§ 3.12 p.m.
§ VISCOUNT HAILSHAMMy Lords, perhaps it would be convenient to the House if I were now to make this statement. After consultation through the usual channels, the Government have decided—and The Queen has been graciously pleased to agree—that colour films should be made of the State Opening of the next Session. We feel that a vivid record in this form, of one of our great occasions, will be welcomed not only in this country but by all our partners in the Commonwealth and will be of real and lasting value.
VISCOUNT ALEXANDER OF HILLS-BOROUGHMy Lords, we welcome the proposal to have a colour film, but do I understand that it is to be a silent film? Are there to be any sound arrangements? Is the film to be reproduced in any other form afterwards, maybe not in colour, for educational purposes?
§ VISCOUNT HAILSHAMMy Lords, I ought to know the answers to all these questions. I had assumed, in my innocence, that a film nowadays always has a sound track attached to it. If I am wrong, no doubt I shall be able to correct myself with the noble Viscount. But I believe that it is the intention to have a colour film with a sound track attached to it. It follows from the fact that you take coloured pictures that black-and-white reproductions of the film are available to those who need them; and I am sure that the noble Viscount's suggestion is a very good one.