Movie Moguls . . . Home Grown

For a number of years, undergraduate organizations have ridden a unique gravy train: using tax-exempt lecture halls, they show motion pictures with the frank objective of making profits. But now they face a double squeeze. Film distributors, knowing that student showings hurt attendance at local commercial houses, say they will no longer give the groups 16 millimeter releases, while the Dean's Office, fearing that profits endanger the University's tax status, has become increasingly wary of the motives involved.

The law allows film showing in tax-exempt buildings only if the pictures are not shown for profit and are of an educational nature. At the present time, undergraduate exhibitors violate both regulations. Although films are not so lucrative this year as in the past, profit is still the only reason that groups like the Liberal Union or the U.N. Council show pictures. And movies like Topper and Arsenic and Old Lace can hardly be considered educational.

Actually, only one organization, Ivy Films, has a legitimate reason for showing films in University buildings, for Ivy alone claims an interest in the motion picture as an art form. Political groups and special interest clubs should not be allowed to use tax-exempt facilities for profit. And because of the exemption rules, Ivy Films must revise scheduling policies to keep its films on an educational and not a commercial plane.

The University lacks an intelligently organized film series. Past experience shows a great demand for the pre-war films that were significant in the advancement of motion picture technique. Besides having great entertainment value, they are certainly educational. And because commercial exhibitors consider them of little value, they are cheaply available on 16 millimeter. Ivy Films could easily organize such a film series that would stay within the tax laws, yet attract enough of an audience to cover expenses.