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The Roman Catholic Church and Film Exhibition In Belgium, 1926–1940

2007; Routledge; Volume: 27; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/01439680701363242

1465-3451

Daniël Biltereyst,

Historical and Political Studies

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Acknowledgment The author thanks Dr Philippe Meers, Lies Van de Vijver, Dr Roel Vande Winkel and Gert Willems, as well as John De Doncker and Hilde Van Liempt (DOCIP). Notes Notes 1. Quote from: Pope Pius XI, Divini Illius Magistri, Encyclical of Pope Pius XI on Christian Education (Vatican, 31 September 1929). See: www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_31121929_divini-illius-magistri_en.html. 2. See Abel Brohée, Les Catholiques et le Problème du Cinéma (Louvain, Sécrétariat Général d’Action Catholique, 1927). 3. Brohée, Les Catholiques et le Problème du Cinéma, 5–13. 4. Father Abel Brohée (1880–1947) was the leader of the Belgian Catholic Film Action and became from 1932 onwards the president of the International Catholic Organisation of Cinema (OCIC/Organisation Catholic International de Cinéma). Léo Bonneville, Soixante-dix ans au service du cinéma et de l’audiovisuel: OCIC (Québec, Fides, 1998), 21, 233–236. 5. Frank Walsch, Sin and Censorship: the Catholic Church and the motion picture industry (New Haven, CT, Yale University Press, 1996), 145. 6. Quotes from: Pope Pius XI, Vigilanti Cura—Encyclical Letter (Vatican, 1936). See: www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_29061936_vigilanti-cura_it.html. 7. Robert Molhant, Les Catholiques et le Cinéma: une étrange histoire de craintes et de passions. Les débuts: 1895–1935 (Brussels, OCIC, 2000). Bonneville, Soixante-dix ans au service du cinéma et de l’audiovisuel: OCIC, 9–26. 8. John T. Trumpbour, Selling Hollywood to the World (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2001), 215. 9. Trumpbour, Selling Hollywood to the World, 215. 10. See Guido Convents, Les catholiques et le cinéma en Belgique (1895–1914), in Roland Cosandey, André Gaudreault and Tom Gunning (eds) Une invention du diable? Cinéma des premiers temps et réligion (Eng.: An Invention of the Devil?) (Sainte Foy, Presses de l’Université Laval, 1992), 21–43. 11. Trumpbour, Selling Hollywood to the World, 213 12. In a leaflet, published by OCIC by the mid-1930s (Louvain, KADOC, KFL Archive, box 42, no specific date), the international organization claims that it had members or close ties with national Catholic film movements in 17 countries, including Austria, Canada, France (e.g. Centrale Catholique du Cinéma et de la Radio), Germany (e.g. Filmarbeitsgemeinschaft Deutscher Katholiken), Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, the USA (Legion of Decency). It is not sure whether all these organizations were members, but at the end of the 1930s, the list of members of OCIC's General Assembly contained representatives of 13 countries, including the Legion of Decency. Marie-Louise Geysen, De Katholieke Filmactie in België (1920–1940) (Ghent, Ghent University MA thesis, 1983), 23. In 2001 OCIC became part of SIGNIS, the World Catholic Association for Communication. Its headquarters are still located in Brussels (www.signis.net). 13. Trumpbour, Selling Hollywood to the World, 213. 14. See Daniel Biltereyst, Philippe Meers, Lies Van de Vijver and Gert Willems, Cinema exhibition in Flanders in the 20th century (paper at the Cinema in Context Conference, Amsterdam, 20–21 April 2006). See also Trumpbour, Selling Hollywood to the World, 213, who wrote that Belgium was ‘celebrated as a relative free-trade zone in film by the MPPDA’. 15. Liesbet Depauw and Daniel Biltereyst, De kruistocht tegen de slechte cinema: over de aanloop en de start van de Belgische filmkeuring (1911–1929), Tijdschrift voor Mediageschiedenis, 8(2005), 3–26. 16. Belgium, in: Jack Alicoate, The 1938 Film Year Book (New York, The Film Daily, 1938), 1173. 17. Data based on a ongoing research project on the history of the official and Catholic film censorship in Belgium (Verboden Beelden, SRC-project 2003–2006, Ghent University). Thanks to Liesbet Depauw. 18. This was how the Belgian censorship system was labelled in several Film Year Books, such as in the 1929 version (ed. Jack Alicoate, 1929), 1013. 19. A notorious and symbolic case was the French-Belgian movie La Garçonne (1923, Du Plessy), which caused many riots and boycotts, leading to its banning in several cities such as Antwerp. See: KFL, De Gemeentelijke machten en de Cinema, Filmliga (Brussels, November–December 1937, 5), 6–7. Daniel Biltereyst, “Down with French vaudevilles!” The Catholic film movement's resistance and boycott of French cinema in the 1930s, Studies in French Cinema, 6(1), 2006, 34. 20. Convents, Les catholiques et le cinéma en Belgique, 22–33. 21. Rerum Novarum. Encyclical on capital and labor (Vatican, 15.5.1891). See: www.vatican.va/holy_father/leo_xiii/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_15051891_rerum-novarum_en.html 22. Rik Stallaerts and Luc Schokkaert, Onder dak. Een eeuw volks- en gildehuizen (Gent, Bijdragen Museum van de Vlaams Sociale Strijd, Uitgave Provinciebestuur Oost-Vlaanderen, 1987). 23. Marie-Louise Geysen, De Katholieke Filmactie in België (1920–1940) (Ghent, Ghent University MA thesis, 1983), I, 154. See also: Felix Morlion, The Apostolate of Public Opinion (Montreal, Fides, 1944), 65. Lieve Dhaene, De Offensiebeweging in Vlaanderen 1933–1939: Katolieken tussen traditie en vooruitgang, Belgisch Tijdschrift voor Nieuwste Geschiedenis/Revue Belge d’Histoire Contemporaine (1/2, 1986), 227–268. 24. De Film: Moderne Grootmacht (Bruges, CFA, 1937), 60 25. A major problem for historical research on the Belgian Catholic film movement of this period is that the pre-Second World War archive of the headquarters in Brussels was confiscated and probably destroyed by the Gestapo. Geysen, De Katholieke Filmactie in België, 138–145. 26. Catholic priests and laymen went to film theatres to see and rate movies, using detailed printed forms. The latter were sent to the Brussels’ headquarters, where a select group of priests and clergymen deliberated on a final rating. This system of reviewing movies resembled somewhat the Legion of Decency's ratings, but was not based on it. Gregory D. Black, The Catholic Crusade against the Movies, 1940–1975 (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1994), 25–26. James M. Skinner, The Cross and the Cinema: the Legion of Decency and the National Catholic Office for Motion Pictures, 1933–1970 (Westport, Praeger, 1993), 49–51. 27. Felix Morlion (1904–1987), who was an enigmatic propagandist for an offensive Church against the modern mass media, became a close ally to Pope Pius XII, and after the Second World War went to the Vatican to found and lead the influential International University of Social Studies. Bernard De Clercq, André Felix Morlion: Vechter voor wereldvrede, Dominikaans Leven, 58(2001), 15–19. 28. In 1937, DOCIP's Filmleiding and articles appeared in some 60 newspapers and magazines, according to: De Film: Moderne Grootmacht, 59. 29. Geysen, De Katholieke Filmactie in België, 97. According to Morlion, in a book published in 1944 (The Apostolate of Public Opinion, 111, 119), DOCIP launched in 1938 a weekly international publication in French and German. Bonneville, Soixante-dix ans au service du cinéma et de l’audiovisuel, 19. Although DOCIP has lost most of its power, it still exists, publishes two Belgian film journals and has its headquarters in Brussels (see: www.filmmagie.be). 30. Geysen, De Katholieke Filmactie in België, 98–119. De Film, 59–60. 31. The missing link in this chain was, of course, production. This issue and a case study on how the CFA tried to intervene in the few popular film productions in Belgium, see: Daniel Biltereyst and Sofie Van Bauwel, Whitey, in: Ernest Mathijs (ed.) The Cinema of the Low Countries (London/New York, Wallflower Press/Columbia University Press, 2004), 49–60. 32. Peter Godman, Hitler and the Vatican: inside the secret archives that reveal the new story of the Nazis and the church (New York, Free Press, 2004). 33. Cardinal Pacelli, Le Pape et le problème du cinema. Lettre de S.E. le Cardinal PACELLI au Président de OCIC (Louvain, 1934). Archive: KADOC, Louvain, KFL, box 40. 34. Rik Stallaerts and Luc Schokkaert, Onder dak (Gent, Provinciebestuur, 1987), 187–188. In Belgium, in the 1930s, the idea of a Catholic Action was also translated in terms of ‘offensive’ (cf. ‘Offensiefbrigades’)—where Morlion played a key role again. The idea and practices of Catholic Action were also introduced in the USA. See e.g. the book Catholic Action in Practice, written by the Motion Picture Herald's editor Martin Quigley, Jr, and Edward M. Connors (New York, Random House, 1963, with a foreword by Francis Cardinal Spellman). 35. Encyclical Ubi Arcano dei Consilio (Vatican, 23 December 1922). See: www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_23121922_ubi-arcano-dei-consilio_en.html. 36. Besides a Catholic Film Action, which was by far the best organized one, there were also Catholic Actions in the fields of the press, radio, books and theatre. See Geysen, De Katholieke Filmactie in België, 7. Also: Felix Morlion, De coördinatie tusschen de technische diensten en de werken der Katholieke Actie, in: Verhandelingen van het VIe Congres van Mechelen (Brussels, 1936), 232–233. 37. Morlion, The Apostolate of Public Opinion, 41. 38. Convents, Les catholiques et le cinéma en Belgique, 33–34. 39. ‘Nous possédons déjà plusieurs centaines de salles catholiques o[ugrave] des séances cinématographiques sont organisées. Ce chiffre grandit et ces salles forment une puissance forte catholique.’ Brohée, Les Catholiques et le Problème du Cinéma, 25. 40. Letter by Leo Van Marcke (CFC) to Clemens De Landtsheer (film producer, Flandria Film archive), 29.10.1928 (Gemeentearchief Temse, Flandria Film Archive, piece 1.1.92). 41. Cinema, La Revue du Film. Organe des Organisations Cinématographiques Catholiques Belges (Brussels, 8.9.1930). 42. Felix Morlion, Filmleiding (Louvain, Davidsfonds, 1932), 7. 43. In the mid 1930s, the CFA claimed that the ‘bloc’ of Catholic cinemas counted more than 300 theatres. See OCIC, Untitled leaflet (Louvain, KADOC, KFL Archive, box 42, no specific date), 6. 44. Van Heghe, Film als bron voor geschiedschrijving (Gent, MA thesis, 1978), 48. 45. Biltereyst et al., Cinema exhibition in Flanders in the 20th century, 12. 46. It is difficult to identify these early Catholic forms of film exhibitions, not only because they were not registered in film industry yearbooks—often published by commercial cinema associations which saw these Catholic cinemas as illegal and unjustified competition. Also, it turned out that many of these Catholic theatres worked in a semi-public sphere and presented their screening sessions as private initiatives. In May 1940, the archive of the Belgian Catholic film movement in Brussels was confiscated by the Gestapo and probably destroyed later (Dhaene, De Offensiebeweging in Vlaanderen 1933–1939). 47. These case studies were thorough micro-historical case studies carried out by MA students over several months, based on information gathered in different kinds of local archives. This additional research in local archives was necessary, because the (commercially inspired) industry yearbooks give limited information on the ideological background of film exhibition venues. We did, however, find lists of pillarized film clubs in some yearbooks. The research was carried out in the following 46 towns in Flanders: Lier, Oostkamp, Knokke Heist, Sint Kruis, Oostende, Jabbeke, Kortrijk, Harelbeke, Wevelgem, Avelgem, Diksmuide, Nieuwpoort, Veurne, Pittem, Oostrozebeke, Waregem, Roeselare, Lichtervelde, Ieper, Poperinge, Destelbergen/Heusden, Dendermonde, Erpe Mere, Zottegem, Kluisbergen, Oudenaarde, Deinze, Arendonk, Dessel, Liedekerke, Londerzeel, Kontich, Hoboken, Mortsel, Hemiksem, Kessel, Schilde, Hoogstraten, Mol, Borgerhout, Wilrijk, Boechout, Balen, Zwijndrecht, Burcht and Herentals. 48. The growth of the various cinema chains along the different pillars can be observed in the next table: The Roman Catholic Church and Film Exhibition In Belgium, 1926–1940All authorsDaniel Biltereysthttps://doi.org/10.1080/01439680701363242Published online:06 June 2007Table Download CSVDisplay Table 49. Joke Bekaert, Het cinemaverleden van Diksmuide (Gent, paper, 2005). 50. Tom Coucke, Filmexploitatie in Waregem (Gent, paper, 2005). See also e.g. the case of Poperinge (Katholieke Cinema/Cinema Royal), where the Christian workers league ACW started a cinema in 1930. See: Pieter Demaeght, Cinema in Poperinge (Gent, 2005), 17. 51. The cinema might have started in 1924, but seemed to become a regular film theatre in 1930. See: Katrien Goudeseune, Cinema in Ieper (Gent, paper, 2005), 17. 52. Commission de censure catholique (internal document, CFC, in: Louvain, Kadok archive, KFL, no. 39). 53. De Film, 1937, 49. 54. Morlion, Filmleugen, 1932, 7–8. 55. De Film: Moderne Grootmacht, 1937, 35. See also J. Cartuyvels, De kinemazaal, Verhandelingen van het VIe Congres van Mechelen (Brussels, 1936), 126–136. 56. The revenues for the CFC (or bloc of Catholic cinemas) can be found in: CFA, Het Middenbestuur der Katholieke Filmaktie, Filmliga (4: 10), 2. The concrete data: The Roman Catholic Church and Film Exhibition In Belgium, 1926–1940All authorsDaniel Biltereysthttps://doi.org/10.1080/01439680701363242Published online:06 June 2007Table Download CSVDisplay Table 57. According to one of the CFA leaders, only half of the Catholic cinemas (total of about 300) had proper audio equipment by 1936. J. Cartuyvels, De kinemazaal, 127. 58. Felix Morlion, Is de Katholieke Filmcentrale nog noodig?, Filmiga (5: 8, November–December 1937), 1. 59. Internal document, no date, no title, but probably from the mid-1930s (Louvain, Kadoc Archive, KFL, box 42, 10 pages. 60. Father Lunders, Plan van Samenwerking tusschen Offensief-Brigade en Katholieke Filmliga (Louvain, Kadoc Archive, KFL, box 40). 61. A keen illustration can be found in a town called Avelgem, where local Catholics had picketed in front of the ‘liberal’ cinema, Ons Huis, while they also caused a lot of disturbance in the theatre itself. In September 1937, the local council decided that the screening had to be stopped. See: Letter Mayor of Avelgem 16.9.1937, in Municipal Archive Avelgem. 62. By far the most spectacular and successful action in this respect was the one against the French-German movie La Kermesse Héroïque (1935), made by the Belgian director Jacques Feyder. In this prestigious film, Feyder created a Breughelian 16th-century Flanders, telling how local people seemed to ‘collaborate’ with the Spanish invaders. For local Flemish-nationalists, the movie was a disgrace for Flemish cultural heritage and identity, because men were presented as cowards and women as all too willing ‘whores’. Catholic film leaders used this protest to organize a wide boycott of the movie, mainly through a media campaign (articles in the press), leaflets and the workings of their local Catholic film leagues. In many towns and cities where the movie was supposed to be shown, there was picketing and even riots when the movie was forbidden by several local city councils, the Kermesse affair soon became a national and even government issue for several months. Benoît Mihaïl, La Kermesse Héroïque, Un hommage à la Flandre?, Cahiers d’Histoire du Temps Présent, 10(2002), 43–77. 63. Trumpbour, Selling Hollywood to the World, 223–224. 64. Another spectacular and long campaign was that against French movies—indicated as the war against French vaudevilles. For an extended analysis, see: Daniel Biltereyst, “Down with French vaudevilles!”, 33–40. 65. Letter by ACB to Father Morlion, CFA, 11 April 1937, Archive Archbishop Mechelen, Fonds Van Roey, box ‘Film’. 66. Letter by H. Verpoorten (ACB) to the Minister of Justice, 17 March 1936 (Rijksarchief Beveren, PK ANTW 2003 B, box 637). 67. Verslag van de overeenkomst getroffen tusschen de afgevaardigden van de syndicale kamer voor cinematografie en de afgevaardigden van DOCIP, 17 januari 1939 (Louvain, Kadoc archive, KFL, box 40). 68. See the work done by: Gregory D. Black (The Catholic Crusade against the Movies, 1997; Hollywood censored: morality, Catholics, and the movies, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1994), Francis Couvares (Hollywood, Main Street, and the Church, in F. Couvares, ed., Movie Censorship and the American Culture, Washington, Smithsonian Insititution Press, 1996, 129–158), Thomas Doherty (Pre-Code Hollywood: sex, immorality, and insurrection in American cinema, 1930–1934, New York: Columbia University Press, 1999), Richard Maltby (The Production Code and the Hays Office, in Tino Balio, ed. Grand Design, Berkeley, University of California Press, 1993, 37–72), James M. Skinner (The Cross and the Cinema, 1993), Frank Walsch (Sin and Censorship, 1996). 69. See: Robert C. Allen, Relocating American Film History: the ‘problem’ of the empirical, Cultural Studies, 20(1) (2006), 48–88. 70. Chas Critcher (ed.), Moral panics and the media (New York, Open University Press, 2006). 71. This list is based on several sources, including students’ papers, as well as on: Roger De Smul, Bioscopen te Gent en omliggende gemeenten, Grasduintje (2001–2004). On Verviers: Michel Bedeur and Paolo Zagaglia, Cinémas 1896–1993 Verviers (Andrimont-Dison, Editions Irezumi, 1993), 232–233. On Bruges: Jaak A. Rau, Een eeuw Brugge 1901–2000 (Brugge, Van de Wiele, 2003), 36.