CHILDREN AND THE CINEMA
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] S111,—May I thank you and your able contributor, " Crusader," for the generous treatment given to my notes on the influence of the films on the minds of children, under the title, The Fascination of Fear" ?
Your correspondent " Veritas " (the Spectator, Janu- ary 22nd) suggests, as a compromise, cinema performances for children only and for adults only. In many foreign countries something very near this is the rule : children are not permitted to go to see pictures which have not been specially licensed as fit for the child mind—as a rule, by a Government censorship specially set up ad hoc.
A most instructive report on the practice of different countries has been drawn up by the Social Section of the League of Nations, and now lies before me (C.P.E. 40 (I)), It bears witness to an amazing lack of imagination on the part of the English-speaking nations. Broadly speaking, they alone are content to allow any child, however young, to see any film, however objectionable, so long as it is in the company of a parent. They alone are content to allow the censorship to toss the responsibility to the parent, and the parent to toss it back to the censorship—a position comfortable to all, except the timid and receptive mind of the child, who cannot express himself in any way that counts.—I am, Sir, &c., 12 Belsize Grove, N.W. 3. WILLIAM El:MUTT.
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