Entertainment v. Education

Nobody knows how many cinemagoers there are in the U. S. Guesses range from 28 to 80 million. Nobody knows whether the cinema is a good or a bad influence. But most people agree that it is an influence of some sort. To probe the delicate question of just what sort of influence the cinema is or might be was one of the ticklish tasks tackled last week by the annual Institute of Human Relations at Williamstown, Mass.

Yelling "Foul!" before a glove had been laid on him, Trade-Publisher Martin Quigley (Motion Picture Herald, Motion Picture Daily) loudly proclaimed that anyone who took cinema seriously was simply being sham & vexatious. "It is the industry's judgment and mine," sparred Publisher Quigley, "that the entertainment film belongs in the province of entertainment and nowhere else. If there are others who wish to use this medium for a message which they imagine the world is yearning to hear, the obvious course for them is to get a camera and go to work." Bouncing out of the opposite corner. Prof. Fred Eastman, of Chicago's Theological Seminary, countered with a straight right to the heart. "Whether the producer knows it or not," he jabbed, "he is an educator. He shapes emotions, intelligence, sets up character patterns and everything that determines outlook on life."

When Publisher Quigley dropped his guard and went into a crouch: ("Well, what do you want us to do?") Professor Eastman straightened him up with a jarring left: ("The motion pictures should tell their stories on the screen truthfully according to human values. They should not lie about them.") At the sight of Socialist Norman Thomas climbing into the ring to join Professor Eastman's attack, Publisher Quigley retired to a neutral corner. Paramount News Assignment Editor William P. Montague took his place, gave ground a little when he admitted that newsreels perhaps tended to be superficial (see below) but blamed the public's insistence on being entertained at all costs. "To get a camera and go to work" was exactly what critics of Hollywood ought to do, said Ohio State University's scholarly Dr. Edgar Dale. He also recommended a Consumers' Research organization to evaluate Hollywood's productions. Meantime the action of three progressive schools near Philadelphia (Friend's Central, Oak Lane Country Day, Cheltenham Township High School) showed that at least some educators thought some films had some educational value. To show their adolescent charges how the world wags, the Progressive Education Association prepared for classroom screenings of Winter set, Black Legion, I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang, The Informer, Fury, The Devil Is a Sissy, Men in White.

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