HC Deb 10 February 1949 vol 461 cc513-5
22. Mr. Blackburn

asked the President of the Board of Trade what immediate action he is taking to safeguard the British film industry, in view of the widespread closing of film studios.

Mr. H. Wilson

I am in close touch with both sides of the industry, and I expect that the immediate position will be somewhat improved by the establishment of the National Film Finance Corporation with wider powers of assistance than those enjoyed by the interim Film Finance Company. I am also considering what, if any, additional measures may be required to satisfy the requirements of long-term policy. I would also refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave yesterday to my hon. Friend the Member for Greenwich (Mr. Reeves) announcing the setting up of a Working Party to examine production costs as a matter of urgency. This is perhaps the most urgent problem facing the industry, but I must emphasise that it is fundamentally one that the industry itself must resolve.

Mr. Blackburn

While acknowledging that the President of the Board of Trade has done more than anyone previously to deal with this problem, may I ask him whether it is not a fact that there is a very grave crisis in the film industry, and will he bring it to the attention of the Cabinet?

Mr. Wilson

There is undoubtedly a grave crisis in the film industry. It has been having recurrent financial crises throughout its history, though they have been rather more frequent lately. The first and best thing that the industry can do to get over this crisis is to get its production costs down to a reasonable level. The second thing which is being urgently considered is a redistribution of box office takings as between the producer, on the one hand, and the exhibitors and distributors, on the other.

Mr. William Shepherd

Is the right hon. Gentleman doing something else, and bring pressure to bear upon his right hon. and learned Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer to see that he does not take so large a share of the box office receipts?

Mr. Wilson

The hon. Gentleman will not expect me to anticipate the Budget Statement of my right hon. and learned Friend.

Mr. Benn Levy

Will my right hon. Friend assure the House that so long as the industry continues to organise itself in such a way that its producing side is starved while its selling side is sated, he will not pay too much attention to suggestions of that kind made by the hon. Member for Bucklow (Mr. Shepherd)?

Mr. Wilson

It is an unfortunate fact that in dealing with this crisis we have to take the industry as we find it and not as it ought to be.