q oe 1 : bar and a new house bought by | the family in a ‘‘white area.” | In any case the absence of } the usual American | biles, Se ae ar pe ae 7 Xity of the Negro people amid | the despicable | White supremacy is the main theme superimposed } “Xtire film. | Sister a een am ely) ll Wh dahll y Lt ti A a INSIDE A CBC TELEVISION STUDIO t 4 i; retrospect, one could rea- son that the impact of the ' European neo-realist films on E } the American viewing public; 4} the big box-office built up by ' films in the humanist tradition from the socialist, Western “European and Asian coun- ‘tries; would compel Hollywood } ®ventually to give a nod in this Becction. This reviewer however, has to confess complete and joyous _ Surprise with the Hollywood treatment of Lorraine Hans- _berry’s A Raisin in the Sun. _ The film, a movie adaptation “0f a play that enjoyed a re- “Markable success on New York’s Broadway, is the turbu- lent story of the life of a Ne- '8ro family in Chicago’e tene- -Ments. - Perhaps it is the fact that “the script was written for a Play originally that compels Producer David Susskind and ‘director Daniel Perlie to shoot almost the entire film in the Confines of ‘the family flat. Venturing forth on only three Occasions to a neighborhood automo- honking taxis, swank Clubs, glittering ballrooms and Middle class decor, adds im- Measurably to the intense | Dleasure of this superb movie. } Three powerful social prob- _ lems are woven into the fabric Of the story in a Way which i beautifully avoids any sugges- | tion of propaganda but at the | Same time has a telling impact % the viewer. Ml The compelling human dig- conditions of on the _ The second theme lies in the treatment given to the prob- lems of the three women, the ' 8randmothr (Claudia McNeil), the wife (Ruby Dee), and the (Diana Sands) which Mark this as a story written Sy a woman with an insight | into the woman question. This IS shown as the story opens, With the mother arising tired NM the morning and attempting to get her family up and off a 10 work and school, and car- | PASS THIS PAPER | ON TO YOUR _ FRIENDS AND ~WORKMATES /Raisin in Sun has big impact ries through to the end. The third theme is a mix- ture of a class and race prob- lem. The husband (Sidney Por- tier), a chauffeur for a rich white family, is obsessed with the vision of big money which seems to surround him and which the white boys seem to be picking up off the street. He is agitated on the receipt by his mother of a $10,000 in- surance cheque from the death of his father, and flies into emotional rages at her refusal to turn the money over to him to invest in a ‘sure-fire scheme” which will make him “egunt” and ensure that his family will not have to haul chestnuts for the white folk. Watching the film one be- comes aware that this is not “just” a treatment of the Ne- gro question in the USS. Set- ting aside the special problems facing the American Negro there is a quality in the film which reaches out and en- vokes the sympathy of all folk who are on the receiving end of a pay cheque. This film is not a plea for racial equality. It is a beauti- ful statement illustrating that the only thing which divides the American Negro from his white brother is a slimy legacy of race indoctrination obscur- ing the oneness of the lives, hopes and aspirations of all who toil by hand and brain. The acting is superb. The grandmother is a majestic fig- ure of confidence and human- ity. The wife emerges as a person that must make every woman go away from the movie a little prouder of her sex. The sister signifies the turbulence and restive search- ing of the youth for new hori- zons. As for Sidney Portier. He has you itching to get up from your seat at times to punch him in the nose, so realistic is his performance. But when the film draws to a close amid the furtive eye-wiping of the en- tire audience you feel as if you are right up on the screen em- bracing the whole family. -Most of the cast is from the original Broadway play and much of the flavor of the live theatre has been captured by the movie. If you enjoyed Salt of the Earth; if you like a movie which adds something to your life, see A Raisin in the Sun, now playing at the Strand Theatre. And take your chil- \CBC faces crisis on its 25th birthday By RON SKORA | he Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, a basic long- time defence against cultural annexation of Canada by the United States, is facing what some consider its most serious crisis since it’ was established 25 years ago. It was a groundswell of pub- lic national pride that gave birth to the CBS on November 2,.1936. The CBC’s job was to build: a cultural wall against the flood of U.S. programs that were swamping Canadian ra- dio to the exclusion of almost everything else. Its success is a matter of degree, When ever. the corpor- ation has been hamstrung by reactionary Canadian politic- ians, whenever Canadian list- eners have withdrawn ‘into apathetic cultural cocoons, then U.S. imperialism: nas pushed its way into Canadian minds through radio and television. Today, the CBC is caught up in a national crisis. It is being battered’ and bullied on all sides by a Tory government in Ottawa that emphasizes always its distance from public owner- ship of any kind. At the same time, American propaganda is being pumped into Canada at a feverish pace. A blunt warning came ear- lier this year in the report of the O’Leary royal commission which urged a halt in the ser- ious inflow of U.S. books and magazines. The report warned that in- dependent Canadian oipnion is threatened by the cut-rate spread of American printed matter. There are strong anti-CBC voices in Ottawa and the CBC finds itself wallowing in a pol- itical debate. : e ory politicians have at- tempted — and succeeded too — in dictating types of programs to be shown. The Tory-heavy Commons has juggled the amount of pub- lic funds for the corporation. Establishment of the Board of Broadcast Governors whittled down the CBC’s control of Canadian broadcasting. The Tories Have done every- thing possible to~- undermine the CBC .and are mostly res- ponsible for the _ upsurge in anti-CBC feeling. Events prove. that private TV must depend mainly on.pro- grams exported from the U.S. And so the circle is complete. But the pride of Canadians in their own country — the same pride that resulted in the CBC — may ‘yet rescue —it from the ravage of Tory free- enterprisers. The problems of the future are greater than they’ve ever been. The Tories have taken effective cabinet control of CBC finances. although the CBC wants its public grant on a statutory basis, free of polit- ical. footballing. ’ The corporation has suggest- ed a five-year grant starting at $4 per capita and rising five percent each year. In 1956 the Flower commission on broad- casting recommended a_ sim- ilar formula. The Tories say no. If the CBC can’t get: its funds from the government, it can only then get from com- mercial sources. But the CBC contends, and rightly so, that if the integrity of its grogram- ming is to be maintained, the absolute limit of its commer- cial revenue should be one- third of total revenue. Advertisers in the past have influenced radio and TV pro- grams. Many have pulled out support for certain CBC shows, but the shows went on. In private U.S. networks, program responsibilities have all but been dumped into the laps of advertising agencies. e big question mark is the the effect today’s private TV network will have on CBC finances. What would happen if the private network in a few years asked for some aid from the government? The odds are that such aid would come from a split in CBC grants. : The CBC’s annual budget in the last three years has been well over $100 million, nearly two-thirds supplied rrom the public treasury. It operates the longest radic and TV networks in the world, turns out: more programs than any. one of three U.S. networks and more French-language net- works than Faris. Its history really started be- fore 1936. Canada’s first radio station XWA Montreal, open- ed in 1919 and by. 1930 there were 80. stations. Seven in Vancouver and 10 in Toronto. However, they were virtu- ally American stations. U.S. re- cords dominated the air wav- es; there was hardly a liv Canadian’ program. : Fears mounted that Canad- ian national unity was being damaged. : The Aird royal commission of 1929 had foreseen this. It saw a solution in public own- ership of the entire radio sys- tem but the Tory Bennett gov- ernment allowed the report to gather dust. Finally, under public pres- sure, a three-man Canadian Radio Broadcasting -Commis- sion’ was set up to take over certain stations. and regulate broadcasting. It ran into trou- ble — Parliament refused ‘te give it necessary money, pro- gramming was poor, stations began to turn to U.S. networks again. Parliament in 1936 scrapped the CRBC and formed the CBC with wider powers to ex- tend national coverage through construction of high-power sta- tions. So with eight CBC-owned stations and about 70 private stations the first solid network went into operation. Now there are 133 stations (31. of them CBC-owned) across two English networks and one French. When TV started in 1952 with two CBC stations, it sparked the biggest expansion in the corporation. This year there are nine CBC and 38 private stations creating a TV network stretching 4,000 miles through six time zones. The entire operation may come tumbling down after 25 years. The prize-winning Branko Krsmanovich Chorus of Yugoslavia, shown above, will perform in Vancouver's Orpheum Theatre, Tuesday, November 21 at 8:30 p.m. Conducted by Bodgan Babich with 80 mixed voices, the Chorus was an international prize winner at Vienna World Festival in Vienna, 1959, and Moscow World Festival in 1957. Tickets available at Hudson’s Bay Co. dren. @ ws. November 10, 1961—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 5 0 ea Pree en en eee 0) IRD RR Sart em ee RS TR mE I ora