7 “TV REVIEW : Books — Motion Pictures — Musie— Arts = — boys. »ndustry, employing some jrid’s finest creative’ minds, ‘im by the flick of an elec- teh turn night into day, ito summer, a desert into '< storm at sea and unfor- semetimes make black ty close to white, allows ibe dominated and dictated '7o of the strictest bodies parship in America: the Wice and ihe Catholic Lea- eiecency. - ny; would suggest that the f ikers be let run wild with vision over what they put § tie round boxes for public ion Shady business meth- »: what they are, it is obvi- Wnust protect our children =» Kind’ of dangerous trash finded, unprincipled men sid ont to them. But when | apparently set up for this © timate purpose turn their » instead to censoring all @ and social content out of E es it is high time*that the = women who turn in their »t the box office objected } sly. S pat is exactly what is hap- 4g. Some years ago, for » the production of Sinclair eit Can’t Happen Here” was @ 2 on the grounds that ‘the » 5 anti-fascist.” The Hays © iS no gualms about fiyist- = itentatiously innocent rules Bon Of political attack. All Ethe office insists, except /2onsiitited authority, must shed. Fair enough! But EfS. Office smoothly turns 1) a rule which prohipits, fit or not, the killing of puUess the killer is in turn Hi! Tell that to the boys-in to the men who escaped sinlork. According to the ns oldier im Montsomery’s must be a potential mur- / Moon is Down” also came ~ a _ By CYNTHIA CARTER Junniest thing in Hollywood, contrary to popular opinion, sot something created by Disney. Nor is it the work of }pe, Red Skelton, Jack Benny, or any of the other famous he funniest thing in Hollywood, something which would »t funnier if it weren’t tragic, is that America’s third under the Hays axe, and stills showing a Nazis pinned to a wail by a bayonet were held back. “In Which We Serve” was slapped on the theoretical wrist by the sensi- tive Mr. Hays. Why? Because in it seamen who were giving their lives in the fight against fascism referred to the enemy as “bas- tards.” When you see “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” don’t blame Paramount entirely for the fact that the few good parts of the book have been ignored in the movie version. The first script of the film, written by Dudley Nichols, and a fairly accu- rate transcription of the novel, didn’t please the Franco ambassa- dor to the United States. There- fore the US State Department ac- tually suggested to Paramount that the film be submitted to a repre- sentative of the Spanish fascist government. This was. done: Changes were made in the script. Finally it was announced that re- action had triumphed, that “For Whom the Bell Tolls” would deai with a mythical hero in a mythical eountry. In other words, Heming- Way’s version won’t be shown in Canadian theatres. Franco’s ver- sion of the Spanish war is pre- ferred by the US State Depari- ment. Another rule of the Hays Office has it that all fascist agents shown in moyies must have foreign ac- cents. Warner Brothers, most pro- gressive of the moyie makers, pro. duced “Keeper of the Flame” in the face of this. Another thing that grates upon Hays Office morals is marriage .between races of different colors. So in “China Girl” the hero, George Montgom- ery, doesn’t win the Chinese girl, Gene Tierney. The Hays Office conveniently kijls her off in the last reel. @ wit HAYS, like a number of well-known men, likes to give speeches full of inspiring, if ab- Stract, pronouncements about de- “John Reed __ 'N DAYS THAT SHOOK THE WORLD oe See eee 1225 ‘TIZEN TOM PAINE Howerd Fast See eee 3.00 | Marx and Engels j 4 j HE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO The People Bookshop 105 Shelly Building MA 6929 Vancouver | 9 West Pender moeracy, the post-war world, etc. In his recent annual report to pic- ture producers he said that in help- ing to shape the post-war world the primary function of the indus- try will be “promoting mutual un- derstanding and. sympathy” among people of all races and creeds. | Yet at the same time the office rules that Chinese girls musn't become too friendly with 100 per- cent Americans. Pictures like “He Stayed for breakfast’ and “Comrade &,” some- times viciously anti-Soviet, are re- leased for public consumption. “Gunga Din” is still going the rounds, after being denounced by: the Indian press. “Down Argen- tine Way” was also severely criti- cized by the people it is supposed to portray. “Tales of Manhattan,” over the objections of Paul Rebe- son, portrays Negroes as usual as genial, comic, and slightly child- ish. “The Real Glory,’ which Slandered the Filipino people, Passed the Hays Office—but not the US government, and was later withdrawn. Showing in a Vancouver thea- tre this week is a film which might have been inspired by rioters who made a joke of the Four Freedoms in Detroit re- centiy. This picture, “Captive Wild Woman,” tells a story about a girl who turns into an ape. But just before she becames an ape, she passes through a Negro stage. Promoting mutual under- standing and sympathy, Mr. Hays? : @ pee Catholi¢ League of Decency has also a pretty grim history. It was this 8roup which was re- sponsible for the barring of “Block- ade,” a plea for help against the fascists in Spain, from hundreds of theatres. The League of Decency also turned thumbs down on the new musical, “Stage Door Can- teen,” classifying it as “unsuitable in part.” The “part® that is ob- jJectionable to the League, believe reviewers, is that which shows Ne- groes and whites dancing together and pays tribute to a Soviet War hero. ss The movies are one of the strongest forces for propaganda. Go to any big city, watch the kids file in for the Saturday matinee, look at the evening line-yps. And then consider the type of agency that decides which films and what kind of films the people will see. In this time of national emer- gency we need good films, we need morale-building films, we need anti-fascist films, we need films which will explain the issues at stake in this war, and truly tell us the struggles of the Nnited Na- tions. We need a movie industry devoted to winning the war—not by cutting out the films we like to see for laughs—but by cutting out those productions that are careful- ly anti-democratic. As people in a country fighting for freedom for all men for all time, we would kind of like to think that we could choose our entertainment without the help of Hitler, Mussolini, Hiro- hito and Franco, or the Hays Office as now constituted, or the Gatholic League of Decency. The F ighting Seamen ACTION IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC—Again a Warner Brothers production, this time telling the story of the men of the US merehant marine. No heroes, only the men themselyes— their hopes, their fears, and why they fight. In the hiring hall of the National Maritime Union they sit and play cards waiting for a call. One man decides not to sign on again. He has a wife, who will soon have a child, and he wants to be with them, he says. “So you want a soft job,’ one of his former shipmates taunts him. “Go ask the Poles and Greeks— they wanted a soft job too. Now they're lined up digging their own graves.” We see a gigantic convoy, vessels from all the United Nations, setting out on a journey to Murmansk. U: boats attack, and the convoy dis- perses to evade the enemy. The story follows one ship, an Ameri- can Liberty ship, and we follow their attempts to throw a German sub off the scent. During one whole night we watch with the erew, straining every nerve to cateh the first warning of the U boat’s proximity so that they can open fire when it comes within range. But Nazis bombers come to finish the job for the U-boat and the crew battles for survival. The battle scenes are realistical- ly portrayed, in fact, the film is being used as an educational me- dium for naval personnel. Mer— chant seamen at the Pacific prem- iere were enthusiastic. John Howard Lawson from away back has been noted for his seripts, for the fine honest and down-to- earth realism of his dialogue and for his sincere presentation of just ordinary people. These seamen are just ordinary folks. They don’t spout about heroic phrases. They just do ‘heir job, and keep on do- ing it in spite of all the risks and dangers. They beef about condi- tions and. they want the best wages going, but through it all they keep up the work. An escort of Soviet planes brings them triumphantly into Murmansk to rejoin the convoy al- ready docked there. Greetings are shouted in a dozen tongues and from the docks, the Soviet people call out a welcome. A girl long- shoreman brings & comment from. Alan Hale, “First time I ever Wwant- ed to kiss a longsshoreman.” But lest the joyous reception should create a “happy endings” il- lusion, one seaman remarks quiet- ly, “I’m just thinking of the trip home again.” Letters From Our Readers ss Production ©. Caron, writes: The lack of co-ordination is the main factor that must be over- come to solve the many problems that are detrimental in the ship- yards at the present. Recent pro- posals for a new setup for labor- Management committees have been referred to the manage- ments and to B.C. Shipbuilders’ Federation and a meeting is be- ing organized with union repre- sentatives. An incident took place in the Worth Van Ship Repair which places before us the urgent neces- sity of co-operation. In that par- ticular instance the welders re- fused to be sent from the water to the ways and a brief sitdown occurred. The workers could not understand why they should be shifted from the water to the ways, resulting in loss of time, also the neglect of just as neces- sary work on the water. The placing of too many welders on one boat on the ways established unfavorable conditions to work under, thus hampering produc- tion. We are interested in pro- shipyard worker, duction and would like to know why such procedure is necessary. Instead of management and labor planning jointly, the management is squabbling among themselves as to whom should get the work ers to do this job first, and neces- Sarily transmit their idea to-the workers; unnecessary stoppage of work takes place and workers are fired, still further aggsravatng the manpower probiem. Examples are often given by executives in the yards to prove that labor is not interested in production, such as absenteeism, trying to demonstrate the so-call- ed lack of patriotism of labor. Patriotism can be gauged to some degree by the sacrifices made by the people. Taxation in so far as workers are concerned deals di- rectly with bread and butter, the seven-day continuous production plan means very little relaxation, Swing shifts means another hard- ship; many other things could be mentioned that do not affect the employers to any sreat degree. I am not raising those things for equality of sacrifice but to show that labor is doing its part in our war effort. Labor has proven its value and capabilities as a great contributing factor in our effort for victory. Any sec- tion of management who refuses to establish labor-management committees negate all they say about the necessity of produc- fon. Protest must be voiced by ihe Canadian people against such an attitude. Our brothers and sisters on the battlefronts of the world expect co-ordination that we can fulfill the supreme task facing us, the defeat of fascism. - : 2 co Secialism Bert Huffman, Newton Sta- tion, B.G., writes: Some weeks ago a columnist of the Vancouver Sun bewailed the fact that, under our present eco- nomic system, men and women are driven slaves with no time to loaf, think, be “natural. In reply I wrote the following explanation of the Socialist ideal and sent it to the Sun, but so far my letter has not been published. Evident- ly the Sun regards Socialism ta- boo and anathema. Here are my few words of explanation of the Socialist ideal by which the Sun columnist could have all the lei- sure he craved: “With the earth and all of its inestimable wealth of resources and all of its tools of production, owned, controlled and working for all the people; with the stu- penduous sums now going into private fortunes, pouring into the public treasury; with all of us working at his chosen pro- fession for the common good, it is estimated that a four-hour working day would supply all of the world’s needs and leave mil- ions over for cultural and educa- tional purposes. Under this ideal- istic condition of human life there would be jobs for all, leisure for all, security for all. “But it would be Sociaism— tank, red Socialism, and that ideal condition in human affairs is anathema and taboo to so many people that it seems as far away as the craters of the moon.” Ae