THE SEASON. This was the Edinburgh Film Guild’s second season of film screenings, held during 1931-1932. One of the principal objectives was “to show unusual films not shown in the ordinary commercial cinema.”
The Guild entered its second season with “a programme which should appeal strongly to all who take a serious interest in films as a medium of artistic expression.” These included “modern talkies not otherwise exhibited in the city, recent silent pictures and revivals of past successes, as well as a number of short experimental films.”
THE PERFORMANCES took on Sunday afternoons once a month in the CALEY PICTURE HOUSE, Lothian Road, “one of the most comfortable and up-to-date houses in the city”.
THE FILMS included Rene Clair’s comedy LE MILLION -“The most celebrated of all talking pictures, and the most significant contribution to film art since the introduction of sound.” THE MAN WITH THE MOVIE CAMERA by Dziga-Vertov. BORDERLINE, Kenneth Macpherson’s psychological drama featuring Paul Robeson. Oleksandr Dovzhenko’s EARTH. They also hoped to screen René Clair’s SOUS LES TOITS DE PARIS, Pabst’s PANDORA’S BOX, Paul Leni and Leo Birinski’s WAXWORKS, Vertov’s new sound film ENTHUSIASM, Eisenstein’s experiment in sound, ROMANCE SENTIMENTALE, as well as examples of the work of John Grierson, Paul Rotha, Francis Bruguiere, Oswald Blackeston “and others of the avant garde“.
CLUBROOM. The Guild Clubroom was then at 8 North Bank Street, where members could meet every Monday and Wednesday evening. “A selection of the leading film periodicals” were available for reading and “all important new books on the cinema” were added to the library on publication.
LECTURES by noted critics, experts and others were given “at frequent intervals throughout the season” – the first talk was by John Grierson, the Scottish director of DRIFTERS and other films.
AN EXHIBITION OF STILLS “illustrating the development of film art and international photographic tendencies would be held in the course of the season”.
CHILDREN’S FILMS. The Guild also hoped to present a special programme of films for children.
Below: Programme of the 1931-32 Season (click on image to enlarge)
