

Aims and Means of Action. — The general aim of the Service is to
organize throughout the agricultural territory of France a vast system of
agricultural and social cinematographic education. . •

In addition to the schools contemplated in the Act of the 2nd August
191 8, the program aims at creating centres of agricultural practice and pro-
paganda, firstly cantonal, then inter-communal, and lastly communal.

Cinematography assists and encourages these organisms by the gra-
tuitous loan of films and by subsidies enabling them to purchase projection
material.

Cinematheques (Cinema Libraries) and Films. — In 1923 a Central
Cinema Library or film collection was created in Paris.

The first collections were formed by commercial films (educational,
documentary and scientific) specially chosen by the Commission after
examining all the films produced.

A program has been drawn up for producing new films and their
production has been entrusted to the best qualified publishers. Special
subsidies facilitate the execution of such films, under the supervision and
guidance of the Commission.

The program is brought up to date from year to year, in accordance
with the necessities of the moment and the progress achieved in the
technique of agriculture.

Donations of films by private persons and associations are earnestly
solicited and are most welcome.

During the last few years, the establishment of regional Cinema Li-
braries, which are kept supplied by the Central Office, has prepared the
way for a more active service in loaning films and for speeding up their
transport.

Thus we have at Lille, Nancy, Lyons, Montpellier, Toulouse, Cler-
mont-Ferrand, Bourges and Rennes so many cinematographic libraries,
corresponding to the principal agricultural regions of France.

A further advance has been made in decentralization by the forma-
tion of departmental cinematographic offices attached to the several School
Inspectorates. The Departments of Agriculture and Public Education

217

thus collaborate in perfect, unison in this new work of social and occupa-
tional education.

Each of these organisms ensures to qualified applicants a regular
supply of films loaned gratis, the only condition being the favorable opin-
ion of the Director of Agricultural Services of the Department. It
is, of course, also understood that all commercial or speculative use of
such loans is strictly forbidden.

There is no lack of earnest and devoted propagandists : the Directors
of agricultural services, Professors of Agriculture, the Directors of agri-
cultural schools, and then, always and everywhere, schoolmasters and
schoolmistresses are for the scheme.

The Post-Omce grants the free carriage of all films despatched by
the Cinema Offices and returned to them

Thus the principle of gratis service governs agricultural cinemato-
graphy in all its phases, more especially, in regard to the active distribu-
tion of the films.

Projection Apparatus. — Side by side with the establishment of
the Cinematograph Libraries, efforts have been directed to multiplying
projection apparatus.

In the first place appeals were made to organizations possessing effi-
cient projection plant. Subsidies were later granted to qualified bodies
(communes and associations) for the purchase of apparatus of a type
approved by the Commission, manufactured in France, and capable of
projecting standard films of 35 mm.

The Ministries of Agriculture and Public Education, acting in perfect
unison, allocate subsidies to scholastic enterprises aiming at the same time
at the primary education of children and the agricultural and social edu-
cation of adults.

The Results achieved. — All the films of the Ministry of Agriculture's
collection are printed on uninflammable material.

The following table shows the number of copies and the total length
in metres of the films distributed :

Number of copies Total length in metres

Year

1924

558

97,095

m.

1925

804

163.940

m.

1926

1.799

396.690

m.

1927

2.708

600.935

m.

1928

3,403

770.940

m.

The reason, and indeed the necessity, for these yearly increases is
due to the multitude of applications for loans of films received from
all the Departments of France.

The central Agricultural Cinema Library of Paris, while satisfying
the requirements of the several cinema libraries and cinematographic

— 218

services throughout the Country, has provided for the loan of films in the
following proportions :

metres

rim

I 1924 (for 9 months)

723

copies

220.000

»

1925 (for the year)

2.274

)»

—

»

1926 » » »

4,707

»

1. 4 1 2. 000

»

1927 » » »

8-233

»

—

»

1928 » » »

1 1.800

»

2.900.000

It should further be remembered that each film is projected on an
average three times.

The Paris loan service at the present time distributes films at the
rate of 130 daily, or about 30.000 metres of reel.

The activity of the regional cinema libraries and external services
is on the same scale.

As a general rule the programs of cinematographic schows are well
drawn up : our propagandists take care to avoid tiring or boring their au-
diences and to impart a recreational as well as an educational tone to the
spectacles.

Films, songs, and music provide a suitable setting to the more se-
rious documentary and educational films.

The number of subsidies granted for the purchase of projection
plants has progressed as follows :

From 21 in 1924 it has increased
to 40 in 1925

to 154 in 1926

to 358 in 1927

to 418 in 1928

The only handicap to more rapid expansion is due to the limitation
-of credits and the exigencies of the Commission in regard to the choice
of apparatus and the real value of the agricultural activities of the ap-
plicants.

Conclusion. — French agricultural Cinematography, while still
in the phase of growth and expansion, has none the less achieved the
objects at which it aimed, namely :

To reach the rural population, even that of the most backward
Communes ;

To offer these populations an interesting and useful diversion from
their work as well as healthy entertainment ;

To encourage them towards more remunerative intensive production ;
To initiate them in the campaign against agricultural pests : weeds,
insects, cryptogams, etc. ;

To induce them to adopt modern methods, and machinery which
economises labor and lightens the laborer's task ;

To demonstrate to them the manifold advantages of association ;
To show them the benefits of cleanliness, ventilation, hygienic
personal habits, and hygienic housing, food, production, etc.

219 — »

THE CINEMA AS A MEANS OF PROPAGANDA OF HYGIENE
AND SOCIAL WELFARE

India.

In reply to our Questionnaire on the use of the Film for the propa-
ganda of hygiene and social welfare, which we published in the first num-
ber of this Review, the Government of India has furnished us with the
following information, derived mainly from the 1 927-1 928 Report of the
Indian Cinematograph Committee.

1. At present the control of cinematographs in British India is
a matter for which the Governments of the different Provinces are pri-
marily responsible, though subject to legislation by the Central Legisla-
ture in regard to the sanction of films for exhibition. The Central Go-
vernment, in other words « the Government of India », numbers among
its officials the Director of Public Information who among other things
is specially concerned with films. The local Governments have no sec-
tions set apart for film propaganda in connection with hygiene and social
welfare, but officials of their administrative department deal with any
questions of this characters that call for consideration.

As regards the future, the Indian Cinematograph Committee have
recommended the establishment of a Central Bureau and Advisory Com-
mittee (Chapter III of the Report, especially paragraphs 98, 103, 1 06-1 11
and 119). This recommendation is now under consideration.

2. There is no special law for the propaganda of hygiene by the
film, but the following legislation may be referred to:

Cinematograph Act 1918;

Cinematograph (Amendment) Act 191 9;
and

Devolution Act 1920.
Some Public Utility films are made by or on behalf of Government
Departments or quasi-public Institutions.

Under this head mention may be made of the Central Publicity Bu-
reau of the Indian State Railways which has films made and projected
on its behalf. (See Par. 206 of the Report and the apended extract
from a Report on the moral and material progress and condition of In-
dia during the year 1927- 1928).

According to the Cinematograph Committee's Report (par. 201) a
differentiation must be made between educational films in the strict mean-

— 220

ing of the term and educational films for propaganda purposes among the
masses of the people, especially on such important matters as public
health, hygiene, agricultural work, etc. No steps should be neglected
for improving the general welfare of the people.

Coordination in these fields would undoubtedly have a beneficent
influence on the native cinematographic industry, and would encourage
the market of educational films. The exhibition of good films would
develop and educate good taste among the people and accustom them
to the cinematograph.

Par. 221: As regards educational films, the Committee appreciates
and supports the views expressed at the Empire Conference on the necessity
of an active exchange of films between the several Countries of the Empire.
Considering the great illiteracy of a great portion of the population, India
would benefit much not only by the exhibition of films from other parts-
of the Empire, but of films of other Nations as well.

The daily life of the people, the methods prevalent in agriculture
and industry, conditions of work, sanitary methods, the life of the people
in general, all these matters displayed in a telling manner by the Cinema-
tograph would be most effective in enlightening ignorance and in improv-
ing the conditions of the population.

Thus it is seen that there is an entire lack of all cinema activity in
India aiming at the promotion of hygiene and social welfare.

The answer furnished by the Indian Government and the Report
of the Committee are, however, of the greatest interest with respect to
other branches of cinematography. They deal also in a comprehensive
manner with the censorship problem, to which this Review will devote
its attention, in connection with the legislative aspects of the cinema,,
as soon as our digest of fiscal policy is completed.

Another portion which is worthy of the closest attention is that dealing
with the development of the national cinematographic industry, considered
on its own merits and in contrast with the foreign productions introduced
into the Country; the business done by Film hiring and trading Com-
panies and concerns, the organizations formed by the actors and artists,
and the character and quality of native productions.

This is a field that is not necessarily monopolized by the theatrical
film, but which in its wider scope includes also cultural and scientific
films — such as alone concern the studies and research of this Institute.
In a later number we propose to examine the splendid progress that cha-
racterises the revival of the Indian film in the important spheres of docu-
mentation, research and labor.

NOTES TAKEN FROM REVIEWS AND BAPERS

CULTURE AND THE FILM

The Institute for Research on Sexual
Questions has produced a new film
vihich aims at demonstrating the here-
dity of criminal propensities. (Hambur-
ger Echo - Hamburg. F. 14/20).

Dr. Thiel, Director of the Communal
"Cinemateca of Berlin, contributes a
highly interesting article on the use, li-
mitations and possibilities of the schola-
stic film. (Film Kurier - Berhn.
F. 3/70).

John Stewart, Professor of astronomi-
cal physics at the University of Prince-
town, has directed the taking of a film
of the moon, experimenting a new type
of apparatus. (Corriere della Sera -
Milano. F. 13/20).

Dr. Eberhard publishes an interesting
article on cultural films, the systems
that should be followed in producing
them, and the uses to which they could
be put. (Hannoverischer Tageblatt
Hanover. F. 3/7).

In the United States they are begin-
ning to make use of the talking cinema
for transmitting lessons and lectures
from one University to another. (Cou-
rier Cinematographique - Paris. F. 76) .

The « UFA » is producing a film on
the little secrets of animals. This film
will contain some reels taken in Heli-
goland and will make use of systems
for accelerating and lowing down ima-
ges. (Berliner Lo\al Aazeiger - Berlin.
F. 6/60).

The French Under Secretary of State
for Physical Education has caused a film
to be taken with the object of diffusing
in schools and colleges an exact unders-
tanding of the technical methods of phy-
sical training. (Echo des Sports - Pa-
ris. F. 14/22).

The French Government is arranging

to carry out a strenuous hygiene pro-
paganda bv means of the cinema in Al-
geria and Tunisia. (Courier cinemato-
graphique - Paris. F. 14/23).

Major Kleinhaus, of Berlin, contribu-
tes an interesting and comprehensive
article on the utilization of the film for
the purposes of agricultural instruction
and on the infinite possibilities which
the cinema opens up for progress in the
technique of agriculture. (Munchener
Neuste Nachrtchten - Munich. F. 1/15).

R. Frollo contributes a noteworthy
article on the advantages France would
derive fron the institution of travelling
cinemas giving public shows in small
villages. (Cineopse - Paris. F. 34/51).

Foveau de Cournelles devotes a long
article to the question of scientific and
technical occupational instruction by
means of the cinema. (Cineopse - Pa-
ns. F. 37/13).

George Kerr, President of the British
Film Service Board, writes a letter to
the Times, explaining the work carried
on by his committee in regard to the
educational film. He appeals to the go-
verning classes in England to devote
their attention to this serious matter.
(Times - London. F. 3/79).

Emile Vuillermoz points out the ne-
cessity for a more strenuous agricultural
propaganda in the country and small
rural centres, through the medium of
the cinema — which offers the only
practical way of teaching and explaining
to agricultural workers. (Comoedia -
Paris. F. 1/16).

The United States Department of
Agriculture is about to launch talking
films for the purpose of instruction in
farming. The films will be accompa-
nied by lectures by the foremost autho-
rities on agricultural matters. (Movie
Makers - New York. F. 1/17).

222

In England the Greater Union Films
Ltd., are about to produce historical
films spoken as well as visual. These
will be launched through the medium
of die Educational Film Exchange. (Mo-
: t \4a\ers - New York. F. 6/67).

Luigi Pirandello argues very clearly
and shrewdly that the talking him will
never be able to interfere seriously with
the theatre. (Corriere della Sera - Mi-
lan. F. 10/110).

The establishment ot a historical ci-
nematographic Museum at Hollywood
points clearly to the fact that at the
present time, even in industrial cinema
circles, the educational idea is making
way. (Movie Makers - New York.
F. 34/58).

The leading cinematographic . manu-
facturers in the United States have
placed some interesting historical-docu-
mentary films at the disposal of the
City of New York with the object of
forming by degrees important archives.
(Kinemato graph - Berlin. F. 6/68).

The French « National Alliance »
has launched the idea of producing a
great film illustrating the demographic
•campaign for the increment of births.
(Film Kurier - Berlin. F. 33/31) .

The Algerian Office of Health and
preventive Medicine is doing propa-
ganda work in the Colony by means
of special autocinemas. The projections
are accompanied by lectures. This is
giving excellent results. (La Journee
Industrielle Financiere Economique -
Paris. F. 14/26).

J. K. Raymond Millet, just back
from a long journey of exploration in
East Africa, will shortly present the
scientific documentary films taken du-
ring his expedition. (Courier Cinema-
tographique - Paris. F. 6/73).

The Bulgarian Minister of Public
Education has concluded his scheme
for a Bill on Educational Cinemato-
graphy. All public cinema halls are
required to include one film of an
•educational order in the repertory of
each show. (This recalls the example
given by the Italian law of the 3rd.

April, 1926). At the same time, the
cinema systemticallv takes its place
in all schools, and it is foreseen" that
within the next three vears all schools
will be equipped with cinematogra-
phic apparatus. (Cinematographic Fran-
ca ise Paris. F. 37/19).

The Ludwig Blattern Picture Corpo-
ration will produce a film depicting
the habits and customs of the moun-
tain tribes of Albania. This talking
film will utilize the Stille system for
sound and the Blatten-Keller-Dorian
system for color. (The Times - Lon-
don. F. 6/78).

The British Empire Film Institute
has purchased the film of Captain
Scott's Antarctic Expedition, with the
object of gradually getting together
historical archives of films of enduring
interest. (The Times - London. F.
6/79)-

The c« LUCE » National Institute,
pursuing its vast and comprehensive
task of cinematographic culture, ha,s
sent operators along with the great
exploration expedition of Baron Fran-
chetti in the unexplored regions of
Abyssinia. Films of exceptional value
and interest are expected. (Tribuna -
Rome. F. 107).

It is announced that a Central Board
of Educational Films is about to be
formed in England. (Motion Educatio-
nal Industrial Fictures - Washing-
ton. F. 86).

The R. K. O., together with two
local explorers, have recently taken an
important film in the Rocky Mountains.
This film has been taken with stereos-
copic and color systems. (Sound Waves
- Los Angeles. F. 6/81).

Maurice J. Campel has taken an
interesting documentary film of Bor-
deaux. The port traffic is shown with
great wealth of detail and presents
scenes full of local color. (Filma -
Paris. F. 6/82).

A Company has been formed in
Sweden with the object of taking films
for the education of the troops. (Mo-

223

Hon Educational Industrial Pictures -
Washington. F. 7/14).

Clement Vautel publishes an intere-
sting article on the lines which cine-
matography ought to follow at the
present time. It is necessary that it
should go back to Nature, for Natu-
re alone is worthy of Deing known and
loved by the masses. The document-
ary film should represent a great force
for the peoples 's education. (Comoedia
- Paris- F- 34/79)-

A long article illustrates the diverse
influences which music can exercise on
cinematographic representations. (La
Tarde - Bilbao. F. 34/88).

Eral C. Mac Arthur contributes a
long article on the educational impor-
tance of cinematography aiming at in-
tellecual uplift, and refers to the
various experiments and results that
have been obtained in this field. (The
Educational Screen - Chicago. F. 3/89).

The complexity and diversity ot the
problems connected with the German
educational film are considered in an
article which refers also to the present
position of educational cinematography
in Germany. (Weser-Zeitung - Bre-
men. F. 3/92).

The program of cinema aided edu-
tion in the State of Pensylvania is
amply illustrated in a very interesting
article. (The Educational Screen
Chicago. F. 22).

The direct interest of women in the
cinema industry, in all problems con-
nected with rthe film, and in its dif-
fusion, may have the greatest influen-
ce on the future tendencies of indu-
strial cinematography and on the de-
velopment of a new program which
will give proper weight to all that is
true, beatutiful and good. (Christian
Science Monitor - Boston. F. 63).

The Siegert-Film-Pjoduktion Co. of
Chemmitz, has produced an educa-
tional film on the Saxon Fatherland.
(Film Kurier - Berlin. F. 3/93).

In Russia propaganda grows more
and more strenuous for the wider use
of the cinema for educational and

scholastic purposes. (Licht Bild Buhne

- Berlin. F. 3/94).

The possibilities of the cinema in
the study and popularization of Bo-
tany are fully dealt with in an inte-
resting article. (L'Independence Belgc

- Brussels. F. 6/83).

Father Venceslao Fernandes, a Do-
minican missionary in Peru for more
than 17 years, has given an interesst-
ing lecture in Madrid on the savage
tribes of Peru and on Peruvian flora
and fauna, accompanied by the proj-
ection of films which he himself took
in those regions. (El Debate - Madrid.
F. 6/85).

Thanks to a series of favorable cir-
cumstances and reports, the German
photographer and writer, Martin Bur-
liman, has succeeded in receiving the
hospitality of the Maharaja of Nepal,
and has for the first lime been able to-
take films showing the customs and
landscape of that most interesting re-
gion. (La Pantalla - Madrid. F. 6/86).

The Secretary of Political Education
in Mexico has approved the program
of physical education for primary and
higher schools. This program does
not confine itself to pursuing the anti-
alcohol campaign, but aims at helping
the young to avoid the vices of irre-
gular life and to promote the passion
for sport. (El Universal - Mexico.
F. 78).

The Bundesfilm A. G. Co. of Ber-
lin has opened a competition foi the
best educational film scenario. The
first piize consists of 100 marks.
(Luht-Bild -Buhne - Berlin. F. 3/97).

An interesting article demands that
the short cultural films which are be-
ginning to find great favor in cine-
mas, should be composed with greater
care and be interesting and amusing
so as to attract the public to this form
of production.

An English explorer has flown over
the summit of the Andes, at a height
of 7100 metres, and has taken some
interesting films with a machine wor-
ked by a motor. During a short faint-

224

Lag fit of the explorer, the machine
•continued to work steadily. (Hambur-
ger Nachrichten - Hamburg. F. 6/90).

In the East German Fair films are
shown daily in the Technical Section
for the propaganda of silviculture, with
immense success. (Ost Prussiche Zeitung.
Berlin. F. 8/39).

The Prize of the French Astrono-
mical Society for the best work on
inter-planetary navigation has been
awarded to the German Prof. Oberth
for his scientific collaboration in the
Film « The Woman in the Moon ».
(I.' Independence Beige - Brussels. F.
I3/30).

The Fox Film Co. has started in
Belgium the production of cultural and
scholastic sound films. (Film Kurier -
Berlin. F. 2/102).

THE TECHNICAL CINEMA WORLD

Hugh Correll sets forth his views of
a technical character on the cinema-
tographic reproduction of musical works
by means of the auditory film. He
holds that in this field, for a great
variety of subjects, international aims
will be achieved if the songs are sung
in Italian. {Film Kurier - Berlin.
F. 12/140).

It appears that Warner Bros, have
ready a great technical innovation in
•connection with color cinematography,
an innovation which ought to be put
berore the public through some highly
impressive film, to be launched with
great eclat, as was the case in its day
with the Vitaphone system. (The Cine-
matograph Times - London. F. 4/29).
— L. E. Heifets maintains in a lively
manner that the talking film develops
the artistic and intellectual qualities of
the actors. (Hollywood Film graph
Hollywood. F. 100).

It appears that successful experiments
kave been made with a special appa-
ratus aiming at replacing masks in
-cinematography. (Exhibitors' Herald
World - Chicago. F. 143).

The Radio Company of Berlin have

brought out a film that aims at clearly
demonstrating radio technique. (Kine-
matograph - Berlin. F. 22).

A summary account is given of two
new special apparatuses for artificial
lighting due to the S. A. Costruzioni
Ottiche: Apparatus M. and apparatus
O. (Progresso fotografico - Milan.
F. 21/146).

It is stated that the Eastman Kodak
Co. is manufacturing a special type of
film for sound and color cinematogra-
phy. Patents are being taken out in the
different Countries. (Film Journal
Berlin. F. 4/30).

J. P. Countisson describes in a most
interesting article the invention of a
new screen for relief cinematography.
Dr. P. L. Couched is the inventor.
(Comoedia - Paris. F. 21/150).

Charles Normand explains in a tech-
nical article the new process for color
cinematography by mems of a fictitious
screen. (L'Annale - Paris. F. 26/65).

Engineer Johan Weil contributes a
highly interesting article on the plastic
film. (Kinemato graph - Berlin. F.
^6/66).

The Italian inventor Albertini, after
long and patient research, is about to
complete a new type of paneramic ci-
nematographic apparatus. (Ri vista italia-
na del Cinematografo - Rome. F.
21/156).

A highly interesting article on sound
films and the educational problem of
the future deals with all the aspects of
this new discovery, its possibilities,
dangers, and advantages. (Der Tag -
Berlin. F. 164).

It is stated that Dr. Nuytten has in-
vented a new apparatus to pass instan-
taneously from radioscopy to radiography
by means of a simultaneous governor.
The apparatus is called the tachigraph.
(Science et Industrie Fhotographiques -
Pans. F. 21/166).

It appears that a highly interesting
discovery has been made by Dr. Passa-
lacqua, demonstrating that the latent
image registered in an emulsion of

225

bromide gelatine may be reenforced
fefore development by rapid exposure
to the light. (Science et Industrie Pho-
tographiques - Paris. F. 21/167).

We have here a comprehensive re-
view of the discussions that have taken
place at the French Photographic and
Cinematographic Society on recent tec-
hnical progress and tre latest inven-
tions. (Science et Industrie Photogra-
phiques - Paris. F. 36/81).

The Russian Engineer, Chorine, is
said to have discovered a new cinema-
tographic process, enabling sound and
vison to be registered simultaneously by
a very simple new system. The appa-
ratus will shortly be placed on view
and tested officialy at Leningrad and
Moscow. (Comoedia - Paris. F. 21/170).

It appears that Dr. F. W. Hanch-
stetter of Pittsburg has perfected a new
system of blank films, manufactured
fron cotton, silk and paper. The emul-
sion is of seleneum argentite and the
films would be specially adapted for
sound cinematography. (Sound Waves -
Los Angelos. F. 36/87) .

Cur Stille, the great inventor of the
speaking steel wire, contributes a high-
ly interesting article on his system
and on the electro magnetic writing of
the acoustic sign. (Die Kinothe\ni\ -
Berlin. F. 36/93).

An interesting article gives the first
information regarding a new cinema-
tographic apparatus, the « ultracinema »,
due to Pierre Nohues, and on the use
and utility of this machine, which is
evidently destined to slow motion film-
ing. (Cine Journal - Paris. F. 21/180).

It is stated that the first demon-
strations of color television have been
given at the laboratories of the Ameri-
can Telephone and Telegraph Co.
(Corner e della Sera - Milan. F. 17).

RELIGION AND THE CINEMA

Abel Gange, the renouned and bril-
liant French producer, is preparing to
show some films of a religious character.
One of these, and perhaps the most

important, has for its subject the end
of the world. (The Times - London..
F. 11/15).

The Anglican Church Missionary So-
ciety has had a fine film taken illus-
trating India and Hindu religions. (Sud-
deutsche Zeitung - Stuttgart. F. 11/16).

The production of films dealing with
the Catechism has recently received
much attention in France. The films are
prepared with great technical care and
are carefully revised to make sure they
are religiously correct. (Dossier du Ci-
nema - Paris. F. 11/17).

Caplan Fahsel contributes a highly
interesting article on the Catholic film
for purposes of popular izition and pro-
paganda. (Deutsche Filmzeitung - Mu-
nich. F. 11/18).

It is understood tb at an important
company for the production of religious
films is about to be set up in Rome.
This entrprise would have the support
of the Vatican and its object would be
the publication of films for propagan-
dizing the Catholic Fauh. (Film Kurier
- Berlin. F. 11/20).

An interesting article describes the
performance of a cinema show given
by a missionary to negro miners and
the great inteiest displayed by the lat-
ter in the film. (Manchester Guardian -
Manchester. F. 11/21).

It is announced that a Company is
being formed in Rome devoted to Re-
ligious Apologetics: it will produce re-
ligious films to propagandize the moral
and social principles of the Catholic
Religion. (Cinema ltaliano - Rome.
F. 11/22).

The Missionary Societies of Melbour-
ne, Australia, have organized a lecture
on the film and the work of the mis-
sions aiming partly at demonstrating,
the practical uses of the Cinema. (Ki-
nematograph - Berlin. F. 11/23).

The Evangelische Bildkammer of Ber-
lin owns seven films of religious pro-
paganda with which it does considerable
propaganda. (Film Kurier - Berlin.
F. u/24).

The orogress of rel'^ious cinema as-

226

sociations approved by the Holy See,
is dealt with in an interesting note.
{Critique Cinematographique - Paris.
F. 16/25).

SOCIAL ASPECTS OF THE CINEMA

The Police authorises in Germany
make use of the Cinema in training
their men. The Department of Public
Safety has set up a special cinema for
this purpose. (Neue Berliner - Berlin.
F. 8/30).

Mr. Richard publishes an open let-
ter in the « Daily Telegraph » in which
he argues the need of more rigorous
censorship of films of a political interest.
{Daily Telegraph - London F. 8/68).

Ir is understood that since 19 17 the
United States have made considerable
use of the cinema for military instruc-
tion, and to explain to the troops the
use of arms in military manoeuvres
and in the event of war. (Kinemato-
graph - Berlin. F. 8/31).

A correspondence in the « Excelsior »
of Vera Cruz states tnat some China-
men who were attending a cinema show,
broke into the projection cabin for the
purpose of destroying a film showing
scenes of the Chinese Revolution which
they considered insulting to their
country. (La Pelicula - Buenos Avres.
F. 9/21).

An interesting report has been pre-
sented by M. Bouvoisin on the social
importance of the Cinema. This report
urges the Government to take measures
likely to lead to a gradual improve-
ment of production and to guide the
cinema towards moral and educational
ends. (La journee industrielle et finan-
cier e - Paris. F. 45).

The Berlin Police, in collaboraton
with the higher organs of political vi-
gilance, will produce a film on the task
of the Public Safety department in the
repression of female crime. (Cine Jour-
nal - Paris. F. 33/27).

An interesting note deals with the
problem of censuring talking films. The

excision of certain scenes often leads to
the absolute ruin of a work of art.
This note refers more especially to the
Canadian Censorship. (The Film Daily
- New York. F. 18/77).

It appears that in Ciina students are
taking to frequenting the Cinema much
more freely than in the past, to enjoy
singing and speaking films, partly with
the object of learning English. (Exhi-
bitors' Herald World - Chicago. F.
10/113).

Carl E. Mi! liken has delivered a very
interesting lecture at St. Louis, U. S. A.,
pointing out the immense value of the
cinema in the education of the young-
(Comoedia - Paris. F. 33).

The Court of Appeal of Montreal has
rescinded the rule prohibiting children
under 16 years of age fiom attending
cinema shows and from entering places
of amusement on Sundays where enter-
tainments consisting partly of films are
given. (The Film Daily - New York.
F- I5/34)-

The French Senate has raised the
age at which it is al'cwed to employ
children in cinema establishments from
13 to 15 vears. (Comoedia - Paris.
F- 15/35)- '

A long article deals with the influence
of the Cinema on crime among chil-
dren and describes the experiment made
with 500 children by the Psychological
Department of the Columbia University,
under the direction of Dr. J. Holmes.
(La Vanguardia - Barcelona. F. 15/37)-

The Evald Film Company hc^ pro-
duced a film for the purpose oi in-
structing persons who *»ant to ieain to-
drive ?utomobiles, to i.ndersta ••» mo-
tors, etc. (Ver\ehrsttechni\ - Berlin.
F. 8/34).

Dr. Franz and Prof. Thoroburg,
professors at an American University,
state that the talking film will render
good service in reeducating the hear-
ing of persons suffering from partial
deafness. (Comoedia - Paris. F.
12/205) •

227

The Berlin Council of State has ac-
cepted at a first hearing the new law
on Cinematography, containing several
measures for the protection of childhood.
{Film Kurier - Berlin. F. 15/39).

It is stated that the new Censorship
Decree in the State of Illinois has been
rejected by the local Congress. {Exhibi-
tors' Herald World - Chicago. F.
18/89).

A petition for the revision of the cen-
sorship will be presented to the compe-
•tent authorities. This will contain the
request that persons of high artistic and
scientific ability take part in the
censor commission, and that there should
be a far reaching change in the systems
of censorship. (Times - London. D.
18/90).

A great Cinema is shortly to be open-
ed in New York entirely devoted to
-children! Educational and instructive
films will be shown here. (Courier Ci-
nematographique - Paris. F. 3/100).

It is not true that the orchestra musi-
cians of New York have been badly
hit by the talking film. Out of a
total of sixteen thousand employees
only 400 to 500 have been unemployed.
(The Film Daily - New York. F.
12/217).

William de Mille states that the
censorship, as actually exercised, is
both harmful and useless to the cine-
ma industry. The cinema must now-
a-days be regarded as an art, and no
form of art can be bound up in fan-
ciful bonds. Police orders and rules
ought to suffice to protect public mo-
rality. (Sound - New York. F. 12/217).

It appears that the increase in offen-
ces against morals in South Africa is
causing anxiety, and this is largely attri-
buted to the diffusion of immoral films.
(Osservatore Romano - Vatican City.
F- 33/34)-

Will the cinematographic film replace
advertisement posters by degrees?
The use of the film for publicity is
dealt with in a highly interesting man-
ner. (Kinotechni\ - Berlin. F. 5/22).

The British Government is greatly
concerned about the education of chil-
dren. The Special Commission of the
London County Council recommends
the County Council to create a special
advisory Commission to study the advi-
sability of a wide use of the film in
childrens' education. (Comoedia - Pa-
ris. F. 15/41).

Dr. LUCIANO De FEO — Editor and Responsible Manager.

« La Cardinal Ferrari » S. A. I. — Tipografia — Via Germanico, 146 — Roma

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INDEX

The Administrative Council of the I.E.C.1 235

G. R. Canty ... - International film censorship 237

A. Lutrario ...- Some biological aspects of educational cine-
matography 241

G. Mistral. ... - The documentary film in Spanish America . 256

G. M. Coissac . . - The educational film en France 261

P. Tietze - An apparatus for coloured cinematography

for the purposes of medical instruction . . 270
S. F. Alberti ...- The first english motion picture alphabet . . 281
... - A discussion of motion pictures in their re-
lation to children and education 290

...- Crime and the cinema in the United States. 303

...- Fire and the film. . 329

The Cinematograph and Publicity :

Speech of Dr. Ciirlis 315

Speech of Dr. Pinschewer 320

Speech of Dr. Turner 323

Speech of the Representative of the Klangfilm 326

Institute topics :

The agreement between the International Labour Bureau and the

International Educational Cinematographic Institute 331

Natural colour cinematography and stereoscopy 334

The cinema as an auxiliary to the scientific organization of labour 33S

The legislative aspects of the cinema : The tariff question 342

Agricultural cinematography in Italy 351

The cinema in the service of hygiene and social welfare propaganda 354

Notes taken from Reviews and Papers 357

THE ADMINISTRATIVE COUNCIL OF THE I. E. C. I.

Last March the Council of the League of Nations nominated as
members of the Administrative Council of the International Educatio-
nal Cinematographic Institute Mr. Louis Lumiere, Mr. Carl E. Milli-
\en and Dr. Hans Ciirlis, in order that these three distinguished autho-
rities might contribute their vast experience, and technical, scientific and
practical competence to the governing organ of the Institute. At the
same time the League's Council resolved that an Englishman should be
nominated to fill the fourth post and as\ed the British Representative
in the Council to take the requisite steps for the appointment in concert
with the acting President of the Council.

We have pleasure in announcing herewith that the new member
of the Institute's Council has been nominated in the person of Mr. G.
T. Han\in, H. M. I., of the Board of Education.

Mr. Han\in holds an eminent position in the world of education
and of the educational cinematograph in England. He is an Inspector
of Schools and Training Colleges under the Board of Education and
represents the Board on the Central Council for school broadcasting.
Mr. Han\in is also Chairman of the Film Enquiry Committee of the
Historical Association and of the League of Nations Union Film Com-
mittee and a member of the Iconographical Committee of the Internatio-
nal Historical Congress. He was one of the experts selected to assist in
preparing the « common chapter » on the aims and organization of the
League, as suggested by the Committee of Experts on League Instruction
for the Young.

The International Review has great pleasure in welcoming this new
and distinguished collaborator of the Rome Institute of the Cinema.

235 —

INTERNATIONAL FILM CENSORSHIP

The much discussed question of censorship is frequently
the subject of controversies in different countries, yet few people
outside the ranks of motion picture film producers realize clearly
its great importance as a factor in international relations. As the
various censorship systems operate throughout the world, it can
hardly be denied that many of them present obstacles in the way
of a closer and more sympathetic communication among nations.

(Ed. Note) The problem with which Mr. Canty here deals with all
the competence and knowledge deriving from the positions he has held
in the past and now holds in the service of the great Republic, is one that
has from the first claimed the Institute's interest. Our brief comment
appended to Dr. Seeger's article in the first number of the Review herald-
ed a big discussion of the question of censorship. In his masterly expo-
sition, Dr. Seeger illustrated the principles underlying the cinematograph
censorship in Germany. Mr. Canty expresses the hope that as much
may be done for other countries, with the aim of attaining to something
in the nature of an international codification of the diverse national systems.
This goal is no doubt still somewhat far ahead, since, apart from general
principles (and here we agree entirely with Mr. Canty) each nation,
in its actual life and experience, is faced with its own particular problems
claiming special care and control — a fact, indeed, fully acknowledged
by the writer.

In any case, this is a question which we mean to pursue, and we
are happy to announce that our next number will include the first of a
series of reports on the organization and functioning of the censorship
in different countries. Wherever possible — and we trust it may be
so in all cases — we shall endeavour to describe the principles by which
the various censorship offices are guided in the fulfilment of their tasks.

As soon as we have completed this review of the different national
systems, we hope to be in a position to form practical conclusions, to
determine the points on which all the different censorships are at one ,
and to indicate lines of general policy arising out of the universal need
to protect [morals and public health. Once this is accomplished, it
seems reasonable to hope that the idea of an « international censorship »
put forward by our distinguished contributor may make rapid headway.
In any event, our Institute will have rendered a big service to the film
industry by presenting an accurate and methodical review of the policies
of the several countries and of the general principles recognized by them all.

237 —

Practically every civilized country can boast of its film censors,
but the nature of these censorships is varied from one country
to another and is often based on different, if not opposed principles
and ideals. It is curious to note in this connection that film cen-
sorship has even been established in countries where it would appear
that it is an open violation of the principle of liberty of press and
thought, acknowledged by these states as the cornerstone of their
respective constitutions. Not that prosecution of licentious and
otherwise improper matter would be contrary to the principles
admitted by the states in question. Prosecutions following an
accomplished offense are considered necessary in every country
without exception. But many minds hold that censorship is not
a prosecution, rather that it is a preliminary restriction of something
that has not as yet been recognized as being objectionable. This,
it is often stated, is contrary to the essential principles of liberty.

Be that as it may, the power of the film as an instrument
of communication, of education and of propaganda, the force with
which it conveys a certain message, the subtlety with which it
can insinuate a desired argument and its paramount importance
as a means of international contact, have made it an early victim
of the censor's scissors. Numerous voluntary guardians of the
public's mind have repeatedly attacked it and clamored for a more
efficient protection of the morals of the spectators, until in most
countries it is now possible for an official, who has been entrusted
with the custody of the moral status of his fellow countrymen,
to prohibit altogether or to ruin a work of art and cause serious
damages to those who have spent millions on its production.

This causes the difficulties with which a producer has to cope,
if he desires to insure a wide and economically feasible distribution
for his film, to be almost insurmountable. It is often claimed by
the proponents of systematized international censorship that the
majority of foreign films brought on a market are either cut or
altogether banned. Certain British Colonies frown on films
showing violence being done to white men ; most countries will
not allow any caricature of their governments or subjects ; Italy
prohibits certain war scenes; Japan objects to kisses altogether,
and the French occasionally protest if they consider a kiss too long,

— 238

while many European countries strictly oppose films tending to
create disorder or unrest among their subjects. Another European
country includes in its Board of Film Control several film producers
who, thus, are empowered to sit in judgement on their own pro-
duct. It is impossible to enumerate all the peculiar restrictions
with which the film has. to comply, and the producer who desires
his work to be approved by all existing censorships has to be very
ingenious, if not indeed clairvoyant.

Producers were early in realizing the formidable barrier of
censorship and the necessity of meeting their responsibility to the
public. Thus, it is one of the principal functions of the Motion
Picture Producers and Distributors of America, better known
as « The Hays Organization », which is certainly the most powerful
union of film interests in the world, to supervise the moral quality
of the pictures produced by its members. The American film
industry has thus become its own policeman. It has fully realized
that it would be a disastrous policy even from the purely financial
point of viewr to produce films which could be accused of being
salacious in any degree. And yet, despite this evident desire of
the greater part of the world industry to maintain an irreproachable
moral standard, film censorship commissions freely function nearly
everywhere. It would be a sad fact to acknowledge, but it is not
possible to say that these commissions are entirely superfluous.
It is not to be denied that they are in certain cases a necessary pro-
tective weapon and are justified in prohibiting the screening"
of films which would be contrary to generally accepted principles
of morals and decency, including films that consist of political
propaganda and attacks on « bourgeois » morals.

Total abolition of censorship is not possible, and it is doubt-
ful whether this would be of any real benefit. But the present
system or absence of any uniform international system, allows
much room for improvement since many obstacles can still be
removed without compromising the moral and cultural standards
of any particular country. A uniform universal censorship system
is hardly conceivable, inasmuch as the views of nations are often
radically different. Besides, consideration must be given to special
colonial, local or political requirements. A uniform censorship

239 —

is no easier to achieve than general free trade, but an effort should
soon be made to obtain a more equitable international censorship.
There is, for instance, no reason why an international committee
could not examine all present existing systems and try to codify
them so as to be acceptable to the various countries involved.
No universal rules and standards but well defined, permanent
regulations for each country are desirable and would give motion
picture film producers an exact knowledge of the censorship si-
tuation throughout the world. It is useless to dwell further on
the economic importance of such an arrangement. Producers
and distributors would be better informed of the particular tastes
of their sundry customers and would produce films accordingly.
Restrictions lying in the way of free communication between na-
tions would be reduced considerably and the film trade and the
public would profit.

Every nation has its peculiarities, its tastes, its art and in-
dividuality and strives to have them appreciated by foreigners.
Censorship should not stand in the way of unobnoxious manifes-
tations of national characters and customs and censors should,
therefore, take lenient views of films illustrating the character,
manners and psychology of other people. But this is a broad
question necessitating a meeting of the best minds.

No other medium possesses the same power as the film in
sympathetically evoking the character of a nation and in making
it comprehensible to foreign spectators. Misunderstandings,
national hostilities and chauvinism are more or less based on ignor-
ance. In bringing nations closer to one another the film is the
most potent instrument of international goodwill. But in order
that its action bear fruit, the way must be cleared from useless
obstacles and artificial restrictions. Then only will the screen,
appealing to the countless millions of all races and all countries, be
able to exercise its full power as an ambassador of a better inter-
national understanding and universal peace.

George R. Canty

Commercial Attache at the United States
Embassy in Paris.

240

SOME BIOLOGICAL ASPECTS

OF EDUCATIONAL CINEMATOGRAPHY

(from the Italian)

Provisions for the culture of the race rank high among the
complex and manifold enterprises of the Fascist government.

Physical culture in its most varied forms, from simple medical
gymnastics to sports of every description, is a foremost considera-
tion. For this purpose the government has created the necessary-
instruments and centres, from gymnasium halls and simple play-
grounds to vast stadiums.

Mental and spiritual culture is provided for through the agency
of the far reaching and original activities of the National After
Work Recreation Societies, the Cinema, and countless other en-
terprises, calculated to form the new consciousness of the Italian
people.

It is beyond dispute that the activities of the cinema hold a
commanding position among the numerous state activities.

Besides the National Institute of Cinematography, the Fascist
government created the L. U. C. E. Institute which it reorgani-
zed by the Royal Decree of November 1925, and by later
amendments (1926 and 1929).

Then followed the foundation of the International Educa-
tional Cinematographic Institute which, although an international
organization, owes its origin to an initiative of the Italian Govern-
ment, which offered to house it, placing at its disposal two stately
and beautiful villas. By so doing the government showed its
desire to collaborate in the achievement of a human, noble and
universal goal, coordinating the energies brought to bear on the
development of this powerful instrument of world culture.

In this connection the Head of the Government in his report
accompanying the proposal submitted to the League of Nations
wrote :

241 —

« The cinema, which is still in the first stages of its evo-
lution, scores the great advantage over the book and the news-
paper of speaking directly to the eye, that is to say of using a lan-
guage comprehensible to all the peoples of the world. It is from
this fact that it derives its universal character and its consequent
innumerable possibilities for international collaboration in the
educational field ».

The cinema is therefore a powerful means of education
and, consequently, of moral elevation. An efficacious auxiliary
of applied science, it contributes to culture a form of iconography
which constitutes a universal language. This is a fact, and a fact
that is generally acknowledged, but not everyone, perhaps, will
enquire by means of what biological mechanism the cinema attains
such elevated and beneficial aims.

This is an interesting point, which it may not be out of place
to elucidate bv a — necessarily brief - - allusion to some prin-
ciples of the physiology of the central nervous system.

«Nihil est in intellectu quod prius non fuerit in sensuv. wrote
Aristotle, defining in his lapidary style one of the deepest
and most human laws of physiology, which unquestioned and
unmodified, has withstood the passing of the ages and the vicis-
situdes of human affairs. The senses are, so to speak, the great
entrance hall for notions and ideas, and sensation, as Professor
Sante de Sanctis has pointed out, is the first contact with reality:
transferred to the upper regions of the central nervous system
sensation is transformed into perception, that is to say into a
conscious and therefore more evolved notion, by means of a me-
chanism which is still surrounded by mystery. Galileo Galilei
said well that « to try to define essences is lost labour and a vain
endeavour » .

As this is a basic conception which forms the pivot of the
whole nervous system, it appears advisable to define more pre-
cisely the idea of the functions and the nature of sensations.

Normal man lives in an environment of sensation, both in-
ternal and external. From the interior sensational environment, that
is to say from the depths of being, he receives, through his general

242

sensibility, impressions regarding the state of his internal organs,
which are expressed in sensations of fitness or indisposition. From
his outer surroundings he receives impressions and stimuli from
the totality of his relations to environment. Such stimuli are
numerous. They excite the terminals of the sensitive nerves
in different ways, according to the nature of the stimulant, and of
the nervous system on which they react. The sensations caused
by external stimuli are always specific : visual, oral, olfactory and
tactile, and a special sense organ corresponds to each order of
sensation. To awaken sensation the stimuli must be adequate
in nature, intensity and duration.

There is consequently a limit, short of which sensations do not
register, and this limit is called the Threshold, taking its name from
Flechner, who discovered it and built a doctrine around it.

Sensation, generally speaking, does not stop at the organs
of sense but, conducted along the nerve apparatus (centripetal
or outgoing nerves) rises to the central nervous system, projecting
itself on the cerebral cortex, where again, by means of the still
undiscovered mechanism, it evolves into that more perfect activity,
perception, which is always conscious.

There is a profound difference between sensation and per-
ception. Sensation is elementary and consists in the mere presen-
tation of the object to the consciousness. Whereas, according to
Reid, perception is a more concentrated state of relations and reac-
tions, reinforced and illumined by a maximum of personal activity
(de Sanctis). We have perception when sensation is enriched and
completed by all the accompanying elements of judgment, trans-
forming itself into the most highly evolved state of conscious im-
pressions. Let us suppose that we are presented with a book. The
first impression received by the sense of sight is that it is a book,
but later, while examining it, we supplement the first impression by
many other elements ; the title, the author, the shape, the charac-
ters, the print, the number of pages, and so on. At this point
perception follows sensation and discovers numerous other qua-
lities wrhich did not register in our consciousness at first sight.

In the child the impression stops short at the rudimental

243 —

stage of sensation. But in proportion to the development and
perfectioning of the central nervous system, the sensations are
transformed into perceptions, at first incomplete, then complete.

Among other aims, education has that of awaking adequate
perceptions .

But perception does not stop or end where it arises. In other
words, our higher nervous system does not react in the same
way as a musical instrument, which, after the sound has been
produced, returns to its normal state. On the contrary our cerebral
cortex is like a telegraphic apparatus in which the transmission of
the word remains impressed, as upon a strip of paper. In the
same way the perceptions leave traces of their passsage, adhering
to our memory.

The perceptions themselves are the cause of other stimuli,
which pass through the nervous system in an inverse sense to the
primitive sense stimuli. Instead of rising like the former, they
descend. That is to say, they move from within outward, from
the center to the periphery, conducted down #e centrifugal nerves
to reach the several organs, where they awaken different orders
of reaction. These are psychic-reflex actions, stimulated by
experienced sensations and carried out by voluntary reactions.

Let us take an example : when climbing a hill, we see a preci-
pice yawning at our feet. The image of the precipice, formed
at the back of the eyeball, traversing the centripetal passage of
the optic nerve, is projected on the cortex zone of the occipital lobe,
where it is transformed into a conscious perception, permitting
us, in this case, to gain a complete notion of the precipice, that is
to say to form an estimate, with the assistance of our memories, of
its depth, form and steepness, the rocky or earthy nature of its
sides, the vegetation or lack of it, and so forth. This closes the
first phase.

Then the second opens. The perception of the precipice
and, consequently of the danger, releases a new stimulus within
us, which by conduction from the center down the centrifugal
nervous system, reaches the muscular apparatus of locomotion,
where it is transformed into a series of voluntary motions, coordi-
nated and adequate to obviate the fall.

— 244

This mechanism, constituting the « nervous process » which,
arising from the simple sight of a precipice, continues and cul-
minates in a series of reflex actions calculated to avoid the fall,
takes place rapidly in the normal individual without any break
between the first and the second phase.

.Similar examples might be multiplied ad infinitum, also with
regard to the other sensations, auditory (a sound that causes
the head to be turned in the direction from which it comes,
olfactory (the perfume of a flower that causes a dilating of the
nostrils and a deepened respiration), and so on.

It is always a question of reflexes which are interwoven into
our whole psychic life as « no sensory reverberation is without
a centrifugal reverberation », according to Professor Patrizi. To
believe, for instance, that « a word, a sound, entering the ear,
stops at the alleged auditive-verbal center of the listener, and
does not move down in minute waves to the muscles of his
mouth, would be like supposing that a bell does not resound
at the antipodes of the spot where the clapper beats ». (The pre-
face letter to R. Bruglia's book on « The Irreality of the Nervous
Centers»).

This question of reflexes is still enormously complicated, and
although it has entered the field of experimental investigation and
promises success, it is still full of incognita. So much so, that
Paulow, after twenty years of memorable experiments, exclaimed
that at the end of this first phase of his formidable task he saw
stretching out before him a much longer series of problems than
those he had seen before embarking on his venture.

As far back as three hundred years ago, Descartes had started
the notion of the « reflexes)), as a fundamental activity of the higher
nervous system. Every activity of the organism, according to
Paulow, is nothing more than a response (reflex) to the sensation
produced by a stimulus proceeding down the nervous passages
which serve as a diastyle arch of passage. The theory of re-
flexes has cast much light on the complicated phenomenon of
the associative power of sensations, perceptions, representations
in psychic life, all dominated by these reflexes, which are internal

2-ingl 245

and external, congenital (instinctive, according to some) and con-
ditioned ; simple and complex, positive and negative (inhibitory).

Among the reflexes that have been most studied are the ali-
mentary reflexes expressed by animals when craving food, the
degree of which Paulow estimated by the quantity of saliva segre-
gated in a given unit of time under the impression of diverse
and not only alimentary stimuli. Then there is the preservative
stimulus, by virtue of which the animal recedes from destructive
stimuli in search of safety. And further, the liberty stimulus,
which provokes the defence reaction in the animal when one
tries to snare it. And again, the investigation stimulus, which
makes the animal turn its head and prick up its ears as a sign of
recognition of a sound. These reflexes manifest themselves
in different ways, according to the subject. For instance, the
investigation reflex that takes place in the animal, by the raising
of its head and the pricking up of its ears, provokes in men of
genius grand und unexpected reactions, sometimes leading to
discoveries that further the progress of science.

Reflexes are largely dominant in emotional states : commo-
tion, blushing, acceleration of the pulse and breath, weeping,
laughter, heightened temperature, are so many reflex activities.

After these allusions to sensations, perceptions and reflexes
in general, which are to be found among the fundamental elements
of psychic life, we may now return to the specific sensations and
the respective organs of receptive sense, the highest of which in
normal man is doubtless the organ of sight. The eye is the window
of the spirit on the outer world. It is also the fundamental organ
for the cinematic function.

The eye is formed on the principle of the « camera obscura »,
in which the collective (crystalline) lens unites in the rear the
luminous rays that form on the retina a diminutive and inverted
picture of the objects perceived in the field of vision.

The retina is the indispensable intermediary beween the phy-
sical phenomenon of light (vibration of ether) and the physiolo-
gical phenomenon of sensory excitation (vibration of the nervous
elements) . The vision on the retina reaches its maximum intensity
in the « macula lutea » or more precisely in the « foveola centralis ».

— 246

The retina is not only sensitive to luminous rays, but to other
stimuli ; mechanical (pressure), traumatic (puncture), electric (cur-
rent). But it invariably reacts to luminous sensations (phosphorous)
according to the noted principle of the specific energy of nervous
apparatus, whereby any given apparatus under the stimulus of
different impulses always gives the specific sensations inherent in
its nature.

The visual image projects itself along the optic nerve by means
of a nervous impulse towards the primary optic centers. It passes
these to reach the area striata of the occipital lobe of the brain
cortex, a zone which is composed of one and a half billion cells
of grey matter. Visual sensations are divided into sensations of
light, and chromatic (colour) sensations (Sante de Sanctis). Alto-
gether, there exist a total of 32,820 different visual sensations.

The visual sensations are extremely complex and, transferred
to the upper nervous system, are the cause of innumerable percep-
tions and primitive judgments, mnemonic, singular, associative,
static, dynamic, and so on. The visual sensation, like other sen-
sations, persists for a certain time in the respective organs.

As a result of this fundamental character, a luminous dot,
moving rapidly in a given direction, gives us the sensation of a
continuous, not a broken line. This principle is fundamental for
the continuity of cinematic images.

The images on the retina are inverted, but we see them upright,
because what we see is not within, but outside ourselves, in space
(psychic operation). Also the fusion of the images caused by the
pair of eyes, is the result of a psychic operation.

Light, aided by the education formed by the example of
the other sense organs, enables us to estimate (by psychic judgment)
the form of objects, their dimensions and consequently their size.
These are characteristics which we gather not from the dimensions
of the images, which are well under life size, but through processes
of the mind due to mnemonic residues and to the estimate
of distance. Light enables us to estimate the shape of objects ;
their position in space (sense of locality), their condition of rest or
motion, the direction and velocity of motion. It enables us further
to estimate the depth of space.

247 —

In brief, a large, perhaps the largest part of the biological
characteristics of the way of being, of the arrangement and rela-
tionship of all our surroundings, perceptions and sensations, is
presented to our mind by means of sight, rightly classed with
hearing and feeling, though certainly more potent than these,
among the « senses of knowledge ».

The reference made to the visual center of the occipital lobe
of the brain incidentalty reminds us of the vexed question of
the existence or nonexistence of the cortical centers, custodians
of all organic activity.

Authoritative voices have been raised against the concept of
Charcot's school, which considered the grey matter of the cerebral
convolutions as a federation of organs (neurones) each of which
had a distinct property, function and faculty. Cowers enjoined that
this « center » must not be interpreted in a narrow, topographical,
or geometric sense. Golgi himself believed that not only cell bod-
ies but the diffused fibrillous net took part in the psycho-senso-
rial activity. The distinguished physiologist, Loeb, denied as far
back as twenty years ago, that the various motor sensory and psychic
reactions were necessarily restricted to special cortical zones. Brugia
quotes these authorities in his recent work, « The Unreality of
the Nervous Centers » and in the volume published this year
« A Revision of the Doctrine of Cerebral Localisation », in which
the author has accumulated an immense mass of evidence, taken
more especially from war surgery, to support his new doctrine
of the Functional Unity of the Nervous System, as opposed to the
opposite doctrine of independent neurones and their localization.

In spite of all this, the old theory of the nervous centers has
still many supporters who can boast of much experimental evi-
dence. However that may be, this is not the place to discuss this
much contended issue. It must suffice to have pointed it out.

But this controversy does not in any way detract from the phy-
siological and psychological importance of sight as a most effi-
cacious means of communication with the outer world, also be-
cause the activity of the occipital lobes (area striata and more
especially the occipital pole) as a reference goal of the visual

248

sensory perceptive organs, is admitted even by many of the oppon-
ents of the doctrine of nervous centers. In the observations made
on certain aspects of the physiology of the central nervous system,
there are many elements that have a bearing on the biological
mechanism of cinematic images, that is to say, on the influence
exercised on our psyche by the living picture of the cinema. These
include sensations in general, and visual sensations in particular,
the phenomena of perception and the vast stretch of psycho-
motor and psycho-sensory reflexes.

The secret of the suggestive power of the cinema lies in the
manner of utilising these various constituent elements of biolo-
gical reactions, and raising them to a high degree of sensory signifi-
cance.

Each of the Fine Arts has its own mode of manifestation, and
its own appeal to heart and mind, and it is not my intention to
make comparisons between forms of art that are incomparable.
Neverheless, it is unquestionable that as regards the sensory aspect,
certain cinematic images are sometimes more significant than
other forms of art.

Take, for example, a landscape. A writer may describe it in
clear and adequate words, enabling you to perceive it with the
mind's eye (mental vision) in all its fascination. A painter, on the
other hand, will fix it on his canvas, giving you a conception of its
reality : but it is a static reality, the fleeting moment held fast by
the painter's brush. Whereas on the screen you see the landscape
in all its reality, in its dynamic reality. The mountains, the
valleys, the houses clustering round the church, the towering cam-
panile, the animals moving under the shady trees with the foliage
stirred by the wind, men going about their business. In these
images all the manifestations of life are woven together with a grand
variety of lights and forms that give relief to the picture. I do
not mean to assert that for this reason cinematographic art is
superior to that of writing or painting : each has its own special
and unique advantages ; but doubtless the landscape projected
on the screen assumes for the majority a more convincing, more
humanly eloquent appeal, because cinematographic representations

249 —

are not above anybody's level, while a certain habit of culture
is required to understand the beauty of a poem or a prose passage.

The factors which contribute to the expressive energy of
the cinema are of various orders. Some act subjectively, others
objectively. The former are physio-psychological and refer to the
spectator : the others are of a technical order and concern the
art of the cinema itself.

Foremost among the factors of the first category is the
elementary or fundamental character of the cinematograph : that
of teaching us by natural images as Nature herself does. Man
in relation to the cinema is in identically the same position as
man in relation to nature. He learns by seeing. But there is a
difference : the cinema shows a much greater number of images in
a given unit of time than Nature can. Take, for example, the
film of a scientific expedition : in an hour it will show you the
events of several months.

There is another consideration to be made. Man is naturally
inclined to be « visual ». He is born an image maker and almost
instinctively clothes every abstract idea in concrete forms.

The method of art, personifying incorporeal entities, is also
that of nature. Thus a painter personifies the images of virtue,
vice, justice, and so forth, on his canvas. Visual images predo-
minate in our consciousness, and this is most providential,
because without this tendency many abstract ideas would be in-
comprehensible to the majority of us, if they could not be
conveyed by means of images.

« Mental iconography », as de Sanctis says, « is a common
phenomenon ». It is the instinctive tendency of man, who finds
his natural mental food in the moving picture.

The cinema, as we have already pointed out, utilizes on a
large scale the physiological phenomenon of the persistency for
a certain period of the sensation at the back of the eye-ball, as a
result of which the images corresponding to the various instants
of the action follow in a succession of absolute continuity, giving
the illusion of a single image of animated things, very much
like what happens in nature. Interesting cinematographic specta-

— 250

cles have further the virtue of stimulating the attention of the
spectator, which is a psychic aspect of the greatest importance, di-
recting the attention towards the object in order to know it and its
details. It often succeeds in awakening in the spectator the still rarer
spirit of enquiry, the sense of « investigation », which lies beyond
the threshold of sensation, making people « visual » who are not
generally so. There are many wTho have not visual perceptions,
in the sense of seeing what surrounds them. Among such are
often people of high culture, absorbed in interior reflection. Such
people, on returning from a walk, will not recall any faces they have
seen. After a drive they will not know whether it was uphill
or downhill, whether the vegetation was rich or consisted chiefly
of trees, whether the sun shone or clouds obscured it. On the
other hand, as Scarfoglio has pointed out, such details do not escape
the « visual », and endow him with a psychological patrimony of
images that are stored up in his memory. The cinema acts in
this sense : awakening our attention, it leads us to look beyond
the conventional goal, increasing, so to speak, the excitability of
our visual apparatus, thereby lowering the threshold of sensibility.

The cinema is also a powerful memoriser, for its images which
are merely living symbols distributed on the screen and woven
into the pictures of the series, form a sort of mnemonic chain
which clings to the memory.

This is an important aspect of our psychic life. We know
in proportion as we succeed in remembering.

Once it was assumed that everything encountered by the sen-
ses remained lodged in the memory. Today it is generally believed
that perhaps only about ten per cent of our mental operations be-
come concrete and make an impression on our memory. All the
rest remain in the vast domain of the subconscious. What we
call conscious perceptions are nothing but the peaks of symbolic
promontories the bases of which are hidden in the depths of the
subconscious.

This has been pointed out by William Wralker Atkinson who
illustrated the concept by an apt comparison. We are, he says,
so to speak in a forest on a dark night, holding a lantern in our

251 —

hands. The lantern lights up a small luminous circle around
us, which is sorrounded by an ample ring of shadow; beyond this
there is complete blackness.

The bright circle is our consciousness, in which by degrees
and as required, there arise subconscions impressions, as from the
dark ring of shadow. In no one moment of our psychic life do
we succeed in attaining consciousness of more than a small part
of what is stored in our minds. And many things that seem for-
gotten and which we have possibly tried in vain to recall, rush up
in our minds at a given moment almost involuntarily, by a sort of
automatic impulse.

Our subconsciousness may be likened to a great reservoir, in
which impressions are deposited and stored. But not all impressions.

Only those to which we have given a certain attention. The
« size and form » of the impression is indeed in proportion to the
amount of attention given at the moment when the impression was
produced.

It has already been pointed out what a powerful stimulator
of attention the screen is, and as such it must necessarily contri-
bute to feed our memory and therefore to our education, all
the more as the sense of sight is recognised as the one that is the
most apt and most instrumental in aiding the mind to register cor-
rectly the impressions received.

The cinema also plays a large part in the zone of psychic re-
flex actions, both on account of the state of soul and the emotional
impulses inherent in the nature of some subjects and on account
of its « mimicry ».

« The face is the tacit voice of the soul », said Goethe, wishing
to express how our most intimate sentiments are registered and
transmitted by it.

Mimicry is a language apart, supremely capable of expressing
our state of soul by the facial expression and by gestures. No fewer
than seventeen muscles concur in the formation of our facial
expression. Much has been said and written on the subject.
There is passionate, natural mimicry, with automatic and reflex
expressions, betraying the most diverse states of mind : joy, suffer-

252

ing, fear, anger, desire, and so on. And then there is intentional
mimicry, voluntary or semi-voluntary, which is artificial and
dependent on the will of the actor, who deliberately interprets the
psychic states of which it is the expression.

The cinema avails itself largely of this form of language to
exteriorise the states of soul of the actors.

By a similar complexity of subjective reactions, called forth
in the spectators by means of psycho-reflective mechanisms, the
cinema achieves its educational aims.

But what is the intrinsic virtue of the cinema, which makes it
capable of arousing such vast psychic sensory reactions? It is
doubtless the particular character inherent in this form of art and
its technical excellence.

Foremost among its characteristics is that of universality.
The language of the cinema, consisting of pictures, is universal,
speaking to all peoples regardless of the bounds of state frontiers.

The technical means at the disposal of this cinematic apparatus
ensures the production of images of extraordinary luminosity and
vivacity.

Everyone has been at times impressed by the suggestive fasci-
nation of the luminous effects of sunrise, sunset, moonlight nights,
and so on.

The cinema can further get inspiration from the real and often
does so. Nothing is more interesting and more attractive than
reality. I remember a cinema known as « The Real Cinema » that
once existed in Rome, and that reserved every Friday for scenes
from actual life. They were highly instructive and people fre-
quented the cinema more on that day than on any other. I recall
scenes of great artistic and cultural significance such as studies of
the bottom of the sea, the life of infusoria, the biology of
pathogenic germs, some manufacturing processes, such as that of
iron, the picking and manufacture of cotton and so on : all
processes not generally or only imperfectly known, and which
yet contribute enormously to general culture.

Another asset of the cinema is that of movement, enabling us
to appreciate, for example in an animal, all its typical characteristics;

253 —

not only its shape, size and general exterior, but also its move-
ments, expression, way of jumping, running, etc., elements that
escape a stationary projection.

The cinema takes us to the remotest parts of the earth, ena-
bling us to perceive the configurations, hydrography, orography,
uses and customs of regions otherwise inaccessible.

Over and above this body of intrinsic factors, objective and
subjective, there is a body of extrinsic factors.

Among these are the captions which greatly facilitate the
interpretation of certain situations, that are not rendered suffi-
ciently clear by the image itself.

The musical accompaniment is another important factor, form-
ing a significant comment on the action and a powerful auxiliary
stimulator of the attention. In a well selected and well executed
musical accompaniment the action lives and palpitates, following
the various phases of the idea, the most subtle nuances of feeling
and the impetus of dramatic situations.

The sense of hearing, coupled with that of seeing, increases
the vivacity and number of impressions on the onlooker, awakening
strong sensory motor reflexes.

But, as Mussolini pointed out in the words quoted at the com-
mencement of this article, the cinema is still at the first stages of
its evolution. There are « other peaks already being scaled », the
cinematography of colour, the talking film and the three dimen-
sional film.

Innovations that will revolutionize the whole motion picture
field, by the realization of undreamt of efficacy of expression.

But that is beyond the theme of this article.

Concluding, I should like to state my belief that the educa-
tional film should draw its inspiration above all from real life.
I have already pointed out the enhanced interest of such represen-
tations. But all false appearances, all trickery should be avoided.

Sometimes, no doubt, dissimulation is necessary, but it
should never be exaggerated, as now is often the case when the
whole action is relegated to a plane of irreality that is often
grotesque. Such aberrations deform the aesthetic sensibilities,
the good taste and spirit of inquiry of the public.

— 254

And here I am not alluding to the moral character of films,
which should always be above reproach, as otherwise the cinema,
with its powerful appeal to the imagination, risks becoming a
school for vice and crime.

Here the objection may be raised that the public enjoys im-
probable situations and scenes of pure criminality. But this
is not a good argument. I recall a famous orchestra director who
resolutely faced unpopularity in order to inspire the public with'
a new sense of art. After years of patient and persevering labour
he triumphed, awakening his audiences to enthusiasm for and
comprehension of classical compositions, not easy to follow on
account of their technical structure.

And such examples are to be found in all the domains of
Art. They should serve as a warning. The great mission of the
socalled silent screen is to raise the spiritual standard of the
people, cultivating its taste for the beautiful and true, drawn
chiefly from reality. The cinema, far from being silent, speaks
a universal language to heart and mind.

Dr. Alberto Lutrario

Member of the International Health
Committee of the League of Nations.

255

THE DOCUMENTARY FILM IN SPANISH AMERICA

{From the Spanish)

America is one vast landscape. It is certainly the home of
a magnificent wealth of scenery, created by the different climates,
.and also partly by the populations themselves, who transfigure
more and more the native physiognomy of the land.

Spanish America, more especially, is a veritable panoramic
feast, a storehouse of beauty for the tired eyes of the old world,
weary of its own geography, grown static and stale by familiarity.
A sprinkling of groups of men, cities and villages scattered through-
out vast stretches of bounteous land, which absorbs and conceals, as
it were, the human element, and where geographical phenomena
and the splendour of the local flora and fauna prevail.

Looking towards our Continent, Europe conjures up a vision
of Spanish America with the far — off chain of the Andes, in-
terminable plains, and its ocean — washed shores.

(Ed. Note) Sefiorita Mistral enjoys a high reputation in Latin Ame-
rica as a writer and poetess and an authority on all pedagogical matters.
The subject dealt with in her article, which we have pleasure in publishing
herewith, is one of very general interest. We do not hesitate to express
our pride in the practical part we are able to play in the pursuit of what
Sefiorita Mistral stresses as one of the fundamental purposes of such an
Institute. The documentary film is a powerful instrument and one that
offers great business possibilities to producers. It is obvious that it
should not be abandoned to the arbitrary judgement of persons lacking
in technical knowledge and general culture. The documentary film,
as Prof. Jerefeyew pointed out in our first number, is of immense value
and presents the greatest difficulties ; difficulties not less formidable,
perhaps, than those with which the theatrical film has to deal. It should
interest, entertain, and elevate, have the power to stir the spirit and to
express the poetry and grandeur of the things it shows and teaches.

The conquest of sound and colour open up new and brilliant horizons
to the documentary film. This Institute watches all its phases with the
keenest interest, and we are grateful to Sefiorita Mistral for stressing
its paramount importance to the Review and the Institute.

— 256

But how diverse and complex is this Chain of the Andes!
The wild mountain imagined by the European is a complex system
of uncultured peaks, of broad plateaus, of slopes and valleys that
cut it up in all directions.

In Anahuac, the plateau turns into the richest geological
station imaginable : volcanoes of fantastic shapes, set in a crystal-
line atmosphere, surrounded by the most elegant and decorative
of vegetation. Towards the Equator, the chain of the Andes forms
the famous avenue of volcanic peaks, a kind of fantastic passage in
a magnificent setting, along its whole course under the menace
of that fearsome presence. Towards Bolivia, the plateau is known
as the « puna », vegetation becomes scanty, but still sufficient to
feed flocks. This is the country where herds of llamas, vicunas,
and alpacas hold their sway — beasts more symbolic of this con-
tinent than the eagle on the shield, for in no other quarter of the
globe are they to be found. After the plateaus, come the mountain
chains, the « sierras », a zone intermediate between the summits and
the plains ; most beautiful in its variety, and the seat of towns
which, like the Peruvian Cuzco, stand between the splendour of
the heights and the fertile valleys, dominating two diverse zones
of life and cultivation.

These mountains, so naked in their heights, so richly wooded
lower down — the Dry Chain (Cordillera) and the Humid Chain,
as the geographers term them — are but scantily recorded by pho-
tograph or drawing, and hardly known to their own people.

Our populations will acquire lucid and tangible knowledge
of the Mother Mountain through the documentary film.

Right from its mountainous spine, our America is a plain,
woody in the basin of the Amazon, steppe-like in Venezuela,
a garden towards the centre of Chile.

The first, the typical tropical forest, has remained as un-
known to us Americans as the mountain chain itself, the Cordil-
leras. Hidden in the heart of the Continent, and the living soul
thereof, the forest of the Amazons is far removed from the coast,
where the cities are. A few botanists have investigated some of
its most essential aspects and its principal river has been crossed
only by a few Indian oarsmen.

257

The Cinema will penetrate into this virgin zone, in which
everything is still new and full of the beauty and mystery of the
infancy of the world. The film will record the abundant foliage
and the exquiste blossoms of the rarest and most aristocratic ve-
getation, vegetation to be found neither in the Hindustan forests
nor in the Sudanese. The most powerful and colossal of these
growths will yield photograms which will be to botanical litera-
ture what the ancient statues of Hercules and Jove are to the litera-
ture of the plastic arts.

These films will show us the rich life of rubber, bambu and
liana, through which the deer of the Mexican valleys run swiftly
and the Brazilian jaguar passes in a terrifying golden flash.

The American plain is a kindly region to mankind. The
Argentine « pampa » is the freest community of men that this
planet has created. Noble and monotonous, nowhere else does
a solitary tree give such a sensation of company and comfort. The
ombii grows human and becomes the Booz of the vast green plains.

The tamed plain, the Europe-like plain, which the hand of
man has turned into fertile fields and cultivated with love, like
the Chilean plain, proves by its circle of orchards and its perfect
vineyards that we have in America lands similar to those of
France and Italy, where the primordial wilderness has become
a land of wealth and plenty.

America, in its geological, vegetable and animal aspects is a
formidable virgin block of our planet. The descriptions of Hum-
bolt, Reclus, Denis and Bruhnes have failed to make a wide
appeal, because some are too arid, others lacking in synthesis ;
they will never reach the masses. Only the Cinema has the
power to make geographly live in a way comprehensible to the
popular imagination.

Modern man seeks to grasp the globe, to possess it with an
avidity unknown to his forefathers. Asia has availed itself of this
thirst for knowledge and reproduced in its monuments the com-
pletest expressions of nature. Our America is following in Asia's
footsteps.

Maps appeal only to geographers. But children, like their

258

elders - - who are even as big children in spirit — have a particular
dislike of maps, a dislike with which I was only too familiar in
my ten years ' teaching experience. Nothing more inert and aloof
than maps could have been devised to teach something vital and
concrete. Islands, however beautiful, lose all appeal to the emo-
tions. Fjords become mere blue traceries ; forests a dull green
patch, the maiestic line of the mountains a dark serpentine line
that conveys nothing to the imagination.

To a child of ten a map is as remote a thing as a theological
problem.

This pedantic and paralytic form of teaching will begin to
quicken with real life by virtue of the cinema, which will show
living landscapes.

It will give voice to the river's flow, clothe the ocean wastes
with colour ; galvanize into life the serpentine line of the moun-
tains and the little black rings that indicate the towns.

The new form of teaching will give organic form to the multi-
tude of separate visions created by the cinema. Thus we shall have
no arid text, but animated geography, that long-felt want, which
all of us have felt : geography which will show the world to the
child as the busy platform where men and beasts and plants live
and have their being, not separated by artificially parallel lines,
but merging harmoniously one with the other.

I believe that the documentary film will bring our minds into
touch with the European mind, and that for efficacy as a medium
of information it will be superior to any written propaganda, which
is so generally trite and distorted by exaggeration. The film will
tell of our beautiful country without hyperbole and without risk
of falsehood.

The Educational Cinematographic Institute can do for us what
no other International Institute in Europe has done by inciting
the studious and the well-disposed to become acquainted with our
land, pursuing the paths of work already accomplished, uniting
them for a single purpose and purifying by the documentary
and geographical film the morass of banal and ill-fashioned films
which flood our markets. It need not come into clash with any

259 —

industrial interests in order to accomplish this purpose. It will
suffice to point out to the American peoples what films there are
available illustrating the problems, the panorama, the habits and
the history of our land. The Latin American Countries will'
themselves make their choice.

In a later article, we will consider the documentary film as
applied to the divulgation of the ancient civilizations of America,
civilizations so much despised and so soon forgotten by the Euro-
peans.

Gabriela Mistral.

260

THE EDUCATIONAL FILM IN FRANCE

{from the French)

No leader, no Alexander, no Napoleon, ever conquered the
world with the lightning rapidity with which the cinema has con-
quered it, and no conquerer ever consolidated his conquest so
firmly and lastingly.

Thirty-four years ago there was only one film screen in
the whole world. The men who timidly installed it on Decem-
ber 28, 1895 in the modest sous-sol of a Parisian cafe at number 14
Boulevard des Capucins, were the brothers August and Louis
Lumiere, two great scientists with a predestined name. The appa-
rition of a train at the end of railway line, advancing with a tiny
engine, gradually increasing in size and suddenly looming large,
as if it were going to invade the whole room and swrallow up the
spectators, made a tremendous impression. Nothing of the kind
had ever been seen anywhere. In 1898, under the National symbol
of the Gallic Cock of Pathe and that of the Marguerite of Gau-
mont, film screens were put up in most of the big cities of the
world ; then little by little, the great French invention affirmed
its sway. Today the cinema is an ubiquitous and indispensable
feature of civilization, and its suggestive power is unlimited.

Having rent the heavy veil of distance, it everywhere has its
cities where it commands in its quality of founder and animator.
It has its people of artists, workmen and enthusiasts. Every day,
in the hundred and twenty or hundred and thirty thousand thea-
tres scattered throughout the different continents, over forty million
devotees passionately follow the pictures which it offers them.

For a certain time sceptics thought that the cinema was
a passing vogue, but today one cannot escape the fact that
it has definitely established itself as one of our major means of
knowledge, a means more powerful than the printed newspaper.
Has it not long ago been pointed out that the mind is much more

3-ingl. 26l —

responsive to sight than to hearing ? And has it not been proved
that words penetrate the memory more effectively when they are
illustrated by living images ? It was these considerations that led
to the introduction of the moving picture wherever it was able
to teach or instruct, to develop intelligence and to improve taste.
By illustrating life in movement, the cinema educates simul-
taneously the eye and the mind, as nothing can give a better re-
production of Nature and her manifold secrets, and the actions of
men and of animals. It does not only imitate, but it analyses, often
proving superior to our senses ; thanks to the system of accele-
ration and « slow motion » it can, by revealing their several phases,
illustrate processes which escape us, such as the growth of a plant,
the birth of a flower and numerous other phenomena which cannot
be rendered either by words, or by the most perfectly conceived
book or marvellously drawn design.

An incomparable explorer, the cinema facilitates travel in
regions difficult of access, for instance the north and south
poles. With it we can venture into the strange and treacherous
jungle, even to the bottom of the sea, to pursue fascinating and
surprising studies of its flora and fauna. It reveals to us the
curious life of insects, and penetrates, with the most surprising
facility in the world, the physiological laws of the human
organism. Thanks to its partnership with the ultra-microscope
it opens up to us the vast realm of elementary life : amoeba,
trypanosoma, phagocytes, bacilli, infusoria, etc.

In this manner it investigates occult reality, but, also on
occasion a poet, it is a creator of dreams, and following its own
caprice, can bring to life the fairies of olden times.

An incomparable instrument of thousands and hundreds
of thousands of marvels, how could the cinema possibly fail to
achieve economic and social importance in human society, as we see
it doing every day ? And what arguments can avail to oppose
its future progress and the still undreamed of developments of its
immortal art ? Newspapers and reviews show us that the desire
to utilize the motion picture to reflect their civilization and cul-
ture is common to all nations ; by its means they display their

262

scientific, industrial and agricultural activities, their artistic wealth,
their scenery, their colonial products, etc. And it is good that
they should do so, for it is up to each nation to accelerate and
advance the development of its own country.

The relations of the cinema to intellectual life could not fail
eventually to attract the attention of the League of Nations.
In the course of the session of July 1924, the League became
acquainted with the study by M. Julien Luchaire, then
Expert of the International Commission for Intellectual Cooper-
ation, and officially recognised the cinema as a new art, and one
of the most powerful means of expressing and spreading human
thought and of forming the mind. This gave rise to the reso-
lution taken by the National French Committee of Intellectual
Cooperation to convene a great international congress, held in Paris
from September 22 to October 3, 1926, which assembled a hun-
dred and thirty-two delegates, representing thirty-two nations.
M. Julien Luchaire, Director of the International Institute of
Intellectual Cooperation, was general reporter, and X. G. Michel
Ccissac assistant reporter. It should be mentioned here that M.
Coissac had taken on his shoulders the heavy task of studying
and reporting, in collaboration with M. Jean Benoit-Levy, all
questions having reference to the important problems of edu-
cation by the film. A great step forward was thus made.

In this Review, more particulars consecrated to the educational
cinema, we propose to show in a brief essay what France has
done to place the brilliant invention of the brothers Lumiere
at the sen-ice of every form of instruction, and to adapt it to
every environment, from the Faculties and principal Schools, the
Grammar Schools, Colleges, and Normal Schools, down to the
urban and rural Primary Schools, passing through the Training
Colleges and the Offices d* orientation (vocation selection bureaus),
to the Schools of Agriculture, Public Health Offices, and Evening
Schools.

263

We do not for a moment propose to re-edit the voluminous
reports and long studies forming the basis of the numerous con-
gresses; that would lead us too far. We dare modestly claim how-
ever that, having followed the cinema from its cradle, we have
always taken an unfailing interest in its intellectual future and
its moral influence.

Let us here recall briefly the debut of the educational film
in France and the pioneers of this most useful application of the
moving picture.

While this creation of scientists was from its advent hailed
in most countries as a natural instrument of teaching, it was,
nevertheless, a far cry from intention to accomplishment. In
its beginnings the film was simply a transmitter of realities,
even in those pleasing fantasies which were then popular.

Neither the Brothers Lumiere themselves nor those who
between 1895 and 1900 gave their energies to this marvellous
invention, would have believed that its principal purpose would
for a long time have been completely overshadowed by what they
then considered an accessory one. But this is what happened. The
theatrical cinema swept all before it, while the original and es-
sential office of the cinema of instruction was well nigh forgotten.

The principle of the educational mission of the film was
formulated definitely in 1906. The late M. Edmond Benoit-
Levy, M. Leopold Bellan, former president of the Municipal
Council of Paris, and the writer were among its earliest sup-
porters. A few experiments were made here and there, followed
by some tentative lectures. In September 19 10 we laid before
the first International Cinematographic Congress at Brussels a
report on the school cinema, along with another on cinema
reform from the viewpoint of morals, for the infant prodigy was
already growing into a prodigal son.

Traces of lessons accompanied by cinematographic instruction
in 1907 are to be found at the primary school of the rue Vitruve
in Paris. Then, in 191 1, M. Brucker, Professor of Natural
History at the Lycee Hoche in Versailles, illustrated his lectures
by moving pictures. It was after having assisted at one of these

— 264

lectures that the Inspector General M. Damirand wrote, « I left the
lecture hall convinced of the importance of the services which the
motion picture, judiciously handled, can contribute to instruction. »

As far back as 191 2, M. Leon Riotor, General Secretary
of « l'Art a l'Ecole » addressed the successive Ministers of Edu-
cation of that date on behalf of the Society, requesting them to
give their attention to the possibility of adapting the Seventh
Art to scholastic purposes, to open the normal schools to the
cinema, and to train the masters in the use of this new instru-
ment, which was destined to transform methods of education
and teaching. But unfortunately the war impeded the progress
towards this goal.

In 1 91 3, certain Paris Grammar Schools, the Condorcet,
Louis le Grand, Voltaire, Fenelon, and Jules Ferry followed the
example of the Versailles School. Had it not been for the war
all the secondary schools of Paris and a large number of grammar
schools and colleges in the provinces would soon have had their
cinemas.

In the capital and the provinces a certain number of teachers,
much to their credit, installed cinema material at their own expense,
chosen at random from stocks which had been rather artificially
assembled by the first publishers, Pathe and Gaumont. These were
far from fulfilling the purposes of instruction for which they
had been made, for close and sympathetic collaboration between
experts, specialists and pedagogues did not yet exist. Our thanks
are due to Dr. Doyen who in 1895, realising that an interesting
process such as a surgical operation could not be made clear in its
successive stages unless the cinema were employed, made and
projected his own films for « his personal instruction and that
of his pupils ». This famous operator was indeed the first to show
the importance of the cinema from the point of view of instruction.
Despite this fact Americans and Germans both claim this honour
of precedence for their own scientists and contest France's prio-
rity in the field.

Since 1901, Professor Garrigon Lagrange had devoted himself
to detailed studies in physics and chemistry, which justify

265 —

his name being inscribed in the list of pioneers of the scientific
cinema.

We will not say more on this subject, but refer those who from
necessity or curiosity wish to follow the long and tortuous course
of the cinema through its many transformations and its contri-
butions to social and spiritual life, and those who wish to become
acquainted with the work of its apostles, (le Collette, le Bruneau,
Paul Drouard, and others who are still in the thick of the fight),
to Part IV of the « History of the Cinematograph from Its Origins
to the Present Day » (i).

On November 23, 1915, M. L. Breton, Deputy to the Cham-
ber, placed on the table the draft of a resolution, requesting the
Minister of Education to form an extra - parliamentary Com-
mission to study the best means of diffusing the utilization of the
cinema in the different branches of instruction.

Indeed on March 23, 1916, this Commission was formed by
special decree : but its report, entrusted to M. August Besson,
did not see the light till 1920. This commission composed of
parliamentarians, directors and inspectors of education, professors
and industrialists, assisted at numerous experiments: then convin-
ced of the practical possibilities of the cinema, and desirous of
promoting them, it invited the Syndicalist Chamber to make every
possible effort to substitute films of a nature calculated to exalt
generous and noble sentiments such as patriotism for those likely
to produce a harmful effect on the imagination of the young
and even on uneducated adult audiences.

The ministers who have encouraged, the educational film are
numerous ; we will only mention a few, such as : M. Paul Pain-
leve, Andre Honnorat, Edouard Herriot, Leon Berard, Henri Che-
ron, Richard Ouenille.

(1) Histoire du Cinematographs de ses origines jusqu' a nos jours.
Preface by I. L. Breton, former Minister, Member of the Institut. A
work honoured by subscriptions from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
and of Agriculture, the Undersecretariat of technical instruction of the
City of Paris, the Councils General of the Seine, the City of Lyons, etc.
Paris 1925. Gauthier Villars and Editions du Cine'opse, pp. 515-587.

— 266

The City of Paris, acting on the suggestions of M. De Vill
and Leon Riotor, Municipal Counsellors, has, since 1921 taken
a series of initiatives which have had a most favorable influence.
The Municipal Council has thus set up cinemas in schools, es-
tablished the Paris Cinematheque (Film Collection) and a
commission of Enquiry and has, since 1923, included in the
municipal budget a substantial sum dedicated to producing
films for the purposes of vocational selection. All this was
done in perfect accord with the General Direction of Technical
Instruction. Encouraged by public and administrative support
the cinema is progressing slowly but surely.

It is true that though the screen has been installed in thousands
of schools, grammar schools, institutions and Faculties, it has not
yet been officially established as a compulsary adjunct, but it is
none the less, officially approved, encouraged and supported, and
we have every reason to hope that in the near future, thanks to
the National Office of the Educational Cinema, the foundations
of which M. Herriot formerly laid, cinographic teaching will
become compulsory.

We should note in this connection that ten or twelve thousand
official establishments already possess apparatus for moving pic-
tures. If we add to this figure the free schools, the boarding
schools, the soldiers' hostels and clubs, and including the after-
school institutions, we count the different foundations, munici-
palities and associations of all sorts, it is no exaggeration to say
that from sixteen to eighteen thousand apparatus are ready for
use for school and educational films.

Within a short time this number will be doubled as a result,
on the one hand, of apparatus better suited for the purpose and
the use of films of smaller dimensions and more accessible in price;
and on the other hand, of the multiplication appropriate films and
the extension of regional or even local film collections in accor-
dance with a methodical program now in process of realization
both at the Ministry of Public Instruction and at the Ministry
of Agriculture. As an innovation, several commissions composed of
educational authorities and technical experts have been nominated

267 —

to examine films covering every field of instruction, including
vocational training and guidance, agriculture, public health,
etc. ; the function of these commissions is to open competitions
among specialised publishers on certain subjects the need for which
has been recognized, or to view films presented by publishers
and authors, to accept them with or without modifications, or to
reject them. It sometimes happens that these Commissions them-
selves propose film subjects and even scenarios, leaving to the
technicians the task of adapting them.

There are not a few publishers at the present time who have
made a specialty of the production of educational films ; some
of these publishers have acquired a certain authority, restricting
their activities to definite branches, such as scientific and technical
films, films for vocational guidance, social and hygienic, agricul-
tural and industrial films, etc.

Generally speaking, it may be said that our big firms dis-
pose of a special service, to deal exclusively with instructional
films classified in authoritative catalogues. The day of improvi-
sations has passed ; everywhere it is realized that films for the
school cannot be treated as a commercial matter and there is no
longer any hesitation about having recourse to the advice of
experienced teachers, clever technicians, and when, necessary,
specialized students.

According to many writers, we still lack educational films.
It all depends what is meant by this word, and the importance given
to the teacher. Being fairly well acquainted with the catalogues
at the disposal of the public, and having, so to speak, dissected
them, we can claim that there is a long series of good films mainly
devoted to subjects of instruction ; natural science, geography,
history, etc., and a remarkable series on physical education, sport,
arts and crafts, metallurgy, and mechanics, aeronautics and avia-
tion, agriculture, the rural industries, vocational guidance, and
training schools, public welfare, hygiene, medicine, surgery, etc.

Mention must still be made of the documentary films con-
sisting of those built up from a scenario or picture, and those
composed of elements taken from the news reels ; these include

— 268

a far larger number of subjects appropriate to the education of
youth than is generally supposed.

Nor must we forget that thanks to the complicated apparatus
of micro-cinematography provided by M. Charles Pathe in 1909,
Dr. Jean Comandon was able to reveal on the screen intimate
phenomena of animal and vegetable metabolism and the develop-
ment and movement of infinitesimally minute beings. It is not
generally known how much patience was required to seize from
the objective the precise moment of the anticipated phenomenon,
in order to grasp and fix its successive stages on the cinemato-
graphic film and above all one has no idea of the number of
fruitless attempts which preceded the capture of such processes
as the division of a cell, an instance of phagocytose, etc.

The revelaation of these marvels of a world beyond the
grasp of our organs of sense has consecrated the science and
mastery of Dr. Comandon and established his world reputation.
No further particulars are necessary to justify us in affirming
that as regards instructional and educational films, France has
nothing to envy the New World ; she may even be the richer, but
she has yet to take stock of and publish her inventory ; and we
know that this task is now in hand.

(To be continued).

G. Michel Coissac.

269

AN APPARATUS FOR COLOURED CINEMATOGRAPHY
FOR THE PURPOSES OF MEDICAL INSTRUCTION.

(from the German)

There is no doubt that teaching is most efficacious when
assisted by ocular demonstration, when the student is able act-
ually to watch the thing he is studying.

As a rule, however, this is unfortunately not possible, either
because circumstances do not allow the pupils to be present
all together, or because many practical experiments are not fully
demonstrable. This applies especially to the field of medicine,
for instance to surgery, gynecology, etc., which demand many
i llustrations of such phenomena as operations, childbirth, and so on.

Such demonstrations may be satisfactorily replaced by mov-
ing pictures which, much enlarged, are made accessible to the
spectator, adding the force of vision to the spoken word. Such
moving pictures may be carried out either in black and white or
in colors, by means of mosaic plates, which latter are preferable
as the former reproduce only imperfectly the shading of red
objects, the color most frequent in operations, making them
appear almost black.

In spite of this, projections in black and white are much more
frequently employed than colored projections, because they can
be reproduced any number of times, can be printed on paper, and
are less costly.

But both these methods have the great disadvantage of im-
mobility, as a result of which it is only possible to reproduce single
phases of a vital process.

(Ed. Note) We have pleasure in publishing herewith Prof. Tietze's
article, and shall always be happy to open our pages to any papers dealing
with new systems and processes and accounts of all that is being achieved
in the domains of technical knowledge and science for the improvement
of the cinematograph and so as to render it available for the purposes
of teaching and general culture.

— 270

The motion pictures of the cinema eliminate this defect and
render possible an analysis of complicated processes. For the above
reasons, color cinematography ranks first in the field, also here,
although it has not been possible to make an extended use of it,
because the various processes which it includes, that is to say,
the cumulative synthesis, are obstructed by numerous difficulties.
Among these are the diminished luminous sensibility, the outlines
which exhibit exaggerated or decomposed coloring, the compli-
cated apparatus.

The « Emil Busch » Co. of Rathenow in Germany has succeed-
ed in creating a process of colored cinematography for medical in-
struction which is free from all these defects and which has been
used for over a year with satisfactory results in the surgical clinics
of the Universities of Berlin and Marburg.

This process also is based on the cumulative principle, that
is to say, with the auxiliary of philtres, colored respectively in
blue-green and orange-red, by means of which two partial negative
visuals are obtained differing only in tone.

On printing such negatives the positives are obtained for pro-
jection on the screen by means of two objectives; the colored films
in green-blue and red-orange produce one red and one green
image which unite. Thus one single image is formed of approxi-
mately natural tints, and fully meets many practical requirements
and above all those of medicine.

The two-color system, however, does not reproduce the chrom-
atic nuances as perfectly as a multi-colored process ; yet it is
adeguate for the reproduction of the red - orange and the green
-blue, with parts in black and in white, and also for white, grey,
black, light grey-blue, and dark blue.

In contrast to the multi-colored system, this method has the
advantage of a simple technical application and therefore of greater
economy, especially as a normal film ribbon is used for taking the
photograph and for the projection.

Figure one shows a Busch Color film and a normal film,
and demonstrates how the partial images of the color film when
united have the size of the normal cinematographic image, and that

271 —

they are inclined at an angle of ninety degrees. This inclination
permits the use of the usual longitudinal format and is a result
of the horizontal course of the film during the making.

Consequently the film ought to run horizontally, also during
the projection, for otherwise the pictures would be reproduced

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with the aforesaid inclination of ninety degrees. Now, in order
to be able to use ordinary projectors the vertical movement of
the film is maintained and the angular inclination of the images
avoided by means of adjustment prisms.

Figure two shows the filming system and the finder.

It is composed chiefly of a double prism with a reflective semi-
transparent surface which divides the luminous rays reaching it,

Fig. 2

deflecting them partly directly and partly by reflection to the objec-
tives 01 and 02. Thes eobjectives, by the aid of the red and green
philtres, f.I. and f2, project the two partial images bl and b2

— 272

on the film, which images differ only in tone, after the luminous
rays have passed through the reflecting superficies S2, S3, S4
into the prisms installed behind the objectives. As the design
plainly shows, there is an equal distance, not only behind, but in
front of the objectives ; the result is a perfect identity of size of the
partial images, no matter whether they represent distant or near
objects. Moreover, the system of the division of the luminous rays
produces figures taken contemporaneously and rendering the
most rapid movements without incurring variations of position.
The system is therefore absolutely free from the defects of parallax
in time and space, thus avoiding the colored outlines so often
deplored in other systems.

It possesses another very remarkable advantage, inasmuch
as it can be used simultaneousely as finder, thus making it pos-
sible to observe the object while filming it, to choose the most
favorable view, and to regulate the focus at any moment. This
is done by means of the reflecting surface S3 which does not
reflect all the light for the production of the red figure bl, but
transmits directly one fifth onto the opaque plate m, thereby
forming the image b3, only faintly luminous though sufficiently
so for observation. This image is adjusted by the adjustment
03, so that the eye sees the image b4 through the lens ok.

The system of projection makes use of one of the ordinary
curved reflecting lamps. Behind the gate there is a double system
of prisms for adjusting purposes ; this receives the rays from the
partial images, directing them by divers axes to the two projection
objectives.

The greater distance between the axes permits the use of very
luminous objectives which is a detail of the greatest importance
in color projection, demanding naturally more light than black
and white projections. With the help of the philtres, the object-
ives project on the screen one red and one green image which, by
regulating the objectives, come exactly one above the other.

The whole apparatus consists of the camera, the illuminant
(constructed in two different models) and the color apparatus,
which is attachable to the cinematograph projector.

273 —

Figures three and four show it closed and opened.

The movement is produced by an electric motor, the contact
of which is shown in figure four on the left below ; there is also a
meter, a tachometer and a punch to stamp the films, besides the

Fig. 3

already mentioned finder which can be used while filming and
is completely free from parallax.

As is shown by figure 4, the two vertical reels, which include
a hundred and twenty metres of film, are fixed at the sides of the
apparatus. The film is adapted to the horizontal passage channel
by means of two rollers. Their movement is not regulated by
clamps but by an accurate maltese cross gearing, allowing the use
of a shutter with an opening to two hundred and thirty degrees.
The ordinary apparatus for non-colored filming have much smaller
apertures so that less light is needed for the formation of the image.
The same frequency of images therefore causes a stronger illu-
mination of the film, which is exactly what is required, as the films
absorb a great deal of light. The images taken this way are bet-
ter connected in the projection and are therefore less disunited.

The shutter could not be installed between the objective and
the film, as is usual ; but had to be placed before the objectives
in order to obtain an absolutely synchronous opening and closing
of the optical systems relating to the partial images.

— 274

The diagram shows only one knob of the shutter placed in
the cylindrical attachment to the machine. By pulling this out
and turning it, the aperture may be regulated according to a
graduated scale varying from 120 to 230 degrees.

'i^^'p^^^A ' - x [

Fig. 4

The machine is also provided with two screws, one at the
base and one on the cover, for fixing to an ordinary stand or
on a Busch illuminant.

The Illuminant.

Figures 5 and 6 show the two forms of this apparatus for
filming surgical operations.

Figure 5 shows the fixed apparatus invented by Prof. Klapp

275 —

of Marburg, in which the photographic apparatus is suspended
almost perpendicularly and worked from a special platform to
which a short ladder gives access.

By means of a special mechanism the machine can be inclined,
turned on one side or moved upward ; it is balanced by weights.

Fig. 5

The support, made like a bridge, has at the right end six projectors,
containing three lamps of two hundred and fifty watts and three
of five hundred, adapted for tensions from one hundred and ten
to two hundred and twenty volts and furnishing an aggregate of
two thousand two hundred and fifty watts. These projectors
illuminate horizontally six oblique mirrors which are visible in
the centre of the apparatus, conducting the light downwards on
the field of operation, exposing it to an almost shadowless light.
The heat produced by the lamps is rendered bearable by the use
of glasses which absorb the heat and form a satisfactory substi-

— 276

tute for the basins of water which are an obstacle. The support
also has a switch-board with six switches for moving each single
lamp, or the series ; further two contacts, one for the electric
plant and one for the small motor of the filming apparatus,
which is regulated by a pedal lever.

This iron support, varnished white, was invented for taking
pictures which are beyond the visual field of the operator ; and
is constructed so as in no way to interfere with the operative
process.

The distance of the platform from the floor is two metres,
its length is three metres twenty and its inclusive height three
metres fifty. This support is also excellently adapted for taking
photographs.

In all other cases, when the picture has to be taken in the
oblique or horizontal sense, the illustrated support of figure 6 is
used, wrhich, differing from the Klapp system, is moveable and
can be taken anywhere.

It is formed of two high supports and two lower ones
connected by crossbars and rungs. On the rungs an adjustable
platform for the photographer can be placed.

Between the twro high supports there is a bracket bearing two
reflectors with lamps of a thousand wratts each and the machine.

This can be moved up higher from one metre fifty to two-
forty and is balanced by two weights.

The machine is on a revolving disk so that it can assume any
position, whether horizontal or vertical. Also the reflectors suspend-
ed from a double jointed support can be moved in any direction.
The support, constructed in wrood, has four rollers by w'hich to
move it ; these can be put out of action if immobilization is
desired, by means of screws placed near the feet of the support.

The projector.

In the Busch apparatus the projection is effected by means of
a double objective, the upper objective is moveable by means of
a horizontal and a vertical screw7, so that the two partial images

4-ingl. 277 —

can be placed one above the other. This apparatus along with
a normal black and white projection objective placed lower down
is mounted on an ordinary carrier that can run upwards or

Fig. 6

downwards by means of a handle : in this way it is possible to
alternate colored with black and while films.

The apparatus is specially adapted for a type of projector
suited for a posterior illuminant, but it can also be used for other
apparatus.

Figure 7 shows the projector in which, on the right, the ex-
change apparatus is visible with its two objectives placed below >
so that the system for the colored projection is placed behind
the aperture of the images, in order to project them in color.

Figure 8 shows the same projector with the objectives raised,
ready, that is to say, for the black and white projection. The il-
lumination, as has already been said, is obtained by a normal lamp
with a curved reflector.

278

It should by noted that the handling of the apparatus is
relatively simple, varying little from that of the projectors in
black and white. In pictures in which only panchromatic films
are used, for instance the Agfa, it is necessary, from time to

Fig. 7

time, to insert occasional white effects, that is to say to prepare
two partial images of a white object (such as for instance a plaster
plate) which coincide in their chiaroscuro, but it is not necessary
to have frequent recourse to this precaution, in view of the
uniform quality of the Agfa panchromatic films.

Working with artificial light there are no differences of illu-
mination and the motor motion leaves the operator sufficient time
to put the figure in focus and keep the angle best suited to the
picture .

Nor does the projection demand much supplementary work,

279 —

for it consists only in matching the figures and eventually in
moving the apparatus when different films have to be shown.

The Busch Color Film, apart from the panchromatic photo-
graphic material, is not more expensive than the ordinary film

Fig. 8

and does not require special treatment, so that any developing
and printing establishment can undertake the development of the
negatives and positives.

Dr. P. Tietze

N.B. The apparatus described in this article was exhibited at the Bar-
cellona Exhibition, in the Projection Hall (German Section, Stand i).

— 280

THE FIRST ENGLISH MOTION PICTURE ALPHABET

Instructions.

Coloured reproduction and if possible imitation of voice.

While the pictures are being projected, it is necessary to repeat,
together with the scholars, the letter in question, and the word
beginning with the same, slowly and articulately. For instance :
B ba-na-na, B ba-na-na.

It will also be found necessary to repeat the projection of every
picture, especially those showing the formation of the letters.

After the first projection of each image (animal, object etc.),
there should be a pause of a few seconds.

The words used have been very carefully selected with a
view to the conceptions equally well known and understood by
children in both town and country, and care has been taken to
avoid all words which might have a double meaning, likely to lead
to misunderstandings.

The association and conjunction by word of mouth of sound,
picture, formation and motion, will doubtless impress the shape of
the various letters of the alphabet more profoundly on the
childrens and adults' memories than any other system could.

Since no word beginning with the letter X has been found
which is familiar to every scholar, this letter can only be committed

{Ed. Note) Mile. Alberti, of Budapesth, who for many years past
has devoted herself to the question of applying the cinema to new methods
of teaching, contributes the scheme of a cinema alphabet which she has
worked out in collaboration with Dr. Kupessy, all rights in which have
been reserved.

As Prof. Santini wrote in the first number of the Review, the question
of ocular demonstration in elementary teaching carries us far back in
years, and indeed in centuries. It is our intention to return later on to
this subject and to illustrate, in a systematic way, all the efforts which
have been made during the past twenty centuries to replace oral by vis-
ual teaching.

281 —

to memory by its formation being repeatedly projected and the
letter itself repeated by word of mouth at the same time.

Note.

The pictures are projected not from nature photographs, but
from line drawings, developing after the fashion used in adver-
tisements. When the picture of a letter is fully developed a thick
black line must run through it, from left to right, as if it were being
written by a hand. This serves to turn the various shapes and
sizes of the objects represented into a smooth, calligraphical letter.

The various objects which form the shape of each letter of
the alphabet need not always be multiplied, placed side be side
and thus form the shape desired. It is also possible for a single
object to form the shape by rolling, crawling, etc., in the direction
in which the letter is shaped in writing it down. A thick black
line, ultimately forming the letter, follows the object in its move-
ment along the lines necessary to bring out the desired shape.

A

Apple - An apple-tree laden with large ripe apples. One by one,

the apples drop from the tree and form, on the ground, the

letter A.
Aster - (Fig. 2). A large bunch of asters, a hand picking them lays

them one by one on a table, shaping the letter A.

Other figures which can be used eventually : Ants, Arrows,

Axes.

B

Ball - Balls flying about the screen form the letter B.

Banana - (Fig. 2). Large clusters of bananas. They drop one
by one and form the letter B.

Bird - (Fig. 3). Birds perched on trees and circling in the air.
They are grouped in their flight in the shape of the letter B.

Bell - (Fig. 4). Small metal bells form the letter B. on the screen.

Book - (Fig. 5) A letter B is built out of books.

Other figures : Bat. boot, bottle, brick, boy, button, branch,
brook, bear, berry, bed, bee, boat, belt, beetle, basket,
butterfly, blacksmith, blackboard.

282

c

Crab - Crabs creeping about form the letter C.

Carrot - (Fig. 2). A basketful of carrots on a table. A child's
hand overturns the basket and lays the carrots on the table
one by one, shaping the letter C.

Cock - (Fig. 3). A cock crowing on a rubbish-heap. Presently
he flies down, another cock appears beside him, then another,
thus forming the letter C.

Ch

Chocolate - (Fig. 4). A pile of cakes of chocolate. A child's
hands forms the shape of the letter Ch out of them.

Chain - (Fig. 5). A metal chain, with large links, lying on the
ground. A child's hand picks it up and lays it down again,
shaping the letters Ch on the ground.

Other figures : corn, cricket, calf, camel, cannon, cap,
circle, cook, coal, cross, crown, cuckoo, cow, cucumber, coin,
cup, clock, crest, cradle, china, chicken, child, cherry, chest-
nut, Christmas-tree, cotton, cat, cabbage, card, copybook,
comb, crescent, crocodile, crow.

D
Drum - A drum, with the drumsticks beating upon it. The
sound should be imitated. The drum, turning on its side,
rolls away, then comes to a standstill. Others follow in the
same manner, placed side by side gradually forming the let-
ter D.
Doll - (Fig. 2). Typical wooden dolls, standing stiffly side by

side, form the letter D.
Dice - (Fig. 3). Dice are thrown and roll about on a table.
As they fall, they form the letter D.

Other figures : daisy, dagger, deer, dog, duck, dwarf,
donkey.

E

Egg - The letter E formed out of eggs.

Eye - (Fig. 2). Eyes with long lashes are projected in line
d rawing on the screen one by one, forming the letter E.
Other figures : ear, earth, eagle, elephant.

283 —

Frog - Frogs j ump out of a marshy pond one by one and placing
themselves beside one another form the letter F.

Fly - (Fig. 2). Flies flying about on the screen, sticking to a
sugar-loaf-shaped fly-paper in the shape of the letter F.

Flag - (Fig. 3). Coloured picture. The country's flags flut-
tering in the wind. - Then the wind stops blowing. The
flags take up their places one by one, forming the letter F,

Fruit - (Fig. 4). Various kinds of fruit in a basket. The basket
is upset, the fruit rolls out, taking up its place to form the
letter F.

Other figures : fairy, fan, finger, fish, fork, fox, fist, fire,
fir-tree, flute, flying, foot, fiddle, flock, frame.

G
Grape - Large bunches of grapes. The berries drop one by one,

forming the letter G.
Goose - (Fig. 2). From a corner of the screen geese walk in
single file towards the centre. They form the letter G like
the cocks at C.

Other figures: Glass, glove, gun, gardener, gold, grass,
goat.

H

Hunter - Toy figures of typical huntsmen, like story-book fi-
gures, drop into line to form the letter H.

Horse - (Fig. 2). Horses galloping without riders. The horses
(reduced size) come to an abrupt stop all in line, and form
the letter H.

Hook - (Fig. 3). A boxful of hooks (enlarged) is upset, the
hooks forming the letter H.

Other figures: hat, heart, helmet, hen, hair, hoe, hammer,
hand, hard, hood, house, honey, horseshoe, head, hippopo-
tamus, handkerchief.

I

Ice - On a thin sheet of ice, a child's hand, holding a stick ending
in an iron point, cracks the ice in the shape of the letter I.

284

Ink - (Fig. 2). A bottle of ink is upset; pouring out, the ink
forms the letter I.

Other figures: ivy, island.

j

Jack-in-the box - A Jack-in-the box jumping out and with-
drawing repeatedly to show its action. Other similar toys
falling in to line form the letter J.

Jam - (Fig. 2). A jam jar of the universally known shape. It
is upset; the jam, streaming out, forms the letter J.
Other figures : jewel, jug, jar.

K

Knife - A number of knives on a table. A hand flings the knives

at a wall, where they stick with their points, forming the

letter K.
Kite - (Fig. 2). Childrens' hands fling kites. Up in the air the

kites form a letter K together.
Key - (Fig. 3). Keys appear on the screem one by one and form

the letter K.

L

Lizard - Lizards crawl out from among stones on rocky ground.

They fall into line lengthwise and form the letter L.
Lamp - (Fig. 2). Small lamps are placed beside each other,

lit consecutively, forming the letter L.
Alternate figure.
Light - (Fig. 3). Points of light being projected on the dark

screen consecutively, in the shape of the letter L. (Care must

be taken that the impression given should not be that of fire).
Lock - (Fig. 4). Locks of doors forming the letter L.
Other figures: lilac, lantern, leaf.

M

Mouse - Mice running forth from a hole at the bottom of the
wall. In a top corner of the screen, a cat's head appears

285 -

suddenly, then withdraws quickly. The mice seem fright-
ened, scampering to and fro, then slowing down join each
other, flattening themselves, and in a group form the
letter M.

Moon - (Fig. 2). Half-moons, joining each other, form the
letter M.

Money - (Fig. 3). Various coins, tumbling out of a purse,
shape the letter M.

Other figures: marbles, matches, milk, monkey, mosqui-
toes, mallow, mallet, mulberry, metal, moss, monk, mush-
room, mirror, mouth.

N

Needle - A packet of needles, the needles slipping out of the
packet one by one and joined to form the letter N.

Nut - (Fig. 2). A basket is upset on the table; large nuts roll
onto the floor out of it, there to form the letter N.
Other figures: nail, nightingale, nose, nest, nun.

O

Owl - A large blinking owl sitting on a branch. The branch
begins to grow in the shape of the letter O and as it grows
other owls appear on it. When the letter O is formed the
picture is removed to a greater distance to get a better per-
spective.

Orange - (Fig. 2). Coloured picture. One orange visible on
the screen. Then another orange appears, and the next, etc.,
so forming the letter O.
Other figures: oxen, oars.

Pen - Pens slipping out of a box form the letter P.
Pigeon - (Fig. 2). Pigeons forming the letter P in their flight.
Pipe - (Fig. 3). Clay pipes appearing one after the other form
the letter P.

Other figures: potato, paint, penny, porcupine, pebbles,

286

palm, parcel, pease, pearls, peacock, pencil, pin, pot, plum,
puzzle, paper, plant, plough, pistol, poodle, pig, plate, pig-
tail, plait.

PH

Photo - A camera out of which nutters a photo. This is re-
peated. The camera disappears slowly, the photos adjust
themselves in the shape of the letter PH, on the screen.

Q

Queen - The typical queen of story-books appears in the centre
of the screen, with crown and sceptre and long train, etc.
Then another, etc., forming the letter Q.

R

Rabbit - Rabbits scampering about on a lawn. They cuddle up

to each other, thus forming the letter R.
Ring - (Fig. 2). A couple of hands; the right hand slowly draws

a ring from the left, shows it, then drops it. The action is

repeated. The rings roll slowly into place, forming the letter R.
Other figures: rain, ribbon, racket, railway, rope, rose,

river, raspberry, raven, rat, rake, rice, rider, road, root.

Soldier - Toy soldiers falling into line form the letter S.

Sunflower - (Fig. 2). Sunflowers growing out of the ground
one by one. The sun rises and begins to shine in at the
upper corner of the screen. The sunflowers are all suddenly
turned towards the sun, shaping the letter S.

Scissors - (Fig. 3). Scissors, opening and closing to, form the
letter S.

Snail - (Fig. 4). Snails crawl out from among pebbles, carrying
their houses on their backs. They place themselves so that
their group forms the letter S.

Strawberry - (Fig. 5). Strawberry plants, carrying berries, grow
from the ground in a group that forms the letter S, or the
berries are laid on a table in the same shape.

287

Snake - (Fig. 6). Snakes creep forth from a corner of the screen
and form the letter S.

Other figures: sailor, slipper, snow, spoon, stairs, stamp,
star, stocking, spade, swan, swing, spectacles, steam, spark,
stag, stove, smoke, sword, sack, saw, sausage, stick, salt,
seed, sceptre, sleigh, skate, stone, steel, spider, string, screw,
sponge, sail, soap, seal, silver, sparrow.

SH

Ship - A surface of gently rippling water. Small ships appear
on the water and placing themselves one beside the other,
they shape the letters SH.

Other figures: shrubs, sheep, shepherd.

Tree - A tree that starts to grow and evolves the shape of the

printed capital T.
Train - (Fig. 2). AT- shaped toy railway track, with a toy

engine and train running up and down it.
Turtle - (Fig. 3). Turtles crawling beside each other form

the letter T.
Trumpet - (Fig. 4). Toy trumpets appear one by one, together

forming the letter T.

Other figures: table, tiger, track, tobogan, toys, tower,

Turk, tooth.

TH

Thimble - Thimbles joined together form the letters TH.

U

Umbrella - Wet umbrellas that seem to have come out of the
rain are closed up by an invisible hand and placed side by
side to form the letter U.

V

Violet - Violets grow out of mossy ground in the shape of the
letter V.

288

Violin - (Fig. 2). Small toy violins, half covering one another,
placed side by side to form the letter V.
Other figures: vegetables, vases.

W

Writing - Plump children's hands, writing clumsily the letter W.

Watch - (Fig. 2). A hand behind a shop-window pane arranging
watches of equal size in the shape of the letter W. The rest
of the shop- window disappears and only the watches remain.

Whip - (Fig. 3). Children's toy whips arranged in the form
of the letter W. The printed capital W is formed by four
whips, the lashes curving round the sticks, slanting right and
left in the shape of the letter W.

Water - (Fig. 4). A jet of water issuing from a watering-hose.
The hose disappears, the spout of water remains visible on
the screen. The water, as it falls on the dust, forms the let-
ter W in a damp line.

X

The letter X is formed by a thick black line, developing in the di-
rection of writing, on the screen.

Yard - Yard measures appearing one beside the other form the
letter Y.

Zebra - Coloured picture. Zebras galloping on the screen fall

into line to form the letter Z.
Zig-zag - (Fig. 2). Zig-zag lines appear on the screen to form the

letter Z.

Stefanie F. Alberti.

189 —

A DISCUSSION OF MOTION PICTURES
IN THEIR RELATION TO CHILDREN AND EDUCATION

A subject of this kind divides itself logically into five parts.

i. The motion picture as a "teaching tool ", under the head
of which we may discuss the experiments made in teaching films, the
uses already made of films in schools, and the future possibilities as
viewed by leading educators and students of the subject.

2. The effect of motion pictures on children outside the school-
room. That is, the use by children of pictures in the regular theatres ,
and the influence exerted by the screen on their minds and habits.

3 . The attendance of children at theatres and the results as discov-
ered by psychologists who have conducted studies of these conditions.

4. The attitude of educators toward m.otion pictures with special
reference to the attention being paid by colleges and universities.

5. What the motion picture is doing to further the cause of educa-
tion and to meet its responsibilities both in the theatres and in schools,
and institutions.

As a teaching tool, the motion picture is used in classroom work to
make the lesson more understandable and more securely grasped by the
child. The motion picture is, of course, already playing a most im-
portant part in the educational system throughout the country and this
part will be increased as quickly as suitable films are ready for distri-
bution.

De\elopment of the teaching film has been one of our major objectives
since the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America was
organized in 1922 and it was one of the first suggestions that Will H.
Hays made. He went to Boston in the early part of the summer, 1922
to speak at the National Educational Association convention and at that
time he urged the use of pedagogic films in classrooms. At his sug-
gestion, a committee was appointed to study the possibilities of pedagogic
films and the report of that committee was highly complimentary to the
method of instruction.

(Ed. Note). An eminent collaborator of the Review resident in the United States con-
tributes the following paper which we have much pleasure in publishing. It deals in an
arresting manner with the present situation of the American cinema in relation to the young
and to education.

This subject will be further dealt with in forthcoming numbers in a series of original
articles by authorities in the world of education, industry and politics.

29O

For a number of years there have been so-called educational films
for classroom work. Some of the entertainment pictures have been con-
verted to the classrooms also, but no big company really began in a
serious way to consider pedagogic films until about two years and a
half ago. The several companies, all members of the Motion Picture
Producers and Distributors of America, began experiments looking
toward the accomplishment of the purposes Mr. Hays had outlined in
1922. These experiments have advanced with every indication of success.
The Eastman Kodak Company at Rochester, one of the companies
interested in the project, acquired the services of Dr. Thomas E. Finegan,
chairman of the Committee on Visual Education of the National Education
Association, and with the advice and assistance of other well-known edu-
cators, undertook a two-year experimental program..

On this point we do not think it necessary to insist. We advise
our readers to consult an article by Dr Finegan, appearing in the
second number of the Review.

It must be made clear that it is not proposed to substitute films for
present school methods, or to revolutionize the means of education,
but simply to use them as an addition to present devices.

Of course, the teacher in the classroom will always be the most im-
portant element in instruction. The oral teaching, interpretation, and
explanation are the vital factors in education. And the textbook remains
essential. But the screen does serve a splendid purpose and its use
is the most important addition to teaching methods in the last century.

Educators generally are agreed upon this point. Dr. John J. Ti-
gert, former United States Commissioner of Education, has called the
screen "%the most powerful weapon against ignorance the world has
ever known."

Arthur Brisbane, the editorial writer, has declared that it will be
" literally possible to teach a child in three quarters of an hour and to
teach well, more than the child can learn under present methods in a dozen
school days of eight hours each."

Whether this is true or not remains to be seen, but certainly it is
that pictures give a more lasting impression. They make geography
live. They can reconstruct history. They can catch phenomena of
nature and reproduce them on the screen for close study.

The motion picture today is catering to the American family. That
doesn't mean that every picture is to be made entirely suitable for the
12-year-old child, but it does mean that the motion picture industry is
determined that the prevalent type of book and play about which you
perhaps know too much already, does not become the prevalent type of
photoplay.

It was this determination — a determination to establish and main-

291 —

tain the highest possible moral and artistic standards of motion pictures
- — and to put the motion picture to as many uses for the public good as
possible that the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors came into
being six years ago.

The industry has been concerned for some time now in finding out
exactly what the effect of pictures is — on behavior, as an educator,
and as a force for good.

Fortunately, the department of psychology of Columbia University
was similarly minded and, on its own initiative, is now carrying on an
extensive study, the first tentative findings of which may be presented
to you. Men of much training are engaged in the study and their findings
are immensely interesting.

One of the questions asked was: How many children go to the movies
and how often do they go ? Quoting from the tentative report, signed by
R. S. Woodworth for the Columbia group :

'• A public school in one of the poorer sections of New York City
was selected for investigation. The teachers in this school were asked
informally how frequently their children attended the movies, and the
reply was often to the effect that ' they all go every day \ Then the chil-
dren, about 1,750 in all, were asked how many times each had attended
in the preceding two weeks. The results were astounding to the teachers
of these children, for the average attendance per child was only 1.15
times per week.

" In August 1926, we made what seemed a fairly adequate sampling
of motion picture audiences in New York City ", the report continues.
" Twelve theatres were selected, of varied locations; two in the main
theatre district of Manhattan; five in more local theatre districts, in Har-
lem, on Lexington Avenue near 42nd Street, two in Brooklyn, and one
in Newark; four in residential districts of Manhattan and the Bronx;
and one in a suburban village (Mamaroneck). The total attendance at
each of these theatres was counted on three full days, by one or two
enumerators, who were allowed to sit near the entrance with slips for
checking all who entered. Each person who entered the theatre was checked
according to sex, and as belonging (by inspection) in one of the following
age groups; under 4 years, 4-7, 8-12, 13-16, 17,20, above 20. The enu-
merators were selected and trained for accurate work, and their totals for
each day, checked against the box office, indicated a high degree of accu-
racy. The counts were made, at each theatre, on Monday, Wednesday and
Saturday of one week. The total attendance checked was over 150,000
persons. In each of the theatres, the majority, and usually the great
majority, of persons in attendance were judged to be over 20 years of
age, and the next largest age group was from 17 to 20. A brief indication
of the results can be gleaned from the following proportions obtained
for children under 17 :

— 292

In the Manhattan theatre district the proportion was .... 3-4%

In the more local theatre districts » » »..".. 7.4 %

In residential urban districts » » » . . . . 8.0 %

In the suburban village » » » .... 31.8%

" The general run of urban picture houses is probably well represented
by the nine remaining theatres, with a total attendance, for the three days,
of 97,000, of which total about 8 % were under 17 years of age.

" As an approach, though not a very close one at first, to the problem
of the influence of motion pictures upon childrens' behavior," continues
the report, " we have sought to ascertain what and how much of the
material presented is perceived, understood and remembered by children
of different ages, as well as by adults. Quite possibly, for example, a
sex situation which would make quite an impression upon an adult
would pass over the child's head.

" All that we can certainly learn from our results, at the present mo-
ment, is that children under 12 years of age certainly fail to get a large
share of the events of a picture which appears essential to the story
from the adult point of view. With still younger children, this fact
often comes out very amusingly when inquiries are made as to what
a child likes in a given picture. Often the absorbing part of the story is
missed altogether ".

A propos of this study is a similar study made at the Horace Mann
High Schools and reported by Mary Allen Abbot instructor in photo-
play composition, Columbia University7 Home Study. The questionnaire
was presented to the boys and girls of Horace Mann High Schools a
week after Christmas recess, a period of more or less movie going. The
answers showed that 11 % of the boys and 13 % of the girls did not go to
the movies at all during the Christmas holidays, the other children went
on an average of 3 times during that period.

One of the questions showed that in the sixth year about 66 % of the
boys go to the movies once a week and of the girls about 51 % in the
fourth and fifth years, this falling off in the sixth year to about 40 %

A number of pictures were listed and the students were asked to select
the ones they liked best. I shall read you the first ten selections made
by the boys: first, Beau Geste, The Big Parade, Old Ironsides, Ben-Hur,
The Better 'Ole, The Winning of Barbara Worth, Variety, The Four
Horsemen of the Apocalypse, The Scarlet Letter, The Sea Beast. The first
ten liked by the girls were: The Big Parade, Ben-Hur, Beau Geste, Old
Ironsides, The Vanishing American, The Scarlet Letter, The Better 'Ole,
The Winning of Barbara Worth, Stella Dallas, Brown of Harvard.

It is surprising to find that six of the pictures were selected by both
the boys and the girls. It is also interesting to note that Grass and

5-ing. 293

Nanook of the North appear on both lists among the lowest ten, Grass
standing last of all on the girls' list.

The comments, according to Miss Abbott, showed that the boys
and girls all look for action, plot, and suspense in a screen showing.
Most of the reasons which both boys and girls gave for disliking Grass
were that it " lacked plot "; there was in each case a comment " too edu-
cational "; and one girl gave this curious objection to Nanook — " lack
of stars ".

" The same desire for plot," says Miss x\bbott, " caused unfavorable
comment on A Kiss for Cinderella and this would seem to be a perfectly
legitimate desire for drama. Other unfavorable comments from both
boys and girls are: ' too imaginative ', ' childish ', ' kindergarten stuff \
a boy says ' a picture for a girl and not for a boy '."

Quoting Miss Abbott again, " Referring to the list above, we see that
the films disliked by the boys deal with the romance of a girl heroine."

" In spite of these modifications and the noticeable tendency of the
girls to dislike screen comedy and the boys to dislike romance in everyday
life, we find the same facts that were found in the investigation conducted
by Mr. Clarence Arthur Perry of the Russell Sage Foundation in IQ23.
In this investigation, answers from 16,348 boys and 20,005 girls in high
schools all over the United States showed a 27 % preference by the boys
for comedy and only a 10 % preference by girls; while there was a 28 % pre-
ference for love stories by the girls and only 11 % by the boys.

" The girls of Horace Mann High School have or at least express
a greater sensitiveness to ethical questions; they like to have their sym-
pathies appealed to and their good taste not offended. They also prefer
the heroine of romance to the comedian. The boys show more know-
ledge of the problems of filming; they are more inclined than the girls
to consider each film on its merits as a production.

" The similarities are as striking as the differences. The general
standing is high for story, acting and setting for both the boys and girls.
Both are sensitive to pictorial effects. Both are impatient of over-exag-
geration whether in the detail of the story or in the expressing of emotions.
In fact, their standards for judging a film seem to be much like those of
cultivated adults with one striking exception — the comments on
Grass and Nanook as well as the comments on the films liked show a
consistent liking for plot with action.

" Among the boys particularly are some very good screen critics.
Whatever may be said against the habit of movie going, these Horace
Mann High School pupils seem to have used the movies as a school
of dramatic criticism, and to have formulated for themselves standards
and an interesting body of opinion.

" It is interesting to observe the comments on the motion picture

— 294

Variety. The rr.ost striking difTerence shown between the two top lists
is in this picture which with the boys appears in the top ten and on the
girls' list with the lowest ten. The understanding of the picture depends
upon the mature point of view and interest in screen technique. One
would not ordinarily expect children of the junior high school to see it
or like it. One high school girl gave as her comment, ' Repents of past
wrong '. The girls who did not like it were as emphatic in their disap-
proval as the boys were of their approval of the good acting, construction
of the story, and screen technique. Three comments from the sixth
year girls are these: ' Different from the ordinary movie and the photo-
graphy was wonderful '; ' It was not the plot I cared for, but the acting
which surpassed, I think, anything I have seen this year '; ' excellent
acting, correct settings, good plot, excellent filming, almost perfection ',

" A fifth year boy says, Variety, The Four Horsemen, Lady Winde-
mere's Fan showed true life, conflicting emotions. They have direct
appeal and are masterpieces of theme and style. There is no pettiness,
no cheapness and nothing but what is vital. "

Going further to draw from a psychological study of pictures written
by Dr. Carl Lashley and Dr. John B Watson for the United States Inter-
Departmental Social Hygiene Board in which a reaction to the specific
picture, Fit to Win, was noted, this interesting observation is made in
the summary: " No lasting effects upon behavior were found. The
retention tests show that the main facts were remembered very well for
a period up to five months but there is no indication that behavior is
modified significantly. Interest dies out rapidly and the picture seems
to be forgotten as quickly as the average motion picture devised solely
for amusement. "

All of this is a matter more or less of conjecture as yet but we are greatly
interested in this whole subject of behavior and will continue studies
until we are able to arrive at the most definite of conclusions.

The foregoing have been for the larger part negative factors. There
are, however, certain quite definite positive values derived by children
who attend motion pictures, and on these I shall touch lightly.

Basil King, in one of his recent books, called Faith and Success, spoke
of the influence motion pictures have upon imagination. He said:
" One invention or discovery, call it what you will, has done more to rouse
the imagination in those in whom it was suppressed than all that the past
centuries have contributed together. I mean the motion picture. I
dare to think that the significance of this new departure in human effort
is not yet apparent to the great majority even of our social thinkers.
The fact is that for the first time in the history of man something is of-
fered to the simpler folk which appeals to them on principles they can
understand. For the first time they find their famished imaginations
roused, stimulated, fed.

295 —

" Those who hitherto have either been denied, or provided wit is*
that which was beyond their capacity, have now been given something
which meets them on their level; and the response has been outside all
possible calculation. "

Young people, according to James E. West, Chief Scout Executive
for the Boy Scouts of America, want thrills and action. These are per-
fectly normal cravings and should be and must be satisfied. The right
sort of motion pictures provide the right sort of thrills and the right sort
of action.

You have seen children at motion picture theatres laughing and skip-
ping and squealing and exchanging what they consider repartee. You
have seen them sitting on the edge of their seats watching the actual mo-
tion on the screen. Those children are getting facts and information
which they are storing up. Geography becomes a panorama and history
a series of thrilling stories. Science is a veritable wonderland.

Boys especially want to known how " things " are made, what makes
a watch go ? They are natural tinkerers. The moving picture camera
explains many things to the boy and his interest is sustained while his in-
formation is increased.

More and more pictures are being used to teach athletics. The slow
motion films allow for every detail of action in a game of tennis or a
football match or in running, jumping or diving. Interest in natural
sciences is likewise stimulated and under the camera's eye chemical reac-
tions, bird life, animals in their natural habitats, rock formation, all
phenomena of nature are revealed to the budding mind of the child.

Even more important is the effect of motion pictures on assimilation
of current history. Hardly a news event of importance in the world
today takes place without having a new reel camera focussed upon it.
The inauguration of the Presidents, the war, the signing of peace, the
flight of Lindbergh, all of these things are captured and held for the child
to see and share in. Through them the child lives in a dozen worlds at
once.

Mrs. Clara Tree Major, director of the Children's Saturday Morning
Theatre, spoke recently of what the motion picture can mean to smaller
children. She spoken of the part pictures play in giving children a
knowledge of other children, the part they play in giving children a
knowledge of birds and plants, and then the part the pictures play in
giving children fairyland.

Any workers with children known how important it is to keep them
enthusiastic. Children must go from one enthusiasm to another. They
become hero worshippers. And the screen gives them heroes to worship.
Not long ago, a group of school boys were asked to name the greatest
ten men in history. Two of the ten named were popular motion picture

— 296

actors, and one of them stood above Napoleon, long an idol of boyhood.
The heroes on the screen, let it be remembered, always defend the weak,
defeat the villains, and triumph in the end through the exercise of many
virtues.

Children are kept out of dangerous streets by motion pictures. That
is a fact. And it is a fact that has some amusing corollaries as well.

This experience was met with recently by an exhibitor in a town in
the Middle West. He said that he was standing in the lobby of his theatre
on a recent Monday night when a woman approached the box office
with two small children.

" This is a [Monday night and an off night ", she said to the ticket
seller. " Can't I get these children in free ? "

The ticket seller estimated the crowd and decided that the woman
could.

So the woman thanked him and went over to the door of the theatre.
There she said, " Now Mary, you and Johnny go in and find a seat and
I will come back for you at 1 1 o'clock. "

Mothers like that who make check rooms of the movies for their chil-
dren are almost beyond consideration.

The motion picture in turning to the " classics " for its story material
has told so entertainingly the stories involved that hundreds and thousands
of people have been sent to their books to find out if such a story is really
written there. To the surprise and surely the joy of these aroused minds,
the classics have been revealed in entirely new lights. For the first time
people have begun to look on them as real books and to realize that just
because the dust of a few centuries have gathered on the covers there is
no reason why the contents shouldn't be fresh and palatable. Once con-
vinced that the term « classic » is complimentary and not an opprobrium,
the reader is admitted to a new realm of reading through which he may
browse with infinite relish for the rest of his days.

The habitual reading of fine books has come heretofore from the
intellectual, if not from the social or financial, aristocracy ; but within the
past decade the habit of reading has reached through the upper strata and
has become a universal necessity where formerly it was a luxury.

This growing intimacy between the motion pictures and the book has
met with general although not universal approval. There have been those
who feared that many people would " take their reading out in looking,"
but those same people no doubt feared that the phonograph would mean
the abolition of orchestra and that the free library would spell the doom of
booksellers.

The New Jersey Library Association tells graphically the story of
the increase in reading due to films. Productions for the screen, it was said,
suggest new lines of thought, stimulate interest in new nations, and bring

297

into prominence and favor many of the classics. Hence a desire for reading
is increased.

More books were borrowed for study last year in New Jersey, accord-
ing to the report, than ever before, the number lent showing an increase
of 34.000 over that of the preceding year. And the demand was for a
higher standard of book than formerly, too, and the greatest demand was
for historical novels. " Many of the old standard works have been brought
back into favor and prominence ", the report read.

Books on the shelves of libraries make it possible for men to attain
a certain amount of knowledge and information by hard work and appli-
cation. But the moving picture presented as an amusement will in a few
years make it impossible for any average man or woman to remain
ignorant.

In recent months, there has been a decided tendency on the part of
educational institutions to " take up the movies ". Columbia University,
Harvard, several of the Western universities and many high schools have
developed plans whereby instruction in motion picture technology,
motion picture business methods, and motion picture appreciation, has
become a regular feature of the curriculums.

Harvard has already established motion pictures as a part of the
curriculum, in the Graduate School of Business Administration. A series
of lectures on the various departments of the industry have been delivered
by representative men of the industry. Three reasons assigned by the
Harvard Business School for such a course are that there is a growing need
and opportunity for trained business men in the motion picture industry ;
that the influence of films in this country and elsewhere is too great to be
overlooked ; and that the motion picture industry serves as an illustration
of an industry which has grown so rapidly that all stages of its commercial
development may be clearly traced.

Going still farther, and in an even more important direction, Harvard
University has established a library and archive of films in the Department
of Fine Arts. Reading from the announcement made by the Harvard
authorities :

" In the belief that the achievements in motion pictures deserve recog-
nition as part of the cultural development of the country and must be
considered in any serious historical and technical study of the art, the De-
partment of Fine Arts of Plarvard University, in association with the Fogg
Museum and the University Library, plans to establish immediately a
library and archive of films.

" With the cooperation of Will H. Hays, President or the Motion
Picture Producers and Distributors of America, Inc., and of the producers
themselves this collection will be formed to serve the double purpose of
recording the evolution of the moving picture from its beginning to the

298

present day, and of selecting annually those films which are deemed worthy
of preservation as works of arts.

" It is hoped that it will be possible to use as criterion of choice the
harmonious synthesis of pictorial, narrative, dramatic and histrionic qua-
lities. The collection will undoubtedly be augmented eventually by the
addition of cinematographic literature. The purpose is not to cover the
field contemplated by the Archive in Washington for preservation of his-
torical and current event films.

" In order to constitute and operate this archive a committee of the
Harvard faculty, acting as a jury of award, after gathering from all avail-
able sources representative films of highest quality of the Past, will select in
January of each year the films of the preceding twelve months, which, in its
judgment, should be included in a library of this character. The announce-
ment of its selections will be made public on March 1st. of each year.
The enterprise contemplates also an annual or semi-annual formal pre-
sentation before members of the University and their guests of the chosen
-films. "

Now we come to a consideration of what the motion picture industn/
itself is doing to make itself worthy of the opportunities for service offered
by this great instrument in its custody.

Necessarily any discussion of this phase must be reduced to skeleton-
ized form.

First of all, the producers and distributors of motion pictures have
associated themselves together to do mutually those things that will be
of common interest and good. Twenty-six companies, representing approx-
imately 90 per cent of the pictures made, are members of the Motion
Picture Producers and Distributors of America, of which Mr. Hays is
the president.

The purposes of the Association are briefly to : « Establish and main-
tain the highest possible moral and artistic standards of motion picture
production ; and to develop the educational value as well as the general
usefulness of the motion picture. "

The Association performs all those duties pertinent to any trade asso-
ciation. It is concerned with Film Boards of Trade, Arbitration Boards,
prevention of fraud, alleviation of waste, conservation, protection, indu-
strial improvements, care of actors, extras, children, animals in pictures,
establishment of foreign relations, protection of legal rights, and all other
matters which may arise in the production and distribution and exhibition
of pictures and which affect and serve the whole group.

But here is where the Association is unique. It does not stop with the
trade association duties. It goes far beyond and it is formed to establish
and maintain the highest possible moral and artistic standards of motion
picture production, and to develop the use of pictures in education, in

299 —

religion, in all those phases of life where they can be of greatest use to
mankind (i).

(i) SUBJECTS TO BE OMITTED FROM CINEMATOGRAPHIC FILMS PRO-
DUCED BY MEMBERS OF THE MOTION PICTURE INDUSTRY.

Trade Practice Conference for the Motion Picture Industry.
(Held at New York, October 10 to' 15, 1927. Formerly producers' Resolution n. 2).
Resolved, That those things which are included in the following list shall not appear in pic-
tures produced by the members of this association, irrespective of the manner in which they are
treated :

1. - Pointed profanity — by either title or lip — this includes the words 'God', 'Lord',.
'Jesus', 'Christ', (unless they be used reverently in connection with proper religious ceremonies),,
'hell', 'damn', 'Gawd', and every other profane and vulgar expression however it may be spelled-

2. - Any licentious or suggestive nudity, in fact or silhouette ; and any lecherous or licentious,
notice thereof by other characters in the picture.

3. - The illegal traffic in drugs.

4. - Any inference of sex perversion.

5. - White slavery.

6. - Miscegenation (sex relationship between the white and black races).

7. - Sex hygiene and venereal diseases .

8. - Scenes of actual child-birth, in fact or in silhouette,,

9. - Children's sex organs.

10. - Ridicule of the clergy.

11. - Willful offense to any nation, race, or creed : And be it further Resolved, that spe-
cial care be exercised in the manner in which the following subjects are treated, to the end
that vulgarity and suggestiveness may be eliminated and that good taste may be emphasized :

1. - The use of the flag.

2. - International relations (avoiding picturizing in an unfavourable light another country*
religion, history, institutions, prominent people.

3. - Arson.

4. - The use of firearms.

5. - Theft, robbery, safe-cracking, and dynamiting of trains, mines, buildings etc., (having
in mind the effect which a too-detailed description of these may have upon the moron).

6. - Brutality and possible gruesomeness.

7. - Technique of committing murder by whatever method.

8. - Methods of smuggling.

9. - Third-degree methods.

10. - Actual hangings or electrocutions as legal punishment for crime.

11. - Sympathy for criminals.

12. - Attitude towards public characters and institutions.

13. - Sedition.

14. - Apparent cruelty to children and animals.

15. - Branding of people or animals

16. - The sale of women, or a woman selling her virtue.

17. - Rape or attempted rape.

18. - First night scenes.

19. - Man and woman in bed together.

20. - Deliberate seduction of girls.

21. - The institution of marriage.

22. - Surgical operations.

23. - The use of drugs.

24. - Titles of scenes having to do with the law enforcement or law-enforcing officers.

25. - Excessive or lustful kissing, particularly when one character or the other is a 'heavy '»
Resolved. That the execution of the purposes of this resolution is a fair trade practice.

— 300

You are not unaware of the changes, the improvements in pictures
in the last five years. A few years ago there were one or two good pictures
in a year, now scarcely a week goes by that some really outstanding pro-
duction is not offered to the public while there are literally hundreds of
splendid, worthwhile pictures entirely suitable for entertainment purposes.

Carrying out the purposes of the industry, there have been established :

1. Pictures for classroom use.

2. Special religious pictures for the churches, through establishment
of a Religious Motion Picture Foundation, and the continued production
of feature pictures based on religious themes.

3. Pictures for clinics and medical schools, whereby student-phy-
sicians and surgeons will be taught the methods of the greatest men of
the profession.

4. Pictures on boats bringing immigrants to this country, that they
might be given a chance to grow up with the country, through a knowledge
of its history, and that they might be aided in establishing themselves in
their new land by knowledge of its physical conditions, its manufacturing
centers, farm districts, and the opportunities offered.

5. Pictures in several thousand hom.es for shut-ins, prisons, hospi-
tals, homes for the aged, orphanages, the service in most of these being
without cost to the institution.

And so on.

These purposes have been carried out by the following methods
chiefly.

1 . Establishment of an Open Door policy which invites all interested
individuals and groups to cooperate constructively with the industry by
bringing suggestions, giving advice, and offering criticism through the
Department of Public P.elations.

2. Adoption of a formula by which offensive books and plays do
not reach the screen — a thoroughly legal method of selection which
keeps the members from making mistakes in filming questionable material.

3. Enlistment of the advice and active help of various groups and
individuals who can give expert assistance in the filming of plays. For
instance, when The King of Kings was made, a priest, a minister, and a rabbi
went to Hollywood to work day in and day out with the directors and stars
in order that the interpretation of the life of Christ might be fine and in
the best possible taste.

4. Encouragement of support of the best pictures on the sound and
established theory that when the best pictures pay best they will be the
standard of pictures produced.

5. Active cooperation whenever possible with groups in order that
the best possible minds might be set to work for the improvement of
pictures.

301

6. Employment of the best possible personnel — writers, directors,
mechanics — that the quality of pictures may be bettered constantly.

Motion pictures, today, are more than an instrumentality for recrea-
tion. They have been made available to the classroom, to the church
and to the doctor's clinic. Whenever and wherever motion pictures can be
of service, there they are being placed.

In all of this, there is direct public responsibility. A responsibility
in each community for finding out what the best pictures are and for then
supporting those pictures.

There are now available through many clubs, lists of recommended
pictures. Reviewing committees in the California Federation of Women's
Clubs, International Federation of Catholic Alumnae, the Church and
Drama Association and other bodies are seeing pictures often in advance
of their distribution and are publicizing those films which they endorse.
Access to these endorsements is possible through the clubs mentioned,
their house organs or through compiled lists of the Motion Picture
Producers and Distributors of America.

You can help the industry by giving it the advantage of your own
experience. If you find good pictures, say so. If you find anything which
is objectionable, also say so through the Open Door.

The industry wants specific information, specific scenes — inform-
ation that can be acted upon directly.

Of course, perfection hasn't been reached yet in motion pictures nor
in life but the movement is in the right direction and that is the important
thing. It is not always the length of the step that counts most but the direc-
tion. Do not, therefore, be too impatient. Overnight miracles do not
happen.

The motion picture is engaged in giving people the opportunity to
play. Play is essential in character building and in social work. It is giving
them a place in which they may dream, offering them a new foothold in
the realm of the imaginative.

It is training men and women for active, intelligent'and efficient parti-
cipation in an associated, living, and democratic society. The leaders of
the motion picture industry seriously realize the public responsibility for
the right use of this subtle, powerful, attitude-forming force. They stand
at attention to do their utmost toward making community life happy, in-
spiring and wholesome for boys and girls, the men and women of tomorrow,
who must provide those spiritual reserves of character which alone assure
the safety of the republic. Than this, there is no more essential patriotic
duty.

302

CRIME AND THE CINEMA IN THE UNITED STATES

(from the Italian)

A debate on one of the most absorbing questions of the day has re-
cently been opened in America : the influence of the luminous screen on
the minds of the spectators and on their criminal propensities.

There are three parties to the debate : Roger W. Babson, of the
Babson Institute of Mass, Frederick Hoffmann, consulting statistician
and specialist on criminology and Carl A. Milliken, secretary of the
Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America and a member
of the Administrative Council of the I. E. C. I. We have here the
names of three outstanding personalities in this vast field of study and
the complicated domain of industrial life at grips with a problem that
for years has held the interest of the nations of the world. It is a prob-
lem of absorbing interest to scientists, artists, thinkers and readers of
the human soul, and one that has suggested new goals to teachers,
psychologists and criminologists, all intent on the pursuit of a truth
that has not yet clearly emerged from the labyrinth of investigation,
owing to the contradictions between conflicting heses and the quasi
impossibility of conciliating them in such a manner as to permit a definite
conclusion to be reached.

It is the purpose of the International Institute to ventilate this still
unsolved problem with the utmost energy. At a recent meeting at Ge-
neva of the Commission for the Protection of Childhood, after hearing the
report of the director of the Roman Institute of the Cinema, this was
officially entrusted with the task of tackling the subject, also by means
of an investigation of an international character.

This task is now being silently and actively carried out.

But meanwhile it is necessary to keep all those who have the social
problem at heart in touch with what is being said and written on the
question and with the contingent aspects of the subject in life and in
discussion.

For this reason it may be useful to summarise the chief points of a
debate of great documentary and evidential ^ alue that took place on « the
other side »'.

In an open letter of April 8 of the current year, entitled « The Crime
Wave », Roger W. Babson, referring to criminal statistics computed by
Dr. Frederick L. Hoffman, and directed more especially to the study of
the homicidal [phenomenon in the United States in 1928, quotes the
following data :

303 —

For the six chief cities of the United States

Homicides

Percentage for every
100,000 inhabitants

Detroit 228 16.5

Chicago 498 15.8

Cleveland 134 . . 13.3

Philadelphia .... 182 8.8

New York .... 401 6.7

Los Angeles ... 70 4.7

For the 10 chief cities of the south.

Memphis ....

115

Birmingham . .

122

Jacksonville . . .

74

Atlanta

115

Little Rock . . .

30

Macon

22

Savannah . . .

3i

Nashville

39

Houston. ....

72

New Orleans . .

in

60.5

54-9
52.6

45-i
37-9
35-9
31.0
27.9
26.2
25.9

Roger W. Babson proceeds to point out that the statistics clearly
indicate the progressive development of disregard for law especially as
regards the younger generation.

« Statistics clearly show » writes the author, « that something is deve-
loping a disregard for law and order throughout the wrorld today. This
is especially true among the youth. Some say this is due to prohibition,
under which so many respectable people are defying the Constitution,
the bulwark of American life and property. If these crime waves were
limited to the United States, one might seriously consider this as a plau-
sible reason. As, however, this disregard for law is world-wide, it cannot
logically be laid to prohibition. It is much more logical to consider it
a natural aftermath of the great world war, which necessarily taught men
to shoot, steal and deceive.

« Twenty years ago, we would have been justified in believing im-
migration to be the cause of this bad situation. In fact, it was primarily
to prevent such lawless conditions that the present immigration restric-
tions where enacted. Yet, although we had but little crime twenty years
ago, when nearly a million immigrants entered the country annually, we
are having much crime today when less than 200,000 are entering annually.

« Statistics even show that crime has increased as immigration has
decreased. Hence, immigration cannot be blamed as the cause of our

304

crime waves. In fact, statistics should show that none of the common
reasons given are the real cause of the crime waves of the large cities.
« Such studies as I have made lead directly to the movies as the
basic cause of the crime waves of today. Furthermore, when one con-
siders that ten million people (largely young people) in the United States
alone attend the movies every week, their tremendous influence in all
ways must be admitted. In view of statements by psychologists that im-
pressions through the eye are very much more powerful than those which
come through the ear, it is evident that the movies are the greatest force
today in moulding character for good or evil. In fact, I sent a ques-
tionnaire to the school principals of New England asking which of the
following had the greatest influence in moulding the character of our young
people today — the school, the church or the home — and 70% scratched
off all three and replied : « The movies ! »

« If you — my reader — have any doubts as to the very evil influen-
ces of the movies, go to a movie house in the poor quarters of your city and
see what is there being portrayed. Clients should not make the mistake
of judging the movies by the pictures which are being shown in the good
theaters which they attend. Such pictures represent only a small frac-
tion of the pictures shown every afternoon and evening of the year.

« This better type of motion picture is both educational and recrea-
tional. I believe that educational motion pictures will play an important
part in the future education of children. But at present, the greater
percentage of pictures are crime-breeding and plant seeds of vice and de-
ceit. Why we American people will continue to spend thousands of
millions on schools and teachers to train the children of our cities and
then permit a bunch of irresponsible men to exhibit each night crime-breed-
ing pictures within the shadow of the school building, just to make a
few dollars, is beyond my comprehension. wSuch pictures in one night
uproot all the good seed which the schools can plant in a month. It
is exactly like appropriating money for a fire department and then per-
mitting anyone to set buildings afire just to collect insurance ».

In an open letter of May 13 last, Dr. Frederick L. Hoffman, cited
by Roger W. Babson, stated that in his statistical studies edited by
the Prudential Life Insurance Co. he had never expressed the opinion
that the cinema was the principal cause of the increase of crime in late
years in the United States. He even maintained that the figures he had
published might have justified the deduction of the opposite conclusion,
because cases of murder were more common in rural zones; especially in
the South, where the proportion of moving picture shows was considerably
lower than in the North or West. He therefore considered it opportune
to make the following remarks.

A systematic study of murders stretching over a period of several

305 —

years had not been sufficient to prove a relation of cause and effect
between the film and violent crime.

Some films doubtless favored the development of criminal statis-
tics but the good done in the aggregate by the cinema as an educative
factor is incalculable.

These films facilitate a form of cheap instruction for a vast public that
would otherwise remain adrift. According to students of social condi-
tions and of educational progress, the cinema must be considered one
of the chief, if not the most efficacious method, of acquainting, the public
with subjects of the greatest importance which would otherwise be
neglected.

On the other hand, the tendency of the industry itself was towards
eliminating what might be harmful to social life. All industrial effort is
doubtless subject to error, but in view of the good done by the cinema the
evil of which it might be the source and its possible relationship to crime
pass for negligible.

To the contribution of this statistician, Carl E. Milliken, Secre-
tary of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, added
an open letter published almost contemporaneously with that of Frederick
L. Hoffman.

Mr. E. Milliken remarks that, first of all, instead of making a
questionnaire to discover whether the school, the church or the home
has most influence on modern youth, which is to put the problem in-
completely, the circular to the educators and psychologists should have
included questions referring to films, newspapers and reviews, thus giv-
ing them an opportunity of making a definite choice between five or
six, instead of only three, terms of comparison.

a) Questionnaires. — On the other hand questionnaires as such have
doubtless a relative value. Recently, under the auspices of the Psychology
Section of one of the American Universities, a questionnaire of the
Babson type had been distributed among a certain number of masters
and University teachers. Seventy of the hundred and nine answers receiv-
ed affirmed the influence of the home on the moral development of the
young, thirty-seven that of the school, one that of the church and one
stressed the influence of the streets and of friends.

b) The world crime wave. — Furthermore, the observation that the
murder wave was increasing the world over, and that this should lead to
the consequence of excluding any influence of prohibition laws limit-
ted to the United States, was incorrect. From statistics compiled by Thor-
ster Sellin regarding murders in Northern Europe from 1900- 1923, that
is to say referring to that group of nations which have most affinity with
the United Stated as regards climatic condititions and general characteris-
tics of the population, it is remarked that the maximum was reached in

— 306

1 903-1907 and that since then there has been a tendency towards di-
minution.

One of the real reasons of the development of criminality was
that indicated by President Hoover in his message to the Associated Press
n New York, that is to say the disregard for law.

c) Major and Minor cinemas. — The industrial market of the
cinema could not agree with the statement made by Roger W. Babson
as to the difference between films shown in the central and the poorer
quarters of the town, which resulted in choice films being exhibited in
the former and inferior ones in the latter, that is to say films that were
liable to corrupt and to instigate crime.

The total takings on a 100 basis were derived as follows :

60-70% from first-view theatres in central quarters of the big cities.

20 °0 from the downtown suburban and provincial theaters.

The remainder from the cinema theaters of the poor quarters.

It should be remembered that all films followed this triple round
without distinction.

There was therefore no difference in the type of film supplied to
either class, because the only difference was in the classification of the
theaters as first, second, or third- view theaters and the difference in the
takings were in proportion to the value of the entrance ticket.

d) Immigration — that immigration to the United States in con-
sequence of the restriction laws had descended from a million to 200.000
persons a year was an incontrovertible fact, just as the increase in the
number of murders was another.

But all this could not justify the peremptory deduction denying all
possible correlation between the two social phenomena, in view of the
fact that not the mere number, but the moral and spiritual aspects of
immigration might to a certain degree have had an influence on crime.

Indeed, Professor E. H. Sutherland of the University of Minnesota
observed in a speech made at Des Moines in 1927, at the fifty-fourth
meeting of the National Social Workers' Conference, that the principal
effect of immigration on crime in the United States came from « the
production of a conflict of cultural values to the detriment of traditions
and the consequent inevitable conflict regarding the respective conduct of
the peoples ».

In one of his works on criminology Professor Sutherland himself
observed that in Massachussets in 1920 for each hundred thousand inha-
bitants of the white race and over fifteen years of age, there were the follow-
ing number of persons in prisons or adult reformatories :
120 indigenous sons of indigenous parents ;
226 indigenous sons of foreign or mixed parenthood :
143 foreigners.

307 —

If therefore one will not or cannot assume that the chief tendency
to crime in the immigrant is derived from the habits he brings with him,
it is nevertheless evident that foreigners and children born in America
of foreign or mixed parents grow up in an atmosphere of conflict between
the old mentality and the traditions and habits of American life.

This is the old theory of the conflict of races that at one time existed
between north and south, and that now exists in the moral and spiritual
conflict between east and west.

e) Wealth. — Contradictory as it may seem, the fantastic increase
of riches in the United States is of great importance in the investigation
of the motives of the crime wave.

In 1900 it was estimated at about 88 V2 billion dollars. In 1904 it
rose to over 107 billions, ini9i2 to over 186 billions and again in 1922 to
nearly 321 billion dollars and to 355 billions in 1925.

It is sufficient to reflect that, with a population representing 6 or 7%
of the inhabitants of the globe, the United States consume annually 35%
of the total world production, to realize that, apart from the undeniable
influence of such a fact on the immigration problem, such sudden pres-
sure of wealth must react in a hBrmful and dangerous manner on the
character not onlv of the individual but of the whole nation.

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/) Motor cars. — Closely connected with the increase of wealth is
the number of motor cars, that has reached fantastic figures in the United

3c8

States between 1900 and now, with a total of about 24 million machines,
exercising a definite influence on social habits, especially of the young, and
favoring crime by the possibility of rapid removal from one place to an-
other.

g) Nezvspapers. — Another point worthy of notice is the increasingly
wide diffusion of the press, not only the political and specialized press,
but also of all the publications that for commercial profits^ are wont
to dramatise crime in the most sensational form, making a hero of the
criminal, describing the technique and circumstances of the crime, with a
wealth of description and the most insidious and dangerous illustrations.
In one single big city the increase of the copies sold between 191 9 and
1929 was 1500%.

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h) Legislation. — In 1908 the United States promulgated 28,478
different laws. By 191 3 they had risen to 139,498, and in 1926 to the

6-ingl.

309 —

number of 233,663. All this besides the legislation already existing from
former times*

There is no brake on delinquency corresponding to this national
orgy in the field of legislation, but a confusion which in itself favors an

3.000.000

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increase of crime. Indeed Judge Harlan F. Stone of the Supreme Court
observes that the demand for a reform generally found its expression in new
laws, that always caused new crimes ».

The abundance of laws, besides giving rise to confusion also creates
a lack of efficacy. There is a difference between the single, curt, syn-
thetic law envisaging and striking a specific offence and an accumulation
of provisions overlapping and frequently contradictory in terms, if not
also in substance.

The people ends by no longer recognizing the validity and authority
of this congeries, from which there often arises contempt and disregard
of the law itself. Such contempt and disregard are not limited to
those who tomorrow may be potential criminals, but extends even to
those who are called upon to enforce the penalties.

310

Charles A. Selden in the New York Herald of August 5, 1928, notes
that, between 1926 and 1927, 670 murders had been committed at Chicago
and in Cook County. One third of these remained unpunished. Verdicts

Increase in the number of Laws in the United States from 1908 to 1926.

of guilty were obtained in only 22% of the other two thirds, and the death
penalty on 760 murderes had been executed only in ten cases.

130 of the above cited murders had been committed by groups of
bandits, and not one of them had been prosecuted.

Writing on « Crime Statistics and Police Problems » in the supple-
ment of the Journal of the American Statistical Association, L. D. Upton
observed that of ten persons arrested for crime in Detroit only three
reached the tribunal and one the penal institutions.

Thus, from an investigation conducted at St. Louis and at Kansas City,
it was proved that only in 3 % of the cases the culprits were found guilty.

This is in obvions and violent contrast not only with what happens
in Europe, where it would seem absurd that 97 % of the crimes should
remain unpunished, but with what has also been verified in Canada, because
in Canada, in the words of Judge W. R. Riddell of the Court of Appeal
« a trial is not a game but a serious and solemn investigal ion to ascer-
tain crime ». In nearly 90% of the cases the criminal has not the
possibility of escaping punishment. If a person stands surety for another,
he may compromise not only his property but his liberty, and may be
sent to prison in the place of his ward. In 1922, the city of Chicago
alone had a number of crimes exceeding those of the whole of Canada.

3ii —

i) Cinema and Censorship. If the cinema were an incitement to de-
linquency it might be hoped that a severe censorship, above all of films
reproducing crime might cause a corresponding reduction in the number
of the crimes themselves.

Yet Detroit that has the high quota of 16.5 murders for every 100,000
inhabitants, has one of the severest municipal cinematographic censorships.
Chicago with a quota of 15.8, enforces the following vigorous provision:

If a film or series of films for projection is immoral or obscene, or
presents scenes of depravation, criminality, or tends to exalt acts of
disloyalty, reproduces the acts of hanging or lynching, it will be the duty
of the Police Inspector to refuse permit the projection.

On the other hand Los Angeles, the city of the cinema par excellence,
has a quota of 4.7 murders for every 100,000 inhabitants.

Noteworthy among the largest cities of the South, is Memphis with
a quota of 60.5 murders for every ioc,ooo inhabitants. Since the first of
January 1921 Memphis has a municipal cinematographic censorship with
unlimited powers that cannot only deny or suspend permits of projection,
but also punish the operators, actors, scene designers or scene directors
interested or having control in the censored representations. A revision
of films excerised according to with such a rigid standard that it even
forbade the performance of the « King of Kings » !

d) Cinema and Frequentation. Assuming a correlation between the
cinema and criminality, it has been stated that the frequentation of the
cinema theatres is in direct ratio to the tendency to delinquency.

The section of psychology of the University of Columbia during the
summer of 1928 carried out an enquiry regarding a series of representa-
tions in which, of the 155,949 persons constituting the public of several
Broadway theatres and outlying and suburban cinema halls, 49.10% were
composed of men, and 50.90 % of women.

An exhaustive study on criminality by Healy and Bronner, publi-
shed in 1926 under the title of « Delinquents and Criminals », gives for
Chicago for every thousand youthful delinquents the ratio of 693 boys to
307 girls and for Boston the ratio of 722-278.

In the volume Criminology and Repressive Systems by John Lewis
Gillin, it is affirmed that for all the territory of the United States, counting
both persons arrested and those condemned, the proportion between males
and females was 8.6-1. In Massachusetts, according to Edward H. Suther-
land, men were arrested in a proportion 15.4 time ssuperior to women.

Frequentation of the cinema has a bearing on those few and sporadic
cases in which a particular crime is attributed to the imitation of deeds
shown in the cinema. In this connection it should be noted that compared
with crime in general, such cases are strictly sporadic and the publicity
given to them in the papers, although in keeping with the prevalent
habit of putting all the blame on the cinema, is usually at variance with

312

the truth, because in the course of the prosecution the alleged influence
of the cinema disappears.

The moral standard of American films, moreover, is such as to exclude
any possibility of corruption. Of 620 films produced in the United
States in 1928, 33.70 % contained neither criminals nor crime. In
33.80 % the criminal ended in prison, in 10.40 % he repented of
his evil doings and tried by good conduct to regain the approval of so-
ciety, in 4.90 % the corporal chastisements applied constituted an ad-
monishment rather than a punishment.

Add to this that, according to the statistics of Dr. Hoffmann himself ,
the maximum number of murders in the United States was reached in
1925, and from that period there was a decrease or a slump, while exactly
at the same time the slum films were placed on the market.

Another point that claims consideration is the number of seats
placed at the disposal of film frequenters. Rochester and Memphis
have about 15,000 seats for each 100,000 inhabitants, but the former
has an average of 3 murders for every 100,000 in 1928, compared to
60.5 for the latter. Portland, with 20,171 seats, has a proportion of 5-1
murders to 100,000 inhabitants, while Portsmouth, with 7.871 seats, has
17.9. Davenport 17.9 Iowa, Ottawa, and Somerville with about 20,000
seats, have a quota of 1.5, 1.4 and 1.0, while Detroit with 19,000 has
16.5. Los Angeles with 24,339 seats counts barely 4.7 murders.

There is not, therefore, nor can there be, any correlation between
crime and film frequentation. This is proved by students of great value
such as George W. Kirchway, for years Dean of the Faculty of Law of the
University of Columbia, later on director of Sing Sing Prison and finally
Chief of the Criminology Bureau of the New York School of Social Work.
William Healy, in his volume Delinquents and Criminals, compiled from
the data of an enquiry relating to over 4,000 cases in Cleveland and from
the reports of the Baker Foundation of Harvard University, Cyril Burt
for England in his work on the Juvenile Delinquent, the psychologist Phyllis
Blanchard, author of the volume Children and Society, the medical
psychologist Dr. Louis E. Bisch of the Medical Polyclinic School of New
York, Carleton Simon, alienist of international fame, for twelve years psy-
chiatrist of the Police Department of New York in a study on Crime and
Cinematography, and countless others.

The conclusion at which Carl E. Milliken arrives is that there can
be no relation between cinema and crime. That the crime wave, if
such it may be called, in America is attributable to other reasons, such
as prohibitionism, immigration, increase of wealth, insufficiency of legal
and penal preventive and repressive measures.

On the other hand the American industry has for some time past
been carrying on a campaign of rehabilitation of the cinema that has not
failed to take effect.

313

Thus the bi-weekly projections of cinematographic news reels are
viewed not by the ten million spectators quoted by Roger W. Babson,
through an obvions error of computation, but by one hundred million
who really form the cinema public.

Let us recall here the Pact, known as « The Formula », to which all the
manufacturers belonging to the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors
of Ameriua have acceded, whereby they bind themselves to ban from their
films a long list of subjects which might really be dangerou to public morals.

Of a like tenour is the principle of the Open Door, which not only
admits but encourages opinions and criticisms of cinematographic pro-
ductions. This gave rise in Hollywood to a special Committee of Stu-
dies directed by Col. Janson S. Joy, in which bodies which certainly have
no interest in immorality and corruption, such as the Federal Council of the
Churches, the Daughters of the American Revolution, the National Congress
of Parents and Teachers, the International Federation of Catholic Alumnae,
the American Library Association, the American Association of University
Women, and the American Boy Scouts, have been invited to participate.

In this connection it is noteworthy that in 1928 the Revisory Com-
mittee of the International Federation of Catholic Alumnae indicated as
especially suitable for children 254 among the films produced in America,
thereby reaffirming not only the principle of the morality of the American
film, but the concept that no relation of cause and effect between cinema
and crime, and especially juvenile crime, could be traced.

Through the study of the social problems of the screen, the Cinema
gains in strength and dignity. It is no longer merely a prodigious in-
strument created by man's genius for the delight of our eyes, imparting
to us a sense of the joy or of the profound sadness of life. It has be-
come a most subtle instrument, having power to wound the soul to
death, to injure the very spirit of the race, and it is now the duty of
science to contribute its part so that, rather than a generator of evil, it
may become a propagator of all that is good.

The International Institute has taken up this subject from the first
number of its review with articles by Henry Carton Wiart, Aloysio de
Vincente and Maurice Rouvroy. In this issne we return to it by sum
marising a debate that has awakened great interest in America. It will
continue by inviting opposed opinions, comparing them, and causing them
to clash in the serene fields of scientific discussion.

The columns of the Review are open to all who bring us information,
suggestions, articles, to all who wish to express their opinion on the central
problem which brings society and the cinema in touch, who wish to dis-
cover whether there is an incurable contrast or a logical possibility of
comprehension between the cinema, understood as an industrial and eco-
nomic expression and the cinema understood as a means of moral and
spiritual elevation of the peoples.

— 3H

THE CINEMATOGRAPH AND PU BLICITY

On the initiative of the Spitzenorganisation der Deutsche Filmindu-

trie (The Central Organization of the German Film Industry) and the

Lehrfilmbund (Educational Film Association), the first International

Congress of the Cinematograph as applied to Publicity was held in Berlin

from the 13th. to the 15th. August.

The importance attached to this Congress was evident from the num-
ber of the representatives of all Countries attending it and from the offi-
cial adhesion of the leading publicity organizations of Europe and America.

The Congress opened its procedings with an address by Dr. Walter
Plugge, head of the Spitzenorganisation. Dr. Plugge, after welcoming
the Congress in the name of the German Film Industry, described at
length what Germany had done, and what it was preparing to do in this
field. He stressed the immense possibilities which the cinema offered
to advertisement, especially now that new horizons had been opened up
by the talking and the colour film.

Dr. Plugge referred to statistics showing the contribution of the film
to publicity and mentioned^ the increment registered in the production of
films of this character.

Lastly he pointed out how the cinema, while contributing efficaciously
to the formation of public taste and general habits of life, had established
its claim to be the most effective instrument known for the purposes of
systematic publicity, propaganda, and avertisement.

Dr. Plugge 's speech, which closed amid enthusiastic applause, was
followed by an address by Dr. Ciirlis, President of the Lehrfilmbund,
which we have pleasure in reporting hereunder.

« Cultural film » said the speaker, is a term applicable to all films
the purpose of which is to transmit a knowledge of men and of things,
as contrasted with the mass of theatrical films which hold so wide a sway
and are of incomparable economic value.

« There is, however, no definite line of demarkation between the two
groups. Thus we have dramatic films of an educational tenour and cul-
tural films of a distinctly dramatic character.

The term « cultural film » denotes a class ; the term « publicity film »
defines a purpose. While the boundaries between the cultural film and
the theatrical film are not very distinct, it is often equally hard to fix
those between cultural and advertisement films. From the business stand -

315 —

point, the advertisement film ranks as the most powerful of the cultural
films.

« We have at the two poles the publicity film, pure and simple, and
the « investigation » or study film.

« Between these two extremes, there are a number of films of various
kinds, scheduled under different names, as experts may deem expedient.
There is, for instance, the scholastic film, suited to the purposes of
teaching and created for this end, and the publicity film made to
advertise a given article. While, on the one hand, the economic power
of the advertisement film offers a chance of increment to the educa-
tional film, it is certain that the cultural concept of the latter influences
a wide field in the domain of the former. We may claim that our best
producers are steadily endeavouring to impart a cultural tenour to pub-
licity films ; that is to say, to make of them a medium for diffusing a
knowledge of facts. It is in this field that the German producers of
advertisement films should endeavour to pursue their mission of culture.

« Thus, it is by no mere hazard that the producers of educational films
in Germany are frequently also producers of advertisement films.

« Our Congress has acknowledged the importance of this principle
and has entrusted to the Association of German Educational and Cultural
Film Producers the task of organizing their work and programs of
publicity films in concert with a group of experts and specialists.

The Film is the essence of Publicity. No other means of propaganda
has the magic and magnetic force of the sequence of events following
one on the other on the screen. All those who come within the range
of its light are subjugated. This is the secret of the world success
which, in the course of a few years, has made of the cinema a po-
pular means of entertainment to which all barriers of race and of
education are as nought, without, alas ! any heed being given to
its quality. The film is the essence of publicity, for it attracts all
eyes and compels men to see. It is not necessary for the plot to hold
one's attention; the movement of the shadows on the screen offer a suffi-
cient fascination. Noiselessly, the film penetrates our mind, and we
are powerless to resist. It is difficult to close ones eyes during a cine-
ma show ; it is easier to close a book in the middle of an interesting
passage. The cinema has proved such an efficacious means of propa-
ganda in the country that supplies 94% of the world's film requirements
that the masses throughout the world may be said actually to feel many
sentiments through the medium of the American nervous system !

« There is no cause for surprise, therefore, if the film is being used
for the purposes, and as a means, of publicity. Rather is it matter for
wonder that it is not still more generally used for all forms of indirect
propaganda.

— 316

« The reasons, however, are not far to seek. A film exists only from the
moment it is ready for projection. Then its advertisement value depends
directly on the number of projections; and, considering the projection
system prevailing in cinemas at the present time, the socalled « projection
life » of advertisement films is brief. In order to prolong it, it is neces-
sary first to create other projection possibilities. It is possible to increase
the number of projections but at considerable cost. Publicity films of
all kinds have attained almost to technical perfection in Germany, where
we have many admirable examples. The reason for this is the diversified
order of work which the German producer pursues ; this variety, specia-
lised in all its particulars, avoids sterile uniformity.

« The earnest producer of educational films must, first of all, combine
a sound knowledge of film technique with an understanding of what does
and what does not lend itself to representation on the screen ; what is
likely to interest the audience and what means must be used to arouse its
interest. It is not enough to possess a good camera and to instruct an
operator to take some films. All publicity films must have a solid back-
ground of painstaking preparation and experience. Both big and small
firms have produced a great deal up to now in the field of the advertise-
ment film, but unfortunately, they have frequently been induced to pro-
mise more than they can accomplish.

« This is often the fault of the persons ordering publicity films, and
who are apt to demand impossible and technically unrepresentable things.
It is superflous to state that not only films which reproduce events
and ideas demand special ability on the part of producers. The pure
advertisement film also, which lacks the requisites of the educational
film, being concerned solely with advertising, finds its place in cinema
programs among the short turns and this renders it necessary for its theme
to be carefully and intelligently selected in order that it may have some
real artistic value.

« The members of the Educational Film League are convinced that
mutual understanding between educational and publicity film will be
of advantage to them both. The producer of educational films will gain
by the greater economic possibilities opened to him, and the adverti-
sement film will have the advantage of the more scientific guidance of the
educational film. We manufacturers of educational films are proud to
place our knowledge on this subject at the service of world economy. The
value of our help is conclusively demonstrated by German statistics ,
which show that during these last years nearly as many metres of cul-
tural and publicity films have been produced as of dramatic films.

« It is earnestly to be hoped that an understanding of the unlimited
possibilities of the publicity film will make headway in the ever widening
field of world economy ».

317

Dr. Curlis's speech was followed by an address by the Director of
the International Educational Cinematographic Institute, who had been
invited to take part in the Congress and to take the Chair. Dr. De Feo,
after some opening words of greeting, described the present state of the
cinema as applied to propaganda and advertisement in the various coun-
tries, and expressed his admiration of the work done in Germany by
the organizers of the Congress. He expressed his pleasure in accepting
the invitation which gave him a further opportunity to make contact with
those who, in the different countries, were devoting their efforts to the
cinematograph as an instrument of education and uplift of the people.
The International Institute had greatly at heart all forms of international
cooperation in this domain. Few of the conquests of science have such
a universal value as the cinema, this language of the eyes, which neither
knows nor tolerates frontiers, which acquaints the mind and soul directly
with all that human nature and the mind of man can devise to recreate,
to educate, and to elevate.

The International Institute would always welcome any opportunity
to take part in such gatherings and would bring to them all the force of
an enthusiasm based on its deep faith in the future of the Cinematograph.
What are thirty years to a rising industry ? what is such a period in the
life of a people ? Yet, in this brief lapse of time the Cinema had established
its sway ; it had become one of the greatest world industries ; had claimed
the attention of Governments, of men of intellect, of the financial world,
and lastly of that body which is the official expression of international
cooperation: the League of Nations. Conscious of the immense moral
force accruing to the Institute from the fact that it had been created
by the League and was under the supreme guidance of the League's Coun-
cil, the speaker had not the least doubt that everything possible would be
done to cement ever more firmly, through the universal language of the film,
mutual understanding and collaboration between the peoples of the earth.

The Institute was interested in all the educational aspects of the
film.

What does advertisement represent to-day in the life of the peoples ?
asked the speaker. What are its ends ? What are the outer and visible
characteristics which it manifests more and more clearly ? We may say
that, at the present day, the word « publicity » has come to be syn-
onimous with another word, « knowledge ». With the progress of gene-
ral culture, the development of all those social forces which tend to-
wards the general welfare of the working masses, and the needs which
are constantly arising in daily life and the daily battle for life, the necessity
for knowledge is increasingly felt. A knowledge of our environment, of
what is likely to benefit ourselves and those dear to us, and to bring
strength, welbeing and civil progress to society and the community at

3i8

large and improve the conditions of labour. A knowledge of what is
being done and produced, of what the hand of man and the strength of
his intellect are able to create and to hand down to mankind and civili-
zation. Here indeed, is a formidable task of popular education !

Advertisement no longer wears the same countenance as in the past.
It, too, has had to rise to the new exigencies of life, and the new require-
ments of the public. It is called upon to interest, to amuse, to elevate,
and to illustrate intelligently. Only through the medium of a constant
process of persuasion, founded on a knowledge of facts, can a new ma-
chine or a new system now hope to attract and hold general interest.

What position can the Cinema claim in this complex system of know-
ledge and propaganda ? The very highest ! The cinema alone achieves
what other means fail to accomplish. It alone can give us real life and
movement in their realistic form, their suggestive and persuasive form,
in a form such as to justify the use of the word « knowledge ». Real pro-
paganda and the highest form of publicity are attainable only through its
medium and the knowledge of actual things.

The public has little use nowadays for stationary images. Attempts
have been made to animate these by inserting expressions of artificial
life: light, especially colour, luminons sky signs. But all efforts have
come up against the same obstacle : lack of public interest. These means
of advertisement are insufficient to satisfy the universal thirst for know-
ledge. The cinema meets this need by combining a general work of
education with this big task of persuasion. For it is indeed an educa-
tional mission to acquaint the masses, in the live manner of the cinema,
with all that the hand and the mind of man, wealth and scientific mana-
gement can produce !

Competition in the modern world is no longer the empirical business
it was in the past. At the present day, only those who can give proof
of sound organization and first-rate production can hope to win and to
hold their own on the world markets.

A wide application of the cinema to advertisement can achieve
vast and valuable results. It can lead indirectly to a more and more
perfect form of cooperation between different countries ; it can make the
public acquainted with the industrial movement, and the machinery and
working of big enterprises, demonstrate the conquests of human labour
and the advances rendered possible by scientific management. And all
this spells knowledge and education !

The Director of the Institute proceeded to describe the several ways
in which the cinema could serve the purposes of advertisement ; the tech-
nical methods, such as animated drawings, and those super-modern ex-
pressions of the cinema : colour films, word and sound films, all of which
give the widest scope to imagination, cleverness, taste, and the artistic

319 —

sense. By such means real little works of art were created, though used
for publicity pure and simple. Such advertisements not only do not
irritate the public, they interest and amuse it and arouse admiration for
the new technical achievements and the new expressions of cinemato-
graphy and art.

This double mission of spreading knowledge, on the one hand, and
of artistic publicity on the other, ensures the fullest development of the
cinema. Already in many countries enterprises organizing cinemato-
graphic publicity are thriving and multiplyng and are managed on the
most thorough and serious lines. Other centres will no doubt follow.
Just as commerce is intrinsically international, so also this new develop-
ment of the cinema tends to become international.

In closing his speech, Dr. De Feo expressed his hope and confidence
in the most cordial collaboration between the International Institute in
Rome and the several Nations interested in advertisement and propa-
ganda films.

Dr. De Feo, whose speech was warmly applauded, was followed
by several speakers who expressed the hope that the Institute would be-
come a centre for the study of this aspect of the cinema and promote co-
operation between the different countries. Dr. Curlis took the opportunity
to give a public welcome to the International Review of Educational Cine-
matography, which he described as a splendid expression of will and en-
terprise. He proposed to the Assembly that the report of the Congress
should be published in the Review, which should be considered as the
official organ of all producers and users of educational films in all coun-
tries. The Assembly adhered unanimously to this proposal.

Dr. Pinshewer, a renowned veteran in the camp of the educational
cinematograph in Germany, and the Director of the Pinshewer Film
Co., spoke next :

((Advertisement is an outstanding feature of the economic life of
to-day » said the speaker. Advertisement opens up markets to production,
an essential condition to the rationalization of all business enterprises.

The time-worn methods of propaganda, by copy and posters, have
now to make room for the advertisement film, which assumes therewith
a politico-social importance.

« Advertisement films count barely twenty years of life in Germany.
She preceded all the other countries of Europe in the use of this type
of film.

« Indeed, when the speaker went to London in 191 3 to exhibit some
of the earliest advertisement films (which Germany had been making
since 191 1) to British manufacturers, he discovered that the latter were
still unacquainted with this means of publicity.

320

« Since that date, advertisement films have found their way into all
civilized countries. Germany ranks first among European countries
in this field ; she has, moreover, developed the technical and artistic
character of these films, along special and original lines.

« For the first time, this Congress offered Germans an opportunity
to form a correct idea of the progress of advertisement films in other coun-
tries and to study the best means of launching them, while bearing in
mind the fact that publicity films, no less than dramatic ones, often serve
the purpose of diffusing a knowledge of national production beyond the
national frontiers. This makes it most important for all publicity agents
to be well informed as to the tastes of cinema audiences in other countries
so as to study the best means of diffusing their films.

« An important point would be achieved in the interest of film adver-
tisers in all countries if this Congress were instrumental in determining
and making known the standard length of reels suited for projection in
all countries. There are two types of advertisement film in use to-day
in the German public cinemas : the standard film measuring about ioo
metres and the sub-standard film measuring 25 metres. The former is
nearly always projected by itself ; the latter in groups of four films, as a
prelude to the regular program of the halls.

« The artistic development of advertisement films has been retarded
of recent years and is still being retarded by the tendency of the big cine-
mas — and more especially the big consortia — to screen such films
and make money by them regardless of their artistic quality.

« The international competition opened, on the proposal of the Ger-
man League of Educational and Cultural Film Producers (Bund deut-
scher Lehr- und Kultur- Filmhersteller), aims at promoting interest in
artistic advertisement films, not only among those directing cinemato-
graphic studies, but among the proprietors of cinema halls and all other
persons concerned. The competition, moreover, aims at calling the
attention of the public to this special branch of film activity, so as to pro-
mote its development. The competition had taken place under the auspices
of the Reich Kunstwart, in Berlin, contemporaneously with the sessions
of the Congress.

« According to information published in the Film-Kurier, there are
at the present time in Germany 86 firms that devote themselves to the
production and distribution of advertisement films and last year they made
365 films, having a total length of 68 thousand metres. If we compare the
yearly expenditure in Germany for the production and distribution of
advertisement films with the total cost of publicity which German trade
and industry has to meet every year, which, according to the computa-
tions made by the Institut fiir Konjunkturforschung together with the Leip-
zig Fair Company, amounts to one thousand million gold marks, this

321

may be regarded as modest. The speaker reckoned that the amount
devoted to advertisement films does not exceed ten million marks annually,
i. e. i% of the total German expenditure on publicity.

« But we must not look to figures alone and rely on such comparisons
in estimating the value and importance of the advertisement film.

« In Germany some two thousand cinematograph halls, that is to
say about half the total number, had declared their willingness to project
systematically advertisement films. This number includes the most im-
portant cinemas, judged by the number of seats. Assuming that the average
number of seats in these halls is five hundred and that each seat is occu-
pied ten times in the course of a week it would follow that, having one mil-
lion seats available, publicity films can be systematically exhibited week by
week to ten million spectators.

« Taking into account the deep impression which the screen spectacle
makes on spectators, there could be no doubt as to the ever increasing
importance of industrial advertisement films for commerce, communi-
cations, and Government services, an importance proportionate to the
ever increasing use made of them.

« In addition to the strictly advertisment film, there has been an
increasing demand during the last ten years in Germany for the industrial
and cultural film having a special publicity tendency ; films which are
projected often with the accompaniment of explanatory lectures, to school
and association audiences, outside the normal cinema programs.

« The producers of patented articles have been prominent among
trade and industrial groups in the use of advertisement films ; among
these first and foremost come the big firms providing for everyday house-
hold requirements, the pneumatic industries and the manufacturers
of labour-saving apparatus, such as vacuum cleaners, central heating
plant, etc., as well as the big shipping lines, cooperative supply societies,
gas and electricity companies, health and climatic resorts, fertilizer man-
ufacturers and manufacturers of artificial silk.

« German industries have recourse to advertisement films also as
a means of promoting their foreign trade.

« Propaganda in all matters of social interest is another branch in
which Germany makes use of the cinema ; that is to say, in such matters
as savings banks, the organization of the Reich railways, and the postal
and wireless telegraphy services ».

At the close of Mr. Pinshewer's speech, which was greeted with pro-
longed applause Mr. George E. Turner addressed the Congress. Mr.
Turner is a renouned organizer and expert, who is responsible for the
creation of an important film publicity enterprise in England, that serves
as a model of sound organization and business principles.

— 322

« Film Publicity, said the speaker, has been in operation in Great
Britain for about 10 years but I believe that so far we have only touched
the fringe cf its possibilities. By Film Publicity I of course mean com-
mercial propaganda by specially prepared films exhibited in public
kinemas.

« Its development has to some extent been retarded by the personal
attitude of the advertiser toward films in general , We must remember
that the kinema in the early years of its existence was mainly supported
by the working and lower middle classes. It gave them an entertain-
ment, which they understood and appreciated, at very much less cost
than the established forms of amusement, the theatre and the music hall,
could do. But it was some time before the cultured and the comparatively
well-to-do took much interest in the pictures except to condemn them.
It was a common thing in the past when approaching an advertiser in an
endeavour to interest him in Film Publicity to meet with an utter lack
of sympathy and understanding because he himself had never attended
a kinema and had no desire to do so. Today the position is different ;
the film is a recognised form of dramatic art as well as being one of the
great businesses of the world and there are few people indeed of any class
who do not patronise and enjoy the kinema.

« The kinematograph film was too great a force to be ignored. When
we consider that practically over-night film artistes have achieved a fame
and popularity scarcely equalled by the great political figures and soldiers
of our time its tremendous potentialities for propaganda must be admitted.

« In my own experience I have found that those advertisers who were
among the first to use Film Publicity have generally employed it consistently
year after year and inmost cases have steadily increased their expenditure.
As more and more publicity films have been exhibited the interest of
other advertisers has been awakened and today in Great Britain Film
Publicity has almost become a fashionable advertising medium.

« Let me tell you briefly how we operate Film Publicity in Great
Britain. As you no doubt know, we have in all about 4000 kinemas which
are attended by over 25 million people each week. Of these 4000 kinemas
approximately 75 % are prepared to include a publicity film in their pro-
grammes. Effective national coverage can however be obtained by a
campaign of, say, 1500 bookings — by that I mean a week's exhibition
in 1500 kinemas. This provides a circulation-value of about 12 million
— 12 million actual viewers of the film. The bookings are usually spread
over six months but the period of the campaign is naturally determined
by the selling policy of the advertiser. It is usual to charge an inclusive
price for the campaign covering the production of the film, the necessary
film-copies and exhibition. We have adopted a standard length for pub-
licity films of 400 feet, that is, about 125 metres. Allowing five minutes'

323

screening-time, it is worth noting that in a 1500-booking campaign 60
million minutes of attention are given to the product featured in the film.
Speaking for the firm that I represent, there is one important point in
our service which cannot be stressed too much — every publicity Film
we distribute is a solus advertisement, that is, it is the only publicity film
included in the kinema programme during the period of exhibition. The
cost of Film Publicity in Great Britain is roughly £.1000 for each million-
and-a-half of circulation. I have given you these elementary facts con-
cerning the manner in which we conduct Film Publicity as quite possibly
other methods are employed in other countries.

« I believe that Lenin, the great Russian leader, placed the film first
as a medium for propaganda in Russia, and whether it is to advance a
political creed or to sell goods, which latter is our business, I believe that
the film can express the desired appeal more effectively than any other
medium. The words of the press advertisement must be converted into
mental images by the intelligence and imagination of the reader which
are often inferior to those of the copy-writer whereas in the film the pictures
already exist and live.

« But although the film has unequalled power of expression it demands
a good deal of care and thought to use these powers to the best advantage.
We must assume in the first place that the only justification of the film-
story is the product itself. I believe that it is bad selling first to originate
a film-story and then to introduce the product as a secondary considera-
tion. The film should be dependent on the product so that without the
product the film could not exist. If that point be conceded then to my
mind the two great essentials in creating a successful publicity film are
the right atmosphere and actual demonstration of the product in use,
that is, if it lends itself to attractive demonstration. Let me explain
wh at I mean by the right atmosphere. We must consider who are likely
to be the buyers of our product and we must see that the characters in
the film are what these potential buyers would like to be or imagine them-
selves to be. We must lift the setting of the story a little above the social
grade of the people to whom we intend to sell the product. If, for exam-
ple, our film is designed to sell artificial pearls we must show that they
are delighted in by fastidious, elegant people who, from their surround-
ings, we judge to be in a position to afford the real variety. If the
product is to be sold to men, then our film-story must strike the right
masculine note to interest the type of man who is likely to be our custom-
er. For a household appliance such as a cooking stove, it would ob-
viously be demonstrated in a home radiating cheerfulness and efficiency,
the kind of home that every woman would like to possess — which brings
me to the second point, that of demonstrating the product. Actual per-
sonal demonstration of the uses of a product by a salesman is often

324

too costly to be widely employed. But the film can be the most efficient
salesman-demonstrator of a product. It can give the ideal demonstra-
tion with the right human appeal to millions of people at a comparatively
small cost.

« As well as demonstrating the product we like if possible to show
it actually being bought. The viewer of the film naturally imagines
himself in the position of the film artiste who in using the product and
there is a definite urge to buy created in his mind.

« We are using today mainly two types of publicity films — the story
film and the industrial. The industrial film depicting the manufacture
of the product is still popular. We find that kinema-goers like to know
the way things are made — they are still interested in clever machinery.
Films of this character are valuable for demonstrating the quality and ge-
neral goodness of food products and add to the prestige of the manufactu-
rer. At the same time, the film must not be a bald procession of manu-
facturing processes — ■ it is desirable to lead up to the factory scenes
through some external interest relevant to the product. And again it is
desirable to include in the film a demonstration of the product under the
conditions in which it is used.

« I have stated briefly the principles we endeavour to employ in de
signing a Publicity Film. We know from the results we are obtaining that
we are making good and effective films, but to my mind there is plenty
of scope for development and improvement. It of course goes without
saying that the photographic quality of a Publicity Film must be above
reproach.

« So far I have not attempted to say one word concerning talking
films. At the present time they are only being operated to a limited extent
in Great Britain and it is impossible to obtain anything approaching na-
tional coverage. More and more kinemas are however being equipped
with talking film projectors and when it is possible to ascertain what pro-
cess will be generally used throughout the country there will be a bigger
opportunity for talking publicity films.

« I would like to summarise what I consider to be the advantages
of film publicity :

« i. It is possible to present every type of selling appeal in the
publicity film in a way readily understood and appreciated by people
of all classes.

« 2. In Great Britain today there is available to the advertiser the
huge circulation of at least 18 million.

« 3. By careful selection of kinemas the Publicity Film can be
directed to reach potential buyers of every class.

« 4. A campaign can be national or localised to any extent desired
without wastage.

7-ingl. 325

« 5 • The Publicity Film compels attention for a definite space of
time.

« 6, The Publicity Film is always a solus advertisement.

« In conclusion I would like to make a suggestion. I believe that
it would be valuable to have some means of interchange of Publicity Films
among all countries. Apart from the purpose of the film to sell the
product it features, I believe that within its limits it gives a better idea
of the life of its country than most of the big films that are produced
for entertainment only. I know that so many entertainment films sent
to us in Great Britain deal with the abnormal life of the countries in which
they are produced and I believe that if we received more publicity films
from abroad it would help us to a better conception of the real life —
the normal life of other nations and by a general interchange of Publicity
Films we could make some small contribution to international goodwill.
But apart from this consideration, I believe that Film Publicity organised
on an international scale can become a tremendous weapon for the fur-
therance of trade ».

Mr. Turner was followed by several other speakers. The Inventor
of the Bioscope exhibited, amid the keenest attention, a film taken in
Berlin in the year 1895. This projection, of truly historic interest, was
followed by the projection of several films that had been awarded prizes.
Lastly, a representative of one of the foremost German manufacturers
of talking film apparatus, the Klangfilm Co., delivered an address,
which we summarise herewith.

« Publicity is always ready to avail itself of any new technical con-
trivances and improvements that may serve its purposes. This is espe-
cially true of the most recent of all technical creations — the talking
film — which already ranks as the modern medium of publicity par
excellence.

« By adding sound to vision, it opens up new possibilities of enjoyment
and a wider scope for publicity.

« Advertisements, posters, the cinematographic film itself, in its most
perfected and artistic form, are all adressed to the eye ; lecturers, loud
speakers, all the agents of commerce who deal with the public, make their
appeal through the ear ; but the talking film carries all before it, for it
addresses itself to both organs at once, and by combining sound and vision
creates a perfect whole.

« A whole new world of possibilities is opened up to the cinema by
this conquest of sound, and advertisement — ever on the look-out for

— 326

something new — has here a novelty full of undreamed of promise. Truly
a boundless horizon !

« All the forms and devices of the silent advertisement film : dramatised
action, animated drawings, documentary films, can now be recreated in
a completer form by the new method of utilizing the two essential fea-
tures of the talking film — words and music — and synchronising these
with natural sounds (the all-talker).

« I will mention a few only of the possibilities thus opened up. To
even hint at them all would be impossible.

« First we have Lecture Films.

« In these films, either the image or the verbal message can have
priority-, as seems most fitting. The words impart life to the image,
and the image enforces the eloquence of the words !

« This type of film lends itself to all forms of publicity; it can serve
business by replacing the personal calls of touts and agents; it is at the
service of political propaganda, since it can reproduce the words and ges-
tures, the living semblance of the candidates; while it serves the purposes
of hygiene, sport, and all forms of propaganda and technical demonstration,
no less than the serious purposes of scientific instruction.

« Then we have what are known as Transformation Films, synchronis-
ing music, words and sounds.

« All that is comic or grotesque can be exaggerated by sound, any
difficulties which present themselves in the captions or descriptions can
be got over by the spoken word — tho' it is true this presents new dif-
ficulties in the international sphere — mute things are endowed with
voice, all manner of transformations become possible, and the interest
of the audience is held and redoubled.

« There are no bounds to the possibilities of development of this type
of film. It can penetrate all fields of activity'. Just as the transformation
of images has allowed the most impossible things to be represented in
the past, so the sound film now offers possibilities of development which
musicians have yet to elaborate.

« The artistic and serious value of these films depends on the com-
bination of words, images, music and sound.

« Documentary talking films can likewise be utilized for the purposes
of publicity.

« The characteristic of this film consists in the natural combination
of the sound with the image. What the transformation film achieves
by means of artifice and the exaggeration of detail is here rendered by
the accuracy and perfection of the reproduction.

« These films lend themselves more particularly to industrial pro-
paganda. The working of machines, traffic, the rhythm of labour, all
those processes which cannot be rendered fully by the image alone, are

327 —

reproduced and made to live by the talking film with a force and vitality
of the highest propaganda value.

These films do not show us men offering goods for sale; they do not
give us fanciful images, created or adapted in a grotesque or unreal guise
to imitate nature; they show us real things in all their persuasive reality.

The mind of the spectator is reached by this double appeal through
the eye and the ear in a manner that no other means of publicity can effect,
and he becomes more than usually susceptible to the attractions of the
offer.

The talking film opens up new paths to advertisement for the con-,
quest of customers, whose resistence falters before this double attack.
And this discovers fresh paths and possibilities for industry".

The next Congress will be held in Brussels in 1930.

In quitting the subject of the Berlin Conference the Editor of the
International Review wishes to express the satisfaction with which he
has thus responded to the resolution of the Congress and reported its
proceedings, which deal with so important an aspect of the modern ci-
nema. This admirably organized Congress may be regarded as an ini-
tial opportunity of contact between those who represent the vital force of
this branch of cinema activity in the several countries.

We shall be happy to open our columns to new ideas, new initiatives,
new suggestion in this domain. This should help to prepare the way
for the discussion of the questions to be threshed out at the next Congress
to be held in Brussels.

328

AND THE FILM

/// the first number of the Review we published a short article on « Fire
and Film ». The letter which we publish herewith has just reached us from
an important authority in the American Cinema world.

We had in fact ourselves cast doubt on what the daily press had generally
affirmed as certain with respect to the causes of the Cleveland fire disaster.
We have pleasure in now placing before our readers a letter which deals with
this point in a precise and substantiated manner, and is such as to remove
all shadow of responsibility for the appalling disaster from the moving pic-
ture industry.

We shall return to this question in a later issue so as to set forth the in-
structions referred to in this letter.

Dear Dr. de Feo,

With reference to the article in the July issue of the « International
Review of Educational Cinematography » on « Fire and Film », I am sorry
that owing to the lack of accurate information the blame for the Cleve-
land Hospital Fire is attributed to the motion picture industry.

Cinematograph films did not cause this accident. It was caused as a
result of a fire originating in nitrocellulose X-ray films. As you probably
know, these are large films used in hospitals by the surgeons. These
films were stored in the basement of one of the Cleveland Clinic Foun-
dation buildings, quite evidently in violation of the precautions for keeping
this material. Instead of being stored in a vault, protected by automatic
sprinklers and provided with a vent to carry off fumes in case of fire, this
X-ray film was stored in an old coal bin exposed to several potential
sources of ignition, without automatic sprinkler protection, and with di-
rect opening to a pipe tunnel and shafts that furnished a natural path of
travel for the fumes to every room in the building.

This coal room which had been converted for storage, was a brick
enclosure 19 x 24 and a half feet, a little over 9 feet high, and without
windows. The X-ray film, which runs usually 14 x 17 inches, was stored
in paper envelopes in this room, mostly on wooden shelves, but some in
steel filing cases. It is evident that there was present between three and
four tons of this material at the time of the fire. The lighting in this
room was by an ordinary electric bulb on a pendant cord. A four inch
steam line brought steam at a reported pressure of 45 to 65 pounds per

329 —

square inch from the nearby hospital, through the top of this room.
This pipe was only about a foot above the film storage shelves and a
vertical section passed within a few inches of the shelves.

It is obvious that the fire came from the decomposition of the nitro-
cellulose film. Pyroxylin compounds like nitrocellulose film are chemi-
cally unstable at elevated temperatures and decompose at temperatures
as low as 3000 F. This decomposition generates further heat and liberates
carbon monoxide, various oxides of nitrogen and other gases which are
both poisonous and highy explosive.

There are many different fire regulations in the different states through-
out this Country, but, in order to obtain satisfactory insurance, any place
storing films must meet the regulations as published by the National Board
of Fire Underwriters, copy of which I am enclosing. In addition to the
regular inspections of all motion picture exchanges or storage places
several men from this office are constantly in the field inspecting these
same storage places and making full reports on them. There are some
thirty-two key cities in the United States which serve as centers or stor-
age places, and from which the motion pictures are shipped to the differ-
ent theatres in that particular district. Under separate cover I am sending
you copies of instructions which were placed in every one of these storage
places. These instructions are required to be carried out to the last
detail under pain of the dismissal of any employee found violating them.

Also, I am sending you a copy of an inspection questionnaire which
is filled in every month and filed in this office.

As a result of this very thorough work, there has not been one single
fire in any of the storage centers for a period of over two years. Fire laws
are very rigid in regard to theatres, also dealing with motion pictures.

If schools, institutions, etc., are storing films, they are required by
fire regulations to take care of this material by the most approved and up-to-
date methods. A great many of the schools and institutions in this coun-
try ?re using a cellulose acetate film entirely, which has, as you know, no
more fire hazard than paper or cardboard. Unfortunately, however,
this type of stock will not stand up under the hard treatment that a com-
mercial motion picture has to go through.

The Eastman Kodak Company has spent many millions of dollars
in their experimental laboratories trying to find a substitute for the nitro-
cellulose film, but so far have been unsuccessful in obtaining results
which will stand up as well as the nitrocellulose film does under the ne-
cessities required of it.

The recommendations relative to storing films put forward in the ar-
ticle are very splendid. Certainly if all motion pictures were stored un-
der such conditions we would not have any fires of a serious nature.

330

INSTITUTE TOPICS

THE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE INTERNATIONAL LABOUR

BUREAU AND THE INTERNATIONAL EDUCATIONAL

CINEMATOGRAPHIC INSTITUTE

The International Educational Cinematographic Institute, in Rome,
and the International Labour Bureau, in Geneva, have drawn up the terms
of an Agreement for the purpose of regulating the friendly cooperation
between the two organizations in all matters pertaining to the Cinemato-
graph, and establishing these on a firm basis.

The International Institute is happy to make known the terms of this
convention which gives concrete form to that intimate understanding, es-
sential to the spirit of the Pact, between the several organizations under
the League of Nations : an understanding the sole object of which is social
progress and improvement .

The Institute is particularly gratified by this Agreement, inasmuch as
it is entered into with the International Office whose aim and endeavour is
to solve the most arduous problems of the social life of our times, those affect-
ing Human Labour in its manifold activities and innate nobility.

We give herewith the text of the Agreement :

Agreement

i . - Considering :

That the International Educational Cinematographic Institute in
Rome is an international technical body set up to deal with problems
relating to educational cinematography ;

2. - that among its principal tasks is that of assembling complete
documentary evidence respecting :

a) legislation affecting the Cinematograph ;

b) firms engaged in manufacturing the material (blank films and
apparatus) used for educational cinematography, and in producing printed
films for the purposes of all forms of instruction ; and

c) all other matters appertaining thereto ;

3. - And establishing Collections of educational films (Cinemathe-
ques) and compiling international catalogues of such films.

4. - Considering, on the other hand, that the International Labour
Bureau, in Geneva, deals with all the problems of labour ;

33i

5. That, more particularly, it collects a complete documentation
whether legislative, statistical, or otherwise, on :

a) labour conditions in all industries, trades, agriculture and
shipping, and all other forms of human activity ;

b) the several aspects of the question of the employment of the
workers' leisure, including occupational instruction ;

6. - That it is, moreover, vitally interested in cinematographic films
dealing with industrial hygiene, the prevention of accidents, occupational
training, the cooperative movement, and all subjects within the compass
of its activities ;

7. - Considering :

that there are therefore a certain number of questions of common in-
terest to both of the above mentioned institutions :
They have agreed as follows : —

I. A COMMISSION ON LABOUR FILMS.

8. - Considering the importance attaching to the compilation of an
international Catalogue of films concerning Labour :

9. - That this task must be carried out in a practical spirit and with
technical competence ;

10. - That films which are officially recognized as important by the
institutions of the League of Nations must be of unquestionable educative
and scientific value ;

11.- That it is consequently necessary for competent persons to
make the choice of such films ;

12. - Considering :

that it is equally necessary to form a collection of films on the prevention
of accidents, industrial hygiene, occupational training and other practical
problems connected with labour education ;

13. - And that such a task can be carried out only by experts ;

Therefore :

14. - A) A Commission on Labour Films is hereby set up, in ac-
cordance with the terms of Article 12 of the organic Statute of the Inter-
national Educational Cinematographic Institute and of Articles 33 and 34
of the General Rules of the said Institute ;

15. - B) The members of the Commission are appointed in ac-
cordance with Article 33 of the Rules of the International Educational
Cinematographic Institute, by the President of the Institute's Administra-
tive Council, on the proposal of its Director, after consulting the Director
of the International Labour Bureau. The Director and the Secretary of the

332

Administrative Council of the International Educational Cinematographic
Institute are ex officio members of the Commission, as laid down in the
above cited Article of the Rules.

1 6. - The Commission deals with :

a) the compilation of international catalogues of films concerning
labour problems ;

b) the formation of a Film Archive relating to the prevention of
accidents, industrial hygiene, occupational training and other practical
labour problems ;

17. - The Commission shall, when it deems it necessary, appoint
one or more experts to advise on the choice of films to be included in
the Archive.

18. - In accordance with the terms of Articles 34 and 12 of the
General Rules of the International Educational Cinematographic
Institute, a special Agreement between the International Labour Bureau
and the Institute will provide for the expenditure entailed by the Com-
mission.

19. - Further agreements will determine the number of members
forming the Commission and all details connected with its functioning.

II. EXCHANGE OF DOCUMENTS

A.) Regarding Legislation.

20. - The Educational Cinematographic Institute shall form a gen-
eral collection of documentary matter concerning the laws affecting
Cinematography and shall communicate to the International Labour
Bureau all texts and documents likely to be of interest to it.

21. - On its side, the International Labour Bureau, pursuing its
methodical collection of all the texts of laws dealing with the problems
of labour in all branches of industry and trade, shall communicate to
the International Educational Cinematographic Institute all those docu-
ments which concern the cinematographic industry.

B.) General Documentation.

22. - While the International Educational Cinematographic Insti-
tute, on the one hand, assembles information of all kinds on the firms
manufacturing films and cameras and in general on all the technical
problems of the cinema ;

23. - And the International Bureau, on the other hand, assembles
statistics and information on the conditions of work in the several indus-

333

tries and trades, regarding wages and profits, hours of work, hygiene,
safety, etc. ;

24. - Both Institutions, working in close collaboration, shall exchange
all items of information likely to interest the other.

25. - In particular, the International Labour Bureau, when com-
piling its card index respecting films on labour questions, shall supply
the International Educational Cinematographic Institute with a copy
of all cards thus filed and, in exchange, the latter Institute shall communi-
cate to the International Labour Bureau a like documentation on all
questions of interest to the latter, as specified by it.

III. — INTERNATIONAL LABOUR PROBLEMS IN THE CINEMATOGRAPHIC

INDUSTRY .

26. - The International Educational Cinematographic Institute shall
hand over to the International Labour Bureau the study of all questions
touching on international Labour problems in the cinematographic
industry with which it may have been entrusted and shall place at the
disposal of the Bureau all the documentary evidence collected by it on
the subject, together with the results of any preliminary studies it may
have carried out.

27. - In like manner, whenever the International Educational
Cinematographic Institute has to deal with questions certain aspects of
which only come within the province of the International Labour Bureau,
it shall transmit to the latter the study of such particular aspects in the
manner above stated.

Luciano de Feo Albert Thomas

NATURAL COLOUR CINEMATOGRAPHY AND STEREOSCOPY

The conflict of opposing views and interests still raging around the
talking cinema has for the time being swamped public interest in two other
most important innovations, which no less, and perhaps more, surely
then synchronism itself are destined to play a big part in the future of
the cinematograph.

We refer to colour cinematography and stereoscopic effect.

334

After years of research and study, the naturally coloured film seems
to have attained to perfection. While it is debatable how far some systems
are really practical, others seem to be perfect from all points of view.
In any case, we are justified in regarding this problem as now definitely
solved, and the public will soon be called upon to pronounce on its indus-
trial possibilities.

Natural colour photography has always been an engrossing problem
and interest in it increased with the advent of the cinematograph. After
succeeding in reproducing movement, it was only natural that men should
try to reproduce sound, colour and relief ; the selfsame ambition which
had led to the invention of the cinematograph urged inventors to seek
to capture these other three essential elements of Nature.

It would be difficult to decide who is the inventor of colour cinemato-
graphy ; indeed at the present time France herself it still debating which
of her two renowned citizens can claim to be the inventor of the cine-
matograph. The new conquest, though based on a single principle, may
be considered, no less than sound reproduction, as the result of the work-
ing out and perfecting of a whole series of studies and ideas.

We do not propose here to go into the technical details of all the
different systems whereby a practical solution of the natural colour problem
has at last been achieved. This aspect of the question is being dealt
with comprehensively from the scientific standpoint in a series of arti-
cles by Prof. Namias and further articles will be contributed to the Re-
view by that eminent authority, Prof. Seyewers of Lyons.

So far but few systems have become known and practically applied,
to however small an extent ; none of these systems has attained to per-
fection. The first system to make a public appearance was the English
« Kinemacolour », which aroused great interest in all who had an opportunity
to watch it some twenty years ago. This was based on the two-colour
principle and the images were successively projected, through a rotating
red and violet filter, at twice the normal velocity, with results then hailed
as satisfactory.

The French inventors Keller-Dorian have for the last ten years or
so worked on a very ingenious three-colour system consisting of a lenticu-
lar surface impressed on the film ; the colour is obtained by means of a
tri-chromatic filter with parallel stripes, placed in the objective. This
system, while reproducing colour very successfully, has not so far been
applied because of the impossibility of reproducing the positives ; this
difficulty has now at last been overcome, and the Kodak Company is
placing 16-milimeter films on the market, while a British Company has
been formed to float the Keller-Dorian patent.

In America the Technicolour system is still in practice and though

335

it does not allow of the exact reproduction of colours it has, nevertheless,
proved the most practical system up to the present.

It is founded on the two-colour principle and consists of two equal
images, superposed accurately one on the other, and colored by chemical
process, one red and the other violet ; this superposition produces a
coloured positive that can be projected without the addition of any spe-
cial optical means. But apart from the fact that it does not reproduce
colour faithfully, there is the disadvantage that the printing of the posi-
tives is very difficult, and consequently very costly. Notwithstanding this
drawback it has been the most widely applied system up to the present.

Signor Gualtierotti has recently given some highly interesting demon-
strations, which have led to notable results. His system is also based on
the two-colour principle and on two equal images, placed side by side,
on a film of twice the standard width. The images are projected simul-
taneously through two nitres, one red and the other violet, and are super-
posed on the screen by means of two objectives with converging and ad-
justable axes.

A system very similar to this of Signor Gualtierotti 's has been work-
ed out in Germany by the Busch Company and is specially adapted to
filming surgical operations.

So much, at a summary glance, for the systems that have been best
known, though never widely applied, up to the present ; but now from
France, Germany, England and America new and more perfect inventions
are being heralded, and we may hope soon to enjoy the practical appli-
cation of these marvellous achievements of man's genius.

Third dimension cinematography, or stereoscopy, seems now to
be an accomplished fact. Trustworthy information from America states
that the Norwegian engineer, Berggren, and Mr. Spoor, of Chicago,
after ten years of study, have succeeded in solving what has hitherto been
regarded by most people as an insoluble problem. Great success attended
a demonstration held in the presence of the foremost authorities of the
American cinema "world. It is not stated by what means the inventors
have succeeded in achieving this long desired result, and we are anxiously
awaiting detailed particulars of the new conquest. As soon as further
information reaches us, we shall publish a note on the subject ; meanwhile
let us take a glance at some of the new possibilities opened up to the cinema
by colour and relief.

Nature is a harmonious synthesis of form, colour and sound ; life
consists in movement. In the past the cinematograph has been able to
reproduce form and movement — movement more successfully than
complete form, for the monocoloured image is imperfect, as lacking relief
and the relation between distances. Then came synchronism, which
allowed of the more or less faithful reproduction of sound, but two of
the principal qualities, colour and plastic form, were still lacking.

— 336

The lack was grievous, for a scene may be silent and stationary, but
nothing in nature is devoid of form and of colour. These two qualities
are the essentials of all visible things. Photography gave us a part of
the form, and the cinematograph gave us movement also ; but the repre-
sentation was incomplete. Form depends on the harmony of three
dimensions, height, width and depth ; monochrome pictures reproduced
two of these dimensions, height and width. The conquest of the third
dimension will give us an exact reproduction of things in their form and
mutual relationship ; colour will clothe the image in all its native
beauty.

The theatrical cinema can dispense with relief and colour, for it
depends on other features of interest ; but we who look to the film as a
means of teaching and an instrument of science, cannot fail to feel the
lack of these two essential factors. We need only consider in the light
of teaching any one phase of the knowable (and the « knowable » is all
« graphable » to the cinema) to realize at once the importance of colour
and relief. A landscape appeals to us through the harmony of its colour
and form ; a monocular and monochrome vision of it can give but an
imperfect impression, and we are driven back to our imagination and
our habits of direct vision to clothe the scene with all the qualities it lacks.
We can reproduce a bird of the tropics in its bodily form, its movement
and the notes of its song, but what of the dazzling colours of its feathers ?
Lovely as is the song of the nightingale, the orgy of colour in the feathers
of the humming-bird is perhaps lovelier still.

The vision of a caravan of camels in the desert, against the setting sun,
will be far more suggestive when we can render all the contrast between
the caravan and the burning and unbounded desert waste ; its appeal does
not depend on sound or on movement, but on colour and plastic form.

We shall feel something of the real thrill of real mountain heights
when watching a stereoscopic film of Alpine scenery with its peaks and its
dread precipices, while a monocular vision of it does not move us.

Thus we await impatiently the industrial phase of these two great
achievements of the cinematograph, not as a means of speculation or of
mere enjoyment, but as a most potent instrument of teaching and of cul-
ture. As soon as the cinema is endowed with the third dimension, and
with colour and voice, we shall be able to grasp this world, with its things
and its living creatures, its infinite beauties and its horrors, and confine
it within the narrow limits of a room or hall. Our eyes will be able to
behold things so far only dreamed of, and our imagination will have to
take refuge in the abstract alone, for there will be no more distances in
this world and nature will no longer have so many mysteries.

33'

THE CINEMA AS AN AUXILIARY TO THE SCIENTIFIC
ORGANIZATION OF LABOUR

The part played by the cinema in the domain of labour as an auxi-
liary in the propaganda of scientific management, in its manifold aspects,
grows in importance from day to day.

The announcement that this Institute intended to take up the ques-
tion and study it with attention was welcomed cordially by a number of
Organizations and Institutions interested in it ; many of these, indeed,
have organized special offices for the sole purpose of getting out films
dealing with occupational training and guidance and scientific manage-
ment systems.

Only by stirring up active interest and the discussion of this subject
in the spheres of labour can any concrete results be achieved, results which
will demonstrate the soundest criteria to follow in the use of the film,
without losing sight of the peculiar characteristics of the various doctrines
on the science of labour which are successfully applied in different coun-
tries.

In the United States, for instance, certain methods are in use which
give excellent results in the environment and under the conditions prevail-
ing in that Country, but which would not lend themselves without con-
siderable modification to a different environment, where general and par-
ticular conditions are so different.

The screen shows up most efficaciously the conditions requisite for
improved output and increased yield, the several factors of occupational
training and guidance in the selection of a trade, and the surest methods
for preventing accidents in factories.

We note with pleasure that ever since the International Cinemato-
graphic Congress held in Paris in 1926, in which the importance of the
cinema for illustrating labour problems was stressed, to the Congress
held last June in Paris on the Scientific organization of Labour (Scientific
Management), there has been a steadily growing understanding of the
necessity of applying the moving picture to industry.

How to use to the best purpose this most typical product of modern
progress, that is the question. It is question with which this Institute
is vitally concerned.

In the course of its work of enquiry and documentation, the In-
stitute has made contact not only with the industrial and syndical organ-

338

izations mentioned in our last number, but also with the Rumanian In-
stitute of Scientific Management of Bukarest, with the Polish Institute
of Scientific Management and the Federation of British Industries in
London. We wish here to call attention to the active and varied cine-
matographic activities of this latter organization, which has set up a special
cinema department to deal with the production of films concerning bio-
logy, industry, labour, botany, geography, natural history, etc.

This Department has organized also a Film Collection which in-
cludes a vast number of educational films and has recently brought out
a most interesting Film Catalogue. We have pleasure here in giving
a list of some of these, which claim attention in connection with some
special branches of study.

Films illustrating Industries and Domestic Work.

i. Baby's Birthright. — A propaganda film against bottlefeeding
babies, showing how cotton-seed prepared in a scientific manner can help
the nursing mother.

2. Making a Bed. — The workmanship and material that go into the
making of a comfortable mattress are shown, including the treatment of
horsehair and wool and box spring mattresses.

3. Making Cane Furniture. — The weaving of cane into household
goods is a very old craft and is done by hand. A picturesque industry.

Films illustrating Mining and Metallurgy.

4. Cable making. — The subject deals with submarine cable, and
shows in an interesting manner, supplemented by diagrammatic cartoons,
how a cable is built up, much ingenious machinery being shown.

5 . Coal and its Products. — In this visit to one of the largest gasworks,
the methods of obtaining the various by-products are shown. Ammonia,
tar, fertilizers, etc., are dealt with in turn in an arresting manner.

6. Iron Manufacture. — From the quarryng of the iron stone to
the finished pig iron, this fascinating subject is convincingly dealt with in
detail, and contains views of blast furnaces in operation.

7. The Magic of Nitrate of Soda. — The production of Nitrate
of Soda in South America precedes some interesting views showing the
application to and results on British crops of this well-known fertilizer.

8. Reinforced Concrete. — Road-building on this principle is on the
increase, and this shows a road being made from the foundation to the
finished surface.

339

a. Steel Manufacture. — Surely one of the most interesting of
British national industries. In this the open hearth furnace is portrayed
and takes the subject past the ingot. stage to the rolling mills.

10. Steel Products. — Showing the manufacture from the ingot
stage of sreel rails, joists, bars, wire, galvanized and corrugated sheets,
barbed wire, etc. Wonderful handling plant portrayed.

ii. The Manufacture of Tin Plate. — The South Wales industry
is shown in detail from the raw material (scrap iron) through the furnace
and ingot stage to the cogging and rolling mills and its final picking and
tinning.

12. A Money Making Industry. — A film showing how Canada mints
coinage. This film is of educational type, and has been in great demand,
both in theatrical and non-theatrical circles.

13. Welland Electric Smelting. — Shows the up-to-date processes
of this industry.

Films illustrating the textile trade.

14. The Story of Cotton. — The arrival of the bales of cotton in
Lancashire is followed by the various processes in the cotton spinning,
i. e. opening, scutching, carding, etc.

15. Underwear and Hosiery. — Showing the manufacture of woollen
underwear and hosiery. Many of the machines shown at work are a
triumph of inventive skill.

Films illustrating the electrical industry.

16. History of Electricity. — Showing the evolution since electricity
was discovered by Thales nearly 3000 years ago, and showing in detail
how it is now produced for everyday use. The most modern plant is
shown.

17. How the Money Goes. — Dealing with the advantages of Electri-
city over other methods of house-lighting and heating.

18. Modern lighting. — Dealing with the manufacture of an electric
light bulb, both by diagrams and by pictures of the machinery utilized.

19. Telegraphic Transmission. — Shows the actual transmission of
messages. Creed machines and other marvels of scientific invention
are incorporated. A series of films illustrating the powerful electric
and hydraulic plants of Montreal, Vancouver, Eastern and Western
Canada and Winnipeg.

340

Films illustrating the chemical industry.

20. Heavy Chemicals. — Great Britain has always been foremost
in the production of Heavy Chemicals : processes in the manufacture of
Sulphuric Acid, chlorine, chloride of lime etc., are shown.

2 1 . The Romance of Oil. — The magnitude of the operations involved
in the manufacture of Oil in British North Borneo is graphically por-
trayed, and concludes with the arrival and refining in this Country.

22. Making the Wheels Go Round. — Is a continuation of the "Ro-
mance of Oil » and is a survey of the many different means of distributing
the oil from the refinery, and includes interesting views of can-making.

Films illustrating Agriculture.

23. Malt and Hops. — Starting in the barley fields and the Kent
hop fields, the film follows every process in the brewing of beer in a
modern London brewery, and concludes with an interesting section
showing the bottling.

24. Apple Time in Evangeline's Land. — An industrial film dealing
with the Apple Industry. This film has historic and picturesque set-
tings, and the story of the great apple industry in this romantic section
of old Acadya is interesting and educational.

25. Where Nature Smiles. — This film shows the great Niagara
fruit district. We see the trees from the time they are in blossom until
the fruit is picked and distributed by means of special refrigerator cars,
electric trolley lines, etc.

Films illustrating the shipping and fishing industries.

26. Manchester Ship Canal. — One of the finest engineering achieve-
ments of Great Britain. A most interesting journey, showing the unique
transporter and other bridges and the activities in the docks and ware-
houses.

27. Building Wooden Ships in Canada. — An industrial film depict-
ing lumbering operations on Vancouver Island and shipbuilding in
British Columbia.

28. Fresh from the Deep. — One of the series of films dealing with
the great fisheries of Canada, showing the methods of catching halibut,
and how the fish are prepared for shipment to the consumer.

A series of films illustrate up-to-date methods of salmon fishing in
British Columbia and the Thurlow fish hatchery at Belleville, Ontario.
Canadian tuna trapping and the processes of fish canning are also shown.

8-ingl. 34I

Films illustrating various subjects.

29. Building Aeroplanes in Canada. — An industrial and educational
film, showing every process in the manufacture of aeroplanes in Canada.

30. Trafford Park. — Now a veritable hive of Industry, all factories
having private railway sidings and many ingenious devices for handling
goods. A splendid insight into industrial England.

31. The Oxford University Press. — A tour round the most famous
printing press in the world. Composing, monotype, stereoplate casting,
printing, bookbinding, etc., make an instructive subject.

THE LEGISLATIVE ASPECTS OF THE CINEMA
THE TARIFF QUESTION

(Continuation)

In this number we bring to a close our study of the Customs regime
applying to films, with particular reference to the educational films with
which this Institute is concerned.

This survey leads to certain logical and necessary conclusions — conclusions
which, moreover, had already been reached and formulated by the Paris
Congress of 1926 and which were reaffirmed by the C. I. E. in 1928 at its
yearly assembly.

During its forthcoming October session, the Administrative Council
of the International Educational Cinematographic Institute will discuss in
the light of the data collected and the comparisons made and illustrated in
the pages this Review, the official proposals put forward on this subject
and submit all suggestions approved by it to the competent organs of the League
of Nations.

3. Cultural and scientific Films. — Following on the Questionnaire
addressed to the several Governments by the International Educational
Cinematographic Institute and the large number of answers which have
already reached us, we are able to give the following particulars based
on the official data received, or on data culled from other sources.

13 Countries (Austria, Esthonia, France, Guatemala, India, Italy,
Morocco, the Principality of Monaco, Rumania, Russia, Sweden, Turkey
and Venezuela) make no difference in their tariff rates between theatrical
and cultural films.

Among these Countries, Russia (U. R. S. S.), while granting exemp-

— 342

tion from duty to scholastic material and equipment, makes an exception
of cinematograph films.

As regards iS Countries (Argentine Republic, Canada, Chile, Co-
lumbia, Costarica, Cuba, Honduras, Yugoslavia, Mexico, Nicaragua,
Panama, Poland, Portugal, Dominican Republic, Salvador, Union of
S. Africa, Hungary and Uruguay) — all countries for which we lack pro-
perly checked official data on tariffs — it is not certain whether any dif-
ferentiation is made between theatrical and cultural film.

Respecting the other 30 Countries, we have the following parti-
culars :

a) Australia. Exemption is extended not only to films, but to equip-
ment and all material serving the purposes of Schools, Institutes and other
educational or cultural organizations. This exemption is granted also
in the case of films which are partially of a theatrical character.

b) Brazil. Par. 35 of Article 2 of the preliminary provisions of the
Customs Tariff provides complete exemption for films as for all other
scholastic and educational material intended for Museums, public and
cultural institutes, Schools, Public Institutions, etc.

c) Ecuador. Entirely exempted.

d) Japan. Films intended for educational, cultural and scientific
institutes, and those for which licences have been granted by the Minis-
try of Finance, are entirely exempted from duty.

e) Greece. Films intended for schools, Universities, educational
associations, etc., are entirely exempted.

f) Ireland. All films of a cultural, scientific, and educational cha-
racter are exempted, subject to certain conditions laid down by the Com-
missary of Customs. The conditions in question are concerned mainly
with ascertaining the bona fide character of the film, and are so lenient as
to amount practically to complete exemption.

g) Latvia. Complete exemption on condition of a certificate being
obtained from the Ministry of Public Education attesting the cultural
or scientific character of the film.

h) Norway. Universities and Higher Technical Schools can import
films without paying any duty. Similar exemption is granted to these
institutions in the case of gifts from abroad of didactic or scientific ma-
terial.

i) New Zealand. Complete exemption is granted to cultural and
scientific films provided they are accompanied by declarations or certifi-
cates substantiating their character.

j) Tunis. Entirely exempted, not because of any specific provi-
sion, but because all printed films are granted exemption.

343

Partial Exemption :

a) Egypt. Educational and scientific instruments and material
directed to schools, Universities and other educational institutes, are grant-
ed exemption from Customs duties, but are not exempted from acces-
sory duties (unloading dues at Alexandria, Suez or Port Said)

b) England. Section 8 of the Finance Act of 1928 exempts from
Customs duty the importation of certain scientific films required for
lectures, study, and educational purposes, provided they are accompa-
nied by a certificate of the Royal Society.

Beside this very small group of Countries which grant partial exemp-
tion for cultural films, we have a more numerous group of Countries
which grant :

Exemption within more or less strict limitations :

a) Belgium and Luxemburg (Customs Union), under Art. 11 19 of
the Tariff, grant exemption from Customs duty to cultural and scien-
tific films, conditional to the approval of the Brussels and Antwerp
Customs Inspectorate or of the Customs Inspectorates of other districts
concerned.

The Offices in question are required to ascertain the indisputable
bona fides of scientific or cultural films. For this purpose they require
a declaration from the Directors of the public or private educational insti-
tutes concerned, attesting that, on their personal responsibility, the
films will be used solely for educational purposes.

This system of control is so strict that, for instance, the Belgian
Cinematographic University, not being counted as a cultural institute,
but as an institute of a popular character, has to pay duty on the films
imported by it, even when these are destined solely to educational or
scientific shows.

b) Chekoslovakia. Paragraphs 123 and 125 of the Supplementary
Decree on the Customs Tariff grant only the temporary introduction
of films directed to congresses, fairs, exhibitions, etc.

By the terms of Paragraphs 87, Nos. 18 and 20, and par. 163 of the
Customs Tariff, cinematographic films, cameras, and other material in-
tended for the use of schools, institutes, educational and cultural organi-
zations, for purely educational and non- commercial purposes are, on
the other hand, exempted from duty. All such material must remain
the property of the school, institute, or other organization concerned,
and the directors thereof are required, when drawing up their applications
for exemption, to specify the use to which the objects — which must
in any case, be included at once in their inventories — will be put.

The above concession is allowed only in the case of imports from
Countries with which reciprocity agreements are in force.

— 344

c) Finland. The Act of 29 November 1921 grants exemption from
Customs duty to imports of cultural and scientific films, provided these
are intended for agricultural lectures or expositions or are shown only
to audiences by invitation.

d) Germany. The 2 : 1 quota is in force. As no difference is made
in the treatment accorded to theatrical and cultural films, a special pri-
vileged certificate may be granted for the introduction of the latter when
the importer is able to show that two films o equivalent length have been
exported against each single film thus imported during the year.

e) Irak. Customs exemption is granted for films which, as attested
by the Health or Educational authorities, aim at hygienic or educative
ends and for those intended for free exhibition. Otherwise, when in-
tended for public exhibition, they are subject to a reduced duty, at the
rate of 2.8 Rupees per Kg., equivalent to Gold Francs 5.27.

f) Lithuania. Exemption from Customs duty is granted to imports
of films, apparatus and material of a cultural, educational, or scientific
character, in special cases, to be ascertained in each instance, and when
these are required for strictly instructional purposes.

g) Palestine, Syria and Lebanon grant the free importation of cul-
tural and scientific films so long as these are required for free exhibition
for educational or propaganda purposes.

h) Spain. Importation free of Customs duty is granted only in
respect of scientific material, cinematographic films included, intended
for State-supported educational institutes, provided the purchase of the
said educational or scientific material comes within the means and is
included among the items scheduled in the Budget.

i) United States. Cultural, educational and scientific films imported
for public exhibition are exempted from Customs duty*. Those imported
for public exhibition or in genera: for paid shows are subject to the same
tariff rates as theatrical films.

j) Switzerland. According to Art. 19 of the Customs regulations
all films acquired by schools and institutes for non-commercial purposes
are exempted from duty. Applications for exemption must be supported
by certificates issued by the scholastic authorities.

Another group of Countries grants only :

The temporary introduction of cultural films. In this connection it
is proper to point out that this time limit to importation constitutes per
se an embargo on the spread of universal culture and education by means
of the cinematograph.

On the other hand, this principle of temporary introduction, although

345 —

it does not amount to a stated rule, prevails also in that group of Coun-
tries which do not recognize any difference between cultural and thea-
trical films.

Let me here point out that the failure to distinguish between edu-
cational and theatrical film resolves itself in fact into an advantage for
the latter. Thus a provision which might have some justification if
applied to a « means » of education, is on the contrary utilized almost
exclusively for commercial ends.

Some explanation is requisite here.

The custom of forwarding negatives for copies to be printed is
constantly on the increase where subjects of an ordinary theatrical cha-
racter are concerned. This, at least, is true of Countries which count
a very great number of cinema theatres and consequently require a large
number of positive copies for the service of the halls and the more rapid
exploitation of the film.

With this object in view, producing companies are already providing
for making an increasingly large number of negatives. The most recent
processes, moreover, of special negatives for duplicates or countertypes
make it possible to prepare a considerable number of negatives from
which copies can be printed later on.

In the above instances, the negatives are forwarded by the principal
office or its agencies, application being made for « temporary importation ».
During this « temporary » period, the negatives are introduced into the
Country, steps are taken to have a sufficient number of positive copies
printed, and the negatives are then returned. Thus the traders, hirers,
and heads or representatives of enterprises manage to save entrance du-
ties which would in any case be minimum, when compared with the pur-
chase value of the film and the possibilities of its exploitation in the Country.

This is true of a certain number of Countries and more especially
of the most important which offer the best chances of exploitation and
for which the purchase value is high and would be enormous if compared
with the entrance duties. Negatives are not, in fact, despatched to those
Countries where only a few copies are required.

The above is true of theatrical films.

The same does not apply to the branch with which we are interested,
that of the cultural film.

As a rule, when educational films are purchased by foreign countries,
the purchase is restricted to one or two, or at most a few positive copies.
Cession of the rights for exclusive exhibition is not the general rule. It
may take place sometimes where there are powerful concerns of a national
character which purchase the reproduction rights of a particular educa-
tional, scientific, or scholastic film, relying on their own strength to dif-
fuse it throughout the country. But even in these circumstances, the

346

purchasing institution, organization, or Company, are likely to encounter
serious difficulties. In fact, while the number of positive copies of a thea-
trical film requisite for its normal exploitation is well known and establi-
shed by the knowledge of local tastes and habits, and, moreover, the
cost of the positives represents only a fraction of the general cost of releas-
ing the film (to it must be added the cost of poster advertisements,
press publicity, the series of photographs, the credit to be granted to
sub-concessionairs, etc.), how do matters stand with the institute or com-
pany which purchases the exclusive rights for a cultural or scientific film ?
What number of positive copies will have to be printed ? What are the
chances of sale ?

In our case, it is not a matter of normal exploitation, but of the
uncertain and complex chances of special exploitation. Thus if only a
few copies are printed, one runs the risk of having to ask again for the
negative, which may by then be in another country and not easy to
obtain. If a large number of copies are printed, the Institute or Com-
pany finds itself with a lot of money tied up and this (partly owing to
the accumulation of interests) ends in a further charge on the cost of the
film and therefore on the chances of its complete and rapid diffusion
for educational purposes.

We can here very properly speak of dead capital, since the institutes
or companies which interest themselves in educational films cannot carry
on in the absence of a lively movement of their business and usually
dispose only of very limited capital.

The above, as we have said, is true of organisms purchasing the
exclusive rights for the projection of educational films. But where
do we find such organizations, if not scattered here and there, and in
a few countries at best ? In the great majority of cases, education-
al films are acquired direct by scholastic committees, scholastic or
educational institutions, Universities, Schools, cultural clubs, propa-
ganda institutions, and such like. In such cases the purchase of a posi-
tive is akin to the purchase of a book. The film, indeed, has to serve
precisely the same purpose, but in a broader, more complex and convincing
form. Now, while this may be possible within the frontiers of a Country,
it becomes impossible when the burden of the cost of forwarding the
film from abroad is further charged with the far from negligible burden
of entrance duties. In some cases this cost amounts to 50% of the
cost of the film itself ! The percentage of the normal entrance duties of
a theatrical film, on the contrary, represents only 1 to 2% at the maxi-
mum, given the highest tariffs and films of average value.

There is no doubt that this handicap is very serious and calls for the
earliest possible rectification, especially in view of the importance of
the policy of intensifying the exchange of educational films between differ-
ent Countries in the higher interests of international culture.

347 -

In any case, as we stated above, temporary introduction is not the
same thing as exemption and it merely stresses the conception of equality
in the fiscal treatment of the two kinds of films considered.

a) Austria. The importation of cinematographic films belonging
to the category under consideration is allowed, provided it be for one
month only after obtaining the approval of the Ministry of Public Edu-
cation for which application must be made through the Ministry of
Finance (Note 15703 III-13, dated 10th. September 1924 of the Ministry
of Public Education and Note 26601-24-16, dated 16th. June 1924, of
the Ministry of Finance).

b) Denmark. The importation, free of Customs duties, of cinema-
tographic films and apparatus intended for Schools, cultural and educa-
tional institutes and congresses, under obligation to re-export, is allowed.
Otherwise the normal tariff applies.

It seems opportune to point out in this connection that this does
not constitute a privilege accorded to cultural or scientific cinematographic
production, since the same rules apply to ordinary theatrical films.

Holland. Only the temporary importation for six months of cinema
films required to illustrate lectures is allowed.

A fifth and very small group of Countries grants to cultural cinema-
tographic material :

Special Customs treatment :

First comes Irak, (already mentioned in the third group) by reason
of the double concession — however restricted it may be — to films
of an educational and scientific character.

Next come :

a) Siam which imposes a duty on the basis of 5 % ad valorem of
the market price on all films for the entertainment of children, provided
they are sold.

On the basis of an average value of 93.15 gold francs per Kg. of ne-
gative and 40.75 gold francs per Kg. of positive, the tax on cultural films
amounts respectively to 4.66 gold francs for negatives and 2.04 gold francs
for positives.

b) Hungary, which under the present fiscal system allows a customs
relief of 10% for films of a cultural and educational character until the
30th. September 1930.

Bulgaria is in a different position to all the other Countries con-
sidered, inasmuch as she raises instead of diminishing the duty on

— 348

recreational films for children ; this amounts to gold francs 7.50 per Kg.,
as against the normal tariff of 6 gold francs.

To sum up, seventeen nations, including those of the fifth group
and Bulgaria, out of the forty- three for which we have been able to obtain
precise particulars, make no difference in the tariffs as between theatrical
and educational films (when indeed they do not increase the duty on- films
intended for children) and merely grant their introduction, restricted
both as regards time and quantity, in particular instances, either in accord-
ance with regular rules or according to the decision and prudent judg-
ment of the competent authorities.

Thirteen countries grant importation with exemption from duty
in the case of certain institutes and organizations, albeit within the limi-
tations of a fixed contingent, as in the case of Germany.

Three Countries limit the import duty or, as in the case of Egypt,
restrict it to accessory dues only.

Only ten Nations grant full rights of citirenship to culture and
science as represented by the film.

These facts are all the more striking when we remember that six
Countries grant special privileged treatment to films of sub-standard size,
which possess merely potential possibilities for culture and science, but
which in reality (if only within the narrow circle of a family or an insti-
tute) may represent the dramatic and passionate aspects of life ; such con-
cession not being due, however, to their presumptive character of
lesser diffusion, but because the weight of the film itself and its economic
value constitute the fiscal reason for its more lenient treatment as com-
pared with normal films.

Thus Belgium and Luxemburg tax films 20% ad valorem.

Brazil imposes a duty of 5000 Re is, equivalent to gold Francs 8.14
per Kg.

Australia taxes it at the rate of one halfpenny per foot.

England taxes cultural films according to width at the same rate as
the normal rate on theatrical films.

The duty in Siam is 5% ad valorem.

But the noble mission of the film of an indisputable scientific and
cultural character, as a propagator of discovery, of the beauties of human
thought and of Nature is not yet understood, and the battle that is
being waged around it and for it, for its wider diffusion in schools, edu-
cational institutes, public places and the sun-baked fields where men la-
bour, has not yet achieved any but the most paltry concrete results.

The universal value of the cinema is a fact now beyond and above
discussion. The efficacy of the luminous screen is not restricted to the

9-ingl. 349

narrow circle circumscribed by frontiers or to that of any one audience
watching a film here or there. The film outsoars mountains and oceans
with greater ease than the written or the spoken word. It improves on
these, and what may remain unknown in a written work owing to lack of
knowledge of the language or to the shortcomings of translation in ren-
dering thought and form, all that which, in oratory, is necessarily restrict-
ed to a particular audience, makes a universal appeal through the film.

The film does not even impose the technical difficulty of linguistic
transposition. The luminous vision is uncircumscribed in its character ,
and the caption is not a central factor of the vision itself, nor is it even an
indispensable corollary, because cinegraphy, in its broadest and noblest
artistic expression, has a visual emotive sensory language that speaks
for itself and is above all the possibilities of comment, which is fre-
quently superfluous, and all too often futile or distorting to the simple
beauty of the scheme.

In the scientific film alone comment may be useful or necessary :
but oral explanations must come from the lips of scientists or masters r
who as such will themselves speak everywhere a universal language.

The worldwide character of this magnificent instrument of science
and knowledge ought surely to appeal to all countries and to all forms of
activity which centralize, coordinate and direct the action and life of na-
tions, and claim from them the widest protection and the fullest
chances of expansion.

The essentially liberal conception that human thought should not
"be subject to frontiers and that the barriers raised by the fears and egoisms
of nations cannot and must not prevail against the manifestations of art,,
science, and culture in general — against that which is the tangible ex-
pression of the beautiful and of our aspiration towards the divine, ought
to ensure to the cultural film the fullest freedom unrestricted by frontiers.

Limitations are inadmissible in a domain such as this. The harm
that may be done by the theatrical film, in its multifarious aspects, as a
false or standardized representation of life, or of the life of a given set
of people ; as a force for spreading ideas which for political, religious or
social reasons may perturb the life of other peoples ; as a medium of
customs, habits and ways of thinking and living that are contrary to con-
ventional morals, and which deny ideal values, does not apply to the
film of science and culture. The cultural and scientific film cannot be
a source of perversion or contribute to raise barriers of contempt and
hatred rather than love and cooperation among the peoples.

The mission of this is to represent the phenomena of Nature or of
some particular aspect of actual life. It serves the essential purposes
of knowledge for those who lack other or fuller opportunities of embracing
science and learning. It speaks a universal language wherever shown
and cannot fail to raise the moral and intellectual level of spectators.

~ 350

All this, simple and elementary as it is, has not yet been understood.
The cultural and scientific film still counts as « goods » in the mercantile
meaning of the word, like « Grand Guignol » stuff, advertisement « goods »;
like the merchandise in its raw state of celluloid, gelatine and sugar.

For this reason it behoves an Institute of purely international char-
acter, an institute created by the League o« Nations to carry out one of the
highest and noblest forms of cooperation between the peoples of the world,
to set forth the facts lucidly and well supported by numerical data. The
study bristles with numbers, to be sure, but for this very reason it is a
document, a warning, and an aspiration for a future in which culture and
science shall be accorded greater consideration — a different and a bet-
ter future, a future that will satisfy the legitimate hope of all men of cul-
ture that fiscal regimes may regard in a totally different light from the
ordinary « movies » the cinema designed for the education and uplift of
the peoples.

From the remote past to our own time educators and teachers the
world over have aimed at directing oral instruction towards visual in-
struction, as being the best adapted to meet the requirements of the
young, and the most readily perceived and assimilated by all.

No kind of scholastic equipment or means of education — and least
of all the film — should be excluded. It is international in its very
essence. The subject matter itself, from geography to natural sciences,
geology, the history of art, and so forth, demand the constant, intelli-
gent, documentary and didactic effort of all nations, so that each and
all of them may place at the service of humanity whatever local contri-
bution may be produced and shown on the screen. On this account the
free movement of films from one country to another is essential, unham-
pered by fiscal handicaps which impede the fullest expansion of science
and culture.

AGRICULTURAL CINEMATOGRAPHY IN ITALY

The interest shown by the Italian Government ever since 1924 in.
the progress of agricultural propaganda and instruction by means of the
cinematograph deserves special mention.

Before 1924 a first experiment in this direction was made by the
« Cerere » Company, thanks largely to the exceptional interest shown by Dr.
Mario Casalini and the generous support of the Montecatini Company.

351

The « Cerere » Company was legally incorporated, and in the course of a
few years was responsible for the production of a considerable number of
technical films for propaganda and teaching and got together some thou-
sands of slides.

But in 1924 the movement in agrarian propaganda by the cinema made
great advances, thanks to the policy of the Government and the initiative
of the « Luce » National Institute.

« La Battaglia del grano » (« The Wheat Campaign ») was the first
example, and indeed a unique one of its kind. On the initiative of its
Head, the Italian Government started a vast campaign for the national
revival of agriculture, to bring it technically up to date, to obtain a better
yield from the soil and an increment of wheat production. Imme-
diately afterwards the « Luce » Co. followed in the footsteps of the Gov-
ernment by releasing a film entitled « The Wheat Campaign ». Unaided
by any government subsidy, the « Luce » did not hesitate to have printed
one hundred and twenty positive copies of this film, which measured over
two thousand metres in length. And the film was projected the same day,
at the same hour, in one hundred Italian cities and in the twenty other most
thickly populated communes. With whirlwind speed the film was shown
in the course of barely 40 days in the open squares, the piazzas of 2,500
communes. It is estimated that between 5 and 6 million persons watched
the pictures. The whole Italian press followed the enterprise with keen
interest. The first part of the film extolled in a series of historical pictures
the beauty, strength, and moral and social power of agriculture. The
pictures were accompanied by popular songs and local music.

The great success obtained by this propaganda induced the Perma-
nent Wheat Committee, of which Benito Mussolini is the President,
to issue orders of three different kinds :

1). That the Permanent Wheat Committee should earmark an
annual appropriation of 500,000 lire for the purposes of propaganda by
means of the cinema, the films shown to be partly devoted to technical
farm training ;

2). All activity in this direction to be centralized in the « Luce »
Company, as being the technical cinematographic organ of the Italian
State ;

3). That a Film Collection (Cinematheque) dealing with agri-
cultural instruction and propaganda should be organized in connection
with the Luce Company for the guidance of the vast movement in question ;
this Collection being placed under the direction of seven of the most eminent
Italian authorities on the science and practice of agriculture. The said
Committee was appointed by a Decree of the Head of the Government
on the proposal of the Minister of National Economy.

— 352

In execution of the terms of the decision above mentioned the « Ce-
rere » was merged with the « Luce » and the whole of its assets placed at
the disposal of the said executive Committee.

Elaborate working programs were drawn up. Before long the Opera
Nazionale per i combattenti (Soldiers' National Organization), which had
done such splendid work for land reform and land reclamation all over
the country, joined efforts with the« Luce» , and a fund was earmarked of
six hundred thousand lire for the first year and of nearly one million for
following years. The same Organization despatched travelling cinemas
from one extremity of the peninsula to the other, with the sole object
of projecting agricultural films, produced in concert with the « Luce », and
illustrated by lectures by university professors or recognized experts
of national and international reputation.

The union of the <c Opera Nazionale Combattenti » and the « Luce »
produced admirable results.

In the first place numerous films of a technical order were published,
dealing with vine cultivation, olive cultivation, market gardening, fruit
growing, beet culture, wheat cultivation, etc.

Later on special aspects of agriculture were iaken up. In respect of
wheat cultivation, for instance, several films were made dealing separa-
tely with cultivation in plains, on hills or mountains. Thus for fruit
cultivation separate films were released dealing with peach growing, pear
growing, apple growing, etc.

But we did not stop here. The vast difference in the possibilities
of farming and in farming systems as between North, Central and South
Italy, called for further differentiation. Thus the first films directed
to propaganda in a given group of districts were released : e. g. wheat cul-
tivation in South Italy, a film which, in its turn, was divided into three
sections, according as the cultivation of flat, hilly, or mountainous land
was considered.

Lastly, a further and most important step was taken : the production
of regional films, those aiming at illustrating in the completest manner
and by numerous examples the practical possibilities of each region; showing
all that can be done for the increment of agricultural revenue in the several
regions and for the improvement of their general economy ; all that can
serve to throw light on local conditions so as to produce films of a kind
to convince the mass of agricultural workers.

Meanwhile the Opera Combattenti added a fresh initiative to this
magnificent technical effort of the « Luce » by publishing a series of small
technical booklets on farm instruction, to serve as text books to the films
and lectures.

This work has been carried on without interruption since 1924.
It is estimated that six hundred thousand metres of positives and over

353 —

120,000 metres of negatives have been printed and distributed through-
out the Kingdom during the years 1925-26-27 and 1928.

The Agricultural Film Collections organized by the ^Luce* are
operating steadily and with growing energy and enthusiasm.

Side by side with the travelling cinemas of the Opera Combattenti, the
<<Luce» despatched all over Italy, during the first half of 1927, a further
25 autocars specially equipped for luminous projections in the open air ;
these are furnished with special accumulators so as to render them in-
dependent of electric supplies.

At the same time the Ministry of National Economy has speeded up
as far as possible the supply of cinematographic cameras to all agricul-
tural schools, practical courses, Chairs of agriculture, etc.

The above gives but a summary notion of the work done by Italy for
teaching and propaganda in the domain of agricultural cinematography.

THE CiNEMA in the service of hygiene and social

WELFARE PROPAGANDA

Germany.

We have received the following reply from the President of the
« Reichsgesundheits-Amtes » (the German Public Health Department).

There are no special offices attached to the several Ministries
having for their object hygiene and social welfare propaganda by means
of the film nor is there any one office in which propaganda of this kind
is centralized.

The Hygiene Instruction Committee, attached to the Ministry of
the Interior — in connection with which a film office has been organized
- — does not carry on propaganda, but it is at the service of producers
aud collaborates with them in drawing up the schemes of films suitable
for the purposes of such propaganda.

Legal enactments dealing with propaganda of this kind provide for
reducing or exempting from certain taxes those cinemas which include
in their programs films which have been duly approved in advance as
appropriate to the purpose by the Berlin Central Institute of Education
and Teaching (Prof. Lampe) or by the Bavarian Film Office at Munich
(Dr. Amman).

The School curriculums, and more especially those of the elementary

354

schools, provide for the use of films, more particularly for teaching natur-
al history.

Many industrial enterprises have had films dealing with hygiene and
social welfare made for the instruction of their employees.

These films are subject to the censorship like all other films. But
the approval of the offices above mentioned is requisite in order to ob-
tain a certificate « recognizing the educational value » of a film.

The producers themselves are usually responsible for both produc-
tion and hire, but many quasi public bodies dealing with preventive me-
dicine and social welfare, workers' organizations, sickness and life insur-
ance companies, undertake direct the production and intelligent exhi-
bition of such films accompanied by lectures.

The « Bildwart Verlags Genossenschaft » (Film Publishers' Society)
of Berlin has a general Catalogue of all educational and cultural films.

The initiative for propaganda by means of the film in matters of hy-
giene, preventive medicine, and social welfare, is for the most part left
to semi-official and private organizations.

Thus the Central Committees for the Campaign against Tubercu-
losis and against Cancer, the German Society for combating Venereal Disea-
ses, the big Temperance organizations, eugenetic associations, the Cen-
tral Institute for the Campaign against Infant Mortality, the German Red
Cross, and many other organizations, have had films brought out on their
own behalf. These films are often produced in a theatrical form and exhi-
bited in cinema halls ; the organizations concerned make wide use of them,
showing them in private and public halls, associations, clubs, schools,
etc., accompanying the films by instructive lectures.

But all these films produced for specific social purposes are also shown
in the ordinary cinemas, in accordance with the « Beiprogramm » (supple-
mentary program), whereby cimema theatres benefit by a reduction of
taxes for these particular films, which must not measure more than 200
metres in length and must be authenticated by the requisite certificates
issued by the Berlin and Munich offices.

I n addition to this systematic popular propaganda there are, of course
the academic University courses. There does not exist a single higher
education institute in Germany that is not furnished with projectors
and cinema material. Films play a leading role, especially in the
teaching of medicine : the university clinics are themselves responsible
for the production of this scientific material and they own special cameras
for recording operations (Dr. V. Rothe's system). The University Cine-
matographic Institute of Berlin and other institutes and firms also under-
take the production of such films.

355 —

But hygiene and social welfare propaganda is also "carried on on a big
scale under the auspices and on the direct initiative of the competent
authorities, acting in concert with the several official, semi-official and
private organisms. Every year a whole week is dedicated to the propa-
ganda of some particular question throughout all the centres of the Re-
public, even to the remotest country districts, by every possible means,
including the film. Thus this year we had the « Reich Week » for the pre-
vention of labor accidents in workshops, etc., during recent years we had
a Public Health Week, an Anti-Fly Pest Week, a Sports Week, and so forth .

The above gives an idea of certain aspects of what Germany is doing
in the way of propaganda in this domain and shows how clearly she recog-
nizes the importance of the film for the purpose .

An article on this subject by Dr. Curt Thomalla, a most active agent
in all work of this kind, which we shall have the pleasure of publishing
in a forthcoming number of the Review, goes into the requisite details
and gives information on the production of all the cinema material con-
nected therewith.

— 356

NOTES TAKEN FROM REVIEWS AND PAPERS

SOCIAL ASPECTS
OF THE FILM.

After observing and studying the se-
veral aspects of various forms of enter-
tainment, M. Jean Marguet is convin-
ced that the cinema offers the most
powerful means of attracting and influen-
cing the masses. (Comoedia - Paris. F.
2/75).

M. Sarlai points to the cinema as the
most practical and convincing means of
mutual understanding between different
peoples. (Paris Soir - Paris. 2/76).

Jean Merionval considers the question
of the cinema topical program, and con-
cludes that in time the cinematogra-
phic news budget will become as in-
dispensable to the public as the news-
paper. (Cineopse - Paris F. 6/95).

A crusade has been started in Albany
for a more rigorous enforcement of the
law prohibiting minors under 16 years of
age to attend cinemas unaccompanied.
(Exhibitors' Herald World - Chicago F.
15/45).

The Governor of the State of Kansas
has issued orders for the more rigorous
application of the law on .film censor-
ship. (The Film Daily - New York F.
18/99).

In connection with the publication of
the statistics concerning film censorship
In Holland and Dutch films, it is stat-
ed that the natives of the Dutch Colonies
are most interested in documentary films,
while films dealing with love, adventure,
etc. are not appreciated, possibly because
their subjects are too far removed from
local habits and customs. (Cineopse -
Paris F. 19/292).

Herbert G. Marshurtz contributes a
paper on the question of the cinema's

influence on sight. After a series of
considerations of a physiological and
physical order, he concludes that no
blame can be imputed to the cinema
for the degeneration of eyesight. (The
Motion Picture Projectionist - New York
F. 33/133).

A question was asked in the House
of Commons as to the measures taken
in England to guarantee the interchange
of talking films and for the protection
of the English language. (Daily Tele-
graph - london. F. 23/121).

Only one Australian State, Victoria,
and New Zealand have been favourable
to the laws passed in England for the
protection of British films. Daily Film
Renter - London. F. 23/122),

In a very interesting article Herr
Thun, of Berlin, maintains that there
is no limit to the possibilities of the
film, Especially as, scientifically, the
film sees more than the eye can see.
(Der Wer\sleiter - Stuttgart. F. 36/
141).

Prof. William Bristol maintains that
the time is approaching when the talk-
ing film can render excellent service
to medicine, no less than to education,
business, and ather countless branches
of activity. (Exhibitors' Herald World -
Chicago. F. 10/159).

The possibilities of utilizing talking
films for political purposes is dealt with
in a long article. (La Tarde - Bilbao.
F. 12/248).

Prof. Jose Holmes, a renowned psy-
chologist of the Columbia University,
puts forward some most interesting con-
clusions as a result of two years study
of the cinema in its influence on chil-
dren. (Popular Film - Barcellona. F.
15/48).

357 ■—

The London County Council states
that, in view of present educational
tendencies, it seems vain to think of
excluding minors under 16 years of age
from cinemas. (The Daily Film Renter

- F. 15/49).

The « Poor Childrens' Open Air Life
Association » will shortly release a pro-
paganda film showing the beneficial ef-
fects of open-air life on the Paris chil-
dren sent by the Association into the
country. (La Pantalla - Madrid. F.

*3/I0)"«

Col. Jason Jof, in addressing the San
Francisco policewomen, declared that the
cinema, which always enforces the mo-
ral of the punishment attending crime,
is one of the most powerful anti-crime
weapons of modern society. (Exhibitors'
Herald World - Chicago. F. 33/42).

A new Cinema section has been open-
ed in connection with the Bureau of
Foreign and Domestic Commerce at-
tached to the Washington Department
of Commerce. This decision of the U. S.
Government is evidence of the fact that
the film at the present time is assuming
the same commercial importance as
steel, food and coal. (The Film Daily -
New York. F. 34/153).

Sir John Gilbert deals comprehen-
sively with the question of the admission
or exclusion of minors from the cinema.
He expresses the view that this is a
matter for the parents, with due regard
to the individual temperaments of their
children, to decide on in each particular
instance. Sir John further points to the
necessity for the character of films to
be clearly indicated in announcements
so as to enable parents to decide whether
particular shows are suitable or other-
wise for their children. (Daily Tele-
graph - Lyndon. F. 18/122).

The Radio Section of the German
Police ' has started to transmit telepho-
tographically the portraits of criminals
Wanted by the police. (Lavoro Fascista

- Rome. F. 30/32).

.New general rules have been introdu-
ced respecting films for public exhibition

in England. Class « A » films are for
adults; Class « U » Films for everybo-
dy, and Class « C » are specially sui-
table for children. (Daily Film Renter -
London. F. 18/122).

An interesting criticism deals with the
UFA Film « Pitiless ». It appears that
this film is a document of incontestible
social value. The film depicts the hor-
ror of the war that disseminated death
and destruction on the fields of battle.
(Arte y Cinematografia - Barcellona.
F. 2/104).

Mr. Edmond H. Bonson, of the As-
sociated Artists, who lived for many
years in China and Japan, states that
the speaking and musical film has met
with immense favour among the peo-
ples of the Far East. (Rivista Cinemato-
grafica - Turin. F. 10/197).

In an important article Dr. Helwig
deals with embargos on shows and lo-
cal prohibition in the new German po-
lice laws on the cinematograph. (Kwe-
matograph - Berlin. F. 25/81).

CULTURAL FILMS

M. George Dillot contributes a pa-
per on the scientific film and its uses;
he explains how it is technically possi-
ble, for instance, to show a flower in
the process of opening from the bud.
(Mon Cine - Paris.' F. 19/32).

Dr. E. Lowe, of Leicester, addressing
the 40th. Conference of the Museum
Association on the subject of the « Ci-
nematograph », set forth all the prac-
tical importance of the film for the
purposes of teaching and showed that
it could ad\ antageously be used to make
up for the shortage of naturrd history
museums, being able to show children
the several phases and details of ani-
mal life. (The Times Educational -
London. F. 37/27).

A. Collette contributes a lively and
interesting article on the use of cinema
images for vocabulary purposes. (Ci-
neopse - Paris. F. 37/28).

358

M. Waif ram Jungham took some in-
teresting films on the life of serpents
in the UFA studios, which were con-
verted for the occasion into an aqua-
rium. {Courier du Cinema Educateur -
F. 6/96).

The first talking film for medical
purposes has been shown in England;
this illustrates an operation with verbal
explanations by the Doctor. (Busier
Nachrichten - Bale. F. 19/39}.

The F. E. O. has released a film of
exceptional interest, showing the remark-
able feats of the explorer, Pen Bur-
ridge, who conducted a caravan into
the heart of the Belgian Congo on a
gorilla hunt. (Vita Cinematografica -
Turin. F. 6/100).

The Great Russian Film Co. has pro-
duced a film « The Tartar Insur-
rection » illustrating- one of the most
interesting pages in Russian history.
(La Pelicula - Buenos Ayres. F. 6/
102).

At a big meeting of authorities on
popular education to be held in Man-
chester 300 films of high scholastic va-
lue will be shown. These will deal with
geography, natural history, history,
medicine, natural sciences and art sub-
jects. Silent, talking and musical films
will be shown. (Daily Film Renter -
London. F. 3/108).

Much apprehension is being expres-
sed in Germany on account of the de-
crease in the production of cultural and
scientific films. (Lichtbildbuhne - Ber-
lin. F. 19/254).

Much interesting information is gi-
ven in an aiticle dealing with scientific
films on biology and medicine with the
help of micro-cinematography. (Zeh-
lendorjer Anzeiger - Berlin F. 36/149).

Film producing companies in several
countries ar^ coming to an understand-
ing for the production of a highly in-
teresting documentary and scientific film
illustrating different aspects of life in
northern countries. (The Cinen.atograph
Times - London. F. 6/104).

An article on « Cultural film pro-
ducers considered as Publishers » deals
with the question of how the publi-
shers of scholastic and scientific films
should be classed. Should they be
classed with the editors of scientific and
cultural books or how? (Film\urier -
Berlin. F. 3/111).

Particulars of the African Tambi film
are given. This is the film illustrating
the expedition made by Mr. M. E.
Kearton and his wife. The film shows
all the vicissitudes of a native family
travelling from an almost unexplored
zone fraught with danger on account
of volcanic irruptions to a centre of
advanced civilization. (Manchester
Guardian - Manchester. F. 6/107).

Following on an understanding be-
tween the Exposition Nationale du Tra-
vail and the Cinematographic Associa-
tion presided over by Jourdain, the fin-
est works shown in the Brussels 1930
exhibition will be filmed so as to keep
a perfect record of the achievements of
craftsmanship in 1930. (Etoile Beige -
Brussels. F. 6/108).

A technical report gives precise de-
tails as to the systems which should be
followed by scientists and educators in
taking microscopic cinema films. (Der
Berliner Westen - Berlin. F. 13/94).

Emile Fabre, the Manager of the
Comedie Francaise, m an interview re-
specting the cinematograph, declared
that the proper domain of the film was
educational. In M. Fabre;s opinion, the
documentary film is the most import-
ant branch or. all and one that ought
to receive every encouragement. In the
end it was bound to hold the field.
(Cineopse - Paris. 34/149).

An interesting report has been pub-
lished on the progress of the ofric'al
organization of the educational film in
Saxony. (Dresder Anzeiger - Dresden.
F 3/"5).

Great success has attended the pro-
jection of cultural and scientific films
by the Luce Co. in Spain. (Popular
Film - Barcellona. F. 3/1 11).

359

A talking film has recently been com-
pleted in Nice « The Forest and the
Screen », in which the sounds emitted
by different animals are reproduced. (El
Cine - Barcellona. F. 6/ 115).

A scientific expedition has set out in
Russia for the shores of the Caspian Sea
in order to take a great documentary
film entitled « The Life of Fishes ». (El
Cine - 61 nb).

The Apollo Co. is about to produce
a series of documentary films showing
the several regions of France. The first
of the series will show the Bourbon-
nais district, and later ones will show
the Vosges, Burgundy, Savoy and Me-
doc. (Filma - Paris. F. 6/ 117).

The Sowkino Co. is about to un-
dertake the production of 8 documen-
tary films illustrating the scientific and
industrial activities of the Soviet Re-
gime. (Comoedia - F- 6/ 11 8).

A scientific Film entitled « Twixt
Life and Death » has been screened. It
shows many surgical scenes of real
scientific value. Clara Nox, m criticis-
ing this film, declares that the gene-
ral public will prefer not to attend
such spectacles, which ought, on the
other hand, to find their place in the
University Faculties, Schools of Med'
cine, and Medical Associations. (El De-
bate - Madrid. F. 13/36).

During lasc winter 25,000 children
attended a regular course of cinemato-
graphic shows held during 5 consecu-
tive months every Sunday morning
in one of the principal Athens Cine-
mas. This met with such a big success
that several schools in Athens and the
Province have come to an understand-
ing with the organizing office for
them to arrange regular shows at fixed
intervals for their pupils. (Bureau du
Film Educatcur - F 97/30).

A careful study examines what is
being done in the field of the scholas-
tic film in France, Germany, Austria,
Holland, Italy, etc. The British Board
of Education has done nothing so far
in favour of films in schools. Special

mention is made of the splendid and
enthusiastic work that is being done
bv Sir Tam^s Marchant in this connec-
tion. (The Spectator - London. F*
37/31)-

Harvard University has formally pro-
nounced that the art of the film is one
of the fine arts. (Kinemato graph - Ber-
lin. F. 2/97).

Sir James Marchant contributes a long
and interesting paper on the National
Council for the movement in favour
of education by means of the cinema-
tograph. He mentions the International
Institute and the big task entrusted to
it, and points out the need for close
international cooperation. (The Times -
London. F. 3/123).

In a long article Monalque analyses
the decisions taken by the French Mi-
nister of Agriculture Hennessv in re-
gard to cinematographic propaganda
and instruction and the ^ieed of expand-
ing this branch. (Neues Filmnen - Bu-
carest. F. 1/19).

An article on the educational film in
England speaks of the formation of an
advisory Council composed of the Vice
Chancellors of the principal Universi-
ties and the Directors of Higher Schools.
It deals with the position the cinema
should have in popular education. Si-
gnor Mussolini's work in this direction
is referred to together with the impor-
tant task ahead of the International
Educational Cinematographic Institute.
(Daily Telegraph - London. F. 3/126).

Dr. Granver Belst has produced a
film of a purely scientific kind on hu-
man tears. (Regime Fascista - 13/37).

The Kaiser Wilhelm Institute and
Dr. Winso, Director of the German
National Fisheries Institute, are giving
their patronage and help for the
production of a new series of biologi-
cal films !:o be taken by Dr. Ulrich
Schultz of the « UFA » Co. (Comoe-
dia - Paris. 19/38)

The Austrian Union of Film Ama-
teurs is bringing out sporting films and

— 360

is about to undertake the production
of cultural and instructional films. (Ki-
nematograph - Berlin. 3/159).

An interesting film showing Vesuvius
during an irruption has been screened at
the New Gallery. The realistic effect
was all the more impressive, being ac-
companied by the reproduction of the
ternfvng booming and roaring sounds
of the irruption. (Daily Telegraph -
London 4/128).

Instructional films are being regu-
larly used in England as a means for
training recruits. (Kinemato graph - Ber-
lin. 7/17).

Dr. Kimmins describes recent progress
in education by means of the film and
the experiments carried out on 600 pu-
pils by the Institute of Industrial Psy-
chologv. {Daily Telegraph - London.
F. 8/48).

The Sowdno has founded a school
for scenario writers. Young writers who
wish to devote themselves to the cine-
ma can attend special courses lasting
several months to learn the fundamen-
tals of film authorship. (La Puntalla -
Madrid. F. 8/49).

At the International Surgical Con-
gress at Warsaw the Italian Delegation
showed some films of surgical opera-
tions taken by the LUCE Co. These
films were considered perfect. (Messag-
gero - Rome. F. 13/39).

Miss Mary Field writes on the film
dealing with venereal disease ordered
by the British Social Hygiene Council.
The film is said to be most successful,
but it will not be placed on sale and
will only be shown to adults. (The
Yorkshire Post - Leeds. F. 14/31).

The best English educational films
have been sent to the Bi-annual Confe-
rence of the World Federation of Edu-
cational Associations held in Geneva.
(The Yorkshire Post - Leed. F. 22/
172).

An interesting article deals with the
Cinema Museum and Film Archives.
(Berliner Borsen Zeitung - Berlin. F.
34/J77)-

The proper pronunciation of the word
Cinematograph is discussed. This word
is derived from the Greek kinema
(movement) and should properly be
spellt with a « K » instead oi « C ».
Kinema is the correct form. (Daily Tele-
graph - London. F. 34/180).

A Film deakng with Embryology has
been presented to the Academy of
Sciences by Messrs. Jean Painleve, P.
Wintrebert, and Yeng Ko Ching. The
film shows the development of the hu-
man foetus from the first moment of
its conception until the formation of
the circulation of the blood. (Morning
Post - London. F. 13/42).

A Film entitled « Fettered Sex »
dealing with the sexual problem in pri-
sons has been shown in Berlin under
the auspices of the Human Rights
League. (Le Cinema d' Alsace et de
Lorraine - Strassburg. F. 14/32).

TECHNICAL ASPECTS
OF THE FILM.

A fully equipped School of Photo-
graphy has been created in France,
which will give young people the chance
to become technically expert in pho
tography. (La Cinematographic Fran-
caise - F 8/404).

Talking films produce a considerable
loss of light in films and also of qua-
lity; in many cases projection is im-
paired. Some theatres have noted a
60 °/c loss. (The Film Daily - New
York! F. 12/227).

Mr. Lorentz, technical expert in the
Laboratories of the Paramount-Famous
Lasky Corporation forecasts a screen for
three dimension colour films construct-
ed in a concave form in imiiation of
the Greek and Roman amphitheatres.
(The Motion Picture Projectionist -
New York. F. 36/133).

A new system of natural colour films
on the basis of special prismatic lenses
to be applied to ordinary cameras has
been invented. This new system is

361 —

known as the Raycol Patent and has
been purchased by a Company formed
with a capital of 300,000 pounds ster-
ling, trading as the British Raycol Cor-
poration. {!.' Cinema Italiano - Rome.
F. 4/45).

New York has succeeded in transmit-
ting colour films by telegraph. (Film
Kurier - Berlin. F. 30/24).

Experiments have been made in Pa-
ris with an incandescent Philipps lamp
which allows projections to be effected
onto a screen 26 metres square at a dis-
tance of 45 metres. (Le Cinecpse - Pa-
ris. F. 36/139).

William S. Payley, President of the
Columbia Broadcasting Co., states that
in a short time it will be possible to
project whole films (talking films in-
cluded) at a distance of thousands of
kilometres. \Comoedia - Paris. F.
3°/25)-

Nicola Grifone, in an article on the
radio transmission of images, explains
how the image is transmitted and how
the exploration by means of the Photo-
electric cell is accomplished. (La Stirpe

Rome. F. 36/146).

The British « Educational Co. » an-
nounces a three dimension film which
can be projected by ordinary appara-
tus. (Lichtbiidbunde - 36/148).

Technical film courses will be start-
ed in Germany in a special school now
in course of building. (The Film Daily
- New York. F. 8/42).

An article on the latest cinematogra-
phic inventions deals with talking films
which show relief, on the perfection of
television, family cinemas and the steady
advance of photography. (Osnabruc\er
Zeitang - Csnabriick. F. 36/135).

An interesting article on film tech-
nique deals with the systems used for
filming in the Nordi Pole and at the
Equator. (D. Z. Mittag - Berlin. 36/
160).

An interesting technical article refers
to the effects to be obtained by using

ultra violet rays in the lighting of thea^
tres. (Exhibitors' Herald World - Chi-
cago. F. 35/164).

In financial circles the activity of the
Eastman Kodak is attributed to a new
process -for the production of cheap
films. (The Film Daily - New York. F.
34/!54)-

An article on the scientific progress
of the Cinema deals with the new me-
thod invented by Mr. John Michelaus,
head of the M. G. M. Laboratories, for
photographing the movement of the
planets. It aiso deals with the processes
perfected by Dr. Herbert T. Kalmas,
head of the Technical Colour Labora-
tories, thanks to which it has been
found possible to reproduce colours on
the screen with absolute faithfulness.
(Van guar dia - Barcellona. F. 36/166).

Dr. Couchaud's invention of the cur-
ved screen lor obtaining the third di-
mension is here dealt with. Mr. Ber-
gren's invention which achieves the ef-
fect of objects in relief on a flat screen
by means of lenses and optical calcula-
tions is likewise described. (Science et
la Vie - Paris. F. 38/3).

In the projection hall of the LUCE
Institute experiments have been made
with the Kinephone. The Kinephone,
invented uy Messrs. Mullner, Kiliani
and Liguori, consists in the pratical ap-
plication of the discovery made by the
physisist Poulsen of the registration of
sound on metallic wires and ribbons by
means of a magnetic process. II Po-
polo di Roma - Rome. F. 13/286).

An article entitled « The History of
the Talking Film » deals with the pro-
gress made by these films from 1919 to

the present time. (Berliner Tageblatt -
Berlin. F. 12/310).

A remarkable technical article deals
at length with talking films in Ger-
many. (Fran\fort General Anzeiger -
Frankfort. F. 12/312).

It appears that a talking film in

Esperanto is about to be produced in

America. Kinemato graph - Berlin. F.
12/312).

— 362

Lotte Reiniger who has made many
magnificent 61ms in silouhette, writes an
article on the Art and Technique of
Silouhette Films. (Dresder Anzeiger -
F 36/181).

Projection lamps are much more
used in America and Germany than in
England, where electric arc lamps are
mostly used. These lamps however soon
loose their power by reason of the de-
posits which form on the inside. By
introducing Tungsten powder during
manufacture, however, the lamp cleans
itself automatically. (The Cinemato-
graph Times - London. 36/184).

An article on the cinematograph and
radioscope states that it has been found
possible to produce very clear films by
the use of e>tra sensitive supplementary
lenses. (II Temps - 36/185).

The use that could he made of
the cinema for the purposes of the
optical determination of internal tension
is stressed by Henri Fauvre. (Revue
Optique - Paris).

An interesting article deals with the
refrangent properties of quartz. {Revue
Optique - Paris. 36/187), '

A further article deals with the prob-
lem of the penetration of radiations in
water. {Revue Optique - Paris. 36/188).

An article on technical rationalization
deals with this problem also in its bear-
ing on the cinema industry. The ratio-
nalization of work in factories by the
substitution of old fashioned machinery
by up-to-date plant is described, as well
as other improvements aiming at eco-
nomy and increment of output. {Orga-
nisation Euro - Berlin. F. 36/211).

Prof. Karl Grantz and Herr Hubert
Schardin, respectively of the Polytechnic
Institute and the Institute of Technical
Physics of Berlin, contribute an inter-
esting article on « Cinematography with
stationary films and by rapid sequence
of images ». (Forschungen und For-
sc'hritte - Berlin. F. 36/173).

Dr. Richard Graff of Dusseldorf con-
tributes an article on the determination
of the technical capacity of cinemato-
graph employees. (Jugend und Beruf -
Berlin. 36/212).

Dr. Paul Hatschek contributes a paper
on optical equivalence in filming and
projection. He describes the several sys-
tems and their advantages and diaw-
backs. {Die Kinotechm\ - Berlin
36/213).

Messrs. K. Tschibissoff and W. Tschel-
zoff, of Moscow, contribute sn article on
the influence of the dilution of develop-
ing solutions on the photographic qua-
lity of images. (Die Kinotechni\ - Ber-
lin. F. 36/214).

The light effects obtainable in filming
by means of ultra violet rays are describ-
ed in an interesting article by Douglas
Fox. (Exhibitors' Herald World - New
York. F. 36/164).

A technical paper describes the func-
tions and purpose of the filter in filming
and the manner of its use. (The Movie
Ma\ers - New York. F. 36/142).

Hugh Lyttleton contributes an article
on the principles of projection lenses.
(The Motion Picture Projectionist - New
York. 36/130).

In a very interesting paper, Charles F.
Hynes deals with the problem of the
preservation of talking films. (The Film
Daily - New York. F. 36/215).

T. Rauburn contributes a series of ar-
ticles dealing exhaustively with the que-
stion of synchronism by the disc system.
(The Film Daily - New York. F. 36/
167).

An article contributed by Messrs. Loe-
bel and Dubois deals with the gradation
of warm colour slides. (Science et indu-
stries Photographiques - Paris. F. 36/
216).

L. P. Pierce contributes an article on
lighting by means of mercury vapour
lamps for panchromatic cinema films.
(Science et Industries Photographiques -
Paris. F. 36/217).

363

Under the title « A model establish-
ment » M. Paul Souillarc gives an inte-
resting account of the French cinema
industry. {Cineopse - Paris 34/204).

O. Blemmer devotes a technical paper
to the system of spark photography. (Ci-
neopse - Paris 36/219).

The current issue contains an article
dealing exhaustively with the continuous
movement projector patented by Contin-
souza and Comber and shows the advan-
tages of this apparatus in the projection
of talking films. (La Cinematographic
Francaise - Paris. 36/218).

More space will be allotted to these Notes
in forthcoming issues of the Review.

Dr. LUCIANO De FEO — Editor and Responsible Manager.

La Cardinal Ferrari » S. A. I. — Tipograria — Via Germanico, 146 — Roma

— 364

MMiMtjtMNof*

- LEAGUE OF NATIONS -

INTERNATIONAL REVIEW

OF
EDUCATIONAL
CINEMATOGRAPHY

19 2 9
OCTOBER

MONTHLY PUBLICATION OF THE -INTERNATIONAL
EDUCATIONAL CINEMATOGRAPHIC JNSTITUTE

- ROME ~

YEAR I. OCTOBER 1929 N° 4

INTERNATIONAL REVIEW

OF

EDUCATIONAL CINEMATOGRAPHY

MONTHLY PUBLICATION

OF THE INTERNATIONAL EDUCATIONAL CINEMATOGRAPHIC INSTITUTE

— LEAGUE OF NATIONS —

ROME - Via Lazzaro Spallanzani 1 - ROME

THE INTERNATIONAL REVIEW

IS PUBLISHED EVERY MONTH IN FIVE EDITIONS*.

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INDEX

M. VAN DER MOESEN
A. ROEBER , .

L. A. Baralt. .
A. Seyewetz . .

A. de Castro. .

J. Benoit-Levy .
A. Rosenthal .
A. Tiagay . . .
C. Thomalla. .

From the Belgian Mi-
nistry of National De-
fence . . r

The Cinematograph and Copyright. ... 371

Conditions and Labour Contracts in the

German Cinematograph Industry . . . 387

The value of the Educational Film . . . 397

The present position of Colour Cinemato-
graphy 402

The use of the Film in the Study of Ner-
vous Diseases 412

Recreational Films 418

Cultural Film Policy 431

Cultural Propaganda Films in Soviet Russia. 436

The development of the Medical Film and
of those dealing with Hygiene and Ge-
neral Culture in Germany 440

Military Instruction by means of the Film. 455

Institute topics :

Legislative Aspects of the Cinema 461

The Film as an auxiliary to Agriculture 469

The Cinema in the service of Hygiene and Social Welfare .... 472

The Acoustics of Sound Recording Rooms 474

The Cinema as an auxiliary to the Scientific Organization of Labour 483

Notes taken from Reviews and Papers 487

THE CINEMATOGRAPH AND COPYRIGHT

(From the French)

Whereas property in material things is one of the most an-
cient concepts of Law, and has always been protected against all
attempts at unlawful encroachment, only modern legislation has
attempted to define and protect intellectual property.

This protection, which is still incomplete at the present time,
is the result of the efforts of jurists and of the force of circumstan-
ces ; more particularly of economic conditions which tend more
and more to force the intellectual worker to seek a livelihood by
exploiting the wealth and means of service he has created by his
own brain work.

The recognition of copyright was no easy victory. It has
often been contended that an author — whether artist, writer,
or student — works solely to augment the intellectual wealth of
mankind and that the creations engendered by his brain should
be regarded as a splendid gift to the community for its advance-
ment and delight.

This concept still holds its own to-day, as evidenced by the
fact that strict time limits are placed on artistic and literary pro-
perty.

Man's material possessions are transmitted ad infinitum to
his descendants by the right of succession, whereas the rights of
an author's heirs die out either in fifty years or 30 years after the
author's death.

Many eminent jurists have been struck by this crying ine-
quality and are doing their best to get it removed. In any case.
it is a matter for rejoicing that artistic property is nowadays re-
cognized as an incontestable right.

When the cinematograph was first invented no one imagined
that it constituted a new form of artistic expression and that in

37i —

time it would actually come to rank as a new art. And yet, at the
present time, only a few blind or disingenuous opponents contest
the cinema's claim to be raised to the honour of a new and distinct
art. Nearly all countries, moreover, that is to say all those
which recognize and protect artistic property, have extended their
legislation so as to embrace cinematographic productions among
artistic works.

For the first time, the Convention of the Union, drawn up
in Berlin in 1908 for the purpose of revising the Berne Conven-
tion, affirmed the principle that cinematograph productions
should be granted the same protection as other works of art. Thus
cinematographic works were included in terminis .

It should be noted that none of the texts defines the meaning
of « cinematograph production ».

While such an omission might be allowable in relation to
literary and musical works and works of plastic art, since every
one knows what these terms cover by the usages of common lan-
guage, it is regrettable in connection with cinematographic pro-
duction.

Cinematographic production, in fact, assumes various forms
and it is necessary for us carefully to consider exactly what
the term really covers.

Roughly speaking, cinematographic production is a product
of the imagination expressed in a form proper to the cinemato-
graph. The positive, the ribbon, or the film gives material form
to the idea, just as a book or a manuscript does to a literary work.
The author's idea is here expressed in a specific form, namely
the animated image. Thus it is not correct to assume that the
scenario writer is the author of a cinematographic work, whether
the said scenario be the work of one individual or whether it be
founded on a work belonging to a different domain, such as a novel
or the theatre. The « author of a cinematographic work » means
the person or persons who have contributed to give cinemato-
graphic expression to an intellectual production.

Now, the principal agent of this expression is, in point of
fact, the person generally known by the somewhat inappropriate

— 372

name of « producer » (metteur en scene). This confusion is attrib-
utable to the fact that, properly speaking, there is no one cine-
matographic author in the full meaning of the term ; that is to
say, no single person who conceives the idea on which the work
is built, composes the scenario, and produces it on the screen.

It is obvious, however, that in the near future — especially
in view of the horizons opened up by the « talking » film — artists
will acquaint themselves with cinematographic technique, that
is to say the « mise en scene » ; so as to be able to express their
original ideas directly on the screen.

The protection ensured by the text of the Union Conven-
tion is far from perfect. This fact needs to be made known, for
it is encumbent on the defenders of the cinema to give an ever
wider scope to the legal protection of this new category of in-
tellectual production.

Paragraph 2 of Article 14 of the Berlin text reads as follows :

« Cinematograph productions shall be protected as literary
or artistic works if, by the arrangement of the acting form and
the combinations of the incidents represented, the author has given
the work a personal and original character ».

It would have been better simply to affirm that all cinemato-
graph productions without distinction are granted protection
as artistic works, for it is obvious that if they constitute an original
production they will be protected as such.

In order to ensure the efficacious protection of cinemato-
graphic production it ought not to have been left to the judge to
decide on the artistic, personal and original character of a work,
of each particular species.

Legal experience has amply proved that, however enlight-
ened a judge may be, he always has a tendency to confuse the
originality of a work — that is to say its originality within the
meaning of the law — with its aesthetic value ; and yet there can
be no question that the poorest of drawings has no less claim
to legal protection than a masterpiece of painting.

But we must not be over optimistic. It will be extremely
difficult to get Article 14 amended in this sense by later interna-

373 —

tional conventions. And yet, as in the case of photography, all
cinematographic productions necessarily display original work on
the part of their author.

We may here aptly cite Pouil let's pronouncement in La
propriete litter aire et artistique, p. 105 :

« Whether good or bad, whether they do or do not conform
to aesthetic principles, all paintings, all drawings, all sculpture
are artistic works, as the Imperial Advocate Thomas pointed out
in the conclusions above cited.

« We cannot get away from this alternative : either we must
refuse to admit any photograph to be a work of art, or Ave must
recognize them all as such ; otherwise we are thrown back on arbi-
trary judgment, which entails as much danger for the judge as
for the plaintiff.

« The opponents of our thesis are impressed by the fact that
the camera plays an important, indeed a predominant, part in
photography.

« What does this prove ?

« If a painter, after conceiving a picture, discovered some
means of producing it on his canvas at one stroke, just as he
had conceived it, should we challenge his right to regard his work
as a product of his mind ? What matters the more or less rapid,
or the greater or lesser easiness, of execution ? The conception,
however it may be realized, forms part of an artistic work.

« The photographer thinks out a work, he gets ready his acces-
sories, he arranges the play of light, he approaches and backs
his camera so that the image may be clearer or take in more of
the scene, as he sees fit, so as to obtain such or such an effect of
perspective. This being so, why should we concern ourselves
with the speed, the perfection, or the faithfulness of the instru-
ment by means of which he executes that which he has conceived,
arranged, created ?

« Is it not a fact that two photographers, each reproducing
the same view or the same model, will obtain two distinct and re-
cognizably different effects ? This is tantamount to creation in the
legal meaning of the word.

374

« The argument which we put forward earlier in an analogous
connection is equally applicable here :

« Let us suppose that the discovery of photography had remain-
ed a secret and that the inventor offered the pictures obtained
by his process without revealing its mysteries, leaving people to
believe that his copies are the product of some improvement in
the ordinary processes of printing or engraving.

« Would anyone dream of challenging his right ?

« Would not his pictures be placed in the same rank as
others, and should we hesitate to grant them the protection of
the law ? Why should we change our mind because we know the
process of photography ? Is not his product the same thing that
it was ? Has it lost any part of its personal character ? »

When we reflect that, at the time Pouillet was writing, pho-
tography was very far from having achieved the perfection to
which it has now attained, we cannot but admire the soundness
of his reasoning. And can we compare the artistic efforts of
a photographer with those displayed by film producers, by such
men as Griffith, Marcel Herbier, Wiene, Abel Gance and others,
whose claims to be regarded as artists nobody any longer dis-
putes ?

The limitations implicit in the drafting of Article 14 are all
the more regrettable inasmuch as they are an obstacle to the
protection of such films, for instance, as street scenes, proces-
sions, landscapes, ceremonies, in short of all works in which
the events represented have not been conceived with a view to
cinematographic reproduction, since Art. 14 contemplates solely
scenes arranged for the cinematograph.

If we refuse to recognize that all films representing the events
of real life have necessarily a personal character, due to the plac-
ing of the camera and the adjustment of the finder, the mise en
page, the light effects, the captions, etc., films of this kind will
never be granted protection, and it would really be regrettable
that scenes such as African hunts and Polar expeditions, the film-
ing of which demands the most remarkable gifts on the part
of the author, gifts translated by the films into scenes of most strik-

375

ing beauty, often surpassing the most beautiful fictitious ones,,
should be excluded from protection.

This implies that there would be no check on piracy and that
profits which should be the author's by right may be made
out of his work by outsiders.

A like artistic effort characterises certain documentary films,
views of sub-marine fauna and flora or of insect life, for instance,
and certain scientific and medical films. A case in point arose some
years back in connection with documentary films reproducing
operations by the famous Doctor Doyen. The judgment of the
Seine Tribunal of 10 February 1905, recorded in Dalloz's periodical
survey of 1905, recognized Dr. Doyen's claim to protection be-
cause he appeared to have conceived and executed the film or
because he had directed its taking.

The verdict was worded as follows :

« Considering that it is clear that the negative films in question
have been executed by Parnaland in accordance with the instruc-
tions and under the direction of Dr. Doyen, that the latter pre-
viously prepared his subject, his assistants and instruments, that
is to say that he assured himself of the mise en plaque (the plate set-
ting) and that the point which it was important to reproduce was
properly in the centre of the opaque plate, that he was, in short,
the principal author of this film, etc... ».

This judgment bears out what we have already stated, namely
that the making of a film is always the result of intellectual com-
binations and that consequently the author of these intellectual
combinations ought to be considered as the author of the film
and to enjoy protection. This justifies us in the hope that on the
strength of these decisions of jurisprudence in the past and of fu-
ture jurisprudence, which cannot fail to grow more solid and more
precise, later congresses will see fit to extend the scope of article 14
of the Union Convention, so that it may ensure complete protec-
tion, in which arbitrary judgment can have no part, to cinemato-
graph production in all its infinite variety.

At the present stage of cinematography — which is after
all but a new-born art — the greater number of its products take

-376

the form of cinematographic adaptations of literary, scientific
or artistic works. For this reason paragraph i of art. 14 of the
Union Convention specifies that copyright in the works which
formed the basis of the film adaptation shall be protected against
all infringement.

« Authors of literary, scientific or artistic works shall have
the exclusive right of authorizing the reproduction and public
representation of their works by cinematography ».

Furthermore, when the cinematographic adaptation has been
made, it constitutes itself an original work which is protected by
the terms of paragraph 3 of the same article, which reads as
follows :

« Without prejudice to the rights of the author of the original
work, the cinematographic reproduction of a literary, scientific
or artistic work shall be protected as an original work ».

This is tantamount to the application to cinematography of
the general principle set forth in paragraph 2 of article 2.

« Translations, adaptations, musical arrangements and other
reproductions in an altered form of literary or artistic works shall
be protected as original works without prejudice to the rights of
the author of the original work ».

There can be no question that cinematographic adaptation,
which is becoming the most general mode of reproduction of a
work in an altered form, comes within the general meaning of
this enumeration.

Although it is not expressly stated in the Convention, it must
be assumed that cinematographic productions are similarly pro-
tected against being reproduced by any process other than cine-
matography.

Par. 2 of article 14, in fact, assimilates cinematographic
productions to artistic works in general, and consequently they
are entitled to the protection provided by article 2. This view,
however, has been contested by a German writer, Herr Dungs (1),

(1) Die Berner uebereinkunst ueber international es urheberrecht , 1910,
PP. 55-56.

377

but Monsieur Potu, in his remarkable treatise on the international
protection of cinematograph production under the Berne Con-
vention as amended in Berlin in 1908 (1) demonstrates the error
of the thesis of the German writer.

It is impossible here to go into the details of these discussions,
which may be sought in the writer's book on the Cinema and Copy-
right, published in collaboration with the late M. Charles Ha-
vermans (2).

This volume also contains all particulars relating to the sup-
pression of the conditions and formalities required for establishing
a claim to be the author or publisher of a work ; the principle of
retroactive application of the Convention, and processes analo-
gous to cinematography, the Convention having endeavoured to
foresee all the improvements which were likely to be realized in
the cinema industry, which has, however, since given further evi-
dence of the amazing range of its possibilities.

The Union Convention further lays down the duration of
protection of cinematographic works and the extension of the
territory to which it applies ; these are subject to the same condi-
tions as those applying to other artistic works, in such respects,
for instance, as the assimilation to nationals of foreigners belonging
to countries acceding to the Union, their admission to the benefits
of the special provisions established by the Convention, the prin-
ciple of the minimum of protection, etc.

The international protection accorded to cinematographic
works is the same as that applying to all other forms of artistic
work. In view of the fact that such protection, no less than that
provided for by the Berne Convention revised at Berlin, differs
essentially according to the publication or non-publication of the
work, it is necessary to define what is meant by the expression
« publication of a cinematographic production ».

(1) Paris, Gauthier Villars, 191 2.

(2) Le cinema et le droit d'autenr by Charles Havermans and Mau-
rice Van der Moesan, barristers at the Brussels Court of Appeal - Jacques
Godenne, Namur, 1926.

378

The meaning of « publication » in reference to the cinemato-
graph is an extremely subtle point. Monsieur Potu has observed
that the Convention had accepted a hybrid system, ill adapted
to the specific character of cinematographic work.

By the terms of the Convention (last paragraph of Art. 4) the
expression « publication » in respect of any work means the issue
of copies of the work to the public.

Article 4 further lays down :

« The representation of a dramatic or dramatico-musical
work, the performance of a musical work, the exhibition of a work
of art and the construction of a work of architecture shall not con-
stitute a publication)). Thus the word« publication », as used. in
the Convention, does not mean giving a work publicity in any form
whatsoever ; it implies, on the contrary, the diffusion of a consi-
derable number of copies of the work, in such manner that the
work may become known not to any one category or several cate-
gories of persons, but to the general public.

In the case of a literary work, it means its placing on sale or
at the disposal of the public by a person who undertakes the business
or responsibility of publication.

It is clear from the foregoing that the issuing of a cinemato-
graphic work to the public alone constitutes its publication ; and
this, according to our view, consists in the fact of the printing
of the positive ribbons and their being placed in circulation.

The first publication, on which protection is based, the first
issuing to the public, is therefore done by the firms publishing
cinematographic films. Mere projection on the screen, on the
contrary, even in the presence of a considerable number of spec-
tators, of a work that has not been published in the traditional
meaning of the word, does not constitute publication within the
meaning of the Berne Convention, just as the representation in
public of a dramatic work does not necessarily imply its public-
ation. This definition of the matter is, moreover, a practical
one, as pointed out by M. Wauvermans (1).

(1) La convention de Berne revisee, N. 60-B.

379 —

M. Wauvermans writes :

« It is sometimes difficult to furnish convincing proof that
a work has been represented or performed ; the fact of its being
issued to the public is clear ».

It follows that, in order to be able to determine the country
or place where a work was first issued, we must consider solely the
place where the headquarters and business centre of the publishing
house are established. The place where the material copies were
actually manufactured is of no consequence.

This observation is important in view of the manufacturing
clause laid down by the United States for the protection of liter-
rary works in their territory. This is not the same thing as the
first publication, upon which protection under the Union Con-
vention depends.

The question has been raised as to whether the fact of repro-
ducing in a review, newspaper, or book a film that has not been
published within the meaning of the Convention would consti-
tute its publication. Does the publication of a work rest solely
on the issuing to the public of a number of copies by the same
process that has served for its creation (the film in this case ) —
or is it equally proved by its reproduction by means of any sort
of process (printing in a book or review in this case) ? This is
an interesting point, especially in regard to scientific films, more
particularly those intended for the study of movement.

Writers are not agreed on the answer to be given to this
question. But here we may observe that, in point of fact, the
whole question of the process of reproduction of a work is beside
the point. Why should the nature of the process be a matter of
any importance ? And, above all, what connection can there be
between the nature of this process and the concept of publica-
tion ? It is to be regretted that the Convention was not more
explicit on this point. But whatever the merits of the question
may be, it seems clear to us that the one essential point in respect
of publication is to adhere to the traditional and normal concept
of publication according to the nature of the work.

Legal hair-splitting can only jeopardize authors' rights. Now,

— 380

the Convention refuses to recognise as « publication » the represent-
ation of a piece in a theatre, the performance of a musical work,
the public reading of a literary work, or the exhibition of a pic-
ture. We must admit by analogy that no public issue, and there-
fore no publication, has taken place by the fact of a cinema-
tographic film being projected, even in public, on the screen.
The grounds for opining that the fact of reproducing a film
or part of a film in a review, newspaper, or book does not imply
its publication are still stronger.

Such reproduction no doubt ensures a certain, though usually
limited, publicity to a cinematographic work, but it cannot be
regarded as publication within the meaning of the Convention.
Any contrary interpretation would involve a real risk to authors,
for it would compel them, under pains of forfeiting all right to
protection, to make sure that the review or book reproducing their
work was published in a country acceding to the Union — a point
almost impossible to prove.

II.

INFRINGEMENT OF COPYRIGHT

There is not much difference between piracy in relation to
a cinematographic work and an artistic or literary work. Piracy
covers all forms of infringement of the prerogatives, pecuniary
and moral, which together constitute an author's rights. It occurs
in all cases in which the personal and original idea that distin-
guishes a work is reproduced, and whenever there is reproduced
the same general composition — similarity of place and social milieu
(where these are essential to the work), the same concatenation
of pictures, arrangement and combination of episodes ; in short
in all cases where the characteristic elements of the original work
are reproduced.

In practical experience, instances of infringement in the form
of more or less servile imitation of a cinematographic work are

-ingl. 38l

rare. And the Courts are not often called upon to decide in
cases of this sort.

The title of a work is more frequently the object of infringe-
ment. This, in fact, as being an accessory but essential part
of a work, is protected together with it, always on condition that
it is not a commonplace title consisting in some ordinary word in
the vocabulary, but an original title that reveals a certain intel-
lectual or artistic effort on the part of its author. This dis-
crimination, between a commonplace title and an original title
is always a delicate and sometimes a very difficult point. Certain
judgments — more particularly a verdict of the Brussels Tribu-
nal - - go so far as to refuse protection to the title, on the pre-
text that it does not belong to the body of the work and that the
work alone is protected. This is nothing more nor less than juri-
dical heresy. Generally speaking, however, the law considers
the title, as summarizing properly the meaning and purpose of
the work, as forming a part of it and being entitled to proper pro-
tection. The question is of the greatest importance, for many
cinema managers have the deplorable habit of continually dechrist-
ening films in order to adapt them to the tastes of their public
or bring them down to the level of their understanding. Some un-
scrupulous managers are only too willing to make use of the title
of a popular work to attract audiences, thus injuring both the public
whom they deceive and the authors of the original title, whom
they rob.

Actions at law over titles are consequently of frequent occur-
rence.

Disputes arising out of what is known as the hire contracts
of cinematographic films are still more numerous. This expres-
sion « hire contract » is most misleading.

Considered from the legal standpoint, the person who hires
out the film to a cinema manager for projection effects a cession
of the right of representation, which is one of the elements of
copyright, and which the author granted in the first instance to
the publishing firm which, in its turn, alienated it, upon certain
conditions, to the hirer.

- 382

In the course of these disputes questions are constantly aris-
ing which are settled daily by the Courts in contradictory ways.

The following is a typical example. When a manager is
about to arrange his programme for a given period of time, he
generally makes the mistake of trying to wrest from his compe-
titors those films which, in his opinion, are likely to be paying con-
cerns and to have a long run.

With this object, he acquires the lease of a whole series of films
from different hirers. The hirer, on his part, fixes the price of
hire and a term generally of three months within which the films
must be taken up and paid for ; but it usually happens that the
manager does not dispose during the season of a sufficient number
of matinees and evenings to show all the films he has rented. This
has a double consequence : he acquires from each hirer the best
films, that it to say the best payers, with the result that he is
sometimes able to execute his contract only in part and sometimes
is unable to carry it out at all vis-a-vis of some of the hirers. This
leads to actions on the part of hirers to compel him to carry out
his contract.

The hirer has the alternative of taking action in either of the
two following forms.

He may claim that the contract be declared null and void
together with the payment of damages and interest. There are
objections to this course of action, however, because, while it is
generally a simple matter to have the contract cancelled, it is
on the other hand extremely difficult to appraise the damage
incurred. This involves lengthy and costly expert evidence,
and the matter is further complicated by the fact that the
films in dispute have been rented together with other films which
are not the subject of litigation. The most practical course is
therefore to claim the carrying out of the contract and the pay-
ment of the full price of hire. The hirer, in fact, has on his side
fulfilled his obligations by holding the hired films, during the
stipulated period of time, at the disposal of the manager, and it
is up to the latter to fulfil his by paying up the price of hire,
without being able to claim the delivery of the films.

383

Let us here call attention to certain of the common and un-
lawful forms of infringement.

First of all, there is what in trade cant is colloquially known
as la navette (shuttle) or « doubling ».

It goes without saying that when a hire contract is entered
into between a hirer and a user, the manager of some cinema hall,
the latter, in the absence of any special clause to the contrary,
aquires the right to show the film only in the hall or theatre
under his management. Hire contracts, moreover, are usually
drawn up in such terms as to leave no doubt regarding the film
rented and the dates when the right to exhibit the film start and
come to a close. But negligence or inertia on the part of renters
has given rise to a practice which is distinctly prejudicial to the
cinema industry, known as « doubling » « trebling » and « quadru-
pling ». This consists in showing a film or a programme in two,
three, or four theatres, the films either being shown once or
several times on the same day in different halls, or the programmes
being performed in different theatres during a part only of the
total duration of the hire.

It is of course possible for such « doubling » to be sanc-
tioned by the hirer and provided for in the contract. It is obvious
that the hirer might find such an arrangement to his advantage, as
he would thus be able to distribute a smaller number of copies
and to make a larger profit from his films. This would in Vact
amount to hiring out the films and granting the right to sub-let
them, subject to certain conditions. But while this practice may
not be prejudicial to the hirer's interests, it is obviously prejudicial
to the manufacturer, and to the publisher whose production is
hit thereby. It is, however, open to him to safeguard his inter-
ests by prohibiting the hirers with whom he deals to authorize
managers to « double » the films he hires out to them.

But illicit or clandestine « doubling » is not only an actionable
offence involving a claim to damages, it is also an abuse of trust
and an illegal infringement of right.

We cannot overstress the unlawfulness of such practices
which, unfortunately, are all too common, especially in villages

384

and small towns, in which hirers and their agents are unable to
ensure proper supervision. It is a veritable curse to the cinema-
tograph business.

Smuggling films is another form of infringement. This
consists ill introducing into a territory in which a third party has
exclusive rights films which form the object of the said rights,
which the latter has in many cases acquired at very great expense,
or in hiring out or sub-hiring, outside the area of the monopoly,
films wrhich ought not to be exhibited unless within it.

The special forms of infringement above described, as well
as counterfeit prints, ought to be prosecuted without fail in all
countries and under all forms of law. Counterfeiting consists
in making a fresh negative from a positive obtained from the ori-
ginal negative and in then printing, from this new negative, a
certain number of positive copies, which are then distribu ed.
Counterfeiting, whether on the part of the renter or of any other
person, is a form of illicit reproduction, and amounts to forgery.
Counterprints, moreover, are of inferior photographic quality. The
practice of counter-printing damages the publisher, by depriving
him of the legitimate proceeds due to him from his publishing
rights, while, at the same time, the inferiority of the films shown
discredit his production. And, lastly, counterfeit prints are pre-
judicial to the interests of managers who act in good faith, since
the defects in the film create the impression of faulty projection,
which the audience are apt to attribute to shortcomings in the
apparatus.

CONCLUSIONS

This rapid survey, in which we have endeavoured to deduce
the principles, and to point out the most common forms of infringe-
ment, of cinematographic copyright, will have served to show
how complicated the question is and to what an extent jurispru-
dence - - though by no means wanting in volume — lacks deci-
siveness.

It is earnestly to be hoped that the first care of the jurists

385

to whose task it will fall to amend international conventions will
be to make the texts clear, so that cinematographic works may be
protected more consistently and be less subject to the often ar-
bitrary discrimination of judges.

Authors and their grantees should not hesitate to make
some sacrifice in order to ensure that all infringement — however
slight — of their rights be put down. They should not suffer
any plagiary of their works with a view to illicit gain by others,
or that the titles they have thought out and to which thay have
imparted an original cachet should be used by others, or that
their films should be marred by cuts, alterations, and mutilations
of all kinds that upset their balance and deform their meaning or
beauty. Publishers and hirers should take proper care to see
that their rights are respected.

And, lastly, cinematograph business, which infortunately
at present is sometimes carried on by persons whose commercial
honesty is not above reproach, needs to be purged, and the stand-
ard of commercial morality in this branch of business, which grows
and expands from day to day, should be firmly grounded on con-
cepts of right and equity.

Modern law has consecrated the principle of artistic and lit-
erary property. We look to the present, and more especially
to the future, to show us the rights of authors protected not only
on paper and in the texts of laws, but in actual life.

We have to thank artists for procuring us the finest emotions
of our lives ; it is only fair that we should see that their rights
are safeguarded.

Maurice Van Der Moesen

Barrister at the Brussels Court of Appeal

— 386

CONDITIONS AND LABOUR CONTRACTS IN THE
GERMAN CINEMATOGRAPH INDUSTRY.

{from the German)
I.

The Film Business.

There are fully 45,000 persons employed in the German ci-
nema industry, without counting those employed in the manufac-
ture of blank films (chemical industries), cinematograph apparat-
us (optical and electro-technical industries) and in other branches
of trade connected with the cinema industry. It is estimated that
16,000 of these are engaged in actual film production (in factories,
studios, and film- copying studios) including the regularly employ-
ed film actors and supernumeraries, and 2,500 in the film-
hiring business. The other 26,500 employees are distributed
among the 5,267 cinema theatres throughout Germany.

{Ed. Note). The Editor has much pleasure in publishing Dr. Roeber's
article on a subject which the active part he has taken in organizing the
German film, industry enables him to approach with singular authority.
The I. E. C. I., though not, of course, concerned with the direct study of
labour problems, which are within the competence of the International
Labour Office, welcom.es this opportunity of showing how close and
sympathetic is the collaboration between the two institutes. Our readers
will no doubt recall the agreement entered into between the I. L. O . and
the I. E. C. I., published in our third issue ; herewith we are happy to
make a start in placing at the disposal of the I.L.O. information and
technical particulars connected with cinematography that may serve the
purposes of the Genevan Institute in the execution of this important
mission on behalf of labour.

In our next issue, the Review will publish a paper of exceptional
interest, « The Cinematograph and the Workers » from the pen of M.
Fernand Maurette, the eminent historian and geographer, who devotes
so much enthusiasm and talent to directing the Research Section of the
International Labour Office.

387 —

Ninety per cent of the remaining theatrical film industry,
which manufactures a yearly average of 220 films, of an aggregate
length of 450,000 metres, is located in Berlin, while the remaining
ten per cent is established in Munich.

Short films, of an instructional, cultural, topical or publicity
character, including weekly news reels, are also produced mostly
in Berlin and Munich. It is here that the big firms, such as the
Ufa and the Emelka, undertake the production of such films in
close connnection with theatrical film production. The Ufa alone
produces from seventy to eighty cultural films yearly.

The hiring out of films is not confined to Berlin to the same
extent as film production. The principal reason for this is that
the big hiring establishments have agencies in many of the smaller
towns (1) whence they distribute the films to the cinema theatres.

There are cinema theatres in all parts of Germany. Berlin,
with its fine cinema halls, absorbs 20% of the big cinema theatres
of Germany, that is so say theatres comprising over 10.0 seats
and employing big staffs ; but it accounts for only 8% of the total
number of German cinema theatres and 10 % of the 1,876,000
seats thereof.

The labour regulations applying to the German cinema in-
dustry in the Berlin district - - including unorganized employers
and workers - - effect the most important pari; of the producing
industry, a considerable part of the hiring business, but only a
small fraction of the cinema theatres.

II.
Hozv Labour Conditions are regulated.

Labour conditions are regulated by contract according to
certain tariffs. The Federation of German Film Industries (Spit-
zenorganisation der Deutschen Filmindustrie) . The Federation of

(1) These towns are: Konigsberg, Hamburg, Hanover, Diisseldorf,
Cologne, Frankfort, Munich, Leipzig, Dresden and Breslau.

388

German Film Industries comprises the following organizations :
The Association of Film Manufacturers, the Association of German
Positive Copy Manufactures, the Association of German Film
Studios. These organizations form together the German Film
Industry Employers' Syndicate, which regulates collective labour
and tariff conditions. The headquarters of the Syndicate are in
Berlin and it. is under the general direction of Dr. Plugge, Director
of the Spitzenorganisation.

The Employers' Syndicate, acting in concert with the Union
of Employees in the Cinematograph Industry (to which the prin-
cipal associations of technical workers employed in the film produ-
cing and film hiring industry (i) in the Berlin and Potsdam (Great-
er Berlin) districts are federated) regulate all questions pertaining
to work and wages in the trade. The regulation of these matters
in respect of office employees in the said district is settled
between the Employers' Syndicate and the employees' unions.

Contracts have been made to regulate the daily wages and
monthly salaries of the two categories of workers (manual work-
ers and business staff). The Ministry of Labour of the Reich
has pronounced these contracts to be binding on both parties,
thus recognizing them as defining labour conditions throughout
the profession as a whole.

In virtue of this official recognition, all employers and em-
ployees in the Greater Berlin District who belong to the contract-
ing organizations and syndicates are required to observe the
terms of these contracts.

In the Munich district conditions of work and pay are regu-
lated in respect of five positive printing establishments only. (2)

(1) The following associations belong to the Union of Employees
in the Cinematograph Industry : The Metallurgical Workers' Union,
the German Wood Workers' Union, the Saddle-makers' and Upholsterors'
Union, the Painters' Union, the Union of Workers in Lithography and
similar Processes, the Engine-drivers' and Firemens' Union.

(2) According to German law, wages agreements and labour contracts
may be recognized not only between unions of employers and unions
of workers, but also between the latter and private employers. This
is exemplified in the written contracts drawn up between the workers'
union (Deutscher Verkehrsbund) and five separate firms.

389-

The regulations in question are practically identical with those
drawn up by the Berlin organizations, save for certain slight dif-
ferences in the scale of salaries.

As regards theatre staffs, including the managing staff, no
uniform scale of salaries has yet been fixed. Agreements on
salaries have at times been entered into with the delegates of
the different categories of employees, but these agreements are
only valid locally. There are no agreements of the kind in Berlin
for the cinema theatres.

There are some 15,000 musicians employed by cinema thea-
tres throughout Germany ; they are remunerated according to
the general scale of salaries established for all the musicians of
the Reich. Negotiations have been under way for some time
past for a revision of these tariffs, but so far no definite basis of
agreement has been reached.

Besides the labour contracts respecting the different catego-
ries of manual and business employees, there are special con-
tracts, known as service contracts, which concern actors, scene
setters, operators, architects and specialized wig-makers and hair-
dressers, and all the technical and artistic staff engaged in film
production.

There are no fixed tariffs in Germany binding all these cate-
gories of participants in the cinema industry. The Actors' Union
has nevertheless made efforts to get these tariffs regulated on a
contractual basis for all persons occupied, even temporarily, by
the cinema industry ; it has succeeded in obtaining a favourable
decision on this point from the Government Arbitration Insti-
tute.

According to the regulations for the application of German
labour laws, no award of this kind is reciprocally binding unless
accepted by both parties. In the case of one party refusing to
accept it, however, the Government Arbiter has the power to in-
tervene with a compulsory award, when the decision in question
is judged to be fair to the interests of both parties and when rea-
sons of an economic or social order render its acceptance necessary.

Unfortunately these provisions do not apply to cinematograph

390

actors ; so that if the Employers' Syndicate refuses to accept the
arbitral award, no compulsory award can be pronounced by the
Board, (i).

The labour conditions of cinema actors, scene setters, operators
and architects are subject to labour contracts which afford them
a certain guarantee.

The general labour conditions established by the Cinema
Industry Employers' Syndicate contain regulations of a general
character bearing on the rights and obligations of the contracting
parties. They define the form of contracts, the order of recruit-
ment, all questions of cinematographic rights, the different
kinds of work, the payment of salaries, the motives for rescinding
contracts and the causes for arbitration.

An application for arbitration was made by the Employers'
Syndicate with a view to the stipulation of a special labour con-
tract with specialized wig-makers and hair-dressers. It is worth
noting that in this instance it was not the employers, but the
employees, i. e. the hair-dressers, who were contrary to the regu-
lation of their labour conditions. This is accounted for by the
fact that the hair-dressers attached to the film industry are in
a privileged position, which they endeavour to maintain by keep-
ing up a limited supply. They are unwilling that other categories
of the profession should intervene in the matter. The fees de-
manded and obtained by these specialized hair-dressers are very
high ; suffice it to state that they are on the average on a par with
those paid to Judges of the Court of Appeal !

(i) The regulation adopted on the 1st. May 1924 by the Syndicate
of Employers in the Cinematograph Industry and the Actors' Union
in which conditions of work and wages for cinema actors were fixed,
comprised also an arbitration clause. This contract was rescinded on the
1st. January 1929, as a consequence of the split that took place in the
Actors' Syndicate, from which the Association of Scene Setters and the
German Cinematographic Syndicate seceded. This split reduced the
groups signatory to the Agreement of the 1st. May 1924 to two only :
namely, the « International Actors' Society » and the « Federation of
Chorus and Ballet Actors ». Hence the rescission of the Contract.

39i —

In defence of their claims and justification of their refusal
to accept tariff regulations, the cinematographic hair- dressers ad-
duce the high artistic quality of their work ; they refuse to be plac-
ed in the same rank as ordinary hair-dressers and insist on their
right to special remuneration consonant with their artistic merits.
They have themselves established, and their delegates support,
their own conditions of work and pay, which they claim as an
irreducible minimum.

In this case, it would be proper and necessary to endeavour
to fix special conditions for the class of workers in question, who,
however artistic their work may be, are not extraneous to the
category of workers.

Should the negotiations for the stipulation of a labour con-
tract fail, the employers' organizations are in favour of institut-
ing special courses for training a sufficient number of specialized
hair-dressers ; this would result automatically in increasing the
labour offer and would thus compel this class of workers to accept
reasonable rates of pay.

The collaboration of scenario writers and composers of musical
accompaniments to the films is not subject to any special labour
contract. It is remunerated in accordance with the terms agreed
upon between the interested parties (Par. 631 of the German La-
bour Law).

The Employers' Syndicate has fixed special forms for con-
tracts between film publishers and scenario writers, whereby the
authors cede their rights to the publishers : the application of this
form of contract has recently been extended to sound films.
From the legal standpoint, this does not amount to a publishing
contract but, to a contract of cession, it being explicitly stipulated
that the film publisher has the right to use the scenario, but is
not bound to do so.

The idea of regulating disputes relative to the execution of
labour contracts by recourse to arbitration has been widely applied
in the German cinema industry. Thus joint commissions have
been set up for actors, scene setters, operators, etc., in which all
interested parties, both employers and employed, are equally re-

392

presented., and which act. on the request of one or other of the
parties. For some time past, commissions of a like nature have
been set up for those categories of persons who cede their copy-
right to publishers - - scenario writers for instance - - for the
original work they place at the latters' disposal.

III.

Separate Tariff Contracts.

The primary purpose of the standard contracts for the ma-
nual employees and office staff in the different branches of the
cinema industry is to determine the hours of work. These gene-
rally amount to 48 hours per week. Overtime service may be
demanded of the staff to meet the exigencies of business, but al-
ways within the limits laid down in the labour laws. For manual
workers, overtime must be paid at the rate of 25% above the
normal tariff for the first hour, and 30% above it for each further
hour worked during the day. For the office staff, overtime pay
is reckoned at the rate of 1 200 of the monthly salary, plus an
extra 25%. Sunday and holiday work is remunerated at double
the usual rate.

The contracts between the employers' syndicates and the
unions of workers of the different categories comprise also claus-
es with respect to paid holidays. Such clauses are now a feature
of all labour contracts ; this confers a special value on them, since
no other legal obligation in this regard is binding on employers.

The manual workers in the cinematographic industry are
entitled to a yearly holiday of from 3 to 14 days, according to
length of service ; the term of the holiday varies in the case of
office employees, in like manner, from 6 to 18 days.

The German Civil Code provides that workers are entitled,
in the event of illness or other causes of inability independent of
their will, to draw their wages during the period of their absence,
provided this it not unduly prolonged. Special regulations have

393 —

been made in the case of commercial employees, which fix the
length of legitimate and properly substantiated absence during
which wages are due at a maximum of six weeks. The labour
contracts in the cinema industry have fixed much more favour-
able conditions for this class of employee, the period of paid absence
under the circumstances set forth above being increased from
7-10 weeks, according to the length of service.

The salaries of office employees are fixed according to the
category to which they belong (first-class, second-class and mi-
nor staff), and according to the length of service.

The salaries paid to female employees are 10% lower than
those due to the men ; the salaries of married employees is in-
creased by 15%; this increase is likewise due to married women
when they are the bread-winners for the family.

As regards manual workers, a distinction is made between
skilled workers and unskilled workers or apprentices (1). The
tariffs applicable to these two groups vary according to age and
length of service. Salaries vary between film producing firms
and the studios for printing positives and distribution agencies.
Specialized workers are entitled to considerably higher salaries
than those generally current in their category, or, in any case,
are paid according to the most favourable scale ; this is the case
for instance, with masons and carpenters, who are paid the
highest rates fixed for their respective categories.

IV.

Staff Recruitment.

There are no paid agencies for the recruitment of staff.
No matter whether manual workers, experts, or administrative
staff are concerned, the employees are engaged either personally

(1) This category comprises apprentice workers and lower office
staff who are entitled to wages from the first year of their service onward.
Apprenticeship lasts three years for workmen. During this period the
apprentice is entitled to yearly holidays.

394

or through the medium of advertisements in the daily papers or
trade publications ; in all cases, however, it must, de done in ac-
cordance with the laws on employment, centralized in public
offices.

In view of the fact that Berlin is the centre of the German
film industry and the employees required are recruited from a
very varied group of vocations, a special section has been set
up in connection with the Berlin Public Employment Bureau.
This section, which centralizes offers and applications for work,
keeps in constant touch with the cinematographic firms and the
employment agencies of each vocational group concerned ; in
this way it is able to meet rapidily and efficiently the requirements
of both employers and employed.

Not long ago a « Cinema Agency » existed in Berlin ; this was
a private office authorized to recruit actors; its activities originat-
ed in the clauses of a labour contract drawn up between the
Employers' Syndicate and the Actors' Union (Vide Note I,
page 391). But this agreement having been rescinded, the ser-
vice in question has been absorbed by the Public Employment
Agency of Berlin.

The Social-Economic Value of the Regulation of Labour Condi-
tions and the System of fixed Rates of Salaries in the German
Cinema Industry.

When it is remembered that German industries, con-
sidered as a whole, occupy 10,970,120 persons, (1) distributed
between 807,300 establishments (2), and engaged under 7,490 con-

(1) Official returns for 1st January, 1927.

(2) According to the returns of the Statistical Bureau of the Reich,
the number of wages agreements has declined by about one third from pre-
war times to the present time. On the other hand, the number of industrial
firms bound by such agreements has multiplied five-fold, and the number
of employees affected thereby is seven times as great as before the war.
These facts prove that there is a progressive tendency to substitute national
tariffs for local tariffs.

395

tracts it will be seen that the 45,000 persons employed by the cine-
matograph industry represent a modest figure. These 45,000 persons,
moreover, are not all comprised in the tariff regime applying to
the producing and distributing enterprises in the Greater Berlin
District ; a number of them live outside, or above the tariffs,
and receive considerably higher salaries.

In any case, we are not so much concerned with the actual
number of the persons employed in the German cinematograph
industry, as with the adherence thay have given to the great social
concept of modern economic life of the rights of labour. These
principles, as expressed by minimum wage rates and the insti-
tution of arbitration, have proved the best means of regulating
work and solving labour problems ; they are also the surest means
of achieving any general understanding and agreement on these
questions.

Dr. A. Roeber

Scientific Partner in the Spitzenorganisation
der Deutschen Filmindustrie.

— 396

THE VALUE OF THE EDUCATIONAL FILM
ITS DANGERS AND HOW THEY MAY BE OBVIATED

{from the Spanish)

The dangers which menace the educational film are in pro-
portion to its importance, unless those who use it for instructional
purposes know how to avoid them.

The efficacy of the screen is apparent from the keen interest
taken in it by children and by the millions of young souls that
all the world over are under its spell . This should be a lesson to
those responsible to tiy and protect the young from the dangers
inherent in the cinematograph.

Children remember better what they see than what they hear.
But they remember best what they see and hear simultaneously.
This explains the great recent triumph of the « talkies » and the
« movietone », which are contemporaneously visual, oral, pictorial,
literary and musical.

{Ed. Note). We have great pleasure in publishing this article by an
eminent scholastic authority of the Cuban Republic, who has for years past
devoted himself with great success to the study of new forms of teaching
consonant with the spirit of our times and with the necessity of not tir-
ing the child mind. The question of the scholastic film will be dealt with
more comprehensively in later numbers. Our November issue, for in-
stance, will contain a highly interesting study by Prof. De Madaysu on
a scholastic film experiment that has been made in certain of the Swiss
Cantons. The question of the film as a method of teaching is at the pre-
sent day on the agenda of all civilized Nations and this Institute is care-
fully examining its many aspects. The International Review will therefore
be open to the fullest discussion of the question and more especially re-
cord the practical and technical results achieved, results based on actual
experience rather than on abstract principles and theories.

Prof. Barak's article is of particular interest as illustrating the advan-
tages to be anticipated from the synchronized film. This question will
claim further attention in later numbers.

3-ingi. 397 —

The lesson of the cinema should insinuate itself by as many
different means as possible. Because, besides those we have already
enumerated, other senses are stimulated by it : the muscular sensi-
bility, the moral, aesthetic and spiritual sensibilities. All these
may be cultivated by means of the screen, if it is accurately and
carefully directed. It would be a deplorable error to despise this
magnificent instrument for imparting a complete and harmonious
education to our children.

One of the causes fostering the great demand for films is the
malady of our age, the modern passion for everything that can give
pleasure without the necessity of work, concentration, or effort; for
everything that is rapid and superficial, that arrives by the shortest
route, by what the Anglo-Saxon peoples call time and labor-saving
machinery, without any understanding of the great value of time
and labour.

This danger should be watched by film producers and edu-
cators if they wish to avoid checking the child in its mental ascent
and creating difficulties for its future life by making it believe that
progress and evolution are rapid processes and education a mere
game.

Works of art are not entirely free from this failing, but a com-
parison between them and cinematographic production is suffi-
cient to show that the former are different, inasmuch as they are
more creative and show more character and a higher sense of the
effort of the author, than the latter. This is a question worthy of
study and consideration, all the more as it concerns education, a
serious matter demanding patience and perseverance and which
is slow in its evolution.

Educational cinematography is concerned with two di-
verse aspects of education : instruction and general culture. But
though the latter is more important and more fundamental than
the former, its development has scarcely commenced. To educate
is not to fill the mind, but to form and develop it.

What is the indispensible requisite of every educational film ?
It is not enough to answer : that it should educate ; we must
attach a definite meaning to the term. To be educational a film

- 398

must arouse the mental activity of the onlooker, that is to say
it must cause him to think, feel and will. It should not be for-
gotten that to bestow a pleasure and to satisfy a desire without
demanding effort or attention produces a retrogressive effect on
the mind of the young, making it go back to a primitive form of
life and weakening the character.

We have it in our power to make the cinematographic film
an asset or a stumbling block, a stimulus to personal effort or an
excuse for laxity and laziness.

In order that an exhibition of works of art or the perform-
ance of a musical composition should produce the desired
effect on the mind of the spectator, their form of expression must be
clear, which will augment their social, pedagogical and moral
value. I consider that the commentary of a competent critic is
indispensable for the attainment of this effect.

Elucidation is the body and soul of instruction. The possi-
bilities of the cinema as a means and instrument of artistic, aesthetic,
and physico-aesthetic culture are infinite, if the actors and speakers
perform their parts according to standards of real beauty. This
today is only possible in the talking film, which produces simul-
taneously the image, the movement, the voice, the music, and
even the technique of voice production.

What a grand instrument for the great work of education,
at once aesthetic, moral, and emotional ! It is so, because the
mere contemplation of beauty elevates the soul, predisposing it
to nobler impulses and more generous sentiments.

Much might be said of the other advantages which cinemato-
graphy, at its present stage of development, presents over all
other known methods. Among them is the possibility of enforc-
ing impressions by reiteration, an excellent thing for any ele-
mentary form of instruction and for which reason it is often
preferable to view an educational film several times than a great
artist once in real life.

The subjects best suited for cinematographic instruction
are oratory and recitation, acting, languages, and phonetics, which
is the scientific basis for the study of languages, most necessary for

399

the acquisition of a correct pronunciation, both in one's own and
in foreign languages.

It affords a splendid method of study for pupils who can watch
the position of the lips and contemporaneously hear the sounds
produced by them ; and its usefulness is heightened when it is a
question of teaching the single articulations and the pronunciation
of mute and aspirated consonants, which present great difficul-
ties to students of phonetics. What object lesson could be more
useful than a ■« close up » of the face of the master of phonetics,
demonstrating on the screen the various positions of the mouth
according to the pronunciation ?

The cinema has a great psychological value when showing
pathetic, tender or moving scenes. I believe that there is no
better method of instruction and moral culture. The Internation-
al Institute for Educational Cinematography deserves approbation
and patronage in every respect. This organ of the League of Na-
tions, established in Rome, deserves the gratitude of all those who
have at heart the improvement of the race by means of educating
mens' minds and developing their faculties, which, as the Di-
rector of the Institute put it, is « a progressive and systematic
advance towards the good ».

One of the reasons of the superiority of the cinema over the
theatre is the fact that the actor's work dies with him, while that
of the cinema lasts indefinitely. Just as the Cid won a battle after
he was dead, the film actor may still be admired years after his
death, and may have disciples.

In a word, if the educational film is to be appreciated, and is
really to give the results that we have a right to expect from it,
it should be pure, beautiful, if possible poetic, and above all
convey instruction and moral teaching.

Among the social, pedagogical and moral problems of our time,
none is more deserving of serious attention and conscientious
study.

No more efficacious process than that of the talking film has
yet been discovered for the purposes of objective methods of
study. If wisely used, it is a marvellous instrument. There is

— 400

no objective method equal to it for showing the student form,
colour, movement, voice and sound, both articulated and musical.
One might almost say that the inventor of the cinema was in-
spired by the guardian angel of teachers !

Today with the perfection of visual and oral cinematography
diffused by the marvellous invention of the radio, the efficacy
which education may derive from it, especially as regards dram-
atic art in its three branches of voice, diction and action, is incal-
culable. The same applies to pantomime, to phonetics, singing,
artistic dancing and recitation.

The educational film achieves its finest effects when it
succeeds in awakening the interest of the pupils, and by touching
their hearts makes them experience the most noble and moral of
sentiments, compassion. This is the most efficacious of all the
means by which to avoid war and ensure peace among peoples.
Much can be done in this direction by the international spirit of
the so-called documentary films, which, by making us acquainted
with foreign countries, their character, life and customs, awaken
our sympathies in their regard by that touch of nature that makes
the whole world kin.

From all this it is evident that educational cinematography
may become one of the. greatest supports and benefactors of sci-
ence, art, study and teaching, in a word, of mankind. Every-
thing that raises us above the purely human to the divine, which
is at once the source and the ultimate destination of man, and
arouses the religious spirit which elevates and ennobles all, is
worthy to be called a sublime work.

Luis A. Baralt

Professor of Pedagogy
at the Cuba University.

401 —

THE PRESENT POSITION OF COLOUR
CINEMATOGRAPHY

(from the French)

Students have for a long time past been engrossed by the
problem of colour cinematography, and when, in 1907, the Brothers
Lumiere succeeded in obtaining a colour photograph on a single
plate by means of an autochrome process, the idea immediately
arose of applying this splendid discovery to the cinematograph.

Unfortunately there were a great number of obstacles in the
way of any immediate achievement. First of all, one had to con-
tend with the defect of sensitivity in the emulsion of the auto-
chrome plates, necessitating lengthy exposure, lasting nearly 60
times as long as normal exposure. In the second place, the diffi-
culty of adapting to the film delicate technical processes requir-
ing the use of special varnishes to fix the strata of coloured grains
of starch on to a flexible support and to spread the emulsion over
this layer.

All these difficulties, which are certainly not unsurmount-
able, appear to be on the way to a solution, and we may look for-
ward in the not distant future to this progress being actually real-

(Ed. Note) We take a particular interest in the probem of colour cine-
matography, being convinced that the solution of this problem will be of
the greatest advantage to educational and scholastic cinematography and
that its effects will be such as to dissipate once and for all any doubts and
deficiencies now prevailing.

Dr. Seyewetz is a true scientiest, and we trust that he will not fail
to keep our readers informed in later issues of the Review of the technical
progress made in this domain.

Our readers will recall the important paper by Prof. Namias which
appeared in the second issue of the Review; we are happy to announce that
our forthcoming issue will contain the continuation and conclusion of
the study by Prof. Namias , who has devotedjmore than thirty years of
enthusiastic work and effort to the question of colour photography and
cinematography.

402

ized, thanks to the efforts of the Brothers Lumiere ; we may ex-
pect the ordinary autochrome film, the manufacture of which offers
much fewer difficulties than that of the cinematographic film, to
precede it.

Meanwhile a number of inventors are devoting their efforts
to solving the problem in a variety of different ways, some of
which have led to very interesting and practical results.

Nearly all the cinematograph colour processes which have
so far been attempted have been on the three-colour system, one
mono-coloured image being superposed on another. These are
either coloured artificially or by interposing transparent screens
of the right tint selected from among the rays of light prior to
the images being superposed on the screen. Three objectives are
used in all these processes ; each being supplied with a separate
coloured screen, through which only a part of the spectrum is
filtred, the other colours being absorbed. An orange coloured
screen is used to obtain the green negative, a green screen to
obtain the negative reproduction of red, and a violet screen for
the yellow negative.

The three images thus analyzed are received on a pan-
chromatized cinematographic ribbon, which is sensitive to all
colours, but in varying degrees. Since the three images must be
formed simultaneously, it is necessary, in order to compensate
the differences in sensitivity in the preparation of each one of them,
to vary the amount of light received by each objective by means of
diaphragms with different degrees of opening. Thus the diaphragm
of the objective supplied with the violet screen is considerably
smaller than those of the two other objectives.

At the present time highly perfected cameras are being made
to obtain the three impressions simultaneously.

Thus the negative receives three impressions of each poly-
chromatic object ; after development these give three black ne-
gatives. These correspond respectively, the first to blue rays
or to rays containing blue (green and violet), the second to red
rays or rays containing red (orange or violet), and the third to
yellow rays, or rays containing yellow (orange or green).

403 —

The positive reproduction, by contact with another sensi-
tive ribbon of these three negative images, gives an accurately
superposable black and white reproduction of the images of the
elementary colours of the polychromatic object.

An exact polychromatic effect of a scene may be obtained
if, prior to placing these black images one above the other, they
are coloured respectively blue, yellow and red with well selected
dyes, or else lit up by transparency, fasces of luminous rays which
have passed through the positive by means of screens coloured
with the same colours as those used for dyeing being directed on
to them.

This principle has been applied to the several processes
which we are about to describe. We will point out the drawbacks
attaching to each one of them and their practical possibilities.

i . The Process of Successive Images.

This process, which is based on the phenomenon of the per-
sistence of images on the retina, makes use of a panchromatic
film upon which each polychrome image is represented by
three successive elementary images obtained by means of three
selective screens, one green, one orange and one violet.

These three images must be obtained in a space of time prac-
tically equivalent to that normally devoted to obtaining a single
image in black and white. Thus the film must be turned at about
three times the normal speed, or at the rate of 50 images per se-
cond. Upon development, a negative three times the standard
length is obtained. This is printed as a positive in the usual way,
by contact, with a positive emulsion ribbon. By colouring each
of these elementary images in blue, yellow and red, with suita-
bly selected dyes, a succession of images of respectively the same
colours is obtained on the positive ribbon.

By turning this ribbon at three times the normal speed and
projecting it on the screen, the persistence of the retinal impres-
sion will allow the three elementary images to be superposed in
our eyes, producing the illusion of the reconstituted polychrom-

— 404

atic image on the screen. This process, which Heraut has taken
up anew, has the following disadvantages :

i . Negative and positive films of three times the length
of black and white films must be used ;

2. The ribbon, being turned at three times the normal
speed, is soon worn out ;

3 . The most serious drawback consists in the impossibi-
lity of obtaining a perfect superposition of the images whenever
a moving object moves perpendicularly in relation to the axis of
the objective. Indeed, notwithstanding the great speed with which
the images succeed one another, a moving object cannot when
photographed be precisely in the same position in each of the
three images. Thus the superposition is not absolutely perfect
and coloured rims appear on the screen.

2. The Frees Green Two- Colour Process.

Notwithstanding any imperfections in this process, it is being
exploited industrially on account of its relative simplicity. It con-
sists in taking two simultaneous images, each with the aid of a
complementary screen — one green and one red. To obtain the
positive, a film prepared with emulsion on both sides — one
serving for the printing of the red and the other of the green image
— is used, care being taken to insensitize the gelatine layer
which is not being used at the moment, between each operation,
and to see that the two images are placed accurately one over the
other.

These two positive images are coloured respectively green
and red, by successively isolating the two surfaces of the film.

The most serious drawback to this system is the use of only
two colours ; the hues are consequently not accurate ; blue cannot
be reproduced and the remaining colours, in which blue is lacking,
are not faithful to nature.

The impression on the eye is generally somewhat disagree-
able, when the colours which predominate in the scene are not
green and red. In printing, moreover, the precise coincidence of

405

the two surfaces of the film is a difficult matter, and when this is
imperfect the images appear encircled with red and green rims.

Then again, the film, which is coated with emulsion on both
sides, gets easily scratched and the dyes rapidly alter under the
influence of the electric arc. Lastly, the cost price of such films
is about double the ordinary cost.

3. The Gaumont Process with Multiple Objectives.

This process is based on three positives obtained from three
selected negatives made through three corresponding coloured
screens, the superposition of these three images producing a po-
lychromatic reproduction. This system, while reproducing inan-
imate objects most faithfully, leaves much to be desired in
cinematography. The distance between the three objectives,
in fact, however slight this may be, impedes the accurate superpo-
sition of the three images, and one is further compelled to use
objectives mounted on rollers for the purposes of projection so as to
correct this defect, which tends to produce coloured rims to the
images.

As this correction has constantly to be made, is has been found
necessary to instal in front of the screen a cabin from which an
operator regulates the objectives electrically by means of a series
of levers, thus correcting discrepancies in superposition.

Wider use has not been made of this process up to the pre-
sent on account of these defects.

4. AUDIBERT AND ThOVERT PROCESS, BASED ON MULTIPLE OBJECTIVES
AND WITH REDUCED STEREOSCOPIC EFFECT.

These inventors have done much to reduce the defects of the
Gaumont system by sensibly diminishing the effect of parallax
through the use of a divergent lens in front of the multiple objec-
tive, in such wise that one practically obtains a photograph of
the virtual image corresponding to the anterior system.

The depth of this first image not being very pronounced,

— 406

the stereoscopic effect can be considerably diminished, thus eli-
minating the coloured rims almost completely.

The objectives were at first placed side by side and produced
three horizontal images (fig. i), which entailed the use of special
ribbons of more than standard width. The inventors have obviated
this inconvenience by disposing the three images triangular- wise
(fig. 2). The images consequently come smaller, which makes it
possible to use the whole of the ordinary cinematographic mater-
ial and renders the process highly practical. All that is needed
is to replace the ordinary objective by a triple objective equipped
with three coloured screens.

The screens for projection are simply made of gelati-
nized glass, coloured green, orange and violet. Projection may

Vn

be effected in all dimensions ; it is limited only by the amount of
light available and by the thickness of the silver grain of the image.

In order to simplify the projection of the film and to utilize
it as an ordinary film, Audibert has succeeded in printing the three
elementary photographs on the same film by utilizing the nega-
tive wherein, as above said, the three elementary images are dis-
posed in a triangular arrangement.

The negative images are then projected one after the other,
increasing them to the dimensions of an ordinary cinematographic
image, on a positive film spread with emulsion on both sides.

407

The blue negative is first printed on one side ; then the red one
is printed on the other by means of an apparatus ensuring the
most perfect accuracy. The two images are then developed, they
are mordanted and coloured by the process devised by Messrs. Lu-
miere and Seyewetz (mordanting by sulphocyanide of copper and
colouring by methyline blue or Rhodamine red).

The two sides are mordanted simultaneously. So as to iso-
late one side during the dyeing process, the film is applied on to
a rubber band rolled round a drum which prevents the dye from
penetrating onto the side in contact with the rubber.

Thus the printed positive image is dyed first on one side and
then on the other. After it has been dried, one of the sides is
varnished with a transparent varnish so as to render it imper-
meable and an emulsion for positives is applied upon which
the enlarged third negative image is printed ; this being accurately
superposed on the other two. This third image is developed,
fixed, mordanted and coloured with the third dye, the colour of
one stratum not being allowed to penetrate in any degree into the
others, thanks to the rubber band upon which the film has been
fixed.

There are no coloured rims owing to the absolutely accurate
superposition of the images.

When carried out by experts, this process gives very satis-
factory results. The task of obtaining the three well adjusted
positives is, however, very delicate, for once the images have been
coloured it is impossible or extremely difficult to retouch them.
It is therefore expedient to make tests with mordants and dyes on
experimental ribbons, so as. to make sure of obtaining sufficiently
accurate images and to avoid one of them predominating over the
other after they have been superposed. Once this film is completed,
it is projected like any ordinary cinematographic ribbon.

5. The Keller- Dorian and Berthon Process.

In this extremely ingenious system, devised by two French
inventors, Messrs. Keller-Dorian and Berthon, the violet, green

— 408

and red tinted films are placed side by side on longitudinal rib-
bons and paralleled in the diaphragm passage. It. is well known
that the diaphragm always appears as a luminous surface of uni-
form brilliancy in relation to the several points of the clear image.
A film spread over with panchromatic emulsion and c< craped »
on the emulsionised side is used for the sensitive surface. This
a craping » is done by an indented roller by means of which

an enormous number of little hexagonal bulges (500 to 1000 per
square milimetre) are impressed on the film. The film is then
placed in the camera so that the « craped » surface faces the objective.
Each of the tiny « craped » protuberances produces on the sen-
sitive stratum a tiny image of the ensemble of the view em-
braced by the objective through the coloured screen. Thus the
same result is obtained as if one placed a network of violet, green
and red elements in contact with the emulsion, as in the autochrome
plate.

Fig. 3 shows the passage of the rays of light both inside the
view finder and the projector. The same phenomena occur in
both cases. The same objective furnished with its tri-coloured
diaphragm is placed in position for projecting the positive

409 —

film and for taking the photograph. Thus the original image is
reconstituted by means of the inverse return of the rays of light
which served the purposes of registering the view.

It is well known how essential the regularity of the action
exercised by each of the coloured sections of the tri-coloured screen
is in obtaining a successful result and how greatly this regularity
depends on the sensitivity of the emulsion.

Now there are slight differences in sensitivity between one
manufacture and another, but it has been found possible to correct

Fig. 4

these variations perfectly by obturating a fraction of one section
or of both sections of the screen.

With this object, the Kodak Pathe Co. has devised adjustment
diaphragms (fig. 4). These diaphragms are adjusted for each film,
after testing the sensitivity of the emulsion used, so as to make
sure that the action of the dyes and the receptivity of the emul-
sion correspond perfectly one to the other.

Each film should therefore be accompanied by its adjustment
diaphragm, which is fixed at the moment of taking the photograph.
The sensitive surface covered with the mosaic of the images of
the tri-colour screen is printed as it would be through those of
the autochrome plate, that is to say that only those rays of the same
colour as the screen can filter through these and become impressed
on the sensitive surface. These, on being immersed in a develop-
ment bath, darken at all points that have been printed and black

410

opaque screens will form at these points and intercept the projec-
tion of the colour.

Thus a black image is obtained which, upon being projected
through the tri-colour screens, produces a negative image, the
colours of which are complementary to those of the object.

There are many difficulties in the way of the use of these
negatives for printing the positives ; these depend partly on the
fact that the « craped » surface of the film on which the copies are
printed requires a slightly different focus to that of the negative film.

A correct positive is obtained, moreover, only by the direct
inversion of the negative. Thus the process can be used
only where a single copy is required, as in the case of amateur
films. For this reason the Keller-Dorian Berthon process has
so far only been used for such purposes, great perfection being
attained in this line by the Kodak Pathe Company in its Kodak
Colour Film. But the research which is now being actively pur-
sued with a view to perfecting this process justifies the hope that
it may lend itself to a wider industrial application in the more or
less near future.

A. Seyewetz.

Professor at the Institute of Industrial Chemistry
of the Lyons University.

411 —

THE USE OF THE FILM IN THE STUDY
OF NERVOUS DISEASES

(from the Portuguese)

The use of the cinematograph in connection with the study
of biology may be said to date back to the earliest improvements
achieved in the technique of this wonderful invention.

Most people are acquainted with the demonstrations of the
intimate mechanism of the circulation of the blood and of many
other micro-biological phenomena which have been made possible
by the new method of combining the use of the cinematograph
with that of the ultra-microscope. More recent experiments have
enabled us to combine cinematographic methods with radiographic
processes (kineradiography) , and this is responsible for the ad-
vances made in the study of the physiological and pathological
movements of the heart, stomach, and other organs, which have
cast so much light on their motor functions.

It is, however, in the field of nervous disease that the film has
made its most valuable contribution to medical science. In this
domain it is applied in a multitude of different ways, both for the
more perfect analysis of clinical phenomena, from the standpoint
of their scientific interpretation, and for the purposes of demon-
stration in medical teaching.

In the sphere of all motor manifestations, the cinematograph
offers the surest means of investigating psychological and pathologi-
cal movement, for it enables us to decompose movement into its
component parts and to become acquainted with its several phases.

The results obtained many years ago in this particular field
by the experiments of Marey, who applied chronophotography to
the study of locomotion in men and animals, and especially to
the flight of birds, gave rise to further technical innovations (i) ;

(i) Cf. R. Ohm, Ein Apparat filr photo gr aphis che Registrierung von
Bewegungsvorgangen (Munchener Medizin. Wochenschau, 191c, p. 1498)

— 412

but the cinematograph, so simple in its techinique and so complete
in its achievement, swept all other methods from the field.

The analysis of serial images makes it possible to examine
the intermediary stages or aspects of movement ; these aspects
which pass unobserved by the naked eye, that grasps only the
movement as a whole, even when it is slow, are seized and record-
ed by this means ; and it is thanks to such analysis that the pe-
culiarities of certain pathological movements have been described,
particularly in disturbances of the gait due to nervous disease.
The writer has himself had occasion to describe in the light of
cinematographic analysis certain particulars connected with the
manner of walking in the disease known as « beri-beri » and in
cases of double athetosis and hemiplegia (i).

In these studies, we have followed in the footsteps of Ma-
rinesco, who did such fine pioneer work in the use of the film
for the purposes of research of this nature (2).

The great advantages deriving from the use of the film in
lessons on neurology and psychiatry are obvious and experiments
which were first made in this field some 20 years ago have now
become quite a common thing, especially in the United States (3).
I remember admiring some ten years ago certain films illustrating
nervous diseases exhibited under the direction of the late lamented
illustrious Professor Camillo Negro in his Clinic at the Turin

(1) Cf. A. de Castro: Note sur la demarche later ale dans Vhemi-
ple'gie organique. (Nouvelle Iconographie de la Salpetriere, 191 3, n. 2)
Note sur la demarche dans Vathetose, e'tudie'e d'apres la cinematographic
{Nouvelle Iconographie de la Salpetriere, 19 12, n. 3).

(2) Cf. Marinesco: Les troubles de la marche dans Vhemiple'gie organique
etudies a Va'ide du cinematographe . Sem. med., 1900, p. 71); Les troubles de
la marche dans Vataxie locomotrice progressive (Sem. med., 1901, p. 113).

(3) Cf. V. P. Sainton: Quelques considerations sur Vutilite de la ci-
nematographic dans Vetude des maladies du systeme nerveux (Encephale,

1909, p. 410); H. Hennes: Die Kinematographie in Dienste der Neurologie
und Psychiatrie, nebst Berschreibung, einiger selteneren Bewegungsstorunge
(Medizin. Klinik, 1910, p.2010) ; Westphal, Hubner und Jennes: Kine-
matographische Demonstraiionen von Bewegunsstorungen {Neurol Centralb

1910, p. 1330).

4-ingl. 413

University. We need only reflect on the enormous series of nervous
symptoms and diseases which reveal themselves by morpholo-
gical changes and motor disturbances to realize the enormously
wide scope which this domain offers to the cinematograph. The
different types of paralysis, convulsive attacks, disturbances of
muscular tonus (the latter so deeply studied from the clinical
standpoint after the war) — all these are troubles in which the
pedagogic efficacy of the cinematograph is unrivalled, for in most
cases we have only to look at the film to gather as complete a know-
ledge of a case as personal examination of the patient could afford.

The peculiar value of the film is all the greater in cases of rare
diseases, only occasionally met with in ordinary practice, cases which
may occur at many years' interval in the experience of a doctor.
The exhibition of films of such cases to students makes up for the
insufficiency of clinical demonstration, so often impossible in
rare diseases. In the past, theoretic teaching alone has been pos-
sible in such instances.

A special didactic interest attaches to films of nervous diseases ,
for they constitute permanent evidence, and lose none of their
efficacy when the disease is cured and the motor symptoms, thus
recorded, have disappeared. There are, for instance, cases of fa-
cial paralysis in which successive films, taken at different stages
of the disease, enable us to follow, through the modification of
the morphological appearance of the cheek, the gradual disappear-
ance of paralytic immobility and the progress of the cure until
complete recovery. Similarly, in the case of long illnesses, such
as muscular atrophy from infantile paralysis, films taken at
intervals of months and years are of inestimable evidential value,
since they enable us to follow the successive stages of the progress
of the disease.

Nor is it possible to exaggerate the post mortem value of the
film, which enables us with the help of pathologico-anatomical
specimens to reconstitute faithfully a demonstration of clinical
phenomena as clearly and accurately as if the living patient were
before us.

There is one obstacle to the more general use of the cinema-

— 414

tograph for the purposes of demonstration to medical students :
namely the high cost of the films, a collection of which represents
a considerable value. But we should not be deterred by this dif-
ficulty when we reflect that films of this kind never become out-
of-date, but have a permanent value and will serve for years to
come for the instruction of generations of students, not only in a
given University, but in all countries where the exchange of such
films is organized.

This question of exchange is of the greatest importance
and ought to be studied with a view to reaching a practical solution,
which would facilitate the exchange of such films not only between
the countries of a particular continent, but also between those
in different continents. An international convention in this
regard is much to be desired, and we have no doubt that the
International Educational Cinematographic Institute will include
the study of this important question in its programme ( i).

For years past we have noted the advantages of the cinemato-
graphic method of teaching and have introduced it into the Rio
de Janeiro University, where we organized the film demonstration
of nervous diseases. I have made a practice of having films taken
of all clinical cases of scientific interest that lend themselves to
being demonstrated by this method, as also of normal cases, a
record of which would be useful for projection to students for the
objective demonstration of clinical characters. Thanks to this
method, I have already succeeded in organizing a numerous col-

(Ed. Note). We are happy to inform our readers that, on the occasion
of the forthcoming session of the Governing Body of the Interna-
tional Educational Cinematographic Institute, the Director of the Institute,
on the proposal of the President (who had already raised the question at
the last meeting of the International Commission for Intellectual Cooper-
ation) has drawn up a complete report for the consideration and decision
of the Council on the international exchange of films , taking into account
the several national Customs regulations on the subject, and putting
definite proposals which might form the basis of an international conven-
tion on the subject. We will keep our readers informed on this important
question.

415 —

lection of films on neuropathology at the General Hospital of
Rio de Janeiro. I give a list of these films hereunder.

The creation of the International Educational Cinemato-
graphic Institute will undoubtedly be productive of concrete
results of incalculable advantage to world culture. Scientists
and teachers in Latin America will not be the last to appreciate
at its full value and give their support to this grand initiative of
a Country to whose genius and idealism civilization has owed so
much throughout the ages.

Aloisio de Castro

Member of the International Commission for
Intellectual Cooperation, Professor of Medicine
at the University of Rio de Janeiro, Director
of the Ministry of National Education of Brazil.

The Film Archive of the general hospital
of Rio de Janeiro

(Medical Clinic of Prof. Dr. Aloysio de Castro).

Acromegaly (3 films). - Acromegaly and Recklinghausen's
Disease. — Acromegaly and Tabes. — Tabetic Ataxia. — Here-
ditary cerebral Ataxia. — Achondroplasia. — Double Athetosis
(2 films). — Athetosic Movement of the tongue and lips in
Encephalitis Lethargica. — Muscular Atrophy (Erb's scapular-
humeral type). — Basedow's Disease (3 films) — Unilateral
Exophthalmia in Basedow's Disease. — Babinescki's Symptoms in
Chronic Anaemia. — Bulbar symptom in Epidemic Encephalitis
accompanied by motor spasms. — Sydenham's Chorea. — Chronic
Chorea. — Chorea in pregnancy. — Sydenham's Unilateral
Chorea. — Huntington's Chronic Chorea. — Catalepsy — Hysteria.
— Facial Diplegia (3 films). — Genito-glandular Dystrophy
(5 films). — Hysterical tremulous Dysbasia. — Conjunct Dis-
tortion of the head and eyes in Organic Hemiplegia. — Epithelio-
ma with destruction of the Facial Nerve. — Hysterical Spasms of

— 416

the neck. - - Schlerosis in patches (2 films). — Encephalitis Le-
thargica (3 films). - - Parkinson's symptoms in Epidemic En-
cephalitis. — Meige's Oedema. — Friedrich's Disease (3 films).

— Frohlich (genital adipose dystrophy). — Infantile Cerebral
Hemiplegia (2 films). — Facial Hemi-spasm (2 films). — Alter-
nate Hemiplegia. — Hemiathetosis. — Infantile Hemiplegia ac-
companied by Hemiathetosis. — Organic Hemiplegia (gait). — ■
Organic Hemiplegia (lateral gait). — Hypotonia in Tabes. —
Intestinal inversion. -- Jackson's symptoms (2 films). — Lipo-
matosis. — Little's Symptoms. — Syphilitic myellitis. — Infan-
tile Paralysis (7 films). — Bi-lateral Ophthalmoplegia (2 films)

— Paralysis of the 3rd pair of spinal nerves — Traumatic Facial
Paralysis. — Peripheric Facial Paralysis. — Traumatic Paralysis
of the 3rd pair of spinal nerves. — Paralysis of the 6th pair of
nerves (2 films). — Paralysis of the 6t h and 7th pairs, of nerves

— Pseudo-hypertrophic Paralysis (3 films). — Labio-glosso-
laryngeal Paralysis. — Lacunar Paraplegia (2 films). — Paralysis
of the extensors of the foot. — Spasmodic Paralysis. — Pseudo-
Bulbar-Paralysis (2 films). — Hysterical Paralysis of the lower
limbs. — Parkinson's Disease (4 films). — Parkinson's Disease
with uni-lateral tremour. — Pseudo symptom of Babiniski's
disease. — Post encephalitic Parkinsonism (4 films). — Alcoholic
Polyneuritis. — Infantile Poly-myelitis — Alcoholic Poly-neuritis
(progress and treatment). — Electrical reactions in lesions of
the pyramidal fasces (Neri). — Recklinghausen's Disease (2 films).

— Palmar reflex of the Chin. — Defensive Reflex in organic
Hemiplegia. — Plantar cutaneous reflex. — Reflex of the thumb
in Hemiplegia. — Babiniski's Reflex in anaemic conditions. —

— Sarcoma of the Central Nervous System. — Facial Tic. —
Palpebro-frontal Tic. — Hysterical tremour. — Tremour in
Voluntary movements. — Tabes. — Shell Shock. — Cerebral
Tumour (2 films). - Pseudo symptom of Tapia — Thomsen's
Disease. — Cerebral Trombosis with hemiplegia. — Veber's
Symptoms.

417 —

RECREATIONAL FILMS

« Laughter is man's characteristic » said Rabelais. We will
say more simply that laughter is a necessity for the child. It is
therefore our duty to provide him with every opportunity for
mirth so as to counteract his natural propensity to grieve over
all the big little troubles of childhood. The soul of the child
should be trained in joy and serenity, the exercise of his intellectual
faculties should be made as easy and as attractive as possible, so as
to mitigate the effort required by reflection and the effort of will
which all learning demands.

The first requisite of every film for children is that it should
be diverting, and should compel effortless attention.

Even in scientific documentary films it is our endeavour to
produce pictures that have a fascinating quality. We make a point
of attenuating inevitable detailed explanation by simple and
amusing illustrations, or by resorting to methods which exclude
fatigue .

This applies to educational films to be commented on by the
teacher who needs them for the illustration of some special subject.
An educational film can always be made attractive ; to be so is
indeed an essential condition of its efficacy.

To make it so is doubtless a delicate task, for not only must
the fundamental theme and didactic purpose remain unimpaired,
but care must also be taken not to mar the desired effect by vulgar
or irrelevant additions.

The same rule applies to recreational films, which belong to
a different and particularly difficult category.

It is said that we suffer from a lack of comic films, that
the public is tired of drama, of sentimental comedy and of sen-
sational themes and intrigues which make exaggerated demands
on its emotions.

41;

The characteristic of our age, it has been said, is the absence
of jov, which is also the cause of the lack of amusing inspiration
and of interpreters capable of expressing it.

Our ancestors knew how to laugh although they did not dis-
pose of the infinite means of which progress has given us the com-
mand, including the most original and universal, the cinema.

Nothing could be less true than such a statement ; the genius
of Chaplin alone would be enough to contradict it. The grown
man has the same need of recreation as the child, who instinctively
seeks amusement satisfiying to its imagination.

That this is so is convincingly proved by its merry talk and
naive ideas. Despite the complicated mechanism of its mod-
ern games, despite the burden of knowledge born with its
reasoning powers, as a result of atavism or environment, it always
wants to enjoy itself and finds a way of doing so by its readiness
to direct its natural tendencies in this direction.

It would be a great error not to provide the child with beauti-
ful and wholesome recreational films, made especially for it, con-
ceived as far as possible in its own spirit and executed according
to its own desires.

In the same way the public, the eternal child, also feels the
need of recreation and amusement. It wants to be taught by ori-
ginal means and easily assimilates even the more difficult princi-
ples of science when thus presented.

This demonstrates the importance of the recreational film
in educational and social cinematography.

There are some truths that will not stand a brutal reproduction,
but which, if skilfully treated, are well received and can convey
their lesson. In this way we have been able to use successfully
films on subjects which on account of the customs and prejudi-
ces of our time are considered delicate or repellent, such as those
dealing with tuberculosis, cancer, syphilis, and other social scour-
ges which it is our duty to fight energetically.

Thanks to their setting, to good taste, a little tact and an ab-
sence of boredom, some films on venereal disease have demon-
strated conclusively that the best formula, even for the most se-
rious problems, is to warn and teach by diverting methods.

419 —

The recreational film, therefore, is never out of place in the
school, in educational institutes, in social education, and in public
lecture halls.

It goes without saying that the methods and specializations
even in technique should be as varied as the degrees of culture
and the ages of the audiences for whom the film is produced.

Nothing could be less desirable than the creation of this
kind of film without a keen apprehension of its effect on its environ-
ment and of the peculiar psychology of the spectators. Above
all it is a mistake not to distinguish between recreational films
and comic films, as is often the case.

The recreational film implies at the same time relaxation
and food for the mind, while the comic film is only intended
to amuse, without any concern for ideas or moral uplift.

The former may cause both laughter and also a little reflection
and may leave a lasting and beneficent effect, the latter merely
amuses, which is not without its peculiar social function.

The great philosopher Bergson has defined the functions
of the comic, and the human value of laughter. And long before
him the ancients recognised the necessity of the element of joy
in life.

Why should we not use the screen for a quest of new inspira-
tions in this domain ?

Once we had to be content to limit the miraculous, the ex-
traordinary, to the magic of words placed at the service of ima-
gination. Today we can transmute these dreams, these fantasies
in living pictures, making common property of the most fabulous
stories.

But it is necessary to use discrimination and not to classify
(as some catalogues do) as recreational films those which are
merely outside the rut of classic or popular themes.

For instance « Aladin and his Wonderful Lamp » and « The
Thief of Bagdad » are doubtless unusual films, productive of great
curiosity. Their improbability captivates attention, but they do
not rest the mind ; we experience a sense of pleasure without
relaxation by the mere satisfaction of the eye.

420

The same applies to « Robinson Crusoe », for which the possi-
bility of enforcing lessons in initiative, will power and patient
confidence in fate through the heroism of the struggle for life
depends entirely on its mode of interpretation.

In Germany we met with foui distinct versions of Hansel
and Gretel, varying from six to a thousand metres in length.

But it would be indeed excessive to qualify even one of them
as recreational in our sense of the word. « Don Quixote de la
Mancia » by Cervantes, filmed in a north European country, is
not deficient in charm, spirit, and vis comica, but, nevertheless,
it is not a recreational film. Neither the child nor the people can
gain from it the lessons intended by its immortal author. The
film simply provokes a smile but does not convey a complete sense
of delight nor enlarge our culture.

We may mention here those « animated drawing » films, re-
markable from a technical standpoint and of amazing drollery,
but nothing more. These also cannot count as recreational films.
The recreational film has a character of its own and a purpose
of its own. Though we cannot claim to classify it definitely in
this study, it is necessary to define the recreational film, to indicate
its characteristics, point out its advantages, and devise the most
favourable means of its production and diffusion.

Scholastic programs are right in their advice to avoid fatigue
in instruction by variety. Moral instruction is completed by en-
tertaining reading, hours devoted to the exact or the natural
sciences are followed by those dedicated to lectures, manual
exercises, and experiments.

Cinegraphic pedagogy or, if you prefer, the « school screen »,
furnishes in the highest degree the possibility of the combination
of the useful with the pleasurable. There is, therefore, a need for
recreational films for children of all ages, films eminently suited to
the mental capacities and the grade of instruction of the pupil.
Such films, although their essential aim is to divert, should not

421 —

be without an educational value. It is impossible to conceive of
them deprived of an idea or inspired by meagre fantasy.

We have already said that the children themselves might give
the inspiration to make films that really respond to their wishes and
remain within their sphere of comprehension.

If we examine the psychology of the child we find that he
thinks more than he believes, but that in his irresistible need for
movement his thought becomes action.

Unless he is helped by pictures, the reading of his text-
books is dead. He creates his own illustrations by the drawings
with which he decorates the margins of his books.

But he wants a living illustration, and so instinctively he adds
something to the pictures he finds in his text-books : a pipe or a
moustache to a portrait, curls of smoke to a chimney, a bird in
the sky. Thus he enlivens his reading, giving himself the illu-
sion of animating what he reads and what he sees, thereby getting
ahead of his master's explanations.

He would like to make the animals walk, the vehicles move,
and he tries to do this with a few strokes of his pencil. As I write,
one of my children, aged four and a half, comes up to show me
a picture of a hippopotamus on the bank of a river, « Papa, Papa, I
want to see it go into the water ! » A picture that does not move
confuses the child and he manifests his sense of motion in the in-
genuousness of his drawings, very much like those of cave men in
their first designs on walls.

The little girl wants to make her dolls alive and the little boy
his puppets. It is enough to study the world of little ones with
their dolls' theatres, the forerunners of the cinema, to perceive
their sense of satisfaction at everything that moves and has life.
Movement is the first language of things for them. They see
what they are told and they themselves tell in admirable words
what they see.

Why (this seems to me the place for the parenthesis) should
we not film puppet scenes for our pupils, but puppet scenes
without thrashings, policemen, vulgarities ; short scenes capable,
on the contrary, of teaching what is good, demonstrating virtues

— 422

without eliminating humor, for a recreational film, unless it makes
us laugh, is inconceivable (i).

La Fontaine, who is known as a good fellow because he
lived the life of the fields and not because he was lavish in
sensibility, was wrong when he said : « Childhood is merciless ».
We know that he did not love children, but his life and its accom-
panying circumstances make this pardonable. The child is sen-
sitive to the highest degree, accessible to all emotions. The re-
creational film should take account of this precious quality and not
overstep certain limits and should avoid all exaggeration. A child
has plenty of discrimination and nothing has greater value in its
eyes than a picture which in some way throws a reality on to the
screen. Another danger to be avoided, as a natural consequence
of this, is that of falsifying essentials, of descending to the absurd
in the pure realm of imagination.

In the story of « Little Red Riding Hood » the child will always
want to know how it was that the wolf was able to put on grand-
mamma's cap and talk like her. Unless the consequences of
Little Red Riding Hood's thoughtlessness are explained to him,
he will always consider her a greenhorn who walked into a trap.
This delightful story which, in its allegorical form, has given so
much beauty and instruction to generations, should not surely
be discarded ; but it should be adapted to the manner of the
present day, without impairing its fascination or compromising
its teaching and symbolism.

Transformed with the aid of a clever expert into a recrea-
tional film, « Little Red Riding Hood » will gain in truth, while still
maintaining its charm as fiction.

(i) We believe that no one has so far dared affirm that the recent
reform of illustrated text books was requested and suggested by the
pupils themselves. The naive drawings with which they decorated their
books compelled teachers to embellish them with illustrations, which was
not always an easy matter and this gradually led to instruction by the
printed picture.

In like manner, the desire for the moving picture in schools was ma-
nifested by the children themselves.

423 —

It will always be advisable to resort to nature for films of this
character. It is only nature that awakens childrens' objective
interest and they are always trying to make nature talk, attributing
voice to inanimate things and seeking in her the soul that La-
in artine discerned, and that Dante recognized everywhere.

Films of this character should be clear and simple as regards
the scenario, uncomplicated in execution and with brief captions (i).
The plot should reveal itself in the course of the succession of the
pictures.

A constant spirit of artistic research should distinguish these
films, made for the purpose of the child's aesthetic education, the
guidance of its soul towards beauty by means of images of perfect
form and composition. Recreational films should not, unless in
exceptional cases, exceed a medium length of two hundred and
fifty to three hundred and fifty metres.

Children easily get tired, even in amusement. Two short
films are preferable to one over lengthy one.

We must insist here on the necessity of not falsifying the
spirit of a theme by excessively fantastic representations, and of
not confusing symbols with conjury. Even in fairy stories pro-
portion should be maintained and the picture should conform to
reality. The child will be capable without effort of distinguishing
between truth and invention in a carefully handled film.

In order to be amusing, a film for children must impersonate
other children, because the child does not understand the actions
of grown-ups except in reference to itself. This point is too im-
portant to be neglected.

Animals are of absorbing interest to the child, and this fact
should be made use of to make him love them. In doing so we
should be careful not to arouse his lower instincts in regard to them

(i) We should much like to see some films composed entirely with-
out captions on the model of living pictures. Such films, even of a sim-
ple recreational character, contain enough material to feed a child's intel-
ligence and lead it in the right direction. Great pyschological advan-
tages might be obtained from such films.

424

by attributing to animals our own vices and defects, even with
a view to ridiculing them and pointing out the need for correction.

The « bad » dog or cat is always a potential object of ill-treat-
ment to the child, while on the other hand it will never occur to
him to imitate the animals' good qualities. The example leads astray ;
only the adult understands it. For children a direct method of
instruction is necessary.

It is for this reason that we demur as regards the projecting
of some types of fairy tales and their being shown in schools.
A very strict selection is necessary if we wish to avoid an abusive
effect of the recreational film. We recommend films founded on
fables, on the other hand, as most useful for popular education,
for they evoke legitimate and lively criticisms and comment and
have no drawbacks. The production of such films, however, pre-
sents many difficulties, for they demand much tact and delicacy.
The author of recreational films for the masses must likewise be
guided by the necessity of adapting them to a special psychology.

Too complex or too ingenuous handling may easily shock the
spectators in their habits of thought and their prejudices. The
public has an equal dislike for the film that says nothing and the
film that preaches. For the same reason it hates the empty and
the superfluous. The public's laughter is measured according to
its emotions and it never abuses either. The introduction of laughter
at an opportune moment enables us to convey any desired lesson,
to correct many mistakes and to give good advice. This method,
above all others, is rich in results for social education. To preach
or to complain is futile, but to point out an error, by a sense of
humour, is the way to make converts.

The recreational film does more effective propaganda, espe-
cially in the country, than the scientific film ; it is more con-
vincing then the most unquestionable evidence — valuable and
necessary as this is — in urging the need for progress, hygiene,
thrift and public spirit. Jacques Bonhomme (the countryman)
must be made to laugh if you wish to modernise him. He
does not resent humour as a means of improvement, but he
will not stand any brutal attacks on his time-honoured habits
and what he regards as his praiseworthy traditions.

425 —

But we do not make a dogma of laughter in the recreational
film ; it opens up a wider domain. It suffices for a picture to
be amusing without erring on the side of the banal or the
grotesque. A pleasing form and wholesome content, spiced with
wit and satire, are sufficient for achieving the desired end.

These general concepts will suffice to outline the character, the
value, and the remarkable and varied applications of this class
of picture, adapted to the needs of the child from the kinder-
garten to advanced classes and the ordinary cinema.

The cinema made its debut with documentary and recrea-
tional films which would still be acceptable today. But what we wrong-
ly define as the comic film of that period was simply amusing
stories pressed into service to put a pleasing interpretation on some
idea or teaching. Shorty after, the fairy tales of Georges Melies,
the first to create such films, thereby transferring illusionism
to the screen, were presented. Nothing better than the memora-
ble programs of Robert Houdin has yet been produced in this
genre.

These Melies films are indeed recreational films in the best
sense of the word ; they are model films, a return to which would
be very opportune. In order to break the monotony of the
shows films in the manner of this prince of inventors, who was the
originator of the devices still used today, but whose imitators are
without his charm and imaginative qualities, are sometimes in-
serted in the picture programs of our time.

It has been proposed to film the fables of Aesop and La Fon-
taine for educational purposes, more especially for children. In
France, Germany, and Italy, and later in America, publishers
have devoted themselves to these subjects, but have not been suc-
cessful in finding a public because they failed to meet the chil-
drens' needs.

No catalogue of instructional or educational films fails to

— 426

mention such fables (i). Fine efforts have been made to repro-
duce exquisite fables, as, for instance, «The Frogs in Search of
a King », Starevitch's masterpiece of patience, ingenuity and humor,
« The Grasshopper and the Ant », of the Ufa Co., and also a
German film « The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse », in
which tame animals are the interpreters.

Numerous other films have been composed with the colla-
boration of animals, but some of them, although really good,
are above the understanding of children and young people.

This source of fables from our classics has remained almost
unexplored, notwithstanding some good attempts and a few really
first class productions (2).

First-class films for the school and for the public may be
made from these fables, given a proper understanding of the
subject and of the environment in which the films will be shown.

Animated drawings, already much in use for advertisement,
should not, in our opinion, find a place in the recreational film ;
although they have great qualities, they require experts such
as are rarely to be found and scenario writers and inventors who
are still rarer.

The educational section of the Ufa in Berlin possesses a col-
lection of fables and tales in animated drawings.

(1) It would be necessary to institute a nomenclature of recreational
films, after a strict process of examination.

To judge from the lists in the catalogues of the principal Film pro-
ducers such films are not very numerous. It would first of all be necessary
to eliminate before their projection numerous captions that clash with
the concept of the recreational film. Turning over European and Ame-
rican catalogues, we have come across five hundred films of this character.

(2) As an illustration of the above I would like to point out that among
the hundred films listed under recreational films in the « Verzeichnis
Deutscher Film » (Lehr und Kulturfilme of Walther Gunther, Berlin,
1927 and 1928 supplement, there is only one single fable, « The Wolf
and the Swan ». The Pathe Emeignement list has also only one fable,
« The Hen and the Golden Eggs ». The Gaumont Enseignment has three
fables. We are aware that several other producers have filmed fables,
but most of their negatives, made some time ago, are now useless.

427

We, too, have made use of this method for our graphical
and technical demonstrations, with the double aim of imparting
variety to the films and of augmenting their demonstrative efficacy.

Besides this, we have been completely successful in creating
pictures dealing with exceedingly delicate subjects, presenting
them by means of accurately studied drawings the artistic value
of which makes them acceptable.

In Germany two artists have achieved distinction far above
mere virtuosity by the application of animated silhouettes to the
cinema. Everyone was thrilled by the charming scenes executed
with talent and wit by Frau Lotte Reiniger and her collaborator
M. B; Barotsch, of Berlin.

« The Adventures of Prince Achmed » have delighted children
and adults. These films contain silhouettes admirably drawn and
full of life.

The cut out silhouettes of Frau Lore Bierling of Munich are
also admirable in their own way. In America the original but
overdone series of « Felix the Cat » mixes animated drawings and
silhouettes with photographs from nature: despite their cleveress
and humour, these films do not, however, respond to our concep-
tion of the recreational film.

The acting dolls of Starevitch, their fantastic stories and prow-
ess, may be classified among the good educational films, evidenc-
ing as they do remarkable technical ability and a keen sense
of observation and psychological insight. Men and animals,
decorations and accessories, give accurate expression to life. These
ingenious scenes and original inventions do not fail to interest
and amuse.

This entirely personal genre, which is difficult and expensive
to screen, cannot for the moment be recommended to producers.
But it deserves to be encouraged and supported.

We hope that recreational films, while preserving their
original impress, may serve the international cause and be diffused
in all countries.

428

We should like them, above all, to serve as an education in
humanity for children, and thereby as an effective agent in the
cause of peace ; and we wish that this means of recreation might
become an instrument of propaganda for the diffusion of ideas
that would benefit all the inhabitants of our globe.

Education, even in moments of recreation, is becoming the
rule of every civilization, and is the best means of uniting hearts
and spirits.

'Why is there such a lack both of recreational and instructive
films ? This is a question upon which it is well to ponder. There
are two reasons. Such films are, on the one hand, not easy to
make, owing to their intrinsic qualities, while on the other they
are of very doubtful profit by reason of the dearth of markets.

They are wrongly classified as films hors d'ceiwre and con-
sidered inferior to ordinary theatrical films ; they are supposed to
be cheap and easy to produce.

They play the part of the poor relation, or even of the intru-
der, in the moving picture program. They are shunned by
producers, and if they succeed in gaining an almost furtive en-
trance, they are treated as supplementary or as curtain-raisers.

The same applies to documentary films despite the favor they
find with the public.

Another point that should be remembered is that recreational
films are the work of specialists and demand peculiar ability
that can be acquired only by long experience and conscien-
tious work.

Often these specialized producers are unknown in the film
world. The commission for a film on no matter what subject
is handed over to no matter whom. The worst results are thus ob-
tained, and educational cinematography is discredited.

Recreational films are neither assisted nor encouraged as
regards production and projection, but are, on the contrary, re-
munerated far below their value and their merit.

Many governments, in order to demonstrate their excellence,
have recommended or enforced their acceptance by various means.
Some governments have made their projection compulsory, while
others have favoured them by exemption from taxes.

5-mgi. 429 —

It is regrettable to have to acknowledge that these measures,
worthy of the highest praise, are, nevertheless, an indirect means,
inadequate to ensure widespread diffusion.

In our opinion, it is necessary to lay stress on the mission of
these films in all countries, An organism such as the Interna-
tional Institute of Educational Cinematography in Rome might
undertake this mission.

This Institute would do well to group and recommend spe-
cialized artists, to make their productions known, and thereby
contribute to their diffusion throughout the world.

Jean Benoit-Levy

Corresponding Member

of the International Educational Cinematographic Institute.

Syndic of the French Scientific Press.

— 430

CULTURAL FIL M POLICY

SOME CONSIDERATIONS ON PAN - EUROPEAN
FILM PROBLEMS.

{from the German)

One of the biggest and most popular magnates in the American
film industry remarked recently in the course of conversation that
we Europeans pay too much heed to film policy and not enough
to film business ; that we place cultural and national interests
before business interests.

He was somewhat taken aback on being told that by this cri-
ticism he had unwittingly paid a high compliment to the European
cinema, and still more so when we assured him that in the opinion
of many thoughtful persons the national and cultural aspects of
the film were still too much neglected.

All those who have followed the progress of the European
cinematograph during the last twenty years, especially in connection
with the cultural film, are aware of its shortcomings.

We have been too bent on following in the wake of America,
and in our pursuit of an international film policy appealing to the
world market, we have overlooked the fact that all really good
films must have individuality ; they must first of all be national
and original before they can engage the interest and stir the
enthusiasm of other nations.

Many persons will recall the great success scored in America
by the European film, Madame Dubarry, dealing with a purely
European subject and handled with all the subtlety of European art.
The film Caligari likewise achieved a considerable though less
pronounced success, and had a long run : it created a desire
among the American public for more European films, for it drew
attention to the existence of a specifically European film art on
this side of the Atlantic.

43i —

This new and previously unknown and unsuspected develop-
ment of European art, which found its most striking expression in
German and Swedish films, created such a big sensation in Amer-
ica that immediate steps were taken to get out the best Berlin
and Stockholm film actors to Hollywood, so as to bring new blood
to the American cinema. This move was crowned with success.
Scandinavian and German stars, soon followed by their French
and Italian confreres, became so popular that they actually eclipsed
some American stars.

All this was no passing fancy of the « producers » or the public,
but created a solid and lasting impression. In proof thereof
we need only mention the names of Lubitsch, Tannings and Greta
Garbo.

The reader may ask : what has all this got to do with the
case ? Well, it shows that Germans have been able through the
film to influence Americans in America ; that nowhere in the
world does the public really care where a scene director or an actor
comes from, but is just as ready to welcome a good film when
taken before the walls of Rome or in a Berlin studio as if it were
made in Elstree, Hollywood, or New York.

It shows, furthermore, that the hegemony of the American
film industry rests on the power of the dollar and on the ascen-
dency it exercises on the organization of the world film trade.

It is necessary to stress these points in order to show first of
all the importance of a national film production to any country
that desires to demonstrate its national character and strength
by means of the cinema. This should be realized as a fundamental
concept by all nations, for the film is not an ordinary commodity,
nor yet a mere means of amusing crowds. It is an instrument of
high cultural and propaganda value, the influence of which is
automatic and inevitable. On this account it is one of the most
important fetors in the education and improvement of the peoples
and one that each nation should guard with jealous care no less
than it does its art and literature.

It is hardly necessary at the present time to insist on the
more obvious aspects of the importance of the film. We need only

432

recall recent debates in the British and American parliaments in
which it was pointed out that the exportation of both these countries
had been greatly influenced by the cinematograph. It is well-
known, moreover, that the exhibition of certain films has often
had a marked though indirect influence on the importation of
certain commodities and fashion goods in English-speaking coun-
tries.

We have no statistics on c< film influence », but we may rest
assured that its ascendency is, if anything, stronger than that of
books, even the « best sellers », or of the most popular painting
in any gallery.

All our experience — and many further examples could be ad-
duced — goes to prove that the production of cinematographic
films of a national character is a question of cardinal importance
to all civilized countries.

Thus it was only logical that the League of Nations should
recognize the necessity of creating an international organization
for the educational film such as the Rome Institute of the Cinema-
tograph.

There is a clear line of demarkation between popular film
production and the cultural educational film. We have here
two different domains, two worlds apart, both of which, indeed,
may have a common origin, but — as so often happens in the
human family — the father has begotten very different children !

It is no doubt true, in a sense, that all films have a certain
cultural value. All films exercise some direct propaganda influence
in favour of their country of origin. But when we speak of cultural
cinematograph policy, propaganda is a very secondary consider-
ation.

By cultural film scientists and educators denote the purely
educational and teaching film.

One of the first requisites of the cultural film, as indeed of
all films, is that it should possess national individuality. That
is to say, each country should choose subjects which are, so to
speak, native to their soil.

An Einstein Film illustrating the theory of relativity would,
as a matter of course, be produced in Berlin. Television, according

433 —

to the Byrd method, would be a suitable theme for an English film,
while Van der Velde's recent achievement in the domain of the
film would naturally fall to Holland's share.

It is obvious that such a distinction cannot be achieved in
a day. Technical difficulties are involved, especially the question
of copyright, and then, above all, a certain courage is needed, a
courage which does not falter at frontiers, mindful of the truth
of the adage that « no man is a prophet in his own country ».

Strictly correlated with this question is another very big
question ; namely, whether in connection with this vast field
of culture we ought not to turn our attention to the creation of
the Pan-European Cinematograph rather than confine ourselves
to the work of any one particular country.

We already possess an European Chamber of the Educational
Eilm, and must perhaps reckon with the probability that the
production of cultural films will from the outset be confined
mainly to our Continent.

The reasons for this are obvious. They are to be sought
in the fundamental difference between European methods of
teaching and educational aims and those of America. The dif-
ference in depth between these methods no doubt counts for much.

But these are specific questions that have only a relative bear-
ing on the final aims of the cultural film.

It is no mere figure of speech to say that the cinema brings
the peoples of different countries more closely together. It is
unquestionably the most popular, the most versatile and the most
impartial of exchange professorships.

There is no more objective reporter than the screen, no more
universal medium than the film-image for reaching the understand-
ing of all peoples in all regions of the earth.

It appeals both as a whole and in its details, so that we need
not concern ourselves with the question as to which is more con-
ducive to understanding : the thing as a whole or its details.

Much of what I have written is indeed so self- evident to all
in their daily round of life as hardly to bear repeating.

Yet our experience shows that, so far, these ideas have not

434

penetrated beyond a narrow circle and still need to be diffused, and
above all to be brought to the attention of those responsible for
the guidance of the peoples and of the peoples themselves. They
must be impressed again and again on the consciousness of those in
authority until they find practical expression in the legislation of
all countries.

So far, the cultural film has been recognized and patronized
only theoretically. The International Educational Cinematographic
Institute is the first practical expression of a whole body of
theories.

The term « educational cinematography » as applied to this
institute calls for some comment. There is perhaps a certain
limitation inherent in the word « educational ».. But the men at
the helm will not hesitate to widen and extend its scope.

When, speaking of « educational » films we should always
have in mind « cultural » films in the broadest sense of that word ;
not only the ' ribbon designed from its first to its last metre for
the purposes of instruction, but all films capable of imparting
knowledge, whether they deal with philosophy or natural history
ethnographic or geographical problems.

The task is big and the way is long. But the European na-
tions have at last put their shoulders to the wheel. They have a
heavily laden wagon, well packed with ideas and projects, and there
is much uphill road to be travelled, a road bristling with difficul-
ties and obstacles.

But the goal though distant is worth while. And we are
encouraged by the fact that once this steep hill has been scaled,
we shall come to a smooth road, where the wagon will run its
course almost unaided.

No matter if the goal often seems to be receding as we advance.
The great fascination of the ideal is that it can never be reached ;
but each success achieved is a step further towards it, and each step
accomplished inspires us with renewed ardour.

Alfred Rosenthal

Editor in Chief Scherl Publishing Co., Berlin.

435 —

CULTURAL PROPAGANDA FILMS IN SOVIET RUSSIA

The thirst for science and culture existing among the labour-
ing masses in the Union of Soviet Republics has greatly inten-
sified the production of documentary and scientific films for
cultural propaganda. The production of such films during the
last two or three years is of considerable volume.

« The Mechanism of the Brain », the film by the scenario writer
V. Poudovkine for the Mejrabpom-Film Company is a characteristic
specimen of the documentary film of the Soviets. The scenes of
this picture, suggested by the materialistic theories of Pavlov, mem-
ber of the Academy of Science, on the nervous functions of ani-
mals, represent some famous experiments of the scientist on nor-
mal reflexes.

The scientific material contained in « The Mechanism of the
Brain » is of a complexity that is difficult to assimilate, and the film
has a purely didactic structure. Nevertheless it arouses a keen
interest in the wide circles of the Soviet Union and is the subject
of the most enthusiastic reviews.

During the last few years documentary films have been more
and more in demand, above all in the club and village cinemas.
They command a public of millions. At the present moment near-
ly all the Soviet organizations are producing them. Sovkino even
has a factory at Moscow exclusively dedicated to the production
of films of cultural propaganda. The Mejrabpom-Film has con-
siderably enlarged its section of documentary films, which it is
proposed to transform into a special factory.

The documentary film ranks prominently in the systematic
plans of the Cinematographic organizations of Soviet Russia.
Twenty to twenty-five percent of the total of the resources in-
vested in the production of cinematographic films has been as-
signed to the production of films for cultural propaganda.

— 436

Among the outstanding documentary films are the following :
«The Mechanism of the Brain » (Mejrabpom-Film), «The Problem
of Nourishment)) (Sovkino), Alcohol)) (Sovkino), « The Scien-
tific Choice of a Profession » (Mejrabpom-Film), « Naphtha » (Sov-
kino), « The Assault of the Sky », « Aviation in the Service of Cul-
ture » (Mejrabpom-Film) and « Love in Nature)) (Sovkino).

■a*^

~ i

Taken from the Film: « Alcohol, Work and Health».

Besides these, an interesting series of documentary films is
being prepared. For presentation in the near future, the follow-
ing are annouced : « The Men of the Woods » (Sovkino), « The
Spartakaide », « The Struggle for Health » (Sovkino), « Your,
Health » « Anti- Alcoholic Propaganda Film », « The Man with the
camera » (Vufku) and « The Glass Eye » (Mejrabpom Film).

Very shortly some films of great ethnographic interest will
be released : « The Unexplored Regions of the Caucasus » (Sov-
kino), « Looking for a Meteorite in The Taiga » (Sovkino), « Afgha-
nistan » (Sovkino Leningrad factory), and « The Votiak Region »
Mejrabpom Film). It should be noted that most of these pictures

437

have been filmed with the direct collaboration of prominent
scholars and scientists some of whom assisted as consultants at
the taking of the pictures. The scientific direction of certain of
these films was indeed in some cases taken over by the scientists
and scholars themselves. This collaboration has had practical re-

Taken fron the Film: «The practical Application of Psychotechnics».

suits and the films in question raised among the masses a keen
scientific social interest.

By indicating this path to scientists our documentary cinema-
tography is realizing one of the most important problems of edu-
cation in Soviet Russia : that of the democratization of science.

In our choice of themes for documentary films we are inspired
by the current problems of our economic and cultural recon-
struction : illustrating questions of the day which are connected
with the industrialization of the country, the mechanization of rural
economy, the protection of public health, the struggle against alco-
holism, etc.

In the documentary films, the progress of science and tech-

— 438

nique are shown in their practical application. These films prove
by vital examples the close connection between science and pro-
ductive labor. The assimilation of the scientific matter depends
entirely on the interest aroused by the film.

Consequently we introduce into our documentary films epi-
sodes and scenes of daily life, of a kind to interest the spectator.

For the purpose of studying the spectator, the Institutes
of Moscow and Leningrad are carrying on research work, the re-
sults of which are tried on the public in the cinema halls. The
opening of an institution of scientific investigation which will
occupy itself specially with the problems confronting Soviet
cinematographic art, has been announced as about to take place.

In conclusion we think it Well to mention that the plans
for 1923 of the largest Soviet organizations, the Sovkino, the Vufku,
and the Mejrabpom Co. contemplate the production of a hundred
films for cultural propaganda.

Alexander Tiagai

439

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE. MEDICAL

FILM AND OF THOSE DEALING WITH HYGIENE

AND GENERAL CULTURE IN GERMANY.

(from the German}

The appearance, on the twenty-fifth of February 1922, of the
circular of the German Minister of Public Health addressed to
the Provincial Presidents (1) was the first quasi official recognition
in Germany of the educational and cultural film.

But the pioneers and founders of the educational film move-
ment had to sustain a long and tenacious fight before this latest
branch of the film industry was established. Having taken part
in this movement right from its inception, I am in a position
to make an almost historical survey of the commencement and the
later growth and progress of the German cultural film industry.

When appraising this movement it is well to bear in mind
that the film industry in Germany enjoyed unprecedented
unpopularity in those years, both with the public and in
official spheres and more especially among teachers of all
ranks. The revolution of November 19 18 had abolished all
censorship, and therefore, of course, the film censorship. As a
result of this the following years produced shoals of inferior films
from inferior factories which sprouted everywhere like poisonous
fungi.

Pseudo-scientific theatrical films, dealing with every possible
form of sexual interest, including sexual perversion, were exploited
and presented to the uncritical public, dissimulated under the
cloak of a spurious and venal science.

Indignation at these excesses of the film world brought
about not only the reintroduction cf the film censorship, but
also such a contempt for everything connected with the screen

(1) Vide Zeitschrift fur Medizinalbeamte (Public Health Bulletin) of
20th May 1922, Public Health Decrees and Measures, P. 51.

— 440

that for the time being there was no opening for the educational
and cultural films which had just begun to take root. They were
forced to fight inch by inch first for the respect of the universities
and all those connected with teaching, and later for that of public
opinion and the general public.

As far back as 1918, when acting as assistant doctor in a
nerve clinic, I had made some cinematographic records of parti-
cularlv interesting cases of nerve cures. At that time — about the
end of the war — there were no scientific congresses in which such
important and instructive pathological phenomena could be demon-
strated to a large number of doctors, and thus be preserved and
rendered accessible for further experiment. The scientific film
was therefore the only means of preserving such important mat-
erial for future and better times. These early and quite personal
beginnings led to a paper published in the Review of Neurology
and Psychiatry early in 19 19. Simultaneously the Universal
Film Co., at. that time a semi-official Foundation capitalized
to a large extent by German government shares, was founded.
The Ministries interested stressed the necessity of founding also
a section for cultural and educational films as a feature of the new
enterprise, as suggested and advocated in the above mentioned
publication. In consequence, I was appointed director of the
Medical Film Archive of the newly founded cultural section of
the Universal Film Company.

Although I at first believed that by using the film for educa-
tional purposes, I had opened up an entirely new field, I discovered
later, after having given more attention to the subject, that as a
matter of fact the idea had been carried out in the medical profession
for a good many years. A large number of medical educational
films had been produced, both by individual scientists — prominent
among whom were Professors Schuster in Berlin, Krapelin in
Munich, and Forster in Breslau — ■ and by scientific institutes,
while the cultural section of the Ufa had, as I discovered, a special
collaborator in Dr. von Rothe for the production of surgical films.

I therefore transferred the bulk of my efforts firstly to
assembling as comprehensive as possible a collection of existing

441

medical, scientific and educational films, with the result that in a
comparatively short time the medical film archive of the Ufa pos-
sessed an imposing and, at that time, unique stock of specialized
educational films dealing with all branches of medical science.

In the second place, we devoted ourselves with ardour to the
filming of all materialr important for purposes of teaching, expe-
riment and improvement. A large number of the scientific
institutions, clinics, hospitals, and laboratories of Berlin placed
themselves willingly at the disposal of this new enterprise. But
I do not deny that on the other hand we encountered a great
deal of narrow-minded and obstinate resistence, and even blame-
worthy forms of speculation in circles where such an attitude
should have been least expected.

Rare and ephemeral cases, difficult to demostrate in the lecture
hall, were filmed. A laboratory, equipped with the latest facili-
ties for modern micro-technique available at that period, filmed the
minutiae of micrcscopic phenomena, complicated Rontgen cinema-
tograms were made in collaboration with scientific institutes, the
vibrations of the vocal chords were photographed straight on
to the film ribbon, embryology demonstrated by methodical
sectional photographs, by thousands of single pictures, each one
infinitesimally different from its predecessor and revealing each
stage with a consecutiveness and distinctness unachievable by
any other method. Doderlein aid Krapelin, of Munich; Hissr
Kraus, Bonnhoffer, Kriickmann, Greef, Hefter, et al. of Berlin,
Pacconcelli-Calcia, of Hamburg, Walthardt of Frankfort (now of
Zurich) are world-famed names in German science — the names
of men whose work and support has made the achievement
of the medical, educational film a possibility.

A voluntary censorship watched over the production of these
films to ensure their scientific accuracy. Each one of them was
submitted to the medical committee of the Official Film Office
(Bildstelle) under the presidency of Professor Dr. Dietrich (i),

(i) Decree of the Minister of Sciences, Art and Public Education
of the 3rd. April 19 19.

442

a sub-Committee, directed by the appropriate University Profes-
sor, being appointed to consider each particular branch of film.

During the first two years educational films went on accu-
mulating in the archives, the outlay increased beyond bounds, and
as a joint-stock company, even when founded with government
funds, is a business and not a charitable concern, steps had to be
taken to put all this material to profitable use. In consequence, the
scientific collaborates of the Ufa started a system of so-called
« model demonstrations)) which, under the direction of the chief
of the Cultural Department, Major Krieger, delighted the whole of
Germany. We visited all the universities, chief towns, provincial
and federal capitals, including even the Austrian capital, and
everywhere we tried to awaken interest in our endeavours by
means of the projection of the choicest films in our archives,
accompanied by lectures in the presence of professors and interested
public organizations. We encountered mostlv enthusiastic assent,
sometimes supercilious rejection and in a few cases even open
or dissimulated hostility. It happened more than once that we
were shown the door, much as if we were importunate com-
mercial touts, for some gre}r-beards could not for the life of
them grasp what the film had to do with science. But such
repulses were not always due to hardening of the arteries, for
enthusiastic youth itself turned against us, on the ground that
the high quality of our films rendered them dangerous, as the
facility offered by them would militate against thoroughness of
comprehension. But, on the whole, our pioneer work in this
field was distinctly a victor}', though spiced with some bitter
experiences ; it was also cheered by the revival of friendly
relations in centres of former study with friends of our student
years.

But practical success did not materialize to any extent. As
the inflation of our* currency increased, scientific institutes became
so poverty-stricken that the indispensable funds for the exploita-
tion of the educational film and the purchase of cinematographic
apparatus became everywhere almost inaccessible. It is true
that, with the decline of the German mark, there was a certain

443 —

increase of sale in foreign countries, but it is obvious that a thing
that has not been soundly established and accepted in its own
country can never hold its own abroad. Hundreds, perhaps even
thousands of single copies of German educational films have been
sent abroad : South America, the Balkans and Japan were our best
customers, but nevertheless a really scientific exchange system and
reciprocal stimulation, which are the sine qua non of really suc-
cessful international scientific intercourse, did not result. All that
was achieved was the mechanical and purely business relationship
of a firm with its clients, sometimes even through middlemen, with-
out arousing any real scientific interest, either at home or abroad,
in the production and utilization of the educational film.

Besides this, the Ministry of Finance withdrew the millions
it had put into the Ufa. Co., thus eliminating official influence
and rendering a purely business attitude and prudent calculation
in the exploitation of the « goods » more and more necessary. This
marked the first stage of the passage of the educational film to the
« popular scientific » educational film. Actively encouraged by
the Ministry of Public Welfare and the State and Provincial
committees for hygienic and popular instruction, especially by
Professor Dr. C. Adam, the director of the Kaiser-Friedrich Haus
for Medical Research, the medical superfilm was invented for the
purpose of illustrating medical lectures, and conveying knowledge
and enlightenment on all hygienic and public health topics to the
widest circles and the remotest mountain hut. Perfect intelligibility
for all, even the uneducated, combined with an objectively un-
questionable scientific spirit, was the first condition for these films,
made in collaboration with authorities in each special branch,
and also in close connection with the expert official and semi-
official organizations (German Society for Combating Venereal
Disease, German Central Committee for Combating Tuberculosis,
Organizing Committee for the Protection of Infants and Children,
German Association for the Care of Cripples, State Vaccination
Office, Robert Koch Institute for Infectious Diseases). Even such
grandly conceived films as the historical beginnings of vacci-
nation, from Indian Brahmin and Turkish inoculation and

— 444

Jenner's discovery of vaccine, down to the modern science of vacci-
nation were pressed into service, in order not only to instruct
the amateur public, but also to rouse and interest it.

A tactful element of humor was cautiously introduced where at
all feasible. These films for popular instruction conquered the
world in a triumphant tour, and it is a tribute to the production of
the « Medical Film Archives •> that official organizations, [Min-
istries and public offices of about half the countries of the world
have officially adopted these popular educational pictures. It should
be noted that they were not only extensively shown in private cir-
cles and in Health Insurance Societies, Welfare and Vocaticnal Or-
ganizations and Associations, but also that teachers in collaboration
with medical men, and more especially school doctors, had recourse
to them as pratical and effective means of illustrating their official
lessons.

To view at the present time one of these out of date popular
medical instruction films can convey but the faintest notion of
the almost unbelievable difficulties that had to be overcome.

For, unlike all other professions, in which definite work
in definite conditions and suitable places is the rule, the doctor
depends on continually changing data from the hospitals and
clinics, difficult of access and subject to constant modification.
His films must be taken, often without any preparation, in
operation rooms, dark laboratories and unfavourably located sick-
rooms. The hardest part of all is the presentation of internal pro-
cesses and phenomena, the introduction of bacilli, the inflation and
shrinking of organs, the origin of centers of contagion,

Entirely new methods of schematic films constructed from
drawings had to be tested until the objectively correct was combined
perfectly with the easily comprehensible.

The film « Venereal Diseases and their Consequences » is
probably the best known of all the hygienic instruction films of the
Medical Film Archives. This film was made in collaboration
with the German Society for Combating Venereal Disease, and the
late Privy Councilor Blashko was conspicuously connected with
the work.

6-ingl. 445

The projection time was one hour and a quarter for 1200
metres of film, divided into four parts. According to the length
of the lecture, the film could thus be shown in the normal time or
prolonged to any time not exceeding two hours . The printed lecture
accompanying the film contained the introductory words pro-
nounced by Professor Adam, as the representative of the District
Committee for hygienic popular instruction, and Dr. Roschman of
the German Society for Combating Venereal Disease, at the first
showing of the film. The film displayed the symptoms of
gonorrhoea and syphilis, partly from the patients, partly from
pathological preparations and partly from schematic cinemato-
graphic drawings.

Another film dating from these early days is the « Babies
Film » of a length exceeding 2000 metres, that is to say, lasting
two hours. It was made in the Kai serin Augusta Viktoria Home
and aimed at combating infant mortality.

This film was designed for the purpose of training nurses
and for popular health propaganda. The several sections show
the preparations before birth, the care of the new born child,
of the healthy baby and the abnormally small child, nursing,
bottle feeding, premature birth, the sickly infant and child, band-
aging, general advice and lastly medical treatment. The sixth part
(bottle-feeding) and the last were intended from the outset only
for infants' nurses.

This film was more especially suited for repetition-courses
for nurses, midwives, and sisters who have only had general
training. This convenient method of instruction, independent of
living or dead demonstration material, available in the remotest
towns and far from the big centers, was never sufficiently ex-
ploited. The same applies to similar instruction films, such as
« Preparations for an Operation », « The Wassermann Test »,
physiological films illustrating the activities of the heart, the
circulation, intestinal peristalsis, pharmacological and many other
films, especially those of Councilor Doderleins, which certainly
offer better means of instruction for obstetric nurses than the
usual means.

— 446

Attention should further be drawn to another film « The
Effects of the War Blockade on Public Health ». Although made
on a scientific basis and chiefly for propaganda abroad, the
symptoms shown had unforunately at that period of inflation again
become acute. And the ignorance prevalent in most quarters in
regard to proper nourishment and the devastating effects of erro-
neous or one-sided diet was still amazingly widespread.

With the promulgation of the law for the protection of cripples,
a film « Cripples' Needs and Cripples' Aids » was prepared, with
the collaboration of the Oscar-Helene Home and that of Professor
Biesalscki.

Its purpose was to inform, not only the numerous amateurs
who, as a result of the new legislation, had found honorary or re-
munerative occupation in the service of cripples in communal
and other public health offices, but also wide circles of the
general public interested in these pressing problems.

Professor Adam, of the Committee for Hygienic Popular
Instruction, was responsible for the suggestion of the film « Small-
pox, its Dangers and how to Fight Them » as a reply to the op-
ponents of vaccination. With the collaboration of the State Vac-
cination Institute and Professor Gins, a film was produced that
was not only instructive but highly interesting. This brings
us to the last lecture film of the Medical Film Archive, which
technically, and from the point of view of subject matter, was
probably the most perfect of its kind, the Tubercolosis Film, « The
White Scourge ».

In close collaboration with the German Central Committee
for Combating Tubercolosis and with tuberculosis specialists
from the Health Office of the Reich and State Insurance Office,
this comprehensive and yet compact film, condensing a mass
of relevant subject matter, was produced after over twelve months
of steady work. Mention should also be made of the films « The
Hygiene of Domestic Life » and « Free time Hygiene », advocating
rational systems of work and domestic life, and above all healthy
sport ; these were made with the assistance of Dr Tugendreich
and the social welfare doctors of the City of Berlin. Lastly,

447 —

it should be mentioned that each of these films was accompanied
by a "lecture placed at the disposal of renters.

The year 1921-22 marks the opening of a new initiative, the
Scientific Film for public cinema projection, without accompa-
nying lectures. The tremendous problem of the Steinach exper-
iments had created a bigger demand than could be covered by
a single film. Side by side with the former scientific lecture film,
compiled according to the usual methods, a popular version of
this theme was produced in a second edition. The subject, Stei-
nach's « War Against Old Age » was particularly suited to this form
of experiment, although this film does not so much provide
sensation for the curiosity of the amateur as correct the farcical
opera huffa ideas current in public circles on these mysterious
problems, and put a damper on fantastic notions about « Rejuve-
nation ». But as this film in its popular edition was shown in the
course of the ordinary evening cinema theatre programs, concessions
to the taste and wishes of the spectator had to be made by inserting
aesthetically fascinating, interesting, and even exciting and amusing
pictures between the sometimes inevitably dry scientific disser-
tations. The Steinach film ran for months in Germany's largest
cinema theatres, was followed with burning interest by the
public, and well received everywhere abroad, except in the
prudish Anglo-Saxon world. By degrees it became a matter of
course that the exhibition of a scientific subject to an amateur
public must be accompanied by a certain amount of sensation;
such films as « The Hygiene of Marriage » and « Hypnosis and
Suggestion » were thus successfully launched. I had prepared
the two latter films after my departure fron the Ufa, in connection
with the Kultur Film Co., of the German- American Film Union.
The model Ufa Physical Culture film « The Road to Strength and
Beauty » continued the series of this class of popular and educa-
tional films in the cinema theatre.

But German scientific medical cinematography developed
somewhat apart from the Cinema theatre. Notwithstanding the
active progress made within a very limited circle, it would
have been lost to the world, if Dr Von Rothe had not

-448

succeeded in establishing his productions on an absolutely scien-
tific basis and keeping them separate from the film industry,
though placing them on a solid financial footing. Dr. von Rothe
founded in Berlin the Medical Cinematographic University Insti-
tute, and the Publishing House for the Scientific Film, which,
though independent, worked in close connection with the Insti-
tute and from the outset was developed according to the principles
and methods of a scientific institution, avoiding the customs
of the ordinary Film publishing and managing businesses. The
Medical Cinematographic University Institute of the Charite
Hospital is unique in the world on account of its highly technical
equipment, including every possible accessory' for scientific cinema-
tographic projections.

This unique institution, throughout years of tenacious work,
has accumulated immense quantities of scientific and experimental
material. Besides this clinic, several German University clinics
have installed Dr. von Rothe 's apparatus and have thus become
collaborators in the scientific film publishing business. Contracts
have been entered into abroad and thus the nucleus of the Rothe
foundation promises a development and organisation that in the
course of time will probably comprise the whole world.

The absolutely international character of the documentary
motion picture which renders the exchange of scientific knowledge,
unrestricted by limitations of language, as easy as child's play,
is the great and inspiring side of the scientific film.

It is conceivable that before long we in Berlin shall be able to
watch an operation taking place in New York, that Tokio will be
able to folic w the latest results of European miscroscopic techni-
que, that the hygiene of the tropics will be made accessible to
European students, mountain sickness demonstrated in the lowlands,
and the local doctor in the smallest hamlet enabled to keep in
touch with the latest achievements of medicine.

But to return to the popular medical film. The great success
of these educational films for amateur audiences, unaccompa-
nied by lectures in the cinema theatres, caused for a short time an
absolute over production. Among these films, which invariably

449

call for certain concessions to the sensational requirements cf the
masses, we will only mention the Ufa film, « Mother Nature)), the
title of which was later changed to the more provocative « Love and
Nature » and the Cobfilm « The Development of Man ». In these
films an attempt was made to convey fundamental biological
principles to an amateur public. A new series of films on the rear-
ing of infants, tuberculosis and other general health questions
was relea:ed, amongst others that of the Bundesfilm Com-
pany, « His M?jesty the Child ». After having been shown in
the motion picture theatres, such films were often exhibited in
clubs, associations, trade organizations and so forth. Later,
the so-called night performances were developed. These were
extra performances, beginning about II p. m. after the regular
program, already overcrowded with recreational films.

Often completed by a scientific lecture, the popular character
of these films made them a powerful attraction. Both long and
short films were produced for nearly every special branch of scien-
tific and public life. The instructive content was made as palat-
able as possible, and though not. actually dramatised, was treated
in a brisk and popular fashion. We quote the two great films
« First Aid » and « The Prevention of Accidents ». On the oc-
casion of the Reich's Accident Prevention Week (March 1929) when
the Reich Committee organised an extensive propaganda on the
subject, it was found that thirty different films of this character
were available. Among them were the two pictures produced by
the Land- Industrie Film Co., « Help to Prevent Accidents » and
« Man in Danger », produced in collaboration with the Union of
German vocational corporations, further films of the German
Red Cross, the Anti- Alcoholic Movement, and so forth.

But by degrees the once rejected notion of making popular
hygiene accessible to the general public by means of the recrea-
tion film began to spread. The reason adduced was that the public
sedulously avoids all films that betray the purpose or desire to
instruct. But when these aims are introduced almost surrepti-
tiously into the ordinary program, the millions of spectators who
strenuously shun « education » are caught and convinced. Such

— 45o

hygienic propaganda is consequently much more far-reaching and
effective than intentional and professedly instructive films. The
very first attempt in this direction made a « hit » that was felt
far beyond the German frontiers. The Ufa film « False Modesty)),
treated the delicate and painful question of venereal disease.
But this time the scenario was based on four short stories
which, ostensibly taken from a doctor's diary, not only gave
practical information, but also insight into social and economic
conditions connected with sickness, pain and suffering, the pangs
of conscience and the tragedy of shattered homes.

In each case the point stressed was that a timely diagnosis
and treatment are a practical guarantee of cure. Statistics regarding
this film have shown that many clinics, hospitals, information
offices, laboratories, and specialists registered an increased
atttendan.ee- of 80% and even 100%. Among the applicants 40%
were neglected and therefore very bad cases, who had no idea
of their disease and consequently neglected treatment. It may
therefore truthfully be said that this film has saved the health
and lives of thousands.

Another sensational film of the same educational, recreational
type is the Ufa drama « Secrets of the Soul ».

The success with the public was not so great because the prob-
lem was too remote from the interest of the masses. But none
the less it was a masterpiece of scientific, technical and artistic
composition, and earned a certain amount of success at a later
period when, with an accompanying lecture, it was included in the
above mentioned after-hour repertoire.

When in the course of years the idea of heredity and eugenics
became more prevalent, an officially patronised film « The Curse
of Heredity » was produced.

This is a typical example of the pure recreational
film, so full of sensation and exciting catastrophies that the
public hardly realizes that it is being informed and instructed.
For this very reason the effect, because unconsciously absorbed,
is all the more lasting.

In this way the « man in the street » is made acquainted with

45i

the complicated problems and laws of heredity, with degeneration
and the necessity of a selective breed of worthy human beings.
Recently an excellent recreational film, « Inherited Instincts »,
through a purely criminal plot skilfully enforces the old demand
that criminals should be debarred from having children in order
to prevent degeneration.

The Reichsausschuss fur hygienische Volksbelehrung (Committee
for Popular Hygienic Instruction) which held a « Health Week »
in 1926, making wide use of film propaganda, following the
nation-wide campaign of popular education, afterwards started
a film center which was responsible for the recreational
films above mentioned. Also on the occasion of the already
mentioned « National Prevention of Accidents Week » the
Reich Committee for Popular Hygienic Instruction made a film
with a simple but humorous plot, dealing with domestic hy-
giene and the prevention of accidents. This caused a popular
sensation inasmuch as it was the first German colour film of the
Sirius Colour Film Co. But the committee for popular hygienic
instruction was careful to keep public interest for hygiene awake
by scattering short propaganda films throughout the cinema
programs . The Eccentric Film firm (Zorn and Tiller) produced a
short series of grotesque drawings with the title « Merry Hygiene »
which met with great applause in the moving picture theatres as
program extras. The action was carried out by two fantastic
characters who, introduced by means of animated drawings into
natural photographs and appearing, as it were, in daily life, offered
their eccentricities and adventures in the cause of hygienic pro-
paganda. Similar films were made for the Reich Committee by the
Kraska Film firm. The Ufa, in collaboration with the Reichs Com-
mittee, produced a « Grippe » film, which was revived whenever
an epidemic threatened.

Mention must be made of a recent feature of cultural film
production, namely the partnership of film and book. At the time
of the Steinach film, asmallvolume « Medical Advice supplementary
to Consultations » had been published by the Kraska Film Co. as a
sort cf complement to the film: it explained the complex system of

452

internal secretions to the lay reader. The film « False Modesty »
was accompanied by a book of the same title, a large volume
published by the Ufa in collaboration with the Eigenbrodler Verlag.

Written in the narrative short story form, but with over a
hundred instructive pictures taken from the film of the same title,
it dealt with all the questions relating to venereal disease, its treat-
ment and cure, especially for the young.

The book, which achieved a great publicity, was translated
into foreign languages, which is the best proof of its international
authority and the intrinsic value and merit of this first attempt
at imparting information, in such a form.

The Eigenbrodler Verlag also published a thick encyclopaedic
volume on « His Majesty the Child » in which thirty professors,
specialists, social educators and other authorities on child rearing
gave advice to young mothers in an arresting and chatty form.

The reciprocal complementary work of book and film is of
enormous importance, because the effect even of the most impres-
sive film is comparatively fugitive. But the book gives values
that have lasting and creative effects. On the other hand, the
film with its immediate appeal counterbalances the dry science
of the book. It may be confidently hoped that in the production
of future cultural and educational films this method of reci-
procal stimulation of propaganda by the book and the film will
continue to be developed in the cause of hygiene and social wel-
fare .

In brief, it may be said that the German film industry can
justly claim to have produced standard models of the medical,
hygienic, social, educational and cultural film, and at one time
to have given a stimulus to the whole world. For the time being,
indeed, there seems little prospect that the painstaking work of
long years can bear much mere fruit. The financial straits of Ger-
many, and especially of the official administrations, make it almost
an impossibility to produce such educational and cultural films to
any great extent. Consequently a cross between the advertise-
ment and the educational film has been devised, the purpose of
which is to combine hygienic instruction of a popular kind with
the propaganda of the use of certain industrial products.

453 —

As a typical example we quote a series cf films entitled « Ger-
man Municipal Hygiene » consisting of a series of scenes dealing
with such subjects as garbage destruction, water-supply, and soil
and air sanitation, in which, together with the Prussian Institute
for Water, Air and Soil Sanitation, the manufacturers of the ne-
cessary machines and implements have a preponderant interest.

But it is apparent to any unprejudiced person that such com-
promises between advertisement and propaganda, no matter how
ably and decorously dissimulated, and the real aims of the edu-
cational and cultural film can only be temporarily reconciled.

As a result of the rise of the sound film, German and
international film production are faced by entirely new problems.
The stimulation of the living picture by the living word, and
even in the above indicated fashion, by the printed word, may
in the course of the next few years provide us with an ideal
cultural and educational film, bringing to perfection the vast and
important tasks of this modern Great Power in public life. May
the International Institute of the Educational Film in Rome be an
inspiration and a stimulus to the specialists of all countries, so
that this revival be brought about as quickly as possible in the
interest of the whole of mankind.

Curt Thomalla

Professor of Pathology and Neurology.

~ 454

MILITARY INSTRUCTION BY MEANS OF THE FILM

{from the French)

If there is one question on which the public is ignorant, how-
ever much it may be talked about, that question is the use of
the cinema for the purposes of instruction.

A fundamental error which is very common is to confuse
the documentary film and the instructional film.

Popularization is the sole object of the documentary film.
It gives a superficial summary, a passing view of the subject dealt
with, and makes no pretence at any deeper study of it.

This deeper study is the function of the instructional film.

The Belgiam Army is in the vanguard in the application of
this new and indisputably valuable method of teaching.

The Cinematographic Service was created during the great
War. Immediately after the Armistice, the Service devoted its ef-
forts to getting out films which aimed at bringing home to the
populations just freed from the enemy yoke the huge, painful
and self-sacrificing task which the Belgian Army had accom-
plished.

In 1920, the Service proposed to Lieut. General Maglinse,
at that time Chief of the General Staff of the Army, to make use
of the screen as an auxiliary in the technical instruction of the offi-
cers and ranks of the Army.

These suggestions were welcomed with a broadness of vi-
sion which evidenced a real understanding of the difficulties of
training, and in 1921 Monsieur Deveze, Minister of National
Defence, ordered the purchase of the first 17 projection apparatuses
(at the present time 70 are in use).

From that time onward the Cinema Service devoted its ef-
forts to the production and exhibition of films for the technical
training of the Army.

455 —

The question of the best method of utilizing films for this
purpose was taken up by Commander Poignard, Professor of Me-
thodology in the Army Colleges. With the utmost fervor and
unquenchable faith in the future of this new method of teaching,,
M. Poignard inculcated the principles of the new system in the
teachers, partly by special courses, partly by practical demon-
strations of a kind to convince the most sceptical.

This machinery is now in full working order. Although
still incomplete - - for this is a matter of time — the Cinema-
theques (Film Collections) make it possible for each branch of
the Army to avail itself to the full of the new method.

Let us take a summary glance at some of the most interesting
aspects of the production of a film.

There are many kinds of instructional films : first of all come
those which show things which it is impossible to make visible
in any other way : as by abstracting component parts or processes,
showing the internal working of a given mechanism (in shooting

Shooting. The axis of the barrel is prolonged in a direct
line to the bull's-eye of the target

The Bullet passes under the bull's-eye of the target.

456

practice, the use of arms, gas, bombs, etc., and in administering
artificial respiration).

Certain films make it possible to decompose complex move-
ments and to train the audience to imitate them in their several
stages (tying knots, maxim-gun operating, etc.).

The Bullet, passing through several targets, tends to deviate downward
as compared with the prolonged line of the axis of the barrel.

Other films reproduce exercises which it is very difficult
to observe in actual life owing to the accidents of ground, wea-
ther, personnel, etc. These films enable the teachers to present

The bullet describes a trajectory curve.

to the best advantage both the preliminary theories governing
these exercises, and in subsequent theoretical courses, to demon-
strate the manner in which a manoeuvre has been actually carried
out and to compare it with the classical and academic execution
of the same manoeuvre (search-lights, concealment from the
enemy, fighting cars, etc.).

Lastly there are films of a sentimental or psychological order
which aim at explaining to the soldiers the practical utility of g/dr-

457 —

tain rules and requirements (first-aid equipment, dangerous bath-
ing, etc.).

The Cinema Service sees the films through all their stages >
from taking the photographs to supplying the positives.

A scenario composed by an instruction officer is handed over
to the Service.

This scenario consists of a written description in extenso of
the theory the film has to illustrate.

Experience has shown, however, that there are many formid-
able obstacles to a satisfactory elaboration of the scenario. The
principal difficulty is due to the fact that the author, being him-
self an expert on his subject, often fails to realize that his future
audiences will not possess his knowledge or his mental capacity,
and will not always be able to understand his explanations with
the same facility he would himself.

There is a tendency to imagine that recruits are acquainted
with ideas that are in fact quite new to them ; these ideas seem to be
of elementary simplicity to the teacher, who is familiar with them,,
while their novelty renders them obscure to the raw recruit.

This represents a danger not only for recruits, but also for
the film producer. It is his job, when first studying the scenario,
to discern such defects and to remedy them.

Let us suppose for the moment that the scenario writer is
an excellent teacher, who thoroughly appreciates the quality of
his audience, but who deems it tedious and fussy to reproduce
in a film the multitude of explanations which he is wont to give
verbally when conducting his courses.

He forgets that the screen rapidly replaces one image by
another, while in his class he would keep beside him the objects
which would help to elucidate his remarks.

For this reason he neglects to interrupt the unrolling of the
pictures on the screen, either so as to immobilize a given image (i)

(i) Do not let us fall into the very error of which we are accusing
the scenario novice, and forget to state that the instructional film must
be projected by means of an apparatus which allows pictures to be immo-
bilized on the screen and the show to be assisted by slides.

458

or to replace it by the projection of a slide of the same object en-
larged, or of a different object which would help to elucidate the
explanations that follow.

Such a scenario could not yield the best results, because the
tool has been clumsily handled: fortunately the producer is there
to put this to rights.

It is obvious that the scenario writer cannot foresee the mis-
takes that will be made in answering the teacher's questions nor
the unexpected questions which certain of the recruits may ask.
The scenario cannot do more than give sufficient indications to
allow teachers in general to present a methodical and comprehen-
sible expose.

When writing his scenario, the teacher should realize that
he has three means at his disposal to illustrate his theory : slides,
moving pictures from life, and animated drawings.

Slides show all kinds of objects, in the fullest detail, em-
phasizing them where necessary by arrows or numbers.

The fact that slides may be projected easily and as often as
may be desired, makes them a most valuable help to the teacher
and gives him the greatest latitude in demonstrating his theory.

We fail to understand the hostility — only partial to be
sure — which some film writers show towards stationary slides.

Slides should form the skeleton of the film, because they are
of indisputable pedagogic value.

We need not dilate on the subject of the film, the function
of which is to reproduce movement.

Motion pictures can be shown at a normal pace or with ac-
celerated speed. The miracles of the slow motion picture are
no longer a mystery to anyone.

As for animated drawing, this is the most precious of all me-
thods for making a film instructive. It makes abstractions concrete
or shows scenes on the screen which cannot be observed in reality.

The possibilities of animated drawings are almost unlimited
if only one has an intelligent, competent, clever and patient
draughtsman available. The Belgian Cinematographic Service
has had this good luck in the person of Monsieur F. Clausse.

459 —

The films published by the Cinema Service are supplied to
Army Corps and Colleges, accompanied by notes for the use
of the instructor.

These notes, which consist of the scenario placed in complete
concordance with the film, give in extenso all the commentaries
requisite for getting the best possible results out of the picture.

It is essential that instructors should be supplied with these
notes ; a lesson consists in a series of animated projections, separ-
ated by stops, during which still pictures are shown, the whole
show being sprinkled with commentaries, unforeseen questions, and
mistaken answers : all this tends to produce something of an imbro-
glio? through which the teacher is helpfully guided by his Notes.

It is useful to point out that no captions are given in these
training films of the Cinema Service; they are replaced by letters,
numbers, simple points of reference, which enable the instructor
to illustrate concisely the picture which he wishes to have immo-
bilized on the screen.

The unavoidable brevity of the captions makes it difficult for
the audience to understand them, but they always last long enough
to distract attention, and their presence might be a temptation to
teachers to leave the film to speak in his stead. Now the film is
there to help the instructor, not to replace him.

The most beautiful and captivating of art films, when not
brought out by a sufficient light, produce a worthless and dull
show. In like manner, a training film which is not illuminated
by the instructor's appropriate commentaries is well nigh sterile
in its results.

Before closing, let me say that the instructive film is a neces-
sary collaborator of the modern teacher. It helps him to incul-
cate into the rawest Army recruit the elements of indispensable
knowledge, presented with the greatest possible degree of accuracy.

It does not shorten training, it intensifies it. It supplies any
deficiencies in the vocabulary of the audience, it guides instructors
in presenting their lessons methodically, while it engraves, so to
speak, these lesson on the soldiers' memory.

From the Belgian Ministry of National Defence.
— 460

INSTITUTE TOPICS

LEGISLATIVE ASPECTS OF THE CINEMA
BRITISH FILM CENSORSHIP

As stated in our note to Mr. Canty' s article in the yd. issue
of the Review, we herewith place before our readers the first of
a series of systematic studies on the question of National Censor-
ship systems. Dr. Seeger's authoritative article , published in our first
issue, presents a complete and valuable survey of Germany's position.
In later issues we shall deal turn by turn with the different countries.
This study should furnish us with a most important body of criteria
and information, rules and data. As soon as the study of this question
is completed, the Institute will compile a study thereon which will
be forwarded gratis to our subscribers. This publication will comprise :

a review of film censorship laws, regulations, special mesaures , etc.
throughout the world ; the working systems of the several film
censoring organs ; a comparison of the different systems prevailing ;
an indication of the bases of agreement between these ; an account
of the particular principles whereon certain of them are based ; a
systematic description of the practical rules guiding the functioning
of the censorship in different countries.

This publication, which will be distinguished by absolute impar-
tiality and will contain no expression of opinion on the part of the
Institute, should serve as a valuable text-book for the Film Industry,
for all those concerned with social and moral problems and for
those who devote thir lives to safeguarding the physical and moral
well-being both of children and adults.

The British Censorship. According to the British Cinematograph Act
(1909) the exhibition of pictures or other optical effects for the purposes
of which inflammable films are used is allowed only in premises licensed

7-ingi. 46 1 —

for the purpose by the local Authorities (i). The Licensing Authorities
are required to acquaint themselves with the character of the films shown.
The main object of the Act in question is to protect the public against
all dangers inherent in the cinematograph, whether material (danger of
fire, etc.), by the proper inspection of cinema premises, or moral and so-
cial.

The Local Authorities subject the granting of licenses to certain
conditions and restrictions, which we will examine hereinafter.

As far back as the year 191 2, British cinematograph trade associa-
tions formed a non-official body, supported by the film trade and in-
dustry, known as the British Board of Film Censors. There is no com-
pulsion to submit films to this Office and their decisions are not legally
enforceable. The work of the Board has, however, proved so efficacious
by reason of the thoroughness and appositeness of its rules and methods,
that its decisions have in nearly all cases been endorsed by public opinion.

Notwithstanding that it acts in a non-official capacity, the Bristish
Board of Film Censors has succeeded in practically standardizing the sys-
tem according to which licenses are granted by the local authorities, and
the expediency has been considered either of entrusting the official censor-
ship to this body or of placing it in a position, through the medium of
the local authorities for instance, legally to enforce its decisions by law.
Thus in January 1917 the Home Office issued and sent round a circular
which amounted to a Code of Cinematograph Censorship regulations,
for the guidance of the local Authorities, drawn up in accordance with the
principles and rules laid down by the Board.

How the Office works. — The Board is assisted by an advisory body
of experts who examine films and suggest such emendations as they may
deem expedient.

When favourable to a film, the Board expresses its approval by the
issue of a certificate : Certificate U applies to such films as are considered
suitable for showing to any kind of audience and Certificate A to films
which are regarded as fit to be shown to adults only.

The Board does not issue any certificate for films which it disapproves.

No distinction is made by the Board between dramatic and educa-
tional films.

The Board has established the following tariff of fees for its services :

Educational, scenic or industrial films : 1 shilling per 500 feet ;

All other classes of film : £. 1 per 1000 feet.

(1) The County Councils, which may delegate their powers to other authorities, including
the justices sitting in petty sessions, and the County Boroughs which may, in their turn,
delegate them to the Borough Councils. These local authorities act in accordance with the
regulations issued by the Secretary of State.

462

There is no express provision in the Cinematograph Act of 1909
for any appeal against the Licensing Authorities' decision ; but under
the general law appropriate means of recourse to the Courts are avail-
able and there are a number of decision of the Courts practically recog-
nizing the right of appeal.

No film — other than the photographic record of current events —
which has not been passed for universal exhibition (Certificate U) by
the Board may be exhibited in public premises in the presence of any
child under the age of 16 years. This rule is not, however, applied in
practice when the child is accompanied by its father or mother or by
some adult person ostensibly responsible for its presence.

It is thus seen that the English censorship regulations are not based
on any complete or definite system. They are based on custom and tradi-
tion, and settle points at issue in accordance with local rather than
with national criteria.

Given, however, the authority attaching to the British Board of Film
Censors, and the practically official value of its decisions, it is desirable
that we should look carefully into the system upon which it regulates
its censorship, with particular attention to the findings of the Board
during 1928.

Functioning of the Board. — 1947 subjects were submitted to the
consideration of the Board during 1928, representing a total length of
about 2,034,863 metres (6,676,178 feet). 1578 of these were deemed suit-
able for universal exhibition and 330 for Public Exhibition under the
restrictive « A » Certificate, while 8 films were entirely rejected. In addi-
tion to the rejected films, there were 31 films to which the Examinors took
exception and which they returned to the publishers in order that certain
emendations and cuts might be made in them. In respect of the latter
it should be noted that the Board did not take exception merely to the
captions or to some easily emendable or excisable scene, but to the
themes upon which the films were based, so that it is difficult to see how
they could be suitably emended.

305 of the films which were passed for universal exhibition were
ordered to be emended and revised before the certificates were granted.

Thus, we see that out of 1947 films :

8 were totally rejected ;

31 were sent back to the publishers for revision ;

305 were granted certificates upon the condition of certain emenda-
tions being made ;

1603 were considered suitable for exhibition.

General principles by which the decisions of the Board are actuated. —
The Board considers that it is impracticable to lay down definite rules and

463 —

classifications of subjects which call for revision or actual rejection.
The lists of subjects drawn up thus serve merely for the purposes of gener-
al guidance, and the Board considers each particular case on its merits
in the light of general principles and precedent in respect of films of a like
nature. It is obvious that, however simple the plot of a film may be, it
may be unsuitable for exhibition on account of some particular part played
in it.

As a general principle, no film is passed which is considered likely
to be injurious to morality or to encourage or incite to crime or vice, or
to be offensive to public feeling or to the respect due from the public to
all nations.

A demur has been raised against the efficacy of these general princi-
ples. It is objected that a large proportion of the subjects dealt with are
drawn from books and that if exception has not been taken to a given theme
dealt with in a printed book, there is no reason why it should not be
dealt with visually, i. e. shown on the screen. This objection is very pro-
perly answered by the contention that there is an essential difference bet-
ween the book and the screen in their possibilities of penetration, understand-
ing, and influence on the mind of the public. The first reaches a limit-
ed number of readers, while there is no limitation to the number of spec-
tators ; moreover the film exercises its ascendency on whole crowds at
a time, which is not the case with the written book. The reading of a
book demands a certain mental effort, an effort of some considerable du-
ration, before the message it conveys synthesizes, so to speak, and takes
hold of the reader's mind. The film acts almost instantaneously and
demands little or no effort ; it is not fatiguing and does its work of sugges-
tion or propaganda, whether for good or evil, in the briefest space of
time, so that the synthetic purport of the plot or theme is rapid, precise
and striking in its details and its ensemble.

Lastly, the manner in which books react on the emotions, and the
reader's apprehension of its sordid or dangerous elements are purely intui-
tive, central and proportionate to his psychological and cultural develop-
ment. The film acts through the sight, through the senses ; and relies
on no internal mechanism to be taken in and realized in all its details.
The psychic process of transmission to the understanding that takes place
when reading is outstripped by the immediacy of vision.

It is moreover contended — and this is a point which the British
Board has taken into proper consideration — that a single film, consi-
dered by itself and isolated from its surroundings, has no great suggestive
influence. Its ascendency works by degrees, by geometrical rather than
mathematical increase, according to frequency, that is to say the possibi-
lity of repetition ; while this is not the case with books, owing to the time
and fatigue involved by reading.

464

The element of frequency is at the root of custom and habits and has
a singular power of impressing its effect on the brain and of imparting the
impression of normality. Considered by itself, a given situation may stir
the soul of the spectator and give rise to questioning and discussion, espe-
cially in the case of persons of a certain culture and endowed with more
or less psychic powers of inhibition. But repeatedly viewed, the same
situation will produce the impression of the habitual and the inevitable,
and persons, even above the normal mental standard, end by being un-
consciously attracted to what they come to regard as a normal way of
thinking and feeling.

It has also been observed that it is not always permissible to repro-
duce on the screen certain facts and realities of life, though in actual life
these may have their motive and their justification. For instance, it
may be true that in some circumstances a woman may sacrifice her hon-
our for reasons not of the heart alone, but impelled by some necessity
which ennobles an action in itself blamable ; such incidents occur in real
life and even conventional morality absolves the woman from blame. But
to show such incidents on the screen is often dangerous, because the whole
theme is apt to be treated in a commonplace way, because no fine feeling
or delicacy is shown in the plot, and the scenes depicted are forced and
untrue to life. In such circumstances, the representation of reality
becomes an element of corruption.

Special Criteria. — The following particular reasons were adduced
for the rejection of films during the year 1928 : Advocacy of companion-
ate marriage ; crude immorality ; indecorum of dress ; predominance
of the criminal element ; scenes of procuration and of excessive and sus-
tained brutality.

The reasons for revision, alterations and cuts were more numerous
and may be summarized under the following heads :

a. Religion. — Religious rites and ceremonies dealt with irreverently
or shown in such a way as to arouse contempt ; biblical quotations when out
of place or rendered comical ; travesty or mockery of Biblical characters ;
frivolous treatment of the solemnity of death ; representation on the
screen of the figure of Jesus Christ.

b. Political. — Generally speaking (apart from peculiarly British
reasons, such as the high respect due to the Sovereign and the Prince
of Wales) all subjects and treatment which may give offence to the
Heads of States or their representatives are rejected in the interest of
international good will and more particularly so as not to display other
countries — friendly countries especially — in an undesirable light.

Another point included among the political reasons is the necessity
of avoiding all scenes likely to lower the prestige of the white populations

465 —

in the sight of other races, scenes likely to create or foment class ill-feeling,
or representing British Possessions as lawless sinks of iniquity rather than
as centres of civilization and progress.

c) Military subjects. — The British Board's revisional functions in
this regard are naturally confined to Empire interests, and are concerned
with maintaining the prestige of the British uniform and in excising scenes
of conflict between soldiers and civilians or reflections on the family
relations of responsible British officers likely to discredit the Army.

d) Administration of Justice : For obvious social reasons and so as to
avoid any scenes likely to impede the ends of justice, any scenes repre-
senting conflicts between the police and populace are subject to revision
or excision, as also scenes displaying the police in a false or derogatory light
and objectionable prison scenes.

e) Social Questions. — The aims of the British Film Board are highly
moral, and in this sphere its action is guided by an endless series of sug-
gestive indications susceptible of being added to as occasion demands.

There are local considerations, such as the need of avoiding all scenes
showing the white populations of the Empire in a derogatory light as com-
pared with coloured populations ; this is a point to which, as we have al-
ready seen, the Board attaches also political importance.

Then there are reasons of a general domestic character : the obser-
vation of all due respect to State Authorities and citizens (soldiers, magis-
trates, etc.) performing public offices.

Reasons of a moral character : these exclude painful scenes of lunacy,
drunkenness, debauchery, intimate biological studies unsuited to general
exhibition, suggestive and indecorous dancing, nude scenes, particularly
of women and girls, allusion to sexual perversion, painful family scenes,
such as marital infidelity and collusive divorces, illicit medical practices,
such as abortion, or otherwise unsuited to public showing (childbirth,
venereal disease, surgical operations, etc.) and in general all scenes of
excessive vulgarity or brutality.

The British Board of Film Censors are particularly severe in their
tutelage of all questions inherent to sex.

Questions of Sex are included among questions of social importance
and all scenes are taboo if considered as of a crudely immoral character :
scenes showing prostitution in an agreeable or frivolous light, scenes of
accosting, of procuration, rape, violence, white slave traffic, scenes en-
tering into intimate details of sexual love ; all scenes, in short, likely to
foster immorality.

f ) Crime. — In a general way films in which crime plays the predom-
inant part are not passed by the Board, nor those in which crime is
displayed in an attractive or alluring light, either by showing the triumph
of crime with the success of the criminal, or through the representation of

— 460

criminal acts, either in full or in detail. Films in which the criminal ele-
ment is predominant or actually forms the main theme of the film, unless
other elements in the drama tend to produce a counter moral influence
and to show the social danger and negative issue of crime, are rejected.

Thus the British Board includes among criminal scenes, scenes of
hanging, as being the method of public execution throughout the Empire,
and deliberately excludes from the social category, and includes in the
criminal one, scenes dealing with the use of drugs (« Dope scenes ») and
the propaganda of vices which are degrading to the race and to mankind.

g) Cruelty. — Scenes representing cruelty to men or beasts and
representing human agony, for the sake of the thing itself and not by
way of warning, brutality in life or in sport, personal and mass brutality
and vulgarity, which convey no worthy moral lesson but merely em-
bruten and degrade, are rejected.

h) Titles. — All films and scenes require some form of title to explain
the luminous image. The effect of the captions as a means of propaganda
or publicity is very great, especially in respect of minor cultural
subjects which are not sufficiently clear from the photograph and the
cinematographic movement alone, but require to be explained also by
words .

In such cases, which are certainly the most numerous, the comment
is an essential auxiliary to the film, and often when this has been poorly
constructed, the caption actually falsifies the concept and merely con-
fuses or interrupts the scenes by a string of words which have little or
nothing to do with the case.

Titles ought therefore to be examined from two different points of
view. First of all, do they answer to the purport of the film ; secondly
have they any moral value of their own ? The British Board has confined
its control to the second point ; and considers whether titles are in them-
selves objectionable or otherwise. Titles are censored when they are
intrinsically offensive, when they comprise irreverent quotations of bib-
lical texts, are irreverent or blasphamous, have an objectionable politi-
cal bearing, are morally equivocal or contain objectionable innuendoes.

It may roughly be said that the revision of the title goes hand in hand
with the revision of the scene to which it refers, and that it is censored
or otherwise according to the same standard as the scene itself.

Moral qualities of British cinematograph production in 1928. — In its
Report for the year 1928 the British Board of Film Censors deplores the
fact that during the year under review British films had displayed a ten-
dency towards a marked revival in the production of films dealing
with crime, notwithstanding the circulars on the subject sent round by
the Board in 191 7 and 1925.

467 —

These circulars are very explicit on the following points :

a) that no serial film dealing with crime would be examined except
as a whole, it being impossible otherwise to form a fair estimate of its
value ;

b) that no film in which crime was the dominant theme would be
granted a certificate ;

c) that no film in which the methods of crime are shewn and illustrated
would be passed ;

d) that, lastly, no « crime » film would be passed, even in cases where,
at the end of the drama, retribution is supposed to have fallen on the cri-
minal, or where actual crime is treated from the comic point of view.

Synchronized Films. — The British Board has recently taken up
the question of the synchronized film, in view of the favour shown by
the trade to this new form of cinematograph production which has roused
so much public interest.

The synchronized film, by reason of its musical accompaniment,
demands a different standard of revision from the silent film. So long
as music and song were introduced merely as an accompaniment to cer-
tain scenes, the silent film served the purposes of the censor, but when
the synchronised film became a veritable fusion of images, song, music
and dialogue, the Board found itself up against a serious difficulty and real-
ized the need of engaging the services of experts capable of judging the
limits within which films could be revised without eliminating, suppressing
or marring the audible accompaniment.

As a general principle it was laid down that the silent version of the
film should in the first instance be submitted for revision to the Board,
which would re-examine the same in its complete form after this preli-
minary examination ; one of the reasons for this being the fact that it
was noted that the synchronized version corresponded so closely to
the silent one that the former version suffered very little from cuts made
in the latter.

The Board further decided that in all cases where two versions of
a film existed — one silent and one synchronized — both versions should
be submitted to it and that they should be subject to separate certificates.

Children and the Cinema : The British Board remarks that there has
been considerable agitation afoot on a subject of the greatest social in-
terest, that is to say the influence of the animated vision on the mentality
and spirit not only of the general public, but especially of children.

This question has been debated by the leading educational organi-
zations, who have repeatedly asked that a definite distinction should be
established between films to be exhibited in the presence of children and
those suitable for the general public. All this points to the fact of how
little even English educational circles are acquainted with the work and
aims of the British Board of Film Censors.

— 468

The Board, as stated above, does in fact issue two kinds of certifi-
cate, the U Certificate and the A Certificate. The first relates to films
which are suitable to be shown before any kind of audience (Universal
Exhibition) and the second those fit for adults only.

The British Board examined all the complaints that reached it during
the year under survey, so as to check the correctness of the issue of cer-
tificates, and it was noted that all the films concerning which complaint
had been made had been granted A Certificates.

In any case, the Board has decided to exercise greater severity in
future in the issue of U certificates and to grant these only to films which
cannot exercise any deleterious influence on the youthful mind.

It is certainly not easy to define exactly the line of demarcation
between the films receiving the two types of certificate, and it is only pos-
sible to exercise a general discretion in each instance. It can anyway be
affirmed that no British film is classified under the U category if it treats
sexual problems, delicate love questions, painful or disgraceful scenes in
family life, crime, or incidents and circumstances in which due respect is
not shown to social morals, the governing powers, and the authority of the
Law, or wherein the themes dealt with are not treated with proper respect
and in a manner calculated to obviate all possibility of corrupting the young
mind.

A systematic definition of the British censorship system is in course
of being studied. The Home Office has this matter in hand. In any case
the work done by the Local Authorities and the British Board of Film
Censors up to the present time has been most effective, and with the active
and spontaneous support of the film industry, the cinema in the United
Kingdom has been able, even in the purely dramatic domain, to make con-
siderable progress towards its final goal of culture and education.

THE FILM AS AN AUXILIARY TO AGRICULTURE

HOW AGRICULTURAL CINEMATOGRAPHY IS ORGANIZED

IN GERMANY

It is only natural that the importance of the aims and of the task as-
signed to the International Institute in the domain of agriculture should
claim the attention of so important an agrarian Country as Germany,
which is always on the look-out for the latest technical improvements and
the best methods of production.

469 —

Thus the Reich Minister of Food and Agriculture has called our
particular attention to the Ze?itralinstitut fiir Erziehung und Unterricht
(the Central Institute of Education and Teaching) and to the Deutscher
Bildspielbund (German Cinematographic Federation), both of Berlin,
as the proper organs to collaborate with us in our common endeavour, since
there are no government organizations in Germany concerned with agri-
cultural films.

The Reich Ministry of Food and Agriculture and the Prussian Mi-
nistry of Agriculture, State Lands and Forests have recourse to the Film
Collection of the Central Institute of Education which, though it is not
a government institution, is considered throughout Germany as an insti-
tution at the service of the several States for all that concerns the domain
of teaching.

. Both of these Ministries obtain from the Institute all information
respecting the development of agricultural cinematography and they take
a direct part in its activities through the medium of their representatives
in the Commission for the examination of agricultural films attached to
the Institute.

This Commission consists of some 60 persons chosen from among
authorities on agricultural questions belonging to the Ministries, German
agricultural societies and associations, and Higher Schools of Agricul-
ture and Veterinary Science.

Among the organizations interested in agricultural cinematography,
the German Agricultural Society and the several Chambers of Agricul-
ture, which are all federated to the Prussian Central Chamber of Agri-
culture, deserve special mention. The latter organization does much
good work by subsidizing on a big scale the production of good agricultural
films by the ordinary film producers.

Lastly, we may mention the Deutscher Vereinfiir landlicher Wohlfahrts
und Heimatpflege (German Association to Promote Agricultural Prosperity
and for the Preservation of Local Customs) on account of its special rela-
tions with the Central Institute of Education and Teaching. This asso-
ciation has organized a Central Committee for the exhibition of films in
rural districts. The Central Committee, which is in close touch with
the Film Service of the Central Institute and with other institutes of a
like nature, aims at producing educational and recreational films for exhi-
bition in country districts and is also concerned with drawing up cinema
programmes and compiling catalogues. Furthermore, it works in close
touch with that branch of the film industry that specialises in publishing
agricultural films in seeking out new cinematographic forms for demon-
strating the all importance of agriculture to the life of our times. At the
same time it helps the Communes, Provincial and agricultural associations,
and above all agricultural associations created for the purposes of rural
welfare, in the choice of films and in installing projection apparatus.

470

The Central Committee, furthermore, advises on the drawing up
of contracts with cinematographic companies, furnishes all useful infor-
mation needed by firms producing or hiring out films and projecting plant,
indicates the most reliable firms and points out the less reliable, and gives
all the information necessary when making application for projection
licenses. The Committee must abstain from all activities of a political
nature, and the production, sale and exhibition of films must be non-com-
mercial and not done for valuable consideration. The Central Committee
has induced the Reich Ministry of Food and Agriculture and the Prussian
Ministry of Agriculture to send representatives to its meetings so as to
further the production and use of agricultural films.

The Central Committee is composed of the President, his deputy,
and of 12 members. The President of the German Association for pro-
moting Agricultural Prosperity and for the Preservation of Local Customs
is ex ufficio President of the Central Committee. The members, with the
exception of those representing the Reich and Prussian Ministries of
Agriculture, are chosen from among the members of the following organ-
izations : the « Plant cultivation Society » the "Organization for the Rear-
ing of Domestic Animals », the « Federation of German Farmers' Asso-
ciations »,the « German Agricultural Council » « the German Agricultural
Society », the « Permanent Agricultural Congress » and the « First Prussian
Chamber of Commerce ».

The means requisite for the functioning of the Central Committee
are contributed in part from their own revenue and in part by the Reich
and Prussian Governments.

It is obvious from the above information that private initiative and
the initiative of the various Associations is mainly responsible for the or-
ganization of agricultural cinematography in Germany. The Central
Institute of Education and Teaching and the Central Committee of the Ger-
man Association for Promoting Agriculture, etc., are the two essential
factors in the organization of German agricultural films. It would, how-
ever, be a great mistake to assume that agricultural cinematography has
attained to a lesser degree of progress in Germany than in other countries
because government initiative in the matter is limited. On the contrary,
a publication of the Prussian Ministry of Agriculture, entitled « The Im-
portance of the Film to Agriculture » written by Major D. R. Kleinhaus,
Director of the Central Committee of the German Association for Pro-
moting Agricultural Prosperity, shows clearly that, ever since pre-war
days, the German rural population has realized the exceptional usefulness
of the agrarian film. This, indeed, is no more than we should expect
of a people whose agriculture is founded on science and the industriali-
zation of methods. The Brandenburg plains, once so arid and desolate,
are at the present time one of the most flourishing agricultural regions

471 —

in Europe. The interest of the above cited publication of the Prussian
Ministry of Agriculture is considerably enhanced by a fine list of over
300 agricultural films, all of the greatest technical perfection, and repre-
senting a total length of nearly 200.000 metres.

THE CINEMA IN THE SERVICE OF HYGIENE
AND SOCIAL WELFARE

France :

The National Office of Social Hygiene attached to the Ministry of
Labour has sent us the following answers to our questionnaire on hygiene
and social welfare propaganda by means of the film in France.

There is a general Propaganda Commission attached to the French
Ministry of Labour, Hygiene and Social Welfare, which has at its disposal
a cinematographic section and a Film Archive, where all the films of the
Ministry are gathered together with those of the National Office of Social
Hygiene and other big national hygiene associations (1).

While no special laws have been enacted to regulate film hygiene
propaganda, it is nevertheless under the methodical control of the said
Ministry, which works in concert with the National Llealth Office, the
principal hygiene associations and departmental organizations.

Film propaganda of this kind is organized directly both by the General
Propaganda Commission, through its travelling cinemas, and by the de-
partmental organizations, and in"a general way by other associations con-
cerned with social education.

Both primary and secondary schools include films in their curricula
of health instruction.

Independently of the Censorship Commission for the censorship
of lall films, [the propaganda commission of the National Health
Office exercises a special censorship over films dealing with public health.
No film of this kind can be distributed unless it has been passed by the
said commission ; it also examines beforehand the schemes of proposed
films. But the greater number of films for hygiene and social welfare

(1) These films may be hired on the following conditions:

1 projection
Films measuring not more than 300 metres in length 8 Frs.

Films measuring from 300-1000 metres in length. . 15 »

Films measuring from 1000-1500 metres in length . 20 »

Films measuring over 1500 metres in length ... 25 »

472

1 week

2 weeks

17 Frs.

35 Frs.

30 ..

60 »

40 »

80 »

50 >»

100 »

propaganda are produced by the Commission itself with the assistance
of the appropriate technical organizations.

The Commission has compiled and published a complete and de-
tailed catalogue of all films dealing with matters of hygiene.

Switzerland :

In reply to our questionnaire, the Hygiene office of the Federal
Public Health Department^ states that propaganda in matters of Hygiene
and Social Welfare is not centralized in any single government office,
nor is it the subject of any special legislation.

Such propaganda is, however, effectively carried on by private or-
ganizations which are responsible both for the production and appropriate
distribution of films on the subject. A number of associations concerned
with preventive medicine and social welfare organize public cinema
shows accompanied by popular lectures, while films bearing on hygiene
and of a kind to diffuse its essential rules in everyday life are regularly
shown in the cinema theatres.

Special mention should be made of the following organizations as
responsible for the production and distribution of Films on Social Health
questions : —

The Swiss School and People's Cinematograph of Berne ;
The Swiss Red Cross Society, at Berne ;
The Central Swiss Health Office.

Luxemburg :

The Hygiene Service of the Grand Duchy informs us that Social and
Welfare Propaganda by means of the film is entirely in the hands of the
Ministry of Health, which places its cinema material at the disposal of
private and official organizations interested in public health questions.

These organizations carry on an active propaganda by the regular
public exhibition of appropriate films accompanied by popular lectures.

Special meetings with projections and lectures are organized for
the students of primary and secondary schools.

Luxemburg does not produce its own cinematographic material
and all its requirements are supplied from abroad.

Jugoslavia :

The Ministry of Public Health in Belgrade informs us that the
several Jugoslavian Hygiene Institutes, of which there are nine in all,
are entrusted with the task of hygiene propaganda by means of the film ;
apart from this, however, private associations interested in questions
of public health carry on similar propaganda in the same field, the requi-
site films being placed at their disposal by the said Institutes.

473

This propaganda is not subject to any special legislation, but is
carried on by the free initiative of the Health Institutes and Associations
mentioned above.

The Zagabria Hygiene Institute has its own Cinematographic Section,
which provides in considerable measure for the production of the requi-
site films. Recourse is also had to foreign films for this purpose.

Latvia :

Film propaganda on hygiene and social welfare is not subject to any
legislation in Latvia ; nor is it centralized in or organized by any Govern-
ment department.

Films dealing with the matter are, however, shown from time to time
in the public cinema halls and are accompanied by lectures of a popular
kind.

The programs of instruction in secondary schools are now in course
of being reorganized, and it is intended to include propaganda in matters
of public health and social welfare in the new curricula.

A special law requires all primary and secondary schools to include
anti-drink propaganda in their curricula.

All requisite films are imported from abroad.

THE ACOUSTICS OF SOUND RECORDING ROOMS

In dealing with this subject, one must of necessity be concerned with
general considerations. Each sound recording room presents special
problems calling for particular solutions, which arise from conditions
that are imposed by necessities which are quite other than acoustical.
In the particular case, therefore, the designer of a sound recording studio
has to include in his general design problem the special conditions that
must be met in order to record sound faithfully, and free from extraneous
noise.

The first of these general considerations to be urged is that the matter
of acoustic conditions be included from the very first in the development

(Ed. Note). The International Educational Cinematographic Institute does not propose
to narrow down its interest in technical questions solely to the strict domain of the cine-
matograph; all technical problems of special interest which have even an indirect bearing
on the cinema will claim its attention.

For this reason, we have pleasure in publishing herewith an article on the acoustics of
sound recording rooms from the pen of Mr. Paul E. Sabine.

474

of the plans. This would mean that the site, in the case of a new building,
would be selected with the probable conditions as to noise in mind. The
noise of heavy traffic, of street cars, or of elevated railways, being transmit-
ted in part by way of the earth is almost impossible to eliminate. If the re-
cording room is to be included in an old bulding, careful consideration
should be given to its location with reference to machinery or other exist-
ing sources of noise. The difficulties of successful sound insulation in
a building already constructed are frequently extremely great.

Having admitted the acoustical problem as of prime importance in
the studio or stage layout, the designer should undertake to secure defin-
ite quantitative data on the various specific problems involved. In a
field as new as is the recording of sound in connection with motion pic-
tures, there will have to be considerable experimentation as to the acous-
tic conditions for recording which will produce a record that most
nearly simulates music and speech as heard by an audience from an actual
stage, yet the principles governing the behavior of sound within closed
spaces are well known, and quantitative data for producing the desired
conditions can be had, once these conditions are determined. Having
determined the acoustical conditions that are desirable it is not neces-
sary to guess at or experiment with means of obtaining these conditions.
Let me illustrate by an example. In listening to a stage production,
the audience hears the voices of the actors as they are modified by the
acoustic conditions of an actual stage. What is the best means of securing
this illusion in the case of the talking moving picture ? Is it to make a
record that is entirely free from « room effects », and then put in the room
effects by reproduction upon a stage that will introduce them, or will it
be better practice to record under conditions that will include the « room
effects » in the sound record? Only trial can answer this question, but once
answered, I think it is safe to say that our knowledge of acoustics is at
a point where the desired conditions for recording, whatever they may
be, can be secured without further experimentation.

At the risk of indulging in the thankless task of carryng coals to New-
castle, by speaking of matters upon which many of you are already in-
formed, may I very briefly outline the subject of the acoustics of rooms
in general as an introduction to the consideration of the specific problems
of the sound recording room.

Sound consists of the rapid to and fro motion of the particles of the
air or other elastic medium.. This motion is propagated from particle
to particle with a velocity of about 1120 ft. per second at ordinary tem-
peratures. This vibrational motion of the individual particles results
in a cyclic variation of the pressure, above and below the normal atmos-
pheric pressure which in turn is accompanied by a corresponding
fluctuation in temperature — a rise in the compression phase, and a
fall in the rarefaction phase.

475

As a form of energy, sound can disappear from an enclosed space in
which it is produced only by transmission or by absorption. The latter
consists in the dissipation process of transforming the regular vibrational
motion of sound into the random, molecular motion of heat, and occurs
only when work is done against dissipative forces, such as by non-elastic
compression or flexure of soft materials or by motion to and fro in the
minute channels of porous materials. When sound is incident upon a
solid surface, part of its energy is reflected, part transmitted through the
solid, and part absorbed. For purposes of the interior acoustics of rooms,
it is unimportant whether the energy disappears by absorption or by
transmission, and since in general the latter is a relatively small proportion
of the unreflected energy, we include it in the absorption. The absorption
coefficient depends in a marked degree upon the pitch, to some extent upon
the quality, that is whether the sound is pure tone or one with harmonics,
and, probably upon the intensity, intense sounds being absorbed more
strongly than faint sounds.

From the foregoing, it is apparent that sound once produced within
a room will persist for an appreciable length of time after the source has
ceased emitting it, due to the fact that it requires time for the multiple
reflections necessary to reduce its intensity to inaudibility. This per-
sistence is technically called reverberation and is measured by the time
required for sound to decrease to 1/1,000,000 of its initial intensity. The
phenomena of reflection, absorption, and reverberation can all be illus-
trated by means of photographs of sound pulses taken by means of
electric sparks.

Another phenomenon that occurs in rooms is that of interference.
This results from the undulatory nature of sound. As a simple illustration
consider the case of a train of waves incident upon a plain surface. At
points at which the reflected wave train travels an odd number of half
wave lengths further than the oncoming, the condensation of one will
coincide with the rarefactions of the other and assuming equal intensity
the pressure change at such points will always be zero. For an even
number of half wave lengths difference, the two pressure changes will
reinforce each other. Thus we have in a room with a sustained source
of sound of fixed frequency a point to point variation in the intensity,
which changes with changing pitch at the source, with the position of
the source, and with any shift in the position of reflecting surfaces within
the room. As a general rule this inequality of distribution is not an
important factor in the acoustic properties of a room. Concentration
of reflected sound by extended curved contours, may accentuate these
inequalities to the point of being a real acoustical defect.

Echo is the distinct repetition of a sound of short duration, by reflection
from some solid surface or surfaces. In order to separate two sound

476

impulses the time interval between must be of the order of 1/20 of a
second or more. This means that the reflecting surface must be at least
28 feet from the observer. Multiple echoes which merge into each other
constitute reverberation. Concave reflecting surfaces serve to produce
localized echoes.

By far the greatest number of cases of acoustic difficulties arise from
excessive reverberation. Its effect is to prolong the separate elements
of speech or music so that these run into each other, thus lowering in-
telligibility and sharpness of enunciation. Thus suppose for example
that each syllable of speech in a room persists for three seconds after it
is spoken. (Not an unusual length of time in an empty room). Speaking
at an ordinary rate, a speaker will utter fifteen syllables in this length of
time. There will be thus at any time the residue of sound from fifteen
preceding syllables competing with the direct sound at the ear of the au-
ditor with resultant confusion and loss of distinctness.

Without going into the mathematical analysis of the theory or the
very careful experimental work that has been done by Wallace C.Sabine
and others in verification of this theory, we may state the laws of rever-
beration as follows :

1. For a sound of fixed initial intensity in two rooms, the periods
of reverberation are directly proportional to the volumes and inversely
proportional to the total absorbing powers of the two rooms, the total
absorbing power of a room being defined as the sum of the products
of the area of each surface exposed to sound multiplied by the absorption
coefficient of that surface.

2. In a given room, the duration of audible sound after the source has
ceased is proportional to the logarithm of the initial average intensity
of sound in the room.

Law 1 may be put in the form of the well known reverberation equation

T = 0.05 Vfa

wherein T is the time required for the sound intensity to decrease to
1/1,000,000 of its initial value, V is the volume of the room in cubic feet,
and a is the sum of the products of area and coefficient for all surfaces
in the room.

With the data at hand for determining a, it is apparent that we can
compute the reverberation time for any room. One immediately raises
the question as to what the reverberation time as thus computed should
be for an acoustically good room. The answer is arrived at by seeing
what T is for rooms that are acoustically good. Fig. 1 shows the values
of Tfor six different auditoriums which are recognized as being acoustically
very satisfactory for both music and speech. Included also are two other
rooms, one too reverberant, the other too « dead ». T is plotted as a
function of the logarithm of the volume, and the graph shows that longler

8-ing. 477 —

reverberation times as defined above are allowable for large than for small
rooms.

We thus have a very usable criterion of excellence for rooms that
are for audience purposes. Thus for example, if the volume of a proposed
room is 200,000 cubic feet, then the absorbing power, including that of the
audience, should be 6667 units in order to give a reverberation time of
1.5 seconds, the value which according to the graph is desirable in a
room of this size. If the calculated total absorbing power of the room
surface and the audience is less than this, then sufficient area of absorbent
treatment should be introduced to bring the total up to the desired

i.6
18

1.6

L4

S^

L*

j/T

IP
■8

.6 ¥

l&slf AJi 4j4 4j6 4fB 5-0 5j2 5j4 5;6 5{8 ,6j0

Log. of Volume
Fig. i — Reverberation Times of acoustically good rooms
of different volumes

value. It should be said that the departure from the values shown without
materially affecting hearing conditions is fairly large, certainly as great
as 5 % and possibly as great as 10 %, so that the graph serves simply
as a working basis for designing rooms with comfortable acoustics.

Coming now to the question of the proper reverberation time for
sound recording rooms, I have to confess the lack of any very precise
data. As you know, the early practice in phonograph recording and in
radio broadcasting was to cut down sound reflection to the limit, by the
use of heavy drapes hung well out from the wall and over every foot of
available surface. While this practice serves to eliminate any trace of room
effects, at the same time it produces a dull lifeless quality to music particu-
arly, that is extremely trying to artists and is easily perceptible to discri-
minating auditors. Gradually the tendency toward less deadening and
longer reverberation times has grown up. In 1926, I conducted a series
of tests for station WLS in Chicago to find out whether differences in
room conditions Were perceptible to radio listeners, and what condition
was preferred. It was arranged to vary the absorbing power of the studio
in three steps by the removal of drapes, thus increasing the computed
reverberation time from 0.25 to 0.64 seconds. In this test, the same short
program was broadcast under each of the three conditions, and the pre-
ference of the radio listeners was asked for. Of the 121 replies received

— 478

only 16 expressed a preference for the least reverberant condition, while
73 preferred the most reverberant. It was not possible to carry the expe-
riment to still longer reverberation periods. It is interesting to know
that the reverberation time of 0.64 is not far from what one would predict
from extrapolating the graph of Fig. 1 to the volume of this particular
studio. From my own observations and experience and what I have been
able to gather from the experience of others, I am inclined to believe that
what we consider good auditorium conditions will come to be recognized as
not far from good recording conditions. This of course does not mean that
recording studios do not as a rule need some absorbent treatment. As
a matter of fact they do. When we remember that in an auditorium 213
to 415 of the total sound absorption is supplied by the audience, and that
there is usually no audience in the recording room, it is obvious that the
deficiency must be made up by special absorbent treatment of some kind.
In fact, in large stages the amounts of absorbent treatment necessary
to give good audience room conditions will be rather formidable. For
example a room with a volume of 500,000 cubic feet, would normally
have an audience of 2500 people, with an absorption of 11,500 square
feet of perfect absorption. At least 23,000 square feet of felt with a
coefficient of 0.50 is required to reduce a stage of this size to good audience
room conditions. Now 500,000 cubic feet would be a small motion picture
stage according to present practice, so that it appears plain that to provied
proper acoustical conditions on the very large stages now used for the
silent motion pictures requires a considerable outlay for sound absorbents.
It is apparent that from the standpoint of economy, it is the part of wisdom
to provide in the initial layout for the necessary acoustical treatment.
Frequently it is possible through the exercise of a little ingenuity to utilize
materials for the purposes which are much cheaper than the usual types
of materials now used for an acoustical correction in auditoriums. In the
latter, requirements of appearance and decoration add appreciably to the
cost of the materials employed.

Speaking entirely from the standpoint of an outsider knowing only
incidentally of the requirements, other than acoustical, of a motion picture
stage, I would venture the suggestion that possibly the requirements
of sound recording would call for radical departure from the present plan
of having very large stages designed to accommodate simultaneously a
number of sets, to the plan of having a number of smaller separate stages
acoustically insulated from each other. Certainly the problem of the
control of reverberation in moderate sized rooms is much simpler than
in extremely large rooms. «

The Effect of Absorbent Treatment on Tone Quality

Practically all musical tones are complex. That is, they consist
of a fundamental tone with its series of harmonic overtones.

479

It has long been recognized that the phenomenon of reverberation
may affect the quality of musical tones produced in a room. In the open
air, at a distance from any reflecting surface and at short distances from
the source of sound it may safely be assumed, I think, that the wave in
the air is identical with the wave form produced by the source. That
is to say the quality of the tone does not materially change as the wave

advances. But in a room, the re-
sultant vibration at any point is that
due to the sound coming directly
from the source combined with
that which has been reflected from
the bounding surfaces of the room..
Now, if these reflecting surfaces
reflect all the components of the
complex tone in the same degree,
the quality of the reflected sound
will be identical with that of the
direct sound. But as a matter of
fact, practically all materials are
selective to a greater or less degree,
so that, theoretically, at least, the
quality of reverberant sound is al-
tered by the room.

Fig. 2 shows the absorption
coefficients of hair felt of different
thicknesses from 12" to 3" over
the frequency range from 128 to
4096 vibrations per second. It will
be observed there is a maximum of
absorption that shifts to lower frequencies as the thickness of the material is
increased. The ratio of the maximum to the minimum absorption is 6.2 for
1" material. This ratio is reduced to 2.5 when we get to a thickness of 3 ".
This selective absorption is characteristic of all porous material. One
obvious method of ironing out the curve is to increase the thickness.
This however is an expensive procedure and as a practical matter is some-
times difficult. It is also possible to reduce the peak absorption relatively
to the absorption at other frequencies by surfacing the porous material
with a flexible though impervious membrane. Fig. 3 shows the effect
of cementing a painted fabric to the surface of 1 " felt. This however,
has the disadvantage of producing a decrease in the general efficiency
of the material.

The effect of this selective absorption is pronounced in rooms in
which the major portion of the total absorbing power in supplied by a
selectively absorbing material. The high pitched components of music

Fig. 2

Absorption coefficients of felt of
various thicknesses.

— 480

or speech are dissipated more rapidly, resulting in a preponderance ->
the lower tones producing a peculiar hollow effect which is far from,
pleasing to the ear. and which in sound recording may result in a serious
over-emphasis of the low tones.

We have had occasion in our laboratory to solve this problem in the
treatment of the room in which the response of loudspeakers is measured.
By a somewhat fussy arrangement of the
absorbent material we have been able to
secure conditions such that the measured
response is quite independent of the relative
positions of the source and the pick-up
showing that the reflection of sound at all
frequencies is negligibly small. Fig. 4 shows
the increase in absorption of sound of low
frequencies that can be secured by properly
disposing two layers of %" hair felt with
reference to each other. The work of Dr.
Wente at the Bell Laboratories as well as
further uncompleted work in our laboratory
indicates that absorbing structures can be
designed that will give much more nearly
uniform absorption over the pitch range than
do simple porous materials. Whether or not
such conditions make enough difference in
the quality of the sound record to warrant

the pains and expense to secure them is a question that can only b
answered by recording experience. The point here emphasized is that
if necessary for good recording they can be secured.

Fig. 3 — 1. Absorption coef-
ficients of bare felt.

2 The same with an imper-
vious membrane.

Extraneous Noise

Freedom from outside noises is more a matter of attention to numer-
ous details of construction than of building magic sound proof walls. That
term « sound proof wall » like the term « projectile proof armor » is a
purely relative one. One thinks of an eight inch brick wall as fairly sound
proof, yet sounds that are not so loud as to be painful can easily be heard
through such a wall. On the other hand, much less formidable construc-
tions than an eight inch brick wall will serve to exclude sounds of ordinary
intensity. One finds the explanation of the difficulties of complete
sound insulation in the extreme sensitivity of the ear, and the wide range
of intensities to which it responds.

During the last nine years, a great deal of work on the transmission
of sound by partition walls has been done at the Riverbank Laboratories
The results can be summarized only very briefly for the purpose of this
paper. The outstanding facts are as follows :

481 —

Fig. 4. — Absorption coef-
ficients of two 1/2,1 layers of felt
with interven.ng air space.

1. For what may be considered as continuous masonry including
walls of gypsum tile, clay tile, solid plaster, and brick the reduction of

sound in transmission increases according
to a fairly definite law with the increasing
weight of such constructions.

2. Felts and other fibrous porous ma-
terials, used alone, are not effective sound
insulators as compared with stiff, heavy,
and impervious materials. As generally em-
ployed for sound insulating purposes, either
as an inner-lining for double constructions,
or as a fill between wood members in sin-
gle construction, they do not produce any
very marked effect in increasing the degree
of sound insulation.

3. Double wall constructions furnish
a higher degree of sound insulation than
do single walls of equal weight. The greater
the structural and spatial separation of the
two component structures, the greater the
degree of sound insulation afforded.

Fig. 5 presents the results of some of the tests in the transmission of
sound by more usual types of wall construction. The vertical scale
gives the average logarithm of the reduction of sound intensity for 17 dif-
ferent tones ranging from 128 to 4096 vibs. per sec. The horizontal scale
gives the logarithm of the weight per square foot of the partition structure.
The points lying along the straight line are masonry partitions including
walls of clay and gypsum tile, both hollow and solid, and of different thick-
nesses, as well as solid plaster on metal lath, from 1 V2 " to 4 % )}- The
double partitions were of gypsum tile, with complete structural separation
between the single units. The effects of the various types of fill as well
as the effect of bridging the intervening air space are shown. Unless other-
wise indicated, the separation between the double walls was 2 inches.

It appears then that when insulation from external noise is necessary
the double wall construction is the most effiective means of securing it
with wall construction of moderate weight. Equally important is the
matter of preventing the entrance of sound by means of openings, including
doors and windows, and ducts for heating or ventilation. The ventilating
system of a talking moving picture stage requires especial care in the plan-
ning. Quiet operation should be a first consideration in specifying the fans,
pumps and other machinery employed in air conditioning. Flexible
canvas coupling between the fan and the ducts should be specified to pre-
vent the conduction of vibrations along duct walls. The cross section
of ducts should be figured large enough to allow lining with sound absorbent

- 482

material. Properly constructed baffles of sound absorbing material can
be effectively used in reducing the passage of noise through conduits.
It is good practice to surface exterior walls with cork and plaster, parti-
cularly in cases where ducts leading to and from rooms that should be
acoustically separated run parallel or close to each other.

It should be remembered that so far as the admission of sound is
concerned, there is no difference between intake and outlet ducts.

A system of sound insulation is no more effective as a whole than
its least effective element. Pains should therefore be taken to provide

Fig. 5 — Reduction of sound in
transmission of various types of parti-
tion walls.

Straight line in figure, single ma-
sonry wall

i. Double wall, bridged

2. Double wall; sawdust fill

3. Double wall, slag fill

4. Double wall, felt fill.

5. Double wall, no fill

6. Double wall, 4 inch separation

7. The same, bridged

8. Wood stud, lath, and plaster

9. Steel

10 1 3/4" Oak

doors and windows which are as « soundproof » as possible. A double door of
as heavy construction as feasible, with the maximum possible separation
of the two units, and provision for closing tightly, is the best means so
far available. Care should of course be taken to procure a proper degree
of insulation of motors, generators or other sources of vibration from the
main structure of the studio or stage. Structural vibrations may be
transmitted with amazing facility through an entire building.

It is fairly clear, as stated at the outset, that freedom from disturbing
noise is a matter of careful detailed planning. The foregoing selves
to indicate along broad lines the possible sources of trouble and the
means by which these troubles may be avoided. On the whole, the acous-
tical problems of sound recording rooms are not seriously troublesome
if taken into account from the beginning. They may be extremely annoying,
if omitted and brought in only as an after' thought.

THE CINEMA AS AN AUXILIARY TO THE SCIENTIFIC
ORGANIZATION OF LABOUR

While methodically pursuing its enquiries in respect of all those
organizations which, from their intrinsic character, are in a position to

(Ed. Note). In later issues of the Review we shall publish some notable articles by
Monsieur Urwick, Director of the Geneva Scientific Management Institute, by Prof. Fon-

483

furnish data on which to formulate in due course definite projects for
applying the cinematograph to the domain of labour, and while reports
and information are pouring in from the leading industrial authorities,
government departments and employers' and workers' organizations,
the International Institute is at the same time devoting its efforts to the
collection of films of a kind to throw light on the diverse methods of
scientific management.

New methods of business are at the present time stirring great
interest throughout the world ; these are based on the principles of scien-
tific management and rationalization, the phases of which the Institute
follows with growing interest. The Institute with the help of an
instrument whose didactic and demonstrative possibilities in this field
have not yet been fully realized, is anxious to contribute its share in
f oruulating the new doctrines which modern progress regards as the
very cornerstone of up-to-date business organization.

In this connection, we have no doubt that our readers will be interested
in a list which we give below of films published by the German firm
the « Fachfilm » Co., of Berlin, on account of private companies and
manufacturers, the descriptions of which give an idea of how scientific
theories are now being put practically to the test.

FILMS RELATING TO SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT

The Physiological bases of Scientific Management :

This film, which is based on the research of the Kaiser Wilhelm
Institut of the Physiology of Labour, illustrates the measurement of the
amount of energy consumed during work by means of experiments con-
nected with respiration. The chemical bases and the apparatus used
are illustrated by animated drawings and certain natural photographs of
the respiratory system are shown ; these are followed by the detailed re-
production of three series of experiments, namely: raising weights, turn-
ing a wheel, and supporting weights. The results of manoeuvering the
machine are further illustrated in detail by means of curves.

Introduction to the study of work and work-time :

This film introduces us to the question of time study. First of all
an animated drawing reproduces the subdivision of a somewhat extensive
piece of work into separate jobs. The fact that it is first necessary to
improve working conditions before proceeding to the study of working-
time is illustrated by natural photographs and by a simple example (lathe
work). An animated drawing illustrates the special character of the ma-

teque, Director of the Paris Service a" orientation Profcssionnelle (Vocational Guidance Service)
and by Herr R. Thun.

-484

chine. Later on natural photographs reproduce a complete view of the
time-study. The times employed are shown on a clock which appears
in the photograph. Some perturbations are registered in the course of
the time-study so as to show how the employee intent on the study must
act in such circumstances.

An Experimental Film on the study of Labour and Working Time :

This film was taken by way of experiment for the use of employees
assigned to time-study. The different stages of very simple work (the
manufacture of small brake valves) are illustrated by means of scenes from
life. The whole process of the work is then shown in chronological order.
A clock is photographed contemporaneously with the work on such a
big scale that it may be consulted while the film is being turned.

Office Organization :

This film gives us a brief introduction to the so-called Hinz System
and illustrates how an order received by a firm is carried out. The
numbers of the customers' cards and registration in the card indexes is
here shown, according to the system of « mechanical geography ». Then
all the entries necessary to the execution of the order made according to
the copying system are shown.

Modern Production :

This Film gives a succinct picture of modern serial production :
the storing of the raw material, the smith-shop, the foundry, manufactur-
ing works, turnery works, drilling, planing, polishing and checking.

Experimental Film on Time-Study :

This is another experimental film for the use of employees assigned
to time-study. It illustrates a complete cycle of work; namely, the man-
ufacture of a hinge, its design and drilling. A clock is photographed at
the same time on such a big scale as to be easily consulted while watching
the film. This film lends itself particularly to demonstrating how ac-
curately time studies may be carried out by workers. The photographs
were taken under the auspices of the Germans State Railways.

Film to measure Labour Speed :

This film is intended for measuring the subjective appraisement of
the proper working-speed of employees assigned to time study. It con-
sists of 15 scenes, all showing the same working cycle, namely a brief
filing job and revolution counting. Each scene is preceded by a pro-
gressively numbered caption with certain numerical indications. It is ar-
ranged for each of the film scenes to be projected at a different speed. The
length of the intermediate titles is so fixed that the insertion of new pro-
jection speeds may be m.ade without difficulty. The speed With which the

485 -

following scene should be shown is in its turn indicated in the intermediate
title and on this point other indications are given, so that the spectator is
unaware which of these speeds the operator will adopt at a given moment.
Each spectator must then state whether each particular photograph has
been shown at a normal speed or too slowly, and from the opinions
expressed the correctness of the judgment of the employees assigned to
the study of working-time may be gauged.

The Influence of Skill {Peeling Potatoes) :

This film shows potatoes being peeled as an example of the fact that
— since this process does not involve any exercise — a whole lot of
unnecessary movements are made in work, which may be eliminated by
a little skilfulness. Two persons are photographed simultaneously :
one is shown peeling potatoes for the first time; the other displays consi-
derable skill at the work. The film clearly shows how the first is labour-
ing with his whole body, while the other uses his hands only.

The proper way to burn Wood in the Home :

This film is intended for exhibition in Sweden : it illustrates the ra-
tional handling of the different kinds of stoves in use in Sweden for burning
wood. First of all, the economic importance of a proper system of wood-
burning is stressed in a series of scenes. Certain rules are then set forth :
such as the advantage of disposing the wood horizontally rather than
vertically, the closing of the stove, kindling the fire, etc.

Other photographs illustrate the rules applicable to kitchen stoves,
as well as the changes which are desirable in these : decreasing the fire
space and the construction of an efficient smoke register.

Final Measurements :

This film illustrates the use of special lathes with the use of final pa-
rallel measurements. This is compared with work done on old fashion-
ed lathes which require the constant repetition of operations and the
turning of parts, which involved unnecessary loss of time. The new
lathes do away with all this by the introduction of final parallel mea-
surement. The lathe stops automatically as soon as the desired measure-
ment is attained. Any measurement required can easily be obtained.
A comparison is shown of the times taken over the same job of work by
an old fashioned lathe and by this new system.

A Study of Fatigue by means of the Kaiser Wilhelm Ergograph :

The scenes shown reproduce certain experiments made with the finger
ergograph. The manner in which the fatigue curve is formed is also
shown.

^ 486

NOTES TAKEN FROM REVIEWS AND PAPERS

CULTURAL FILMS

Notwithstanding the fact that cultur-
al films are exempted from duty under
the Chekoslovakian Customs Law, this
provision is constantly being infringed.
(Lichtbildbuhne , Berlin).

An interesting article by Messrs. Clif-
ton Tuttle and C. A. Morison deals
with the experiments they have carried
out in the domain of the film as applied
to medicine. (Protographischc Korres-
pondenz) .

M. Raimond Berner writes in detail
on the aims of the new « Cinelu\ »
Company, the principal of which is to
distribute films in country districts, es-
pecially in out-of-the-way parts where
there are no regular cinema halls. (La
Cinematographic Francaise, Paris).

The « British Filmcraft Production »
Co. is about to release a biographical
film on the famous English musician,
Leslie Stuart. (La Cinematographic
Francaise, Paris) .

Sir James Marchant analyses the edu-
cational possibilities of the cinema, and
tells of the work carried on since 191 6*
by the British Board of Education in
relation to the educational film. (The
Times, London) .

The French « Societe de Photographic
et Cinematographic » has set up a spe-
cial section known as the Amateur Ci-
nema Section. This has its headquarters
in Paris (31, Rue de Clichy) and has
at its disposal a studio, a meeting hall,
a projection hall and a laboratory. (Mon
Cine de Paris , Paris) .

The Prussian Ministry of Science, Art
and Instruction is contemplating the

creation of a State Academy of Cinema-
tography. (Lichtbildbiihnc, Berlin).

The « Dux Film G. M. B. H. » Co.
has been constituted in Berlin for the
production of documentary, industrial and
publicity films. (Lichtbildbuhne, Berlin).

Herr Scharschmidt, of Waldshut i. B.,
is making a special study of the different
impressions produced on school children
by the projection of stationary and mo-
tion films. (Bildwart, Berlin).

Mr. Arthur Lassaly deals with the
use of the technical film in elementary
school teaching. (Bildwart, Berl:n).

Mr. William Brass has asked a ques-
tion in the British Parliament respect-
ing the use of the film in schools.
(Lichtbildbuhne, Berlin).

The « Offices Regionaux du Cinema
Educateur » the purpose of which is to
encourage the production of educational
and teaching films, have held a meeting
at the Musee Pedagogique of Paris.
( Cin copse , Paris ) .

The Permanent Commission on Tech-
nical Education has met at the Paris
Cinematheque (14 Rue de Fleurus) to
view certain films. (Cineopse, Paris).

M. Michel Coissac contributes an in-
teresting paper on the big advance made
by the cinematograph in the several
branches of education. (Cineopse, Paris).

The Direction of the Travelling
Chair of Agriculture has started in the
Province of Parma an interesting series
of projections for agricultural propaganda.
(La Cinemat&grafia di Milano, Milan).

The Pathe Enseignement Company has
produced a film on the selection of
milch cows. (Le Cine Educateur, Lille).

487

The present position of the cinema-
tograph and the value of the film for
educational purposes is examined in a
leading article. (El Debate, Madrid).

In an article entitled « Popular edu-
cation and the Film » Herr Gustav
Ulrich deals with the question of the
cultural and the educational film.
( V ol\sbildungsarbeit , Teplitz ) .

M. Jules Marc deals with the oroblem
of the film as applied to education and
more especially with the psychic factor
of « attention to the film », its charac-
teristics, and how to arouse and main-
tain it. (Cine Edncateur , Lille).

This paper publishes a list of Cheko-
slovakian cinematographic concerns that
have organized cultural Film Collections.
( Vol\sbildungsarbeit , Teplitz) .

An article by M. Jules Marc deals

with the value of the cinema as a means

of education. (Le Cine -Edncateur ,
Lille).

M. Louis Jacob contributes a paper
on the question of the cinematograph in
secondary education. (Le CineEduca-
teur , Lille) .

Dr. Eberhard Moes writes on the
misapprehension current in Germany on
the cultural film, which is too often
confused with the documentary film.
(Hamburgische Correspondenz , Ham-
burg) .

A survey of the educational film in
England calls attention to the improved
conditions in its regard. (Motion Pic-
tures, Washington) .

The Bulgarian Government is organ-
izing a travelling cinema service, on the
same lines as that organized by the Luce
Co. (Motion Pictures, Washington) .

An article deals with M. Emile Veil-
lermoz's paper in the Temps on the pos-
sibilities of an agreement between book
and film editors. (Comoedia , Paris).

The South Californian University
makes use of films as a means of edu-
cation and has set up a Museum of
World Cinematography. (Der Montag,
Berlin).

M. Katzigrass deals at length with
the question of the cultural film and
analyses the principal problems connect-
ed therewith. (Kino i Kultura, Moscov).

A Cinematographic Atlas containing
all information on world cinematogra-
phic production is in course of prepa-
ration. (Kino i Kultura, Moscow).

A special commission has been ap-
pointed! in Moscow to consider the foun-
dation of a Cinematographic Museum.
(Kino i Kultura, Moscow).

In an article entitled « the Dawn of
the Cultural Film », Dr. Rudolf Harms
illustrates the manifold possibilities of
the cultural film in the several social
domains. (Rhein-Mainische Vol\szeitung,
Frankfort) .

Herr Willi Hein expresses the view
that the talking film will play an im-
portant role in teaching. (Der Film,
Berlin).

An article by Erwin Wolfgang Nack
deals with the problem of photographing
birds for the Cinematograph. ^Reichs-
filmblatt, Berlin).

A further article by Herr Kare Fischer
deals with the organization and work
of the Committee for the projection of
educational films in Breslau. (Bildwart,
Berlin).

A leading article deals with the ques-
tion of the hire of educational films
to Berlin Schools by the Municipal
Film Archives. (Bildwart, Berlin).

Under the title « The Film Liorary »
a description is given of a contrivance
for adapting the pages of a book for
serial projection on a cinematographic
screen. (Je sais tout, Paris).

488

An interesting article by Dr. Hanser
Rathenow deals with the question of
instantaneous photography and cinema-
tography of the capillaries in living man.
(Kinotechni\, Berlin).

The John Betts Co. has produced a
film dealing with English military his-
tory (Seventeenth Lancers) . The War
Office collaborated in the production.
{Daily Film Renter, London).

The Office Cinematographique Suisse,
of Lausanne, is about to release an im-
portant documentary film on aviation
and the services rendered bv this new-
means of transport. (Comoedia , Paris).

The UFA Co. has produced a film
entitled « Science confined within Books»
which fully illustrates the Lexicon of the
Brockhaus Publishing Company. (Ufa-
dienst, Berlin) .

Herr H. Lieberenz, of Berlin, who
accompanied the Swedish explorer Sven
Hedin into the African desert, has made
a documentary film on the Gobi Desert.
(Bildwart, Berlin).

The « Naturalfilm Hubert Schonger »

of Berlin has released a film illustrating

the transport of trees in the Alps.
(Bildwart, Berlin) .

Dr. Martin Rikli has made a docum-
entary film, 11.000 metres in length, on
behalf of the UFA Company, illustrat-
ing the ethnography, cultural and scien-
tific development, and the zoology cf
Tunis. (Volkjbildungsarbeit , Teplitz).

Mr. Martin Johnson, who led the ex-
pedition into the virgin forests of Afri-
ca, during his four years stay in those
regions took a number of films which
are now collected together under the
title « Simba, the King of Beasts ».
(Vja-Dienst, Berlin) .

The last scenes of the first documen-
tary film of the UFATON have been
taken in Neubabelsberg, m which a
number of extremely rare animals are
shown in their natural habitats. (Co-
moedia, Paris).

The Metro-Goldwyn Mayer Co. has
produced an aviation film entitled « Ica-
rus o. The American Government has
allowed the staff and apparatus of the
San Diego Aviation Academy and of the
aeroplane carrier « Langley » to take
part in the production of this him. (La
Tardc , Bilbao) .

The LTFA Co. has released a film il-
lustrating the life of stray animals in
urban centres. This film is called c< The
Animals of the Metropolis ». (Hannove-
rischer Kiirier, Hanover) .

A leading article describes how the
building of a giant steamer in the We-
ser naval shipyards was cineraatogra-
phed. (Film Illustrierte , Berlin).

Herr Renhold Peting deals with the
film as a substitute for educational tra-
vel. (Rcichsfilmblatt, Berlin).

The Chekoslovakian Ministry of Na-
tional Defence has released a film illus-
trating army mountain manoeuvres.
(Presse Prager, Prague) .

Following on an agreement entered
into with « His Master's Voice » Co.,
the Elstree Studios will bring out a film
under the title « Wolves ». This will
be followed by a film on « 3eethoven »
illustrating the life and the music of the
great composer. (The Daily Telegraph,
London) .

A propaganda film is about to be pub-
lished in New Zealand to make known
its beauties and natural resources. (Mo-
tion Pictures, Washington) .

A film has been taken in a Leper
Colony in Culion, Philippinos, in which
the roles were acted by the lepers them-
selves. (La Cinematografia , Milan).

The UFA Co. has completed a docu-
mentary film on the Panama Canal and
its history. (Motion Pictures, Washing-
ton "l.

489 -

The Goswoienkino Co. of Moscow
(attached to the War Commissariat) has
produced a film on the life ot hunters
in Polar regions. (Deutsche i-ilm-Zei-
tung, Munich) .

An operator of the P. C. D. Com-
pany has taken a film of the last voyage
of the Zeppelin to America {Film Ku-
rier, Berlin).

The German Pharmaceutical Associa-
tion has had a film made, entitled
« German Chemistry ». (Film Kurier,
Berlin) .

The African explorer, Hans Scrom-
burg-, is organizing an expedition mto
ex German East Africa during which
a number of films will be taken.
(Deutsche Filmzeitung, Munich).

In an article entitled « The Spartans
of India » Mr. Himansu Rai describes
the inhabitants of the State of Mewar,
theii customs and usages. This docu-
mentary film is the work of the UFA
Company. (Uja Feuilleton, Berlin).

A new film entitled « Dice casting »
illustrating Indian life and customs, is
described in a leading article. (Berliner
Lo\alanzeiger) .

A documentary film has been produ-
ced on the breeding of cows in East
Russia. (Ostpreussische Zeitung, Konig-
sberg) .

The Vitagraphic Pictures Inc. i<? about
to despatch a cinematographic mission
into the Argentine Republic to film
certain industrial aspects of that country.
The mission will visit also Uraguay and
Brazil. (La Pelicula, Buenos A.yres).

« Angels of Hell » is the title of a
film devoted entirely to military avia-
tion. 80 aeroplanes and one airship will
take part in it. (La Puntalla , Madrid).

The First National Vitaphone will re-
lease a sub-marine talking film which
will reproduce all the sounds rhat can
be registered in the depths of the sea.
(O ester Film -Zeitung, Vienna).

The UFA Co. of Berlin is taking a
documentary film entitled « The Micro-
scope as Detective » demonstrating the
vast differences in perception between
the human eye and the microscope.
(Filmwoche, Berlin).

The celebrated explorer, Dr. W. Fil-
cheer, has taken a film in Thibet to
which he gives the title « On mani
padme lam ». (Munchener Neueste
Nachrichten , Munich).

An extract is given from the book on
the Gorilla by Mr. Ben Burbidge, the
cinema operator of the Congo Film ex-
pedition to study the life and habits of
the gorilla. (Chemmicl^er Tageblatt,
Chemmik) .

A Film entitled « Cleanliness in the
Animal World » has been produced by
the Universum Film Co., illustrating
hygiene among animals. (Bildwart,
Berlin).

The Fox Film Corporation of New
York has produced an interesting docu-
mentary film on the antarctic regions
entitled « The North Pole Tomb ».
(Bildwart, Berlin).

The Emelka Kulturfilm of Munich
has released a film illustrating the new
systems for road building and another
illustrating the building of a bridge on
the Ammer. (Lichtbildbuhne , Berlin).

The UFA expedition has taken a film
in Africa, entitled « Pari » in which
venemous serpents taken in the virgin
forests are shown. (Feuilleton Ufa, Ber-
lin).

The explorer Von Dungern is taking
a film at the source of the Amazon il-
lustrating a hitherto unexplored region.
(Film Kurier, Berlin).

Dr. Ado Buessler, directing the Great
Chaco expedition, in the heart of South
America, is taking a film illustrating
the primitive life and customs of the
ancient Indian tribes. (Film Kurier,
Berlin).

— 490

Mr. Jean Benoit Levy, assisted by
Madame Epstein, has taken a film en-
titled « First Aid before the doctor ar-
rives ». (La Critique Cinematographi-

quc , Paris).

M. P. Drey fuss Lemaitre, comments
on the meeting held in the great Am-
phitheatre of "the Faculty of Medicine
and states that in the course of this
meeting a film was projected (by means
of a special luminous motion slide) for
the purpose of objectifying the normal
and abnormal rhythm of cardiac con-
tractions. (Mon Cine, Paris).

Dr. Ulrich K. T. Schultz, director of
the Ufa Biological Section, contributes
an article on the representation of mi-
crobes on the screen. (Hamburger Ercm-
denblatt, Hamburg) .

The Trader Horn Africa Expedition
cf the Metro Goldwyn Co. has organi-
zed an expedition to take films of the
Murchis-on-Falls (Uganda) region,
where a very grave form of sleepmg
sickness prevails. (Neue Ziiricher Na:h-
richten, Zurich).

An article published in the periodi-
cal « La Rason » of Buenos Ayres dea s
with the problem of the film as applied
to astronomv. (he Figaro, Pans).

Herr Michel Gesell contributes an ar-
ticle on the medical influence of the ci-
nematograph consequent on visual illu-
sions. (Badische Presse, Karlsruhe).

The abolition of vivisection in Eng-
land is dealt with in an interesting ar-
ticle, which suggests that many expe-
riments are being effectively replaced by
films. (Hannoverscher\uner , Hanover).

The Emelka Kulturfilm has brought
out a film on the treatment of carci-
noma hy means of radium and X Rays.
This film also illustrates the treatment
of the invalides. (hichtbildbuhne , Ber-
lin).

SOCIAL ASPECTS OF THE FILM

M. Maurice Rouvroy contributes a
long psycho-criminological study on the
public cinema and childhood, with spe-
cial reference to the instructional film,
the censorship, physical exhaustion, the
influence on criminal tendency, and the
educational screen. (Revue Internationale
de I'Enjant , Geneve) .

A criticism appears on the article in
the « Medical Officer » of London on
« Children as Cinema Actors ». (Revue
Internationale de I Enfant, Geneve).

There is an interesting criticism on the
article recently published in the review
« Maternite » by Monsieur L. Theodor,
Professor at the School of Higher So-
cial Studies in Paris on the subject of
« The Public Cinema and Minors ». (Re-
vue Internationale de I'Enjant, Geneve).

Madame Elmine Pantelaki deals with
the problem of the cinema and minors
and analyzes the problems of the Greek
Cinema. She mentions the foundation in
1927 of the Society for Promoting Ci-
nematographic Shows for Children. (Re-
vue Internationale de I'Enjant, Geneve) .

On the proposal of the Cesare Becca-
ria National Association, the first Italian
Childrens' Tribunal has been instituted
at Milan and has been working for some
months past. (Revue Internationale de
I'Enjant, Geneve).

A petition has been filed with the
competent authorities in England for the
abolition of the Censorship, (h' 'Ann du
Pen pie, Paris).

The French Union of Cinema Thea-
tre Directors has set up a permanent
Board of Arbitration for the purpose of
settling disputes in the profession, (ha
Cinematographic Erancaise , Paris) .

Prof. Elsa Schucker writes on the im-
portance of the cinema in connection
with the young, (ha Cinematographic
Erancaise, Paris) .

491

An English school master writes in cri-
ticism of the laxity of the censorship
and of police regulations which allow
children to attend cinema shows that
are fit for adults only. {The Times,
London) .

Jean Morienval writing on the subject
of the « Employment of Minors in the
Cinema and in Theatres », refers to
the French law passed in 1925 v^hich
raises the age limit at which children
may be so employed from 13 to 15
years. (Le Cineopse , Paris).

The Censors of Maastricht and Sittard
have ordered two cinema halls to be
closed because immoral films were exhib-
ited therein. The Dutch Association of
Film Hirers have had the cinema thea-
tres in both these cities closed by way of
protest. {Film Daily, New York).

The Senate of Wisconsin has not pas-
ted the Bill for allowing Public Specta-
cles on Sundays. {The Film Daily, New
York) .

A leading article deals with the dif-
ficulty of preventing minors from attend-
ing spectables in public cinemas which
are suited to adults only. {The Times,
London) .

Speaking at the International Catholic
Congress at Munich, Dr. Canziani re-
ferred to the question of the moral and
physical dangers which beset minors
employed in cinematographic produc-
tions. {Italia, Milan).

The Rev. D. R. Jones Falconer Fraser
affirms that the cinematograph does not
incite the young to crime. {The Film
Daily, New York).

Mr. Charles E. Milliken, Secretary of
the Motion Picture Producers and Dis-
tributors, expresses the view that, not-
withstanding the efforts made by the
American film industry to organize spe-
cial programs for the young, a great re-
sponsibility must always rest with the
parents in the choice of suitable specta-
cles for their children to attend. {Josy
Journal, Cairo) ,

The Japanese censorship prohibits the
projection of scenes in which kisses occur.
(Kin emato graph , Berlin).

The City of Montreal has decided to
extend censorship to posters and photo-
graphs. {The Film Daily, New York).

Mr. Grant M. Utson will lay a Bill
before Congress at its forthcoming ses-
sion demanding the « economic and po-
litical » censorship of all films intended
for exportation. {Prager Presse, Prague).

Mural posters announcing educational
cinema shows are exonerated from tax-
ation in France. (O. C. E. N., Lille).

The Ministry of Fine Arts having been
abolished in Rumania, all questions
connected with cinematography, broad-
casting, etc., have devolved on the Min-
istry of Public Health. {Lichtbildbuhne ,
Berlin) .

Senor I. G. Veraz Sormani contri-
butes a very interesting article on the
moral improvement of the cinematograph.
(El Man, Barcelona).

Frau Maria Lazar contributes a thought-
ful article on the question of the
employment of minors by the cinemato-
graph. {Der Tag, Berlin).

The Soviet Commissioner of Educa-
tion has issued a decree requiring al1,
cinema advertisement posters to state the
length of the film announced, the time
taken by projection, etc. {Prager Tage-
blatt. Prague).

Mr. Clarence Darrow, an ex-Magistrate,
is the leader of the movement in At-
lantic City against the prohibition of
Sunday entertainments. {Exhibitors' He-
rald World, Chicago) .

An article deals with a recent public
ation in the « Echo dc Paris » in which
Mile Andree Wanda sets forth her
ideas on the cinematograph foi child-
ren along the lines adopted by the
Childrens' Theatre. {Comoedia, Paris).

— 492

Herr J. I. Heifetz, a Professor at
Leningrad, publishes a comprehensive
study on the question of Copyright in
the Soviet Republic. {Droit d'Auteur,
Berne) .

M. Jean Benoit Levy has finished his
latest film « Maternity » dealing with
the general principles of social education.
(L' Ami du Peitple , Paris) .

An interesting article deals with the
question of censorship in India. (Licht-
bildbiihne, Berlin) .

Dr. Fritz Wertheiner, General Sec-
retary of the Institute of Germans resi-
dent Abroad, deals with the cinemato-
graph considered as a connecting 1ink
between persons of a given nationality
settled abroad and their compatriots at
home. (Film-Kurier, Berlin).

The French Ministrv of the Interior
has sent orders to all the Police author-
ities of the Republic to lemove the pos-
ters stuck up by the Legue pour la
defense de I' Idee Francaise , entitled
« France colonized by the American
Film ». {Cine Journal, Paris).

The new British « Hygiene Society »
has released .a film demonstrating the
immense advantages to public health of
the observation of l he general laws of
hvgiene. (Comoedia , Paris).

A leading article contends that films
representing crimes often exercise a mo-
ral and educative influence, by reason
of the normal tendency in mankind for
good sentiments to prevail over bad
ones. (Tremonia, Dartmund) .

A leading article deals at length with
the question of the censorship in Germany
and police regulations, especially in re-
gard to minors, etc. {Berliner Tageblatt,
Berlin).

Germany is about to codify all the dif-
ferent iegulations throughout the Reich
on the exclusion from cinemas jf chil-
dren aged under 16 years of age. (The
Film Daily, New York).

Sound-Film apparatus has been installed
in Sing-Sing Prison (United States) for
the projection of films aiming at the so-
cial re-education of the prisoners. (Heb-
do, Paris).

An interesting article deals with the
question of the social influence of the
cinematograph in japan. (Bourse Egyp-
tienne, Cairo) .

A sort of Film Ministry has been
created in America. This department
will ex?mine the experiments made in
the Government laboratories in order
to give the producers gratis information
on all matters calculated to improve film
production. (Cine Journal, Paris).

Dr. H. Room of Berlin, contributes
an interesting article on the question of
sound films as an auxiliary to medi-
cine, jurisprudence, and criminology.
(Kinotechni\, Berlin).

Dr. Karl Leibig, of the Munich Cen-
sorship Office, contributes an article on
the censorship of films in Germanv as
contemplated by German legislation and
as actualy exercised. (Allgemeine Rund-
schau, Munich) .

A leading article analyzes the new
Russian film « A Fight for Paris » wfr'ch,
while most remarkable from the techni-
cal standpoint, is nothing more nor less
than a communist propaganda film.
(The Daily Film Renter, London).

Dr. Albert Helhvig, of Potsdam, des-
cribes the penalties contemplated by the
new German Censorship Law. (Kino-
mato graph , Berlin ) .

RELIGIOUS FILMS

The Alfa Film Corporation is con-
testing the censoring of the film on
a Martin Luther » in which certain
scenes dealing with the purchase of
absolution were ordered to be excised.
(The Daily Film Renter, London).

Dr. A. Hattensch wilier describes the
cinematographic work carried on by the

493

Catholics in Switzerland, and points out
how this is limited by lack of means.
(Voralberger Vollfsblatt, Bregenz) .

Herr Ernst Mandowski devotes a
long article to the study of the several
films released up to the present dealing
with Biblical subjects. (Berliner Tage-
blatt, Berlin).

The Secretary of the Protestant Al-
liance expresses the view that the pub-
lic has a right to be informed of the
reasons for which the exhibition of the
film « Martin Luther » has been prohi-
bited. (The Daily Telegraph, London).

In an article entitled « The Catholic
Church and the Cinema », Canon Rey-
mond states that the so-called « mora-
lizing » films ought to be proscribed
from public cinema halls because they
don't exercise the slightest moral in-
fluence. (Cine Journal, Paris).

« The Churchman », the organ of the
American Episcopal Church, has pub-
lished an article criticising Mr. Will
H. Hays. This criticism is connected
with the attacks of which Mr. Hays
was the object at the Congress of the
Religious Press at Washington. « The
Churchman » contends that the cine-
matograph industry is in no way concer-
ned with moral and religious princi-
ples. (El Sol, Madrid).

An article is contributed on the film
activities of the Belgian Catholics and
the report of Canon Brohe, who main-
tains that the Belgian Catholics outfit
to endeavour to counterbalance the Pa-
gan tendencies of American film pro-
duction. (Film-Kurier, Berlin).

An interesting lecture by Dr. Hans
Wieg en the subject of c< The Film as
an Economic and Cultural Factor », de-
scribes the course that ought to be pur-
sued by Catholic Film action. (Film
Kurier, Berlin) .

An interesting paper by Father Fried-
rich Muckermann deals with Catholic
principles in connection with the Film.
(Reich sfilmblatt, Berlin) .

The Friars of the Monastery of St.
Francis, near Milan, have released a
film reproducing chaunts and lithurgical
ceremonies, which it is intended to pro-
ject in the presence of the Pope. ( Co-
in oedia, Paris).

TECHNICAL QUESTIONS

An interesting series of articles by Mar-
cel THerbier, Abel Gance, Henri Fes-
court, Flenri Roussell, Jacques de Ba-
roncelli, Germaine Dulac and Henri
Chomette, deals with the different me-
thods used for the development of
sound films. (Le Cinema de Paris) .

Professor E. Moscone puts forward Ita-
ly's claim to be the first inventor of the
synchronized film. (Rassegna Fotografi-
ca, Milan) .

Dr. C. E. K. Mess, Director of the
Scientific Department of the Kodak's
Amateur Section, explains the uses of
1 6 mm. films. (// Progresso Fotografico ,
Milan) .

An article by Herr Ewald Jahn deals
with the function of convertor groups
in cinema projections. (Kinotechni\,
Berlin) .

An article by Dr. A. Klage studies the
movement of electrones in vacant and
gas-filled spaces. (Kinotechni\, Berlin) .

Comprehensive details are given in
regard to Mr. Spoor's invention known
as the ci Giant Plastic Film ». (Kino-
technil^, Berlin).

Herr Hans Pander writes en the tech-
nical perfection of the 16 mm. projec-
tors of the De Vry Co. of Chicago. (Ki-
notechni\, Berlin) .

A studv on the taking of panchromatic
films is reviewed in this number. (Pho-
iographische Industrie, Berlin).

An interesting article is devoted to an
examination of the various technical
problems of the synchronized film pro-
duced in different languages. (Licht-
Bild-Btihne, Berlin) .

— 494

A scries of articles deals with the pro-
blem of cinematographic « faking », (La
Publicidad , Barcelona).

A leading article deals wirth the rea-
son for which the synchronized film does
not always reproduce sounds faithfully.
(Harrison's Report, New York).

Mr. Leonard Donaldson has publi-
shed an article in the « Morning Post »
suggesting the use of the film in exami-
nations for pilots. (Kinemato graph , Ber-
lin).

Ordinary chemistry has found its use
also in cinematography, since by its
means phantoms can be represented on
the screen. (La Tarde, Bilbao).

A study on the technique of film
advertisements appears in this paper.
(Film Kurier , Berlin).

A leading article gives a list of the
several ways of regulating illumination in
order to obtain a perfect rectangle on
the screen. (Le Fascinateur, Paris).

An interesting article deals with the
filming of high frequency images by
means of the Ueber Zeitlupe. (Frank-
furter Oder Zeitang, Frankfort).

Mr. J. H. Goldberg examines the
technical problem of colour effects in
cinematography. (Exhibitor's Herald

World) .

Mr. R. E. Farnum examines the
technical problem of illuminants. (Amer-
ican Cinematographer, Hollywood).

Messrs. H. L. Carlton and J. I. Crab-
tree explain in an interesting article cer-
tain of the properties of cinematogra-
phic developers. (American Cinemato-
grapher, Hollywood) .

An article by Mr. Joseph Dubray deals
with the question of the synchronized
film. (American Cinematographer, Holly-
wood) .

Dr. Diippo Kramer publishes a study
on the sensitiveness of bromide of silver.
(Photographische Industrie, Berlin).

M. F. De Mare contributes an article
on the invention of acetate of cellulose
and states that the process of its manu-
facture being common property, anyone
is able to make films of this kind. (Ci-
ne journal, Paris) .

Mr. Leslie E. Cuffe contributes an in-
teresting article on astronomical photo-
graphy. (American Cinematographer ,
Hollywood) .

Dr. L. Busch, writing on the exhi-
bition of films by amateurs, explains va-
rious methods of obtaining perfect ima-
ges on the screen. (Kine mato graph , Ber-
lin).

An experiment has been made in Eng-
land of the new system of films of
variable dimensions. (The Daily Film
Renter , London) .

An illustrated article deals with the
question of lamps for taking sound and
panchromatic films. (Film Atelier, Ber-
lin).

A striking article deals with the ques-
tion of taking sound films by means
of transverse line phonograms. (Kine-
matograph ,. Berlin) .

Mr. Howard H. Fenner has invented
a new safety mechanism which will be
put on the market by the Indusrial
Development Co. In case of the film
splitting, this contrivance automatically
stops the projector. (The Film Daily,
New York).

Mr. Edmisson has invented a new ap-
paratus for 1 6 mm. sound and talking
films. This apparatus is known as the
Cinemaphone. (The Film Daily, New
York).

Mr. M. Ambard contributes an ar-
ticle on the invention of Mr. Arthur C.
Hardy, the Photoelectrical Colour Ana-
lyser, the purpose of which is the rapid
measurement of colour on reflector sur-
faces. (Revue Optique, Paris).

An inventor at Hollywood states that
ne has discovered a method for produc-

495

ing films of double the normal length
which can be exhibited by means of an
ordinary projector. (American Cinema-
tographer, Hollywood).

The Eastman Kodak Co. has set up
a laboratory at Hollywood which will be
placed gratis at the disposal of cino-
technical experts for the purpose of
their studies and research. (Rivista Ita-
liana di Cinotecnica , Rome) .

A leading article deals with the pro-
gressive development of the Cinemato-
graph from 1923 to the present day.
(Cinema Suisse, Montreux).

An interesting article deals comprehen-
sively with the changes produced in
Japan in all spheres and especially in ar-
chitecture by the cinematograph. (Ber-
liner Borsenzeitung, Berlin).

Herr Georg Otto Stindt deals with the
problem of plastic projections in the fu-
ture. (Film Kurier, Berlin).

The local authorities in Northumber-
land are making great use of the cinema-
tograph for the purposes of teaching, and
have set up screens in a number of
schools. (The Daily Film Renter,
London) .

An interesting study is published on
the German instructional and publicity
him. (Lichtbildbuhne, Berlin).

Plant is being set up in Milan for the
transmission of film images. (// Corriere
della Sera, Milan).

M. Albert A. Greanac, a Chicago Opti-
cian, states that he has invented a sys-
tem for television by means of orange-
coloured rays. (The American Projection-
ist, New York).

An interesting article deals with the
rationalization of the cinema industry in
Russia. (Kinemato graph , Berlin).

Prof. Karolus claims to have solved
the technical problem of teletransmission.
(Neue Wiener Journal, Vienna) .

Senor Jose Antonio De Artigas has
given a lecture at the Royal Academy
of Exact Sciences at Madrid on the « Au-
tomatic reproduction of Colours on the
Cinematograph Screen ». According to
the lecturer, the problem of automatic
colouring of any black and white film
is now definitely solved. (Comoedia,
Pans) .

Various experiments in stereoscopic
films have been made in the Cinemato-
graphic studios of Brooklyn in accordan-
ce with Mr. Randall's system. (El De-
bate, Madrid).

Mr. Hickow, Head Operator at Holy-
wood, states that it is possible to obtain
stereoscopic effects by a discriminating
distribution of half tones. (Sound, Holly-
wood) .

An interesting article by Dr. Patzelt
of Berlin deals with the theory and
practice of projector illuminants. (Kino-
techni\, Berlin).

Mr. Harry Ivarson Blommenholm, of
Oslo, contributes an article on the new
optical commutation projectors, according
to the Gunnar Nilsen Veg system. (Ki-
notechni\, Berlin).

An interesting article by the Russian,
S. M. Eisenstein, deals with the problem
of 3 -dimension cinematography. (Film
Kurier, Berlin).

Dr. LUCIANO De FEO — Editor and Responsible Manager.
« La Cardinal Ferrari » S. A. I. — Tipografia — Via Germanico, 146 — Roma

— 496

LEAGUE OF NATIONS ~.

INTERNATIONAL REVIEW

OF

EDUCATIONAL

CINEMATOGRAPHY

19 2 9
NOVEMBER

fD^T^frLI^UPN °F THE INTERNATIONAL
EDUCATIONAL CINEMATOGRAPHIC INSTITUTE

~ ROME ~

YEAR I. NOVEMBER 1929 N° 5

INTERNATIONAL REVIEW

OF

EDUCATIONAL CINEMATOGRAPHY

MONTHLY PUBLICATION

OF THE INTERNATIONAL EDUCATIONAL CINEMATOGRAPHIC INSTITUTE

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INDEX

P. Sangro y Ros de Olano - The Cinematograph and State Con-
trol 503

F. Maurette - The Cinematograph and the Wor-
kers 511

E. Roux-Parassac - The Marvellous Story of Imagery

and the Educative Role of the

Cinema. 517

W. Schweisheimer - The Film as a Teacher 527

A. de Mad ay - An Enquiry respecting the Cinema-
tograph made in the Schools of
Geneva, Lausanne and Neuchatel 531
R. Namias ......... Colour Cinematography 553

F. Royon - The Red Cross and the Cinema . . 560

From the «Lucey> Institute . - The Franchetti Expedition in Ethio-
pian Dankalia 563

Institute topics :

Legislative Aspects of the Cinema 574

The Cinema in the Service of Hygiene and Social Welfare ... 584

The Technical Aspects of the Cinema. 586

The Use of Educational Motion Pictures by the United States De-
partment of Agriculture 591

The Cinema as an Auxiliary to the Scientific Organization of Labour 595

Notes taken from Reviews and Papers 601

THE CINEMATOGRAPH AND STATE CONTROL.

{From the Spanish)

In few spheres of social activity do we find such freedom
and boldness of opinion and criticism as in that of the cinemato-
graph. Hitherto regarded by most people merely as the most
accessible, the cheapest, and the most popular form of amusement,
the cinema has been treated with scant respect, and its anarchic
development has proceeded pari passu with a general lack of
purpose and a feverish anxiety to doctor its real or supposed ills by
treatment which has mostly proved to be negative and ill-considered.

We do not dispute that this negative policy, always inspired
by the best intentions, has been conscientiously suggested by
competent persons who genuinely believed in the existence of a
cinematograph bristling with defects, but which could be set
right by fetters and remedies. This attitude displayed but scant
faith in and lesser understanding of the so-called seventh art and a
feeble intuition of its means and possibilities.

History ever repeats itself. In this problem, as in the history
of labour, we are bound to pass through the usual phases : laissez
/aire, laissez passer ; and lastly a muddlesome interference, which
claims to set matters right. From this we shall gradually progress
to a conscious and considered, though meticulous, vision of the
problem, and lastly to an organization of producers, hirers, and con-
sumers, which will avoid, as far as possible, any rigid official in-
tervention and commit the care of constructing the cinema of the
future - so much desired by all - to those actually concerned in film
production.

The intervention of the public authorities in the negative
policy so far pursued with respect to film censorship has taken
the following forms :

Restrictions on Production and Exhibition :

Censoring : free admittance to the exhibition of films passed
by the Censor, or admittance subject to certain restrictions.

503

Restrictions on admittance : age limitations. Special certifi-
cates (films pronounced fit for children, either alone or accompanied
by parents or guardians). Special spectacles.

Special Restrictions (with respect to the conditions of exhibi-
tion, etc.) — Lighting of the halls. Supervision of hygiene and
moral behaviour. The actors 'work. Censoring of advertisements, etc.

The third of these groups offers no special interest nor any
insuperable difficulty in connection with the cinema. It be-
longs to the public authorities to provide, by the normal means
at their disposal, for carrying out the formal rules in regard to ex-
hibition.

This is not the case with the first two groups, that is to say,
the measures so far adopted by the authorities — either on their
own initiative or at the more or less general request of public
opinion — especially with respect to the exercise and efficacy of
the censorship and the protection of children in cinemas, a
problem on which we should like to express our views to the
readers of the International Review.

The censorship is, in brief, the authority that claims the pre-
rogative to oppose the free play of any activity in the way of freedom
of expression and opinion. The differences in public opinion
in this regard depend on the constitutional or legal concept of
sovereignty prevailing in the various countries, from those which,
by general consensus of opinion, repudiate any form of censorship,
to others that submit all forms of expression to it. The essential
thing is that some general principle should be established and
that this should be generally recognized and enforced.

Now, is it possible to establish a dogma that will command
sincere and genuine respect in art (or rather aesthetics), in education,
scientific pedagogy, etc ? Does the universal character of the
cinematograph justify a belief in the existence of some general
principle or dogma by which the authorities of all countries will
be able to defend their national spirit ?

I remember hearing the valiant Austrian champion, Dr
Ude, declare at a congress organized by the campaign against
obscene literature that « anyone who was not an idiot knew perfectly

— 504

well whether a thing was pornographic or not ». A truly naif
statement, which even in reference to a subject with which the
general public is pretty familiar, did not satisfy his hearers as
affording a sound criterion for judging erotic art.

The public authorities, however liberal they may claim to be,
must justify and defend the censorship, considered as a legitimate
attribute of the sovereign power.

M. Poucet, the French Under Secretary for Fine Arts, in a
speech he delivered before the Film Authors' Society, after declar-
ing that he did not approve of the restrictions imposed by the
censorship, added : « It is however necessary for the State to
exercise control over films. We cannot run the risk of seeing
our screens given over undefended to the exhibition of films
which, under a seductive aspect, would menace the health of our
national and social organism and demoralize the people. »

After citing such valid evidence, I cannot but call to mind
the Ville Lumiere, {((Paris c'est une blonde... »), Berlin, New York,
Madrid, with their infinite temptations and attractions, their
dancing halls, music halls, the brilliant and frivolous shows of
their reviews, their illustrated papers fluttering like butterflies
over the garden of Bocaccio, and all those other factors which
enervate the national and social organism of all countries, unchec-
ked by the censor, convinced that the self-restraint of the citizens
themselves is the most efficacious form of moral restraint. My
illustrious compatriot, Ramon y Cayal, has expressed this convic-
tion better in these words: « The will itself is the strongest stimu-
lant of the will ». And before his time, it was said : « The evils
of freedom are cured by freedom itself. »

I am myself convinced that certain films, and all films under
certain conditions, may have a pernicious influence on the minds
of the young and not of the young alone ; but I do not think we
should attribute an excessive ascendency to the film as compared
with other mediums of ideas and feeling, such as the press, the
theatre, novels, etc. I am aware that some persons who have de-
voted themselves to studying the moral and scientific aspects of
the question take a view contrary to my own; but I fail to under-

505 —

stand how it is that so far no penetrating and exhaustive enquiry
has been made to show, by irrefutable data, gathered by authorities
free from all anti-cinema prejudice, why preliminary censorship
should be of two different kinds : one almost exclusively political for
the press, for instance, (which tells children all about robberies,
adulteries, frauds and deceits, the hatred and war between classes
and peoples...) and another of a generally rigorous character for
the cinema (which does not yet penetrate our homes for one penny !)
This enquiry should not be limited to the pernicious influence
of the film (and who, indeed, is to prove that it will be pernicious
in many instances ?) but should take into account also the formidable
current of human energy and social good that the cinema has created
between the different peoples. The United States are masters
in this type of enquiry, yet despite of this and of their exemplary
protection of childhood, they have not yet found the best way
of safeguarding the young at cinema spectacles.

Signor de Feo, in a document pregnant with ideas (the state-
ment laid before the fifth session of the Committee on Child
Welfare) supports my opinion that three mistakes are currently
made in censoring the films viewed by the young.

These consist in a lack of psychological, pedagogical and pe-
diatric competence on the part of the censors; the failure to realize,
when fixing age limits, how difficult it is to determine a priori
when the psychological conditions characteristic of childhood
cease ; and the problem of the so-called « foreground ». I may add
that I have found other serious basic defects in the criteria pursued
by the censorships: such as excessive nationalist scruples and a
lack of regard for the child's freedom to express his own views
within reasonable limits.

From the standpoint of efficacy, the censorship seems to me
almost akin to the old system of « lazarets », and the idea that
cholera could be stamped out by prohibiting for a time entrance
into infected areas. Of such a purely negative efficacy is the use
of the scissors in a field of production which cannot be limited,
but should be developed and purified by means of a rigorous se-
lection, which only the education of public opinion can effect.

— 5°6

While the water is contaminated at the source and should be pu-
rified there, the censors are busy catching microbes on official
forms and binding them up with red tape! The partisans of
film censorship defend it as the most practical means of averting
worse evils and the only possible defence of the rights of the public
and especially of the child. But they lose sight of the principal
factors of the educative and social problems of the cinema:

i. The fact that, apart from the official censorship, which
may certainly save trouble to parents and teachers, it nevertheless
behoves the latter to judge whether the children under their care
should or should not attend the cinema, according to the child's
individual characteristics.

2. That the greatest evil of all would be to abandon the
cinema to itself; the whole question really consists in finding the
best means of purifying and directing it.

For our own part, and from a purely practical standpoint,
in the interest of the common weal which would require the public
authorities to exercise paternal control over all classes of citizens,
regardless of age or other distinctions, we would favour a general
system of control (such as has recently been adopted in Italy) over
all forms of public spectacles, and prohibiting in precise and ge-
neral terms all shows liable to offend the fundamental principles
on which the life and actions of the community rest.

Under such a system all those concerned, from producers,
film manufacturers and impresarios to parents, know once and for
all what is allowable, no exceptions being admitted, whether in
regard to arbitrarily fixed age limits or other circumstances. Let
us not fight shy of new ideas or new systems... which, by association
of ideas, recalls to my mind how, in my own Country, a distinguished
President of the Council very nearly brought about a political crisis
by his opposition to the precocious passion of the King of Spain
for automobile driving.

While there are many partisans of film censorship, there is no
lack of opponents either. One of the most convinced of these,
Diamant-Berger (i), declares that the censorship is an outrage

(i) Le Cinema- Par is : La Renaissance dn Lime; 191 9.

5P7 —

on commonsense and a stimulus to hypocrisy. According to this
writer, the censorship has done as much damage to the French
film as the war did, for he considers it more dangerous than
useful to give the constituted authorities the power to enforce
their views. « Censors » he says « are but human, and professional
bias rapidly urges the mildest of men to pursue with sadic avidity
everything that he can possibly prohibit »... « It is an obvious ab-
surdity » he concludes « to look for sensible results from a police-
man ».

The chapter devoted to the censorship in this book is of
great critical severity, yet we must recognize that Diamant-
Berger draws a line between the cinema and the protection of
childhood, and allows that it may be well to prohibit children
going to the cinema unaccompanied by their parents — an
extreme solution which, apart from the difficulty of applying it,,
would place the cinema in an unfavourable position as compared
with all other possible agents of evil, and would make it seem
all the more desirable to the child, like all forbidden things. Adam
was no child and yet he succumbed to the forbidden fruit.

In many countries where a censorship system is in force ,
(I appeal to the loyal testimony of all) the public does not sympa-
thise with or support it, nor does it feel protected by it, and it de-
vises systems of its own to make up for its real or imagined short-
comings. The « Dossiers du Cinema » in France furnishes an
example of this. The fact is that a mere official censorship, un-
supported by public opinion, which falls back on official wisdom,
tends to become a kind of customs house through which there filter
in contraband influences and goods which, being apparently
unobjectionable in their volume, are all the more insidious »
The example offered in respect of drugs and pornographic liter-
ature does not encourage us to place blind reliance in official
action.

It would not, however, be fair for me to overlook the fact
that many competent persons have assured me that in some
countries the censorship laws yield good results. But neither
can I forget the evidence given by the woman Doctor, Delcour,
a member of the advisory commission of the Belgian Junior Red

— 508

Cross Society, in which she stated: « It would appear that the
censorship is in all cases ineffectual... To debar children under
a certain age from going to the cinema is an advertisement for the
condemned film in the eyes of children above that age, and it
must be admitted that whatever is dangerous for a youth of
15 years of age is in all probability equally so for a youth of 17 »,
to which M. Humbert added: « the greater number of the per-
sons consulted consider that the censorship makes it possible to
eliminate at least a part of the harm caused by the cinema theatre ».

Lastly, let me recall that the illustrious Senator Posner, with
characteristic sincerity, recounted to us on one occasion in the
Genevan Committee the numberless and clever methods whereby
the children in Warsaw eluded the regulations that debarred them
from attending the cinema and, for my own part, I frankly declare
that in my own country the mild regulations in this domain are
not obeyed because they are not enforced. That such facts as
these cannot be adduced to the discredit of any particular country
is confirmed by the fact that in the United States and Australia
— both countries in which the law is observed with the greatest
respect and where a number of acts have been passed to restrict
the admittance of children to cinemas — the number of children
who frequent them is exceptionally high: 54 % of the children
in Australia go to the cinema regularly once a week at the least,
and the remaining 46 % per cent go there from time to time.
In the United States 25 % of the children aged less than 12 years
go regularly to the cinema, and 37 % of the audiences in country
districts consists of children beneath this age, as shown in the
de Feo Report to the Committee on Child Welfare.

Now, to pursue this argument a little further, we may ask
whether the 31 countries out of 47 which (as shown by Document
C. P. E. 134 of the Genevan Committee), have passed special
measures regulating the admittance of minors to cinema shows
and the selection of the films shown in their presence, have achieved
any practical results in protecting the young from the pernicious
effects of the film ? In dealing seriously with social problems
such as this, it behoves us to judge impartially, especially when
considering the practical experiences of interference.

509 —

The Inquisition is probably the most perfect and typical
example of censorship that history offers us. Yet, the noble anx-
iety to preserve intact the treasures of the Faith, though sup-
ported by almost unanimous opinion, could not, even by the
sacrifice of human life, prevent ideas from being expressed and
spreading. I neither judge, nor comment; I merely record facts.

In selecting as the subject for this article the limitations
which government interference imposes on the cinema, in its
more or less successful effort to purify it, my main object was to
call attention to what I regard as possible deviations from the duties
which the public authorities and public opinion can practically
carry out in this domain, if they wish to make use of the film for
the advance and improvement of mankind.

The cinema is a fairly faithful reproduction of life. What-
ever we offer it — virtue, vice, heroism, baseness — the luminous
screen gives back to us. Let us make life more moral and more
beautiful, let us raise the tone of social feeling, and the screen
will reflect our efforts brilliantly.

I do not suggest that the public authorities should divest
themselves of powers they consider necessary, so long as they use
and do not abuse them, or create an obstacle to evolution and
progress. Although I am no partisan of systems that denote a
lack of public opinion and public spirit, I nevertheless accept the
need for their enforcement until such time as the general level of
the cinematograph world is not such as to render them superfluous.
This seems a long way off, but under the influence of the Rome
Institute of the Cinema the right spirit may yet be formed through
concentric ways — through the family, religious influences, and
the peoples themselves.

My views of the question may be expressed as follows : create
the educational cinema for the people and educate the people for
the cinematograph.

Piero Sangro y Ros de Olano.
Marques de Guad-el-Jelu.

Professor of Social Legislation.

— 5io

THE CINEMATOGRAPH AND THE WORKERS

(From the French)

When the first International Cinematograph Congress met
in Paris in September 1928 under the auspices of the recently
constituted International Institute of Intellectual Cooperation,
the International Labour Office took part in its proceedings and
laid a number of reports before the Congress. The Congress
forthwith entrusted the execution of various definite tasks to the
International Labour Office.

As an outcome of this Congress, an international commission
on the educational film was set up in Paris, at the office of the In-
stitute of Intellectual Cooperation ; the I. L. O. was invited to
take part in it, and accepted.

Meanwhile, a European commission on the cinematograph
as applied to teaching was formed ; this developed in time into an
international commission, with its secretariat in Bale. The Interna-
tional Labour Office followed its work with interest and took
part in its various congresses.

Last but not least, on the generous initiative of the Italian
Government, the International Educational Cinematographic
Institute was created in Rome, under the auspices of the League of
Nations ; its statutes provided that the Director of the I. L. O. or his
representative should take part in the proceedings of its governing
and executive bodies on the same footing as the Secretary General
of the League of Nations, the Director of the International Insti-
tute of Intellectual Cooperation, and the President of the Interna-
tional Institute of Agriculture.

It should, moreover, be recalled that long before the Congress
of September 1926, the I. L. O. had introduced into its organiza-
tion a modest cinematographic service and compiled a catalogue
of films of « social » interest.

All this shows that the I. L. O. is present, and its presence is
deemed proper and necessary, wherever the film, and more parti-

511 *-

cularly the educative film, is in question. Why? Because, by its
very essence and underlying principle, the International Labour
Office must consider all questions which interest the worker, and
because all workers are interested in the cinematograph and above
all in the educational cinematograph.

The cinematograph is a multiform industry that appeals to
many categories of vocation ; to intellectual workers : scenario
writers, scene directors (producers), managers, actors, scene paint-
ers and decorative artists, photographers, and chemists; to manual
workers : machine operators and electricians ; and « non manual »
workers : projection operators, the employees of cinema halls, etc.
Very special conditions of work, the regulation of which gives rise
to hitherto unforeseen problems, apply to most of the above
workers. The peculiarity and delicacy of these conditions are
all the greater from the fact that the cinema employs a large num-
ber of women and children. The conditions of work in the cine-
ma are hardly comparable to those prevailing in other places of
entertainment : theatres, music-halls and concert-rooms. It is,
for instance, difficult to conceive conditions more different than
those of the work and general life of children employed in cinema
studios and on the theatrical stage: night work, opportunities for
study, risks of illness — no two conditions are alike. The cinema,
moreover, has its own conditions of remuneration and arrange-
ment of working hours ; its specific vocational illnesses and risks
of accident.

It is only natural that the I. L. O. should pay special atten-
tion to the peculiar labour conditions in studios ; it has its duties
towards film workers, as towards all other classes of workers. As
far back as 1928, it laid before the Paris Congress a first prelimi-
nary report on vocational diseases in the cinema industry, and was
requested by the Congress to pursue the study and to carry out
others on the labour conditions of children employed in studios
and on those prevailing in the industry as a whole. This enquiry
is now in progress.

It is obvious, therefore, that this is a domain well within the
competence of the International Labour Office and to which it

512

has very properly devoted its attention for some time past. The
cinematograph interests the labour world, since tens of thousands
of workers depend on it for a living.

But the cinematograph does not concern merely some par-
ticular category or categories of workers ; it concerns them
all. How ? As a means of employing their leisure hours.

For the past quarter of a century, efforts have been devoted
to reducing the worker's working-day, so as to make it possible
for him to find time for physical recreation and to cultivate his
mind between the hours of wTork and of sleep ; to enable him, in
short, to live like a human being. Everything in the world's so-
cial organization (and here we have the I. L. O. more especially
in mind), as in its economic organization (and here we are more
particularly thinking of rationalization) tends towards a rational
and humane disposition of the working day that allows proper
time for leisure.

As far back as 1924, the International Labour Conference
opened its recommendation on the utilization of the worker's lei-
sure addressed to the States adhering to the Organization with
these words :

a Considering that, by the adoption at its first meeting held in
Washington of an agreement on the hours of labour, it (the Con-
ference) aimed more particularly at ensuring to the worker, in
addition to the requisite hours of sleep, sufficient time to do what
he pleases, in exact accordance with the etymological meaning
of the word « leisure » ;

Considering that the worker can employ these leisure hours
to develop, according to his own tastes, his physical, mental, or
moral capacities, and that all such effort is in the highest interest
of the advance of civilization ».

To offer the worker the means of utilizing his leisure time
is as much as to offer him the means of educating himself, culti-
vating his mind, and obtaining relief from his daily cares, imparting
a touch of imagination and beauty to the terre a terre daily round of
his labour and existence. Now, in the cinema have we not an
unique instrument, capable of offering the worker the means of
satisfying this triple need ?

2-ingl. 513

The desire to learn. — What better means is there than the
documentary film for making him acquainted with the work of
his fellows at the antipodes, the points wherein they differ and those
wherein they are akin in their daily work, thus affording him a view
of the diversity and of the unity of labour ? What better means
is there of imparling, without effort, the elements of science, of
inspiring him with the desire to live healthily, to demand and ob-
serve proper hygienic rules in the workshop and, where necessary,
to avoid accidents at work ?

The desire to cultivate his mind. — The cinema offers the
worker a daily opportunity, if he wishes it, to travel, without stir-
ring abroad, a vision of the wide world, and the reproduction of
the finest works of art ; by the intelligent and faithful interpreta-
tion of literary or scientific works, it inspires him wTith the
ambition to read and to know them.

The desire for diversion. — We assuredly have all workers in
mind here, but more particularly the manual worker. What does
relaxation from work mean to him ? It means first of all physical
relaxation ; after eight hours or more shut up in the workshop,
he requires exercise in the open air. After having worked certain
muscles of his body — always the same muscles — for hours on
end, he is able to exercise and strengthen them all, to aerate his
lungs, to relax the strain on his heart. It means also mental relaxa-
tion. As regards food for the mind, nothing will ever replace read-
ing and the opportunities for meditation arising therefrom, or
a leisurely stroll through a museum at one's own sweet will. A
good gymnasium, a good library, a good museum — all these
are precious things for the manual worker. The cinema will
not replace them. But what valuable supplementary advantages
it offers the worker !

It brings its own peculiar and powerful contribution as an
auxiliary to the time-honoured methods of culture ; the univer-
sality of its unspoken language, its gift of addressing itself to the
most receptive and best developed of all our senses, that of sight ;
the faculty of appealing at once to feeling and intelligence, of sug-
gestion as a step to understanding ; in short it contributes what
we may define as its facility of access.

— 514

This, indeed, is the essential virtue of the cinema for the edu-
cation of the workingman — at least under the prevailing con-
ditions of modern economic life.

Gymnasiums, libraries, museums : how many workers are
not deprived of these throughout their daily life, by the very con-
ditions of their work ? In big cities, the workman may enjoy
these, or they are within his reach. But, reflect for a moment on
the agricultural workers, scattered in small groups around a farm,
at a distance from any big centre : where can they seek the library
or museums to supply the modest mental pabulum they need ?
Reflect on the workers in factories, electric power stations, electric
steel works, paper- works, mills, silk factories, etc., lost in the moun-
tainous heights, close to the white coal mines (water-power stations)
in the high table-lands where man chains the power of the torrents .
There are no museums, no libraries (or only the most rudimentary)
for these, no theatres, not even the animated spectacle of the streets,
which is one of the main attractions of the big cities and perhaps
one of the best schools for teaching the realities of life. Now, all
these things which are lacking for the country labourer and the
worker in the mountain factories are supplied him by the cine-
matograph. What are the requisites for this ? A modest meeting
hall, an inexpensive screen, projection apparatus costing a reason-
able price, and lastly, a good film distribution system. As re-
gards all the former factors, what little village, what country parish,
what small factory organization — what big farm, indeed — has
not got these within its reach ?

As for the last factor — namely, a good film distribution
and circulation system — many efforts have been made to pro-
vide for this in different countries. As far back as 1926, the In-
ternational Labour Office, in the preliminary report on the cine-
ma and the workers' leisure which it laid before the Paris Congress,
summarized what had been done in this direction all over Europe,
from England to Belgium and Russia, from the Scandinavian
Countries to Germany, Italy, and France. The Office is just now
bringing to a close a more comprehensive and highly encouraging
study of this subject.

515 -

In a field such as this, everything depends on making up good
programmes, where the useful does not encroach on the agreeable
at the risk of becoming boring, and which provide the worker not
only with the knowledge, but also with the entertainment that he
needs ; and in the convenient, practical, and inexpensive organi-
zation of the distribution, circulation and hiring of the films. It
is not so much a question of production (for we already have a
great number of good films of all kinds) as of setting up organisms
capable of selecting the films, of drawing up programmes, and of
managing the distribution and circulation thereof, right to the
most isolated and abandoned groups of that big mass of consumers
formed by the world of labour.

In this regard, the International Labour Office represents the
« consumers ». The International Educational Cinematographic
Institute possesses all the necessary qualifications as « organizer »
and « distributor ». We doubt not for a moment that these two
great organizations will work together in active and earnest part-
nership in the interest of the workers and — to cite the words of
the 1924 recommendation — « for the progress of civilization ».

Fernand Maurette

Head of the Scientific Section
of the I.L.O.

-516

THE MARVELLOUS STORY OF IMAGERY
AND THE EDUCATIVE ROLE OF THE CINEMA

Art is speech made visible
Dante.

The world is a book of images
Baudelaire.

(From the French)

We read in Holy Script this axiom for all teachers : « The
letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life ». But, since the advent of
the cinematograph, it looks as though the living image had indeed
spelt the doom of the letter, without encroaching on the essential
part of the spirit.

Descartes's words ring truer than ever: « we think in sensible
images », and herein we find confirmed the precepts of the natu-
ralist school and the reflections of Aristotle, Epicurus and Zeno:
« Nihil est in intellectu, quod non prius fuerit in sensu ». And
S. Thomas Aquinas expressed himself in terms similar to the
philosophers.

Such is the educative role of the cinematograph. But this
amazing magician is equally capable of proving his excellence by
the inversion of these formulae and of justifying these profound
words of Chateaubriand: « We must lead the people by imagi-
nation to reality ».

The screen demonstrates the power of the image, it conse-
crates the quest of ages', and solves the problem of the universal
language which learned philologists have sought in vain.

And yet, in its present form, and despite the relative degree
of perfection attained, the image still lisps somewhat, it is far from
having attained to complete expression or the full development
of its beauty.

But what a splendid beginning and what a lightning triumph !
No invention of man has so rapidly conquered the continents,
nor evidenced such universal power.

517 —

A short sketch of the history of imagery throughout the ages
will not lack interest. First of all, let us define the cinematograph
and enquire into its pre-natal history as well as consider what
it is and may become.

If we consider it merely as the enfant prodige, born of the
marriage of photography and mechanics, devised incontestibly
by the Frenchman, Louis Lumiere, of Lyons, then assuredly the
cinematograph was born but yesterday.

But, in truth, it comes to us from far-off times and great
distances, on the swift wings of light, but also by the slow vehicle
of computations, of experiments that check or foster imagination,
by the thorny route of discovery.

What is the cinematograph ? A mere illusion; the surprising
quickening of fragments of dead things, which take on a semblance
of life, untruth transformed into factitious truth, the miracle of
wizard light, a mass of fictions culminating in the strangest of
realities.

We see, we believe, we are voluntarily deceived and most
agreeably convinced.

Man has captured movement — that most elusive and fra-
gile of contingencies; from this he has contrived to trace back
to inner causes and define the forms thereof; he has seized the
unseizable, for the moment has no more actual existence in time
than the geometrical point in space.

Here action gives concrete form to thought; the states of the
soul are expressed as much by gesture as by expression, by the
mysterious language of light and shadow. Night and day have
an eloquence of their own, no less than the play of physiognomy;
this had to be revealed.

All this was done aeons ago in the simplest way possible.

One of our ancestors came forth from his cave one fine morning,
and having made his way through the treacherous maze of the
forest, he emerged into the sunlight. A strange being appeared
at his side and dogged his footsteps, now dwindling to a dwarf,
now growing to a giant. For a long time the puzzled ancestor
regarded this image; he shook his fist at it in self-defence and
it responded to his wrath.

-518

Man had discovered his shadow and, all unwittingly, had
made the cinema. Nothing, in fact, was missing: neither light,
nor the object, nor projection on the screen of the earth, nor that
essential condition, movement.

Our ancestor made his way further on to the spring; the mirror
of the water was before him; he drew back, amazed.

A face rose from the depth of the waters towards his face,
through the liquid transparency, and the trees and the sky sur-
rounded it. #

He could not understand this strange phenomenon, and it
worried him. But he knew it to be his own face when he led his
mate to the enchanted spring and beheld her too twice over,
standing beside him in the still air and there again in the limpid
water.

Thus man came to conceive the portrait, and to snatch at
the dream which led in time to drawing, painting, and statuary,
later on to photography and, all unexpectedly, the cinematograph.

Man felt less alone, when accompanied by his shadow or the
effigy of his face. He came to take for granted a double existence
down here; one tangible and one unreal. This was, no doubt,
the origin of the Egyptian idea of the double and the Christian
notion of the guardian angel.

This dream seemed so far removed from human possibilities
that several religions forbade images, as evincing an ambition to
imitate the Creator.

Now our ancestor returned to his cave. He seized on a
bone, already sharpened as a weapon of defence, or a piece of
flint he had detached with his hatchet, and he engraved on the rock
his remembrance of the beings that surrounded him; firstly his
dangerous foes of the forest, that he might recognize them and
put his family on their guard against them.

With a stroke he evoked the image of the bear and the bison.
This was, unquestionably, the first educational document of ima-
gery. The rough drawings were indeed a means of teaching.
Later on, man reproduced familiar animals, so as to exercise his
imagination and decorate his retreat. Then he added colour,

5'9 —

tried hard to make his representation faithful, and even to master
movement.

This is why he multiplied his lines in his effort to give the
illusion of movement. At a more advanced stage of civilization,
he endeavoured to decompose gestures, or else, without paying
any heed to his model, he added legs and arms, as we see so often
in Hindu art. Some persons have sought to discern symbols in the
curious idols thus graven; we incline to the interpretation that this
was an endeavour to reproduce life, whether it be in the seven-
armed Buddhas or the coiled-up serpents that form a stand for
him.

Some of the Angkor- Val bas reliefs seem to grow alive if we
look at them while walking. The Boeroeboedoer friezes in Java
unfold a chronographic story of the life of Buddha. The same
curious effort to grasp movement is to be found in the Egyptian
bas-reliefs and even in the hyeroglyphs. In the eastern frieze
of the Parthenon, known as the frieze of the gods, there is a sin-
gular effort to analyse chronologically the movement of walking ;
this is also to be noted in the racing horses and the gestures of their
riders, in the western frieze.

We might cite a number of examples in support of our theory:
they are to be found everywhere in Rome, especially on the tombs
and in mosaics. Look carefully at the sarcophagos of Alexander,
discovered at Sidon in 1877, now ^n Constantinople, and the mosaic
known as the Battle of Alexander, discovered at Pompeii in 1831.

Right back in these remote times imagery was cultivated, not
only for aesthetic reasons, but also for educational. Artists con-
trived to conceive life in the suppleness of line and the modelling
of form.

In primitive times, letters were unknown; they were preceded
by the image, with the intention, as we have already said, of il-
lustrating, informing, and teaching.

Ideographic signs were the first form of graphic images.

The letter alone kills, and that is why the illuminators were
wont to illustrate the margins of their copies. They decorated
their parchments with compositions more suggestive than the texts;
beside the written lines we find a sort of still projection.

— 520

Teaching by images dates back to unsuspected origins, which
it would be fascinating to recall in a comprehensive treatise on
education.

The following passage from Anastasius has lost nothing of its
truth with the passing of twelve centuries: « Some learned men »
he said « take care to teach us that painting can reproduce all that
history records and that it must be as clearly enunciated as speech;
that writing and painting are indeed the same thing ».

I could readily produce a hundred quotations in support of
the superiority of the image for teaching. Let me quote the fol-
lowing very typical words of Saint Gregory of Nazianze : « To
be an artist does not consist in laying a number of colours on a
picture like flowers scattered in a field; the able painter is he who
gives us real, living, speaking images ».

Till the first century of our Era, the walls of churches, like
the sides of the catacombs, were entirely clothed in painting, and
by mosaics commenting maxims, even the ground was thus decorat-
ed; all this was for the instruction of the faithful.

The Synod of Arras, held in 1025, sa^ tnat tne images where-
with the sanctuaries were decorated were the books of the unlet-
tered: « Illiterati quod per scripturam picturae lineamenta contem-
platus ».

We need hardly point out the double mission of stained glass,
often distributed, after the manner of films, and depicting a life,
a miracle, a legend, or a Chapter of the Scriptures in a series of
pictures. Angels unroll bands, like film ribbons, on which are
displayed images underlined or surrounded by explanatory texts.

The stained glass windows projected and paraded their multi-
coloured images on the flags of the cathedrals. Lit up by the
sun, they arrested attention and were pregnant with the most direct
and resolute suggestion.

From its inception, the printed book emerged illustrated from
the press. This is evident from the rich Vatican collection ;
for Rome had the honour of possessing the earliest celebrated
presses, the Vandelm of Spires and the Jenson of Venice.

It is, however, a fact that imagery in schools served the purpose

521 —

only of agreeable, futile, or indispensable illustration, up to the
close of last century. It was as though teaching remained an
austere function and apart. Great pains were taken in commentaries
and dissertations, while the value of easier and more efficacious
forms of teaching were overlooked.

Great educators suggested nature study and object lessons,
without themselves discerning the virtue of the image.

The magic lantern had a very singular career, restricted to
mere amusement purposes and thus discredited, as was well nigh
the case with the cinematograph, when it denied its true function
and strayed into the domain of the theatre and fantasies of literary
illustration.

Still projections for the purposes of teaching date back half
a century; but they never went very far.

We must, however, here make mention of a precursor, and
award him the honour of having been the first pedagogue by images.
I refer to the Comte de Paroy, one of the Dauphin's masters.

He explained in a remarkable manner to the Queen Marie
Antoinette the advantages and amenity of lessons assisted by those
glass slides which the Savoyard chimney-sweeps were wont to
hawk about Paris to amuse the crowds.

In his Memoires which are preserved in the Bibliotheque
Nationale, we read:

« I suggested the magic lantern to the Queen, but she consi-
dered this ridiculous. True, Your Majesty, it has up to the present
been in the hands only of ignorant clowns who go about the streets
with their marmots; the subjects painted and shown on the glasses
are on a par with their naif commentaries; the more grotesque they
are the more they make the children laugh. For a long time past,
I have had the idea of ennobling this example and of making it
subservient to childrens' education.

« I have always been struck by the attraction that the magic
lantern has for children and have thought that one ought to choose
good subjects and to multiply copies by a special process, so as to
be able to transfer the images onto glass. In this manner one could
obtain a great number of images of the same object and distribute
them at a moderate charge.

— 522

« One might represent all the subjects from sacred and secular
history, the holy mysteries, mythology, natural history, and even
mathematics. They should be accompanied by explanatory
booklets, mentioning the works wherein more detailed and scien-
tific elucidation might be sought.

« Schools and colleges would be glad to occupy their pupils
in this manner at winter evening entertainments. A small con-
tribution would enable the directors of such establishments to
possess a considerable number of glass slides. A method of edu-
cation such as this would spread from China to Canada, and I
should be proud indeed if it might make a start with the education
of his Highness, the Dauphin ».

These lines set forth nearly the whole programme of the edu-
cational film. In less precise terms, but with amazing foresight,
Fenelon expressed the hope that new methods might be introduced
into the schools. In his book, Traite de V Education des Filles,
we find the following reflections: « The child's mind is like a lamp
lighted in a place exposed to the wind; its flame flickers continuously.
A child asks you a question, and before you have had time to answer,
his eyes have strayed to the ceiling; he is counting all the figures
painted there, or the panes of glass in the casement. Ah, that we
might have some means of making images file past him, and of
stopping them so as to impress them on his mind ! What rapid
progress we should make ! ».

This means has been furnished us by the cinema in a manner
surpassing our wildest hopes. The film synthesizes all that is
most valuable in the image, all that can serve to train and educate
the child, or promote social and moral education. Thus it achieves
the object which our ancestor dimly discerned.

. By the artifice of illusion, the cinema may be said to recreate
life. It makes us understand the words of Masson: « The more
we love truth, the more surely are we seduced by all that which
takes on its semblance ».

The first, the real, the only worthy application of the film
is to teach; all other uses are secondary, whatever the defenders
of the mute art may claim. There is, indeed, no mute art, there

523 —

is no seventh art; I go so far as to contest that the cinema is in its
very nature an art at all.

In any case, we are entitled to claim it as an unrivalled edu-
cator, whether for good or for evil, whether precious or despicable.
It is up to us to use it for the good and the beautiful alone, these
two qualities going hand in hand in the formation of character,
the exercise of intelligence, and the development of the heart.

It is important that all films should instruct or fortify, forewarn
or correct. We do not want dull pictures; far from this, they ought
to arouse our curiosity, move us, make us laugh with enjoyment.

These conditions apply even to scholastic and documentary
films; do not let us replace arid texts by crude illustrations. Let
us provide attractions for all ages, for the improvement of all.

The three essential qualities for an instructional film, an edu-
cational film, or a film for social propaganda, are: truth, clearness,
beauty.

It must be truthful, that is to say, accurate and alive; it must
be clear, which means that it should engross, without tiring atten-
tion; beautiful, for all imagery appeals and interests by its aesthetic
quality.

These three factors depend, moreover, on a fundamental
principle, the cinegraphic sense, the condition sine qua non of mo-
vement, whether the object be alive or whether it take on the sem-
blance of life by clever presentation and well calculated and artistic
effects of light.

Both pedagogic and technical ability are essentials in the con-
struction of a school film; a combination of knowledge and capacity
but rarely realized.

In this study we must limit ourselves to pointing out general
principles; and defer to a later article a more comprehensive survey
of cinegraphic teaching, in its several aspects.

No one is able to create a good instructional or educational
film unless he appreciates fully the value of the image and can give
expression to all its persuasive eloquence.

Let us make no mistake, our methods of teaching call for com-
plete renewal. It is a matter both of progress and of going back

— 524

to the past. The film carries the teacher back to the Socratic
method and at the same time compels him to take up new processes,
unknown till our own time. Contrarily to what is generally sup-
posed, the screen addresses itself to all our faculties, to the ima-
gination and to reflection. It is able to meet the present needs
of overladen programmes, to solve the fomula: quickly and tho-
roughly, but not without effort on the part of both teacher and
pupil.

This pedagogy is founded on Horace's wise maxim: « It is
good to hear, but better to see. What enters by the ears has a
longer way to go than what enters by the eyes, which are our surest
and most faithful witnesses ».

Films of a social tenour have the same exigencies and demand
enormous psychological insight.

Whether addressed to the crowd or to the elite, the image must
always be as precise as a well chosen word, so as to form
measured phrases in good taste whose meaning is self-evident.
To be boring is a fatal quality. The juste milieu must be sought
between sermon and pleasantry.

There is another legend to be contradicted in connection with
documentary and general culture films, which are supposed to be
devoid of scheme and not to entail lengthy preparation.

It is a more difficult and more delicate matter to produce a good
school, educational or social film, than to stage the most showy
scenic super-film. We have hundreds of renowned and able pro-
ducers; in the whole world we have hardly any authors of genuine
instructive and educational films. There are but few indeed who
have specialized in this line and who are armed with the experience
of several years.

Another point that should be borne in mind is that there is a
deplorable lack of excellent school and social propaganda films. The
banal documentary film has been too much confused with the image
for instruction.

Let us not hesitate to admit it : both children and the general
public have too often been driven away from the screen by absurd
and vulgar productions. Too many persons have improvised

525

themselves in this branch of the cinematograph and have discredited
or paralyzed it by their irrelevancies.

For this reason we should like to see, especially in Europe,
the few specialists belonging to the different countries grouped to-
gether, under the auspices of the International Educational Cinema-
tographic Institute in Rome. In this manner we could safeguard
the film we have at heart, and make it better known, more influen-
tial, and more widely diffused throughout the world.

In this way we should avoid mistakes, discourage the inept,
and help the master craftsmen of this art.

The image, marvellously distributed on all the screens of the
world, penetrating the minds of all, disseminating notions of
science and morals, is symbolic of the modern book, the Book,
which it is no longer necessary to translate into the different
idioms.

We can never devote enough knowledge and enough money
to make of it an instrument of pure truth, the messenger of peace
and good-will, the mentor of mens' minds and the guide of their
consciences.

Let us make for all men a magnificent book of images, to teach
them their duties, to enlarge their virtues, and to enable them
in an agreeable manner to beautify their lives by a common ideal.

Emile Roux-Parassac.

Correspondent Member of the I. E. C. I.

-526

THE FILM AS A TEACHER
THE DRAMATIZED POPULAR EDUCATIONAL FILM

(Drom the German)

A popular educational film, to be effective, should not be
restricted to mere instruction or information. Its aim is to touch
and stir the souls of the indifferent. The dramatic form is the
most suitable for making a lasting impression.

Seriousness of purpose must always remain apparent. But
the stale and the dry are mortal enemies of all popular educational
endeavours. The dramatic form is the most captivating to the
spectator. The peculiar characteristic of the film, the achievement
of the maximum effect by dramatic means, should be made the
most of and should never be sacrificed to any pseudo-scientific
demands.

Take, for instance, the subject of contagious venereal disease.
The real facts, the cause and the method of transmission, the
symptoms and possibilties of cure must of course be represented
in the pure instruction film. But the psychic conflicts arising
from such factors, such as the undermining of health and ca-
pacity for work, the ruin of family life, the peril to the children,
all elements which have a decisive influence in the popular ima-
gination, cannot be conveyed by a mere film of instruction. Only
by means of dramatic elaboration is it possible really to convey
to the masses this eminently important social hygienic problem.

Thus the doctor should have recourse to the screen drama,
which is the only form of the popular educational film capable of
achieving lasting effect.

Boredom is the arch enemy, to be avoided at all costs. There
is a close link between the business of the film producer and
the interest of the doctor w7ho pursues social hygienic ends.

While the hygienic import of the film must be made apparent,
and must even be present in the consciousness of the spectator

527 —

from the very beginning, the theme is only the skeleton. Like the
amusement film, the instructive film should, above all things,
grip and entertain the public. The motive, though dominating
the dramatic action, should be subordinated in detail, being skil-
fully adapted and woven into the dramatic action.

The doctor's contribution in the development of a recrea-
tional film is quite different from what his task would be in a
scientific film of instruction. He may be perfectly capable of as-
suming the sole responsibility for the direction of the latter. But
it is the technical scene director whose competence as regards
effect is decisive for the popular instruction film, for he is the
expert , familiar with the ways and means of influencing the masses
of film frequenters. Collaboration between the director and the
doctor is requisite for a complete result. In this partnership the
doctor's part is that of inner elaboration, the director's the
production of the exterior impression.

Squeamishness and exaggerated reserve should be avoided.
Clear terms, emphati accents, stirring action are necessary, if in
the space of two hours an idea is to be impressed on the inmost
heart and mind of the spectator. The doctor's task is a two-fold
one. Firstly, to supply the hygienic groundwork and its scientific
bases ; secondly, to make sure that the idea is neither falsified
nor belittled. This is quite possible, even though he may subor-
dinate its execution to the demands of the film director. Each
party will hold himself in check in the interest of the general
result. The dramatic embodiment has its limits where the
sincerity and the applicability of the educational film would be
impaired.

Perfect production, unity of direction and acting, and im-
peccable photographic technique are indispensable. Unless these
conditions are fulfilled the spectator, accustomed to the per-
fections of the amusement film, will repudiate the film of in-
struction as second class and shoddy in point and purpose.

How should didactic ideas be conveyed ? By the repetitive
method of inserting short scenes in recreational films ? Or by
expression in a special dramatic film with a purpose ? Although

-528

the first method of short scenes introduced into the film drama may-
awaken fugitive interest and attention, they can scarcely ensure
lasting effect. The scenes pass too rapidly. The spectator should
be made aware from the outset of what is going to be shown him,
and for this reason motion pictures devoted to the production
of a definite concept are of decisive significance for popular in-
struction; in other words, films with a purpose. There is no reason
to dissimulate the didactic purpose. It may be frankly announced
at the outset, only provided that the execution be good, stirring,
and adequate.

Practical experiments have already been made. Several films
of value from the social hygienic viewpoint have made a triumphal
progress through the motion picture theatres of all the towns and vil-
lages of the civilized world. The enormous interest of all classes in
such film? is demonstrated by the way in which every skilfully hand-
led idea-film is seized upon by the masses, insatiable for knowledge.
But one single film of ideas cannot of course achieve lasting results.
The problem is to say the same thing pe.Hstently over and over
again ; the difficulty, to put the same content into constantly
new form and, by variety of nuance, to steer clear of monotony.
No single hit, however brilliant, can bring about the desired mass
effect, but only the methodical process, lasting through years and
years.

It would be an error to dispense with the accompaniment
of music, the elimination of which has sometimes been demanded
in the case of the educational film. It is not by the lack of music
that the public should be made aware that there is a fundamental
difference between the film of instruction and the film of amuse-
ment. That difference must be made apparent by the interior
structure of the film. Besides which, the accompanying music
best prepares the ground for the emphasis of the image, height-
ening the spectator's receptivity and enhancing his willingness to
accept the idea.

The film theatre must remain a place of recreation, for then
the occasionally inserted hygiene films are much more effective
and reach an audience which would sedulously avoid any public

3-ingl. * 529 —

place of instruction. And it is just such an audience that should
be reached, for it consists of people who do not know how to obtain
instruction on hygienic problems and who, indeed, have no idea
that such a thing even exists, or else of those who, although they
are aware of the problems and the opportunities for information,
shun either from laziness or lack of time the small effort they
would have to make to find out what is worth knowing. The few
who want to know and try to find out are only of secondary im-
portance for a popular film of instruction, for such people are
capable of getting for themselves the information about things
that interest them. The ignorant and the indolent can nowhere
be more readily influenced by an idea than in the cinema.

It is there they are to be found packed in solid masses. Every-
one, in brief, « goes to the pictures » and it is there that they must
be handled. An expert, reasonable, and responsible application
of the film of instruction can bring about results in hygienic edu-
cation which, transcending in their effects the short hour of the
projection and the immediate small circle of spectators, are of
service to a whole people.

Dr. W. SCHWEISHEIMER.

53o

AN ENQUIRY RESPECTING THE CINEMATOGRAPH
MADE IN THE SCHOOLS OF GENEVA, LAUSANNE AND

NEUCHATEL

by Prof. Andre de Maday, Librarian of the International Labour
Office, in collaboration with Mile Hermine Aellig, Mile Rose Jung
and the students of Neuchdtel University, the W omens' School of
Social Studies in Geneva, and the Institut J. J. Rousseau at Geneva,

{From the French)

Introduction.

The enquiry the findings of which are published herewith
was carried out in 19 14 and 191 5, and may therefore be taxed
with being somewhat behind the time. In deciding to publish

{Ed. Note) We have pleasure in publishing herewith the first part
of Prof. De Maday's interesting study ; the second part containing the
results of the enquiry will appear in our next issue.

Such studies as these of De Maday and Mr. Finegan (which appeared
in our August issue) are always welcome to the Review. The school film
is still viewed with distrust by teachers and educators in many coun-
tries, and in other countries the governing classes are prejudiced against
it as a means, or even an auxiliary, of instruction.

And yet there can be little doubt that the film is one of the most
potent instruments that mechanical science has placed at the service of
teachers in all branches of education. The systematic publication of
the enquiries carried out and the studies and experiments pursued in
this field, should prove one of the best means of persuading the uncon-
vinced.

In later numbers we look forward to publishing the encouraging
results of the practical experience of many years' standing in several coun-
tries.

Many problems have yet to be solved — problems which absorb
the attention of this Institute : — the right type of scholastic and tutorial

53i —

the results of an enquiry made fifteen years ago, I have, however
been actuated by the following considerations :

i. Notwithstanding the profound change that the last
fifteen years have produced both in the film industry and in the
psychology of the young, my enquiry is of interest, since it enables
us to establish points of comparison with similar enquiries that are
being made at the present time. Moreover, certain facts of a
psychological order ascertained by my enquiry have a value that
time cannot diminish — as, for example, the variation, according
to age, in the answers given to the question: « What subjects do
you like best ? ».

2. The fact that the answers to the Neuchatel enquiry
were obtained before the war, whereas the enquiry was carried out
at Geneva and Lausanne in the early days of the war, enables us,
by comparing the returns of the three towns, to gauge the influence
which the war exercised on the youthful mind.

3. And, lastly, my enquiry has the additional interest of
being supported by government and communal authorities and the

film ; the best systems of producing them, the new forms of practical pe-
dagogy arising out of the use of films, technical problems, the methods
of using animated drawings, the gradual transformation of text-books
to adapt them to the fullest utilization of the school film. To these
problems must be added the question of international exchange, and
hence the suppression of customs barriers against educational films. In
this connection we have pleasure in stating that the Governing Body of
the I. E. C. L, in the course of its October session, resolved to take
note of all the studies carried out by the Institute's technical organs and
to appoint without delay a commission of experts charged with the study
of the systems whereby the educative character of films might be deter-
mined and with the drafting of an international convention, to be submitted
to the Council of the League of Nations, and, later on, the organization
of an International Conference for the suppression of customs duties on
the importation of films of recognized educational and scholastic value.
We shall return to this interesting problem, after publishing a number
of papers on the subject from authoritative contributors, and the practical
results of enquiries, when we shall be in a position to put forward con-
crete and practical suggestions.

532

educational organizations, which has enabled us to get in touch
with a large number of children and to obtain 9656 replies.

I. - History of the Enquiry

In the month of May, 1914, Mme. Marthe de Maday, pro-
fessor at the Institut J. J. Rousseau, and I conceived the plan of
making an enquiry in Romanic Switzerland on the effect of the
cinematograph on the people, and especially on young persons.

On May 27, 1914, I published a questionnaire preceded by
an appeal in the Feuille d" Avis de Neuchdtel. Thanks to the
kindness of M. Sublet, UEssor de Geneve reprinted both appeal
and questionnaire in its issue of January 9, 191 5. At that time
the questionnaire was completed by the following new question :
«What do you think of cinematographs during the war? ».

Reprints of the article have been distributed in various places.
The following is the text of the appeal and questionnaire as pub-
lished by the Essor.

Enquiry respecting the cinematograph

The influence exercised on the people generally and especially
on the minds of the young by the cinematograph has led jurists,
legislators and teachers to devote attention to the regulation of
these shows. Several cantons of Romanic Switzerland have
issued a decree imposing regulations on cinematographs and pro-
hibiting morbid spectacles. The Geneva Public Utility Society
opened a competition for a work on « legal measures that might
be instituted in regard to public cinematograph shows and their
control ».

At Geneva recently, during the trial of Favre-Bulle, who
was condemned by the Court of Assize to twelve years imprison-
ment, the prisoner declared during the hearing that the idea of
the crime had come to him in consequence of a cinematograph

'33

show that he had seen; as a result, the jury unanimousy signed a
petition to the president of the Council of State asking that urgent
measures should be taken to prevent the injurious influence exer-
cised on young people by the cinematograph.

Under these circumstances, it was considered that it would
be of interest to find out by investigation the effect of the cinema-
tograph on the public.

This enquiry will be absolutely scientific and impartial. It
will not be influenced by any kind of prejudice; on the contrary,
the desire is to study not only the undeniable evil influence exer-
cised by the cinematograph, but also its advantages. It is desired
also to find out to what extent the cinematograph may help to
raise the intellectual or moral level of the people; for instance,
is it possible that it might indirectly contribute to the decrease
of drunkenness? or that it might to some small extent provide a
little joy for those whose lives are passed in hard daily labour?

In cases where the cinematograph exercises a bad influence,
is such influence inevitable, or would the authorities be able to
eliminate it without damaging the interests of the industry?

We beg all those who have a juridical, educational or moral
interest in the question, to lend us their aid. We invite all those
(teachers, pastors, parents, workers' unions, employers and others)
who have been able to verify the effect of the cinematograph on
the people, and especially on the young, to communicate the results
of their experience to us.

On the other hand, we ask the public that frequents the cine-
matograph to reply to the questionnaire.

Andre de Maday

Professor at the University of Neuchatel.

Questionnaire.

i. a) Sex ? b) profession ? c) parents' profession ? d) age ?
e) birthplace ? /) what schools have you attended ?

— 534

2. What do you do in the evening and on your free days
(rest, work, recreation, social meetings, religious worship) ?

3 . What are your recreations ? a) excursions ? or walks ?
b) sports (taking part in them or spectator ?) c) cafe ? d) theatre ?
e) concerts ?

4. Do you go to the cinema and how many times a week ?

5. Do you go alone or in company ? {Additional question
for scholars: if yes to the latter part of the question, whether
with parents or friends ?).

6. Wnat is it that attracts you to the cinematograph (pos-
ters, newspaper announcements, hand-bills, etc.) ?

7. When do you go to the cinema (weekday or Sunday,
afternoon or evening) ?

8. Have you a season ticket or not ? How much do you
pay for your seat ?

9. What are the subjects you like best (topical events,
travel or geography, dramas, comical scenes) ?

10. Is your artistic feeling aroused by the cinema ?

11. Has the cinema opened new horizons in your life ?

12. What do you think of cinematographs during war ?
Please address replies, signed or otherwise :

a) For Geneva, to the ficole des sciences de V Education
{Institut J. J. Rousseau) Taconnerie, 5, Geneve.

b) For the Canton de Vaud, to the Maison du Peuple,
Caroline, 8, Lausanne.

c) For Neuchatel, as well as for all the other cantons, to
the Seminaire de legislation sociale, at the University Neuchatel.

As will be seen by the last phrase of the text, the Institut J. J.
Rousseau at Geneva has granted us its assistance, thanks to the
kind intervention of M. Pierre Bovet. The questionnaire was
included in the number of the Intermediate des fiducateurs for
January-March, 1915, published by the Institut. The Chronique
de V Institut published the following note: « We draw the attention
of our readers — and of our Swiss readers particularly — to the
leaflet bound up with this number. The enquiry respecting the
cinematograph which has been organized by M. de Maday will

535

be made at the Institut as far as Geneva is concerned. The ques-
tionnaires are kept here at the disposal of those of our readers
who might wish to make an enquiry on their own ».

The difficulty that I found in obtaining a sufficient number
of replies from persons belonging to the various social classes
led me, later on, to give up the enquiry among grown-up persons
and to limit myself to the enquiry among school children. The
enquiry among scholars promised success, thanks to the assistance
of school authorities and teaching staff, which I had already secured
in Neuchatel in the summer of 1914, at Geneva in November
1 914, and at Lausanne in February, 191 5.

A) HOW THE ENQUIRY WAS ORGANIZED

a) Neuchatel.

The Societe Pedagogique du District de Neuchatel, presided
over by M. Brandt, very obligingly granted me its aid in inviting
school-masters and mistresses to submit the questionnaire which
we had drawn up together to their scholars (see text of question-
naire further on).

The enquiry in the school of Neuchatel resulted in 1836
replies.

b) Geneva.

As far back as November, 191 4, M. William Rosier, Council-
lor of State and Chief of the Department of Public Education,
promised me his support. The Neuchatel questionnaire was
adopted, with a slight modification. On March 20, 1915, M.
Rosier addressed the following circular to the teaching body of
Geneva.

Republic and Canton of Geneva

Geneva, March 28, 1915.

The Councillor of State charged with the Department of Public
Education, to the principal Schoolmasters and Schoolmistresses of the
urban centre of Geneva :

M. Andre de Maday, Professor of social legislation at the
University of Neuchatel, some time ago asked the Department if

536

an enquiry respecting the cinematograph could be organised at
Geneva in the elementary schools, in the same way as it has been
done in different Swiss Cantons.

At its meeting of December 17, the Teachers' Union declared
itself unanimously in favour of the proposal that M. de Maday
had submitted to the Department.

We are therefore sending you, together with this circular,
a certain number of copies of the questionnaire that is to be filled
in. We shall be obliged to you if you will have this enquiry made
in the classes whose masters are willing to interest themselves
in the matter, and have the questionnaire filled in by those pupils
who are willing to reply to the questions.

The questionnaire could be dictated to pupils of the 5th and
6th year and to those of the complementary class, who could write
the answers on the questionnaire. In classes of the 3rd and 4th
year, the masters and mistresses could read the questions aloud
and themselves write on the questionnaire the number of each
type of reply received.

In the hope that this enquiry will be well received by the
teaching staff, we are,

Yours faithfully,
W. Rosier.

P. S. The enquiry is not addressed to pupils of the 1st and
2nd year.

# -# #

The enquiry in Geneva yielded 4262 replies, including replies
from pupils of the Elementary and Intermediary Schools, boarding
schools, technical schools and schools of domestic economy.

c) Lausanne.

The enquiry was carried out at Lausanne with the kind as-
sistance of M. Ch. Burnier, Director of the Schools. On Feb-
ruary 11, 191 5, M. Burnier addressed the following circular to
the teaching body:

537 —

To the teaching staff of the upper elementary classes, domestic economy
classes, and 1st to Illrd standard boys and girls.

The Department of Public Education has sent on to me a
request for assistance from M. de Maday, of the University of Neu-
chatel, who is making a study of the role of the cinematograph,
and to this end has opened an enquiry among the general public
and also among the school children of Neuchatel, Geneva and
Lausanne.

We beg of you to study the accompanying questionnaire
and get your pupils to reply to the questions printed on it. The
replies are to be given in class. A sheet out of copybook No. 4 is
to be given to each pupil with the following heading:

Elementary Schools of Lausanne. Class...

The questions are to be written on the blackboard and their
numbers only are to be written on the copybook page by the pupil,
who will write down the replies as he or she chooses.

This enquiry is to be made in all the above-mentioned classes
on Tuesday morning, the 16th inst., and the sheets of paper are
to be sent to the head superintendent, who will deliver them to
Controle II during the day.

Lausanne, February 11, 191 5.

The Director of Schools
Ch. Burnier

M. Burnier's circular dealt with the elementary and do-
mestic economy classes, and the young girls' High schools. M.
Payot, Director of the Cantonal Classical School, M. Gilliard,
Director of the Cantonal Classical Grammar-school, M. May,
Director of Scientific Colleges and Grammar-schools and M. Ad.
Blaser, Director of the Higher School of Commerce, also lent

538

me valuable assistance in organizing the enquiry in the schools
under their direction.

The replies obtained in Lausanne numbered 3558.

B) How the Enquiry was Conducted.

This enquiry has passed through a number of vicissitudes,
which explains how it is that it has lasted ten years. The first
difficulties that I met with were due to the war, but others that I
encountered later on were caused by private circumstances of
my own: from 191 8 I fulfilled the double charge of professor at
the Neuchatel University and the Womens' School for Social
Studies at Geneva, from 1921 I had the charge of dean of the Faculty
of Law at the Neuchatel University, and from 1924 the direction
of the Library of the International Labour Office.

At the time I began the enquiry, I intended, as soon as the
replies were sent in, to proceed with the summing up by the aid
of my scholars of the Seminaire de Legislation sociale of the Neu-
chatel University, and the students of the Institut J. J. Rousseau
at Geneva. But in the winter of 1915-16 the work, which was
scarcely begun, had to be indefinitely postponed.

At Neuchatel, a large number of foreign students had left
and a certain number of the Swiss students were mobilized. I
begged those who remained at the university to assist us in the
Prisoners' Bureau for student prisoners of war which had been
founded by the professors of the Neuchatel University, rather
than to concern themselves with an enquiry that seemed of se-
condary interest beside the grave questions of the day.

The war produced similar effects in the Institut J. J. Rousseau
at Geneva, and there also, the summing up of the results of my
enquiry had to be abandoned, just in its beginnings.

I was able, however, to make out a provisional result of the
enquiry from the fragmentary classification made by the students
of Neuchatel and Geneva and from some other investigations,
which I presented to the IIIrd Annual Assembly of the Societe
Suisse des Juristes, held at Olten on September 11, 1916, where the

539 —

cinematograph question and the independence of the industry had
been one of the subjects of discussion (i).

Since the foundation in 1918 of the ficole d Etudes Sociales
pour Femmes in Geneva, where I direct the Seminaire dficonomie
sociale, I have resumed the classification of the enquiry, entrust-
ing the summing up of each cahier, that is to say, of the replies
obtained in one class, to the several students inscribed in the Semi-
naire. The work progressed slowly, and came to a stop when the
replies of all the classes had been tabulated.

As I myself was very busy, and as I could not find any colla-
borators with the necessary time at their disposal to undertake
the definitive tabulation, I began to wonder at last whether the pa-
pers I had collected really held the core of the enquiry that I had
undertaken with so much enthusiasm, for the organization of which

1 had obtained so much and such valuable aid. I recalled with
sadness a printer's error in the report on my communication to
the assembly of the Societe Suisse des Juristes, where it says of
M. de Maday : « The tabulation of the 8000 replies received
pursues him still ». Seven years later, I realized that the phrase
might stand, with truth.

At last, in July, 1923, two students of the Womens' School
for Social Studies, Mile Hermine Aellig and Mile Rose Jung,
accepted my proposal to undertake the final summing up of my
enquiry, on the condition that their work should be counted as
« diploma work ». Mile Aellig undertook to sum up the replies
of Geneva, and Mile Jung those of Lausanne and Neuchatel.
They brought their labours to a conclusion in 1925.

The present report is entirely based on the results of the
tabulation by Miles Aellig and Jung.

II. - The questionnaires and the method of checking and

TABULATING THE RETURNS.

When we began our enquiry in the schools of Neuchatel, we
made use of the following questionnaire, which had been drawn up
in agreement with the Societe Pedagogique :

(1) See : Verhandlungen des Schzveizerischen Juristenvereins, 1916,

2 Heft, Basel, 1926, p. 153.

— 540

Questionnaire :
Societe Pedagogique of the District of Nenchdtel

i. Name and surname of the pupil ? — 2. Age ? — 3. Birth-
place ? — 4. Parents' profession ? — 5. Do you often go to the
cinema ? — 6. With whom ? — 7. When ? (week-day or Sunday).
— 8. When ? (afternoon or evening) — -9. Do you like to go
there ? — 10. Why ? (1) — 11. Which subjects do you like best?
(topical subjects, travel or geography, dramas, comical scenes) —
12. When you go home, do you endeavour to re-act the scenes
that you have been watching ?

This questionnaire was adopted also for the enquiries at Lau-
sanne and Geneva, although with some modifications which I will
indicate further on when explaining the results of the enquiry.

Some explanations are necessary respecting the method of
checking and summing up.

The methods used were fixed, on general lines, by myself,
in the course of several meetings which I had with Miles Aellig
and Jung. We also had a meeting, on July 3, 1923, with M. Pierre
Bovet, Director of the Institut J. J. Rousseau, and M. Jean Brocher,
in order to secure their advice on certain questions connected with
tabulating the returns.

Miles Aellig and Jung were unable, for private reasons
connected with their professional and family duties, to remain
in constant contact with me while working ; and they were also
compelled, for the same reason, to work separately at a distance
from one another. There is therefore an inevitable and more
or less considerable difference in the use of the method and in
the way of considering replies to the same questions. In order
to reduce this inconsistency to a minimum, I adopted certain con-
ventional rules which allowed us to place all the replies on the same
plane, so that it was possible to compare them together.

The inaccuracy of certain replies and the possibility of the

(1) This question will be put only to students of the classes which
give their replies individually (from, the 7th to the 3rd class).

54i

children using heterogeneous terms when answering certain ques-
tions, compelled me to have recourse to this standardization right
from the time of the preliminary sorting of the answers ; and I had
merely to complete it for the final summing-up. The method
that I made use of was as follows : I drew up, for the use of my col-
laborators, lists of stock words under which the replies obtained to
each question were to be classed. Generally speaking, Miles
Aellig and Jung followed my indications ; but in certain cases they
omitted to do so, and therefore the statistics of Geneva, Lausanne
and Neuchatel are not always suitable for comparison.

I must add that since Miles Aellig and Jung had but a lim-
ited time at their disposal for the work, they found themselves
unable to tabulate certain questions while others they could do
only summarily. As an example of the former case I may cite
the question on parents' professions, which figures in the Neucha-
tel and Lausanne questionnaires, but is lacking in the questionnaires
of Geneva. The summing-up of the replies to this question would
have been very interesting if, after having classed and unified the
replies, we had been able to consider them in relation with the
replies given to other questions ; showing, for instance, the differ-
ence existing in the various classes of society on the subject of
frequenting the cinematograph, or even on the subject of the kind
of films preferred by children. But this would have meant heavy
work, and Mile Jung was unfortunately compelled to renounce
the idea of carrying it out. As an example of summary tabulation,
I will mention the replies given by the scholars of Geneva to the
question : « With whom do you go to the cinema ? »

There is one more remark to be made.

In order to facilitate the task of the reader in comparing the
replies given in the various questionnaires, I have adopted in the
following pages a conventional numeration of questions which is al-
ways the same, whether it is a question of Neuchatel, Lausanne
or Geneva.

I have drawn up a table indicating the numbers attributed to
each question in the present report and the corresponding num-
bers in the different questionnaires.

- 542

Comparison of the numeration of questions.

8*8

•- i> i, «

c »« &

§6|a

Subject

Numeration

H

C

u g

<4H -C

C

>

■B n^

o 2

O en

0 a

z

J

0

O to 1-1

0) 0

I

_

1

i a

2

I

2

id

3

2

3

1 e

5

4

4

4

b

5

S

5

7

6

6

7

8

7

7

7

9

8

8

—

IO

9

9

—

IO

9

9

—

ii

IO

10

9

12

I/n(i)

—

n/n(2)

—

10

11/12(2)

—

11

111/6(3)

—

6

111/12(3)

—

12

4

3

—

1 e

I

2

3
4
5
6

7
8

9«
96

10

11

12

13

14

IS

16

(Name) sex

Age ,

Nationality

Do you go often ?

With whom ?

When (week-day or Sunday?) . . .
When (afternoon or evening ?) . .
Do you like going there ? . . . .

Why yes ?

Why not ? .

Subjects prefered ?

Imitation at home .

Artistic emotion

New horizons ?

What is it that attracts you ? . . .
What do you think of the cinema-
tograph during war ?

Parents' profession. .

(1) First questionnaire of Lausanne.

(2I Second questionnaire of Lausanne.

(3) Third questionnaire of Lausanne ; it is identical with the questionnaire for adults.

III. - The RESULTS OF the neuchatel enquiry

In January, 19 14, M. Pierre Bovet, Director of the Institut
J. J. Rousseau at Geneva, had suggested to his readers, in the In-
termediaire des fiducateurs, the organization of a small enquiry res-
pecting the cinematograph. Five members of the teaching staff
replied to him, four of whom belonged to the Canton of Neuchatel:
Mile Helene Evard (Elementary School of Locle, boys' 6th. stan-
dard, 39 replies) ; Mile Marguerite Evard (1st year of the Inter-
mediary School for girls at Locle, 21 replies) ; Mile Marie Rigou-
lot (1st. year of the Higher Elementary School of Locle, 22 re-
plies), and M. Georges Zwahlen (special class of backward chil-
dren at La Chaux de Fonds, 28 replies). The material of this

543

small enquiry was obligingly put at my disposal by M. Bovet ;
it dealt with two important questions only : frequentation and
the films preferred.

After I had begun my enquiry at Xeuchatel, I received, in
response to the publication of my appeal in the Feuille d'Avis,
two replies addressed to the Seminaire de Legislation Sociale of
the University, one of which came from Mile Marie Tuetey, tea-
cher at the elementary school of Couvet (15 replies) and the other
from M: Ed. Haeussler, president of the Scholastic Commission
of Peseux (15 individual replies and 141 collective replies).

At the time that I decided to limit my enquiry to the three
towns of Neuchatel, Lausanne and Geneva, I had to give up classi-
fying the replies respecting the pupils of schools outside the ter-
ritory of the town of Neuchatel. I wish however to remark that
the enquiries made at Locle, Chaux de Fonds, Couvet and Peseux,
and especially the observations of schoolmasters and school-
mistresses accompanying the returns, afforded me valuable infor-
mation, of which I should certainly have made use if I had been
able to undertake the tabulation on a large scale, as I had hoped
at the beginning of my enquiry.

In the schools of Xeuchatel, the majority of the children re-
plied to the enquiries before the war ; a small number were in-
terrogated at the beginning of the war. The following total was
obtained : 1836 replies, which were distributed as follows :

Individual replies :

Elementary schools 932

Commercial school 103

Total 1035

Collective replies, by class :

Commercial school 151

Infant schools 650

Total 801

We gave above, on page 547, the questionnaire fixed in com-
mon accord with M. Brandt, president of the Societe Pedagogique of

5M

the District of Neuchatel, of which we have made use in this en-
quiry.

The summing up of the enquiry was made in the town of
Neuchatel by Mile Rose Jung.

It has been possible to tabulate only the 932 individual re-
plies obtained in the elementary schools.

First Question. Sex.

Girls Boys Total

Girls' classes 466 — 466

Boys' classes — 358 358

Mixed classes 60 48 108

Total 526 406 932

Of the children interrogated, 57.29 % were girls, and 42.71 %
boys. If the mixed classes are deducted, the proportion of girls
was 56.57 %, and of boys 43.43 %. (We note these proportions,
because, in summing up the returns of the mixed classes, the
replies were not grouped by sex, so that generally speaking, the
statistics by sex relate only to the 824 children of the boys' classes
and girls' classes.

Second Question. Age.

Girls Boys Total

8 years 4 2 6

9 » 37 34 7i

10 » 55 61 116

11 » 103 77 180

12 » . 106 77 193

13 » 118 72 190

14 » 41 28 69

15 » 2 7 9

Total 466 358 834

yd Question. Nationality

Swiss 825 (88.52%)

Foreigners 107 (11.48%)

Total 932 (100 %)

4-ingl. 545 —

\ih Question. Frequentation.
According to the answers given to the 4th. question :

M ixed
Girls Boys Classes Total

Go to the cinema 390 305 77 772

Do not go to the cinema ... 74 45 31 150

Total 464 350 108 922
No answer 2 8 — 10

Grand Total 466 358 108 932

Swiss Foreigners Total

Go to the cinema 682 90 772

Do not go to the cinema 135 15 150

Total 817 105 922

No answer 8 2 10

Grand Total 825 107 932

In order to be able to sum up the answers given to the ques-
tion : « Do you go often to the cinema ? » I adopted, as already-
stated, certain stock words, and requested my collaborators to
use the same words when tabulating. The adoption of stock
words was rendered necessary by the fact that the answers given by
the children to the fourth question can have but a relative value.
How does a child interpret the word, « often » ? One will answer
that he goes often when he goes to the cinema once a month,
while another would think it proper in such circumstances to
answer « rarely ».

For lack of any better method, we adopted the following rules :
All answers to be classified under one of the following stock
words : « often » « fairly often » « rarely » « never ». We used the
following « key » in the interpretation of these words :

At least once a week - often

At least once a month - fairly often

Less than 1 2 times a year - rarely

546

The answers, when sorted, gave the following results :

Mixed

Total

133 go often to the cinema

131 go fairly often to the cinema

508 go rarely to the cinema

Girls

Boys

Classe

57

51

25

67

6l

3

266

193

49

Total 390 305 77 772

Swiss Foreigners Total

107

26

133

121

10

131

454

54

508

go often to the cinema

go fairly often to the cinema

go rarely to the cinema

Total 682 90 772

Frequentation of the cinema, considered in relation to the
ages of the children in the Neuchatel schools, gives the following
figures :

Girls.

Age Often

8 years 1

9 » 14

10 » 3

11 » 10

12 » 13

13 » 14

14 » 2

15 » o

Total 57 67 26b 74 2 466

Boys.

Age

8 years

10
1 1

12
13
14
15

Fairly
often

Rarely

Never

No

answer

Total

O

2

I

4

I

18

3

I

37

9

40

3

55

9

63

21

103

14

59

20

—

106

28

59

17

I

118

6

24

8

—

4i

0

1

1

—

2

Often

Fairly
Often

Rarely

Never

No

answer

Total

O

O

I

I

—

2

II

4

15

3

I

34

II

6

36

6

2

61

7

15

44

1 1

O

77

13

8

47

6

3

77

5

18

38

10

1

72

3

8

9

7

1

28

1

2

3

1

—

7

Total 51 61 193 45 8 358

547 —

Let me add, by way of comparison, the answers obtained
in the two classes of the Peseux Elementary School (Canton of
Neuchatel) in March 191 5. (M. Haeussler's enquiry).

In the first elementary year, where the average age of the
children was 8 years :

17 pupils had never been to the cinema \

16 pupils had been once I

2 pupils had been twice I

1 pupil had been thrice , 25 Pupils

2 pupils had been 4 times \

3 pupils had been 5 times

j pupil had been 7 times /

42 pupils

In the higher classes attended by boys of from 13 to 15 years :

6 pupils had never been to the cinema

4 » » been once

5 » » » twice

6 » » » three times

pupil » » 4 times

v v f 21 Pupils

» » » 5 »

» » )> 8 »

» » » 10 »

» goes every week (= 52 times)

» goes twice a week (= 104 times

27 Pupils

With regard to the boy who goes once a week to the cinema,
the master remarks : « a very bad pupil », but he does not make
a like comment on the child who goes there twice a week.

$th. Question. Accompanied by whom?

This question has not been examined from the statistical
standpoint. An examination of the answers, however, leads to
certain general conclusions. The children usually go to the cine-
ma accompanied by their parents. The boys who do not go with

~548

their parents, go there alone more frequently than with friends.
The girls, on the other hand, are more usually accompanied by
friends.

6th. and yth. Questions : When?

Among the girls there is a slight tendency to go more fre-
quently on week-days than on Sunday ; the contrary is the case
with the boys.

The children go to the cinema more frequently in the day-
time than in the evening.

Some of the children answer that they go to the cinema when
there are special shows for children ; in this case they usually go
with the school. Some children prefer rainy days for the cinema.

8th. Question : Do you like going to the Cinema?

Yes, there is no doubt the children do like it. This is shown
by the statistics.

Girls Boys Mixed Classes Total

296 225 69 590 enjoy going

48 40 10 98 do not enjoy going

38 37 1 76 indifferent

84 56 28 168 No answer

Total 466 358 108 932

The girls are in a slight majority among the affirmative answers
(64 per cent) while there are 63 per cent of the boys.

We should add that some of the children who never go to
the cinema say that they would like to go there.

gth. - Question : Why do you like going to the Cinema?

The answers are as follows :

Girls

Because it is instructive 40

Because it is interesting 87

Because it is amusing 92

To pass the time pleasantly ... 20

Because it is beautiful 72

To look at the scenery 16

Total 327 199 64 590

549 —

Mixed

Boys

Classes

Total

25

9

74

45

19

151

3i

10

133

22

7

49

74

18

164

2

1

19

It will be noted that 28 per cent of the children go to the cinema
because it is « beautiful », 23 per cent because it is « interesting »,
22 per cent because it is « amusing ».

It is the boys who most frequently make use of the expression
« beautiful » or « pretty ». The girls like the cinema first of all because
it is « amusing », and in the second place because it is « interesting ».
Thus it is the educational side of the cinema that appeals more
to the girls, while the boys go there mainly as a pleasant pastime.

Some of the children say they like going to the cinema because
it is « thrilling », « exciting », « frightening », « sensational », « ab-
sorbing », « wonderful ». One young boy likes going there in winter
because it is warm, and another because one does not get so wet
with the rain ; a third very much likes to see the actors move and run.

gth. (b) Question : Why don't you like going to the Cinema ?

The answers to this question are given partly by children
who don't like going to the cinema at all and partly by children
who don't care to go under certain conditions. As a matter of fact,
answers to the question : « Why don't you like going to the
cinema ? » overlap the 10th. question bearing on the favourite sub-
jects and answer this question in a negative manner. The chil-
dren indicate the sort of shows they don't like.

In all, 117 children have made criticisms of the cinema,
which we may classify as follows :

The cinema is bad for the eyes . .
Children don't like drama or consider

there is too much of it

« Sad »

« Uninteresting » or « I don't like it »
« Not made for children »

Total 56 56 5 117

It is probable, if not certam, that the statement, « the film is
not made for children » expresses, in certain cases, not so much

— S5o

Mixed

Girls

Boys

Classes

Total

24

26

2

52

4

14

I

19

8

3

II

14

5

19

6

8

2

16

the personal opinion of the child as one suggested to him by his
parents.

Let us note among the answers given, the following : « it
frightens me » ; « it worries me » ; « it makes me dream » ; cat
makes me cry and I feel ill » ; « it gives me bad thoughts » ; « one
sees horrid things there » ; « dramas lead one astray » ; « one may
become a thief or a murderer » .

A child who had never been to the cinema, anwers «it may
drive one mad ».

Among the children who have been to the cinema, there is
one boy of 13 who answers that he « does not like dramas and love
scenes»; one boy of 11 « does not like engaged couples ». A
girl of 12 who had only been to the cinema once « does not like wTar ».

10th. Question : Favourite subjects.

A classification of the subject matter according to the order
of preference shown in the answers gives the following table :

Favourite subjecta Girls

Comical scenes 240

Drama in general 131

Travel 145

Topical Films 90

Historical Films 67

Geography 69

Scenery 24

Battles 1

Scientific or industrial films . . 17
Detective dramas and American

dramas 2

Mixed

Boys

Classes

Total

151

43

434

IOI

33

265

75

26

246

60

13

163

34

7

108

38

—

107

10

3

37

27

1

29

8

—

25

21

—

23

Total 786 525 126 1437

(1) It is hardly necessary to state that a number of pupils mentioned
at the same time several subjects which « they liked ». The number of
answers consequently exceeds the number of children who answered the
questionnaire.

5Si

The above table shows that the children enjoy comical scenes
above everything else; out of 932 children, 434 say they like them.
Drama and travel come next.

It will be seen that the order of preference does not differ
much between the boys and the girls. The preferences expressed
regarding certain subjects which obtained but few votes afford an
exception to this rule ; these exceptions are not without interest
from the point of view of sex psychology.

24 girls (out of 526) like scenery , but only 10 boys out of 406.

48 boys (out of 406) but only 3 girls (out of 526) express a
preference for battles, American dramas and detective dramas.

By reducing the enumeration of subjects given in the above
table to five, we obtain the following results :

Mixed
Girls Boys Classes Total

i. educational (travel, geogra-
phy, scenery, historical scenes,

scientific or industrial films) . 322 165 36 523

2. Comical Scenes 240 151 43 434

3. Drama 133 122 33 288

4. Topical Films 90 60 13 163

5. Battles 1 27 1 29

Total 786 525 126 1437

(to be continued).

Andre de Maday
Professor at the Neuchatel University,

552

COLOUR CINEMATOGRAPHY

THE PRESENT AND FUTURE OF THE VARIOUS PROCESSES

WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THOSE

IN WHICH CHEMICAL PRINCIPLES ARE APPLIED

(From th Italian)

{Continued from No. 2)

Physics and the practice of tri-chromatic and bi-chromatic Se-
lection. — The light filters used for selection must respond to
certain specific requirements. White light passing through the
three filters is split up into three coloured rays : upon recom-
bining these three colours produce white light.

The red light filter must entirely eliminate greer, blue, and
violet, and allow yellow and red rays to pass through complete-
ly; the corresponding negative is called the blue negative. The
green light filter must completely eliminate red and let yellow,
blue, and green pass through; the corresponding negative is called
the red negative. The violet light filter must completely elimi-
nate yellow and green and let blue and violet pass through, the
corresponding negative being called the yellow negative.

Notwithstanding the great improvements achieved in the
chromatic sensitization of plates and films, of which we have already
spoken, there are still deficiencies which, though they are not
very apparent in connection with negatives produced through
red and violet filters, are all too apparent in those obtained under
the green filter, namely the red negatives.

Thus, while the print obtained through the green filter ought
to give an excellent cover for yellow, green-yellow, green-blue
and blue, in point of fact neither the spectral constitution of the
pigments nor the chromatic sensitivity of the sensitive preparations
now available allow of a sufficient covering to correspond to all
the colours from yellow to blue.

A spectral examination of the white light reveals the fact
that yellow is almost entirely lacking, being limited to a very

553

faint line corresponding to line D of the spectrum; yet this same
examination shows that yellow comprises a whole series of colours
from orange-red to green.

Consequently, when the impression of yellow pigment, so
abundant in nature, is required, the green filter must necessarily
allow a zone extending towards orange to pass through, while at
the other end it stops at blue-green and completely excludes blue.
Thus blue is not at all impressed on the plate or only very faintly so .

It follows that the red monochrome obtained from the nega-
tive produced through the medium of the green filter is always
false, because the red invades the blue. In three-colour photo-
graphy and especially in mechanical three colour photography,
this serious deficiency in the red negative, that is to say the nega-
tive destined to supply monochrome red, is overcome by means
of retouching.

The operator so regulates the engraving of the plate used
to print in red as to correct the invasion of the red to which we
have referred.

To-day, however, an improvement has been introduced in
three-colour selection which, though of the simplest kind, is ef-
fective in overcoming the deficiency in blue covering.

This consists in a very brief natural exposure of the negative
after it has been exposed under the green-yellow filter. This
very short exposure to white light produces a covering of the blue
and violet, while it does not last long enough to produce any ap-
preciable effect on the red, notwithstanding the panchromatic
characteristic of the stratum.

The author's own experience has shown that much better
results are produced by this method whenever violet does not play
an important part in the picture, violet being a much less im-
portant pigment in nature than blue.

This method eliminates the invasion of red in the blue, which
turns the blue of the sky and of water to violet and falsifies the
colouring of foliage, which being dark green in hue in the summer,
acts on the sensitive stratum much more by the white light irra-
diated than through the green rays it emits.

— 554

In the case of paintings or costumes in which violet plays
an important part, this supplementary exposure is apt to do more
harm than good.

In colour cinematography in the open air, supplementary
exposure would generally he very advantageous, but recourse cannot
be had to it owing to the peculiarities of filming on a continuous
ribbon. This gave rise to the idea of supplying the green filter
with a little colourless aperture, through which a regulated quan-
tity of white light can pass, just enough to impress the blue
sufficiently.

What we have said above will suffice to show that three-colour
selection, though based on scientific principles, is an approximate
process, in which the judgement of the operator plays no negli-
gible part. Notwithstanding this, three-colour cinematographic
projection appeals to the eye, any deficiencies in colour- rendering
being overlooked owing to the rapid succession of the coloured
images.

Two-colour selection is still less precise than three colour
selection; this system also relies on the complementary principle
for the two light filters ; that is to say on the supply of rays of
coloured light which combine to produce white light.

The light filters used are blue-green and orange, and the
author's researches have proved that in two-colour cinemato-
graphy the two dyes which correspond best by analysis and syn-
thesis, are two tar dyes, the chemical constitution and spectral
characteristics of which are well defined and constant : namely
pheno-safranine and malachite green.

Pure yellows are lacking in the two-colour process and blues
and violets are not faithfully reproduced.

The lack of yellow is made up for by the use of a yellowish
light in the projection (incandescent electric light), it is always
advisable in the case of staged scenes to bear in mind the limitations
of the two-colour process and to adapt the colour of the scenery
and costumes to its possibilities.

Thus two-colour cinematography, notwithstanding its se-
rious deficiencies, may be very successful in delighting the eye,

555 —

while it demands, as we shall see, much less complicated apparatus
and handling than the three-colour system.

The selection of colour in cinematography and the means whereby
it is effected. — Hitherto all the processes suggested or applied
to colour cinematography for public exhibition have been based
on the principle of the selection of the natural subject in two or
three monochrome images.

The only exception is offered by the process based on the
use of lenticular films recently applied by the Kodak Co. in ama-
teur colour cinematography, to which I referred in my previous
article. It is, however, still extremely doubtful whether this
process will be found practically applicable on a commercial scale,
because it lacks a quality of prime industrial importance, that of
the easy and perfect multiplication of copies.

Colour selection is fraught with much greater difficulties for
the cinematograph than for photography. The impression of
the three images selected must, in fact, be impressed on the same
film by a rapid succession of exposures.

The application of three-colour selection, which is the pro-
cess producing the most complete and perfect image, here becomes
a very difficult matter.

The execution of three monochrome images successively
on the same film, automatically changing the light filter, is un-
doubtedly the simplest system, but we must not forget that suc-
cessive exposures imply differences in design and coincidence.
This is remedied in part by doubling at least the speed with which
the film is changed, this speed being, however, limited by the exi-
gencies of exposure through the medium of light niters.

The simultaneous filming of the three monochrome images
eliminates the disadvantage in question, but as this simultaneous
filming necessitates three objectives, we are again faced with the
drawback of faulty coincidence, not because of the subject moving,
as in the instance just referred to, but by reason of the pheno-
menon of parallax, whereby the perspective, and consequently
the form of the image, changes according to the angle of view.

Three objectives placed one above the other focus the subject

-556

from different points; thus the flat images produced cannot be
accurately superposed.

Optical means for overcoming this difficulty have been studied,
and one of the most reasonable of these would appear to be the
system devised by the Italian, General Russo, in which the three
objectives are not arranged one above the other, but disposed in
triangular formation, with a single objective in front.

In any case, it is clear that the simultaneous registration of
three images through three objectives necessitates considerable
alterations to both cameras and projectors.

To turn from the filming to the projection of the three mo-
nochrome positive images, it seems obvious that the successive
projection of the monochromes must cause a serious strain on
-eyesight, because the retina has to take in, in rapid succession, the
colours as well as the movement, and the redoubled or trebled
speed with which the film is projected increases the jerky effect
of the picture.

The method of three objectives placed one above the other
makes the same demand on the eye as the ordinary cinematograph,
but if the standard dimensions were maintained the ribbon would
have to be shifted each time by 54 mm., which would be very
inconvenient from the mechanical standpoint.

We should add, however, that both those who use the one-
objective system and those who use the three-objective system
have found considerable advantage in reducing the size of the
images, getting at least three into the format of two standard
images.

In General Russo 's apparatus, three tiny selected images take
the place of a single normal cinematograph image; this avoids any
increased strain either on the sight or the apparatus.

The three-objective system can only be applied to the cine-
matograph by means of projection through coloured screens, that
is to say by cumulative synthesis.

The successive filming process, on the contrary, allows the
three partial images to be utilized for the purposes of subtractrve
synthesis, that is to say for the superposition of monochromes on

557 —

one and the same film, which can thus be projected by the ordinary-
apparatus . While, however, the superposition of only two mo-
nochromes is a relatively easy matter, the superposition of three
monochromes presents serious difficulties and up to the present,
notwithstanding the numerous patents taken out and the number
of inventions put forward, trichromatic synthesis of the same
film is not an industrially practical process.

On the other hand, by confining the selection to two colours,
blue-green and red-orange, truly surprising results have been
achieved; the same colours being utilized for the two monochromes
whereby the image is recomposed. Thus, ever since its introduc-
tion, two-colour cinematography by the process of subtractive
synthesis on the same film has entirely replaced the two-colour
process of cumulative synthesis devised by Smith some twenty
years ago, and more particularly applied in England. In the Smith
process, the image was printed on the same film by the rapid al-
ternation of the green and orange-hued filters. The same light
filters used in selecting were made use of in projecting the positives,
while doubling the velocity of the movement, so as to produce a
correct sensation. But while this system, notwithstanding its una-
voidable deficiencies, may have appealed to the eye by the colour
effects produced, it nevertheless caused considerable strain on the
sight.

Hardly a cinema hall or theatre could be found willing to
transform its projection apparatus so as to render the projection
of the Smith colour film process possible, and thus it died a natural
death.

The author, who has had an opportunity to observe the Smith
process, and who during recent years has watched two-colour
process films made by the American Associated Artists' Company,
is in a position to affirm the enormous superiority of the latter.

Thus, after following the evolution of the processes of colour
cinematography and himself contributing his share by chemical
researches, which constitute at the present time the bases of the
methods used for producing synthesis (as we shall show later),
the author feels justified in formulating the following conclusions.

558

In the present stage of knowledge, the colour-cinematograph
processes which present fewest difficulties and are most practical
are the following:

1. Simultaneous selection and cumulative synthesis by the
projection of black slides through the medium of coloured screens
similar to those used for selection. Difficulties of an optical
and mechanical order have so far impeded the practical application
of this process, the fact of special apparatus being required for
their projection having also proved a grave obstacle to its being
widely adopted.

2. Successive selection, limited to two colours, and substrac-
tive synthesis by special chemical process, producing two mo-
nochromes on the same film one beside the other. This latter
process, as above stated, presents most practical advantages, and
the author proposes to deal with it in detail in the next number
of the Review.

Prof. Rodolfo Namias.

(to be continued)

559

THE RED CROSS AND THE CINEMA.

(From the French)

When the several national organizations of the Red Cross
Society federated themselves in 1919 for the purpose of stimulat-
ing and developing Red Cross activities of a humanitarian kind
in peace time, popular instruction in matters of hygiene at once
assumed a leading role in the new programmes of work. This
was largely due to the exceptional conditions prevailing at the
close of the Great War. The scourges engendered by the war
or aggravated thereby were so virulent and created such fearful
ravages that the national Red Cross Societies were compelled to
join their forces with those of the public administrations to wage
war on disease : typhus, cholera, and influenza epidemics, the
general recrudescence of tuberculosis and venereal diseases and
the alarming increase in infant mortality.

Popular instruction in the elementary laws of hygiene was
regarded as one of the most efficacious measures in this campaign
against disease.

The Film, which the Cannes Medical Conference of April
1 9 19 had already stressed as one of most powerful instruments
of education and one too generally overlooked by teachers of
hygiene, was recognized to be a most valuable auxiliary for the
purposes of popular lectures on the subject.

The Secretariat of the League of Red Cross Societies, with
the approval of its Board of Governors, thus undertook to organize
a cinema service which was, in the first instance, placed under
the direction of its Hygiene Section.

The first task of this service consisted in an examination of
existing films, in order to determine which were those best suited
to the purposes of international hygiene propaganda ; the purchase
of as many of such films as means would allow, and the distribu-
tion of them among the national Red Cross Societies.

560

In 1922 and 1923, the Secretariat of the Red Cross League
collaborated in organizing travelling propaganda shows which,
being furnished with moveable cinema material, either mounted
on motor camions or conveyed by rail, travelled through a
considerable area of Poland and Chekoslovakia, working their way
into towns and villages to give popular lectures on hygiene illus-
trated by magic lantern slides and cinematic films.

At the present time all the technical sections of the Secretariat
of the League of Red Cross Societies include films in their pro-
paganda programmes, and the League's Film Archive counts
over 200 films dealing with infant welfare, tuberculosis, venereal
disease, epidemic diseases, personal hygiene, first aid in calamities,
nursing, and the programme of the Yunior Red Cross.

These films are loaned to the different national Red Cross
Societies and to organizations recommended by it to the Secretariat
of the League. All such loans are gratis, cost of carriage alone
being to the charge of the borrowers ; they are made for a period
of three months to European Contries and five months to coun-
tries in other parts of the world.

The judicious choice of these films, purchased in different
countries, is often no easy matter ; many of them have to be
adapted in order to render their appeal as wide as possible.

The Propaganda Service of the Secretariat of the Red Cross
League, which is responsible for the direction of its Film Collection,
assists the various Societies in the purchase of films and projection
apparatus by acting as intermediary with producers and manu-
facturers.

The production of new films for the purposes of social edu-
cation owes much to the Secretariat of the League for the technical
advice it gives to publishers on the scenarios submitted by them.
Being convinced of the importance of providing public film col-
lections and both official and private school collections with good
films dealing with social education, in addition to their strictly
educational films, the Secretariat of the Red Cross League has
taken part in various international congresses dealing with ques-
tions affecting the production and diffusion of social education

S-ingl, S^i —

films and the uses to which they are put. It works in concert
with the International Commission of educational and instruction-
al films of which it was one of the earliest adherents.

At the present time, when official and private bodies in many
countries are devoting their earnest attention to organizing Na-
tional Film Collections, both local and regional, a new field of
active and cordial collaboration with public services and private
enterprise has been opened up in this domain to the National
Red Cross Societies. For many years past the Secretariat of
the Red Cross League has been preparing the way for this common
effort in the important domain of the Cinematograph.

F. Royon

Propaganda Section of the League
of Red Cross Societies.

— 562

THE FRANCHETTI EXPEDITION IN ETHIOPIAN DANKALIA
THE (LUCE» FILM RECORD.

The expedition organized and directed by Baron Raimondo Fran-
chetti in Ethiopian Dankalia is undoubtedly one of the most important
initiatives in the way of the discovery of unexplored regions whereby
Italian enterprise has contributed something new to science. This ex-
pedition, which took place between November 1928 and June 1929 in
unexplored territory and under conditions of great hardship, achieved
some remarkable results.

After some months of patient and industrious preparation, Baron
Franchetti, who had already travelled alone in the Dankalian territory,
left the Italian Colony of Assab on the 3rd. March, 1929. Assab marks an
outlet into the Red Sea from, southern Dankalia. He set out at the head
of a caravan consisting of 10 white men and an escort of 160 Ascari, ac-
companied by 156 camels, only 23 of which survived the fatigues of the
journey.

It was in Assab that Giuseppe Sapeto, in November 1869, took over
the coal depot, which marked Italy's first step in the conquest of her Afri-
can colonies.

The Luce National Institute, realizing the noble patriotic and scientific
aims of the expedition, sent the operator Mario Craveri along with it \
Craveri carried through his task most successfully and took numerous
photographs, which form an important historical record of the expedi-
tion.

The exploring party left Assab at 2 p.m. on the 3rd. March and made
its first halt at Uacari, where there is a well of drinking water.

{Ed. Note). Right from the first issue of the Review, we have made a point of publishing
contributions describing really interesting documentary films, and more especially those illus-
trating the exploration of unknown or little known lands. In this connection, we warmly wel-
comed Prof. Gabriela Mistral's article advocating the production of documentary films. Such
films are undoubtedly one of the finest means of rousing public interest and popularizing educa-
tional cinematography among the masses of the people. And assuredly now that the film can
be made vocal no less than visual, its dramatic possibilities are multiplied, and the documentary
film should become as profitable to its producers as it is instructive.

We offer our readers herewith a narrative of stirring interest. This describes the great do-
cumentary film of the Luce Institute, whose operators accompanied the voyage of exploration led
by that bold and resourceful explorer, Baron Franchetti.

We have pleasure herewith in extending to producers an invitation to send us articles of this
kind, illustrated by photographs ; we shall always be happy to publish these, provided they are
of real interest and are in no way of a publicity character. Our one and only object is to
demonstrate what an incomparable instrument the film offers us for the documentation and
divulgation of science and civilization.

503 —

To give some idea of what a well of drinking water means in these
inhospitable desert regions, scorched by the tropical sun, we will recall
that the Franchetti expedition was compelled to endure seven-hour
marches amid the burning sands, in squalid and parched regions, where
not a drop of water was to be found. 133 out of the 156 camels that fol-
lowed the caravan fell dead from thirst ; a fact all the more impressive
when it is remembered that the stomachs of camels are furnished with
ample reservoirs in which to store water for many days, thus enabling
them to cover 1000 km. without drinking.

The first days went by monotonously amid uninterrupted marches of 6
and 7 and even 8 hours, the anxious search for water, and halts for rest,
which enabled Prof. Gilardi to carry out chemical and mineral researches
and the indefaticable Baron Franchetti to push on alone towards the
most perilous and inaccessible zones.

On the 8th. March, along the caravan road that leads to Afambo,
the explorers came across native tombs, the style of which varied according
to the cause of death of those within them : natural death ; death at the
hands of marauders ; blood vengeance.

From the 8th. to the 17th., the party marched forward towards the
regions of the Dankalian depression, pausing, for their daily rest, at Darrab
Aura, a small basin hollowed out in the plain close to the Ashale range,
which Prof. Gilardi and the engineer Maglioni climbed, so as to make
important chemical and geological observations, followed by the operator
Craveri. and thence to Fura.

There is nothing very special about the aspect of the country traversed
during this period, nor does it differ from that of the zone already passed
through, except for the greater frequency of wells, from which the Ascari
drew water for the camels, which were also able to feed in the meadows
lying here and there along the route.

Dense flocks of vultures circle overhead, and descend theateningly
to within a few metres of the earth.

The explorers' camp in these regions presents the double aspect
of a military and a gipsy camp, owing to the military precautions taken
in the event of possible attacks of marauders, and from the motley clothes
with which the Ascari cover themselves to keep out the night cold.

At Galikona, reached on the 19th. March at 7 p. m., the Dankalian
depression begins, and the rigors of its climate are at once felt. The heat
is stifling, the monsoons raise sandstorms, which batter the explorers
and smother them with the blinding particles. In this infernal region
the nights bring no relief to the weariness of long marches, but are passed
in nerve-racking vigils. After six hours of tiring march, the explorers
perceive a white streak between two mountains, with a pyramidal peak in
the background. The unexplored lake of Afrera lies on these heights ;
this water and the little island in its centre is a forbidden region to the

— 564

natives, by reason of the mystery that surrounds it and the strange and
dark legends that are told of it.

The lake is surrounded by an oasis of palms and the waters near
the banks are muddy. Baron Franchetti and the Luce operator venture
on to it in collapsible boats, accompanied by an Ascaro guide, on a sam-
buchi (small native craft).

The operator was compelled to return to land owing to a leakage
in the boat, and was therefore unable to add the photograph of the little
island to his cinematographic record.

This lake, which lies 75 metres below the level of the sea, and its
lateral mountains, offer an opportunity to Baron Franchetti and the other

-

„**?

3T**" "V ' - ' . *

J*****v^*~ r[: " -

.A " vjfc'

scientists of the expedition to make observations of the greatest scientific
interest. The photographs and films taken on the summit of the Afrera
and the slopes of the pyramid show the exceptional character of this
region, formed by lava streams and volcanic craters, and which many
scientists regard as the most volcanic region in the world.

From Afrera to Macalle the march is particularly hazardous, owing
to the asperity of the ground and the absolute lack of water, as also owing
to the insidious attacks of the razziatori, those formidable Abyssinian ma-
rauders who spread terror among the inhabitants of Dankalia, and
compel them to lead a nomad life owing to the constant menace under
which they live — a menace that gives no respite to men or flocks.

565-

In this zone, the hazards of the march are aggravated by the discovery
of the Rhoro wells of water, on which the explorers, who have watched men
and beasts fall during the hours of march under a sun at 69 degrees centi-
grade, fall with avidity ; but the water is found to be undrinkable owing
to the enormous qantity of salt that it contains !

At Dargaha, which the caravan reached on the 18th. April, worn out
by a steep up-hill march through the Cohul and Ammulfaghe, a bloody
skirmish with the razziatori took place. After an obstinate fight, the latter
turned and fled, leaving several prisoners in our hands and several dead
on the field. The caravan lost three Ascari.

During the night some envoys of the enemy came to our camp
to request the return of a prisoner, the son of a village chief. Comm. Pol-
lera emerged from the camp and signified his consent, on condition that
three of the marauding band should act as guides to the party as far as
Macalle. After recuperating a quantity of material and strayed camels, the
caravan set out again for Macalle and, after a number of vicissitudes and
crossing the Scechet zone, close to the Sugaladi Amantila torrent, where
an escort sent by the Degiac Hailessellassie Gugsa, of Macalle, was wait-
ing for them, they at last reached Macalle. At the gate of the town a
Copt priest presented the Cross for the Ascari to kiss, and the Degiac
received the party very cordially on the afternoon of the 21st. ^pril, and
requested the operator to take certain photographs to send to his father,
Ras Gugsa.

At Macalle the caravan was disbanded, and preparations made for
the expedition toGolirr.a, which Baron Franchetti was to undertake together
with a small number of followers, among others the operator, Mario
Craveri.

This second expedition, at the start, offered fewer hardships than the
previous one, owing to the beauty and variety of the scenery that unfolded
itself before the explorers.

After crossing SciafTt, where the explorers encountered the Fittaurari,
Abascia, sent as a guide by the Degiac, the party entered Maramiti, with
its neat villages constructed of white and yellow tukul on fortified mounds
overlooking the plains cut across by streams.

The land of the razziatori begins here, the lairs of brigands, who
spread terror among the inhabitants of Dankalia and throughout the
districts occupied by Christians. And yet these savage peoples who, in
the sultry African April night had turned their arms against the caravan
party, now welcomed the explorers to their country most cordially, and
even offered them chickens, milk, and eggs.

The razziatori do not deny, indeed they boast of, leading a life of
continual fighting, a war-like life consonant with ancient tradition, which
the Negus not only does not oppose, but does his utmost to perpetuate.

This proves that these incursions, far from being mere marauding

— 566

raids for the sake of loot, have a religious and political purport, ever pre-
sent in the age-long and fierce struggle of the Moslems against the
Christians. It is an instance of the Crescent once again armed against
the Cross, with all the cunning and ferocity that have ever characterised
the wars of religion.

In the ensuing villages and especially in Maicaia, the native teritory
of the marauders who fell on the exploring party at Dargaha, where the
Ascari of our escort are regaled with the delicacy known as ambascia dressed
with the berbere juice ; at Adagudda, where the Ras Gugsa territory ends
and the territory of Degiac Abera begins, at Macmatur, at Ambalage, and

at Biet Mara, the party was always made welcome, while the country was
still as attractive as that just recently traversed.

At Macmatur, which the expedition reached on the Coptic Good
Friday, the faithful were seen praying in front of a church. Major Galliam,
who died fighting the razziatori, is buried in this village.

Through a fertile and flourishing region, in which small villages
well built of tukul follow one on the other, and where the country stretches
out in fertile plains, in striking contrast with the desolate Dankale wastes,
the explorers came to the dominions of Degiac Abele, known as Mai Cheu.

The Degiac was found here camping with his men, and the operator
Craveri was able to film this most picturesque gathering, after lunching
with the Degiac, to whom he offered, on behalf of Baron Franchetti a
Terni model machine gun, which was greatly appreciated.

Our explorers were indeed most hospitably entertained by these
tribes, commanded by the Abele, who greatly enjoyed a lunch offered
him by the Baron and served in European fashion.

From Mai Cheu, with its camp of over 2000 tents most beautifully

567 —

ranged, the party descended to the Azebu Galla plain, whence, under the
guidance of the Fittaurari Igzan, they next set out towards Golima.

Dispatches sent by the Asmara Government discouraged the under-
taking, but Baron Franchetti, firmly determined to carry through his
expedition, was not to be deterred and, followed by his companions, he
vigorously resumed the difficult march towards those desolate regions >
inhabited by populations who for long years have been imbued with blind
hatred of the European, and who were now at loggerheads and warring
with one another, being divided into partisans and opponents of the Negus.

At Corbeta, a fortified village built of the trunks of the euforbia can-
delabra, and inhabited by razziatori who, no less faithful to age-long tra-

dition, pursue the art of war, our explorers were carried in triumph by these
fierce-looking men, who followed the party and the Fittaurari Igzam
and Ghebre with war songs and acclamations of welcome.

After quitting Corbeta, another tiring march brought the party to
Bula, and thence to Magala Afa, where the engineer Maglioni was seized
with violent intestinal disturbances, caused by the fatigues of the march
and the saltness of the water. This trouble, aggravated by violent fever >
persisted throughout the journey and reduced the unlucky engineer to a
very grave condition of health which made everyone fear irreperable com-
plications at any moment.

.It being impossible to stop long at a place without water, scorched
by the burning sun at a temperature varying from 65 ° to 68° centigrade >
the sick man was carried on a litter, turn by turn by 30 Ascari, and at other
times he was carried on a deck chair fixed on a camel's back.

The caravan, passing through desert and inhospitable lands, in a
torrid climate, with a sick man who, racked by delerium and devoured by

— 568

fever, groaned aloud and invoked help, had something of the epic and the
legendary, and recalls to our minds the memory of the ancient migrations
of the Arian peoples, flexible in body and in mind, of the Indo-Germanic
and Persian peoples who came from the banks of the foaming Ganges,
and the sacred banks of the Tigris and the Euphrates — the cradle of
civilized mankind — and migrated westward.

After leaving Auidi, the caravan still pursuing its way through desert
regions devoid of water, reached Ugub, where, in view of the very severe
difficulties caused by the engineer's illness, it was decided slightly to modify

the itinerary, and to visit the Teru plain, which Baron Franchetti knew
to be highly interesting in respect of mineral research.

At Maina, where the tents were put up in a locality close to a spring
of sulphurous water, which gave out an unbreathable odour, the guide
Ibrahim learnt that the bodies of the heroic explorers of the Giulietti
expedition, who were assassinated by the natives in 1881, were buried
in the neighbourhood.

Thanks to the gift of a handsome sum of money and the solemn
promise that his name would not be disclosed to the natives, the Arab
pointed out the spot in which the heroic pioneers who sacrificed their
lives for science and their Country were buried.

At 8.30 p. m., as darkness descended with moist wings on the desert,.
Baron Franchetti went to visit the Egreri locality, where lies the little
cemetery with its pyramid-shaped Arab tombs. In the midst of these
were two small tumuli whose form proclaimed them to be exceptional.
Under this sepulchre the mortal remains of the two heroes rested in
the naked earth.

On the 24th May the exhumation was carried out with feverish haste

569 —

owing to the danger of reprisals on the part of the Arabs. The remains
were found and lovingly deposited in an urn reconsecrated to bro-
therly love.

The caravan, which was encamped at Scipalu, near Gaballe Gudda,

repaired to the scene of the touching
ceremony.

The rites were simply and solennly
performed ; the engineer Maglioni stood
supported by two Ascari, another presen-
ted arms ; all present bowed reverently.

On the tomb a stone bearing the fol-
lowing inscription was placed :

« Here perished the Giulietti expedi-
tion. 14 Italians were barbarously slaughe-
tered. Christians, bear your heads; Moslems,
pause and salute. Franchetti Expedition,
24 May 1929 ».

The travellers have here reached their

goal ; the cruel fatigues are drawing to

a close and, now cheerful and agile, now

panting under the sun's pitiless rays, they march from Musalle towards

Quia, where the Italian autocar is in waiting to bear them to Assab,

^f"

^M^ ;

m^

570

where the Baronessa Franchetti, surrounded by the authorities and the
people, awaits the travellers, who are greeted on all hands with enthu-
siastic welcome.

The film of this expedition is a great success, both from the
technical standpoint and the choice and coordination of the episodes,
and also when considered as a geographical and scientific record, soberly
and scientifically made. It is a film that deserves to rank beside that of the
Duke of the Abruzzi's expedition, taken in Uebi-Scelebi, that of the Indian
expedition and the other splendid geographical productions of the Luce
Co., which — animated by the policy and wishes of the Head of the Ital-
ian Government — devotes its energies to increasing the production of

Italian educational films. In this domain Italy is indisputably conquering
a first rank position.

The film is divided into six parts. In the first part, after showing
the preparations for the expedition and giving a view of the Italian camp
at Gaarre and the ceremony in front of the monument raised at Assab
in honour of the murdered members of the Giulietti mission, a fine record
is shown of the characteristic costumes of the Ascari and Arabs, and camp
life. All this gives a clear idea of the preparatory work required for a
scientific exploration of the inhospitable regions of the Black Continent.

The principal features of the second part consist in the journey from
Gaarra to Afambo, and give a fine picture of the country, of the protection
of flocks from the marauders, and the terrific sandstorms which the mon-
soons drive before them with alarming violence.

A fine pastoral touch is lent by the flocks which browse peacefully
wherever there is any vegetation, or drink at the streams; a most refreshing
spectacle, in striking contrast with the parched and desolate scenery of
the desert parts.

571 —

The third part, in which we are showrn the diverse forms of the Dan-
kale and Abyssinian tombs, is mainly scientific in character, and displays
the first results obtained by the expedition in the domain of geology,
mining, and chemistry. We are showm the strange and original features
of the country and the extraordinary density of the salt water lake.

The fourth part is of special interest as showing the vicissitudes of
the exploring party in the regions of the Dankalian depression ; it is also
a striking record of the bloody encounter between the explorers and the
brigands.

In the fifth and sixth parts, which are of the greatest interest owing
to the beautiful panoramic views and as a scientific and folklore record,

we are shown the closing phases of the expedition, from Makalle to Assab,
through the country of the marauders. We are also shown the simple
and touching scene of the last honours paid to the dead heroes of the Giu-
lietti mission.

This splendid cinematographic vision, which cannot fail to arouse
in the people the wish to expand towards the distant lands lying under
unknown skies, with dawns and sunsets blazing with purple and gold that
fade into violets and blues of an intensity new and strange to our eyes,
recalls to our lips the words of the divine Poet :

« Io e i compagni eravamo vecchi e tardi,
Ouando venimmo a quella foce stretta,
Ov'Ercole segno li suoi riguardi,
Accio che Vuom piii oltre non si metta »

From the Luce Institute.

— 51*

The Governing Body of the International Educational Cinemato-
graphic Institute met in Rome during the first week of October.

The Council expressed much satisfaction at the reading of the
long and circumstantial report which Marquess Guad-el-Jelii had
drawn up on behalf of the Permanent Executive Committee of the
Institute , illustrating the work it had done up to the present.

The Director read a detailed report on the activities of the In-
stitute , on its organization and the programme of work in hand and
formulated certain concrete proposals which the Governing Body fully
approved.

In view of the fact that all the decisions and suggestions of the Go-
verning Body of the I.E. C.I. , must be submitted for definitive ap-
proval to the Council of the League of Nations , we defer to our
January number an account of the detailed work of the Council and
of the practical proposals put forward.

The Governing Body committed to the German member, Dr.
Hugo Krilssy the task of drafting the report to be submitted in January
to the Council of the League. In due course we shall publish this
report together with the resolutions passed and the various suggestions
that were approved.

573 —

INSTITUTE TOPICS

LEGISLATIVE ASPECTS OF THE CINEMA
FILM CENSORSHIP IN BRITISH INDIA

It is evident that the peculiar character of the populations of India
is such as to render it impossible for the present to adopt extremist views
on the censorship of films; that is to say, to suppress all forms of re-
vision and control, leaving it entirely to public opinion to judge whether
a given film may prove harmless or otherwise.

Apart from any consideration of the level of education of the spectators,,
the possible risk of creating a conflict between western civilization and the
Indian mentality renders some form of censorship necessary.

This problem has to be faced in all countries that have not fully
entered into western ideas, but persevere in their own way of life, culture,,
thought, and religion. A certain uniform standard of life exists in all
western countries. It may differ somewhat from one State to another,,
but always in a minor and contingent degree. But in the eastern coun-
tries, there is a continuous conflict between the two forms of civilization
in respect of all manifestations of life.

Hence, it is encumbent upon the authorities responsible for the pro-
tection and government of the country to take all the requisite measures
to avert the possibility of moral and intellectual conflicts which, arising
out of some misunderstanding, are apt to lead to serious consequences.

So far, the cinema has hardly reached the rural population of India,,
which forms the great majority of the Nation. It is mainly the town dweller
who frequents the cinema halls, while the rural masses are acquainted with
the screen solely through the casual and fragmentary efforts of travelling
cinemas. It may indeed be taken that the intellectual and semi-intellec-
tual classes form the great majority of the film audiences in India, while
the illiterate are in the minority. In like manner, Indian women do not
usually frequent the cinema and are only to be found in any number
when religious or mythological films are being shown. The Islamic
element again, and especially the Moslem women, are not addicted to the
cinema owing to the anti-cinema propaganda carried on by many Moslem
committees in Northern India.

All this tends to increase the potential, if not the actual, risks of
misunderstanding, and the danger of allowing the uncontrolled entrance

574

into India of films which have not been carefully selected and passed as
suitable to the diverse and peculiar public for which they are intended,
and demonstrates the absolute need under present conditions for some
rigorous form of control and censorship.

Existing Censorship: The present system of censorship in India
is based on the Indian Cinematograph Act of 191 8. Prior to this Act
some form of film control had been attempted by organizations and
groups interested in the education and protection of the young. These y
however, were merely sporadic efforts, of a purely voluntary kind, which
did not make much headway, but made room in time for a definite legis-
lative system.

The 1 91 8 Act, the main objects of which were to provide for the
safety of audiences and to prevent the exhibition of objectionable
films, was amended by the Cinematograph Amendment Act of 191 9
and the Devolution Act of 1920, whereby certain powers given by the
original Act to the Governor General in Council were devolved upon the
Provincial Governments.

The Cinematograph Act provides that no cinema exhibition shall
be given except in a place which has been licensed. Such licenses are
to be granted by the District Magistrate, or, in a Presidency Town or in
Rangoon, by the Commissioner of Police, unless the Provincial Govern-
ment appoints some other authority. The Act further provides that no
film shall be exhibited, unless it has been certified by the proper autho-
rity as suitable for public exhibition . Section 7 of the Act provides that
any Provincial Government authorized in this behalf by the Governor
General in Council may constitute such authorities as it deems fit for
the purpose of examining and certifying films as suitable for public exhi-
bition. If such authority consists of a Board of two or more persons >
not more than one half of the members shall be persons in the service
of the Government.

Under the said Section 7, Boards of Censors have been constituted
at Bombay, Calcutta, Madras, Rangoon, and the Punjab, which have made
rules under the Act regulating the certification of films and prescribing
the conditions of licenses.

A certificate granted by any of these Boards of Censors is valid
throughout British India, subject to the following conditions:

1. A District Magistrate or, in a Presidency Town, or Rangoon,
the Commissioner of Police, is empowered to suspend at any time the
favourable certificate of any film pending the orders of the Provincial
Government, which can then declare it to be deemed uncertified if it
sees fit ;

2. In like manner, a Board of Censors can examine a film that has
already been passed and certified by a different Board, so as to judge

575 —

whether the views expressed on it in a particular Province are applicable
elsewhere.

Under Section 7 of the Act, there is an appeal from the decision of
the Board to the Provincial Government, whose decision is final and
without appeal.

Films of an educational tenour are subject to the usual censorship
regulations and, in the absence of any special exemption on the part of
the Provincial Government, Section 9 of the Act provides that the exhi-
bition of films in educational institutes shall be subject to the same rules
as those applying to public halls.

The general censoring fee amounts to five rupees for every thousand
feet, or fraction thereof, the proceeds being distributed in varying propor-
tions between the members of the Board, in the shape of attendance hono-
raria, and on the salaries of the staff and upkeep of the offices.

The Bombay Board consists of the Commissioner of Police and the
Collector of Customs, who are ex officio members, a member of the In-
dian Educational Service, and three prominent native citizens, of whom
one must be a Hindu, one a Moslem, and one a Parsee. All are appointed
by the Government of Bombay. No European is appointed as such,
as European interests are considered to be adequately guarded by
the official members. The Board meets twice a month to view the films and
consider the preparatory work done by the salaried staff and the Indian
Inspectors appointed to supervise the observance of the provisions of
the Board in the cinemas.

It should be noted that only Indians who possess a good university
degree and who have travelled in the west are eligible as Inspectors.

The Bengal Board consists of the Commissioner of Police of Calcutta
and the Station Staff Officer (ex officio members), a lady representative
who is a European, representatives of the Bengal Chamber of Commerce
and of the Calcutta Trades Association, a Jewish Merchant, a Moslem
Principal representing the Education Department, and a Hindu Lawyer
representing the Corporation ; namely eight persons in all.

An Indian Inspector is also appointed to this Board.

The Rangoon Board likewise consists of eight members, namely, the
Commissioner and Assistant Commissioner of Police (ex officio members),
a military representative, a European medical man representing the Vigi-
lance Society, three Burmese gentlemen and one Burmese lady.

The Madras Board consists of six persons, namely, the Commissioner
of Police, who is President ex officio,, a military representative, and four
Indian gentlemen, one of whom is a Moslem.

Precise particulars regarding the membership of the Punjab Board
of Censors are not yet available.

There are no hard and fast rules for the functioning of the several

— 576

Boards of Censors. Regulations are fixed by the different Provincial Go-
vernments in accordance with Section 8 of the Act. As a general rule
application for a film to be viewed must be sent in by the interested party
to the Board, which delegates an Inspector to examine it and report to
the Board at its next meeting. The members of the Board are entitled
to ask for a fresh examination of the film before granting a certificate for
its exhibition. In Burma (Rangoon Board of Censors) the films are
examined by a sub-committee consisting of two members. In Madras the
President of the Board delegates to a member of the Board the task of
inspecting films submitted to it.

Apart from the Boards of Censors described, the right to control and
veto films in the other territories of British India devolves on the respec-
tive Provincial Governors, pending the appointment of regular Boards
of Censors.

How the Offices function. Official statistics give the number of the films
examined by the several Censorship Boards from 1921 to the present time.

In general the number of the films submitted for revision has not
varied in any marked degree, although there is a considerable increase
in footage. We have the following returns for the first four offices that
were functioning regularly :

1921-1922 1762 5,112,168 feet

1922-1923 2045 5,991,136 »

1923-1924 1536 5,111,438 »

1924-1925 1353 4,779,104 »

1925-1926 1647 5,302,280 »

1926-1927 1716 6,666,220 »

1927-1928 1696 6,293,769 »

(up to the end of February 1928).

There are considerable differences from one province to another.
During the last year under consideration 883 films were examined in
Bombay, 663 in Calcutta, 8 in Madras, and 142 im Burma. The footage
also varies from 3,322,564 in Bombay to 1,842,938 in Calcutta, 44,037
in Madras and 1,084, 230 in Burma.

The different Boards of Censors, and, in the absence of these, the
several Provincial Governments, have the right altogether to refuse exhi-
bition certificates, where they consider the film as unsuitable or dangerous,
or to require excisions and emendations, so as to eliminate particular
scenes of which they disapprove.

In general the number of films altogether rejected has been very small.
During the last four years they numbered in all 8 in Bombay (1 during
the last year under consideration) ; 4 in Calcutta (none during the last

6-ingl. 577 —

year) ; 9 in Burma (2 during the last year) ; none in Madras. The number
does not vary when we consider also the films declared unfit for exhibition
by the Provincial Governments in virtue of the powers described.
The Provincial Governments have exercised their right of veto during
the four last years on 36 films in Lahore, (13 during the last year),.
29 in the United Provinces (7 during the last year), 19 in the Central Pro-
vinces and Berar, (5 during last year), 37 in Bihar and Orissa (8 during
the last year), 7 in Assam (one during the last year) and lastly 35 in Delhi
(9 during the last year).

From the figures given, and while it is only possible to guess at the
differences in the standards of censorship from one province to another
(e. g. the prevalence of the Moslem, Hindu, or Parsee population, the urban
or rural character of the inhabitants, etc.), it would appear that the work
carried out under the direction of the Provincial Governments has in gene-
ral been of a much severer kind than that of the Boards of Censors ; this
may perhaps be due to the greater sense of responsibility deriving from
a direct vision of the films.

Reasons for Censoring. Particular interest attaches to an examination
of the motives for censoring films. These reasons do not vary substan-
tially from one region of India to another. They are not laid down in
any definite legislative form, but may be gathered from the circulars, mea-
sures, and regulations which the Boards of Censors issue for the use of
their inspectors, which form, in fact, a minute and precise list of in-
structions.

First of all, I would call attention to the circular of the Bombay Of-
fice, which shows a fine appreciation of the difficult problem ; it enunciates
the following principles.

a) No generally and rigidly applicable rules of censorship can be laid
down. It is essential to be consistent, but impossible to aim at strictly
logical decisions ; hence it is necessary that each film be judged on its
own merits.

b) Nothing should be approved which in the Inspector's honest
opinion is calculated to demoralize an audience or any section of it ; .

c) Inspectors should consider the impression likely to be made on
an average audience in India, which includes a not inconsiderable propor-
tion of illiterate people or those of immature judgment ;

d) Inspectors should remember that a film may be in itself innocent,
yet dangerous because of the bad reputation of the book it reproduces,
and that a book may be harmless but a film of it dangerous.

Besides these general principles, the particular points demanding
censoring are listed. The first are of a purely suggestive character, and of
a kind to awaken the inspector's conscience and sense of responsibility ;
the latter lay down the actual kinds of films and subjects which are to be
regarded as reprehensible.

-578

a) Religion. The irreverent treatment of sacred subjects or the
actual and realistic representation on the screen of the founder of any
religion are in general disapproved.

b) Politics. All reference, even though vague and indefinite, to
domestic or foreign political controversies, scenes likely to arouse the feel-
ings of the audience against a foreign nation, scenes likely to bring dis-
credit on the British Empire or to foment a breach of the law in any of the
States.

Among the reasons of a domestic political character, all scenes likely
to bring into contempt public characters or institutions, or to foment the
conflict between Capital and Labour, are mentioned.

c) Military subjects. All scenes that may bring the British uniform
into ridicule or contempt are rigorously forbidden, or scenes that place
British or Indian officers in a bad light ; scenes exploiting the tragic inci-
dents of war, or which show realistic and terrifying pictures of it" and lastly,
espionage incidents.

d) The Administration of Justice. Scenes of executions are strictly
prohibited as being liable to produce a disagreeable impression of what
is done for the ends of justice .

e) Social Questions. The work of film censorship in the social domain
is summarized in a series of prohibited subjects — susceptible of being
indefinitely added to — touching on the most painful or reprehensible
aspects of social life.

Some of these prohibited subjects are of a purely local character,
such as those referring to racial conflicts ; the « white slave traffic » is also
taboo as showing white women in a position of moral degradation and in-
feriority.

Scenes of drunkenness carried to excess, unnecessary exhibition of
feminine underclothing, nude figures of actors or actresses, indecorous
dancing, excessively passionate love scenes, indecorous bathing scenes,
scenes of seduction, « First Night » scenes, illicit sexual relationship, scenes
of prostitution and procuration, men and women in bed together, and in
general all scenes of a crude or immoral character are prohibited.

The indecorous treatment of delicate, passionate, or painful family
scenes is precluded as being anti-social, as also scenes depicting in a crude
or offensive manner the effects of venereal disease, inherited or acquired.

f) Crime. The Boards of Censors exclude all scenes that extenuate
crime or familiarize young people with crime. The modus operandi of cri-
minals, cruelty to children or to adults, especially women, scenes of stran-
gulation and excessive violence, « dope » scenes, incest, violence to women,
prison scenes, etc., are prohibited.

g) Acts of Cruelty and vulgarity : Scenes of cruelty in general, and
especially to children and animals, are considered objectionable, as also

579 —

scenes or offensive vulgarity, either in the staging and accessories or in
the action ; impropriety in conduct and dress, etc.

h) Titles. Captions are subject to the Board's censorship; all inde-
corous, ambiguous, or irreverent titles and sub-titles being prohibited.

Ths Boards very logically consider the titles as an integral part of
the film and that it is not possible to differentiate in any absolute way be-
tween the one and the other, since the two things are interconnected, and
the description of the films must be considered together with the film
itself.

Criticism of the present System of Censorship. One of the principal
criticism of the present form of censorship in British India touches on the
methods of film revision. The systems adopted in Bombay and Calcutta,
on the one hand, and in Burma, Madras, and the Punjab, on the other,
are in fact entirely different.

In the first two, the films are revised entirely by the inspectors dele-
gated by the offices concerned, while in the latter centres the very delicate
work of revision is entrusted to the actual censors.

In the first case, the Censors are not closely enough in touch with
their subject, since they are called upon only in exceptional instances to
view and judge the films submitted to them, while the actual responsibily
devolves upon paid or salaried officials. The latter often lack a broad
and elastic understanding of social life, of which the censor is the potential
representative, and tend to a mechanized attitude of mind, produced by
bureaucratic life.

The returns published by the Report of the Indian Cinematograph
Committee (Table 18) dealing with the Boards of Censors of Bombay and
Bengal are of interest in this connection. This table gives the following
figures for 1927-28.

„ , < Total number of films examined 883 footage 3,322,564

( Films examined by the Censors 39 footage 273,707

J Total number of Films examined 663 footage 1,842,938

\ Films examined by the Censors 26 footage 184,595

The censorship in India was the subject of lengthy and animated
discussions on the part of such bodies as the British Social Hygiene Dele-
gation, which visited India in 1926 and 1927, the National Council of Wo-
men in Burma, and the Legislative Assembly and Council of State. The
principal contention was that the cinema exercised a deleterious influence
on the Country. Although no definite evidence was brought forward
on this subject and merely theoretic considerations were expressed, the
Council of State approved a resolution for the appointment of a Commis-
sion of Enquiry into the system of film control in the territory of British
India. The amplest powers were granted to the said Commission.

— ^80

The work of the Commission was set forth in a valuable Report and
the Indian Government, in reply to an official enquiry by the International
Educational Cinematographic Institute, stated that the present censorship
regime would be modified in conformity with the suggestions and specific
proposals contained in the Report.

The main criticisms made by the Commission are the following :

a) There is no doubt that the greater part of theatrical films do
not give a real picture of life ; if they represented real life their plots and
dramatic value would fail. This may be of relatively small danger when
the films are shown to audiences and individuals accustomed by life-long
experience to judge and discriminate in such matters. But in the case
of the populations of India, it has been noted that a falsified representation
of life tends to blind them in regard to the finer aspects of western life
and to urge them to emulate the worst side. Moreover, the conservative
element in India holds that European films, if not carefully selected,
whether they be realistic or mere caricatures of life, are apt to lead the
new generations astray from the beaten path of custom and civilization.

b) The Indian people is indifferent towards social dramas. It fails
to understand these and regards them as false and dangerous. The pub-
lic abandons the halls when such films are shown.

c) It does not appear to be true, at least in respect of Indians, that
films arouse dormant criminal tendencies in the audiences by the repre-
sentation of scenes of crime and the behaviour of criminals.

Persons who have criminal propensities, according to the Report, learn
much more from actual life than from the film. An enquiry carried out
at the several Police Stations of the different Provinces found that there
was no connection between the cinema and crime or the means of the
commission of crime. It is true that a potential criminal might pick up
an idea from a film, but his native knowledge of the ways of transgressing
and his natural abilities would be much more likely to serve him as a prac-
tical guide.

In any case the exhibition should be definitely banned of films that
illustrate realistically the modus operandi of criminals or which are of
a kind to familiarize the young spectator with crime and to suggest to
him that robbery, deceit and violence are normal incidents of life and
not excessively reprehensible.

d) It has been suggested that passionate love scenes on the film
might be liable to have a tendency to demoralize the youth of the country.
It might be well to urge upon the censors the necessity of greater strin-
gency in the enforcement of the regulations in this regard.

e) It would be desirable that the police authorities and magistrates
should exercise a kind of pre-censorship in regard to advertisements,
posters, leaflets, and other forms of film publicity, in order to make sure

581-

that these did not contain words, phrases or illustrations that had been
banned, and that they stressed the better aspects of the films that were to
be shown.

/) Special attention should be paid to censoring old films and in-
ferior films that were still being circulated in India. Every film has a limi-
ted term of natural life, whether regarded as raw material or as a picture.
The showing of out-of-date and inferior films should be discountenanced.
g) The work of the censoring boards should be completed by the
control of the actual exhibition of the films, so as to make sure that, after
certificates had been granted, unscrupulous speculators and renters should
not introduce additions or make cuts in them.

h) The public ought to be called upon to cooperate with the cen-
sorship, as is the case in Bombay, where notices invite spectators who have
any complaints to make of films, to address them to the appropriate autho-
rity.

i) The Censors should in all cases see that children are not allowed
to be present when unsuitable films are shown. Children are probably
more injured by watching films of doubtful morality than by scenes of
a sensational or violent character, which are undoubtedly more injurious
to adolescents.

On the other hand, the issue of certificates stating that certain films
are suitable for exhibition to children would cause the public to quit the
halls and would check all spontaneous effort at improvement on the part
of the industry.

The Commission of Enquiry therefore recommended, by way of
experiment, the English system of issuing two types of certificate, author-
izing «universal» or « public » exhibition. The first certificate implies
that, in the opinion of the censor, the film contains nothing that could be
deleterious to children, and the second that the film, though suited to
public exhibition, might be harmful or disturbing to children.

Proposed Amendments. The ideal system of censorship, according
to the Report (N. 253) would be a Central Board of Censors for the whole
of British India. This would be in close and continuous touch with the
Government of India, and through the said Government, would be better
able to get into touch with the several Indian States when necessary.

This Central Office could act in the different Provinces through the
medium of separate offices and censors delegated to represent it.

As regards the validity of certificates for exhibition — a point which
as already said, requires regulating and revising comprehensively, so as
to avoid the showing of films that are no longer suitable for public exhi-
bition — general rules for the granting of certificates would have to be
fixed for the whole of India, with special consideration of the needs of
the different provinces.

— 582

Public utility films, made with the object of opening the eyes of the
masses to the advantages of better sanitation, education, cooperation,
agriculture, and the like, ought to be exempted from certificates ; they
should be allowed to circulate throughout India freely without being subject
to any form of taxation.

A Film Collection ought to be formed for educational and scientific
films ; this should not contain only imported films, but also and especially
films produced in India, in accordance with the rules to be laid down by
the Central Office and Advisory Committee. This Collection should
operate not in India alone, but also beyond her frontiers, so that the cul-
ture, science, and learning derived from India during long ages of study
and religious and philosophical research, should be made known to
the world.

The Report (No. no), refers understandingly to the creation of the
International Educational Cinematographic Institute, under the auspices
of the League of Nations, with which the Central Office and Advisory
Committee should act in concert for the achievement of their common
aims.

At its meeting last October the Governing Body of the I. E. C. I
in Rome approved unanimously two reports which we shall speak of in
due course.

The first called attention to the need of freeing the educational and
scientific film from all fiscal impediments and granting it full rights of
citizenship in the different countries.

The second, on the proposal of the German delegate, Dr. Curlis,
suggested that, subject to such conditions as might in due course be
deemed expedient, censorship of educational films should be centralized
in the Rome Institute.

The proposal put forward in the Indian Committee's report, which
is so consonant with the wishes and aims of western countries, is all the
more significant.

Once again light reaches us from the East, and India, the ancient
Mother of peoples and civilizations, is found in the vauguard cf progress
and culture.

583 —

THE CINEMA IN THE SERVICE OF HYGIENE
AND SOCIAL WELFARE.

Systematic hygiene propaganda by the film is steadily developing
in Italy. Ever since 1919 the General Direction of Public Health at-
tached to the Ministry of the Interior, has had recourse to the cinema for
hygiene propaganda and for a comprehensive campaign of an evidential
and persuasive kind. Some films have been published directly by the
Ministry, under the guidance of a competent medical staff assigned to the
purpose. Malaria is one of the subjects most successfully, comprehen-
sively and persuasively dealt with. A number of other films have been
published in concert with the Italian Red Cross Society, particularly so as
to illustrate the widespread work and fine institutions organized in the
different regions of Italy for the prevention of tuberculosis and to fight
contagious diseases.

A great impulse was given to hygiene propaganda by the foundation
of the Luce Institute and the formation, by the wish of the Head of the
Italian Government, of its collection of films fur educational and hygiene
propaganda. Since 1924, this propaganda has developed steadily. A
number of films released in the Kingdom were purchased from abroad,
especially in France, Germany and the United States ; a still greater number
were produced in Italy : thsse comprise films on Turberculosis, Open-air
life, Health Education for Children, Sanatoriums, Modern Towns, Healthy
Dwelling Houses, Food Hygiene, Town and Country Life, etc. All the
above films Were produced by the Luce Company under the direction
of a special technical Committee, of which the Director General of Public
Health was President. We wish, however, to call particular attention to
three forms of activity :

a) Sunday propaganda lectures ;

b) Documentary films on behalf of the League of Nations ;

c) The organization of Hygiene Film Archives for the use of
Elementary Schools.

In 1925, on the initiative of the Film Archive of the Rome Gover-
natorato, which was organized in consultation with the Luce, Sunday
Hygiene Film shows were started in the Capital. The owners of district
Cinemas placed their halls at the disposal of the Governatorato every
Sunday morning, free of all charge. The Rome Health Office sent
doctors to all the cinemas to address the people, to explain hygiene films,

- 5%

and to carry on a systematic work of propaganda. No entrance fees were
charged. The enormous success of the enterprise was evident right
from the earliest weeks. It was estimated that over 15,000 persons
— men, women, and children — were present at the twenty to twenty-
five contemporaneous Sunday shows. It was found necessary to intensify
the work, and special shows, illustrated by lectures, were organized for
women, showing films dealing with the feeding of infants, puerperal
care, etc. Lastly, shows were organized for soldiers resident in Rome,
dealing more particularly with contagious diseases.

This is, undoubtedly, an initiative deserving of the widest notice.
In 1928, the Health Section of the League of Nations having planned
an exchange of doctors between different countries, in order to observe the
progress made in hygiene propaganda and in works designed to prevent
the worst social evils, the Luce was able, with the help of data furnished
by the Health Ssction, to get ready son? thirty films illustrating the great
work accomplished by Italy during the last ten years for the direct and
indirect improvement of public health : the big aqueducts, industrial
hygiene works, the demolition of slums in the old quarters of our cities,
building new quarters, the construction of new docks, the organization of
new roadways to obviate the bad effects of dust, great mountain basins,
the physical education and training of the young, open-air schools, new
school buildings, etc. Having completed this film collection, the Luce
Institute was requested by the Hygiene Direction of the League of Nations
to send its own experts along with the medical missions going to Belgium
and Holland. In these countries films of great interest were likewise
taken, under the direction of local experts. Lastly, the Luce turned a
long and complete film in Copenhagen under the guidance of Prof. Mad-
sen, on the occasion of the Serological Conference on the methods of
noccology practised by the specialists of different countries.

The organization of School Hygiene-Film Archives is a further work
organized by Italy that deserves our notice. 75 Provinces have so far
set up in the elementary schools appropriate film collections of from 20 to
30 films, dealing with social hygiene. These films are distributed to all
the provincial schools, together with the requisite apparatus, free of all
charge. All that is required is that application be made in due time.

In one of our forthcoming issues we shall call attention to what has
been done in the domain of industrial hygiene and the prevention of ac-
cident. In this field also the work done by Italy deserves to be widely
known.

585-

THE TECHNICAL ASPECTS OF THE CINEMA

Among the innumerable uses of the film for instructional purposes,
one is deserving of very special attention : namely its use for illustrating
the complex problems of geometry.

By means of animated drawing cinematography, students can follow
the gradual development of figures on the great luminous screen, while de-
scriptive and cinematic geometry more especially, by means of illustra-
tions in motion, afford much more lucid and efficacious explanations than
any kind of diagram.

Certain cinema publishers have brought out films the purpose of
which is to elucidate, by the medium of animated images, some of the hard-
est problems of geometry, which have hitherto been explained axioma-
tically by exact formulae, but have always been very difficult to grasp and
often left students sorely perplexed after long study of the stationary
figures.

As an example, we may cite the famous theorem of Pythagoras,
which most of us have studied, but few remember, because it has rarely
been properly understood. By means of animated drawings, the lines
of this figure are seen gradually developing till they form the entire pro-
blem ; they split up into its essential elements, and are then superposed
so as to give the clearest possible vision of what otherwise would have had
to be propounded by formulae and the inadequate help of diagrams on
the slate.

The engineer, F. Cisar, Professor at the Pilsen School of Arts and
Crafts, has produced a series cf films for the illustration of diverse geome-
trical problems, which, owing to their complexity, are not easily grasped
by young students. We, who are zealous advocates of the great use of
the cinema in the vast field of education, have much pleasure in il-
lustrating herewith some of the phases of the development of the geo-
metrical problems illustrated in Prof. Cisar 's films. The figures we pub-
lish may be compared with the diagrams commonly used ; the exhi-
bition of the whole film of course shows all the stages of the development
of the diverse problems with a lucidity that makes them much more
easily understood.

— 586

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589 —

THE USE OF EDUCATIONAL MOTION PICTURES BY THE
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

{Compiled largely from official publications by Josiah C. Folsom).

The educational motion pictures available from the United States
Department of Agriculture are offered for use by the general public as
well as by officials and employees of the Department and related institu-
tions.

These films have been produced and are circulated primarily by the
Department. They deal with important lines of work in which the De-
partment and cooperating State institutions are engaged. They are planned
to acquaint the public with the methods and significance of important
activities, to gain public cooperation, and, through making common pro-
perty of the results of scientific investigations, to spread knowledge of
improved methods in agriculture, forestry, rural engineering, and kindred
pursuits.

Prior to 191 3, individual bureaus of the Department of Agriculture
had made sporadic use of motion picture films taken either by their own
photographers or procured from commercial companies. These expe-
riences showed that the use of motion pictures stimulated attendance at
meetings, increased interest in and understanding of the work of the
Department and were a valuable adjunct to diffusion of agricultural in-
formation.

On September 12, 191 3, the Secretary of Agriculture appointed a
temporary committee to investigate the possibilities of the motion picture
as a medium of publicity in its educational field work, and if entrance to
the field seemed desirable, to report plans whereby the use of motion pic-
tures in agricultural education could be placed on a stable basis as a De-
partmental project.

The committee reported that while the direct educational value of
motion pictures could not be definitely predicated, the employment of
films offered other advantages which warranted the Department in using
them in its extension work.

Lacking its own facilities for making films, the committee endea-
vored to establish satisfactory cooperative relations with commercial film
companies, with the object of having them do the actual photography and
furnish the Department under reasonable financial arrangements with
such positive copies of films as it might care to purchase and use. Only

591

one or two fairly satisfactory films were produced under this arrange-
ment, and it soon was apparent that the Department could not, under this
arrangement, establish adequate criticism over its own subjects or make
satisfactory financial arrangements covering the purchase of films made
with its cooperation.

Accordingly, the temporary committee asked to be discharged and
recommended that a permanent committee be appointed, and that the
Department at once install in the Division of Publications, as a feature of
the Section of Illustrations, a complete laboratory for the taking, develop-
ing and printing of its own films. This was done.

The laboratory at once made a very efficient showing, and was able
to produce excellent films at costs much below those of films produced
with the cooperation of commercial companies. The production of its
own films gave the Department complete criticism control over all ma-
terial shown with its official title, ownership of the negatives and ability
to make, at actual costs for material and labor, as many copies of positives
as it needed.

From December, 191 3 to November 30, 1914, the newly organized
laboratory photographed for the Department and another Government
organization 27 subjects, aggregating 46,775 ft., of negative films and
from it printed 20,075 ft., of positive films for public projection purposes.
It also printed or developed for another Government organization 10,400
ft., of films on subjects photographed by others.

Up to the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1917, the use of motion pic-
tures was on an experimental basis only. In that year, the Department
was enabled to begin the systematic development of the work by
the fact that Congress gave a definitite allotment of $ 10,000 for it.
During that year films prepared by the Department were used very
effectively in connection with its efforts to recruit farm labor, encourage
preservation of perishable fruits and vegetables, prevent forest fires and
stimulate agricultural production. The largest campaign dealt with
farm labor, making appeals for the enlisting of city people in farm work.
Much farm labor was recruited as a direct result.

During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1920, the motion picture work
was placed under the direction of the Chief of the Division of Publications.
Marked advances were made in the production and distribution of the
Departments' films. There was now no doubt as to the usefulness of
motion pictures in agricultural extension work, and the need for their wider
distribution in response to demands.

On July 1, 1923, the Office of Motion Pictures, a separate unit, was
established to conduct the motion picture work of the Department. This
organization still functions.

During the fiscal year ending in 1920, arrangements were made by
which persons and institutions not directly connected with the Depart-

— 592

ment of Agriculture could purchase, under certain restrictions, positive
prints of the Department's motion pictures. This resulted in substantial
increase of distribution of those films.

A good educational motion picture should teach a worthwhile lesson
clearly and efficiently, present facts correctly, be interesting enough to
arouse and hold interest, and be representative of the institution which is
responsible for it.

Since 1920 there has been considerable improvement in the subject
matter content and the photographic quality of the motion picture films
issued by the Department of Agriculture. Emphasis is laid upon quality
rather than quantity. This has been secured in part by the constantly
improving system of criticism of scenarios and review of finished pictures.
This ensures careful criticism as to subject matter and motion picture
technique before production is begun. Upon completion, the films
are projected for review and criticism before meetings to which all bureaus
in the Department are requested to send representatives.

Use of motion pictures by the United States Department of Agri-
culture have been found to stimulate interest in the subjects discussed,
to give clear conceptions of unfamiliar ideas, to show in a part of an hour
what otherwise would have taken much longer to demonstrate to a far
smaller audience, and to furnish inspirational impetus to campaigns for
community betterment.

A large part of the audiences to which these pictures are shown may
be regarded as specialized, and especially interested in the subject matter
of the films. Better results are secured than if they were shown to gene-
ral audiences.

They are viewed by all classes of the farm population, but doubtless
the farm operating classes make up the larger parts of the audiences.

Films circulated by the Department of Agriculture have been shown
in every State, and in practically every important agricultural country. It
is estimated that at least 10,000,000 persons see these pictures every year.
Additional millions see copies of parts or the whole of these films which
are circulated by other agencies, such as news weeklies in this country.

The Department has now approximately 2,500 copies of its films
available for circulation. An equal number have been sold to outside
agencies. Some have been sold to foreign purchasers.

In the fiscal year ended June 20, 1928, 7,653 shipments of films were
made, of which 4,814 were to the general public, and 2,839 to extension
workers. The Department was unable to fill more than 600 applications
for films.

Individuals or organizations may be authorised by the Department
to buy prints of its films from a commercial manufacturer at contract
prices, the result of competitive bidding. Costs vary with length. Pur-
chasers are required to pay transportation, and sometimes other small

7-ingl. 593 —

additional charges. The conditions governing such purchases are that
no changes be made in the subject matter of the films without approval
from the Department, that credit to the Department be retained, and that
no commercial advertising matter be added to or inserted in the films.

Outstanding needs for this work are for more prints of films and for
easier and quicker distribution, which can best be supplied by the State
istitutions cooperating with the Department. Establishment of distri-
buting centers in the State agricultural colleges has been begun, and this
course is recommended for such institutions in all States. To them and
other distributing agencies, including public schools, farmers' organi-
zations, development associations, and boards of trade — to reputable
organizations of every sort — is offered opportunity to purchase prints,
as outlined elsewhere. The increase of distributing centers would help
reduce transportation charges, make films more available on short no-
tice, and give local needs better consideration.

Although available to the general public, the films are designed to
aid in the work of the extension and field workers of the Department and
cooperating State institutions, and their primary use is by or under super-
vision of such workers. The number of copies of films which the De-
partment is able to supply is at present inadequate to meet all other re-
quests . However, farmers' organizations, schools, colleges, churches,
theaters, and other agencies or persons desiring to borrow them may
apply for films through proper channels, and the films will be furnished
if available. Films are furnished free of charge except that the borrower
must pay transportation both ways, and a responsible person must assume
responsibility for such charges, as well as the safekeeping, proper use,
and prompt return of the films.

All films distributed by the Department of Agriculture are of stan-
dard or theatrical width. About two-thirds of the available prints are on
slow-burning film stock, and this stock is being used for all new films.

The production of « talking » motion pictures will be undertaken by
the Department of Agriculture this year, and if present plans are carried out
one or more « all talkie » short features will be ready for presentation at
the big livestock shows of the winter of 1929-30. For the present the pro-
duction of talking pictures will be limited to short specials for such occa-
sions as the National Dairy Show, where facilities for reproduction can
be provided. As soon as portable equipment for sound pictures is avail-
able at a cost lower than now the production of talking films for general
circulation will be undertaken.

The Department sees a special advantage in vocalizing films which
deal with economic phases of farming. It believes that the exhibition
of sound pictures on the agricultural outlook, for example, would greatly
aid in efforts to induce farmers to study prospective demand for their
products in adjusting production activities.

594

THE G I N E M A AS AN AUXILIARY
TO THE SCIENTIFIC ORGANIZATION OF LABOUR

From among the copious and diverse material bearing on the use of
the film for the purposes of scientific management, which reaches us from
all quarters, we have selected a film illustrating the modern organization
of a big bank, which is fully described hereunder.

This remarkable film is published on account of the Rotter dams che
■Bankvereeniging of Amsterdam, and affords a clear vision of the systems
adopted in the scientific management of its offices and its working methods.

We are confident that our readers will be interested in this description)
as it not only shows what is actually being practiced in this domain in cer-
tain countries, but also gives a very clear notion of the practical service
that the film can render in illustrating and popularizing modern ideas
and systems of work and production.

THE UP-TO-DATE ORGANIZATION OF A BANK.

Part I. Dictation.

The first picture shows the office of a manager of one of the depart-
ments, who is composing a circular. The manager is at his table reading
a letter. After a few moments, he picks up a microphone, presses a knob
and dictates the text of the circular into the receiver.

The spectator sees the disc move and the track of the wire on which
the dictation is impressed.

The upper part of the apparatus is shown for some further moments ,
while the attention of the spectator is drawn to the wire which shows th e
blank spaces between the different words.

The manager is seen finishing his dictation.

He makes a note on the customer's letter to indicate that the matter
has been dealt with and puts the letter aside.

THE WORDS ARE MARKED BY A MACHINE ON A ROLL OF PAPER

(perforation system).

Part of the typewriting office is shown. An automatic perforator
is shown in the foreground.

595 —

A typist enters and glances at the machine and the block which is
connected with the registering microphone.

She notes that the block has been marked during her absence, and
the following caption is projected on to the screen :

THE DICTATION IS ENDED.

The block is shown closer up, and the typist seats herself behind the
machine. She places a head-phone over her ears, listens to the dictation,
and starts to perforate the roll of paper. When the perforation is finished
the operator dispays the roll of paper on which the text is perforated.

The perforated roll is shown enlarged. Holes are seen on its sides
which serve in turning the roller, while the perforations corresponding
to the text of the circular are shown in the middle.

After the typist has started the second dictation, the following caption
is shown :

THE AUTOMATIC TYPEWRITER

and next :

THIS MACHINE, BY MEANS OF A ROLL OF PERFORATED PAPER, WRITES AN
UNLIMITED NUMBER OF LETTERS

The silhouette of the typist is seen behind the automatic typewriter,
with a table on her left hand on which there is a loose-sheet address regis-
ter. The typist looks up the address required and types it on a circular.
The addresses are written by the automatic typewriter, which goes on
working without the help of the typist. After again showing the machine
enlarged, it is shown in its normal dimensions ; the typist then presses
a button, the machine starts working, and the circulars are typed automa-
tically. The typist marks the number of the circular and the date it was
mailed beside the customer's name on the address list, so as to be able
to check what circular letters have been received by each customer. She
displays the card on which she has made these notes while the machine
goes on working automatically. When the letter is completed the machine
stops and it is taken out.

PRESENTING A CHEQUE FOR PAYMENT.

The counter is shown in the foreground ; a man walks up to it and
hands over a cheque. The clerk at the counter receives it, sticks on to
it a perforated slip of paper bearing a number, detaches the part of the
slip intended for the customer (upon presenting which he will later on
receive payment of his cheque), notes thereon the time at which the cheque
was presented, and hands it to the customer. The time is similarly noted
on the back of the cheque, and it is placed in the basket.

— 596

Passing the cheque for payment.

The cheque is received in the office where the pass-books are made
up. A clerk verifies the drawer's balance by consulting cards arranged
on a revolving stand ; he compares the signature on the cheque with the
specimen held by the bank, notes his approval on the cheque and passes
it on to the cashier.

The money is counted by an automatic paying machine.

The inside of the cashier's office is shown. The cashier takes the
cheque, picks up some bank notes, counts them out by the automatic
paying machine, and deposits the cheque on the counter.

The clerk pays the cheque against delivery of the section of the slip
of paper that was handed over to the customer when he presented his
cheque.

The machine is then shown close up, and the spectator reads :

Automatic machine for counting out coins and making
them up in rolls.

The coins are seen dropping into a box. They are gathered up by the
machine, which counts the number of the coins] and arranges them in
a roll of paper which bears the name of the bank and the indication of
the number of coins contained in the roll, which is so disposed as to show
from the outside the denomination of the coin within.

The clerk shows the box with the coins inside it and then a made-up
roll of them. l

The attention of the spectator is next called to the following caption :

The system of duplicates
Avoid transcribing : a duplicating system ensures economy

and avoids mistakes.
Next is shown :

The transmission of bills from the bank to its agencies and viceversa

All the documents necessary to the bank and its agencies

are made out simultaneously with carbon sheets.

The spectator reads further :
The papers comprise]:

i) Copy for the book-keeping department ;

2) first note for the head bank ;

3) register of the bank's business ;

4) copy for agency's book-keeping departement ;

5) FIRST NOTE FOR THE AGENCY ;

6) AGENCY'S REGISTER OF ENTRIES.

597 —

NOS I TO 3 REMAIN AT THE BANK, WHILE THE BILLS ARE SENT WITH
THE LAST THREE DOCUMENTS TO THE AGENCY CONCERNED. IN THIS MANNER
THE DOCUMENTS REQUIRED BY THE AGENCIES ARE ENTIRELY DRAWN UP AT
THE HEAD OFFICE. THIS PRECLUDES THE RISK OF DISCREPANCIES BETWEEN
THE BOOK-KEEPING OF THE HEAD BANK AND THAT OF ITS AGENCIES.

The picture shows a section of the Bank's bills' service. In the back-
ground the typist is seen preparing the memoranda and in the foreground
a clerk stands in front of a calculating machine classifyng the copies to
be placed in the machine. Another clerk appears and gathers together
the typed memoranda, he takes them over to a third clerk to be clas-
sified and displays one of the printed memoranda opened out. The
six pages of the document are shown in turn, enlarged, on the screen.

The clerk detaches the note while one of the typists demonstrates
how one of these documents is folded and placed in the machine. Mean-
while the clerk who classifies the various copies and the typists continue
their work, while it is shown how, after being filled in, these papers are
opened out and shaken to get rid of the carbon papers. The carbon
sheets are placed in position not by the clerks, but by porters, messengers,
or messenger girls.

Division and classification of the several parts of the
Documents to be duplicated

The typist goes over with the classified copies to the clerk who at-
tends to further operations.

The copies are gathered together
The balance-sheet of the section is completed.

The typist comes up with the copies classified and places them
beside one of the clerks. The latter starts to check them on a counting
machine ; thus completing the balancing of the section. A clerk walks up,
takes the register of the bills section and displays it to the public. The
register is then shewn enlarged. The provisional balance-sheet prepared
by the same machine is also shown. This also is shown enlarged. The
clerk goes out and the following caption is shewn on the screen :

The current accounts are made out on cards
(by the help of copies).

A cashier is shown noting the several operations on account of the
customers by means of a typewriter specially adapted for this work.

A clerk brings in the classified copies. The cashier types out the
current account and at the same time a duplicate, after which the clerk
returns, takes the two documents and shows them to the public.

— 598

The pass book is shown enlarged and the cashier goes on quietly
with his work until the caption shows :

A DAILY REGISTER SUMMARIZING THE SEVERAL CURRENT ACCOUNT OPERATIONS
BY MEANS OF A CARBON SHEET.

The clerk extracts the daily account from the machine, this is dis-
played by another clerk to the public, and is next shown enlarged on
the screen.

Checking the computation of interest

Two clerks are seen intent on checking the calculation of interests
by means of a multiplying machine. This machine is worked by electri-
city and seems to work very easily, to judge from the projection on the
screen. Two clerks attend to it, one of whom gets out the calculations
while the other checks them, extracting the totals from the machine by
means of which the calculations are made. The attention of the public
is next called to :

An address-writing machine

This caption is shown :
The addresses are written at the top of the notes to be mailed.

These pictures were taken in the mailing section of the Bank.

One of the clerks is intent on printing the addresses with a special
machine that works in the following manner :

By means of an accessory machine which is seen on the right of the
film, the plates are prepared with the names and precise addresses of the
customers ; these plates are placed in order in a kind of uncovered box,
which fits precisely into a special sector of the main machine. This, as
also the accessory machine, are worked by electricity and the printing of
the addresses is the matter of a few seconds only.

At this juncture a clerk turns up who first displays the note on which
the address is to be printed and then the same note with the address. This
latter is next projected on the screen enlarged.
There is next shown on the screen :

A Cyclostyle
followed by the caption :

Cheaply printed for the internal sfrvice of the bank

The cyclostyle is shown on the film. A clerk comes in and displays
the sheet to be printed. By pressing a button, he sets the machine going
and the printed sheets are seen dropping on the other side of the machine.
The clerk holds up a printed specimen, which is next shown enlarged.
The clerk goes out.

599 -

Photographing a contract

The interior of the photographic studio of the bank is shown.

The clerk places the contract in position, it adheres automatically
and perfectly, thanks to an aspirator apparatus. The operator uncovers
the objective and the paper to be photographed is printed direct on the
sensitized paper. The objective is now covered and the contract removed;
the operator carries off the printed sensitized paper to the dark room,
to develop it. This, after having been cut off, rolled itself up and
dropped automatically into a container.

Photographing several current accounts at a time

Two clerks come in with several current accounts which they place
in position ; they are photographed as in the preceding instance. Mean-
while, there is shown on the screen :

The developed photograph of the contract.

The clerk returns to the dark room, bringing with him the photo-
graph of the contract which he displays to the public ; he then goes out
together with the current-accounts clerk, who takes the photographed
documents with him.

— 600

NOTES TAKEN FROM REVIEWS AND PAPERS

CULTURAL FILMS

The Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture
is setting up cinemas in the oases for
the presentation of educational films,
especially those dealing with agricul-
ture. (Frankfurter Zeitttng, Frank-
fort) .

The possibilities of the practical ap-
plication of the cinema to agriculture
are dealt with in the light of the views
of several prominent persons. (Ci-
neopse, Paris) .

Referring to an article which ap-
peared in the Figaro, a contributor
stresses the necessity of checking the
steady exodus from the land of pea-
sants attracted by the lure of the towns.
Attention is called to the efficacy of
the cinema as a factor in rural and
agricultural Dropaganda. (Comoedia,
Paris) .

In 1930, the Soviet Cinematographic
Societies will produce at least 50 films
of an agricultural character. 7000 tra-
velling cinemas will be equipped for
touring the provinces. (Deutsche Film
Zeitung, Munich).

The Wirteschafts-Verband Bayer Film-
fabrikanten, of Munich, makes an exhau-
stive study of the actual production of
educational films in Baveria. (Der Film,
Berlin) .

According to recent statistics, it
would appear that there has been a
marked diminution in the production
of educational films in Germany (Film
Kurier, Berlin).

Dr. H. D. Kitson, Professor at the
University of Columbia, has produced,
on account of the educational section

of the Western Electric Corporation,
the first talking film of an educational
character. (Film Kurier, Berlin) .

The V. O. K. S. has examined the
various proposals submitted to it by
Austrian, Swiss, and German organi-
zations for an exchange of cultural
films. Recognizing the urgent neces-
sity for a wider diffusion abroad of
Russian cultural production, it has
asked each of the cinema organiza-
tions of the Soviet Republic to for-
ward 5 films. (Bulletin d' Information,
Moscow) .

A list is published of the films
which the German Ministry of Culture
describes as « cultural films ». (Neuer
Berliner, Berlin) .

The Engineer, Johann Weil, dealing
with the film as a means of propa-
ganda, draws attention to the great
assistance it can render in the sale
of manufactured goods. (Kinemato-
graph , Berlin).

The State Museums in Germany make
use ot films for the purposes of propa-
ganda. (Dresdener Nachrichten, Dres-
den).

The Universal Film Co. of Berlin
has produced a film on carburettors
for the purposes of mechanical loco-
motion. (Bildwart, Berlin).

The « Pathescope » Co. of New
York has produced a film dealing
with the more interesting aspects of
American industry. (Bildwart, Berlin).

In North Canada, films have been
taken from aeroplanes in flight. These
films reveal the existence of numerous

601

hitherto unknown lakes. (Berliner Bor-
senzeitung, Berlin).

A film taken by F. E. Pankhaus, re-
producing life and customs in Sierra
Leone and the Gold Coast, shows the
headway made by European civilization
in those countries, {Film Kurier, Ber-
lin).

The « Woskok » Co. is turning a syn-
chronized film in Russia, illustrating
the geographical and ethnographical
conditions of the Yamal peninsula.
(Licht-Bild-Buhne , Berlin).

Dr. Martin Rikli contributes an ar-
ticle on the cinematographic expeditions
made in far-off lands and calls parti-
cular attention to a film reproducing
life in the city of Medenin in Southern
Tunis. (Film Kurier, Berlin).

Mr. Arthur Blake is making a tour
of the world on behalf of the Fox Film,
accompanied by two operators, and is
preparing a splendid documentary film
of the scenery, habits and customs of
the various countries visited. These films
will be taken with a Movietone appa-
ratus. (Le Cinema Suisse, Montreux).

Dr. A. W. Baessler, of Berlin, has
undertaken an expedition in South A-
merica for the purpose of taking a film
in the Chako /territories, where the
natives still live in a state of canniba-
lism. (Kinematograph , Berlin).

The « Ufa » will be publishing in
1930 a film entitled « The Hindu
Song ». This film, which is interpreted
entirely by Indians, has been taken in
the most picturesque regions of India
and in the sumptuous palaces of the
Maharajas, who have given every kind
of facility for the filming of their fa-
bulous treasures. (Arte y Cinemato-
grafia, Barcelona).

Messrs. Cooper & Schoedsack have
returned to Hollywood after having liv-
ed for over a year in the heart of
Africa. During this time they have
gathered the material for a great new

production, which will be entitled: « The
Four Feathers » and will reproduce the
life of the animals and the savage tri-
bes of the so-called Black Continent.
(Popular Film, Barcelona).

The « Hamburger Filmarchiv » of
Hamburg has produced a film entitled
« Through war-like Arabia ». This film
was taken in the course of a voyage of
exploration by Dr. Rathiens, on ac-
count of the World Economic Institute
of Hamburg. (Bildwart, Berlin).

The German central association of
Disabled Workers and Widows has had
a documentary film taken to illustrate
the activities of the Association. (Kass-
ler \'ol\$blatt, Kassel).

The Berlin Institute of Cultural Re-
search, directed by Dr. Hans Ciirlis,
has taken a documentary film, entitled:
« The Danube from the Black Forest
to the Black Sea ». (Wiirtemberger
Zeitung, Stuttgart) .

The « Wufka » has turned a syn-
chronized film on the occasion of the
Jubilee fetes for the tenth anniversary
of the Tartar Republic. (Licht-Bild-
Biihne , Berlin).

The « Wufka » is preparing a new
film of a political character entitled
« Youth must be healthy to grow up
into the future governing class ». (Kino,
Kiew) .

The Ministry of Public Education is
studying the best way of creating a
Higher School of Cinematography in
Berlin. In this connection it has sent
Mr. Widolski, Director of the princi-
pal Soviet Cinematographic School at
Moscow, to Germany. (Le Courier Ci-
nematographique , Paris) .

The Arnold Kahnhnemann Co. of
Berlin has produced on account of the
Prussian Ministry of Agriculture a film
entitled: « Rabes in Dogs ». (Berliner
Morgenzeitung, Berlin) .

Dr. P. Martell, of Berlin, dwells on
the importance which scientific film*

602

are assuming in general education and
gives a list of a number of films dealing
with medicine, surgery, pathology, tu-
berculosis, bactereology, psychiatry, etc.
(Der Film, Berlin)/'

Dr. Kaufmann contributes a study on
the development of the cultural film
from 19 1 9 to the present day, and de-
votes particular attention to the film as
applied to medicine. (Tremonia, Dort-
mund) .

Herr Erwin Wolfgang Nack, in a long
article entitled « The Film applied to
Medicine » deals with various films ta-
ken in the operating theatre. He also
describes a sound film that reproduces
the beating of the heart. (La Germa-
nia, Berlin) .

The «. Ufa » of Berlin has produced an
interesting scientific film entitled: « E-
volution and Metamorphosis », show-
ing the different phases of the life of
aquatic animals. This film was directed
by Dr. Ulrich Schulz and Herr Wol-
fram Junghans. (Comoedia, Paris).

The operator Kaufmann has turned a
film entitled c< The Creche » dealing
with the care of childrens' health.
(Kino, Kiew).

The Emsch Genossenschaft of Essen
has produced a hygiene film on the bio-
logical purification of sewage. (Bild-
wart, Berlin).

The Boehner Co. of Dresden has
produced a film on stomatic and den-
tal hygiene. (Bildwart, Berlin).

Herr W. Haack, of Magallanes, pub-
lishes an article giving the statistical
returns of the number of cinemas exist-
ing in Southern Patagonia, and recount-
ing the artistic and educative product-
ions so far shown in the schools and
public halls of that country. (Bid wart,
Berlin) .

The President of the German Mi-
ners' Corporation has produced, with
the assistance of the Mechanical and

Electrotechnical Corporation, a film en-
titled i « Accidents caused by electric
current ». (Hallcsche Nachrichten, Hal-
le).

The Hiiussler Allgemeine Film Union,
of Berlin, has released a film entitled:
« Measures to prevent accidents in work-
shops ». (Reichsfilmblatt, Berlin).

Herr Hans Spielhofer deals at length
with the problem of psycho-analysis in
filming. (Deutsche Film Zeitung, Mu-
nich) .

Herr Ernst Yager considers the prob-
lem of the vanguard film, and main-
tains that it is necessary as the expo-
nent of the « universal conscience » of
the cinematographic industry. (Film
Kurier, Berlin) .

M. Chemin delivered a lecture at
the Pedadogic Museum of Paris on the
part played by the cinematograph in the
teaching of natural sciences. (Bulletin
du Musee Pedagogique , Paris).

Herr H. Dollinger states that 762
schoolmasters in Saxony have taken out
licenses as cinema operators. (Film Ku-
rier, Berlin) .

During the annual meeting of the
Societe Vaudoise des Maitres Seconda-
res, the utility of the cinema for edu-
cation was discussed. M. Secretan made
a lucid speech on the question and
concluded by showing that the only
proper use of the cinema in teaching
consists in short shows given in the
schools themselves. (La {Gazette de Lau-
sanne') .

The Rome Agency sends information
regarding the progress of the film as a
means of teaching in Italian elemen-
tary schools, and gives a list of the
number of projection apparatuses actual-
ly in use in the several schools of the
Kingdom. (7/ Corriere della Sera, Mi-
lan).

M. Laurent, in a study of the diverse
impressions made on the pupils of 'a

603

school in which a sub-marine film had
been shown, cites some of the consi-
derations expressed by the pupils them-
selves. He concludes that the film is
the best means known to teachers of
arousing the emotions in such a way
as to develop effectively the artistic
sense. {he Populaire, Paris).

TECHNICAL ASPECTS
OF THE CINEMATOGRAPH

Dr. P. Lob and Dr. W. Ewald, of
the Askania-Werke of Berlin, have been
studying the problem of the use of
colour filtres in orthochromatic cinema-
tography. {Kinotechni\, Berlin).

Mr. Lloyd A. Jones, dealing with the
question of colour cinematography,
dwells on the objective and subjective
association of colours, the characteriza-
tion of the colours and the use of
correct hues in films. {Film Techni\,
Berlin).

The first school for teaching how to
project talking films has been opened
at Hollywood. (Kinemato graph, Berlin).

The Klangfilm Co. has equipped se-
veral autocars with sound apparatus to
operate in the several provinces of the
Reich. (Lichtbildbuhne, Berlin).

An interesting article describes the
manner in which talking films are turn-
ed at present in view of the latest pro-
blems that have arisen in connection
with sound films. (The Daily Tele-
graph, London).

The Paramount Co. has equipped
some extra rapid autocars fitted with
synchronized filming apparatus intended
for taking topical films. {Comoedia,
Paris) .

Dr. Bruno Wendt of the F. G. Far-
benindustrie of Frankfort has invent-
ed a new method for the desensitiza-
tion of emulsions of panchromatic stra-
ta of allogenous silver. {Kinotechni\,
Berlin).

Herr Paul Scholz has invented a new
device for concentrating the ultra-violet
rays of quarz lamps. {Kinotechni\,
Berlin).

The National Theater Equipment Co.
is exploiting a new invention to be ap-
plied to the projection apparatus of
synchronized films. The invention con-
sists of a kind of metallic net by means
of which the projection of the sound
may be interrupted as desired. {Film
Daily, New York).

Mr. Harry Fischbek has invented a
new objective that reproduces the first
plane of the convex parts of the face.
{Comoedia, Paris).

The Sirius Kleuren Film-Maatschappij
Bosh en Duin (Holland) has patented
a new apparatus for the automatic co-
pying of 2-colour films. {Photographi-
sche Industrie, Berlin) .

The third article by M. Henry Fa-
vre on the new optical method for de-
termining internal tension appears in
this issue. {Revue Optique, Paris).

A new apparatus for talking cine-
matography has been invented in Eng-
land, called the « At Home ». This
apparatus is used for the reproduction
of sound by means of disks and with
16 cm. films. {Hebdo Film, Paris).

The Bell & Howell Co. has construc-
ted a new film camera called the
<( Filmo ». This camera can be worked
at 7 different speeds; so as to film 8,
12, 16, 24, 32, 48, or 64 images per
second. {Film Techni\, Halle).

The « Consolidized Film Industries »
of Hollywood has devised a new me-
thod for preserving films. This con-
sists in placing a layer of specially fine
grain on the film; thanks to this method
the life of films is prolonged 50 %.
(Film Kurier, Berlin) .

A new lamp with special re-inflation
system, causes the precipitation of the
Wolfram powder which usually forms
in the lamp. (Film Kurier, Berlin).

604

The Baird Television Development
Co., is making some interesting expe-
riments in television thanks to the
special facilities available to it. {Daily
Telegraph, London).

A technical contributor writes a long
article on the problems of television
and the progress realized therein du-
ring 1929. (Lichtbildbuhne, Berlin).

An interesting illustrated article by
Dr. W. Friedel deals with the problem
of electrical television and long distance
cinematographv. (Kinemato graph , Ber-
lin).

The German Television Association has
been founded in Berlin under the pre-
sidency of Herr Leopold Lehmann.
(Lichtbildbuhne, Berlin).

In a long study on talking and na-
tural colour television, it is stated that
the Bell Telephone Co. has succeeded
in transmitting a natural colour talking
film at a distance. (Dresdener Nach-
richten, Dresden).

A television service applied to the
telephone will soon be functionig be-
tween Turin and Milan. (7/ Corriere
della Sera, Milan) .

An article by Messrs. J. L. Crabtree
and H. A. Hartt, deals with certain
peculiar properties of fixing baths.
(Science et Industrie Photographiques ,
Paris).

Mr. Paul Hatschek deals in an inter-
esting article with the problem of
transverse projection. (Kinotechni\, Ber-
lin).

Dr. Thun of Berlin writes on the
studies carried out with regard to extra
rapid speeds in filming, and devotes
special consideration to the auxiliary
means of existing cinematography. (Ki-
notechni\, Berlin).

An interesting article draws a com-
parison between the talking film and
radio telephony, and examines the dif-

ferent aspects in which the former is
inferior to the latter. (The Daily Tele-
graph, London).

An article deals with the question of
speed in filming, and considers the eco-
nomic advantages of 60-ft. per minute
films over the usual speed of 90 ft. per
minute. (The Film Daily, New York).

A communication from M. Lobel
deals with artificial light photography
and the determination of posing-time
bv means of a Lux-meter. (Bulletin de
la Soc. Franc, de Photographie et Ci-
nematographic, Paris) .

M. George Poirier contributes an ar-
ticle on colour photography by analysis
and synthesis, by means of achromatic
lenses. (Bull, de la Soc. Franc, de Phot.
et Cinematographie, Paris).

An article bv Dr. Hans Bohm, of
Berlin, deals with the problem of the
taking and reproduction of talking films
according to the Tobis method. (Oester-
reiche Film Zeitung, Vienna) .

M. Jausserann writes on the evolu-
tion of latent images described by M.
Fabrv at the Academie des Sciences.
(Bull, de la Soc. Franc, de Phot, et
Cinematographie, Paris).

An interesting article analyzes film
projection from the technical standpoint,
and gives full details of the various
phases of the process. (Charlottenbur-
ger Neue Zeit, Charlottenburg) .

Useful icchaical hints are given in a
note on the preservation of films and
the means of prolonging their life. (Bull.
du Musee Pedagogique , Paris).

Herr Walter F. Erig contributes an
interesting article on the plastic film,
the creation of the new German Cine-
matograph Academy, and on the new
lines that cinema technique should pur-
sue. (Pjlilzische Vol\zeitung, Kaisers-
lautern) .

This issue contains a study on mer-
cury vapour lamps, which are the kind

605 —

best fitted for the Panfilm, owing to
their great powers of diffusion without
developing excessive heat. (Film Tech-
ni\, Halle).

Dr. Max Wolff in an interesting ar-
ticle examines the problem of microci-
nematography. (Photographische Kor-
respondenz, Vienna).

Herr Leopold Kiitzleb analyzes the
problem of large size films and points
out how important it would be to pro-
duce these perfectly. {Reich sfilmblatt ,
Berlin) .

Stereoscopic, synchronized and colour
films will be shown in London during
December, in which Air. Spoors 's ap-
paratus will be used. (Kinomatograph ,
Berlin) .

SOCIAL ASPECTS OF THE CINEMA

Fraitlein Schiimker delivered a lecture
at the Munich Congress on the que-
stion of Children and the cinema, in
which she dealt with the influence of
the film on the child mind. (M. K. B.
Film Rundschau, Essen) .

Mr. A. F. Stenzel maintains that it
is absurd for grown-ups to act in films
intended exclusively for children. {Deut-
sche Filmzeitung, Munich) .

Prof. R. S. Woodworm of the Uni-
versity of Columbia has made an exhaus-
tive study of the influence of the cine-
matograph on the mind of children
and endeavours to solve the problem
by examining what proportion of a film
is really seen, taken in, and remem-
bered by children of different ages. The
study is supported by statistical data on
the frequentation of the cinema by chil-
dren. (L'Ambrosiano, Milan) .

In consequence of the thousands of
protests received from spectators, the

Director of the London Tivoli Cinema
Theatre has decided to reinstate the 01-
chestra which he had dismissed in con-
sequence of the advent of sound films.
(Hebdo Film, Paris).

An article entitled « The Film in the
service of Workers' Unions » deals with
the problem of educating the workers
bv means of the films produced bv the
trade unions. (Der Deutsche, Berlin).

The « Childrens' City » is about to be
opened at Madrid. This new institution
created for the protection of childhood
will be equipped with a cinema hall in
which educative films will be shown.
(EI Impartial, Madrid) .

Sig. G. Nelli devotes an article to
studying the ill effects both physical
and moral, produced on children by
films. He cites the laws enacted in the
several European countries to regulate
the admission of children to cinemas
and points out the kind of film that is
beneficial to children. (Scena Illustrata,
Florence) .

A Central Cinematograph Office is
about to be founded in India, wherein
film censorship will also be centralized.
(Lichtbildbiihne, Berlin) .

An article published in an English
periodical under the title of « Film Cen-
sorship •>■> deals with the diverse in-
fluences the cinema can exercise on dif-
ferent races and especially on the ne-
gro race. (M. K. B. Film Rundschau,
Essen) .

A new law on film censorship is
being officially considered by the Irish
Authorities. (Lichtbildbiihne, Berlin).

Dr. Robert Bolz examines the new
German censorship laws, and dwells
more particularly on the protection of
children. (Deutsche Filmzeitung, Mu-
nich) .

The British Board of Film Censors has
prohibited the showing of the Film

606

« The New Babylonia », because it
glorifies the Commune of Paris. This
film is regarded as one of the finest
Russian productions. (Comoedia , Paris).

During the first six months of the
censorship of film advertisements in Ca-
nada, fully 17,865 advertisements have
been examined. (The Film Daily, New
York) .

Spain boasts the largest number of
cinema seats as compared with popula-
tion, namely one seat per every 14
inhabitants. In England there is one
seat per 15 inhabitants; in Albania one
seat per 363 inhabitants, and in Tur-
key one seat per 348 inhabitants. (The
Film Daily, New York).

During the meeting of the « Socialist
Cultural League » held at Frankfort on
Main, interesting lectures were deliver-
ed on the following subjects: « The
technical and cultural possibilities of
the Film » - « Sound Films and cinema
music » - « The New Cinema Law » -
« The importance of the Film and the
Radio for the working masses ». (Mun-
chener Post, Munich) .

The Spanish Council of Ministers has
approved the Bill on the cinematograph
industry. The protection of the indu-
stry will be committed to the care of a
« Cinematograph Office », consisting of
persons of special competence and who
have no interests in the industry. The
declared capital of cinematographic en-
terprises will be charged with an increa-
sed tax of 1 °/0, the proceeds of this
new tax being devoted to the upkeep
of the committee and payment of the
staff employed by the new department.
(Arte y Cinematografia, Barcelona).

Dr. Kiihnast deals exhaustively with
the question of inventions made by em-
ployees who are bound by the terms of
regular labour contracts. (Photographi-
sche Industrie, Berlin) .

A long article is devoted to the in-
ternational problem of copyright and

the period of its duration in different
countries. (Photographische Korrespon-
denz, Vienna) .

The question of the insurance of the

employees in cinematographic studios

is dealt with at some length. {Film
Atelier, Berlin).

The Wufku Co. is preparing a new
film of a social character entitled « The
Laws of Delinquency)). (Kino, Kiew).

The Argentine Cinematograph Cen-
sorship authorities have authorized the
educative scientific film: « Modern De-
generates », while forbidding its exhi-
bition to children. (La Pelicida, Buenos
Ay res) .

An article published in the « Tagli-
schen Anzeiger Holzmunden » consi-
ders the educative and artistic influence
of films on the mass of cinema specta-
tors in the provinces. (Der Film, Ber-
lin).

Herr O. Skalberg contributes an ar-
ticle on the exhibition of films in little
villages scattered beyond the arctic cir-
cle. (Kolnische Vol\zeitang, Cologne).

President Hoover, in the course of
an interview which he recently granted
to Mr. Louis B. Mayer, declared the
film to be the most effective of all na-
tional trade propaganda agencies. (Licht-
bild-buhne , Berlin) .

An article by Sig. A. Cecchi enti-
tled: « The cinematograph as social
propaganda » deals with the possibilities
of the cinematograph and the causes
that have contributed to the diverse
quality of the production of different
countries. (Pohtica Sociale, Rome).

An article is devoted to the utility
of organizing cooperative cinematographs
in the provinces for the greater diffu-
sion of the film among the Russian pea-
santry. (Kino, Kiew).

607 —

RELIGIOUS FILMS

A long article deals with the ques-
tion of the union of all the Catholic
cinematographs dependent on the va-
rious Catholic associations in Germany.
(M. K. B. Film Rundschau, Essen).

A special mission has taken a film of
the Holy Land with the assistance of
the Missionary Congregations. {Daily
Telegraph , London ) .

M. Maurice Charny devotes a long
article to the study of the question of
what has alreadv been done and what

ought still to be done in the way of
organizing Catholic film production.

The first sound film has been turned

in Ireland and deals with the Irish

Catholic Emancipation Fete, in which

400,000 of the faithful took part. {Film
Kurier, Berlin).

At the meeting of the Diocesian Se-
cretaries for morality in Rome, the que-
stion of moral and religious defence
with respect to the cinematograph was
discussed at length, the hope being ex-
pressed that a priest would be appoint-
ed as one of the members of the Go-
vernment Censorship Commission. {L'Os-
servatore Romano, Rome).

Dr. LUCIANO de FEO — Editor and Responsible Manager.

« La Cardinal Ferrari » S. A. I. — Tipografia — Via Germanico, 146 — Roma

— 608

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INDEX

N. E. Lampadarios . - The Evolution of the Educational Film in

Greece 615

G. M. Coissac ...- The Cinema and Teaching in France . . 622

A. de Maday .... - An Enquiry respecting the Cinematograph

made in the Schools of Neuchatel, Lau-
sanne and Geneva 638

E. J. Rovira .... - Agricultural Training and the education of

the Rural Population by means of the
film in Uruguay 668

A. Fedoroff .... - The Artistic Activity of the Soviet Cine-
matograph during the past ten years. . 672

R. Namias - Colour Cinematography 680

- Sir Eric Drummond in Rome 689

Institute topics :

Cinematographic Censorship in the Near East 693

The Cinema in the Service of Hygiene and Social Welfare . . . 699

M. Albert Thomas in Rome 702

The Cinema in the Service of the Scientific Organization of Labour. 704

The Cinema in the Service of Agriculture 708

Notes taken from Reviews and Papers 710

THE EVOLUTION OF THE EDUCATIONAL FILM

IN GREECE.

( From the French)

It is no exaggeration to state that the educational film was
practically unknown in Greece prior to 191 5. It never received
the attention it deserved, despite the fact that a number of autho-
rities on education and hygiene recognized its utility and carried
on an active campaign in its favour.

The film was used for the purposes of instruction only in
the faculty of medicine and school of physics of the University
and in a few private institutions. But such isolated experiments
were far from being sufficient to bring out the value of the cinema
and the necessity for its general utilization for educational and di-
dactic purposes.

Police regulations in respect of the cinematograph were, more-
over, inadequate and difficult to enforce. Cinema hall managers
were required to submit films for revision before showing them.
It was found difficult to exercise any proper control over them in
this manner, and on more than one occasion the incompetence of
the persons acting on the censorship committee gave rise to criti-
cism. The practical result was that there was no proper check
on the cinema, and that children, without distinction of age,
including mere babies, could watch immoral and indecent films.

In 1 91 5, when acting as Head of the Central Service of School
Hygiene at the Ministry of Public Education, I laid a special report
before the Minister, in which I called attention to the measures
which it would be advisable for the competent education authorities
to take in concert with those of other government departments
with a view to safeguarding the family against the dangers of the
cinema and preventing children from being present at spectacles

615-

that are offensive to morals and decency. This report was, in
fact, the first study of its kind made in Greece. It was published
and gave rise to considerable discussion, as a result of which the
Ministry addressed to all the members of the public school teaching
staff a circular bearing on the moral education of their pupils

The following is a summary of the measures suggested:
i. That School teachers and school doctors should point
out to parents the risks to which their children are exposed by fre-
quenting cinema theatres;

2. That school teachers and school doctors should explain
to the pupils the ill consequences of frequenting cinemas;

3. That sports should be encouraged among school children
and persuasion used in favour of open air games rather than the
close atmosphere of dark cinema halls;

4. That scholastic Committees and Banks should set. up
school cinemas which are at the present time an indispensable
auxiliary to sound education; these cinemas should be under the
direction of school masters and doctors and should be organized
to meet educational needs;

5. That, wreather permitting, these shows should be held
in the open air, in the twilight hours, in accordance with the
American system. In this manner, the drawbacks of dark and ill-
ventilated halls would be avoided.

6. That children under 16 years of age should be rigorously
excluded from cinema halls when programmes pronounced by the
police authorities or by a censoring committee to be anti-moral
are being shown.

7. That special shows should be organized to which school
children and indigent young persons should be admitted gratis
or at a very low fee. Such shows should, of course, be of an
educational or instructive tenour;

8. That a special committee composed of school teachers
and school doctors, experts, and police officials should be appointed
to supervise the strict observance of all regulations governing
film exhibitions, to suggest new measures and, wrhere expedient,

— 616

to complete existing ones. This committee ought more parti-
cularly to undertake the revision of films intended for school
shows and take steps to organize educational cinemas.

It was pointed out that committees of this kind were already
functioning in many towns abroad and that where they were lacking
the police did not hesitate to enforce certain apposite clauses of
the Civil Code and to carry out very strict measures in order to
safeguard the young and the masses of the people from being
corrupted by the cinema.

In any case, it was obvious and universally admitted that the
school teachers and scholastic authorities in general were the
persons best qualified for the task and most likely to obtain satis-
factory results, and it was their duty to educate and guide not only
their pupils, but a large number of the public as well, along the
lines indicated above.

Our efforts were not made in vain. They were instrumental
in bringing about the following results :

a) The Constantinidis Private School opened a cinema hall
for the exhibition of educational films, which have met with marked
success;

b) Cinema theatres started to organize special shows reserved
to children, these shows being promoted by the leading womens'
associations of Athens and by the competent authorities;

c) Several schools have organized cinemas for their pupils.
Unfortunately, from the start we found ourselves up against

a number of obstacles of a practical and technical order; more
particularly the difficulty of procuring suitable films. Notwith-
standing collections and donations, the purchase of films threatened
to swallow up our school film fund and it was found difficult, if not
impossible, to replenish the stocks. Luckily, however, the Greek
associations interested in child welfare came to the rescue.

d) Thus, the National Committee of Greek Women, in
cooperation with the « Parnassus » Institute, the Greek Womens'
College, the Patriotic Institute for the Protection of Children,
and the Hellenic Red Cross, set up in 1928 the ((Association
for the Promotion of the School Cinema » — a special organization

or

that was placed under the patronage of the Ministry of Public
Education and the State Teaching Staff. This association has
ever since its foundation organized a number of educational cinema
shows in Athens and other provincial towns.

The resources of the association were still too narrow, however,
for notwithstanding the success of the shows and their popularity
among the school children, receipts were never sufficient to cover
expenditure, especially owing to the high cost of educational
films consequent on their more restricted circulation ;

e) Meanwhile a special law was enacted to regulate film
exhibitions and the safety of cinemas (Act sanctioning the Decree
of 13th December 1925).

This Act provides for the censorship of all film exhibition pro-
grammes. It provides that no cinema hall may be opened without
the previous sanction of the Police authorities and the consent of a
Committee ad hoc consisting of the Mayor, the Chief of Police,
a technical expert, an electrician and a doctor. This Committee is
more particularly required to make sure that all due measures are
taken for the health, safety and general protection of the audiences.

Art. 10 of this Act lays down that access to cinema halls shall
be rigorously interdicted to children under 10 years of age and that
children aged between eleven and sixteen years shall be admitted
only when accompanied by their parents or guardians. This
prescription, however, met with so much opposition on the part
of cinema hall managers that it was found impossible to enforce
it. As a result, a new Bill was laid some time ago before the Cham-
ber of Deputies whereby Art. 10 is amended as follows :

« It is strictly forbidden for childen of either sex who have not
yet completed sixteen years of age to frequent public cinema halls.
The ages of young persons shall be checked by the staff of the cinema
theatres with the aid of identity cards delivered by the Mayor or
(in the case of foreigners) by the proper Consular Authorities. All
identity cards must bear the photograph of the child to whom it
belongs.

« This prescription does not apply to special school shows
in which films that have been already revised and pronounced suit-
able for showing to families and children are exhibited.

— 618

« Any cinema manager infringing this regulation and who is
found to have admitted to his theatre any child who has not attain-
ed the stated age shall be liable to a fine not exceeding ic.ooo
drachmas inflicted by a court of summary jurisdiction.

« Any person who, after giving notice of a special family spec-
tacle suitable for children, exhibits or causes to be exhibited films
that have not been approved for the purpose, shall be liable to
a term of imprisonment not exceeding three months or a fine not
exceeding 40,000 drachmas and, in case of a repetition of the of-
fense to both forms of punishment concurrently.

« The last preceding measure shall come into force in virtue
of a ministerial ordinance at the close of the 1929 financial year ».

This bill deals also with the hygiene of cinema halls and pre-
cautions against fire.

/) The work of the Hellenic Red Cross. The Hellenic Red Cross
Society, and more particularly the Junior Red Cross Section, has
taken an active part in this campaign. Its efforts are deserving of
special mention.

Being anxious to learn the views of Greek school teachers on
the effects of the cinema, as noted by them in the course of the
year, it opened an enquiry of the most comprehensive kind, the
results of which were submitted to the League of Nations through
the medium of the League of Red Cross Societies. We summarize
herewith briefly the answers of the teaching staff which are una-
nimous on the following points : a) that the cinema is a source of
physical danger owing to the stuffy atmosphere, the promiscuity
of the audience which favours the transmission of contagious di-
seases, and the over excitement of the nervous system ; b) of moral
danger, consequent on the stirring up of the imagination and the
direct urge to sentimental and sensuous excitement.

The school-teachers made the following suggestions with a
view to obviating these dangers as far as possible :

a) that children aged less than four years should be excluded
f rom public cinema halls ;

b) that special shows should be organized for children under
the direction of a Committee consisting of school teachers, school

6k

doctors, parents and the higher police authorities, unless, indeed,
the Hellenic Red Cross were itself willing to organize them — a
suggestion that was very favourably viewed by the teachers, owing
to the uncontested prestige of the Red Cross Society in Greece and
its perfect organization ;

c) that the scenarios of childrens' films should preferably
reproduce scenes of child life, amusing stories, factory scenes,
historical events, scenes from the Old and New Testaments, docu-
mentary films of distant countries, etc. In view of the fact that the
cinematograph has become a necessary auxiliary to all practical
teaching, the teachers expressed the hope that each of the schools
might be endowed with a cinema hall.

d) that all shows for children should be given in well ven-
tilated premises or, preferably, in the open air ;

e) that shows should not last longer than one hour and that
the intervals between projections should be as long as possible ;

/) that a methodical propaganda be carried on in schools and
scholastic associations with a view to impressing upon parents
all the harm the cinema may cause their children.

Following on this enquiry, the Hellenic Red Cross Society
undertook an active campaign in favour of the educational cinema
and took the practical step of importing into Greece a certain num-
ber of moveable projection cabins, which it ceded at cost price to
the school associations.

All these efforts are about to be crowned by the creation of
a Central National Office of the Educational Cinematograph. This
much desired institution will become a reality as soon as Parlia-
ment passes the Bill now before it.

On the nth. May last, by order of the Head of the Govern-
ment, M. Venizelos, the representatives of the several Ministries
and associations concerned with the welfare and education of chil-
dren were invited to come together to consider the best ways and
means of promoting the educational cinematograph and to discuss
how it would be possible to overcome the difficulties to which we
have referred, first nmong which was the difficulty in obtaining the
requisite films.

620

The « Association for the Promotion of the Educational Cine-
matograph » and the Ministry of Public Education took the initiative
in organizing this meeting. Being armed with the experience gain-
ed in the course of their work on behalf of the educational film
and well acquainted with the practical difficulties of the situation,
they took pains to prepare the ground with care.

The absolute need of obtaining the support and close cooper-
ation of all the educational and administrative authorities ren-
dered the convocation of such a meeting all the more necessary.

In the course of this meeting, Mme Stouditou, Secretary of
the Association for the Promotion of the Educational Cinematograph,
and the writer set forth their views on the organization of this Cen-
tral Office. Our suggestions were embodied in the terms of a
Bill which will shortly be laid before the Greek Parliament.

This Bill once passed, is it legitimate to hope that we may
at last see our aims realized and our country enjoy the benefits of
the educational film ? To what extent will this be possible ? It
is difficult to foresee, for the good results which we expect from the
new organism do not depend exclusively on the goodwill of its
promotors, but also, and mainly, on its sound management and
on the experience and zeal of the persons engaged in it, as well as
on the amount of the credits which the Government will place at
its disposal.

But we are very optimistic and, for my own part, I am con-
vinced that the educational cinematograph, if placed in the hands
of competent persons and assured of the State's moral and financial
support, will soon be firmly organized in Greece. Nor have we
any doubts as to the excellent results it will yield, when conceived
and organized on the lines laid down for its guidance by an organ
of the League of Nations, the International Institute in Rome.

Prof. E. N. Lampadarios

Director of the School Hygiene Section of
the Ministry of Public Education, Vice
President of the Hellenic Junior Red Cross.

621 —

THE CINEMA AND TEACHING IN FRANCE*

(From the Frtnch)

There are a number of institutions in France which furnish
films free of charge to school-masters, professors and lecturers.
These institutions centre round the Musee Pedagogique de Vfitat
(the Government Pedagogical Museum), located at 41 Rue Gay
Lussac, in the Val de Grace quarter, in Paris. This admirable
organization commands respect, both for the importance and va-
riety of the material it has collected and for the singular devotion
of its staff; it has played a most active part in promoting both magic
lantern and cinematic shows for the purposes of schools and post
scholastic teaching in France.

The formation, by way of experiment, of a Cinematheque,
(film archive), or, more precisely, a film service aiming at completing
that of stationary slides, dates back to 1920. Fifty-four films were
loaned during that year, and there has been ever since a steady
increase in the number of loans: 3,541 in 1921 ; 11,574 m I922 >
19,525 in 1923; 22,345 in :9245 24,563 in 1925 and 28,915 in
1926-1927.

The films distributed by the Pedagogical Museum for in-
structive purposes are entrusted to its management by the Ministry
of Education, which purchases them year by year from specialized
producers. The Ministry devotes the greatest care to its choice
of films; nevertheless, they are subjected to a further process of
selection.

The following enumeration gives some idea of the different
classes of films dealt with :

Agriculture (37 films) - Anatomy (20) - Archeology, Art and
History (31) - Nursing (47) - Astronomy, Physics and Chemistry (30)
- Aviation (13) - Botany (22) - Geology (23) - French Geography
(131) - Hygiene (36) - The Navy (14) - Fishing and Hunting (29)

(*) See the 3d (September) No of the International Review.

— 622

- Diverse Industries (68) - Eugenics and infant welfare (3) - Sports
(26) - Zoology (108). Besides these, there are 69 Films dealing
with the French Colonies, 87 with Europe generally, 32 on Asia,
10 on Africa, 19 on America, and 3 on Australia.

There are two, five, and as many as ten and more copies
of some of these films, the number of copies purchased being fixed
according to the applications registered within a given period.
In all, there are 5000 ribbons of different lengths — a quite ina-
dequate supply when we consider that over 500 applications have
sometimes been received in one day. Nor does Monsieur Ripault,
Director of the Museum, cease for his part to deplore the insuffi-
ciency of the funds placed at his disposal and invoke the aid of
Maecenas !

On the other hand, it will be realized that the circulation of
the films — the incessant shifting of these from one extremity
of the country to another — causes considerable loss of time, and
the films are consequently out of service during the greater part
of the year. On this account the opening of sub-offices was. con-
sidered in 1927 with the object of decentralizing the service.

At the present time, the following Departments 'have their
own film archives in their respective principle towns: Aube, Aude,
Aveyron, Charente-Inferieure, Bouches-du-Rhone, Calvados, Cote-
d'Or, Finistere, Gard, Gironde, Hautes-Alpes, Haute-Marne,
Haut-Rhin, Herault, Indre-et-Loire, Jura, Loire, Loiret, Lot-et-
Garonne, Lozere, Pyrennees-Orientales, Sarthe, Vaucluse, Vosges,
Vienne, Yonne.

In addition to these Departmental film collections, there are
a certain number of regional collections: those of Puy-de-D6me,
Haute Garonne, le Nord (which serves the Aisne, Ardennes,
Nord, Pas-de-Calais and Somme districts) and that of Meurthe-
et-Moselle.

This decentralization has been most practical in its results;
school-masters are now able to get hold of any particular film in
proper time for their lessons or lectures, and far more service is
got out of the ribbons now that long journeys hither and thither
are avoided. In one department at a considerable distance from

623

Paris, namely Aude, it has been possible in less than 2 months
to utilize 16 films for the purposes of 93 classes and 105 post-
scholastic lectures.

The Pedagogical Museum has proved by its organization how
much can be accomplished by coordinating efforts. The under-
standing between the Museum and the Ministry of Agriculture
respecting the task of general education grows closer from day to
day: their circulars are animated by one and the same spirit, and
they make use of the same depots both in Paris and the Provinces,
wThenever materially possible.

There is also a General Direction of Technical Training, which
deals with the cinema problem for the several domains for which
it is responsible. This Office is likewise dependent on the Min-
istry of Public Education, though forming a quite separate depart-
ment. Its very able director, M. Labbe, neglects nothing that
may help to establish the claim of the film to a place of honour
in vocational schools and in accessory institutions even indirectly
connected therewith. As far back as 1922, it had already begun
to assert its claims in connection with the important question of
vocational orientation, and it was thanks to M. L 'Abbe's encour-
agement that M. A. Bruneau, Government Inspector of the Voca-
tional Schools of the City of Paris, had the earliest films taken,
with the laudable aim of helping young people in the choice of a
trade. A little later, the Chambers of Commerce, Employers'
and Workers' Unions, Apprenticeship Committees, and a few
convinced and strenuous persons had films taken, the schemes of
which had been studied beforehand by competent commissions.
These films were to the purpose, simple, short, and impeccable
from the photographic standpoint; they were not of a kind to
distract the attention by technical stunts or to mislead by inex-
actitudes.

In 1928 the Direction of Technical training had classified
in the National Archive, housed at 14 Rue de Fleurus: 14 films on
artistic crafts; 19 on vocational orientation; 6 geographical; 2 on

624

the history of costume; 15 films on object lessons; 2 on hygiene;
7 on physical exercises; 4 on scientific subjects; 6 natural history
films, and ten on sundry subjects

The reader may be interested in a few of these film titles:
Ceramics; Painted Paper; Wheel-making; Farriery; Optical Glass
Works; Metal Turnery; Artistic Wrought Iron Work; Making a
Book; Making a Chair; Wood Sculpture; Lead Working; An Art
Foundry; Artificial Flowers.

The Permanent Commission was consulted on a number of
other films: films dealing with the National Technical Schools,
the Training Workshops of the Paris Chamber of Commerce, and
with the following womens' trades: Ironing, Lingerie, Hat-making.
We will mention two other films, The Human Machine, which in-
dicates the conditions governing the choice of a trade, and one on
Masonry.

We have referred to the National Cinematheque (Film Archive)
which the uninitiated tend to confuse with the Cinematheque de la
Ville de Paris. A word of explanation will not be out of place
here. Although it has actually been in existence since 1920, the
City of Paris Film Archive was not officially founded until the
beginning of 1926, following on a resolution of the Municipal
Council; it was then definitely established in the premises of the
former Primary School, 14 Rue de Fleurus, in the Luxembourg
quarter, which have since been taken over entirely by this Service.

Since the ist. January 1927 the Municipal Film Archive has
been subsidized by the Seine General Council, which has enabled
it to extend its action to the whole of the Department, as regards
both the loan of films and the organization of lectures. Fol-
lowing on an agreement between the General Direction of Techni-
cal Training and the City of Paris, and thanks to a subsidy granted
by the Ministry of Public Education and Fine Arts, the Muni-
cipal Film Archive is now the headquarters of the cinemato-
graphic service in connection with technical training for voca-
tional orientation. This is a national service.

Thus the National Film Archive for Vocational Training
studies and prepares films bearing on vocational choice and

2-ingl. 625 —

technical training, which are then forwarded to the several voca-
tional training centres throughout France; these 16 centres will
soon be increased to twenty.

The Syndical Chambers sometimes collaborate in the work
of the Permanent Commission of the Film Archive appointed by
the Ministry and contribute towards its expenses. Certain firms,
moreover, which publish films at their own expense, offer to deposit
one or more copies at the Cinematheque, which undertakes to dis-
tribute them in the provincial centres.

Thus the Municipal Cinematheque constitutes one of the ser-
vices of the Seine Prefecture (Direction of Primary Education),
while the Cinematheque Nationale depends on the Ministry of
Public Education (General Direction of Technical Training);
but the two bodies work in perfect harmony.

# # *

The Ministry of Agriculture is the State Department most
actively interested in cinematography, and its Film Collection —
started 17 years ago — is the best supplied; no doubt because it
has considerable credits at its disposal. On the 1st January 1929,
it owned 425 different films, representing a total value of some 3 mil-
lion francs. Its admirably compiled Catalogue consists of no less
than 50 pages.

This Ministry lends its Films free of charge to the following
organizations:

1. Agricultural Training Establishments; 2. Directors of Agri-
cultural Services, Professors and Officials of the Ministry; 3. Agricul-
tural Agencies, Chambers of Agriculture and Agricultural Associa-
tions; 4. Rural Communes; 5. Head Masters and Head Mistresses
of Communal Schools; 6. to institutions and individuals concerned
zvith agricultural propaganda and education.

As the Preface to the Catalogue points out, the Agricultural
Cinema contributes the most valuable and striking data on hygiene,
protection against disease, the preservation of national produce,
commercial practice, packing, transport; sale, etc., while at the
same time it develops a taste for habits of observation and enquiry,

626

a love of exactitude, and the spirit of initiative and achievement.
By bearing us in an instant into far distant lands, it enables us to
take a part in the life of all peoples, in their work, their joys, and
their sorrows; it helps us to understand one another better and
therefore to love one another better.

Let me just describe how these films of the Ministry of
Agriculture are distributed in the Catalogue as between the se-
veral subjects.

Vegetables account for 14 pages; these are sub -divided into:
Vegetable Physiology, Cereals, Industrial Plants, Fruit Culture,
Cultivation in Marshlands, Woods and Forests, Vines, etc. Animals
occupy 18 pages and comprise the following subjects: Animal
Physiology, Animal Pathology, Stockbreeding, diverse Mammalia,
Poultry Yards, Birds, Fish and other Aquatic Animals, Game,
Fishing, Useful Insects, Bee-keeping, Sericulture, Noxious Insects,
Vermin, Physics, Chemistry, etc. The next section covers Agri-
cultural Industries, to which have been added, Physical Cul-
ture and Sports and Social Hygiene, etc.; then Comfort and
Recreation, the Agricultural Schools of Cibeins, Rural
Crafts, Childhood on the Land, Workers' Gardens, Disabled
men on Farms, Electricity in Villages and Farms, Life
in a Modern Village, Water on the Farm, Water Sup-
ply, etc. etc.

Thanks to the interest of the different Ministers who have
followed one another during recent years at the Rue de Varenne,
and to the steady and methodical work of M. Paul Drouard, Head
of the Service of the Commission du Cinema Agricole, presided over
by the former Minister, M. Alfred Masse, to which the writer has
the honour to belong, agricultural cinematography is welcomed in
the rural districts with ever growing enthusiasm. But figures
will be more eloquent than words on this point. Up to the 31 st.
July 1928, the Ministry of Agriculture had granted subsidies
amounting to 1 million 222,000 francs, distributed between 833 pro-
jection centres. 2,900,000 metres of film were, in this way, dis-
tributed among the 953 clients registered in 1928. The whole
service is steadily on the increase.

627

The Ministry of Labour, Hygiene, and Social Welfare and
Providence, grants considerable subsidies to film propaganda and
education, by the credits it devotes to the campaign against tuber-
culosis, venereal disease, and cancer.

The General Propaganda Commission of the National Social
Hygiene Office has been able to establish a program of educational
work by moving pictures, in concert with the Prophylactic Service
in connection with Venereal Disease, the Directions of Public
Welfare and Hygiene, the National Committee for Protection
against Tuberculosis, the French National League against the
Venereal Peril, the National Committee on Infant Welfare, the
National Temperance League, the Franco- Anglo- American League
against Cancer, the League of Red Cross Societies, etc.

A central Film Archive has been set up by the Rockfeller
Mission (American Commission for the Prevention of Tuberculosis
and the National Committee for Protection against Tuberculosis)
which started with a very modest collection of propaganda films,
50 in all, with 300 copies and a total length of about 200,000 metres.

At the present time the National Social Hygiene Office clas-
sifies its collection under 5 heads :

1st. General hygiene .... 19 Films (6,350 m.)

2nd. The health of mother

and Child 11 » (6,200 » )

3rd. Social Scourges:

Drink. 8 » (4,480 » )

Venereal Danger 10 » (5,520 » )

Slums 1 » (1,400 » )

Tuberculosis 27 » (13,200 » )

4th. Diverse 27 »

5th. Physical Education .' . 14 »

This gives a total of 120 different films, 300 copies in all.
The total length sums up to 170,000 metres. During 1924, the
National Office lent 357 films, and 925 during 1927.

The experience of over ten years has proved the striking ser-
vices which cinema propaganda can render to social hygiene.

628

The only complaint made by all the organizations concerned with
the improvement of public health is that the number of films placed
at their disposal is too small, that there are too few copies in circu-
lation, and that the subject matter is too restricted. The very
active General Propaganda Secretary, M. Lucien Viborel, considers
that complementary subsidies should be obtained to bring the total
figure up to 800,000 francs per annum, of which 300,000 francs
would be devoted to the purchase of supplementary copies, and
500,000 to the production of new films.

The fact is that educational bodies in general are making an
ever increasing demand for films on social hygiene, more parti-
cularly those dealing with infant welfare, tuberculosis, personal
hygiene and venereal diseases. The ribbons wear out so rapidly!

The Ministry of War's Film Instruction Section, better
known as the Army Geographical Service, owns 124 films aggre-
gating some 98,910 metres of ribbon, distributed as follows:

For the Infantry 22 Films

For the Artillery 25 »

For the Engineers Corps ... 20 »

For the Air Service 12 »

Physical Education lessons . . 9 »

Physical Exercises 7 »

Athletics 13 »

Swimming 4 »

Games and sundry subjects. .12 »

Military History S1^0 metres

The greater number of these films, which average about 300
metres in length, form part of an instruction program drawn up
by the late General Buat, Chief of the General Staff of the Army;
they are regarded as a modern supplementary means of training
for officers and men both in the infantry and in the cavalry, in
the artillery, armoured car corps, air service, etc. In this manner the
Training Section has lent over a million metres to the army corps
equipped for the purpose.

Let me add that over 200 apparatus are in service, and that

629 —

there are three cinema cameras, one of which is for slow motion
filming, and a studio for all film operations generally.

Not long ago Captain Calvet, Director of the Army Geogra-
phical Service, exhibited two unpublished films he had composed
at the Polytechnic School, which much impressed our marshals :
one of these represented on a large scale map of the North of
France the defensive battle of 191 8, the other the offensive battles
of the 1 8th. July to the 8th. August. An ingenious adaptation of
animated drawings, executed by a master in this line, M. Albert
Mourlan, makes it possible to move about on the map, as on a
chess-board, small squares representing the 400 divisions that
took part in the operations. This fine history lesson met with
unprecedented success, and General Debeney, of the General
Army Staff, expressed his warm appreciation to Captain Calvet.

The Collection of the Ministry of Marine comprises 120 to
130 films, but of a highly eclectic character, and rather of a do-
cumentary kind for the most part. There are indeed a certain
number of purely maritime subjects and some of a technical
order ; some of these deal with seaplanes and are not among the
least successful in lectures delivered in all quarters.

A very strenuous colonial propaganda is carried on in France,
not under the auspices of the Ministry of the Colonies, but through
the Economic Agencies, and dealing with Indo- China, Algeria,
Equatorial Africa, West Africa, Tunis, Morocco, Madagascar, etc.
The said Agencies' make a point of lending every assistance to
the lecturers in order to make the still unplumbed resources
and the admirable beauties of our rich and majestic colonial
empire better known.

Let me give a single example. The Indo-China Economic A-
gency kindly places the list of its 152 films (some 2500 metres) —
which might well serve as a model list — at the disposal of technical
training and higher instructional establishments, as well as of teach-
ers and lecturers: this list shows the titles of the films, the num-
ber of copies available, the meterage, the number of minutes taken
by projection, and in the « Remarks » column such notes as the
following are entered : very good, good, not very interesting, fine
landscape, dull, etc.

- 6^0

Some Colonies, such as Martinique, Guadeloupe, Guyana,
Saint Pierre et Miquelon, and the French Oceanic possessions,
have had films published, which the General Colonial Agency,
representing the self governing possessions, lends gratis to teach-
ers and lecturers.

The services connected with the Ministry of Public Works
are far from ignoring the advantages which each of them, in its
own particular sphere of action, may derive from the cinema. Thus
the Governing body of the National Bridges and Embankments
School makes good use of the films placed at its disposal by the
heads of enterprises and manufacturers, pending the publication
of films of its own.

The same may be said of the Higher School of Mining,
the Saint Etienne Mining School, and the Administration of
State Potash Mines.

At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs the « Service des Oeuvres
frangaises a V etr anger » (Office of French Institutes abroad) car-
ries on film propaganda with the help of funds derived from its
meagre « sundry works » credits, the purpose of which is to
support French societies, foundations and institutions of all kinds.
With the 362,000 francs placed at its disposal in 1928, this ser-
vice was able to send to our countrymen settled abroad (Europe,
the Near and Far East, and America) 16 cameras, in touristic
films and 127 instructional films. It has been able to do a lit-
tle better since then ; but all this is a mere bagatelle and can do
little to advance our influence.

It should be noted that our diplomatic and consular agents
are constantly asking for more films to be sent, for they fully
recognize their efficacy, since they serve at one and the same time
the purposes of French political propaganda, scientific propaganda,
and even tourist and commercial propaganda, and do much in
the cause of international good-will.

The 1 929 programme merits our attention, for it contemplates
the despatch of films and apparatus into a number of countries
where there is a sad lack of commercial travellers.

I still have to mention the Regional Offices which are set

631

up in several quarters and have headquarters in many big towns.
They do not all follow the same programme, but they all collab-
orate in the work of supplementary or post-scholastic education.
Many of them take all possible steps in favour of the « school screens))
and to assist the masters in making the best use of them. These
offices, although encouraged by the Ministries of Public Educa-
tion, Agriculture, and Hygiene, etc., are institutions at once of
an official and a private character. They owe their existence some
to private and others to municipal enterprise.

The oldest established, and also the most important, is
the Lyons Regional Office of the Educational Cinema, round
which 12 south-east departments centre. Presided over by Se-
nator Brenier and directed by M. Gustave Cauvin, it possesses over
2000 films (161,983 metres). During the past year, it organized
over 6000 educational and recreational shows and furnished 250
programmes per week, which represents 20 million metres of rib-
bon per annum. Its budget, which amounted to 15,000 francs
in 1922, rose in 1926 to 250,000 francs, reaching 350,000 in
1927 and 400,000 in 1928.

The Lorraine Regional Cinematographic Instruction Office, with
headquarters at Nancy, was started during the war ; it comprises
the following Departments : Meuse, Meurthe and Moselle, Vosges,
Haute Marne, Doubs, Moselle, Upper Rhine and Lower Rhine.
Its purpose is to assist clients in the choice of apparatus, to train
operators, and to give suggestions to teachers on the uses to be
made of films in teaching, thus enabling them to benefit by pre-
vious experience in the held.

At the present time the Nancy Office counts 220 clients.
It has already done much useful service ; it owns a film collec-
tion aggregating 150,000 metres ; makes yearly loans of more than
1 million metres ; has organized over 1000 scholastic, post-scholastic
and recreational shows in 1928 ; its balance-sheet accounts for
over 100,000 francs. These are encouraging figures, and we should
add that in the Meuse Department alone over 140 schools possess
their moving picture projection apparatus.

The Saint Etienne and Loire Film Archive, which has its

632

headquarters at the Municipality of Saint-Etienne, was set up in
1922 by Messrs. M. Matte, Academy Inspector, and Alfred Ver-
nay, Chief Assistant of the Mayor ; M. Eugene Reboul, Public
School-Master is its zealous Director. In 1927, this Office owned
30,000 metres of ribbon and had managed to purchase 100,000
francs' worth of apparatus.

The Lille and Northern Regions Cinema Office, which was
set up in Lille in 1926 by M. Chatelet, Rector of the Academy
of that City, comprises the five Northern French Departments
within its sphere of action (Nord, Pas de Calais, Somme, Aisne,
Ardennes) covering 6000 communes and 11,000 schools.

In less than two years it has assembled some thousand appa-
ratuses and catalogued close on 100,000 metres of film. Not a
bad beginning, to be sure !

At its last General Assembly, the Director of the Office, Mr.
Ousselin, analyzed the subsidies received, which summed up
to 55,000 francs for the school year, and found the assets to
amount to some 300,000 francs.

The annals of the Clermont-Ferrand Regional Office are so
far vacant. Its creation dates back a very few months, but we
are justified in hoping much from it. As a start it offers its clients
a collection of more than 300 films classified in twenty catego-
ries, from instructive and documentary films to recreational ones.

Other Regional Offices are functioning at Bordeaux, Toulouse,
Chalons, Marseilles, and Strasburg. They are of too recent date
for figures to be available. We can only say that, under excellent
guidance, they are rendering first class services.

Last, but not least, Paris has its regional office, which com-
prises the whole of the Seine and the Seine-et-Oise district. Its
President is Prof. Paul Langevin, of the College de France, M. Mar-
cel Martin being its director.

We ought not to overlook the following organizations, although
they are anything but opulent : The Office National du Tourisme,
the Touring Club de France, the Federation des Syndicats d'initia-
tive (1) and a few of the syndicats themselves : e. g. the Shipping

(1) These are special associations formed in France for the purpose

633 —

Companies' Association and the Railway Companies' Association ;
several institutions of a social humanitarian kind, such as the Red
Cross Societies, the National Temperance League, etc. Each of
these groups own interesting films which are too little known.

The National Tourist Office is at the present time carrying
on a comprehensive enquiry, the object of which is to establish
a general and definitive catalogue of films of a documentary, ar-
tistic and picturesque character, having a distinct bearing, how-
ever, on instruction and propaganda. Thanks to its efforts, the
French Tourist Office in Geneva has got together a collection
of ioo films ; the Barcelona Office owns 29 films ; the London
Office 7 films (with titles and captions in English), besides having
at its disposal for projection the ribbons belonging to the Railway
Companies, the Syndicats d 'initiative, etc.

It would, indeed, be hard to give any adequate idea of what
France has done in recent years in the direction of teaching by
the film. All that remains to be done is to organize and classify
all these admirable efforts, and more especially to establish a
liaison between the several groups to which I have referred,
and which have, up to the present, acted independently one of
the other.

Let us not forget to mention that, side by side with these
official organizations, there are in France a certain number of ma-
nufacturers who — notwithstanding disappointments (for the
educational film is costly to produce and yields poor profits) —
compete with one another in their clever efforts to extend their
already ample stocks in this line.

Our foremost publishers, Pathe and Gaumont, firms of world-
wide reputation, have for some time past organized a first-class
section of scolastic, educational, propaganda and documentary

of promoting tourist and similar interests in the organizations to which
they apply.

— 634

films. They publish analytical catalogues of no negligible vo-
lume, admirably compiled, which are unfortunately all too rarely
consulted .

Nor would it be fair for me not to make special mention of
the individuals who have worked so earnestly and strenuously
to meet the needs of modern teaching : M. Jean Benoit-Levy and
M. Jean Painleve, to mention only two names from among the
most able and the most conscientious.

M. Jean Benoit-Levy, the Pasteur film producer, is reponsible,
together with Dr. Devraigne, for the production of the marvellous
film in the cause of eugenics and infant welfare : La Future Maman
(Mothers to be), which met with such unanimous praise in France
and abroad. His programme, of some considerable range and
begun in obscurity, is being pursued at the present time in the
full blaze of a success which promises well.

From the long list of educational films which M. Benoit-Levy
has given to France, let us call attention to the following :

Agricultural : Sericulture, Mulberry growing, The Riddance
of Field-mice (film by M. Regnier, Director of the Rouen Ento-
mological Station) ; Urgent Farm Work (Film by Dr. G. Moussu,
Professor at the Veterinary College of Alfort); The Egg Cycle (by
M. A. Chapellier, Director of the Station des Vertebres, at the In-
stitute of Agronomic Research) , and Good and Bad Dairymen (under
the direction of the Office Agricole de Seine-et-Oise). The list
of Medical Films starts with The Technique of Post-Mortems,
in accordance with the Roussy and Ameuille method, as practiced
by Dr. Roger Leroux ; Obstetric Operations (under the scientific
direction of the Baudelocque Clinic, of the French Faculty of
Medicine) ; Tuberculosis, which is at once a medical and a social
propaganda film. « Once upon a time there were three Friends »
a film for social welfare purposes, The Source, Motherhood, etc.

Attention should also be called to the highly curious and strik-
ing productions of the young French scholar, M. Jean Painleve,
who is as devoted to science as his father, and who aims at popu-
larizing six films of some 300 metres each. These films bear the
titles : Sea-Urchins-, Hyas et Stenorinques ; Daphnia, the Octopus
and The Hermit Crab.

635 —

These films are the first of a series which will certainly claim
universal admiration, for it continues most worthily the world-
famed work of the famous scholar, Dr. Comandon. M. Painleve
has drawn up a vast program ; he will undoubtedly carry it out
for the greater honour of France and the educational cinema.

* * #

Lastly, let me have the pleasure of recalling the fact that
the French Government on several occasions in the course of
last year placed the question of the educational cinema on the
agenda, for debate both in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.

M. Edouard Herriot was an earnest advocate of this cause
during his period of office in the Ministry of Education and Fine
Arts. All his admirable speeches on the subject would bear
citing ; they are both instructive and at the same time full of
encouragement.

Senator Brenier defended the cause of the school film in the
Senate, formulating the problem in the clearest terms and rallying
all his colleagues to his point of view.

Deputy Antoine Borrel made a masterly report on the subject,
equally well supported by evidence, which he closed by laying
a Bill before the Chamber proposing the creation of a National
Cinematograph Office, differing very little from that conceived
by M. Brenier, which should coordinate all the cinema services
attached to the several ministries, so as to do away with water-
tight compartments, and compile a well classified catalogue and
statistics to be kept constantly up to date.

According to M. Brenier 's idea, this National Office ought to
be constituted as a body corporate and be financially independent.
It should be attached to the Ministry of Public Education and
would comprise delegates from all the interested ministries, to
whom competent authorities and recognized technical experts
should be added. We have every hope that this interesting project
may soon be realized. The Members of the Chamber are con-

— 636

verts to the scheme and are only awaiting the right moment to raise
the cinema to its proper status.

Let us for a moment turn aside from the schools and look
in at the public cinemas ; we are delighted to find social edu-
cational films here, included in the regular programmes. This is
a big victory for the beneficent film.

In quitting this survey, we feel justified in claiming for
France a position in the vanguard of the scholastic and educational
film movement. Steady progress is being made. We should add
that, in this domain as in all others, France will be happy to
join forces with other Nations for the continuous growth of in-
ternational cooperation and the promotion of goodwill among
men, by teaching them their duties, and helping them to know
one another better through that universal book, the Screen.

G. Michel Coissac.

637

AN ENQUIRY RESPECTING THE CINEMATOGRAPH
MADE IN THE SCHOOLS OF NEUCHATEL, LAUSANNE

AND GENEVA(*).

by Prof. Andre de Maday, Librarian of the International Labour
Office , in collaboration with Mile H ermine Aellig, Mile Rose Jung
and the students of Neuchdtel University, the W omens' School of
Social Studies in Geneva, and the histitutj. J. Rousseau at Geneva.

{From the French).

The results of the enquiry in Lausanne.

Thanks to the kind collaboration of M. A. Burnier and the
directors of the educational establishments referred to in the earlier
part of this paper, I obtained 3558 answers in Lausanne. In addi-
tion to this, I received through the J. J. Rousseau Institute the results
of a minor enquiry concerning 42 children. This was carried out
at Orbe on the nth. February by M. Fauconnet, schoolmaster,
in response to M. Bovet's appeal in the « Intermediaire des Educa-
teurs », to which I have already referred.

Mile Jung classified the results of the Lausanne enquiry. In
tabulating the final returns she took into account only 3212 answers.
She did not count in pupils aged 18 years or more, as there were
too few of them, nor yet a certain number of mixed classes, in
respect of which it was not always possible to distinguish which
were the girls' answers and which the boys'.

Three forms of questionnaire were submitted to the children :

Questionnaire No. 1.

Age ? — Nationality ? — Parents' profession ? — Do you
go to the cinema ? — With whom ? — When ? (week-days
or Sunday) — When ? (afternoon or evening) — Do you like

(*) See No 5 of the International Review of Educational Cinemato-
graphy.

638

going there ? — Why ? — What are your favourite subjects ?
— Wrhen you return home do you endeavour to re-act the scenes
you have been watching ?

Questionnaire No. 2.

The first 10 questions are identical with those appearing
in Questionnaire No. 1 ; the following questions are added thereto:

11. Does the cinema rouse your artistic emotions ? 12. Has
the cinema opened up new vistas in your life ?

Questionnaire No. 3.

This was identical with the questionnaire addressed to adults
(see No. 4, page 540). Mile Jung classified only the questions refer-
ring to the cinema and left out the questions referring to theatres,
concerts, and other places of entertainment. If we adopt the con-
ventional enumeration adopted on page 549 of our October issue,
this questionnaire reads as follows :

1. (Name) Sex. — 2. Age. — 3. Nationality. — 4. Do you
go often to the cinema ? — How many times a veek ? — 5. Do
you go alone or in company ? — 6-7. Wlien ? (week-days or holi-
days ; afternoons or evenings ?). — 10. What subjects do you
like best ? (topical, travel, geography, drama, comical scenes ?). —
12. Do you experience any artistic emotion at the cinema ? — 13.
Has the cinema opened up any new horizons in your life ? — 14.
What attracts you to the cinema ? (posters, newspaper announce-
ments, hand-bills ; etc.) — 15. What do you think of the cinema
in war time ?

Questionnaire No. 1 was addressed to the elementary schools
and to a section of the high school of Derriere-Bourg ; question-
naire No 2 to the other section of Derriere-Bourg, and Question-
naire No. 3 to the boarding schools and grammar schools and to
the School of Commerce.

1st. Question - Sex.

Girls 15 19 (47.29%)

Boys 1693 (52.71%)

Total 3212 (100 %)

639

2nd. Question - Age

Girls Boys Total

10 years 16 14 30

11 » 102 131 233

12 » 308 300 608

13 » 342 347 689

14 » 336 374 7io

15 » 245 304 549

16 » 90 122 212

17 » 54 60 114

18 » 26 41 67

Total 15 19 1693 3212

3rd. Question - Nationality.

Swiss 2720 (84.68%)

Foreigners 492 (15-32%)

Total 3212 (100 %)
4th. Question - Frequentation

Girls Boys Total

Go to the cinema 1188 1416 2604

Don't go to the cinema 315 252 567

Total 1503 1668 3171

No answer 16 25 41

Grand Total 15 19 1693 3212

The above table shows that the boys are more addicted to

frequenting the cinema than the girls. 20% of the girls state that

they never go to the cinema, while only 15% of the boys don't go.

Swiss Foreigners Total

Go to the cinema 2180 424 2604

Don't go to the cinema 510 57 567

Total 2690 481 3 171

Noanswer 30 11 41

Grand total 2720 492 3212
640 —

From this table it is seen that foreigners are more addicted to
frequenting the cinemas than the Swiss. As regards the subsidiary
question, whether those who go to the cinema go there often or
not, we have the following returns :

Girls Boys Total

Go often to the cinema 136 238 374

Go fairly often to the cinema .... 298 357 655

Go rarely to the cinema 754 821 15 75

Total 1 188 1416 2604

Swiss Foreigners Total

Go often to the cinema 275 99 374

Go fairly often to the cinema. ... 538 117 655

Go rarely to the cinema 1367 208 1575

Total 2180 424 2604

32% of the total number of the children answer that they go

often or fairly often to the cinema

5 5 J / o

that they go rarely, and

18% « never.».

As regards the ages of the children who frequent the cinema,
we have the following returns :

Girls.

Fairly

No

Age

Often

often

Rarely

Never

answer

Tota

IO

2

3

8

2

I

16

II

12

15

42

23

IO

I02

12

30

54

140

84

308

13

31

73

172

65

I

342

14

38

85

153

59

I

336

15

16

43

144

4i

I

245

16

3

14

49

23

I

90

17

2

8

30

13

I

54

18

2

3

16

5

21

Total 136

298

754

315

16

I5H

3-ingl-

64I

Fairly

No

Often

often

Rarely

Never

answer

Total

I

4

8

I

—

14

12

13

73

31

2

131

35

65

146

47

7

300

56

65

178

45

3

347

59

102

154

55

4

374

47

54

157

40

6

304

16

35

49

21

1

122

9

13

33

3

2

69

3

6

23

9

—

4i

Boys

Age
IO
II
12
13
14
15
16

17

18

Total 238 357 821 252 25 1693

This shows that the girls go to the cinema most frequently
between the ages of 10 and 14 years ; the highest percentage is
given by girls of 14 ; after this age till the age of 18 the number
declines pretty steadily. As regard the boys, 13 to 16 years of
age give the highest number ; in any case, their answers display
more diversity than those of the girls.

When comparing the Neuchatel and Lausanne returns, Mile
Jung noted that the proportion of the Neuchatel children who
answered that they went frequently to the cinema was greater than
that of the Lausanne children ; on the other hand, the proportion
of those who stated that they went fairly often or occasionally was
lower. Those who go rarely are more numerous in Neuchatel
than in Lausanne, but there are fewer who never go. Mile
Jung observes that if any possible local influences are left out of
count, it would appear that the war had slightly increased the fre-
quentation of the cinema, since a comparison of all the different
categories of answers shows that, as a whole, frequentation is slightly
higher in Lausanne.

For my own part, I am of the opinion that this point is
open to doubt.

$th Question. - With Whom ?

The children generally go to the cinema with their parents.
A certain number of them go with friends, especially among the

— 642

boys. The girls rarely go alone to the cinema, whereas the boys
go there more frequently by themselves than with friends.

In any case, the significance of this question has considerably
diminished in consequence of the regulations governing the ad-
mittance of children to cinema shows.

6th and yth Questions. - When ?

The pupils of the Lausanne Elementary Schools go to the
cinema mostly on Sunday. Those of the Derriere-Bourg School
and the boarding school go there more often during the week.
This very likely depends on the different social spheres to which
the children of the several schools belong and the fact that among
the working classes Sunday is the usual day for going to the cinema.

Some of the children answer that they choose rainy days to
go to the pictures, or that they go there on holidays or when there
are special shows for children. It should be noted that no question
was put with respect to special shows for school children.

As regards the question « whether in the afternoon or evening?))
most of the children reply that they go there in the afternoon.

8th Question. - Do you like going to the cinema ?

This question was asked of 964 boys only out of 1693, owing
to the fact that 729 boys had to reply to questionnaire No. 3,
in which this question is lacking. This fact accounts for a dispro-
portion between the girls' answers and the boys' answers, a point
which we beg the reader to bear in mind. The answers obtained
may be tabulated as follows: —

Girls

Boys

Total

998

684

1682

like going there

138

55

193

don't like going there

83

45

128

indifferent

300

180

480

No answer

Total 15 19 964 2483

Mile Jung concludes that the children do enjoy the cinema,
since 71 % of the boys and 66 % of the girls answer in the affirm-

— 643

ative. These returns are all the more significant from the fact
that they refer to the answers as a whole, including those children
(20 %) who did not answer the question, either because they never
went there (we have seen above that 18 % answered that they
never went to the cinema), or for some other reason.

A larger number of girls than of boys answer that they don't
care much to go to the cinema or don't like it.

Enjoyment of the cinema is most marked among the girls at
the age if 14 and the boys at 15.

Question o,a - Why do you like going ?

This question like the preceding one, was asked of 964 boys
only.

The answers vary considerably, but we have been able to ta-
bulate them under the following headings: interesting, amusing,
instructive, beautiful, as a pastime.

Girls Boys Total

Because it is instructive 200 in 311

Because it is interesting 578 319 897

Because it is amusing 191 65 256

As a pastime 162 173 335

Because it is beautiful 75 83 158

Total 1206 751 1957

These children are attracted to the cinema mainly because it
is interesting (36 %). It is worth noting that the girls are more
attracted by the amusing side of the film than the boys, who go
there r'ather as a pastime: this need of recreation diminishes how-
ever with years, while — as Mile Jung observes — the answer
that it is « instructive » becomes more frequent.

Mile Jung has recorded some of the answers given by the
children: « it develops the understanding and intelligence », « it
is very striking)), « it thrills me)), ac'est chic », «it brings new
ideas », « it influences children », « I like to see people moving
about », « because I meet friends there », etc.

644

Question 9 b. - Why don't you like going ?

Girls Boys Total

The cinema hurts my eyes ....... 59 39 98

Children don't care for drama or get too

much of it 24 7 31

« Not interesting » 11 2 13

Total 94 48 142

Here are some other somewhat peculiar answers: « it's waste
of money », « it's too exciting », « I dream about it », « it tires me »,
« it's stupid », « the films are crude », « a well-behaved girl doesn't
go to such places », « it is not always proper », « it gives me bad
thoughts », « one learns nasty things there », « it upsets me », « it
makes one want to imitate it », « one sees the blackest side of life
with all these robbers and brigands », « the cinema turns one against
an industrious life », « I don't like the style and the company »,
« too much violent passion », « I like healthier amusements ».

These children judge the cinema severely. It seems likely
that, in many cases; the views expressed reflect those cf their pa-
rents, but there is no doubt that the children are expressing their
real feelings when they say that the cinema excites them too much
and that they dream, of it at night.

loth Question. - Favourite Subjects.
We have tabulated subject matter as follows:

Girls

Comical scenes 674

Topical Films 511

Travel 474

Drama 389

Geography 210

Instructive films 200

Historical films 83

Boys

Total

723

1397

739

1250

578

IO52

521

9IO

317

527

III

311

64

147

Total 2541 3053 5594

— 645

Mile Jung makes the following comments:

The girls prefer comical scenes; the boys prefer current events.
Enjoyment of comical scenes decreases with the boys from the age
of 10 to 1 8 years; interest in current events, on the contrary, in-
creases with age; this is mainly due to the fact that they are in-
terested in the events of the war. Travel comes next after comical
scenes and current events; drama ranks fourth.

We have seen already that the girls are fond enough of going
to the cinema because it is amusing; the fact that more girls than
boys returned this answer suggests that they are sincere in this.

By reducing the headings of the preceding table to four,
we obtain the following results:

Girls Boys Total

i. Instructive, (travel, geography, his-
torical films, etc.) 967 1070 2037

2. Comical scenes 674 723 1397

3. Topical scenes 511 739 1250

4. Drama 389 521 910

Total 2541 3053 5594

nth. Question. Do you re-act at home the scenes you have watched ?

We have been unable to tabulate the answers to this question
for statistical purposes, since some of the children interpreted
the word « repeter » (literally « repeat ») as meaning imitating or
re-acting, and others as meaning recounting.

On the whole, the children are inclined to recount what they
have seen, but not to re-act it.

In addition to all the « Yeses » and « Noes », the meaning of
which is not altogether clear, we find such answers as the following:

« Yes, I re-act what I have seen, and my parents are obliged
to tell me to be quiet » ; « I love to have others share the hatred
and admiration that I feel »; « yes, when I am in a good temper » ;
«yes, when there is a poor man who become- a millionaire));
«it amuses our neighbour's children)); « mamma calls me her
guignoh)', and so on. One child declares that he is clever at

— 646

imitating what he has seen at the cinema ; another states that he
is not an actor ; while another replies no to the question, adding
« it might become dangerous, one might go mad ».

1 2th. Question. Are your artistic emotions aroused by the cinema ?

This question was put to 717 boys and 202 girls. The boys
ranged in age from 11 to 18 years, and the girls from 15 to 18. Out
of a total of 919 children who were interrogated, 468 replied, and
the answers may be tabulated as follows :

Girls Boys Total

Yes 14 107 121

Sometimes 11 67 78

Seldom 9 26 35

Total number of affirmative answers 34 200 234
No 53 181 234

Grand total 87 381 468

It is a curious fact that, on the whole, the number of « noes »
and « yeses » is about equal. In tabulating the answers by sex,
we see that « yes » predominates among the boys and « no » among
the girls. The comparative value of these figures, however, might
seem somewhat doubtful when we consider that the smaller girls,
from 11 to 14 years of age, wTere not interrogated, and that the
majority of « yeses » among the boys may perhaps be due to
youthful enthusiasm. But this cannot be the case, for if we con-
sider only the answers of the boys ranging from 15 to 18 years,
like those of the girls, the majority of affirmatives is maintained :
out of 197 answers, yes occurs 106 times and no 91.

Among the negative answers given to the 12th. question, Mile
Jung noted the answer of a scholar, very seriously given : « emo-
tion is generally unhealthy ».

The subjects especially mentioned by the children as arousing
artistic feeling are those showing beautiful countries and historical
events. With regard to the latter, Mile Jung observes that the
feeling seems to be more patriotic than artistic.

647 —

While noting the relatively low number of affirmative answers
(234 out of 919 children interrogated), and especially the small
number of those who answered by a decisive eyes » (121 out of
919 children interrogated) Mile Jung made the following remark :

«We may conclude that the cinema really arouses artistic emo-
tion in only a very small minority. It must, however, be remem-
bered that we are considering the cinema as it was in 191 5. The
progress made since that period is so important that there is no
doubt we should obtain very different answers today ».

13th. Question. Has the Cinema opened new horizons to you ?

This question, like the preceding one, was put to only 717
boys and 202 girls, that is, to a total number of 919 children ; 427
answers were obtained, which may be tabulated as follows :

Boys Girls Total

Yes i5 59 75

Sometimes 4 11 15

Seldom. 2 7 9

Total no. of « yeses » 22 77 99

No 58 270 328

Grand total 80 347 427

We see that in regard to this question the number of negative
answers is much greater than the number of affirmative answers.
And we may add that there were even some boys, one of fifteen
and one of thirteen, who replied to the question : does the cinema
open new horizons to you ? by the statement : « quite the contrary»
or by the declaration : « it closes them rather ».

If we examine the affirmative answers, they reveal the fact
that the cinema has aroused a taste for travelling in certain children
and that it has also given them useful information in regard to
science and topical events. One boy found that it showed him
the difficulties there are in life ; a little girl was enabled by the ci-
nema to make comparisons between the lives of rich and poor,
while another made acquaintance by its means with the lives of

working people. Some of the children said they wanted to become
actors or detectives, and one boy wanted to be an apache, but the
latter was probably not answering seriously.

We may mention two more answers : a boy of sixteen declared
that the cinema « confirmed the ancient world », and another boy
of eighteen remarked, with pitiless philosophy, that the cinema
helped him to « judge the intelligence or stupidity of his comrades ».

14th. Question. What is it that attracts you to the cinema ?

This question was put to 729 boys of from 10 to 18 years of
age ; and 498 answers were received, which may be tabulated as
follows :

Posters 263

Advertisements 85

Programmes 50

Desire for amusement 49

Films and actors 27

Handbills 24

Total 498

It is abvious that several of these categories might be amalga-
mated, and that we should not place too much importance on the
distinction made by the children between « advertisements » « pro-
grammes » and « handbills ». But, as Mile Jung remarks, it is
undoubtedly true that posters are far and away ahead of all other
types of advertisement.

None the less, Mile Jung found some answers of children
declaring that posters aroused no desire in them to go to the cinema.
It may be added, also, that a certain number of children are attract-
ed to the cinema by the accounts of their little friends.

15th. Question. What do you think of the cinema during the war ?

This question, like the preceding one, was put only to the
students in boarding schools, high schools and commercial schools ;
and the majority of the children interrogated were boys. Some of

649 —

them were older than 18. The answers vary so much and in
some cases are so unexpected, that it has not been possible to tabu-
late them methodically.

In this connection, Mile Jung made the following observations :
The answers obtained show that a large number of children
think that cinemas should be closed during the war. They ought to
be closed, according to these children, because they constitute
a useless expense, because a lot of the persons receiving the dole
go to them, because one ought not to amuse oneself while others
are fighting or weeping, because it is better to comfort those who
are in trouble, because they impoverish the villages and towns,
since everybody spends money at the cinema, because many men
refuse the necessities of life to their families in order to go to the
cinema, because they give false ideas and because they are bad for
young people. Certain children regard the cinema as immoral,
and accuse it of suppressing impartiality. But while some of them
insist that the cinema is not sufficiently neutral, others reproach
it with being too neutral.

Mile Jung made an attempt to express in figures some of the
answers given by boys against the cinema during the war. She
obtained the following results :

« We could dispense with them » ... 58

« A useless expense » 43

« They ought to be closed » 179

Total 280

Mile Jung found, however, that other scholars considered the
cinema interesting during the war. She counted 55 favourable
answers among the boys, and the arguments put forward in favour
of the cinema during the war were as follows : « It is better to go
there than to a cafe », « they ought to remain open because every
one should be at liberty to earn his living as he wishes », « they
arouse patriotism ». The argument that freedom should be allow-
ed to the cinema is very frequent, as also is the argument that the
cinema provides work for the directors and their employes.

— 650

The results of the enquiry at Geneva.

The enquiry was made in the elementary schools at Geneva,
and also in the intermediary and vocational schools, the schools
of domestic economy and boarding schools.

4262 children answered our questionnaire.

The tabulation was done by Mile Aellig.

1 st. Question. Sex.
Among the 4262 children there were :

2019 girls 2243 boys

2nd. Onestion. Age.

. Girls Boys Total

10 years 30 o 30

11 years 226 191 417

12 years 421 470 921

13 years 569 621 1193

14 years 436 553 989

15 years 216 304 520

16 years 73 82 155

17 years 13 14 27

18 years 5 5 10

Total 2019 2243 4262

3rd. Question. Nationality

Swiss Foreigners

Girls 1387 Girls 632

Boys 1573 Boys 670

Total 2960

Total 1302

The foreigners belonged to 21 different nationalities. Among
them, France took first place. The following are the statistics
of scholars of foreign nationality :

651

France 689 Turkey 6

Italy 351 United States 5

Russia 80 Bulgaria 5

Germany 62 Holland 5

England 19 Greece 4

Poland 15 Roumania 4

Austria 13 Spain 3

Brazil 13 Serbia 1

Argentina 11 Persia 1

Belgium 8 Egypt 1

Peru 6

4th. Question. Frequentation.

According to the answers given to the fourth question :

3395 scholars (about (4/5) go to the cinema.
867 scholars (about 1/5) do not go there.

Number of girls going to the cinema 15 13.
Number of boys going to the cinema 1882.

Number of Swiss children frequenting the cinema 2297 (about 78 %)
of whom 1011 (73%) were girls and 1286 (82%) were boys.

Foreign children frequenting the cinema 1098 (about (85%),
of whom 502 (80%) were girls and 596 (89%) were boys.

Out of the 3395 children who frequent the cinema there are :

1507 who go often (1).
1888 who go seldom

The proportion of boys and girls was much the same ;

Those going often Girls 663 (44-5%) Boys 844 (44.9%)

Those going seldon Girls 850 (55-5%) Boys 1038 (55.1%)

The following figures show the frequentation of the cinema in
relation to the age of the children :

(1) Mile Aellig has used the word « often » where the child goes to
the cinema at least once a month.

— 652

Girls

Age

II

years

12

»

13

»

14

»

15

»

l6

»

17

»

l8

»

Do not go

C

0 to the cinema

Number

to

the cinema

rarely

often

Total

226

53

(23.45%)

86

87

173

(76.55%)

451

97

(21.51%)

179

336

354

(78.49%)

569

141

(24-78%)

250

178

428

(75.22%)

436

119

(27.29%)

i73

144

3i7

(72.71%)

2l6

67

(3L02%)

96

53

149

(68.98%)

73

18

(24.66%)

24

3i

55

(75-34%)

J3

3

(23.08%)

9

1

10

(76.92%)

5

1

2

2

4

BjVS

II

years

12

>'

13

»

14

»

15

»

l6

»

17

»

l8

»

191

28

(14.66%)

82

81

163

(85.34%)

47o

68

d4.47%)

205

197

402

(85.53%)

624

98

d5.7i%)

262

262

526

(84.29%)

553

98

(17.72%)

265

190

455

(82.28%)

304

48

(i5.79%)

175

81

256

(84.21%)

82

18

(21.95%)

39

25

64

(78.05%)

14

3

(21.43%)

6

5

11

(78.57%)

5

0

4

1

5

These statistics contain some interesting information, which
we will indicate but will not attempt to explain.

a) It wTill be seen that the number of girls who do not fre-
quent the cinema is higher than that of the boys : 2172 to 31% of
the girls and i^/a to 22% of the boys (we do not take into account
the figures dealing with young people of 18 years, which concern
too small a number to be of interest).

b) Among the girls the proportion of those who do not fre-
quent the cinema is in constant increase with the age and reaches
its maximum at the age of 15 ; from this age it decreases. Among
boys, the figures are not so regular ; and it is worthy of remark
that it is precisely at 1 5 years of age that frequentation of the cinema
increases among boys, while the number of them who do not go
to the cinema is highest at the age of 16. The decrease in frequen-
tation of the cinema towards the age of 15 or 16 is attributed by
Mile Aellig to the effects of regligious instruction, since it is be-

653 — .

tween the ages of 15 and 16 that Protestant children take their first
communion.

c) Finally we note that, according to the answers obtained,
it is at the age of 12 years that frequentation of the cinema reaches
its maximum, in the case of both girls and boys. (Is the explana-
tion of this fact to be found in the organization of special films for
children ? We do not know).

5th. Question. With whom ?

The greater number of children go to the cinema with their
parents, brothers, sisters, cousins, etc. Others go with friends.
Some children even manage to go alone, in spite of the decree of
the Council of State of June 18, 1912 which prohibits children of
less than 16 years to go alone to the cinema. Some children, evi-
dently finding the question indiscreet, either did not reply at all
or replied evasively. One even said : « that has nothing to do with
anyone else », another said simply : « I go there in good company ».
It is mainly from the age of 15 and 16 that the children begin to
give these answers.

There are from 60 to 70 children per hundred, according to
age classification, who go to the cinema with their parents, from
5 to 15 with friends, and from 1 to 5 who go alone.

The proportion of children who go either with friends or
alone naturally increases with their age. On the other hand, it
will be noted, Mile Aellig observes, that the proportion is much
higher in the vocational schools and the schools of domestic eco-
nomy than in other schools.

6th. Question. When (week days or Sundays) ?

It is mainly on Sunday and holidays that children go to the ci-
nema, in the afternoon or evening. In the case of many families,
there seems to be a tradition that they should go either on New
Year's day or on Escalade day. One boy writes : « I love to go on
Sunday, because that rests us for next day's lessons », while a
little girl remarks : « it throws us all out for Monday ». Boys

654

generally go on Sunday, except when they go to a football match ;
and in that case they go to the cinema on Wednesday. Saturday
evening comes next, especially in the case of children who go with
their families, because they are able to stay in bed later on
Sunday morning.

Thursday, which is a holiday for school children in Geneva,
comes third, Friday and Wednesday fourth, and Monday and
Tuesday fifth.

With regard to the relation between the choice of days and
the schools where the enquiry was made, Mile Aellig found the
following to be the case :

Boarding school pupils and scholars from the secondary schools
seldom choose Sunday, but generally go on Thursday. In the
other schools, on the contrary, the children generally go on Sunday.

7th. Question. When ? {afternoon or evening).
This question was not tabulated for Geneva.

8th. Question. Do you like going to the cinema ?

2928 (69%) children like going to the cinema, 1263 of them being
girls and 1665 boys.

506 children (12%) say they do not like going ; the proportion of
girls in this number was 262 and of boys 244.

828 children (19%) were indifferent ; 494 girls and 334 boys.

The following are some of the answers :

«Pretty well », « very much », « oh yes », a I believe you »,
« I adore it », « certainly », « passionately », « of course », etc. « It
is the only pleasure I have »", « undoubtedly », « when there is a nice
programme », etc.

« Not at all », « I detest it », « not in the least », « it does not
suit me », « it has no attraction for me ».

Then there is the « yes » with reserves, the « no » with excep-
tions, « according to what they put on the film », « according to
the programme)), « that depends)), etc.

655 -

A boy of 15 likes to go to the cinema from time to time pro-
vided they give something from life, no matter what the subject
may be, so long as it is real !

A little Genevan girl says yes, adding : « when they give a sad
play, I drop my eyes ».

A virtuous youngster of thirteen writes: « yes, when they give
healthy pieces ».

A little Polish girl of 1 1 says : « I like to go when the film is
instructive for children, when there is nothing extraordinary about
it, and it does not pervert my mind ».

It is interesting to note the increase of interest in the cinema
as the girls grow older, and the decrease of interest on the contrary
as the boys grow older.

Girls Boys

Yes

No

Indiff.

Yes

No

Indiff.

11 years . .

• • 64%

15%

21%

83%

7%

IO%

12 »

• • 69%

20%

H%

80%

9%

H%

13 »

• • 63%

12%

25%

75%

12%

13%

14 »

• • 58%

15%

27%

73%

9%

18%

15 »

• • 58%

14%

28%

66%

18%

16%

16 »

• • 73%

8%

19%

59%

n%

30%

17 »

• • 77%

0%

23%

50%

15%

35%

Among girls the proportion of « yeses » drops between 12
and 15 years, but at 16 it increases rapidly, while the « noes » drop
to zero. Among boys, on the contrary, we notice a continual de-
crease of interest. Mile Aellig is of the opinion that sport takes
the upper hand with boys from the age of 16, and draws them away
from the cinema. Young girls, not being interested in sport,
she explains, or at any rate to a much smaller extent, pass their
Sundays at the cinema.

9th. Question. Why do children like to go to the cinema ?

Taking the two main reasons : instruction and amusement,
Mile Aellig has tabulated 2660 answers in the following way :

656

Girls

Instruction 465

Recreation 485

Instruction and recreation 192

Boys

Total

564

IO29

657

1 146

293

485

LTotal 1 146 15 14 2660

Examining the answers in detail, Mile Aellig found that the
following additional reasons appeared in the answers :

Interest — Instruction

The cinema interests children ; even those who never go there
say : « they must show some interesting things ».

The following are some answers from those children who
have been to the cinema :

The things they show at the cinema are out of the ordinary.
The cinema opens the mind, it strengthens the intelligence, it
makes us sharper, it teaches us things we did not know. After
books, it is the cinema that represents novels and history best, and
all sorts of other nice things ; it is more interesting to see things
represented than simply to read about them.

Here is an answer of a boy of 13 : « I am always learning at the
cinema, especially by the geographic al films, and the police and de-
tective films » (the obvious inquiry that comes into one's mind is,
Just what does he learn ?)

Recreation

The following are some of the answers :

It is nice, it is attractive, it is very beautiful. The cinema is
full of amusement which carries one out of the ordinary monoto-
nous life of every day. It gives us a little leisure and makes us
forget the cares and annoyances we may have. It is the most agree-
able pastime when the weather is bad. One enjoys oneself at the
cinema, one dies of laughing. They have things which cannot
be seen elsewhere, which are outside of real life and which are aw-
fully amusing ! And then, it is pleasant to go there with one's

4-ingi. 657 —

family ; one goes to keep company with some one else, to be with
one's pal, to find one's friends. We are sheltered from the wea-
ther there, and it is warm and they spray perfume in the halls. It
is a pleasure that is easily procured. We can see a lot there at
a small expense.

The following are the various advantages of the cinema ac-
cording to a boy of 13 :

It interests me.

It amuses me.

I get to know plays and novels there.

I go there to see horse racing.

I go there to see other lands.

I go there to see about the lives of abandoned orphans.

It helps to pass the time when it is raining.

Morality

The following are some of the answers : « It is instructive,
and certain dramas have a moral. The cinema often develops
sentimental ideas, and there is always a moral at the end of the
pieces. They teach that the wicked are always punished ».

The answer of a little girl of 13 : « I like to go to the cinema
very much, because I can travel with my eyes, I learn new things,
and I see scenes of life which make me realize that it needs a lot
of courage to climb the path we have to travel and go right to the
end without complaining ».

The answer of a boy of 13 : «I adore the cinema, it is my great-
est pleasure. The cinema is a comfort in hours of anguish. It
lightens our ccmmon sorrows, it draws together hearts that are
disunited... it stimulates kindness ».

Patriotism

The patriotic element also plays its part. The following
is a characteristic answer : « The war subjects are especially in-

- 658

teresting ; they show how one ought to behave, even in the most
difficult moments, in order to serve one's country. We learn
there to know the life of the soldier at the front and the damage
caused by the war ; we see the mines laid by the enemy. »

Criticism of the cinema by children. General.

Here are some of the criticisms : It is not worth while spending
money to see a lot of foolishness and fill one's head with things
that have never existed. There is enough work to do and enough
to amuse one without that. It is the theatre of the illiterate. Peo-
ple make a noise and yell there ; disorder reigns at the cinema. The
films are worked off too rapidly. They are spotted and confused.

The hygiene of the cinema is often criticised. It is bad for
one's eyes. It is too hot, there is not enough air ; it is bad for the
health. The halls are full of neauseating perfumes.

Morality.

The cinema is too immoral for the young. It offers attractions
that are not true to life. Sometimes one sees disagreeable scenes
there which are bad for one's eyes and one's mind also. Instruc-
tive pieces are rare in Genevan and Swiss cinemas. The nicest
pieces are spoilt by immoral interludes which leave us with bad
ideas in our minds. We see children going to the bad, because
they go to the cinema too often. They teach us nothing but to
make up dramas or to steal, according to the things they show.
It is not respectable with all these crimes. Very often the shows are
in bad taste. And lastly : « The cinema teaches us many things
but also many others. »

10th. Question. Subjects preferred.

With regard to the subjects preferred, it goes without saying
that many children mention a number of subjects that « they like
best ». In the statistics that we give below, the total number of
answers is therefore greater than the number of children who

659 —

answered the enquiry. We have classed the subjects in the order
of preference shown by the answers.

Subjects preferred Girls Boys Total

Comical scenes 901 1290 219 1

Topical subjects 736 1236 1972

Travel 698 1025 1723

Dramas in general 464 750 1214

Geography 330 453 783

Police dramas 62 198 260

Historical scenes 52 135 187

American dramas 34 112 146

Scientific films 26 26 52

If we reduce the number of groups to four, we obtain the fol-
lowing table :

Subjects preferred Girls Boys Total
Instructive (travel, geography, histo-
rical scenes, scientific films) . . . 1106 1639 2745

Comical scenes 901 1290 2191

Topical subjects 736 1236 1972

Dramas 560 1060 1620

The number of answers dealing with the subjects preferred led
Mile Aellig to make some observations, of which we give the fol-
lowing extract :

Dramas.

Dramas are the most discussed and disputable point of cine-
matograph shows. There are children who are fervent supporters
of the cinema on account of these dramas. They find the dramas
« striking » « exciting », « thrilling ». Dramas excite them and
stir their emotions in a way that they like. In order to show
iust where this passion for the drama may lead, we will give these
answers of two boys of 13 : one loves dramas because « we see sad
and cruel things in them » ; and another has a predilection for love
dramas because they are sad and also » on account of the satur-
gique (?) scenes and the scenes of debauch. »

Happily, this type of lover of the drama is the exception rather
than the rule.

— 660

In opposition to impassioned lovers of the drama, we have the
contrary type : the serious children, with cold, reserved natures.
These children condemn the drama, or approve of it only with
certain reservations. Here are some of their criticisms :

The greater number of dramas are not suited for young people
and heat their imagination by exciting and unnatural scenes; their
effects on feeble minds are entirely evil. Dramas are lies ; some
dramas are even rather ridiculous. The setting is different, but
at bottom they are all alike ; there are, however, sensational dramas
and reconstructions of books which might be interesting.

In the police dramas we see persons pull out their revolvers
and knives at every moment, « the people do nothing but fire pistols
at themselves or their enemies ».

There are dramas with a bad moral which might lead us astray.
There are others which are stupid ; police dramas which have nei-
ther beginning nor end.

It is bad for the nerves, the dramas frighten us and make us
dream at night. The grand dramas are absurd, where one sees
death in all its detail. Some of the dramas, however, are so so.
They are not always true to life, but they are interesting all the
same. It is nice to see a comical scene after a drama.

Travel.

The following is one of the answers giving a reason for the
preference for travel films :

« Travel films are very instructive, they help us to know far-
off countries and foreign customs, they illustrate and complete
our school lessons. We see beautiful countries before our eyes,
and think that we are really there ».

All the children, however, are not of the same opinion. Here
is what one of the boys thinks : « Journeys are boring. Under the
pretext of geography, they show you nothing but cascades. Very
amusing ! » One of the boarding-school pupils who does not like
travel either, says he has enough of it in the lectures.

Inthe course of the tabulation, states Mile Aellig, we have noticed
that dramas and travel tend each to exclude the other. Impassioned

661 —

lovers of the drama feel little interest in travel and geography.
The average child however, is better able to distribute its interest
among the different subjects. But in cases where travel films pre-
dominate, the drama takes last place, or is not even mentioned.

Comical scenes.

Comical scenes enjoy an almost unanimous approval. Those
who do not like any of the other subjects, at least like the comical
scenes .

A very small number of children finds the comical scenes stupid.
The great majority find them « so amusing », « I die of laughing ».
They even love them, in some cases, « because they are so silly ».
« Nothing makes one laugh so much as seeing a comical film at
the cinema ». In 191 5 Max Linder was the great comedian in vogue.
There was only one child who declared that he did not like Max
Linder's comical scenes.

Historical films.

Generally apeaking, boys have more liking than girls for his-
torical films. Here is what a young girl says about them, however :
« Historical pieces are very interesting. I like to see them acted
by Parisian or French actors. The pictures are so beautiful and
show the people of the Middle Ages so well that they delight me ».

Comparisons - Conclusion.

Before formulating my conclusions. I wish to thank all those
who have been good enough to lend me their aid, some by giving
me permission to carry out my enquiry, and others by helping me to
bring my work to a satisfactory issue. I therefore tender my thanks
to the various authorities and members of the different teaching
bodies, the students of the University of Neuchatel, the School
of Social Studies for Women at Geneva, and especially Miles Jung
and Aellig, who undertook the heavy task of the final tabulation.

The results that we have obtained, modest though they are, are
not to be despised. By way of comparison, I may recall the fact
that the enquiry organized by Fraulein Dr. Emilie Altenloh in

— 662

various classes of society in Germany, shortly before the war (i)
resulted in the receipt of about 2400 answers to the 17,500
questionnaires sent out. Out of this figure, 2031 were sent by
scholars, 650 of whom were pupils in the elementary and vocational
schools, and 1381 in the commercial schools. Thanks to the
valuable aid I received at Neuchatel, Geneva and Lausanne, in
the organization of my enquiry, I obtained ten thousand answers,
in round figures.

Let us see what information we have gained from this large
number of answers. The text of this study, in which the answers
of the children have been grouped by question, gives us the answer,
and the reader is at liberty to draw his own conclusions. My task
was essentially, as I declared in my first circular in 1914, to carry
out a scientific work supported by documentary evidence, and
not to undertake a study lege ferenda. And the only commentary
that I wish to present together with the report on my enquiry
concerns the scientific character of the results obtained.

It is true that the difficulties met with in tabulating the re-
turns (of which I have spoken in the preface) and the limited time
that we each had at our disposal, compelled me at the last to decide
on a type of tabulation which is fragmentary in places rather than a
complete tabulation, the data for which would have been uncertain.

But, in spite of its sometimes fragmentary nature, our enquiry
contains scientific information of great interest, especially in regard
to the psychology of children.

We will first examine some comparative statistics concerning
the frequentation of the cinema in the three towns (Question n. 4).

I.

Answers

%

Go

%

Don't go

0/
/o

Girls . .

3986

I OO

3091

77-54

895

22.46

Boys . .

4261

IOO

3603

84.56

658

15-44

Total

8247

IOO

6694

8l.l7

1553

18.83

(1) V. Altenloh, Emilie : Zur Soziologie des Kino. Die Kino-Un-
ternehmung und die sozialen Schichten ihrer Besucher, Jena, 19 14.

663

II.

Answers % Go % Don't go %

Girls . . 3091 100 1221 39.50 1870 60.50

Boys. . . 3603 100 1551 43.05 2052 56.95

Total 6694 IO° 2772 4i-7i 3922 58.56

III.

Swiss . .
Foreigners

Answers
6467
1888

/o
IOO
IOO

Go

5159
1612

%

79.77
85.88

Don't go
1308
276

7o
20.23
14.62

* -Total 8355 100 6771 81.04 J584 18.96

I publish these statistics without any comments. All the same,
I must make an observation on the subject of Table III. Too
hasty conclusions should not be drawn from the fact that children
of foreign nationalities go to the cinema oftener than Swiss children.
This difference in the frequentation of the cinema might be due
to psychological differences, or it might be simply the consequence
of the fact that the majority of Swiss children, living with their
families, are kept under careful watch and ward.

As to the scientific results of the enquiry, especially those of a
psychological nature, I will take Question 10 (subjects preferred)
as an example. We will examine the comparative results of the
enquiry on this question from three points of view, that is :

a) variation of taste in children according to age ;

b) variation of taste in children in consequence of the war ;

c) degree of certitude in the results obtained.

Mile Aellig and Mile Jung have established, for the three
towns concerned, the order of preference given by the children, under
the age classification, to the four principal subjects: Topical
subjects, Dramas, Comical Scenes and Travel.

(*). The difference in the number of answers in Table I and Table
III is explained by the fact that in Table I the 108 answers of the mixed
schools of Neuchatel have not been included.

— 664

I have drawn up these results in the table which I give below,
with the object of finding out if information of a general order could
be extracted from a comparison of the answers concerning the three
towns. The favourable result obtained has surpassed all my hopes.
(I must point out that the comparison can be made for six different
age classifications betwen Geneva and Lausanne, but only for
four between Geneva and Lausanne on the one side and Neuchatel
on the other.)

In the following table :

A means Topical films
C means Comical scenes
D means Dramas
T means Travel

The four letter are placed in the order of preference given by
each age classification to each of the four subjects.

Nench&i

lei

9 years

D

C

T

A

IO »

C

T

D

A

ii »

C

D

A

T

12 »

C

T

D

A

13 »

C

T

D

A

14 »

C

T

D

A

Lausanne

1 1 years

C

A

T

D

12 »

C

A

D

T

13 »

c

A

T

D

14 »

c

A

T

D

15 »

A

C

T

D

16 »

A

C

T

D

Geneva

1 1 years

C

A

T

D

12 »

C

A

D

T

13 »

C

A

T

D

14 »

A

C

T

D

1-5 >»

A

T

C

D

16 »

\

D

T

C

665 —

The first thing which strikes one on examining this table is
its uniformity. It is a striking proof of the objective value of the
results obtained, a value deriving from the certitude of great
numbers.

Let us examine some of the points :

a) In the three towns, although each is so different from
the others, the children of 1 1 , 12 and 13 years of age show the same
preference : the comical scenes.

b) In the three towns, dramas suddenly come into favour
(for reasons which we do not know) among children of between 11
and 12 years of age (11 at Neuchatel, 12 at Lausanne and Geneva).

c) The effects of the war tend to modify the childrens'
tastes. At Nauchatel, where the enquiry was largely terminated
before the war, topical films take last place (with one exception :
among children of 11 years they take third place). At Lausanne
and Geneva, on the contrary, where the enquiry was made during
the war, topical subjects — which at that period consisted mainly
of war films — occupy the first and second places, without
exception.

d) The preference of the children for topical subjects allows
us also to note change of taste according to the age of the children.
This change is manifested with equal regularity at Lausanne and
at Geneva. The younger children prefer comical scenes, while
the older prefer topical subjects. The only difference is the period
when the change takes place : at Lausanne it occurs at 15 years,
and at Geneva at the age of 14.

e) One of the most surprising instances of regulariy that
the enquiry revealed was the decline in favour of comical scenes
among the school children of Geneva. Among children of from
11 to 13 years comical scenes take first place, among those of 14
years second place, among those of 15 third place, and fourth place
among those of 16.

/) If we leave the topical subjects aside and deal only with
the other three, a new uniformity appears in the answers of the
schoolchildren of the three towns, which is even more general than
the preceding ones. In fact, eliminating topical subjects, we obtain
the following table :

— 666

Neuchdtel

1 1 years

C

D

T

12 »

C

T

D

13 »

C

T

D

14 »

C

Lausanne

T

D

11 years

C

T

D

12 »

C

D

T

13 »

C

T

D

14 »

T

D

Geneva

11 years

C

T

D

12 »

C

D

T

13 »

c

T

D

14 »

c

T

D

There is an almost absolute concordance in the answers from
the three towns.

I have finished. My aim was neither to impose nor to propose,
but simply to expose. That aim has been attained.

(Prof.) Andre de Mad ay.

Librarian of the I. L. O.
Formerly Dean of the Faculty of Law
at the University of Neuchatel.

667

AGRICULTURAL TRAINING AND THE EDUCATION

OF THE RURAL POPULATION BY MEANS OF THE

FILM IN URUGUAY

{from the Spanish)

The Report of the Information and Training Section of the
Uruguay Direction of Agriculture gives a better idea than any
other document could afford us of the results achieved during its
first working year by the travelling cinema service organized by
the said department in the rural districts of Uruguay. We have
pleasure in publishing herewith the text of this report.

The travelling cinemas of this Department have accomplished
their first year's work. The results obtained surpass our expec-
tations. In this Report we propose to deal more particularly
with the work done in the departments of Artigas, Salto, Paysandu,
de Rocas, Canelones and Montevideo.

It is not easy to give an adequate idea of the efficacy of this
form of teaching, which not only arouses the interest of the farmers
in the different systems of cultivation and brings before them
the advantages of modern methods, but is also a practical means
of education and an auxiliary to the instruction imparted in the
rural schools. In addition to this, the cinema, which was almost
unknown to the country children and indeed to numbers of grown-
up persons in the interior departments — that is to say those
nearest to the Capital — offers them an attraction that is condu-
cive to the happiest results.

Thus the Direction of Agriculture — while promoting the
diffusion of technical farm training — accomplishes at the same
time an educational mission. Our regional agronomists and all
those in a position to judge of its truly extraordinary resulcs, de-
clare with good reason that it would take a year to inculcate by
any other method the elements of knowledge which our rural

668

population have been able by this means to pick up in the course
of five or six days.

We will not dwell on the details of the work done by the dif-
ferent groups of travelling cinemas during their successive tours.
At the present time the group belonging to the Information and
Training Section of the Direction of Agriculture is methodically
pursuing a very active prophylactic campaign of incontestable
social value by the exhibition of films bearing on so-called « secret »
and contagious diseases. These films have been given or lent
us by the National Hygiene Council. This is a form of propaganda
which it would be difficult to carry on by any other means. In
collaboration with the bodies organized by the Ministry of In-
dustry for safeguarding the public health, which, without the col-
laboration of the agricultural department, would have been unable
to reach the rural masses, this form of social and patriotic education
offers a means of moral uplift of adults and children and is instru-
mental in forming a new conscience more open to the reception
of modern agricultural teaching.

The efficacy of the methods tried by the Direction of Agricul-
ture is beyond dispute. This system, moreover, is being practised
at the present time in most branches of training by schools, post-
scholastic, and specialized teaching organizations.

The National Council of Primary and Secondary Instruction
cooperates in this work, by means of films dealing with subjects
included in the school curricula, which our travelling cinema groups
exhibit in the districts they work.

So far as possible, all the shows have been given in school
buildings.

The following expresses the views of an authority on film
education on the value of our methods.

« After writing and printing, the cinema is undoubtedly the
most revolutionary of all the inventions that have been applied
to teaching. It is an instrument that we cannot overlook.

«So many and various are its forms of expression that it offers
us quite unique possibilities; it is accessible to all and exercises
its sway over all mankind, with the exception of the blind. So

669

strong is the impression of reality produced by a scene projected
on the screen that adults and children alike come under its spell;
some regard it merely as a spectacle, while others draw their own
conclusions on its imitative efficacy; but all are subject to its in-
fluence.

« No books, no words, no other form of manifesting our
thoughts, has the cinema's power of presenting the truth, especially
when the film is prepared by a good teacher.

« How shall we acquaint children with the world's natural
beauties, its conformation, the different races of mankind, the
great works of man, the manners and customs of other races, their
rites, etc. ? How shall we give them, in a practical and attractive
form, a complete idea of the world of industry ? How present
the creations of the human intellect in a realistic manner to the
minds of students ? — show them roads, commerce, farms,
fieldwork, experimental stations, new technical processes, work
in mines, and so forth ?

« Can we ask all this of illustrated books ? We cannot,
because illustrations do not sufficiently interest the child, nor give
him a precise notion of reality.

« The cinema possesses all the essential elements of the picture,
but it is a living picture, which shows the whole world in all its
luminous beauty and down to the very depths of the sea — things
that no master, however zealous he may be, can know or teach
but in an incomplete and colourless form ».

The unquestionable educative and instructive value of the
cinema being thus recognized, the Information and Training
Section asked the Direction of Agriculture for authority to equip
another group of travelling cinemas, so as to extend this method
of instruction and enable it to achieve the fullest results possible
within its sphere of action.

The success achieved by the Direction of Agriculture in the
way of popular education on rural problems by means of the
film assures Uruguay a first rank place among the Latin American
Countries. For the past two years, travelling cinemas equipped
with autonomous electric generators, have been travelling the

— 670

country. Truly exceptional results have been attained, nor are
these limited to the agricultural domain alone, for the films (which
are regarded by agrarian experts merely as an auxiliary means
of training) embrace all elements of knowledge and social culture;
they are not concerned solely with problems of an agricultural
order, but with scientific questions of many kinds.

The equipment of these five groups of travelling cinemas,
completed by broadcasting, makes it possible to carry on a very
practical and enlightened work of general education which could
not easily be attempted by other means. Thanks to it, we shall
educate and uplift our rural population and at the same time obtain
a better yield from our soil.

Communicated by E. Rovira.

Delegate of Uruguay

to the International Institute of Agriculture.

671 —

THE ARTISTIC ACTIVITY OF THE SOVIET
CINEMATOGRAPH DURING THE PAST TEN YEARS.

{from the Russian)

General Considerations. — The art of the film must be con-
sidered in relation to the general artistic culture and the politico-
social organization of a given period. In the cinematographic do-
main, however, there are still many prejudices, partly attributable
to ignorance, and partly to the residua of an over optimistic men-
tality, which assumed that the cinematograph would develop in-
dependently and that its artistic form does not depend on politico-
social principles or on the influence of other forms of art — what
we may term artistic currents. In reality, the form and the style
of the film are closely bound up with a specific study of the theme
dealt with — a study which, in its turn, is subordinate to the
vital needs of the period.

The form and the theme of a film are complementary one
to the other. The revolution that has taken place in form is an
indisputable sign of the decadence of the old subject matter. We
can note these same phenomena also in the history of other forms
of art, but it is especially true of the Sovietic film production of
the past ten years.

{Ed. Note) With the greatest interest we have received and publish
Mr. Fedoroff 's article on the present position of the Soviet cinematograph.
It is obvious that a great deal has been done in the U. R. S. S. on
behalf of the educational and propagandist film. Special care has been
taken in the production of films bearing on social questions, and these
deserve to be known. We look forward in later numbers to illustrating
all that Soviet Russia have done in the domain of the educational film;
indeed the Review will devote systematically a part of its space to illus-
trating and making known what has been accomplished in all the dif-
ferent countries. M. Coissac's valuable article is an example of this. In
a later issue we will publish a highly interesting paper by Mr. North,
who directs and controls the educational cinema in the United States,
being the official exponent of what Washington is doing to encourage
and diffuse the scholastic and educational film.

— 672

The Russian Cinematograph before the Revolution. - The
cinematograph, as it existed in Russia prior to the October revo-
lution, was, both in subject and form, nothing more nor less than the
mirror of the tastes and characteristics of the bourgeoisie, and more
particularly of the lower middle classes, of that time. The various
forms of artistic decadence which had invaded the spirit of society
at the beginning of the twentieth century reacted on the cinema-
tograph as on all other forms of art.

It is true that at that date the cinematograph was but little
developed from the technical standpoint and wTas therefore not
in a position to create forms on a level wTith those created in other
fields of artistic production. But even aesthetic symbolism had
penetrated into the cinematographic domain, and in the scenes
staged by M. Bauer we can trace the romantic tendencies of that
period : we will not speak of all the modern sex problems which
found in the film their most effective means of propaganda. All
these subjects, presented in a suggestive and licentious form,
calculated to awraken the lowest instincts, were dealt with in a
CBreless manner, wThich not even the optimists of the old school can
have approved.

The Soviet Cinema during the first years. — The revolution
in Soviet cinematography began with a transformation in the choice
of subject matter, in the form of the Soviet cinematographic chron-
icles and in artistic propaganda, right from the time of the civil
war and the first years of the revolution. Soviet cinematography
was unable, howrever, to discern at once a clear form and a
precise choice of themes for its new material. In this regard it
formed no exception to artistic activities in general ; literature,
w'hich is the normal source of the cinematograph, was equally
behindhand in social development. At the same time, no very
deep study had been made either of the technique or of the canons
of the cinematographic art, whether in Russia or elsewhere. At a
certain period — or to be more precise, at the time of our civil
wTar — cinematography, in its principal form, namely that of
artistic and documentary propaganda (although it pursued cer-
tain concrete notions of form and a new technique in subject mat-
ter) did not display the creative spirit cf artists ready to sink their

5-ingl. 673

personality in their art. This process of spiritual fusion is generally
a slow matter of time, and therefore in the field of artistic pro-
paganda we had a form of cinematography which merely reflected
the creations of the period.

It should, moreover, be realized that at that time none but
the former artistic cinema directors were working.

The artist passively obeyed these influences, without infusing
into his production any of the creative force which, either con-
sciously or unconsciously, is a sine qua non of all complete forms
of art. Hence film propaganda, during the civil war period, was
unresponsive and ineffectual and no masters in this line stood out.
Its peculiarities (scant meterage, unpersuasiveness, a lack of any
deep study of the personal psychology of the characters, nature films
to the extant of 90%, the representation of mass scenes differing
from the film melodramas of the bourgeois halls) were all due
to contingent circumstances : the screening of the battles of the
proletarian masses at the front or in the streets of villages and
towns, and fierce class struggles, — all scenes in which individual
personality and individual interests are left completely in the
shade. Only later on, when peace and the period of economic
reconstruction supervened, when the plough once again replaced
the sword and the great problems of life and culture became pres-
sing, when artists again knew and felt life in its essential reality,
and their functions in public life became manifest — then, and
not till then, the true path was revealed to those in quest of form
and proletarian artists and writers woke up to the new technique.

The mastery of technique, the quest and prescience of new
forms, on the part of artists who realized the reality of the moment,
found expression during the first few years mostly in lectures and
in lengthy experimental study.

The new trend of the cinematograph has by now assumed so
great an importance, that already, right from the first years of
economic reconstruction, it has played a vital part in all spheres
of idealistic competition.

The new style of the Soviet Film. — First of all, this new
cinematographic form differed essentially from the old forms.
Thus, while formerly psychological drama, intermixed with aesthetic

— 674

decoration and scenery, was the vogue (performed by dramatic ar-
tists who represented in the crudest manner the passions of a
single social element, i. e. middle-class man living by himself
and for himself), it had now to be replaced by social drama, de-
picting the life and struggles of the collectivity, or of individuals
considered not as isolated factors, but in their relation to the
community. This entails live action which displays the truth in
its completeness to the spectator, himself a member of a new
social collectivity.

Considered from the standpoint of form, the most powerful
means of this new development of the film — based on the social
instinct, on a knowledge of cinematographic technique, and expe-
rimental work — consists, on the one hand, in a perfect staging
of the film, and on the other, in the performance of the actor, in
his mastery of the technique of movement and the effects it pro-
duces on the screen. All this was alien to the old methods, thea-
trical in their essence and reactionary from the social standpoint,
which predominated in the cinematograph prior to the revolution.

The necessity that the performance of the artists should create
convincing and objective images and the practical representa-
tion of such images, compelled actors to conform themselves to
the elasticity of living nature, which is the principal resource in
scene-setting for imparting life to the drama. This new principle
made it possible to get free from the reactionary bonds of the
personal psychological drama.

The film should not form an arena for the actor and his histri-
onics ; the actor must be the arena — the medium — for the film
and its message. To put it differently, it is not the personality
of the actor that should emerge from the film, but the psychology
and class type that he represents.

But theoretic premises and reasoning alone were not enough,
and the genius of the individual masters of the cinematograph could
not create a new form of art. Examples and illustrations were
necessary for any advance to be made. Examples were to be
found in the American adventure films and in the Soviet theatres
which cultivated this line in a much more aesthetic form (the
amateur stage and experimental heroic drama of B. Ferdinandoff).

675 —

Leo Kuleshoff. — The conditions above indicated and the
fusion of American film realism with Russian aesthetic tendencies
gave birth to the school of Leo Kuleshoff, the pioneer of the revo-
lution in Soviet cinematography. Quite apart from the aesthetic
importance of his individual style, it should be remembered that
he is the founder of the School for Artistic Directors, inspired by
his knowledge of cinematographic technique, staging and filming,
and all other film factors, especially an understanding of the
actor himself. L. Kuleshoff trained a number of new stage di-
rectors, such as V. Pudovkin, L. Obolenski, S. P. Comaroff, B.
Barbett ; and such actors as A. Chochlov, F. Fogel, S. Comaroff,
G. Galadgev, and others.

Although he introduced adventure films — a quite new
type of film in Russia — Leo Kuleshoff did not succeed in creating
any complete examples of this kind. The problem was in due
course solved satisfactorily by I. N. Perestiani, with his film « Little
Red Devils » based on the scenario of P. A. Bliachin. « Little
Red Devils » wTas the first film in which the questions of the day
were studied and presented in a quite new form.

Dsiga Vertoff. — The same social sources, that is to say,
the ideas originated by the October revolution and the great signi-
ficance which the opening years of the new regime had for us, and
the defects and numerous artistic failure of the first Soviet films —
hardly to be avoided in a period of adventure into new paths and
new ideas — were responsible for the fierce criticism of the artis-
tic films of Dsiga Vertoff, founder of the Kinokov Group. This
group had for its slogum : « Down with the theatrical film ; the
cinematograph must reflect our political realities ».

Dsiga Vertoff worked strenuously in the field of the topical
film, and did not limit himself merely to composing the films, but
aimed at imparting to them a typical and perfect form. He had
recourse in his creations to a very lively mise en scene, and did not
seek his material in the usual events of the day, but in special in-
cidents, on the principle of « seizing life on the wing ». By a clever
scenic fusion of typical features, events of the day, and scenes from
nature, Dsiga Vertoff endeavoured in his films « Kino-Pravda »
(cinematographic truths) and « Kino-Glas » (the eyes of the cine-

— 676

matograph) to give an accurate idea of real life under the Soviet
regime and to create genuine cinematographic images of these
truths. He achieved great mastery in filming and staging technique.

We should recall also the « constructionist » group, which
was formed in 1922, organized by A. Gan. This group was
somewhat similar to the Kinokov Group. Its slogum was : « Show
real life on the Film ». The first of its productions, « The Young
Pioneers » was a failure. It found later in E. Schub, author of
« The Fall of the Romanoff Dynasty », an artist capable of realiz-
ing intelligently the constructive film, by basing the mise en scene
on documentary material.

While working for the cinematographic chronicle and against
the dramatic film, Dsiga Vert off none the less rendered consider-
able services to the latter. His methods of filming and of stage
setting taught much to the artistic directors of the theatrical film.

Sergius Eisenstein. — Following along the same lines as L.
Kuleshoff and Dsiga Vertoff, and by his new method of staging
in the proletarian educational theatre, S. Eisenstein has achieved
great fame in cinematography.

He at once turned his attention to the new subject matter
and to the new type of cinema spectator. In addition to this,
he realized the importance of form, which demanded special
care in order to exercise a utilitarian influence, consonant with
the aims to be impressed on the spectator (logical social-reflex
method). In his first film « The Strike », the subject was made
subordinate to the staging of the different pictures, each of which
offered the spectacle of a given event, of an actor, or other single
scene or episode.

Eisenstein composed his films not around the different per-
sonages and the parts they were to play, but on masses. The in-
dividuals were no more than episodic figures. We have a bril-
liant example of this method in « The Potemkin Cruiser », a
film which has been shown nearly all over the world and attracted
the interest of the film experts of Europe and America.

Vsevolod Pndovkin. — The drama dealing with contempo-
rary social questions has a master of the first order in V. Pudovkin.
The manner in which he screened Gorki's « Mother », and « The

677 —

end of St. Petersburg)) has earned him great fame as a scene direc-
tor both in Soviet Russia and abroad. As regards form, he unites
the very clear method of L. Kuleshoff with the vigorous realism of
Eisenstein, thus completing the cycle of the development of form
in the film art started by Kuleshoff himself. We should point
out that the style of the Moscow cinematograph masters (Eisen-
stein and Pudovkin, more especially) has reacted to the influence
not only of the American film, but also of the new French current
(Abel Gance and Jean Einstein), tending to a poetic form of film,
always based on the innovations introduced into cinematographic
technique (picturesque character, musicality, mass technique, dou-
ble projection, slow and quick motion, etc.).

Charlie Chaplin's film « The Parisienne » produced a great
influence on the Soviet masters.

A. Dovgenko: Pursuing much the same principles as those
above delineated, the film « The Zveni Mountains » by A. Dov-
genko, at once established his reputation in Ukraine as an artistic
director of great value. His film « The Arsenal » reveals yet more
completely his individuality and ability.

A. Room: This excellent artistic director has felt, among
the other influences above indicated, also that of the German cine-
matograph: he has, however, developed a structural method of
his own.

The Eccentric Actors' School : While the Moscow artistic di-
rectors have pursued the path of effective realism, the young
Leningrad directors, such as G. M. Kosnizeff and D. Z. Trauberg
of the « Feksi » School of Eccentric Actors, after the experiments
made with the film, « The October Events », have developed
a form of impressionist melodrama — the word « impressionist »
not being, of course, used in the accustomed sense of the « im-
pressionist » school of art.

A very unusual taste and style are united to perfect
cinematographic intuition, with the result that the theatrical and
conventional are surpassed by cinematographic realism.

It may be true that the style of the « Feksi » school was subject,
till recently, to the influence which Robert Winne and Paul We-
gener, and later on Conrad — who was regarded as the first

— 678

impressionist in cinematographic art (« Paganini » and other films)
— exercised on the German film. Recently, the Feksi school
has reflected also the influence of the French School of the Left.

The New Masters of the Cinematograph : After having enumer-
ated the diverse currents apparent in the Soviet cinema and men-
tioned the exponents thereof, we may recall some other names which
are bound up with the tendencies of Soviet cinematography :
among many others, G. V. Alexandrof (Eisenstein's partner),
E. CerviakofT, F. Ermler, the Georgian Sceghelei, and Bek-Na-
saroff. Together they have formed the G. T. K. (The State Ci-
nema Theatre Institute).

We have other new artistic directors (E. Scetrov, PetrofT,
Bitoff, et al.) who devote their activities to films reproducing
exclusively local customs. They aim at the faithful representation
of local environment, having specially in mind the audiences in
these environments (peasants and workers), and they subordinate
the form of the contemporary film to this end.

The Pre-Revolution Masters and their Present-day Disciples:
Besides the young Soviet School, we have also many masters of the
old school.

Although these are not uninfluenced by the innovations
which have taken place in the cinematographic domain, their style
conforms to tradition, and, from this aspect, their production is
closely allied to the realistic forms so characteristic of modern
German cinematography.

We may cite here A. ProtasonofT, V. P. CasianofI, A. E.
Rasumni; there are many others besides.

There are also a certain number of young artistic directors
who follow the trend of the « traditional » school : special mention
should be made of V. Taric and L. Roscial.

Gardin, who is the master of many young artistic directors,
stands apart from these, since he often violates tradition in order
to introduce ((experimental)) principles. He is a precursor of spe-
cialized methods, especially in respect of the mise en scene.

A. Fedoroff.

679 —

COLOUR CINEMATOGRAPHY

BI-CHROMATIC AND TRI-CHROMATIC SUBTRACTIVE

SYNTHESIS.

(From the Italian)

{Continued from Nos. 2 and 5).

As already stated, the only process of colour cinematography
which has so far been put into practice is the process whereby
the analysis or selection is limited to two colours and synthesis
is obtained by superposing two series of monochrome images —
one red and the other green. A single film takes the two perfectly
coincident images, the red on one side and the green on the other.

The images are of normal dimensions and the film is projected
by the usual apparatus, the only requisite precaution being to
ensure that there be plenty of light, in view of the greater opacity
of these colour films as compared with the usual ones.

No description of the processes by which such bi-chromatic
films are obtained has been published, nor can the process be pro-
tected by patent, since the principle of selection, like that on which
the synthetic process is based, is public property.

The technique to be followed for the production of such
films has been reconstituted by the author in these notes, in the
light of an examination of several pieces of bi-chromatic film and
of a number of experiments.

It is clear that, while we may be able to lay down the technical
bases of the several operations and more especially to give par-
ticulars regarding the production of the two series of monochromes,
it is impossible to say anything on the mechanical part of the
process, which must undoubtedly present difficulties; these however
are not so formidable that they cannot be overcome in laboratories
specially devoted to mechanical cinematography.

680

The Negative Film in Bi-chromatic Cinematography.

The first question that naturally arises when observing these
two-colour films relates to the negative film from which they are
produced.

How was this film obtained ?

Was it made on one and the same film, by alternating the two
images through a green and an orange coloured screen ? In this
case it would hardly be possible to obtain the perfect coincidence
of the two successive images, especially where a subject in rapid
motion was photographed: and yet the writer has been unable
to trace even by microscopic examination, defects of coincidence
in any two-colour images. It is true, however, that in none of the
films observed did the subjects or scenes represented suggest
that there had been any rapid movement.

Or were two objectives used and superposed one on the other,
thus obtaining simultaneously two images through two selective
filters on the same film ?

In this case, however, it would be requisite to arrange for
the slight convergence of the two axes of the objectives or to adopt
General Russo's system to remedy the phenomenon of parallax.
We should still, however, be faced by the difficulty of having to
change a portion of the film corresponding to a double normal
image, involving a somewhat vigorous pull on the film.

The first system is the simpler and, in the case of staged scenes,
it would not appear to be difficult to restrict the movements of
the subject to an extent that would obviate any perceptible dis-
placement of the two consecutive images.

The Colours of the Subject and the exigencies of the bi-
chromatic PROCESS.

While we can do much to adapt the movements of the subject
to meet the needs of the two-colour process, as much and more can
be done in the matter of colour. It should also be added that since
it is possible to realize the complemental character of white with pairs
of different filters, the colour of the light screens in the bi-chro-

681 —

matic process, is less restricted than in the three-colour process.
The importance of completing the white is moreover relative,
since everything depends on the sensation of the eye, which
receives the impression of white from a x/2 Watt electric lamp,
though it differs not a little from daylight, being much poorer
in blue and violet rays, as we can note by observing a blue or
violet coloured object at night by artificial light.

It may be said that the pair of screens used in bi-chromatic
photography may be varied somewhat according to the subject and
that while, in staged scenes taken by artificial light, it is expedient
that the green screen should tend to blue, yellowish-green screens
are to be preferred for three colour photography of open air scenes,
the deficiencies in blue covering being counteracted by means
of the complementary exposure under white light to which I
referred in a preceding article.

Illusion and Relief in Bi-chromatic Cinematography.

While we ask of the ordinary cinematograph to give our eyes
the illusion of form and movement, colour cinematography by
whatsoever process it may by realized must give us a sensation
that increases the illusion and approaches nearer to the truth; this
does not depend entirely on the more or less faithful rendering of
colour, but also on the fact that, thanks to variety of colouring,
the details of a picture, which would be merged in the usual
chiaroscuro image, stand out.

A colour projection, though the colours may be but approxi-
mate, so long as they are the result of selection and are not merely
applied by hand (as they were in the Pathe-Colour process that
has now well nigh died out) affords not only the suggestion of
colour, but also of relief.

And here it is fitting to make a comparison with the still
projection of natural scenes, in which the effects of relief, atmos-
phere, and distance are considerably enhanced when the ordinary
slides are replaced by coloured slides obtained by the autochromatic,
tri-chromatic, or bi-chromatic process.

682

If it is true that the sensation of relief in respect of near subjects
is in large measure due to binocular sight, it must also be considered
that the effect of atmosphere and distance in a landscape is due
entirely to the gradual training of the eye, whereby it transforms
automatically, in the brain, the fading and variation of colour into
the sensation of distance.

Thus, even failing the much desired invention of a stereo-
cinematographic process (an invention that has been repeatedly
heralded but the possibility of which seems remote, when considered
apart from complicated systems of separate vision by the two
eyes), the introduction of even approximative processes of colour
cinematography will enhance the impression of relief and of
distance.

The manner in which bi-chromatic cinematography has been
applied to medicine by means of the clever Busch apparatus y
described on page 270 of the third issue of this Review, proves
that, notwithstanding the incompleteness of the sensation, the
effect obtained is much more demonstrative than anything that
can be obtained by ordinary cinematography, and the greater
truthfulness of the picture certainly produces the effect of making
the details stand out with greater relief.

The Positive Film and printing on both sides.

A film of celluloid coated with a double stratum of sensitive
emulsion, one on either side, is unquestionably the kind best suited
to bi-chromatic cinematography.

The usual emulsion employed for cinematographic positive
films intended for ordinary projection is used. But two circumstan-
ces must be allowed for in printing the positives, one of a mechanical
and the other of a physical order.

The printing machine must allow a single series of images
to be printed on each side of the film; hence it follows that the two
films — the negative and the rough positive — cannot be printed
in the ordinary way, it being necessary to jump one image: only
by this means is it possible to print on one side a continuous

6S3

series of images intended to supply the monochrome red and on
the other the monochrome green series. This does not involve
any very arduous mechanical problem, but it is obviously necessary
to have a printing machine which allows the negative films to be
moved at just double the speed of the rough films.

The mechanical exigencies of positive printing may on the
other hand differ according to the method used in selection, while
some systems, such as the Audiberc system described by Prof. Se-
yewetz in the 4th number of the Review, may entail the necessity
of enlarged prints.

The other difficulty, which is of a physical kind, derives from
the necessity of preventing the light, while a series of images is
being impressed on one stratum, from traversing the celluloid
ribbon, and producing an impression also on the stratum on the
opposite side.

This latter difficulty is completely eliminated by dyeing the
emulsion yellow; thus for instance a slight degree of colouring
with tartrazine yellow removes the difficulty without affecting the
print, while the yellow colouring disappears entirely in the course
of developing, fixing and washing the film. Or again a stratum
of hydrate of bi-oxide of brown manganese, precipitated in the
emulsion, renders the stratum quite opaque, while the manganese
composition can very easily be removed by using a solution of
hyposulphite containing a sufficient quantity of bi-suiphite of
sodium for fixing.

The development of double-faced films calls also for some
special arrangements which are quite easily made.

By recourse to the methods above indicated, we obtain a
positive film bearing a double series of black images, one on either
surface; each of these series of images must afterwards be con-
verted into the corresponding monochromes,

How the Images are converted into Monochromes.

It is not uncommon nowadays to speak of the transformation
of a black image (formed as is known by reduced silver) into an

684

image of any colour, as though the process of this transformation
had been born with the cinematograph.

As a matter of fact, it is only during the last fifteen years that
chemico-photographic technique has been able to solve this problem
in a really perfect manner. Formerly, the so-called iron intensifies
— uranium and vanadium — were used in cinematographic
technique, but these intensifies, if we except the iron ones, did
not render brilliant hues and much less colours that lent themselves
to bi-chromatic and tri-chromatic synthesis.

It was in 1909 that the writer of these notes presented to
the Congress of Applied Chemistry in London the first specimens
of fixing tar dyes on silver prints : and by later experiments he
was able to perfect the process and to present fresh specimens
tb the International Photographic Congress held in Dresden
during the same year, and later on some final specimens to the
Illrd National Photographic Congress in Rome in 191 1. The
writer was thus able to ascertain that, just as in textile printing
certain metallic salts act as mordants for a given category of tar
dyes, it is possible in like manner in photography to attract and
retain certain colours comprised in the category of basic tar dyes
by substituting a metallic salt, or more precisely a copper salt,
for reduced silver.

Certain distinguished experts in photo-chemistry devoted
themselves to perfecting this process and rendering it more practical;
among other Dr. Traube of Munich (who based on it the so-called
Uvachrome process for the production of coloured slides for
projections), M. Christensen, who advantageously replaced ferro-
cyanide of copper mordants by sulphocyanide of copper, as also
Messrs. Lumiere and Seyewetz, who made a comprehensive
study of the dyes best adapted for fixing by ferrocyanide and
sulphocyanide of copper.

Methods for transforming cinematographic silverprint ima-
ges INTO MONOCHROMES.

While it is not possible to describe in detail the physical and
mechanical aspects of the methods pursued by the American

685

Technicolor Company in the production of films for the Associated
Artists, we can give precise particulars of the chemical side of
the transformation of black images into monochromes; these par-
ticulars are gathered from numerous experiments made by the
writer, experiments supported by highly demonstrative specimens.
I will limit myself here to giving an idea of the processes followed,
while referring readers who are anxious for further details to a
monograph I have recently published (i).

Double-faced films, developed in the usual way, in a bath
of hydroquinone and metol, in such a manner as to obtain bold
but unexaggerated pictures, is immersed in a transformation bath,
with the object of substituting sulphocyanide of copper for reduced
silver, the former being an energetic mordant for basic tar dyes.
Sulphate of copper, neutral citrate of sodium and sulphocyanide
of ammonium are used for this transformation bath according to
a receipt which is an emendation of that given by Christensen.

The film must be wound round a drum with a non metallic
surface; it is stirred about for a time in the bath until the images
are completely bleached. When one series of images has been
bleached, the film is reversed so as to be able to bleach those on
the opposite side.

A short rinsing is sufficient after this process; the white image
produced by the treatment is formed by sulphocyanide of copper
and replaces the mordant needed to fix the colours.

While fixing them, the film must be wound round a drum with
a rubber surface in such a way as not to allow the coloured
liquid to pass behind. The drum is revolved in the colouring
solution and the colour is thus fixed to the image. Green ma-
lachite and safranine red are the best dyes for the purposes of
bi-chromatic photography. Experience has shown me that by
the use of sufficiently diluted dyeing solutions (i : 10,000), the
colours may be fixed to the image without any colouring of the

(1) Cf. Prof. R. Namias : La tecnica e la pratica dei raggi e della
fissazione dei colori sulle diapositive e sui films cinematografici, pubd. by
the Progresso Fotografico, Milan, 1928.

white, because highly diluted solutions are incapable of colouring
gelatin, while copper sulphocyanide mordant, by which the image
is formed, attracts and accumulates the colour and produces very
intense images, so long as the treatment is sufficiently prolonged.

This method of obtaining monochromes by means of well
diluted dyeing solutions provides images of insuperable regularity
and perfection, as any one may prove by experimenting on a piece
of positive film or on an ordinary slide.

Films must not be perforated beforehand, so that the colour
may not pass to the other side; after producing one series of mo-
nochromes, the green for instance, on one surface, the series of
red monochromes is produced on the other side. No disturbance
likely to protract the operation need arise since the work is practi-
cally automatic, and a little expeiience is sufficient to show how
long it ought to last.

The treatment could be done very rapidly if relatively con-
centrated dyeing solutions were used, but this would produce a
general colouring of the whole surface and a supplementary treat-
ment with acid permanganate or neutral permanganate would be
required to rid the photograph of the general colouring.

But this method, as I have had occasion to prove, always
compromises the chiaroscuro to some extent, especially as there
is a difference in the resistance of the two colours to the oxidizing
action of the permanganate.

Tri-chromatic films.

The eminent chemist and photo- chemist, Prof. Seyewetz
called attention in No. 4 of the Review to the Audibert trichromatic
process, which also makes use of a double-faced positive film,
producing thereon in the first instance two images (in this case
one with rhodamine S. and the other with methylene blue) and
superposing a yellow image thereon.

Leaving aside the optical and mechanical considerations
which have been dealt with by Prof. Seyewetz, I would point out
that tri-chromatic synthesis by means of the final addition of a

687 —

yellow monochrome, and coating with bromide gelatin emulsion;
printing, development, and transformation to a yellow image by
the process of fixing by a copper mordant, in a manner analogous
to that above described, creates considerable complications and
involves processes and operations such as the preparation and
coating with bromide gelatin emulsion, which are alien to the
usual processes adopted in film factories.

The production of this third image intended to form the tri-
chromatic trio, which alone can meet the exigencies of a complete
colour rendering, represents the most arduous of all the problems
facing colour cinematography by subtractive synthesis, and one
can have no idea of the variety of processes that have been suggested
and the number of patents taken out. It has been suggested to
produce the third monochrome by transferring from a film prepar-
ed according to the Pinatipia process, or else by means of a
photo-mechanical print, or by sticking two images, one bi-chromatic
and one monochrome, together.

But, without any wish to detract from the merits of so many
inventive minds, I must conclude by repeating what I said at the
beginning: « The only practical solution of colour cinematography
for the present is to be sought in bi-chromatic and tri-chromatic
accumulative synthesis and bi-chromatic subtractive synthesis.

Prof. Rodolfo Namias.

SIR ERIC DRUMMOND IN ROME

On the occasion of his visit to Rome to visit the Head of the
Italian Government, Sir Eric Drummond, Secretary General of the
League of Nations, did not fail to honour by a visit the institutions
created by the League or zvorking in direct touch with it that have their
headquarters in the Eternal City.

The International Educational Cinematographic Institute was
honoured by a visit from Sir Eric Drummond first at the Villa Tor-
Ionia, the centre of its work, and later at its official quarters, the Villa
Falconieri.

Accompanied by the Marquis Paulucci de> Calboli-Barone, Under
Secretary-General of the League of Nations, Sir Eric Drummond

Sir Eric Druramond at Villa Torlonia, standing between Mar-
chese Paulucci de Calboli and Dr. de Feo ; Director of the
I. E. C. I., together with the officials and staff of the Institute.

devoted part of the morning of the ist November to visiting the Villa
Torlonia, where the offices of the I. E. C. I. are located, and displayed

6-ingl.

689

keen interest in the work in progress there, expressing himself in en-
couraging terms to all, and manifesting to the Director of the Institute,
Dr. de Feo, his entire satisfaction at the way in which they were
organized and working.

A few minutes later Sir Eric Drummond was at Frascati, at
the Villa Falconieri, where H. F. Rocco, President of the I. E. C. I.,
offered an unceremonious lunch in his honour. No toasts were propos-
ed and no formal speeches were made, but the occasion was marked
by a friendly exchange of views which furnished the occasion to the

At Villa Falconieri. Sir Eric Drummond is seen together with

H. E. Alfredo Rocco, Italian Minister of Justice, H. E. Dino

Grandi, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and others on the banks

of the pond.

Secretary General of the League to renew in all earnestness to Signor
Rocco the expression of the interest and approval which he had al-
ready shown that morning in regard to the work of the I. E. C. I.
From Frascati to Nemi, by the route winding among the Alban
Hills, is no long journey, and after the enchantments of Villa Falco-
nieri what more interesting trip could be offered to Sir Eric than that

690

On the banks of Lake Nemi.

Sir Eric Drummond keenly interested in the work carried out
in Lake Nemi for the salvage of Caligula's galleys.

691

leading to the Nemorensis Lacus, so dear to the Pcets, whose aspect,
sometimes smiling, sometimes frowning, has tempted the brush of so many
artists and the surroundings of which are so rich in the remains of An-
cient Rome? Not only the sun oundings; for the very waters of the lake
and the basin in which it lies have held Caligula's galleys these many
centuries, and guarded them jealously from the gaze of the curious and
the quest of archeologists right to these latter days. But their secret
has now been violated. Premier Mussolini, anxious that this inestimable
evidence of the skill of the Romans in ship-building should be made
available to students and to the world at large, has caused the lake to
be partially drained by means of powerful electric aspirating pumps,
and one of these galleys has been actually salved from the water and
brought to dry land.

Among the photographs which we reproduce as a record of the
moments which the Secretary General of the League was good enough
to devote to the I. E. C. I. there is one showing the interest he displayed
in this unique archeological specimen.

692

INSTITUTE TOPICS

CINEMATOGRAPHIC CENSORSHIP IN THE NEAR EAST.

In the Eastern Mediterranean countries, which are the principal cen-
tres of Islamic life and culture, religious considerations are one of the
main factors in film censorship. The necessity of safeguarding the inti-
mate life of these peoples through religious, that is to say moral,
influences, is obvious when we remember, not only that photography —
the presentation of man in effigy, whether still or in motion — is regarded
as sacrilegious, but also the immense importance attached to the protection
of family life.

East and West, with their diverse systems of life, meet on the shores
of the common sea, the Mediterranean, but they do not merge. The men-
tal attitudes of the two peoples are absolutely different. Christianity
and Islamism live side by side, without interfering with or encroaching
on one another, and only when morals and religion are at issue do we be-
come aware of the imperious will to prevent any offence against the senti-
ments and the normal ways of life which are the objective ethics of man-
kind.

For this reason the task of cinematographic control, even if restricted
and justified by the limitations of religious ideas, comes into touch with the
western concept. However much they may differ in form and expression,
the bases of morals and education are the same everywhere. The rules
laid down for the censorship reveal a like difference in form and expression,
but the groundwork is always the same : the defence of the family and the
State by recalling men to the observance of the religion of their forefathers
and by insisting upon the respect due to themselves and their fellows.

Egypt.

The exercise of Control. — The ministerial decree of the 2nd August
1921, issued by the Ministry of Finance in concert with the Ministry
of the Interior, lays down in Art. 1 that no film shall be exhibited in public
places, or, if imported from abroad, be removed from the custom-house
or post-office, without the previous authorization of the Ministry of the
Interior ; this is shown by affixing a tail to the film ; which forms an inte-
gral part of the film and must be projected together with it, so that the
audience shall be apprized that it has been passed by the censor.

The censorship of films in Egypt is carried out at the Ministry of
the Interior through the medium of special officers. This constitutes a

693

purely official censorship in which there is no popular representation, such
as there is in most western countries. The State itself provides for safe-
guarding moral and religious principles.

A fee of 4% of the potential and actual amount of customs duties
is charged for the revision of films.

Art. 4 of the ministerial decree cited lays down particular conditions
for the censoring of imported films. If permission to exhibit a film is
refused, all customs duties charged on the film (which until deposited
with the Ministry of the Interior is considered as introduced temporarily)
are returned, together with one half of the supplementary tax of 4%.

General principles of censorship : The main purpose of film censorship
in Egypt is to safeguard public and private morality and to ban all that
might incite, encourage, or exalt crime and vice, or that might, on the
other hand, offend public feeling.

From such a very generic principle it would clearly not be possible
to deduce a precise and concrete statement of the various reasons which
the public censorship officials may adduce for prohibiting the exhibition
of films or for requiring emendations and excisions. Such a schedule
has, however, been formed in practice and, though not embodied in a
a definite regulation, it offers a compendium, of indications of the highest
interest.

Special criteria of Censorship :

a) Religion. — The highest respect of all religious principles and
especially those of Islamism. It is forbidden to endeavour to repre-
sent the Deity in a concrete form or to show the images of the prophets
on the screen.

Religious and especially Moslem ceremonies and rites must be shown,
if at all, in the most decorous and respectful manner. In all cases it is
absolutely prohibited to show any thing that might rouse in the spectator
a feeling of contempt or of irreverence towards religion.

For this reaons, it is not allowed to present events or deeds derived
from the Koran or the Gospels, which might offend the feelings of any
part of the audience. It is likewise not allowed to reproduce in comic
scenes, or with the object of creating by contrast a sense of the comical,
texts from Holy Writ, more particularly from the Koran, the El Ahadiss
or the Uabawia.

b) Political. — For reasons of domestic policy, it is prohibited
to exhibit scenes of a revolutionary character or contrary to monarchic
principles; and in general all scenes that are likely, in any way, to disturb the
present social organization or to provoke disaffection or rebellion. It is
likewise most strictly prohibited to show in an unfavourable light per-

694

sons and offices of importance in the Kingdom, or representative of its life
such as religious dignitaries, ministers, magistrates, doctors, officers, etc.
In regard to foreign politics, while the censors take care to exclude
subjects and scenes likely to degrade, in the eyes of the spectator, the East
and the life of the East ; they also very wisely prevent the exhibition of all
that might offend the feelings of foreign residents in Egypt or that might
arouse reciprocal ill feeling between orientals and westerners.

c) Moral and social Questions. — This is the category which offers
the greatest number of instances and prohibitions in Egypt, as indeed it does
under all other censorship systems.

The direct representation, even in silhouette, of nude bodies, scenes
of orgy of an excessive kind, kisses and embraces that overstep the limits
of affection and tenderness, indecorous dress, gesture and acting of a kind
to provoke immorality, such as lewd and suggestive dancing, are taboo.

One section of prohibitions deals entirely with questions of sex.
Scenes of prostitution, solicitation in public places, procuration and the
white slave traffic are banned. It refers also to sexual acts that are pro-
hibited by law and custom,, such as unnatural love, incest, and all scenes
likely to fire the imagination and senses.

The prohibition includes subject and scenes in which women sa-
crifice their honour in a noble cause, in view of the fact that it is difficult
or impossible for the spectator — who may be a person of sub-normal
intelligence — to distinguish what is noble or exalted in the action from
what is reprehensible and a potential cause of moral perversion.

Prohibition for moral reasons embraces scenes and subjects of a me-
dical character, childbirth operations, venereal diseases, scenes of a
strictly scientific character which are considered suitable for exhibition
only to a specialized audience of medical men or students.

d) Crime. — So far as crime is concerned, the object of the Egyp-
tian system of censorship is to prevent the encouragement or exaltation
of crime, for fear that scenes and deeds reflected on the screen may excite
or pervert the spectators whose mental capacities and education do not
enable them to differentiate between the criminal acts exhibited to them
and the moral necessities of actual life.

Thus scenes and subjects displaying the modus operandi of criminals,
the use of drugs (opium,, morphine, hashish, etc.) scenes and actions di-
rected to the commission of crimes, or dramas in which crime forms the
centre of the plot ; scenes of hanging or flagellation, even under a religious
guise or pretext, suicides, scenes in which the criminal is presented as
a hero or a person deserving of admiration. In these cases the aim of the
censorship is to avoid distorting the spectator's notions of morality and to
assist the public authorities by preventing the exaltation of criminals
from impairing the authority and prestige of the defenders of public order.

695 —

e) Acts of Cruelty. — Scenes and subjects showing acts of cruelty
and ill-treatment of persons and animals are in general forbidden. It is
particularly desired to prevent children from witnessing scenes which
may awaken in their immature minds those instincts of cruelty which are
latent in most children and which can only be corrected and eliminated
by education.

f) Captions. — In Egypt as elsewhere, captions are regarded as
an integral part of the films, and are subject to censoring along with them.
All titles and sub-titles that lend themselves to a double meaning or which
contain dangerous suggestions from the point of view of morality and
religion are prohibited.

Any purely artistic censorship of films is still lacking in Egypt. This
indeed is the case in most countries, owing to the inherent difficulty of
setting up any purely subjective artistic standards. The work of cen-
sorship, moreover, can only proceed by stages. It is a recognized fact
that everywhere social and moral standards form the basis of the censors'
task. At a later stage the spectator himself, as his cinegraphic sense de-
velops, can do the needful, select suitable films and reject those which seem
to him unworthy. Artistic censorship is therefore a matter for the future
and will apply solely to special exhibitions (schools, organizations, asso-
ciations, etc.), which are likely to demand purely artistic films, and it will
be accomplished — as is already gradually being done — by the selec-
tive sense of the spectator himself. The film industry, if it wishes to
prosper, will be forced by economic laws to conform itself to public
opinion and public feeling. Otherwise it will go under.

Palestine.

On the 1 6th. October 1927 the High Commissioner for Palestine
issued an order to regulate the local censorship system.. The basis of
the system introduced was that the public as well as the official repre-
sentatives should be given a voice in censoring.

This office has its headquarters in Jerusalem and by the terms of the
ordinance above cited, it is composed of a President who is ex officio the
Deputy Commissary of the District and of several members, one of whom
must be a woman, appointed by the High Commissioner. For the Office
to be able to act, there must be present at least two members, one of whom
must be a Government official, besides the President. The Office has
power to delegate certain specified persons to view films and give their
opinion as to the propriety of exhibiting them.

All persons submitting films to the Censor's office for examination
must upon application paj' a fee of 25 Turkish piasters. This fee is
likewise fixed for appeals from the Censor's Office to the High Com-
missioner. Import duties are returned in the case of rejected films.

By way of exception and with the object of favouring the diffusion

— 696

of educational films, the High Commissioner has power to grant exemp-
tion from the tax indicated for films certified as of public utility, or those
produced for the promotion of social or educational aims.

The Jerusalem Office actually consists of the Deputy Commissioner
of the District, acting as President, a female Welfare Inspector, a repre-
sentative of the Police, a representative of the Education Department,
a representative of the Chamber of Commerce, two other members
appointed by the High Commissioner, one of whom must be a Moslem,
and a secretary chosen from among the members of the Office of the
Deputy Commissioner of the District.

How the Office functions. — Not only films but also advertisements
thereof are submitted to the Censor's Office. No film may be exhibited
and no poster or advertisement may be posted or distributed unless it has
previously been granted a permit by the Censor's Office or by the person
whom the office, as above stated, is authorized in certain circumstances
to delegate for the purpose.

The following procedure is followed :

Applicants must submit the scenario of the films to the Office, toge-
ther with details of the various scenes represented, photographs and pu-
blicity matter. All this is examined by the Committee, which usually
meets once a fortnight. Whenever this preliminary examination gives
rise to any doubts as to the desirability of exhibiting the film, the film
itself must be viewed.

Licenses for exhibition are granted by means of certificates, a pho-
tograph of which accompanies the film and must be projected together
with it on the screen, so as to enable the police authorities to make sure
that the film has been submitted for examination.

The whole or a part only of the films maybe censored, if the modifi-
cation required is of such kind as not substantially to damage the film.
In this case, the censored part is retained at the Office during the whole
of the time the film is being shown in Palestine and is returned to the
owner when the film is about to leave the country.

Penalties. — Apart from the question of responsibility, the penal
laws in force in the territory provide that any person who presents an
immoral public spectacle, or a spectacle liable in any way to disturb the
public peace, or who publishes or causes to be distributed or posted any
poster or advertisement relating thereto, or who exhibits publicly a prohibi-
ted film or any censored part thereof, is liable to a fine of 50 pounds ster-
ling and to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one month

Any member of the Office, or higher police official, or district officer,
or official of the Education Department, is entitled to be present in pub-
lic premises at any exhibition or exhibitions which he considers it desir-
able to examine or check, and to seize any offending film or any part of
a film and to order the arrest of the perons responsible for it.

697

Standards of censorship. — There is hardly any film industry in Pales-
tine and only imported films which have already been censored in their
country of origin are in practice submitted for revision. This greatly
simplifies the task of the censors and reduces to a minimum the schedule
of censorable subjects.

During recent years in fact only a few short propaganda films and
a single theatrical film have been produced in Palestine ; the theatrical
film in question (« Jacob's Well ») was of a purely Zionist propaganda kind.

Revision is therefore carried out with a view to the special and con-
tingent needs of the population, so as to avoid that the strictly western
character of certain films should be in conflict with the moral and reli-
gious feeling of the masses of the population or be damaging to the pres-
tige of the Mandatory Nation.

Iri 1928, 465 films were submitted to the Censor's Office, the greater
number of these were of a dramatic or narrative character. About fifty
were of a distinctly educational order.

In the case of fifty out of the 465 films in question, the Office was
not satisfied with the preliminary examination and required an exhibi-
tion of the film. Six films were entirely rejected and cuts were made in
twelve others so as to render them fit for public showing.

The criteria followed by this Office may be summarized under two
main heads :

a) Politico-religious. — In view of the fierce antagonism between
the Arab and the Zionist populations, the projection of films which offend
the religious, national, or political sentiments, not only of the whole coun-
try but of any section of it, is prohibited.

b) Moral and Social. — All matters pertaining to the common
and general basis of the principles of social life and community interests
come within the sphere of moral and social control. Thus an absolute
embargo is placed on the exaltation of crime, on its realistic presentation,
or on all that may tend to impair the prestige of the authorities to whom
the repression of crime in all its forms is committed, by presenting cri-
minals in a favourable light. « Dope » scenes, scenes showing the white
slave traffic, scenes of promiscuity and indecorous behaviour, and films
dealing with sexual problems in a manner offensive to morals and public
order are banned.

Contingent reasons (the small number of cinemas, shortage of local
production, the importation from abroad of films that have already been
subjected to the censors) are responsible, as we have shown, for the lack
of any complete schedule enumerating the motives of censoring. In
any case, the principles on which revision is based are defined and are
sufficient to prevent the cinema, which is such a powerful and excellent
instrument of propaganda and education, from becoming a means of so-
cial perversion and corruption.

698

THE CINEMA AT THE SERVICE OF HYGIENE
AND SOCIAL WELFARE.

Belgium :

We are informed by the Ministry of the Interior and of Hygiene that
there is no central government office in Belgium which deals with hy-
giene and social welfare propaganda. It is true that some of the go-
vernment departments encourage propaganda in this field to some
extent, but all initiative is left in the hands of the higher officials, so
that it cannot be said that any real government propaganda exists.

Hygiene and social welfare propaganda is mainly carried on by the
Central Department of Hygiene, the National Society for the Protection
of Children, and the Ministry of National Defence. These organiza-
tions give, fairly regularly, cinematograph shows illustrated by lectures.
Their cinematograph material (films and apparatus) is lent free of charge
to any workmens' clubs, sporting clubs, welfare clubs and associatons that
desire it.

Propaganda by means of the cinema is not yet regularly organized
in schools, but some of the communal authorities have set up cinemato-
graphs which supply the schools under their jurisdiction with a regular
service.

Private institutions, like the « Universite Cine'graphique Belgique »
and « Les Amis de la Cinematographic instructive et educatrice », are or-
ganizing a regular series of cinematograph shows, many of which deal
with hygiene and social welfare .

Similar propaganda is being carried on in industrial centres by insur-
ance companies.

The associations for the alleviation of the great scourges of man-
kind (cancer, tuberculosis, alcoholism, venereal diseases, etc.), and also
the Red Cross are doing active cinematograph work in this line.

In Belgium, the censorship of films does not exist. The sole restric-
tion is that laid down by the decree of September, i, 1920, prohibiting
the admission of young people under 16 to the cinema. But this measure
was modified by a later Royal Decree of November 19, 1920, which allows
children of less than 1 6 years to go to the cinema provided that the specta-
cles are what is called family spectacles ; that is to say, shows presenting
only those films which have been authorized by a special commission in-
stituted by the above mentioned Royal Decree.

699 —

Netherlands :

The President of the Council of Hygiene in Holland states, in reply
to our questionnaire, that up to the present none of the government offices
of his country concern themselves with hygiene and social welfare propa-
ganda by means of the cinematograph ; nor are there any laws dealing
with the question.

There is, however, a law on cinematograph films, which provides,
among other things, for the examination of films from the scientific
point of view. If a film which is announced as scientific does not respond
to the requirements of science and technique, it is not allowed to be
presented to the public.

There are several houses in Holland which produce scientific films
and which have put some excellent material on the market.

The Dutch Red Cross informs us that an active cinematographic
campaign is being carried on in Holland in the field of hygiene and social
welfare.

Numerous films dealing with these subjects are being placed before
the public, and they are often preceded or accompanied by lectures and
explanations.

Hungary :

The Board of Social Welfare and Labour states that the propaganda
of hygiene by means of the cinema in Hungary is centralized at the « Cen-
tre of Hygiene Propaganda » connected with the Board. It is regulated
by ministerial decree.

The « Centre of Hygiene Propaganda » is not satisfied with merely
directing and controlling the organizations and associations authorized
to conduct the propaganda, but als0 takes an active part in the rational
organization of the work.

Various social organizations, such as the Red Cross, the different
societies for the protection of mothers and infants, the National Stephanie
Union, the Institution for Social Assurance with its hospitals and sana-
toriums, different cultural associations and the medical corps connected
with the schools and communes, are charged with the practical demon-
stration of the films. The spectacles and lectures are generally given at
cinema theatres, but where these are lacking, travelling theatres are set up.

The curriculum in elementary and secondary schools does not pro-
vide for a special cinematograph propaganda, but the school doctors fre-
quently have recourse to these shows, illustrating them by practical
lectures.

Industrial and commercial firms do not provide for hygiene and so-

700

cial welfare propaganda among their employes, the task being underta-
ken, as we have already said, by the above mentioned associations.

The Censor's Office provides for censoring films bearing on hygiene.

The « Centre of Hygiene Propaganda » arranges for the supply of
the requisite films, preparing the subjects and giving them local colour.
The films are produced by Hungarian firms as a rule, but foreign films
are frequently acquired, when they are of a nature to be of use in the pro-
paganda.

The films contained in the archives of the « Centre of Hygiene Pro-
paganda » are lent free of charge to those desiring them. The office has
drawn up a complete catalogue of the film material in its possession.

Turkey :

The Board of Hygiene and Social Welfare of Angora informs us that
none of the government offices have a section charged with cinematograph
propaganda, which is dealt with exclusively by the « Direction of Statis-
tics and Publications » connected with the Board of Hygiene.

The new law on hygiene contains a special paragraph dealing with
propaganda by means of the cinematograph.

The Health Offices in the different provinces receive cinematograph
films from the central authorities and put them, at the disposal of the com-
munal authorities, who, turn by turn, arrange for them to be presented
to the public for periods varying from 6 to 15 days according to the den-
sity of the population. These spectacles are explained and illustrated
by the medical officers of health. Systematic hygiene and social welfare
propaganda by means of the cinematograph is also carried on in elementary
and secondary schools ; this is conducted under the direction of the me-
dical officers of the schools, the head masters and teachers, who, in addi-
tion to illustrating the films by practical explanations, distribute pamphlets
to the scholars dealing with the principal rules of hygiene, which are
published by the Ministry of Public Education.

Industrial and commercial firms in Turkey are also beginning to
make use of the film for purposes of hygiene propaganda among their
employes.

There is not at present a scientific censorship for this type of film.

The greater number of the films are acquired in the United States, but
a certain number are also bought from some of the European producers.

701

M. ALBERT THOMAS IN ROME

M. Albert Thomas, the Director of the International Labour
Office, who devotes such rare mental gifts and his genius for or-
ganizing to tackling the great problem that lie at the basis of pro-
duction in its several aspects, visited the International Educational
Cinematographic Institute during November.

M. Thomas spent some considerable time in the offices of the
Institute, and evinced keen interest in the organization of its services ,
especially those that directly interest the I. L.O.

One of M. Thomas's main objects in coming to Rome was to
confer with the Director of the I. E. C. I. on the carrying out of the
understandings recently reached between the two organizations and
embodied in the agreement which we published in our September
issue. It was agreed to give immediate effect to these understandings.

M. Albert Thomas at the office of the I. E. C. I,

— 702

We have reason to hope that before the end of December the
commission of experts appointed to exa?nine the social questions
in which the cinema is interested, and more especially the best use
of the screen as a means of promoting measures to prevent accidents
in workshops and agricultural work, will meet. The Commission will
study the question in the light of the program drawn up by the I.L. O.
and the I. E. C. I., and will draw up a concrete plan of action aiming
at encouraging the production of suitable films and indicating at
the same time the proper lines to be followed in their actual production.

Another branch of the common work of the two organizations
of the League will be their joint examination of some of the replies
received by the I. E. C. I. in answer to its questionnaire concerning
the uses of the cinema for the purposes of scientific management. The
International Institute of Scientific Management will, of course, be
invited to collaborate in this part of the work.

In the course of the interviews between M. Thomas and the Director
of the I. E. C. I. it was likewise agreed that the enquiry started by
the I.L. O. regarding the utilization of the cinema in welfare work
{workers' leisure) shall be continued by the I. E. C. I., in close colla-
boration with the Geneva Office.

It may be confidently affirmed that M. Thomas's visit to the I. E.
C. L has done much to strengthen the collaboration of the two orga-
nizations which should lead to tangible, practical and rapid results.

703 —

THE CINEMA AT THE SERVICE
OF THE SCIENTIFIC ORGANIZATION OF LABOUR

(Continued from N°. 5).

We publish herewith the continuation of the film on scientific bank
management, which has roused great interest in banking and industrial
circles.

The 2nd and 3rd parts of this film show, in addition to the working
methods of the bank, the opportunities for rest and recreation which many
of the big organizations of our time provide for their staff.

Care for the spiritual welfare of workers and employees when work
is done, and mind and body need leisure after a week of heavy toil,
with due thought also to the needs of their families, is a highly humane
office and reflects a sound psychological and moral outlook, since such
means strengthen a sense of duty and contentment, that translate them-
selves into terms of better work.

Welfare work, which is on the increase in all civilized countries,
largely owing to the proper community spirit that should exist as between
workers and employers, is encouraged and helped by the Governments
of many nations.

Hence, we are confident that this second part of the «Rotterdamsche
Bankvereeniging » film will be welcome to our readers, pending the con-
tributions which we look forward to publishing in later issues bearing
on the ((workers' leisure" and on what has been done and may yet
be done in this domain.

A perforation indicates on a card the operations to be registered.

The first note of a debit note is shown (the second copy of the special
print (discount service) referred to in the earlier part of the film).

Immediately afterwards a perforated card is shown on which the
operation is noted. The screen then shows :

Perforating the cards.

A clerk is seen perforating the ca rds with a hand punch. On a table
to his left the cards are so disposed as to allow of his picking them up
easily, one at a time.

Three girls, stationed behind an electric punch, are busy perforating
cards. The assistant goes up to them and displays, one after the other,
a card taken from each of the machines.

704

The back part of the perforating machine is shown and the cards
are seen dropping into a box. The machine is shown closer up. The
following caption is projected :

The cards are printed for checking purposes
The totals are added up automatically

The « printer » is seen at work, the papers to be printed are sorted,
and the several parts of the « printer » displayed to the audience.

The clerk displays the checking sheets, which are next shown en-
larged. These sheets show whether all the cards have been duly per-
forated and the check also affords the certainty that the numbers printed
agree with those to be marked by the perforator.

Sorting the papers

The « sorters o are seen at work. A member of the technical staff is
there to make sure that there is always a packet of papers ready to be sort-
ted in the machine and the machine takes them one at a time as required.

When the papers have been sorted and stamped with the numbers
referring to each customer, there is shown :

How current accounts are checked

This job is likewise accomplished by the printer.
We are again shown the press at work and the check of the current
accounts is shown on the screen.

Striking the balances

Some of the clerks of the control service are seen attending to this
task by electrically worked calculating machines.

The state of the balances is shown for some seconds on the screen,
where we read :

The same cards are used for calculating the interests on the current ac-
counts {classified according to the dates on which they fall due), for statistical
purposes, and for the auditing of the current accounts.

The bank register is likewise compiled by perforating the sheets of the pro-
visional balances for each branch of the service and classifying them under
the several bookkeeping heads.

The screen shows :

How the endorsements are made out

The « printer » is shown equipped with a roller and a cutter, two im-
provements which the bank itself has introduced.

The printed notes are seen dropping into a basket.

7-ingl. 705

The clerk shows an endorsement note which is afterwards projec-
ted enlarged. We read on the screen ■

Use the brains of your employees where they are not wasted. Don't make
them do work that can be done by a machine.

The audience are shown a number of « printers » and « sorters » work-
ed by a single clerk, and this part of the film gives a vivid idea of what a
single section of a modern business really is.

The Caption reads :
Manual labour is the exception in workshops : in offices it is still the rule
and then :

Specialize your zvork

The book-keeping office of the Bank is shown, with its machines, The
employees file into the office, take up their positions behind the machines
and get to work.

The screen shows, closer up, how the machines work. We read :
Daily entry of accounts in the register by the old method.

The audience are shown the accountants coning out of the strong
room bearing their enormous and heavy registers. This picture is fol-
lowed by another showing a clerk carrying a bundle of cards.

How things are done to-day

End of the 2nd. Part.

Caption :

Third Part

The technical department

We are shown a skilled mechanic busy experimenting on a new ma-
chine designed for the administrative department.

The work-shop
Here we are shown the technical experts at work. We next read :
The printing works

and the film shows us the Bank's printing department.

Several machines are at work ; the printers are busy and the foreman
supervises them individually.

Some of the machines are shown closer up and the audience watch
a rapid press with a special arrangement for printing envelopes, three at
a time. A small rapid press is then shown on the screen ; this has an
automatic attachment for placing the paper in position. Then a big
American rapid press is shown, equipped with a like attachment.

The film then exhibits a modern rapid printing press that works en-

— 706

tirely automatically and then a platinotype with an automatic attachment
for laying the sheets and removing them from the press. Lastly, a gene-
ral view of the printing works is given.
The Caption reads :

The staff's cooperative society

A picture of the shops where they make up the parcels which the em-
ployees carry off with them when they have finished their day's work.
Next we read :

The sports field

The staff's football field is shown.

The players and scout-boys are seen in their sporting attire near a
tent. Some of the scout-boys are doing gymnastic exercises; they form
into a living picture and disperse.

The next caption reads :

The Nunspeet Holiday Colony

The Board of « Nunspeet » station is shown. A train rolls up. A
sign-post points to « Erica ». The passengers move off in the direction
of the central Erica building.

Several villagers emerge from the house.

The lounge is shown, and then its different corners. Some of the
holiday-makers are shown playing billiards, the wives of the employees
are seated round a little table ; others are busy writing letters in a quiet
nook.

Other pictures of the interior are exhibited. The dining hall, the
back of the main building and the adjacent lounge.

One of the little chalets

The film gives us a series of pictures of the summer chalets, intended
for large families ; and of a walk along which a number of panoramas in
the neighbourhood of Erica are enjoyed.

The « Little Erica » rest house

The hostel is shown on the film, which closes with a view of some of
the characteristic inhabitants of Nunspeet in local costume.

END

707

THE CINEMA IN THE SERVICE OF AGRICULTURE

Sweden

Although Sweden does not possess any official organizations for the
particular purposes of the cinematograph as applied to agriculture, the
Royal Administration of Agriculture in Stockholm (Kungl. Lantbrukssty-
relseri) devotes a part of its activity to this important branch of the modern
cinematograph, by furnishing slides for luminous projection and agri-
cultural films to agricultural schools and the agrarian courses organized
by the Rural Economy Societies in the several provinces.

The following private organizations moreover, are interested in
propaganda and teaching by means of the film.

a) The General Agricultural Society of Sweden.

b) The Junior Agricultural Union and certain cinematographic
firms, such as the A. B. Svensk Filmindustri, the Tullbergs Film A. B.,
and the Foreningen Arme-och Marinfilm, all of Stockholm, have produced
agricultural films.

Some of these organizations have promptly answered the enquiries
which the I. E. C. I. addressed to Sweden, and have forwarded to the
organization of the League of Nations information concerning the films
they had produced on behalf of the agricultural organizations.

Thus we are informed that the General Agricultural Society of
Sweden owns and exhibits films on the following subjects:

« Breeding-stock — cattle and swine; Horse breeding in the Vaster-
goland Province; Sheep-breeding in Sweden; Fish hatcheries, Farming
in the Jantland province, the Scientific cultivation of pastureland; the
Swedish Dairy Industry and the cultivation of potatoes and alimentary
roots.

There are also some films on the importance and use of artificial
fertilizers, with special reference to the new fertilizers produced from
atmospheric nitrogen.

A fee of 2 ore per metre is charged for the hire of the films (i).
Carriage is to the charge of the hirer and the fee for the censoring of
agricultural films amounts to i crown for the first ioo metres of ribbon
and 50 ore for every additional fifty metres.

The « Tullbergs Film » of Stockholm, founded in 1920, is concerned
with the production of industrial, technical, scientific, documentary

too ore = 1 Swedish Grown.

708

and propaganda films, and exercises its activities also in the agricultural
domain.

This firm has actually produced films dealing directly with some of
the most important agricultural problems, namely: — drainage, hay har-
vesting, nurseries for forest essences, scientific pasture cultivation, methods
of transport in barns and hay fields, fertilizers, modern crop harvesting.

The Tullbergs Co. produces several hundreds of films representing
the different branches of national industry. It has moreover carried out
film orders on behalf of various public bodies, the Ministry of Agriculture
among others.

The themes of all agricultural films are elaborated with great care
and the Company produces them under the guidance of experts of the
Royal Agricultural Administration.

The Tullbergs Film Co. also hires out films, but only to institutions
of an official character, such as schools, associations, etc.

Hiring fees amount to 5 ore per metre for the first occasion and to

2 and a half ore per metre for subsequent occasions.

The Svensk Filmindustri of Stockholm, is the most important firm
producing films in Sweden. It manages some of the biggest cinemas
in the country.

This Company has set up a special section for the production and
hiring out of educational, training, and propagandist films, dealing with
the most varied subject matter. The work it has accomplish in these
domains is truly remarkable.

The Svensk Filmindustri has produced up to the present some 90
agricultural films, totalling 6000 metres. It possesses moreover a good
number of films of the kind produced by other firms.

The films in question illustrate:

a) the most diverse branches of agriculture, floriculture, etc.;

b) Fertilizing and harvesting;

c) Cattle and swine breeding;

d) Insects: Bee keeping;

e) Mechanical means of cultivation, irrigation, harvesting, etc.
Renting fees are generally calculated for each exhibition. For the

rent of complete programs of educational films representing a total me-
terage of from 1500 to 1750 metres, the tariffs vary from 2 % to

3 ore per metre.

The cost of carriage is always to the charge of the users.

709

NOTES TAKEN FROM REVIEWS AND PAPERS

NOTES FROM THE REVIEWS
AND PAPERS

The United States Department of
Agriculture has had some sixty films
produced for agricultural teaching pur-
poses to be exhibited in farms in re-
mote districts. {Manchester Guardian,
Manchester - F. 1/25).

A film entitled: « The Miracle of the
Flower », showing the successive phases
of the development of a plant, has been
exhibited at Bale. (Baseler Tages An-
zciger, Bale - F. 1/35).

Prof. Wladimir Ulche of the Masaryk
University at Brno (Chechoslovakia) has
produced an interesting documentary
film illustrating the life of plants. (La
Critique Cinematographique , Paris - F.
i/37)-

A number of films of a popular agri-
cultural kind are announced as being
ready or in course of production bv the
different Russian firms. (Les Nouveautes
dit Cinema Sorietique - F. 1 / 43 , 1/48).

Under the direction of Prof. Nets-
chaieff, the Soviet Film Company is pre-
paring a propaganda film against the
illiteracy in which the great mass of
the Russian rural population are plun-
ged. (Comoedia, Paris - F. 3/194).

The Commission of Enquirv set up
in England in 191 6, of which Mr. Mar-
chant was the first secretary, has ascer-
tained that ycung persons who attend
the cinema regularly possess a higher
degree of general culture than those who
don't. (Daily Telegraph , London - F.
3/199)-

The Pathe-Baby Co. has obtained the
permission of the « Luce » Company to

reproduce the' latter" s films in 0 Baby »
format. (Pathe-Baby, Rome - R. 3/
208).

A number of firms are actively en-
gaged in equipping travelling cinemas
to go about in Morocco with the object
of diffusing European culture. (Licht-
hild-bi'ihne , Berlin - F. 3/209).

The Vufku Company will exhibit du-
ring 1930, 158 instructive films on
agricultural, industrial, economic, poli-
tical, hygienic, and scientific subjects.
It will in addition publioh 40 scholastic
films. (Les Nouveautes du cinema So-
rietique) .

The Ufa Co. of Berlin has turned
a film on the metamorphosis of insects.
(Ufa Dienst, Berlin - F. 6/263).

The General Direction of Morocco
(Spanish Zone) has sent to Madrid a
film illustrating documentarily all that
Spain has been doing and has under-
taken in Morocco with a view to civil
improvement and material prosperity.
(El Cine, Madrid, Barcelona - F.
6/264).

The yearly expedition organized by

the Argentine Ministry of Agriculture
has a documentary film entitled « Amid
the Ice of the Orcades Islands ». (Ci-
nema Star, Rosario de Santa Fe -
F. 6/274).

The Italian National Institute, the
c« Luce », will exhibit free of charge
all over Italy a great film entitled
<■ Year VII », illustrating the manifold
forms of activity of the Fascist Regime
during the 7th. year of its being. (//
Messaggero, Rome - F. 6/280).

The Sovkino Co. instituted last Oc-
tober a « Cinema-Chronicle » at the

710

Museum of the Revolution. Exhibitions
ia>t only -even minutes and the en-
trance fee is only 5 kopeks. (Lcs Nou-
velles dit Cinema sovietique - F. 3/215).

A him illustrating the studies of the
renowned student and explorer Bengt
Berg has been exhibited in Berlin. In
order to be able to produce this him,
Bengt Berg lived four months in a
tent, observing close at hand all the
details of the life of eagles, which he
even followed when in flight, availing
himself of a small silent aeroplane for
the purpose. (Kino, Leningrad - F.
6/285).

A him of rare documentary and tour-
istic value entitled: « Santander - is
being circulated in Spain. This is the
first of a series of films that will be
produced by the « Informacion Cine-
ms.tografica Espanola » in collaboration
with the aviation services, to illustrate
the several Spanish provinces. (El De-
bate, Madrid - F. 6/292).

The British War Office has turned a
film called: « The Holy Land » illustrat-
ing the Palestine Campaign and thj re-
demption of Jerusalem. (El Cine, Bar-
celona - F. 7/24).

Following the example of Moscou,
the German Ministry of Public Edu-
cation has set up a Cinematographic
University. (Popolo di Roma, Rome -
F. 8/68).

Signor Gennaro Pistolesi, being con-
vinced of the need for Colonial propa-
ganda, expresses the hope that the Ita-
lian institutions concerned and the Mi-
nistry of the Colonies will lend finan-
cial support to the production of films
on life in the colonies. (Corriere Emi-
liano, Parma - F. 9/58).

M. Eisenstein has prepared a film on
Karl Marx's famous book « Capital ».
(La Cinematografia , Milan - F. 9/68).

During the Cong re s < f the North
American Esperantist Association it was
decided to produce a talking film in the

into tongue. A three-minute dia-
logue and an address of world welcome
will form the text of the film. M. Henri
W. Hetzel, of Philadelphia, President
of the Esperantist Association; and Ma-
dame Chaumette, a Belgian Esperantist',
will lend their assistance. (La Tarde,
Bilbao - F. 10/235).

It would appear that the advent of
the talking film has had a discouiaging
effect on amateur writers, who feel that
the writing of dialogue scenes is beyond
them. (Comoedia, Paris - F. 10/236).

The Opera Theatre and the « Sound
Spectacle Syndicate » in Germany have
stipulated an agreement in view of the
production of films which will exhibit
classical German works on the screen.
Mozart's « The Marriage of Figaro »
and Flotow's « Martha » will be the
first lyrical works to be filmed. (Film-
Kurier, Berlin - F. 12/434).

The exhibition of a scientific film on
Child-birth has been suspended at Greitz,
the public having complained that it
was scandalous. (Lichtbildbithnc , Ber-
lin - F. 13/63).

M. Lefevre, of the Institut Optique in
Paris, has had a film called « A Drop
of Water » exhibited; this gives a lucid
vision of microbe life and of the struggle
between microbes. (Ereiburger Zeitung,
Freiburg - F. 13/64).

The latest scientific processes of ci-
nematography as applied to the docu-
mentation of . various physical problems
is the subject of a long article published
in the Kbnigsberg Allgemetne Zeitung.
(Konisberg - F. 13/65).

The eminent astronomer John Stewart,
in the course of his observations at
Princetown, has been able to make the
first film reproducing the surface of the
moon. (Diisseldorfer Nachnchten , Diiss-
eldorf - F. 13/66).

A film entitled « Diseased Nerves »
illustrating the disposition to succumb
to or to combat neurasthenia has been

711

produced under the direction of Dr.
Galkine. (El Cine, Barcellona - F. 13/
67).

The National Commission of the
Council of Scientific Research of the
United States, has suggested the pro-
duction of a film illustrating the pro-
gress of science during the last hun-
dred years. It is proposed to exhibit
this film at the Universal Exhibition to
be held in Chicago in 1933. (Exhibitors'
Herald World, Chicago - F. 13/71).

At the Congress of Stomatology held
in Rome last October several members
of the Congress had recourse to the
film in support of their speeches. (//
Regime Fascista, Cremona - F. 13/72).

The scientific films of the Italian Na-
tional Society, the Luce, which were
projected in the course of the Surgical
Congress in Paris, met with very marked
success. (7/ Tevere, Rome - F. 13/73).

Prof. Victor Pauchet has shown an
animated drawing film on the subject
of « The technique of the ablation of
Ulcers in the Stomach ». This is the
third year in which the eminent student
has displayed the demonstration of sur-
gical operations by animated drawings.
(Congres Fran cats de Chirurgie, Paris -
F. 3/75).

The Russian stage manager Eisenstem
has turned a film on abortion. One
thousand metres of film have been prin-
ted under the direction of the doctors
of the Cantonal Hospital of Zurich.
(Le Cinema Suisse, Montreux - F.
13/77)-

M. Franco Feline forecasts the crea-
tion of films for children based on the
same principles as those insipiring child -
rens' books. (7/ Cinematografo, Rome
- F. 15/86).

Mademoiselle Madeleine Brandeis, who
has been recognized by the League of
Nations as a zealous promotor of
world peace, has exhibited the films she
has iproduced for the purpose of mak-

ing, school children acquainted with the
life, ways and deed' of children the
world over. These iilms, which form
an integral part of American school cur-
riculums, are of great assistance, espe-
cially in the teaching of geography.
(Hamburger Nachrichten, Hamburg -
15/90).

A « Cultural Institution » has been

opened in Latvia having for its object

to subsidize educational films. (Baltische
T'resse, Danzig - F. 17/56).

The French censorship has prohibited
the public exhibition of the film of M.
Jean Painleve on the transfusion of
blood. It will be allowed to show this
film only in scientific circles. (The
Daily Film Renter, London - 18/189).

The Pan-Pacific Womens' Conference,
to be held at Honolulu in August 1930,
will devote special consideration to the
question of the educational cinema. Dr.
Ethel Osborne, of Melbourne, has got
into touch with the I. E. C. I. in this
connection. (Bull, of the Pacific Union,
Honolulu - F. 22/229).

The Sovkino, the Meschrabpom and
the Vufku have published in the U. R.
S. S. a <( Catalogue of Cultural Films »
for the Year 1929/30. (Licht-bild-
biihne, Berlin - F. 28/46).

M. L. Barschanskv is making a stu-
dy of the great progress made in the
course of the last few years in the do-
main of radio-cinematography. He ex-
presses the view that this new invention,
once it is perfected, will be of the great-
est service to man in his work and
intellectual 'life. (Kino und Kidtur, Mos-
cow, 30/51).

Madame Erna Busing criticises films
purpoting to depicit the life of eastern
peoples. She expresses the view that,
far from giving any real picture, these
films give the audiences a false im-
pression of eastern life and customs.
(Vorwaerts, Berlin - 34/321).

Mr. R. A. Wetzel, of the New York
Microscopic Society, working in colla-

— 712

boration with his fellows of the Rock-
feller Institute, has observed that in cer-
tain preparations based on colloidal sil-
ver the particles of silver are developed
by the effect of light. This curious phe-
nomenon, which represents the first step
towards the solution of the problem of
the relation between matter and energy,
has been filmed. (Der Berliner Weltcn,
Berlin - F. 36/355).

The Federal Educational Institute of
Berlin has set up the first cinematograph
for the use of higher primary schools.
(Bildwart, Vienna'- F. 37/68).

The lessons on physics given by se-
veral Professors with the assistance of
cinematographic- projections, are the sub-
ject of a highly interesting article by
Monsieur Taranoff, in which he stresses
the advantages of the cinema for the
purposes of teaching. (Kine mid Kul-
tur, Moscou - F. 37/69).

The meeting of the Governing Body
cf the I. E. C. I. has inspired an arti-
cle by M. Louis Barak in which he exa-
mines the details of the problems of
the film as a means of instruction, and
enumerates the many and valuable uses
to which the cinema pay be put. (//
Resto del Carlino, Bologna - F. 37/70).

At the Cinematographic Congress at
Padua, Signor Guido Luzzatto, defended
the value of the film in an interesting
lecture and spoke of the work being
done by the I. E. C. I. (Pr ogres so Fo-
tografico, Milan - F. 37/71).

With a view to assisting American
students in the study of the French
language, M. J. B. Beck, Professor of
Romanic languages and literature at the
University of Pensylvania, and at the
«< Curtis Institute » of Philadelphia,
predicts the production of talking films
reproducing on the screen French classi-
cal drama interpreted by actors of re-
nown. {Bull. Off. de la Chambre Syn-
dicale Francaise, Paris - F. 37/72).

According to an article by Prof. Such-
arodsk, which appeared in the « Berlin

am Morgen », it will shortly be pos-
sible to give cinematographic lessons in
the 150,000 schools of Russia, which
will as soon as possible be equipped
with apparatus for projection. (Klassen-
{anipf, Halle - F. 37/76).

M. Jules Veran is of the opinion that
the use of the film in teaching history
would greatly enhance the interest of
this study. He deplores the fact that
the number of schools equipped with
projection halls is so limited and advo-
cates that all schools should have re-
course to the screen in their history
lessons. (Comcedia , Paris - F. 37/77).

M. A. Colette maintains that the
talking film cannot be made any use
of for teaching purposes. (Jasy journal,
Cairo - F. 37/78).

At the Geographical Congress at Mag-
deburg, the uses of plastic art and af
the cinematograph in teaching geogra-
phy were unaninimously recognized.
(7/ Lavoro, Genoa - F. 37/90).

The first speaking film for instruction-
al purposes is being turned in Ame-
rica. This film is intended for ele-
mentary and higher schools and will be
produced at the expense of the Uni-
versity Film Foundation of Harvard
University. {La Cinematografia, Milan -
F. 37/91').

SOCIAL ASPECTS OF THE FILM

M. Dovjenko will screen a film en-
titled « The Land 0 depicting the
struggle between the poor peasant and
the rich farmer, and also the introduc-
tion of agricultural machinery in a little
village. {Nouveautes du Cin. Sou. -
1/46).

The Venetian Section of the Italian
National Soldiers' Institute is equipping
travelling cinemas for propaganda in
agricultural training. (Gazetta di Ve-
nezia, Venice - 1/50).

713 —

M. Vichnial has turned a film on
. Sovietic Fordism ». (Nouveautes du

Cm. Soviet. - 5/83).

In England, Germany and Holland
the cinema is made considerable use of
lor popularizing cooperative societies.
One hundred and fifty of these societies
own projection apparatus. The National
Cooperative Institute in Italy will also
resort to this system. (// Lavoro Coope-
rative), Rome - 9/70).

The opinion is expressed in legal cir-
cles that there is no reason why a will
registered by a talking film should not
be valid. It is even considered that
forgery might be excluded by this
means. (Frankfurter Zeitung, Frankfort
- 10/239).

The exhibition of an American sound
film, representing the actual scenes of
a railway accident, and showing dead
and wounded, roused considerable exci-
tement and protest. (Deutsche Allge-
meine Zeitung, Berlin - 12/407).

112 New York cinemas have been
unable to stand up against the compe-
tition of halls where « talkies « are
exhibited, and have had to close down.
About 80 % of the cinemas of the
United States need capital to re-equip
their halls for sound projection. (Lenin-
gradshaia Gazeta Kino, Kiew - 12/437).

Prof. Van der Velde, in collabora-
tion with the Medical Cinematographic
Institute of the University of Berlin, has
produced a film of a purely scientific
purpose, entitled « Conjugal Life ». (La
Pehcula, Buenos Ayres - 13/74).

M. Siemaschko, in an article entitled
c< Flealth and- Hygiene Films » expresses
the view that the cinema is the best
means of teaching modern hygiene me-
thods to the people and of defending
them against vice. He likewise main-
tains that the film is of great assistance
in medical theory and practice. (Kino
und Kultur, Moscour - 14/44).

O'Pais contains a highly interesting
article on the educational role of the
cinema. The health authorities of San
Paulo, fully realizing the value of this
new weapon of collective defence have
organized the production of films of a
kind to instruct the public in the ele-
ments of knowledge and hygiene to
enable them to defend themselves against
the risks of the vellow fever, that affl-
icts certain regions of Brazil. More par-
ticularly in the interior of the country,
where the benefits of popular scientific
teaching make but slow progress, the ci-
nema is able to play an important
educational role. (0' Pais, Rio de Ja-
neiro - 14/45).

The German Central ' Committee for
the campaign against tuberculosis calls
attention to the film « Forbidden Kis-
ses » which aims at popularizing hygiene
and social prophylaxis. (Dcutsch Cen-
tral Komitee Zur Be\ampjung der Tu-
ber\ulose , Berlin - 14/47).

The 'project of cinematographic re-
form in Germany is analyzed in a high-
ly interesting article, which gives spe-
cial consideration to the question of the
admittance of children to cinemas and
the penalties provided for persons in-
fringing the law, including both pa-
rents and responsible guardians. (Vol\s-
wohlfahrt, Berlin - 15/87).

Prof. Theobald Buchner, of Zurich,
in an article entitled: « Can the Cinema
set a bad example? » affirms that, al-
though there is no direct relation be-
tween crime and the cinema, neverthe-
less the luxury and thoughtless manner
of life depicted in so many films have a
bad influence on the young and on the
lower middle classes. (Sud. d. Zeitung
Morgenblatt, Stuttgart).

In the course of a lecture at Yale
University, during the International
Psychological Congress, Prof. Blanchard
maintained that not only does the ci-
nema not contribute at all to crimina-
litv, but that it exercises a beneficial

— 7H

influence on childrens' morals. {Exhi-
bitors' Herald World, Chicago - 15/91).

The Cheek Parliament has approved
a decree absolutely prohibiting that li-
terature intended for children should re-
count facts or fiction concerning crime,
robbery, etc. Similar measures will be
taken with respect to films, the revi-
sion of which will be entrusted to the
Inspectors of Primary Education. (La
Tarde, Bilbao, 15/97).

In Valencia (Spain) a child of 13
committed a big theft under very ro-
mantic circumstances. He declared that
the idea had been given him by watch-
ing a detective story film. (El Im-
parcial, Madrid, 15/99).

Dr. Porzio, Who is well known for his
studies on social medical questions, de-
plores the bad habit of taking quite
young children to the cinema. He ex-
presses the view that the law, which
watches over the morals of young peo-
ple aged under 16 years of age, ought
for hygienic reasons to prohibit young
infants from being taken to the cine-
ma. (// Popolo di Roma, Rome -
15/103).

M. Aug. Nardy in an article on
film censorship in France, expresses the
view that it would be better to do away
with it and to rely entirely on public
opinion, as in the case of books and
the theatre. (L'Oeuvre, Paris - 18/159).

M. Philippe Sarlat expresses the view
that the French censorship is futile and
advocates a radical reform thereof. (Co-
moedia, Paris - 18/ 163).

There are many difficulties in the
way of the censorship of talking films.
The Committee charged with the study
of this question in England remarks
that it is practically impossible to excise
objectionable parts of dialogues, which
must either be passed or prohibited as
they stand. (The Daily Film Renter,
London - 18/191).

The censorship of films has been
functioning in Mexico since the 15th.
September. The censor's office, which
is attached to the Ministry of the In-
terior, will exercise its control over both
imported films and films intended for
export. (Comoedia, Paris - 18/181).

The Russian Censorship Commission
has been directed to exercise great ri-
gour in censoring imported films, espe-
cially American films, because these
present life under an aspect that might
stir up bourgeois sympathies and com-
plicate the task of educators. (Le Cour-
rier Cinetnatographique , Paris - 18/182)

The revenue of taxation on public
spectacles during 1929 in Germany is
estimated at about 85 million francs;
more than half of this amount is de-
rived from cinematographs. (Le Cour-
tier Cinetnatographique , Paris - 24/108)

The British Colonial Office has di-
rected a committee to be appointed to
examine the present state of the agree-
ments in force for the supply of films
to the Colonies and Protectorates. (//
Cinema Italiano , Rome - 25/113).

The question of Sunday entertain-
ments continues to arouse a deal of
controversy. The Rev. E. Cornford Bru-
ce expresses the view that none of the
precepts of religion are contrary to such
entertainments. On his side, Mr. Gor-
don Pannell, declares that the re-
turns of an enquiry made on this sub-
ject clearly demonstrate that there has
been a marked diminution in the num-
ber of drunkards since the introduction
of Sunday shows in England. (The
Times, London - 25/118).

The German Government, recogni-
zing the importance which the cinema
has assumed as an instrument of poli-
tical propaganda, has bought up most
of the shares of the Emelka Cinemato-
graphic Trust. In so doing, it has ap-
parently wished to avoid that the Emel-
ka Topical Events section should be

715

controlled by a different group. (//
Mezzogiorno, Naples - 26/25).

The Central Hygiene Office in Swit-
zerland has acquired a film entitled
« Snares and Dangers » which points
out to workers how to avoid accidents
caused by absent-mindedness and care-
lessness. CVol\szeitung, Zurich - 33/67)

In a lecture on « Modern Society
and the Cinema » Mr. F. Evans attri-
butes two great merits to the cinema:
that of having averted the danger of
revolution in England and that of hav-
ing played a valuable part in the anti-
drink campaign. (The Cinematograph
Times, London - 33/71)-

The arrest of a dangerous adventu-
rer has effected in Berlin thanks
to the exhibition in cinemas of his de-
scription and the warrant for his ar-
rest. (II Tevere, Rome - 33/72).

The Mejrabpom Film Co. has under-
taken, with the cooperation of the Pub-
lic Health Commissariat, to turn a
film with the title: « Do you recognize
yourself? » aiming at anti-drink pro-
paganda. (« Soviet Cinema Novelties »

- 33/73)-

M. E. Vuillermoz maintains that the
cinema is partly responsable for the
present crisis in the marriage rate and
in the birth rate also. (Comoedia , Pa-
ris - 34/327)-

Mr. Winston Churchill, speaking on
the cinematograph, expresses the view
that it is a most efficacious means of
popular education, and, moreover, an
eloquent advocate of the idea of uni-
versal peace. (Exhibitors' Herald World

- Chicago - 34/329).

Herr Paul A. Schmitz, after noting
that two thirds of cinema audiences
consist of women, suggests that advan-
tage should be taken of this fact to
institute a valuable social and hygiene
propaganda with special reference to
motherhood. (Reichsport , Vienna
34/339)-

The stalls of the film laboratories of
the United States have decided to form
a Union to be affiliated to the American
Federation of Labor. (El Cine, Barce-
lona - 35/112).

On the 9th. October the heads of
the Commission of Intellectual Workers
held a meeting at the Offices of the
International Labour Office at Geneva.
Among other resolutions, it was deci-
ded to commit to the I. L. O. the task
of studying the labour conditions of
musicians, in connection with the me-
chanical reproduction of music, as well
as the conditions of work of cinema
artists and technicians. (// Tevere,
Rome - 35/113).

Negotiations are under way between
the principal film producing countries,
aiming at an agreement whereby all
the studios of the signatory countries
will blackball actors who break their
contracts. (Film Atelier, Berlin -
35/II9)-

RELIGIOUS FILMS

The French Fox Movietone operators
recently filmed some touching scenes of
a Lourdes pilgrimage. (Comcedia, Pa-
ns - 11/53).

At the General meeting of the
C. E. A. recently held in Newcastle the
question of religious films in general
was discussed at length; it was decided
that the production of a certain type of
film liable to wound the susceptibilities
of the devout ought to be discouraged.
(The Daily Film Renter, London -
n/54)-

In an article entitled The Film and
Broadcasting at the service of the Church,
M. Beran expresses the view that the film
is a necessary weapon for conbating
the enemies of the Church. (Reichspost ,
Vienna - 11/55).

H. E. Cardinal Piffl, Primate Bishop
of Vienna, has lent his support to the
production of a film « Innocence », and

716

authorized the cinematographic presen-
tation of the solemn ceremony of con-
firmation in the Cathedral of St. Ste-
phen at Vienna. (Film Atelier, Ber-
lin - iT/57).

The second cinema managed under
Catholic direction is about to be ope-
ned at Breslau. (Lichtbildbuhne , Ber-
lin - 11/58).

The procession of Mount St. Anna-
berg, the biggest religious festival of
Upper Silesia, has been fiilmed. (Ufa
Dicnst, Berlin - 55/59).

The Israelite film « Buried Alive » has
met with great success in France. It
features a Jewish hero and reproduces
a number of beautifully reproduced re-
ligious ceremonies. (La Cinematografia ,
Milan - 11/63).

M. Protazonov is preparing an anti-
religious film entitled « The Festival of
St. George » taken from the novel of
Dergestadt. (Soviet Film Novelties -
1 1/60).

M. Dimitriev has produced a film
entitled « In the Land of the Oud-
mourts » built up on the cinematogra-
phic material of the Meshrabpom Film
expedition in the Vodsk region. This
film presents a number of curious ce-
remonies of a religious character and
the ritual sacrifices still practised by
those populations. (Soviet Film Novel-
ties - 11/61).

In the United States, Harry Warner
has secured the assistance of the re-
nowned Methodist preacher, the Rev.
A. Sunday, for the publication of a
number of talking films of a religious
character. (Kmematograph , Berlin -
11/63)-

TECHNICAL ASPECTS OF THE FILM

D. Ulrich F. Schultz devotes an ar-
ticle to examining the difficulties hinder-
ing the production of documentary films

on the life of animals in a state of na-
ture. (Film Atelier, Berlin - F. 6/262).

The yearly examinations of the Mu-
nich School of Cinematography has gi-
ven excellent results. A course in talk-
ing and sound films forms part of the
program of studies for next year. (Co-
rn cedia, Paris - 8/67).

In a very interesting article, M. K.
Kolosoff maintains the need for creating
a central experimental laboratory which
would be of the greatest service in the
technical cinema world. The institution
of such a laboratory might serve as the
basis for the foundation of a Scientific
Cinematographic Institute. (Kino unci
Kultur, Moscou - F. 8/69).

A school for training young cinema
actors has been opened at Moscou un-
der the direction of M. Zalis. One of
the aims of this school is to study all
the scientific questions connected with
the cinematograph and especially its in-
dustrial development. (Comcedia , Pa-
ris - F. 8/70).

The Meshrabpom Film Co. is orga-
nizing a Comittee to study the impro-
vements that might be made in the
production of sound films. (Society for
Cultural Relations between the U. R.
S. S. and Foreign Countries, Moscou).

M. Max Ettinger, the celebrated mo-
dern composer, deals with the several
questions bearing on the silent film
and sound films, in an article devoted
to music in the cinema. (Freiburger
Ze/tung, Freiburg - F. 12/428).

So as to avoid the commercial suc-
cess of sound films being impaired by
defective projections, the foremost Ame-
rican firms have decided to set up an
independent commission of experts to
supervise sound equipment in cinema
halls. (Ri vista Cinematografica , Milan,
Turin - 12/446).

Dr. Walter Thormer has invented a
new process for taking natural colour

717

photographs. (Die Photographische In-
dustrie, Berlin - 21/294).

The French Societe eivile pour V etu-
de de ia I'hotographie has patented a
new system for the reproduction of mo-
saic-method films in relief. (Die Phot.
Industrie, Berlin - 21/296).

Messrs. Machkovitch and Okhotinov
have invented a new process for regis-
tering and reproducing sound. Their
system heing based entirely on electri-
citv, light has no influence on it. It
makes it possible to take photographs
and register sound at any speed what-
soever. (Soc. for Cult. Relations bet-
ween the U. R. S. S. and Foreign Coun-
tries, Moscou - 21/297).

Sehor Fernandez Cuenca describes
the new « Superalenti apparatus »; in-
vented by Mr. Bull, whereby 20,000
photographs per second may be obtain-
ed. Two interesting films have been
made by this apparatus: the first on
the bursting of a soap bubble, the other
on the movement of a bullet isuuing
from a gun or cannon. (La Epoca , Ma-
drid - 21/298).

A French inventor has devised a
way to project texts on the screen during
the projection of films spoken in fo-
reign languages, so that these can be
read at the same moment that the
words reach the ear. (El Cine, Barce-
lona - 21/302).

The Engineer Gozzano, of Milan, has
invented a mechanism that obviates the
dangers of short circuits in projection
cabins. (Kinematograph , Berlin
21/304).

M. Gransenz Androheim has discover-
ed a new means of transmitting co-
lour films by radio; these appear at the
receiving station reproduced in their
exact colours on an opake slide. (Exhi-
bitors' Herald World, Chicago -
21/306).

A new cinematographic projector, re-
markable, among other improvements,

for the suppression of noise, invented
by the Italian Engineer Gentilini, was
recently exhibited in London, where it
obtained a marked success. (Luhtbild-
buhne, Berlin 21/313).

The Andre Debries Works have re-
cently turned out a new portable pro-
jection cabin which allows films to be
projected at a distance of 25 metres on
to a screen measuring from 3 metres 50
to 2 m. 60. This apparatus, which is
very cheap, is specially suited to small
cinemas and home use. (Rwista Cinema-
tografiea, Turin - 21/323).

M. Aug. Bechar, of Lyons, has invent-
ed a new electrical apparatus to prevent
films taking fire in the event of
a pause in projection. (Comoedia, Pa-
ris - 21/325).

Prof. Leonhard Koeppe describes a
new type of screen which eliminates
the reverberation of light in the hall.
(Kinoteehni^, Berlin - 21/330).

A new sound apparatus that makes
the sound registered immediately audi-
ble has just been invented. (Daily Te-
legraph, London - 21/334).

Experiments are being made in the
laboratories of the Electrical Trust of
Leningrad for the transmission of films
by radio. (Sound Waves, Hollywood -

30/52).

For the first time in the history of
the cinematograph, Berlin has trasmit-
ted a spoken film radio. (Ufa Feuil-
leton, Berlin - 30/33).

There is a special section to deal with
all manner of research attached to the
Flollywood staging hall. Persons with
special knowledge in the several bran-
ches of human knowledge are to be
found there, always ready to give sta-
ge directors advice on the most com-
plex and diverse subjects. (// Tevere,
Rome - 34/323).

The State of New York has prohibit-
ed the sale and hire of films made

-718

out of nitrate of cellulose, on account
of their inflammable nature, which, as
demonstrated by the recent fire in Cle-
veland, is a source of serious danger.
(The American Projectionist, New York
- 33/669).

The photographic sensibility of la-
tent images is the subject of a com-
prehensive study by Mr. J. Slater Price.
F. R. S. (Science et Industrie Photo-
graph ique - 35/344)-

A very interesting article describes
the aerating system in use in the Pa-
risian Cinema « America Theater » a
system which makes it possible to warm
or cool the air as desired and thus to
maintain an agreeable temperature. This
removes one of the main causes of the
cinema dead season. (La Cinematogra-
phic Francaise, Paris - 36/352).

At the Gaiety Theatre of New York,
the Fox Film Co. has made a public
and successful experiment in a new type
of film on 70 mm. ribbon. Thanks to
the ampler field of vision, the illu-
sion of depth on the flat screen is more
accentuated than in the case of films of
normal dimensions. (Film-Kurier , Ber-
lin - 369358).

A highly interesting article develops
Prof. Xeugebauer's suggestion on the
classification of the chromatic sensitiv-
ity of ortho-chromatic layers. (Phot.
Industrie, Berlin - 36/362).

A technical article is devoted to the
study of the different means of render-
ing sound films silent, turning silent
films into sound films and of modify-
ing sound films. (American Cinemato-
grapher, Hollywood - 36/363).

An optical compensation mechanism
for moving projections by means of an-
nular prisms is the subject of a study
published in the Photographische In-
dustrie. (Berlin - 36/366).

A Californian engineer has invented
an apparatus which he has patented as
the Osciographoscope » by means of
which the heart-beats are recorded on
a film. It is stated that photographs of
the heart taken directly by means of
this apparatus reveal the slightest func-
tional irregularitie. The exhibition of
films obtained by this means enable
doctors to observe the functioning of
the heart with greater precision than by
the stethoscope, which merely renders
the sound of the beats more audible.
(The American Projectionist , New York).

Dr. LUCIANO de FEO — Editor and Responsible Manager.

« La Cardinal Ferrari » S. A. I. — Tipografia — Via Germanico, 146 — - Roma

719

»

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Udine - Venice - Verona.

Soc. An. IS I A

INDUSTRIA DELLA SETA ITALO AMERICANA

p.

(Founded in 1846)

The Zeissworks af "Jena

(5500 employees)

ZEISS

OPTICAL INSTRUMENTS

Field Glasses and Theatre Glasses - View Telescopes - Astronomical
Telescopes - Rifle Sights - Lenses for Photography, Cinematography
and Process Work - Punktal Spectacle Lenses - Magnifiers, Microscopes
-- Photo-micrographic and Projection Apparatus - Surveying Instruments
- Optical Measuring Instruments - Medico-optical Instruments - Motor
Head Lights - Micrometer Gauge Tools.

To be obtained throughout the world

Catalogues free on application stating instruments in which you are interested

Telegrams : Zeisswerk, Jena,

-cARLZEJSs;

JENA

London W. 1, Wmsley House, Wells Srreet, Oxford Street - New York, 485 Fifht
Avenue - Los Angeles, Cal., 728 So. Hill Street - Berlin W. 9, Potsdamer
Strasse 139-III - Hamburg, Alsterhaus, Alsterdamm 12-13 - Koln, Apostelnklo-
ster 27 - Wien IX/3, Ferstelgasse 1 - Buenos Ayres, Bernardo de Irigoyen 303 -
Rio de Janeiro, Praca Floriano 55 - Tokio, Yusen Building 7.th floor, Marunouchi
- Mailand (5), Georg Lehmann, Corso Italia 8 - Madrid, Dr. Niemeyer, Placa
de Canalejas 3 pral dra - Paris (XI), Optica, 18-20 Faubourg du Temple.

8-ingl.

jliJ'lAll SERVIZI MARITTIM

Dp

GRAND EXPRESS EUROPE-EGYPT (Weekly Service)

S-r-c-AKyic-Dc I Thursday ffi dep. Genoa ar. f Monday

I t. M IVI t. K » \ Friday J ,, Naples „ Sunday

a AIKONlA "F^PFRIA / Saturday ,, Siracuse „ Saturpay

/YUdVJill/t , , ' EiJIE.IVI/\ ,, r Monday | ar. Alexandria dep. $ Thursday

FAST CIRCULAR LINES DE LUXE
LINE A.): Genoa - Alexandria - Constantinople - Marseilles - Genoa (Fortnightly service).
LINE B.): Genoa - Constantinople - Alexandria - Genoa (Fortnightly service)

With these two Fast Circular Lines A) and B. the " SITMAR,, organises various cruises in the Mediterranean, to
visit the countries of the Levant and the East with the facility of using also the line : " Grand Express, Europe-
Egypt ,, on the route Italy-Alexandria and viceversa ; the sea voyage can be interrupted on the route Egypt and Pa-
lestine or Syria. At each landing port, interesting excursions are organised to visit the town and the country. The
tickets at very reduced terms, are valuable for 4 mouths. (Consul the special booklet " Touring Cruises in the

Mediterranean ,,).

POSTAL LINE : Tirreneaa Sea - Constantinople - Ports cf the Danube (Fortnightly service)
COMMERCIAL LINE : Tirrenean Sea - Constantinople - Black Sea (Circular Line, sailing every 28 days)
COMMERCIAL LINE : Tirranean Sea - Ports of the Egean Sea (Circular Line sailing every 28 days)
INFORMATION AT: Genoa: Piazza Nunziata, 64-r; (Cable address " SITMARPASS „)
In Italy and Abroad: at the Offices of the Company and in all the principal travelling Bureaux.

a =. . a

Banca Commerciale Italiana J. i

HEAD OFFICE IN MILAN
Capital: Lire 700.000.000 - Reserves: Lire 540. 000.000

Over Hundred Branches in Italy

Brancke Offices : CONSTANTINOPLE • LONDON - NEW YORK - SMYRNA
and 16 Associated Branches Abroad.

SPECIAL FORMS OF CHEQUES, offered to the customers of the Bank.

- Cheques : "Vade Mecum ,, with limited amount to be used for ordinary
payments, which facilitate circulation by substituting currency.

— Being emitted only against payment of the highest amount for which they
are issued, the actual existance of the funds is assured.

- Traveller's Cheques, indispensable for those travelling abroad.

— Payable by thousands of Banking Agencies all over the World.

For Information, apply to any Branche of the Bank.

Istitito lazional© LUX.E.

for Propaganda and Culture
by means of the Cinematograph

(Technical Cinematographic Organ of the Italian State)

9P

Production of Educational Films of the Year 1928-1929:

a) Biological Serie.

b) Entomological Serie.

c) Zoological Serie.

d) Archeological Serie.

e) Artistic Serie.

/) Folkloreistical Serie.

g) The various Regions of Italy illustrated : Roma-
gna, Friuli, Tuscany, etc.

The largest organisation for « news films ».

Documentation of great Scientific Undertakings and
Explorations.

Special equipments with projectors on motor-cars.

Photographic service for all political, artistic, cultural
and scientific events.

Photographic File containing all the works of art of the
Italian Kingdom and all the beautiful panoramic views of the
Italian Provinces.

ROME - Palazzo della Stamperia
t f

Istituto ltaliano di Credito Marittin©

Subscribeb Capitol L. 150.000.000 - Paid-up Capital and Reserves L. 134.079.509,43
Head Office: ROME, 173 Corso Umberlo I

branches : ALBENGA - ALESSANDRIA - AULLA - ANCONA - BOLOGNA - CARRARA - CASIRTA - CHIAVARI - FLO-
REN< I - F1VIZZANO - GENOA - LERICI - LEYANTO - LEGHORN - MASSA - MILAN - NAPLES - NOVI LIGURE

- PADUA - PESCARA (Riviera di Castellammare) - PIETRASANTA - ROME - SAN REMO - SARZANA - SAVONA

- SESTR1 LEVANTE - SPEZIA - VENICE - VIAREGGIO - ZURICH (Switzerland).
Representative Office in New York.

Rome Office (formerly French Lemon & C.) : Piazza di Spagna 59. — Rome Agency >6i : inside Ambas-
sador's F!6tel.
Telegrams : Head Office : C'REDIMAREDIREZ-ROME ; for Branches : CREDIMARE.

EVERY KIND OF BANKIKG BUSINESS TRANSACTED

"■mSwSK" tfratelli (Sonbranc-

Subscribed, and Paid-up • Capital : Lire 10.000.000

HEAD OFFICE IN MILAN, 21, VIA PO'RTONACCIO

Transports effected from and to any destination - Customs' operations

- Removals - Express Services - Motor-Transport.

Branches : Bari - Busto Arsizio - Domodossola - Florence - Fortezza - Genoa - Leghorn - Luino -

Naples - Pisa - Rome - Turin - Triest - Venice.
Agencies : Como - Monza - Padova - Pianceri - Postumia - Prato - Sarona - Varese - Vercelli -

Verona - Vicenza.

ASSOCIATED COMPANIES AND CORRESPONDENTS'ALL OVER THE WORLD

SOCIETA ANONIMA

STEFANO PITTALUGA

SUBSCRIBED AND PAID-UP CAPITAL: Lire 100.000.000
Head Office and General Direction : 187 Via Luisa del Carretto

TURIN

Telegraphic addresse : Anonima Pittaluga, TURIN - A. B. C. Code 5th. Edition

Production-Trade

Hire of Films
Management of Cinematographic Halls

:: :: 30 Offices for the Hiring of Films :: ::
100 of the first rate Cinematographic Halls
directly administrated by the Company in
:: :: the principal towns of Italy :: ::

CINEMATOGRAPHIC STUDIOS "CINES,,
IN ROME

Studios supplied with every compliences
and up to date equipment for the pro-
duction of

SOUND AND TALKING FILMS

Sale of own production of Films all over the World

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FIATS NEW PRICES AND
THEIR SPECIAL PAYMENT
FACILITIES CREATE TO-
DAY THE MOST FAVOR-
ABLE SITUATION FOR THE
PURCHASE OF A CAR

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CINEMECCANICA - S. A.

§ MILAN (Italy) - Viale Campania N. 25 - (Italy) MILAN §

§ Cinematographic installation §

8 for large and small Cinemas, §

§ Recreation-Halls, Clubs, Schools, Families. g

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Istituto Nazionale delle Assicurazioni

ROME - GENERAL DIRECTION - ROME

Insurance contracted with the " Istituto Nazionale delle Assicu-
razioni „ are guaranteed by the State Treasury, and also by the ordi-
nary and extraordinary reserves of the Institute.

The Instituto offers several insurance forms which are adaptable
to every social condition.

For the ((Popular Insurances)) medical Certificates are not required.

Premiums are payable in monthly rates.

At present the amount of insured Capital is superior to 10 Mil-
liard Lire.

The « Istituto Nazionale delle Assicurazioni » which controls the
Insurance Market in Italy, has General Agents in every Italian town,
in the Colonies and Abroad.

The General and Local Agencies also represent « Le Assicurazioni d' 'Italia » an as-
sociated Company of the « Istituto Nazionale delle Assicurazioni » for Insurances against
damages such as : Fire, Burglary, Accidents, Civil responsibities, Hail storms, Tran-
sport of Goods, Air Risks.

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Via Friuli, 31 - MILANO Via Friuli, 31

PHOTOGRAPHIC AND RADIOGRAPHIC

PLfifES

EVERY TYPE AND EVERY GRADE OF SENSIBILITY

1 IMS

For Sale everywhere

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ferrania

Positive and Negative
Cinematographic Films

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Fabbrica

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S. A. (Subscribed and paid-up
HEAD OFFICE: MILAN -

Capital

Lire 13.000.000)

Via Borgonuovo

All our products are made in the factories
of Ferrania (Savona- Italy)

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K

omp.

ANTIQUITIES

OLD MASTERS

\WORKS OF ART
OF EVERY EPOCH

MARBLE-SCULPTURES

ROMA

Via Vittorla Colonna, 11

(Palazzo Simonetti)

Tel. 22-956

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BAROVIER

Artistic glass objects in modern and antique styles

MURANO

Table services - Decorative nick-nacks - Glass lamp suspensions, etc.

SCHOOL FOR GLASS INDUSTRY

11010 VirO PES LEHHIIEE PERIL HO

VENEZIA: Riva del Carbon, 4792

MURANO

Technical and artistical training for
Glass factory workmen.

Lectures for proprietors and workmen.

Experimental laboratory for special
analysis and studies concerning
the glass industry.

The Institute has its own technical
office for assistance, which is at the
disposal of those seeking, technical
and commercial informations on
small industries and in particular
on the glass industry.

FACTORY FOR THE PRINTING OF

ROME

CINEMATOGRAPHIC POSITIVES 445, VIA FLAMINIA

Proprietor: FELICE BOSCHI

Latest model of automatic machinery "DEBRIE,,

===== Reliable firm ======

Jfrinted ki Jtaly.

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