BOOK REVIEWS Film Music. By Kurt London, with a foreword by Constant Lambert. (Faber & Faber, 12s. 6d.).

Here is the first book to be published in England on this important and fascinating subject, and no one is better qualified than Dr. London to undertake it. He has devoted his life to the film, and he brings the mind of a philosopher as well as the culture of a musician to his task. He left Germany " for ever in 1933, and is now in London, where he says people are more alive than anywhere else in Europe. Film Music should be studied by everyone who has the remotest interest in the cinema. It is easy reading throughout, though much of it is purely technical, and it is admirably translated by Eric S. Bensinger.

F Children and Radio Programmes. A Study of More than Three Thousand Children in the New York Metropolitan Area. By Azriel L. Eisenberg. (Columbia University Press, and Oxford University Press, 15s.).

At this year's Radiolympia the B.B.C.'s Children's Hour is to be seen as well as heard. This is proof, if proof were needed, of the popularity among listeners of varying ages of the good, wholesome material broadcast daily by all stations at 5.15 p.m.

Over in America they do things differently. There are far more juvenile programmes, but most of them are sponsored by commercial houses. Advertisers' inducements are many and varied, and youngsters need only register their names in order to receive (say) a handsome free sample of Duggie's Dog Food in exchange for listening to Duggie (himself) relating dramatic dog stories on behalf of Duggic's Dog Food Company. Or by testing hot cereals three times weekly for a month, a young gormandiser automatically becomes invested with a gold star which he displays on his proud breast.

Undoubtedly the youngsters of New York City are radiominded. Three thousand of them—average age eleven—confessed to spending at least seven hours a week before the loudspeaker. Except for visits to " movies " or reading " funnies," they prefer the radio above most other recreational activities. Mark you, they do not confine themselves wholly to children's broadcasts : in fact they select any programmes with pep—Al Johnson, Amos 'n' Andy, Borrah Minnevitch, Eddie Cantor, and the rest—for preference.

Space forbids full details of their favourite programmes : "Buck Rogers in the Twenty-fifth Century" has a wonderful following, for its theme is ". . . warfare between existing Americans and the Mogul race who have overrun the entire world . . . rocket guns, disintegrator rays, space ships, flying belts, degravitation gadgets, &c." Another is, 20,000 Years in Sing Sing," containing dramatized stories of life behind the bars. Another, " Eno Crime Clues" ; and so forth.

And what is the effect of these broadcasts on the growing minds ? I quote in order that I may not over-state : " For many hours each day the youngsters gather round the radio and listen with rapt attention to the thrilling adventures of their beloved comic strip heroes and heroines. . . . So enthralled are they that they have developed the habit of dividing attention between the humdrum preparation of their school assignments and the compelling excitement of the loudspeaker. . . They gulp their meals in order not to miss the day's instalment. . . . At night the children often lie awake in bed restless and fearful, or wake up screaming as a result of nightmares brought on by mystery stories."

So much for the dark side of the picture. True there are programmes less unsound educationally, especially those that are uncommercial, but they are not favourites. For those who listen, however, they are proved to help school work and encourage leisure-time activities. There is this compensation half of the scholars tested agreed that they read or do their homework while listening—which means that they do not hear everything.

The book itself, excellent in format and general production, gives the questionnaires in full, the data supplied by children and parents, and full tabulations thereon. The summary of findings and conclusions brings the work to a conclusion. It is all wonderfully done in true American fashion—children, for instance, being graded socially according to whether they have telephones and/or motor-cars (not trucks !) at home, or no. Among the many recommendations is the suggestion that parents exercise far greater control over their children's listening activities, and the insinuation that a strong national advisory committee for juvenile programmes is immediately necessary.

The two hundred pages make crisp, entertaining reading, since they reveal graphically the true condition of broadcasting in America. But the average Englishman, even if he knows something of educational psychology and the American system of intelligence tests, is likely to wade through these masses of statistics with his tongue in his cheek ! w. kV. J.

The Art of Film Production. By Andrew Buchanan. (Pitman, 5s.).

The Editor of the Gauntont-British Magazine has written an excellent manual of film-making, which as Mr. John Grierson observes in a foreword needs no bush, but will immediately commend itself to everyone interested in the technical side of the cinema. A short history of film production prefaces his survey of present conditions and exposition of the principles on which the industry's artistic progress depends. Though he writes from the high-brow angle, made familiar by Miss Lejeune in the Observer, his ideas are lucidly expressed and will be intelligible to any serious student : indeed their broad acceptance is inevitable. And any possessor of a cine-camera will profit from Mr. Buchanan's detailed advice on the way to vitalise the shortest film and the most trivial subject. C. M. S.