Soviet films, censorship and the British government: A matter of the public interest

NOTES

• The Cinema, its Present Position and Future Possibilities. Report of Cinema Commission of Inquiry set up by the National Council for Public Morals, London, 1917, p. XXI; House of Common Debates 1925 June 185 29 5th series, 1924–25, Col 2084.
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• Carter , Huntley . 1924 . New Theatre and Cinema of Soviet Russia , London : Chapman & Dodd . Pravda, 9 May 1926, cited in R. Taylor (1979) The Politics of the Soviet Cinema 1917–29, p. 174 (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press).
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• H045/24871, Miller to Brooke-Wilkinson, 17 January 1928. Apart from the Delegation, Russian produced films appear to have been available on a commercial basis only from the Prometheus Film Company, founded in 1926. This was an offshoot of the German Communist Organisation, Internationale Arbeiterhilfe. Hartsough Denise Soviet film distribution and exhibition in Germany, 1921–33 Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television 1985 5 131 148 1985 H045/24871, Copy of intercepted letter, F. A. Enders to unspecified address in Berlin, 31 May 1926.
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• Hartsough Denise Soviet film distribution and exhibition in Germany, 1921–33 Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television 1985 5 131 148 1985 Sir Oswyn Murray to Sir John Anderson, 21 June 1926.
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• Hartsough Denise Soviet film distribution and exhibition in Germany, 1921–33 Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television 1985 5 131 148 1985 Bridgeman to Joynson-Hicks, 1 July 1926.
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• Hartsough Denise Soviet film distribution and exhibition in Germany, 1921–33 Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television 1985 5 131 148 1985 Miller to Brooke-Wilkinson, 26 June 1926; Joynson-Hicks to Bridgeman, 6 July 1926.
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• This is confirmed in Hartsough D. Soviet film distribution and exhibition in Germany, 1921–33 Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television 1985 5 136 136
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• A British Company organised to carry on trade with Russia. The raid on its premises on 12 May 1927 preceded the break in diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union on 24 May. Yet the raid uncovered nothing of significance. Mowat C.L. Britain Between the Wars Methuen London 1968 337 338
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• Son of Lord Swaythling film producer and critic. He had visited Russia in 1925 to try to obtain films for the London Film Society. His autobiography testifies to the extreme difficulty of obtaining Soviet productions. Montagu Ivor The Youngest Son Lawrence & Wishart London 1970 273 273 291
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• Report of Cinema Commission of Inquiry 256 – 258 . op. cit. Evidence of T. P. O'Connor
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• H045/24871, conference memorandum, 8 September 1926. Although indecent material could be handed to police for inspection there were no viewing facilities at ports. Films could be indefinitely confiscated by the customs only for non payment of duty. The police could hold a film for fourteen days to allow for inspection. After that time it had to be returned to the owners. Home Office minute on Black Sunday January 1927 1 Memorandum from Custom Officer on The End of St Petersburg, 6 February 1929.
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• Black Sunday September 1929 Home Office memorandum, 19 Surveyor of Customs to Superintendent of Police, Harwich and subsequent correspondence concerning importation of The Mother, 24 February 1928; Home Office minute, 7 March 1928; Office of Irish Free State High Commission Secretary to The Customs House, 6 March 1928.
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• Black Sunday April 1928 Miller to Brooke-Wilkinson, 4 Comment by Home Secretary, 14 April 1928. This film is now more generally know as Oktyabr, and was then sometimes called Ten Days That Shook The World. The export of Soviet films through Germany is the main explanation for such changes of title. R. Taylor, op. cit., p. 170.
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• Robertson , James C. 1984 . Edith Cavell and Anglo German relations . Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television , 4 : 15 – 28 . Dawn (1928)
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• Brentford , Viscount . 1929 . Do we Need a Censor? , 10 – 10 . London : Faber & Faber .
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• House of Commons Debates March 1928 214 1 5th Series, 1928, Col 579–581.
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• LCC/MIN/10/755, Report of Theatres and Music Halls Inspection of Films Sub-committee on Potemkin May 1928 7 The London and Middlesex County Councils had a joint licensing inspection committee. In 1930 they were joined by Surrey County Council; H045/24871, Minute by Sir John Anderson, 9 May 1928, Report of a police interview with F. A. Enders, 26 November 1928.
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• 1929 . Potemkin , February Chairman and General Manager of The New Leader to Joynson-Hicks, 5
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• Montagu , Ivor . 1929 . The Political Censorship of Films , 3 – 42 . London : Victor Gollanz .
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• Knowles , D. 1934 . The Censor, The Drama and The Film , 201 – 207 . London : George Allen & Unwin . Jeffrey Richards (1981) The BBFC and content Control in the 1930s, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 1, pp. 95–98.
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• The BBFC's criteria for banning or cutting films 1919, 1926 and 1930. cited in Propaganda, Politics and Film, 1918–45 Pronay N. Spring D. Macmillan London 1982 104 104 James C. Robertson (1985) The British Board of Film Censors, Film Censorship in Britain 1896–1950, p. 180 (London, Croom Helm).
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• H045/24871, Warrant issued by W. Joynson-Hicks to Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis to detain and produce for inspection Storm Over Asia 1929 January 29 This film's original title was Potomok Chingis Khana or Heir To Genghis Khan; Note of private showing of Storm Over Asia at BBFC offices, 23 August 1929. A certificate was refused; Widdows to Home Office, 11 September 1929.
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• Pronay , N. and Spring , D. 1982 . Propaganda, Politics and Film, 1918–45 , 104 – 104 . London : Macmillan . Nicholas Pronay, The Political Censorship of Films in Britain Between the Wars, pp. 99–100.
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• Hollins T.J. The conservative party and film propaganda between the wars English Historical Review April 1981 354 369 1981 Bert Hogenkamp (1986) Deadly Parallels, Film and the Left in Britain 1929–39, p. 13 (London, Lawrence & Wishart); H045/14267, Home Office memorandum, 17 April 1931.
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• H045/24871, Brooke-Wilkinson to Miller Undated memorandum from BBFC enclosed with letter 1929 February 1
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• July 1928 . H045/24871, LCC report on Theatres and Music Halls July , 4
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• British Film Institute Archive, London Film Society Notes on Potemkin November 1929 10 A London Film Society performance took place a year later.
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• H045/24871, Home Office minute November 1928 9 Copy of remarks made by Brooke-Wilkinson to Miller and sent to the Home Office, 8 November 1928; Rosamund Smith to S. W. Harris, 23 November 1928.
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• H045/24871, Miller to Brooke-Wilkinson January 1929 25 Liverpool Daily Post, 4 February 1929, Daily Express, 4 February 1929; LCC/MIN/11/121, Statement of LFS to Home Secretary.
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• H045/24871, Home Office Memorandum February 1929 4 Sir Robert Thomas, MP, to Joynson-Hicks, 4 February 1929.
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• LCC/MIN/11/121, Secretary of the London Film Society to LCC February 1929 9 H045/24871, Notes of a private film show before Special Branch, MI5 and Home Office representatives at BBFC offices, 11 December 1929; House of Commons Debates, 30 June 1930, Vol 240, 5th Series, 1929–30; Text of Temporary Commercial Agreement, 16 April 1930 given in W. P. and Zelda K. Coates (1945) A History of Anglo-Soviet Relations, pp. 758–764 (London, Lawrence & Wishart); H045/14276, Home Office Memorandum, 23 April 1931.
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• H045/24871, Filed extract from The Worker November 1929 1 Special Branch to Brooke-Wilkinson, 8 November 1929. The Workers Film Society was a branch of the British Federation of Workers Film Societies, formed simultaneously in late October 1929 under the initiative of the Communist-led trades union organisation, The Minority Movement. There is no evidence that the Federation was actually formed by Weltfilm, though likely that it sought association with this internationalist organisation. R. Bond was the film critic of the Daily Worker. Hogenkamp, op. cit., pp. 36–37, 60.
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• LCC minutes May 1930 13 LCC/MIN/10/763, 17 October 1930; LCC/MIN/10/761, 5 March 1930; LCC/MIN/11/139, Montagu Cox to Hilda Browning, 1 Feb 1930.
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• Brooke-Wilkinson to LCC February 1930 11 The rejected titles were Potemkin, Mother, Storm Over Asia. Others on the programme had not yet been submitted to the BBFC; LCC to BBFC, 19 February 1930.
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• The New Leader March 1930 7 LCC/MIN/10/761, Minutes of the Theatres and Music Halls Subcommittee, 5 March 1930; The Times, 12 March 1930.
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• LCC Minutes October 1930 21 British Film Institute Archives, Meeting of the County of London, BBFC Verbatim reports 1929–30, pp. 18–24.
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• H045/14275, Extract from Todays Cinema News and Property Guide 1930 February 25 Statement of Parliamentary Film committee sent to the Home Secretary in advance of intended meeting, 11 July 1930; LCC/MIN/10/761, Minutes of the Theatres and Music Halls Sub-Committee, 2 April 1930.
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• He became president of the BBFC in 1947 after being associated with the Board's work from its beginning Robertson The British Board of Film Censors Croom Helm London 1985 4 4 and p. 163.
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• There was a particularly strong movement in Birmingham for film censorship reform. Pronay Nicholas The first reality: film censorship in liberal England Feature Films as History Short K.R.M. Croom Helm London 1983 132 132 (1983) British Film Institute Archive, BBFC Verbatim Reports, Film Censorship Consultative Committee, 26 November 1931, pp. 2–3; R. S. Lambert (1932) Towards a Film Institute, Journal of Adult Education, October 1932, 6, pp. 47–49.
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• H045/24871, Scott to Miller, 15 December 1928; H045/17067, Home Office Memorandum 1934 February 20
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• Hogenkamp . 1986 . Deadly Parallels, Film and the Left in Britain 1929–39 , 82 – 83 . London : Lawrence & Wishart . H045/17067, Report by LCC's Entertainments committee, 7 July 1934; Ronald Kidd, Council for Civil Liberties to the Chairman, LCC Entertainments Committee.
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• January 1939 . H045/17415, Home Office to Metropolitan Police Commissioner January , 3
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