THE G.P.O. FILM UNIT
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] Snt,—Your film critic says in his last review that : " The G.P.O. Film Unit, after its pioneer incursions into the wider social perspectives . . . has now settled down to films which concentrate more on the ' how ' rather than the ' why ' of Post Office Organisation." It is surprising to learn of this narrowing of the imaginative range of our films, especially as Mr. Wright's comment on Roadways is that it : " Analyses not only the extent of the G.P.O. long distance transport, but also the .major problems of the roads today and their historical causes." Again he says of We Live in Two Worlds that it : " Links the story of communications between nation and nation to the widest aspects of international co-operation." Surely these words in themselves belie Mr. Wright's earlier statement ?
There is no change in the production policy of the G.P.O. Film Unit, and it will continue as before to make films of the " how " and the " why " class.—Yours faithfully,
ALBERTO CAVALCANTI. J. B. HOLMES. HARRY WATTS.
G.P.O. Film Unit, 21 Soho Square, London, W. I.
[Mr. Basil Wright writes : " The gentlemen protest too much, methinks. The phrase ' narrowing of the imaginative range ' is theirs, not mine. My surely not ungenerous review of their film is, as they themselves carefully acknowledge, sufficient indication that the sentence they object to was in no way meant to bear the interpretation they place on it."l
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