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Show Latest Movies Shown in Front Line Camps Help Keep Fighters in Touch With Home SI navy, marine corps, the coast guard when their own films are not available avail-able in active areas; also members of Allied armed forces operating in these zones. Both the Red Cross and USO are authorized as agents to show these 16-mm. pictures. Movies in Training Camps. The motion picture industry's 16-mm. 16-mm. gift films should not be confused, con-fused, however, with the 35-mm. showings of the Army Motion Picture Pic-ture service, and a similar system maintained by the navy. Through a commercial arrangement arrange-ment with motion picture distributors distribu-tors made 28 years ago, both the army and the navy rent for their own use 35-mm. prints of motion pictures pic-tures which play the commercial movie houses. These films, obtained at low rental, are now shown on a nonprofit basis by the army in all training camp theaters in this country, coun-try, and at established army post theaters in all territorial posses- 30,000-mile tour of the Pacific theater, thea-ter, Maj. Gen. Frederick H. Osborn, U. S. army, director of the morale services division, army service forces, said that motion pictures have proved an effective antidote to the tension and physical strain of battle, and that they are particularly particular-ly welcome to men just returned from the front. His tour, which included "the largest larg-est motion picture circuit in history" his-tory" maintained by the overseas motion picture service of army service forces in the Pacific, proved to him, he said, that "the Pacific soldier is the most avid movie-goer in the world." The distribution of first-run films to the various fronts by air is on a par with any similar commercial operation, the general pointed out, and came about "because combat officers of-ficers want their men to relax after they come out of the lines. The movie has proved to be the solution. ? Ixvi fc r , ,y - Picture Industry Donates Films to Army and Navy Combat-weary Yanks, relieved re-lieved from front-line duty by replacements and sent to the rear to rest, turn to movies as a means of escape from the mad business of battle, according ac-cording to letters received in towns throughout the country by relatives and friends of boys now in foreign service. These letters complained at first that the pictures were old, but recent correspondence ends complaints and indicates that conditions con-ditions are improved. New Hollywood productions fresh from the studios are shipped to all theaters of war by the Army Overseas Over-seas Motion Picture service and are shown somewhere every night in every combat zone occupied by American troops. Protected by top priorities, these film programs, printed in the 16-mm. size and known as "Films for Fighting Fight-ing Men" are a gift from the motion picture industry which began in February, Feb-ruary, 1942, with the presentation of 80 prints from four different pictures. pic-tures. Since then these free films have gradually Increased until now a total of 189 pictures are issued each week, divided into 63 prints each of three different programs. Each program includes a full-length feature and at least one short subject. sub-ject. To date the grand total of 11,782 programs has been sent overseas. over-seas. These programs of new films are shown only to uniformed members of the armed forces in combat zones, and to sick and wounded in overseas over-seas hospitals, and to men on isolated iso-lated outposts where other film entertainment en-tertainment cannot be had. When troops are en route to battle-fronts battle-fronts on transports, they are shown specially selected 16-mm. film versions ver-sions of "Hits of the Past." This avoids duplicate showings of new films, so servicemen do not see the same pictures twice. Musical Shows Favorites. Every feature-length picture and every short subject made by the major ma-jor studios in Hollywood is included in this service, offered to our armed forces through a selection board in New York city composed of army and civilian personnel. This board is guided in its choice by expressions from soldier audiences in the various theaters of war. Opinions polled to date show that servicemen's tastes lean toward musicals, comedies and light drama. War pictures are last on their list, while features and shorts which bring views of the good old U. S. A. are always welcome. Upon reaching the various war theaters, these 16-mm. films less than half the size of those seen in your local theater are sent to the various combat zones through 19 film exchanges maintained by the Army Overseas Motion Picture service. serv-ice. Handled in this reduced size, they are easy to ship and can be exhibited on portable equipment readily transported in active regions. Army men in the South Pacific watch a movie in an open air theater. Their faces reflect varied reactions. Soldiers often see three or more pictures a week. A screen against a jungle backdrop brings the soldier close to home again." The army service forces has arranged ar-ranged to distribute films in rotation to the combat areas of the Pacific, after which they are routed to supporting sup-porting units farther to the rear. In this way, troops in actual combat are the first to be shown the latest of Hollywood's screen offerings. Also given high priority for early showings show-ings are the wounded in hospitals. Movies Take Him Home. "The soldier wants to see pictorial views of streets that remind him of his home town, of people he might meet on those streets; of women tc remind him of his mother, his wife; his sweetheart; of ordinary happen' ings in which he will again partici pate. "Thfs tremendous movie chain's value as a good will factor is beyond computation. In New Guinea, foi example, where Australian and American soldiers fight side by side, they sit down to see an American film side by side. Our troops visil Australian camps where the screen fare is predominantly American." Newsreels, comedies, and musical pictures are high on the G.I. hit list. "Soldiers dislike war pictures with glorified heroes'," General Osborn Os-born said. sions. The average admission is 14 cents, and any profit derived therefrom there-from goes toward expanding the service. Ever since the declaration of war, as a special favor to servicemen, pictures playing the army circuit have, as a rule, preceded showings in commercial theaters except where these showings conflicted with exhibition contracts of movie theaters thea-ters near the camps. Servicemen unfamiliar with required trade practices, prac-tices, complain at times because they see pictures in these commercial commer-cial theaters before the camp movie houses show them. , The navy does not experience this difficulty because, generally speaking, speak-ing, its pictures are shown free on shipboard or, in some instances, for a small admission at naval stations, the profits going toward improving and expanding the service. Old Films Shown at First. When the conflict broke suddenly after Pearl Harbor, we were just as unprepared for maintaining a worldwide entertainment program as we were for global combat. The first expeditionary forces that left for the South Pacific took along 1,000 old 16-mm. pictures purchased in the open market, which were the only films of that size available at the time. Later, when the African expedition ex-pedition sailed, a similar war department de-partment purchase was made. And Ihe showing ol these pictures is always subject, of course, to the hazards haz-ards of war. Usually they are displayed dis-played to battle-weary troops in rest areas behind the front. The object, ob-ject, however, is to get them as near the fighting line as possible. In some instances they have been shown so close to the line of battle that prisoners subsequently captured said they heard the sound track. Although planned originally for the army only, recent arrangements made through the war department have thrown these showings open to all combat troops, regardless of their branch of service. This includes the "They like to see informational films, those that explain war strategy strat-egy and show real battle scenes. The soldier is anxious to see what his weapons can do. The army's 'Why We Fight' series has immeasurably bettered his understanding of issues at stake. 'Snafu,' the cinema comic of the Army-Navy Screen Magazine, is a Pacific favorite." General Osborn included Australia, Austra-lia, New Guinea, New Zealand, New Caledonia, Solomon Islands, New Hebrides, New Georgia, Bougain ville, and Fiji in his 30,000-mile itinerary itin-erary of the Pacific theater. "I have seen tropical theaters seating 3,000 soldiers on wooden benches, and 1,000 sitting on crates and logs and oil tins in an outdooi excavation," he said. "Soldiers frequently sit in tropica downpours for one and two hours before showtime to enjoy a run-of the-mill film made 'silent' when the sound track breaks down, and thei return the next night to see it again, "During alarms the men quietlj leave the theater and as quietly resume re-sume their seats afterward to see the rest of the movie. While excavations excava-tions were under way on a New Guinea base, a bulldozer was as signed the priority detail of hollowing hollow-ing out the ground for an open-ail amphitheater. "I have seen men watch a picture from such a distance that the screer was the size of a postage stamp, and I have heard men gripe at a poor show but sit through it to the end. With several pictures playing on various bases on an island, mer. were known to walk nightly many miles around the entire island unti they had seen all the pictures." further complications were added through the indiscriminate buying of old films and portable equipment by embarking troop units as large as battalions, all striving to meet an entertainment emergency. Although the army has been able to recall all but 300 of these old films, those still in circulation despite de-spite of efforts to recover them, combined with the unauthorized 16-mm. 16-mm. films remaining overseas, add up to a sizeable headache. Servicemen Service-men who still sit through these old programs complain loudly. Another source of complaint lies in the wartime dislocation abroad of the commercial motion picture industry. in-dustry. In such battle-blasted areas as Sicily, films as ancient as Rin-Tin-Tin are often featured in local theaters for outrageous admission prices. But this is not strange, considering con-sidering that Mussolini barred American films in Italy in 1938. No new pictures have been shipped into Italian territory since, excepting those supplied through the motion picture industry's gift service. The 16-mm. gift films, however, are now going overseas at the rate of 159 prints of three new programs each week. New combat zone circuits are being added rapidly and projection facilities are improving and increasing. increas-ing. This means that film shows in all theaters of war, barring the inevitable in-evitable disruptions and annoyances occasioned by battle action, are bound to achieve a state of diminishing diminish-ing complaints and rising perfection. In a report to Lieut. Gen. Brehon Somervell commanding general of the army service forces, covering a - 4 lZ s'J?f -it e Members of the army service forces set up their motion picture equipment wherever there is a convenient con-venient spot for a show. Here they have erected the screen on a rocky I field on some south sea island. The projector and sound equipment are I being hooked up in the foreground. |