PRESERVING GOOD FILMS Sut,—I should like to support your correspondent
on the subject of the proposed destruction of the French film, Le Jour se Leve. There are two points connected with this outrage, about which some of your readers can perhaps enlighten me. I. It is quite usual to purchase the right to adapt a book, play, &c., into another medium, but why destroy the original? In any case, none of the select band of enthusiasts for French films are likely to see the Hollywood version, and, conversely, the masses for whom the new version is intended are unlikely to visit " Studio One " ; so the American company need not fear any unfavourable comparison for its production. 2. What legal rights has the American company for taking this step? Furthermore, what' steps, if any, could it take if a cinema were to secure an odd copy of a film treated in this way, and give a " pirated " performance? As to your correspondent's question about an official body for preserving good films, this exists in England in the British Film Institute ; and many other countries, including U.S.A., have similar bodies This body will almost certainly retain a copy of Le lour se Leve, as it has done in the case of Gaslight, an English film dealt with in the same way.—Yours faithfully, A. LODGE. Royal Air Force, B.A.O.R.
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