West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954), Friday 5 June 1931, page 2


BRITISH FILMS.

Marked Progress Bemf Made.

According to latest advices from London received by the Australian Association of British Manufacturers, almost unexampled progress is being made in the British

nlm industry. It is probable that 100 British pictures will be produced during 1931, of the equivalent of 20 per cent, of all films shown throughout the world. The American monopoly has definitely been broken in England, it is stated, and production is proceeding at high levels in the big British studios. A substantial decline is shown in the importations of films from the United States. Whereas in 1927, 8,118,763 linear feet of negative film were imported, in 1929 the total had fallen to 6,688,927 linear feet. Durintr 1930 a further heaw redniv

;ion took place. British standards have seen raised in every way. Formerly, the :omplete cost of a picture at Elstree studios averaged £5,000. Leading British producers are now thinking in terms of £25,000 and even £50,000 for a picture. For example Gainsborough Pictures Ltd. is producing 'The Hound of the Baskervflies,' which will be shown in Australia later in the year, at a cost of £25,000. The Gaumont-British Company has just completed construction at Shepherd's Bush of new studios, with six new stages, each stage providing work for 100 additional people. The Lime Grove studios are handling as much as 2,000,000 linear feet of film each week. Box office receipts provide the real index of public approval. The talkie, 'Rook-ery Nook' has so far earned in England £100,000. wb--h is almost three times the average takings of a British talkie in England. 'Rookery Nook' is only one of a number of markedly successful British talkies. The pictures. 'Canaries Sometimes Sing' arid 'Plunder' are said to be establishing new records. 'The freshness of the British picture has saved the whole picture industry from a bad slump,' said Mr. W. R. Fuller, general secretary of the Cinematograph Exhibitors' Association, recently. ?Representative of the spirit of cooperation and enterprise permeating the industry, is the arrangement made between producers and the English Censor Board, whereby producers discuss with the boarc the films they propose making. The board has been known to advise against the making of certain pictures, with the Tesuit that these pictures were not made. Similarly recommendations might be made that certain parts be omitted from a scenario. In this way both time and money are saved; the most cordial relations exist between board and producers; and British pictures when completed are first-class pictures .from the points of view of both censor and audience.