From the Pit

The idea of the "film society" is nothing very new, but it is nevertheless, flourishing today with all the vigor of a new idea. There is hardly a large city in the country whose citizens have not been lately offered a chance to see "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari," "The Birth of a Nation," and other film classics. Although the audiences may be told that they are gathered together for the purpose of studying the new art form of the motion picture, there may be no more than a handful of really serious students of the cinema in each audience. The larger percentage of subscribers are probably people who have recently been introduced to the treasury of foreign films and are consequently more and more discontented with the neighborhood theater's fare. The film society is bringing foreign films to communities where it is commercially unprofitable to show them: a commendable, if subversive, work.

For some years before the war, the University had such a group, the Harvard Film Society; it was run purely by undergraduates, like the Dramatic Club, and when its leaders graduated (one of whom now sponsors the Boston Film Society) there was no permanent sponsorship to ensure the organization's continuance.

In the spring of 1947, the Liberal Union began showing films at the New Lecture Hall on an informal basis. The equipment was poor, the auditorium was physically and visually distorting, and the films were usually "tainted" with social criticisms. (The HLU had an actively "radical" reputation which it does not have now.) The audiences were small, and frequently hostile, even when so fine a film as Rene Clair's "A Nous la Liberte" was shown. In this instance, at least, their animosity was easily explainable: coming to see the Clair film, they first had to sit through two suspicious shorts, one on folk-singing, and the other on the TVA.

One year later, the HLU could look at its accounts and see that the only big money-makers were two Chaplin "Festivals," and Hitchcock's "39 Steps." "Chapayev," "Native Son," and the documentaries, all lost money. Few subsequent programs have.

HLU Shows Profit

The function of the Liberal Union has not been to provide an unofficial course in Classics of the Cinema. Its realm of instruction lies elsewhere. In the past year and a half, the HLU has turned its film series into a profitable thing for itself, but has shown only two films, "Man's Hope," and "Ivan the Terrible," which might hold any interest for the serious student. The remaining films have been either last year's box-office sensations or fairly frequent tenants at the small foreign-film theaters.

(One exception to the above was "Topper." Like all the other films, it was chosen from the lists of available 16mms "to give a well-balanced program," in the words of an HLU spokesman. There is no other imaginable reason for its inclusion. But "Topper" did a roaring white-shoe trade, and next year the HLU will include "Topper Takes a Trip." Money, money, money...)

What the HLU has failed to do, and what the University has hardly contemplated--offering a course in some phase of the motion-picture--two Winthrop House tutors did this past year. R. J. Dorius and S. F. Johnson offered House members an opportunity to subscribe to a film series on the American Comedy. The program they selected included Chaplin, Keaton, the Marx Brothers, W. C. Fields, and others. There were six evenings of films and five of discussions. The cost was two dollars for the series, and each subscriber could bring one guest. The discussions on the cinema were conducted by Professors Poggioli, Richards, Levin, Matthiessen, and Coolidge. About 150 Winthrop men became students of the cinema.

Monsieur Verdoux

(The Winthrop series was made an even more complete success by the unscheduled showing of "Monsieur Verdoux," the new Charlie Chaplin film which has been withdrawn from the American market due to the pressure of certain unofficial censuring groups. This special showing was arranged by Mr. Matthiessen who personally requested the film after seeing it at another private performance at Kenyon College. If it had done nothing more, the Winthrop Series rendered a great service to the College in this instance.)

The Winthrop House system could very well spread to other Houses. If this should happen, the programs could be coordinated, with the same film showing at two or more Houses on one night, thereby saving on the rental fee. Equipment and operators could be interchanged, though there is scarcely, a shortage of either. Several members of the Faculty stand by to advise and assist; there is an audience waiting.