EDUCATIONAL AND DOCUMENTARY FILMS 297 



children's minds and increases their store of useful knowledge, particularly 

 on such subjects as History and Geography, and generally stimulates mental 

 alertness and arouses the critical faculty. On the moral side he suggests that 

 there is no need for serious alarm, so far as the Elementary School child is 

 concerned. He can find no evidence of widespread mischief : ' Evil on the 

 films never pays,' and as a rule the children's sense of justice is satisfied. 

 Since the children will go to a public cinema whatever the educator and 

 the moralist may say, this well-documented Report should bring a sense of 

 relief to older people who do not themselves frequent the cinema, and who, 

 on the principle of omne ignotum pro terribili, have perhaps alarmed 

 themselves and others unduly. 



The Report of the inquiry into the Value of Films in the Teaching of 

 History, made by Dr. Consitt for the Historical Association in 1929, and the 

 Report of the experiment with Sound Films in Schools undertaken jointly by 

 Local Authorities in Middlesex and the National Union of Teachers in 1930 

 and 1 93 1, both emphasise the lack of adequate teaching films. ' That the 

 films available at present are almost valueless for the purposes of historical 

 teaching ' is the conclusion which one instructed critic draws from the 

 first Report, and the writer of the second Report commits himself to the 

 statement that ' So far as we are aware not a single ad hoc teaching film has 

 yet been made by any film-producing company in this country ' ; and, again, 

 referring to the films which were the subject of the experiment : ' The best 

 of them could no more than indicate what might be achieved if there were 

 available talking pictures specially designed for education.' 



With these Reports the first chapter in the story of the relation of the film 

 to education may be considered closed. The case which the Committee of 

 the Imperial Education Conference in 1923 declared to be no more than prima 

 facie, though strong, is surely made out, and further experiment can be 

 directed to the exploration of the purposes which the educational film will 

 serve. But for such experiments a new type of film is required. There is 

 in existence a large amount of film material of high artistic quality, though 

 almost entirely of standard size, which has real educational value ; and the 

 production of such films is being aided and encouraged by more than one of 

 the Government Departments. But these films are of the general interest 

 class : they are addressed to the adult rather than the child, and their use in 

 the class-room can be at best only illustrative and incidental. 



The immediate need is for films, and especially sub-standard films, made 

 for definite educational purposes, taking full account of the methods by 

 which, and conditions under which, the education of the child and the 

 adolescent is carried on in this country. Of such films there are as yet none 

 which are publicly available. On the side of the Industry itself there is no 

 difficulty. Many firms have incurred considerable expense in devising and 

 constructing suitable projectors and apparatus generally, and are only 

 waiting for a lead from the Teaching Profession before proceeding to the 

 manufacture of educational films. Such a lead cannot, however, be given 

 by an individual teacher, or even by groups of teachers ; for the expense 

 involved is large and the Industry must be sure of its market. The lead will 

 have to come from some body not less representative than the Films Com- 

 mission, which can bring to a focus the views and experience of teachers and 

 film experts, and can, as a preliminary, arrange for its conclusions to be tried 

 out in a few representative films specially made for the purpose. 



Silent and Sound Films. 



It was in some ways a misfortune for the film as an educational instrument 

 that the sound film came when it did. But for its advent the simpler and 



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