From radicalism to conservatism: Contradictions within Fianna Fa'il Film Policies in the 1930s

Irish Studies Review

Volumn 9, Issue 2, 2001, Pages 155-165

  Rockett, Kevin ^a  

^a TRINITY COLLEGE DUBLIN   (Ireland)

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 84937339173     PISSN: 09670882     EISSN: 14699303     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/713674268     Document Type: Note

References (41)

1. 1929. The Leader, 59 (21) 21 December: 493
2. 1929. Irish Times, 3 December: 6
3. 1930. Dáil Debates, 34 11 April Fianna Fail's Seamus Moore called for 'a much more far-reaching measure', col. 988, while the future Fianna Fáil Minister for Education, Thomas Derrig, regarded it as a 'disgraceful state of affairs' that children could attend 'modem society dramas, shooting scenes, night club life and bedroom scenes': Debates, cols 992-993
4. 28 October 1929. “ 'Censor's Decision Reserved' ”. 28 October, 678 The certificate for the film was issued on 18 November 1929 (National Archives of Ireland, Dublin). Though a retired employee of the Dublin Gas Company with no background in the cinema, James Montgomery was Ireland's first and longest-serving (1923-40) Official Film Censor, a post he was appointed to by his friend, the Minister for Home Affairs, Kevin O'Higgins. He was a well-known wit and raconteur, something which embellishes his reports as censor, and was a friend of literary figures such as Oliver St John Gogarty and T. C. Murray. While Montgomery's tenure as Film Censor is characterised by a strict 'moral' code, Ireland's censorship policy was by no means unique in that Britain, and later America, had similar, if not such extreme, policies. Unlike Ireland, these countries had a 'voluntary' film industry censorship regime, not to mention the absence of a strong theocratic influence on policy. See
5. Rockett, Kevin. 2000. 'Protecting the Family and the Nation: The Official Censorship of American Cinema in Ireland, 1923-54'. Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 20 (3): 283–300.
6. 1931. Dáil Debates, 39 2 July During the debate on the 1931 Finance Bill, MacEntee praised the two films and added that they 'were hawked up and down Dublin and not a single one of the prominent exhibitors who were tied up to the Paramount and the British International firms would look at them'. He added that he 'went to see them many times, because I am interested in the cinema. They were most wonderful productions':, col. 1466, In his capacity as Minister for Finance in 1939 MacEntee introduced an exemption from excise for films imported by the Irish Film Society. This greatly facilitated the IFS in its move from screenings on 16 mm to 35 mm in commercial cinemas, and was a key factor in aiding the expansion of the Society in the 1940s and 1950s
7. 1935. 'The Cinema'. Irish Press, 23 January: 10
8. 1935. 'Cinema Causing Boys to Form Gangs'. Irish Press, 15 January: 1
9. 1935. 'Gangster's Mother Dies Behind Gun'. Irish Press, 17 January: 1
10. 1935. Irish School Weekly, 37 (4) 26 January: 84
11. Montgomery, James. 9 December 1936. “ 'Film Censorship in the Irish Free State' ”. 9 December, 2Dublin: Office of Official Film Censor. unpublished paper.
12. 1935. Irish Press, 6 February: 1
13. 1935. Irish Press, 6 February: 6
14. 1935. 'Cinema Proprietors Action' Getter). Irish Press, 7 February: 10 'The Cinemas' Action' (editorial);
15. 1935. 'Comhairle and Dublin Cinemas'. Irish Press, 11 February: 7
16. 1935. 'Public Bodies Pledge Support'. Irish Press, 18 February: 1–2.
17. 1935. 'Council and Films'. Irish Press, 26 February: 2
18. 1935. 'County Councils and Cinemas'. Irish Press, 22 February: 78 In his early political career Coburn had supported the Home Rule party and strongly opposed Sinn Fein
19. 1935. 'Films for Children'. Irish Press, 25 February: 1
20. 1935. 'The Cinema Evil; Irish Press Hypocrisy'. An Phoblacht, 10 (8) 23 March: 1
21. 1937. 'A New Censorship: No Special Coronation Films'. Irish Times, 11 May: 4
22. 1935. 'Mr Dillon and Cinema'. Irish Press, 4 May: 9
23. 1935. The Cinema, 24 June
24. 1935. The Cinema, 21 November
25. 1935. Irish Press, 27 November: 1
26. 1935. 'Jesuit's Plea for Reform of Cinema'. Irish Press, 16 February: 9
27. Devane, Fr Richard S., S.J. 1942. Challenge From Youth, Browne and Nolan. Though it is beyond the scope of our discussion here to explore these issues, for an account of his views, see
28. 1935. Irish School Weekly, 37 (19) 11 May: 457
29. 1935. Irish School Weekly, 37 (18) 4 May: 423 Sheridan may have been referring to a Bavarian law of the 1920s which sought to restrict access for under-18s to the burgeoning sex films of the period, as reported in the Dáil by Gavin Duffy in 1923
30. 1923. Dáil Debates, 3 3 May col. 587, rather than to a German national prohibition on access of under-16s to all films
31. 1935. 'Central Cinema Control'. Irish Press, 11 June: 7 The broadcast was on 10 June 1935. The film trade press kept Devane's project under close scrutiny. See, for example, with its summary of Irish newspaper and other responses to Devane's campaign
32. 1935. Today's Cinema, 26 June: 24
33. 1935. 'Cinema and the People. Irish Press, 12 June: 6
34. 1938. Irish Times, 8 April: 7
35. 1938. Irish Times, 10 April: 6
36. 1937. 'The Problem of the Cinema'. Irish Press, 10 April: 6
37. 1937. Today's Cinema, 14 April
38. 'Cinema: Relation to National Life" ”. Dublin: National Archives. Fr R. S. Devane to President Eamon de Valera, 22 April 1937: File S10136.
39. 2 July 1937. “ 'Terms of Reference for Proposed Cinema Enquiry' ”. 2 July, National Archives. memorandum from Department of Justice to Department of the President, File S10136
40. 1941. Dáil Debates, 91 16 November Lemass told the Dáil that while the report was completed it was not proposed to publish it as its contents were confidential: col. 2080, Unfortunately, no copy of this report has been discovered in any government department, including Industry and Commerce
41. Lemass's activities in trying to set up a film-studios complex in Ireland in the 1940s, as well as his role in the establishment of Ardmore Studios in the 1950s, are outlined in Kevin Rockett, Luke Gibbons and John Hill, Cinema and Ireland