CRUELTY ON THE FILMS [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
Sin,—With regard to Mr. M. G. Mercier's letter and your comments thereon, your readers will be glad to know that this League has been keeping an eye on cruelties on the films. The work presents difficulties owing to the illusory nature of certain episodes. For instance, many people were shocked at the episode in Africa Speaks, where a lion chases a boy. We are actually told that the boy has been killed—and that the whole tribe turns out to dispatch the offending lion to avenge the boy's death. Yet the killing was a fake, effected by the Dunning process (I believe that is the name). The lion ran in Africa, the boy in the American studio.
I have taken the matter up with the film censor. Ile promises to lend a sympathetic ear to our complaints. With the decline in performing wild animal turns on the stage we may get an increase on the films, for the owners will still want to make them pay. But letters to the Press, to cinema managers and to the film censor, fortiter in re suaviter in mode, together with editorial comments, will do an enormous amount towards making cruel films unprofitable. I shall be grateful for notifications by your readers of any films objection- able in this respect.—I am, Sir, &c., EDMUND T. MA.CMICHAEL (Hon. Secretary).
Performing and Captive Animals' Defence League, 17 Buckingham Street, Adelphi, London, W.C. 2.
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