The National Council of Public Morals embraces many subjects in
its activities; for some years it has been keenly interested in
the influence of the cinematograph upon young people, with the
possibilities of its development and with its adaptation to national
educational purposes. The President (the Bishop of Birmingham),
with the Rev. F. B. Meyer, D.D., took a leading part; the first
Cinematograph Congress being held at Olympia in 1913.
The Commission did not seek to abuse the people responsible for the
promotion of the cinema by outspoken raillery, but met representatives
of the whole trade in frank discussion of the best means of ridding the
community of whatever evil elements existed, and meeting the demands
of the best public opinion for a higher class programme; suitable
exhibitions for juvenile minds, for the suppression of certain evils
which had temporarily blighted the cinema halls, and lastly for the
establishment of a national censorship which would give the necessary
freedom for the proper development of the cinematograph, whilst
prohibiting all undesirable films.
At a meeting held in London on November 24, 1916, representatives
of the Cinematograph Trade Council, the Incorporated Association of
Kinematograph Manufacturers, Ltd., the Kinematograph Renters’ Society
of Great Britain and Ireland met together, and it was finally resolved--
“That the National Council of Public Morals be requested to institute
an independent inquiry into the physical, social, moral, and
educational influence of the cinema, with special reference to young
people.”