Word: film
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...Outlawed block booking and the fixing of minimum admission prices as a condition of rental. It also ordered the film companies to eliminate unreasonable "clearances," i.e., the period that must elapse between the time a picture is shown in a first-run house and its appearance in neighboring theaters...
...Russian officer turns to leave the American, German, Englishman, and French woman he has met on the Berlin express, he lets fall to the pavement the card bearing the American's address. An insidious fear begins to creep up on the moviegoer; surely this allegorical film of our times is going to justify all the advance publicity given it by the Hearst press. But "Berlin Express" is an American film and all must still be for the best; the Russian alights from the jeep, picks up the card, smiles for the first time during the picture, and waves goodbye...
Whether or not you care for the allegory, "Berlin Express" is still an unusual and interesting film. Hollywood has combined its own mastery of technique in moviemaking with the mature semi-documentary approach so often used to advantage in British films and has produced a picture that brings along with its message a realistic portrayal of Germany as it is today...
Contrived as may be the plot of five assorted nationals who come to know each other and cooperate for a common cause, the film otherwise derives so much strength from its realism that the illogical coincidences are almost forgiven. The first striking device employed to lift the picture out of the depths in which American movies usually remain mired is the use of French, German, or Russian whenever they would ordinarily be spoken. While never employed so as to confuse the plot, the languages lend an authenticity that is seldom realized in motion pictures. Then, as the scene moves from...
...Edith Summerskill, parliamentary secretary to the Ministry of Food, shrilled that the film was "likely to pervert the minds of the British people." The Bishop of London, as chairman of the Public Morality Council, sent a protest. Watch committees from the provinces hustled to London to pass judgment. Last week, after threat of banning, the picture was pruned a bit. Out went the kicking scene, also one where a gangster smashed a decanter across the face of an unoffending barkeep. However, the producers promised that, for export, No Orchids would remain unexpurgated...