FILM SOCIETIES
SIR,—I am glad to see that Edgar Anstey has called attention to the importance of the work of the Film Societies and of the Scientific Film Societies. They are both movements which deserve the greatest possible encouragement. It is not too much to say that they exert an influence on films made commercially which can scarcely be over-estimated. By enabling people to see the classics of the past, the Film Societies are able to encourage discriminating criticism of the over-publicised masterpieces of today. By including documentary films in their programmes both types of Society eventually may oust from the ordinary programme the appalling and intellectually barren short " filler " and thus allow the public to have instead something on which it can bite.
My only regret is that so few Film Societies are operating. Scotland has five, Wales has three, but outside London the whole of England only boasts half-a-dozen. Surely every University town ought to ty. able to find the 400 members which are necessary to enable a Film Society to be financially stable on a reasonable membership subscription.—Yours, &c., OLIVER BELL, Director. The British Film Institute, 4 Great Russell Street, London, W.C. r.
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