'A great deal of sympathy will be {felt with the correspondent who desires that British films should obtain.
showing in Shanghai. The history fof the attempts to. introduce such Pictures here has not been altogether fortunate, and it may readily be conceded thet at least for the present the American production completely Jdominates the' local field. In the days of early endeavour to introduce British pictures the movement was fatiended by failure owing to the oer quality of the output. as comjpared with that sent out from Hollywood. That has now to a very great Jextent been overcome and there is every reason to believe that British producers have caught up on the American pioneers in the art and in some instances have actually surpass sed them. The last attempt to show British pictures in Shanghai was undertaken by the British Film Dis" tribution Ca,, Ltd, which, it is common knowledge has now gone into Tiquidation, It is not necessary to discuss here the reasons why that venture failed, but those who had an opportunity of watching the fortunes fof the undertaking are convinced that there is a market for good British 'Sims in Shanghai. But it has to be emphasized that they must be good. Further they must have an_ interna anal appeal. It is very" often the case that' a plefure which would appeal exclusively to Britons, with their own particular form of humour, which at times is too subtle for people of other nationalities, will fail utterly to attract a cosmopolitan community, and for that reason much of what is own in Britain would not be sultfable for a market such as Shanghai, Nevertheless It is believed that out fof the gross annual product there are some dozen or so pictures which [should have a good chance in Shang-hal, and it is hoped that, before very Tong, new endeavours will be made to see that they get a showing here.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.