The League of Nations

The International Cinematograph Department

THE cinema to-day exerts perhaps a stronger influence than the newspaper. For a newspaper is read by adults to discover what is happening in the world, and the cinema is enjoyed as an entertainment by children as well as adults. Its appeal is emotional and it is through the emotions that " propaganda " penetrates most easily. The silent film has no language frontier ; its sphere is that of all action, of movement, of the social and private relations of people, of life as it is lived throughout the world. By means of the film a more exact picture of this or that civilization or country can be given than through any other medium, and—what is more—in a way which appeals to our present-day tastes.

" The Cinema is a most comprehensive language in its great simplicity. It appeals directly to the eye and the visual representa- tion, causing a perfect state of emotion and sensibility, fixes on our -mind and soul conceptions which are not easily forgotten—sensations complete 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."

The above quotation, taken from the International Review of Educational Cinematograph, is a fairly just estimate of the new power which can be wielded by means of the screen.

A NEW INSTITUTE.

It is not surprising, therefore, that the cinema has been recognized throughout the world as a powerful educational force. In France, Germany, Russia, and Scandinavia educational films are a part of the regular school curriculum, and it is possible to conceive of the cinema as an important medium for the diffusion of international thought. In order to develop international co-operation in the educational field by means of the educational film, the Italian Government in 1927 proposed to the Assembly of the League the creation of a new International Official Body, the International Educa- tional Cinematographic Institute. On August 30th, 1928, the Council of the League of Nations definitely approved the statutes of this organization, which will work in collaboration with the League presumably, under the aegis of the Assembly. This is the third of the special Institutes which have come into being in order to further the general purpose of the League in specialized spheres, the other two being, of course, the International Institute for Intellectual Co-operation in Paris and the International Institute for the Unification of Private International Law in Rome. Although the International Educational Cinematographic Institute is to a great extent dependent on the League, it is, according to the International Review of Educational Cinematograph, " juridically distinct " —whatever that may mean—from the League of Nations.

The role of the International Educational Cinematographic Institute is, we are told :

" to work for the mutual comprehension of the peoples, to create among these an always greater sentiment of International solidarity, and thus establish a general aspiration towards Peace, following the spirit of the League of Nations."

and more particularly :

" to promote the production, circulation and exchange between various countries of educational films dealing with education, art, pro- fessional and agricultural orientation, 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 most especially on children." (Sic.)

The functions of the Institute, in even greater detail, are to collect documentary evidence about educational and cultural films—a difficult task because there is fortunately no definite division between purely educational or cultural films and films made for entertainment ; to investigate the technical fields of cinematograph development ; to classify the world's patents relating to cinematography for reference purposes ; to study what is being done with regard to agricultural, hygienic, scientific and other educational work through the medium of the cinema ; and, perhaps its most delicate and difficult function, to enquire into the social and moral aspects of the cinema.

POSSIBILITIES AND LIMITATIONS.

There can be no doubt that this Institute can be of the greatest use in its capacity of research, classification, and general investigation of the technical side of cinematography ; and it is also certain that in the cinema there is a comparatively =exploited field of moral suasion. By means of the film, people of one national group will be able to come to a better understanding of the life of people of another ; the city can be made to see the point of view of the country. But whether the idea (which seems to be the fundamental aim of the International Educational Cinematographic Institute) of the formation of a kind of " common thought " is possible, and if possible is advisable, is a matter of the greatest doubt. Supposing that a Committee of Solons were to dictate specific " propaganda " to be disseminated by means of the cinema, would it be advisable to try to impose one ethical and philosophical conception on the world ?

The Administrative Council of this Institute consists of the Director, the Secretary, and fourteen representatives from different countries—Professor Gilbert Murray is the only Englishman on the Council—together with the Secretary- General of the League of Nations, the President of the International Institute of Agriculture, the Director of the International Labour Office, and the Director of the International Institute of Intellectual Co-operation, who attend meetings, but have only " a consultive vote." The Director and the Secretary of the Institute are both Italian. The idea of a Committee with the power to dictate the principles and ideals which " will tend towards the betterment of the material and moral well-being of the peoples " is natural to the Italian mind, trained in Roman law and Catholic principles, but it is decidedly alien to most of us. We all know to what extent one " truth " and only one truth is presented in Italy to-day, but will the truth, as seen through Italian spectacles, be acceptable and inevitable to the rest of us ? We cannot refrain from asking that—to most of us —unanswerable question, What is truth ? " Surely State patronage must to some extent narrow the scope of the cinema, and the patronage of one committee with the power of influencing educational and cultural cinematography throughout the world must check rather than encourage original and artistic output. It is true, as we have already said, that educational films cannot really have so great an influence as other films, for they have less emotional appeal. But, even so, surely it is better that educational films should be made from different aspects with different sermons to preach ? The International Educational Cinematographic Institute, in fact, seems to be taking rather a lot upon itself.

ITS MEDIUM OF EXPRESSION.

Something must be said of the way—the only way as far as we know—in which the world is to hear of this new and enterprising organization. In the International Review of Educational Cinematograph, published monthly in Rome, the first number of which appeared last July, the aims and general outlook of the new Institute are set forth. It is regrettable that the actual text of the constitution is not included, for, if it were, we might be in a better position to understand the significance of the expression " juridically distinct," &c. To give the greatest circulation to this review, it has been published in five different languages—English, Italian, French, German, and Spanish. We have learnt not to expect much from magazines and pamphlets translated from Russian and Italian, but this magazine excels itself for the illiteracy of its translation, as our quotations show clearly enough. We had so match trouble discovering the meaning of it all (we mislaid the magazine on three separate occasions) that we do not feel its circulation will be very great. It is surprising that the Institute did not see the necessity of submitting the English translation of the review to an English editor. But this can and must be remedied.

Although the primary importance of the League of Nations lies undoubtedly in cleansing the Augean stables of politics (which must include, nowadays, international economic relations), no one can fail to recognize the importance of this Institute. No doubt more details of what exactly its promoters propose to do will be made known at the coming