CHAPTER 3.
“TALKIES” ON TOUR

Opinions may have differed early in the war on the most effective means of getting information over to the scattered public in the various regions, but experience proved that there was no more successful channel through which to create an informed public than through the medium of the Ministry's mobile film units. The main purpose of the Ministry was, of course, to present the truth to as wide a public as possible, and give them a clear picture of the contribution that the Fighting Forces of the United Kingdom, the Empire and of our Allies were making to the common cause. To bring the war close to the public was therefore the essential of our policy, and of the many means employed to do this none endured in the public mind like the operation of the film service on the roads, particularly in those areas remote from the big cities and, therefore, remote from the legitimate cinemas where, throughout the war, there was a steady flow of official Ministry of Information films to capture the interest of the vast cinema-going public in the built-up areas. To the non-theatrical units travelling long distances over country roads in all weathers fell the task of bringing the war to many people who had never previously seen a moving sound film; and this in itself was a romantic phase in the varied and interesting work of the Regions.

I think that there could be no better reward for the work entailed in arranging the film shows in the scattered parts of Northern Ireland than the interested audiences which were maintained at a high level and which were made up of all sections of the community. Our operators gave shows in village halls where the number of houses clustered around numbered fewer than a dozen, but they found that in the hall where they were to give the show hundreds of people were crammed. These people had trekked over moorland; fell and country road to see films which portrayed vital phases in the war and gave them a graphic visual account of the sufferings of the people in the British cities and the trials of their friends and relatives serving in the three Services in different parts of the world. As time went on a film poster stuck on a gatepost or a tree meant as much to these sturdy people as a letter from home meant to a serving man or woman.

Throughout the war the operation of the non-theatrical film scheme varied a good deal. The quality of the films improved progressively beyond all recognition and, side by side with this technical advance, the films themselves were seen by an ever widening public. In the first stages the film shows were organised, some by local authorities and others by organisations working voluntarily for the war effort. Later the films became a very important part of the general programmes in war factories, and later on still, with the development of the special shows, we reached a wider field than ever.

The appearance of these at first strange mobile cinema vans in village halls with their “fine talking films”, probably excited the interest of local residents because they had associated moving films chiefly with larger towns and it was novel to them to see a screen fitted up in a small hall and conditions in the legitimate cinemas almost reproduced in a few moments. At first the films probably appealed chiefly because of their novelty and because admission to see them was free, but it was not long before the films were appreciated for their worth and there has never been an instance where an organisation taking a film show for the first time has not “come back for more”.

In the mobile film service the Northern Ireland Region was far behind the other Regions in the United Kingdom in the numerical strength of its units. We started the scheme with one mobile unit and one unit which became a static projector at the Belfast Museum and Art Gallery where we always had the full co-operation of the Curator and where Ministry of Information programmes were 228 regularly shown for some years. To the single unit on the road fell the task of covering the scattered Region, and it readily can be assumed that this unit was kept working at full pressure.

Our first driver-projectionist was appointed on February 24th, 1941, although a number of film shows had previously been given on our mobile unit by a professional operator. On the first day our own driver-projectionist took up duty, the mobile unit was used to give a special show of Ministry films to members of the Northern Ireland Government. The Prime Minister, then Mr. J.M. Andrews, was among those present, and the films were highly praised by all. This gathering established a precedent and similar special shows were arranged for members of the Government throughout the war. This led to the development of very close liaison between the Ministry and the various Government Departments in Northern Ireland, who found in the Ministry's specialised films a very fine means of explaining policy and plans to local authorities and to representatives of the very large farming community in this Region.

The first public show the Ministry organised was late in February, 1941, in Lurgan where we had an audience of 600. This naturally gave us great encouragement, and everybody who attended the meeting agreed that the films created a great impression. The bookings were heavy and the mobile unit continued to give an average of two shows a day. It was not until October, 1943, that we were able to introduce a second mobile unit, and once we had this unit our coverage grew rapidly. Our peak figures on two units amounted to audiences of over 20,000 in a month of about 22 working days. This was when factory bookings were also heavy.

For a large part of the war the Ministry had the mobile and the non-theatrical field in this Region to itself, but later the Ministry of Supply introduced mobile units in factories only and this eased the calls on the already strained Ministry of Information service and meant that we could maintain a good civilian service, while at the same time not losing contact with the factories to whom we had given regular programmes since early in the war.

Side by side with this extension of film shows as part of the normal factory programmes, we began to receive films in support of National campaigns and the work for other Government Departments increased accordingly. This was particularly noticeable in the health field where the Ministry was able to give very great assistance to local Public Health authorities by showing widely the films dealing with health matters especially in relation to young children. We were, in this way, developing specialised shows and the calls of the service from the Ministry of Agriculture for the showing of new films dealing with scientific treatment for farming problems - in some instances dealing with diseases of animals - began to grow at a rapid pace. Thus we saw the Ministry's film service rise from small beginnings to the playing of a vital part in the propaganda sphere, and we were happy in the thought that the films were really not propaganda films in the true sense of the word, as they maintained the basic principle of the Ministry's policy in presenting a factual picture of war-time Britain. The specialised films were far removed from any connection with propaganda as they became a vital part of the explanatory policies of Government Departments.

The Northern Ireland Region may not have compared numerically with the other Regions in the number of units available to meet the clamant demands of the public, now thoroughly acclimatised to the use of the film, but in some respects we moved ahead of the other Regions in developing films as an aid to our other forms of disseminating Government news. This was probably possible because the film scheme here never operated as an entirely separate division of Ministry work. As the staff was always small, senior officers were automatically au fait with every branch of the Ministry's 229 regional service, and it was, therefore, soon apparent that films allied to public meetings and exhibitions essentially increased the drawing power of these events, but would also serve as a means of acquainting a wider public with the value of the film service. Therefore, from the early days of the war the policy was adopted of showing films allied to public meetings. At first it was tried as an experiment, as our meetings were so popular that we found that on many occasions large audiences were present in the halls long before the advertised time of the meeting. It was, therefore, a matter of concern to the Ministry to make the waiting time for the audiences less boring, and we found that film shows preceding meetings in themselves proved a great draw. At one time in Belfast we were normally attracting an audience of 1,000 for a public meeting, and if we advertised film shows to start 45 minutes before the meeting began we found that there was as large an audience for the film shows themselves as there was for the public meeting. This gave the Ministry a fair indication of the value of the films, and incidentally also of the meetings, for we were always anxious to see how many people came to enjoy the films alone and were prone to “walk out” of the meeting before the speaker, who was after all the main attraction, came on to the platform. Of course the films always dealt with subjects in connection with the talks. Therefore when an officer from Burma was to speak on the 14th Army, we showed films dealing with the Australians in the Jungle or the 14th Army in training and in battle. Thus we had a film linked with the subject of the meeting and this served to give a background picture for the audience who in the circumstances, were more ready to appreciate the verbal information given against the mind picture they had already obtained from the sound film.

In the same way, we extensively used the mobile film units in connection with large scale exhibitions, although in some of the exhibitions, notably those fine displays by the Royal Air Force and the British Army, we arranged with the Service units themselves to display the films. The idea caught on remarkably well and at these Service exhibitions and at one exhibition about the Russian Forces, we were giving two or three film shows in an afternoon and evening session of the exhibition, and the attendances were always good. It will be seen, therefore, how the mobile film scheme in this Region was made to fit into the larger pattern of propaganda, and we came to regard the film service as a necessary part of our contacts with the public.

The Regional film scheme for its success depended ultimately on the quality of the films which we received from Headquarters and it was, therefore, a source of considerable encouragement to the Region to receive from London a constant flow of interesting Ministry films. Experienced managers of our many cinemas in this Region were at first not too happy about taking Ministry of Information 35 m.m. films into their general programmes, and the public, too, regarded the early Ministry films in the cinemas as “fill up”. It was, however, one of the most encouraging transformations in the war years to realise that cinema managers and their vast public came to really appreciate Ministry of Information films and, in fact, few films had a greater general appeal than those of the type of “Desert Victory” and “Western Approaches”, and at a later stage “The True Glory”.

On two occasions the Ministry's specially arranged premieres of big films were honoured by the presence of successive Governors of Northern Ireland. His Grace the Duke of Abercorn attended a private showing of the film “Western Approaches” and Their Excellencies the Earl Granville and the Countess Granville attended a showing of “The True Glory”. Both these films were shown in the Ritz Cinema, Belfast, and on each occasion representatives of the film companies and the Manager of the Cinema, Mr. J.D. Russell, whose co-operation was always highly 230 valued, were presented.

The non-theatrical scheme cannot compete with the legitimate cinema for the comfort of its patrons or the vast crowds it could draw, but the showing in village halls of similar films to a small audience was in the Regional view as great a means of Government propaganda as showing Ministry films in great cinemas to audiences of thousands. The non-theatrical scheme was made popular on the roads, and by the service the Ministry maintained its reputation stood or fell. We went through the war years in this Region with almost an infinitesimal number of let-downs, and these were in every case due to mechanical breakdowns or weather conditions which imposed too hard a strain on our driver- projectionists.

There is no better proof of the value of Ministry of Information films and the mobile film service than the fact that this form of Government service will endure into the peace years. The calls on Ministry of Information mobile units are now so widespread that it would be a serious blow to the carefully laid plans of Government Departments if the Ministry's film service or a similar film service were suddenly to be withdrawn. No branch of the Ministry's service has received more expressions of appreciation from Government Departments, local authorities, organisations and individuals than the mobile film scheme. There is no doubt that the use of films in the form employed by the Ministry of Information has been one of the best achievements of the war on the home front, and by its record in war time it has certainly claimed for itself a permanent place in the post-war plans of scheme-making Departments of all energetic governments.