19 DECEMBER 1925, Page 3

Sir Philip Cunliffe-Lister has hinted that if the British film

industry cannot decide what to do he will produce a plan for helping the industry by imposing a quota of British films on the cinemas. We arc among those who earnestly desire the British film industry to be prosperous, but we should prefer alniOst any-Other method of helping than that of forcing on an unwilling public something which does not justify its presence on its merits. We look upon a film as a work of art—or at all events as something which ought to be a work of art. The time has undoubtedly come for the British film industry to make a great effort. But it must do some- thing better than obtain success by privilege and not by merit.

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