The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-12-11
Cultural Importance OfFiLn1s Emphasized
President Marry N. Warner of Warner Brothers Declares Films Carry Spirit of "0ne WoFId"; Great Peace Factor

speaking laSt evening before a distinguished audience which gath cred at the Hotel Astor for the an- nual Novel Anniversary. Harry NJ. Warner. noted motion picture exec utive and president Of the Warner Brothers, Inc. spoke on the in- fluence Of films creating a universal atmosphere Of good will. Of en- couraging peace and harmony among peoples and nations. Repre- senting the motion picture indus try. Mir. Warner declared in part Of his stirring address that movies" approach the nearest to the realiza- ton of a universal language and offered undreamed Of possibilities to governments in furthering peace aims.
 Mir. Warmers address follows:
 It is a great pleasure and privilege to join with you tonight in honor ing the memory of Alfred Nobel and trying to find ways of making his dream of world peace a per manent reality.
 And I am glad that you recog- nize the possibilities of the motion picture as an instrument of world peace.
 Long before we entered the war, Hitler was using film as an instru- ment of conquest and terror. On December 6, 1914, at the request Af loAa 7v-o, ,,lyIfr, DnAcoNnlf I wrote to him giving my views on the problem of films in postwar Germany. May I quote briefly from that letter:
 This time we may have to
 contend with a new form of
 the German philosophy of con-
 quest-that stripped of arms,
 they will try to conquer with
 ideas alone. This makes the
 motion picture all the more i'm
 portant. Above all, We must
 guard against letting the Ger
 mans use the motion picture to
 stir up pity for themselves and
 hatred for the rest of the
 world"
 But 1t is up to us to evaluate films in a positive as well as a negative way-to make use of film as an implement of international goodwill and understanding. For if motion pictures cannot give peo- pie a complete formula for making world peace permanent, they can still help create the conditions of international goodwill that are the essential foundation of lasting peace.
 It is said that universal Ian guage would solve many of the problems of maintaining peace. Well, motion pictures come as close to being a universal language as we are likely to get in our time. The question is, what shall we say in that language?
 I think the motion pictures of one country can say to the peo- ples of other countries: we are human beings, just as you do. We want to like you, and we want you to like us"
 I think the possibilities that lie in this kind of picture-making are cnormous-and I know that many of Us in the film industry are eX- ploring those possibilities very thor oughly.
 Another thing motion pictures can do is to show the people of every nation how much their own vel fare is dependent on the scientific and cultural and industrial achieve ments of other nations. Motion pie lures can emphasize and dramatize the fundamentals of the world to- day.
 I am not saying that the motion picture will do these things. l mere iy say that it can do them. The motion picture can accomplish these things only if it draws it's inspira- ton from those fundamental hu-- man interests which the peoples ol the world have in common, rather than from the differences which tend to divide us into separate na- tionS.
 The problem of creating motion pictures that will be understand able to the people of less fortunate countries than ours is more dl1- ficult than 1t may seem. Take, TOT example. an American-ma DIG ture in which a family is destitute by American standards. In cer- tain countries the audience VIII say. in honest bewilderment, HOW can these people be poor when they have electric lights in their homer
 Of course, the motion picture maker can't hope to solve the prop lem of different standards of ny ing. But he can try to find a means of communication that will heip to create a higher level of under standing for all men, everywhere
 Whether the motion picture de- velops along these lines will depend largely on whether motion pictures will be recognized by the nations of the world as medium of com munication to be accorded the ut- most freedom of expression, or whether they will be treated as Just another article of world commerce and subject to restrictions at every international boundary. ,
 The danger is that under the nressure of economic urgency, gov ernments will be blinded to the tre- mendous cultural importance ol the motion picture. If we are slncerely interested in world peace, We shoulo welcome every new ambassador ol oood-will and every avenue oI un- derstanding. If every nation IS to build a wall around it's own motion nicture industry, we can VICudlly