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FILMS

September l940 saw the opening of the Films Department of the Ministry. The work of the Department was to fall into three categories, Scheme A, covering shows in cinemas, Scheme B, for mobile shows and Scheme D for Libraries, etc.

The Film Officer made hundreds of contacts with organisations to whom the mobile unit was available and the resultants requests for the facilities offered was highly satisfactory, the films more widely desired being those suitable to be shown in conjunction with food and cooking campaigns. Contact was also made with Librarians and other persons in charge of centres of education with the object of loaning film apparatus; here again there was a keen response.

Five driver-projectionists were appointed for the task of covering the five counties in the Region; the men attended a course of instruction. It was planned that the five units would give a total of sixty shows each week. The operators themselves made a survey of the Region to find village halls suitable for 16mm sound film work and although subsequently many halls were requisitioned for evacuees or for the Military, there remained sufficient for the purpose. Acoustically many were not satisfactory but this defect was to some degree remedied by keeping the volume of sound as low as possible.

Hundreds of requests were received within the first week or two of the Department's coming into existence and rationing had to be introduced to cope with the demand. For example, fifty shows were asked for by A.R.P. Centres in Nottinghamshire alone. Applications were received from Home Guards, Toc H, various women's Clubs, Community Centres, Adult Education Bodies, Miners’ Welfare Institutes, schools, religious bodies of all denominations, etc, etc.

From the first week it was obvious that the mobile sound film units were going to be of the utmost value during the winter months, particularly in the villages and smaller towns of the Region, The majority of the audiences, too, obviously welcomed the educational film. Village audiences on many 156 -2-occasions were larger than the recorded population of the entire village. Audiences of 300 were crowded into halls built to hold 200, and even so many people were often turned away.

Information Committees proved helpful in organising shows and some offered to employ units in their areas for definite lengths of time, for example the Chesterfield Information Committee was able to arrange shows for a fortnight.

A great problem was that of obtaining films for the shows arranged. Another handicap was the curious distribution of DC and AC and of AC periodicity other than 50 cycles. At first there was no converter in the Region. In the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire area there is much direct current and in the north of Derbyshire are certain areas with AC 30 current for which no suitable equipment was at first available.

Enquiries were instituted by the Film Officer to ascertain to what extent Scheme A shows could be given in the cinemas of the Region. Again the scheme was welcomed and there were immediate requests for shows which could not be satisfied because of the lack of films. Very soon, however, the position was assisted by a regional supply of 19 35mm films being stored in Nottingham. For both A and B schemes the co-operation of various Ministries notably those of Food and Health, were obtained.

From informal talks with cinema managers, the Film Officer was able to ascertain what use was being made of the Ministry's five-minute films. It was revealed that whereas in large city centre cinemas the position was satisfactory, in small town cinemas nine out of ten used the films and in suburban cinemas only three out of four used them.

The immediate response under Scheme D was that librarians at Northampton, Chesterfield, Mansfield and Lincoln began a series of shows to good audiences. Help in erecting and using the apparatus was given by the Ministry's driver-projectionists.

During the winter of 1940-41 it is estimated 40% of the audiences at mobile unit shows in Leicestershire and Northamptonshire were evacuees. For that reason and also because these counties appeared to be more war conscious than Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, audiences in the south of the Region were much larger than those of the north. Scheme A shows during the winter were increasingly difficult to arrange; because of the black-out and fear of air raids cinemas tended to extend their hours in the earlier part of the day, thus making it almost impossible to hire cinemas for shows.

A few months experience proved that the most effective means of advertisement was small notices in the Press, which often received editorial comment, and cheap handbills printed in blue on white paper and sent out to factories, schools and at the theatre. Double crown and a few six sheet posters displayed in prominent positions also provided valuable publicity. With the residue from advertising one of the Scheme A shows a number of posters were printed. Upon these the time and place of the show could be filled in by the Organiser of Scheme B shows.

By the Spring of 1941 the number of mobile units had increased to six and Scheme B programmes were on a more identifiable “campaign” basis. In March, for example, a Salvage Campaign was being run in Leicester; silage and agricultural campaigns in Lincolnshire; and a “Grow more Food” campaign in Derbyshire. In every programme at this time the Fire Bomb film was shown.

Even with seven units, however, it appeared that the demand for shows was so great that it would be impossible to repeat shows more than once a year. The need for a machine with a generator had by this time become acute and in early June the arrival of this type of equipment relieved the Department of a serious problem.

During the summer months audiences for Scheme A and B shows kept up and work increased. Library shows tended to slacken, but there were requests from additional libraries for equipment for Autumn use.

The usefulness of our film propaganda was demonstrated in Swadlincote when after the showing of “Defeat Diphtheria” the Medical Authorities reported that they had received 230 applications or immunisation and that the steady flow of applicants continued.

By November 1942, with 9 units the work of the Department was 30% greater than in the same month of the previous year.

Special Sunday shows were organised in cinemas for the training of Fireguard and N.F.S. Personnel in addition to the shows given by the mobile units.

The most important film being shown during this period was describing the Fire Bomb and it was estimated that the film was seen by two-thirds of the population of the Region.

By this time it became apparent that large machines were necessary to cope with the various factory canteens, and a 35mm projector was requisitioned for this purpose. Regular monthly visits were paid to factories and two monthly to village organisations.

An increase in the number of mobile units in the Region to 12 meant that 500 film shows a month could be given and that more service could be given with training films to small specialised audiences, e.g. “Scabies”, “Boiler House Practice”, “Factory Fireguards”, etc.

By the beginning of 1944 the Department was assisting American Troop units and hospitals and Red Cross Clubs in the area. Not only were English documentaries being loaned for inclusion in American entertainment film programmes common in U.S. camps, but machines were serviced and equipment and spare parts loaned.