Extensive Picture

Lordanova !Extensive Picture Dina Lordanova Leicester University DI4@leicester.ac.uk Extensive Picture David Puttnam. The Undeclared War: The Struggle for Control ofthe World's Film Industry. HarperCollins, 1997. (414 pages) In the early 1990's, during the GATT talks, Europe and America clashed irreconcilably over film production and distribution . Americans— represented by Jack Valenti—insisted on the inclusion of cinema in the provisions for unrestricted market access; Europeans feared that once granted such inclusion would mean an end to their own film industries, so they fought and kept the restrictions in place. The current cease-fire, however, is only temporary, and fighting is expected to erupt once again in just a few years. This is why after the 1990's GATT talks, the European Commission appointed a think-tank headed by producer David Puttnam, mandated to help European film industries find a path to a creatively and commercially vigorous future without resorting to the damaging and negative policies they have implemented in the past. His book is based on a series of Berlin and Oxford University lectures in 1994/5 and contains an account of an extensive background to support his involvement in the battle for European cinema's survival. Far from engaging in simplistic answers, Puttnam declares that it is necessary to take a fresh look at the entire century of the film medium in order to get insights for what is in store for cinema industries. Thus the main body of Puttnam's analysis of the "undeclared war" is taken by a historical overview of the development of cinema on both sides of the Atlantic. He starts with Edison and the Lumière brothers to come to present-day issues about blockbuster distribution tactics and art house cinema circuits. While in 1908 foreign imports accounted 70% of the total number of films released in America, by 1909 as a result of the activities of the MPPC cartel the European share had been halved, and this is the turning point for American dominance from which the Europeans would never really recover. Many major American film industry figures in Puttnam's account—from early American producers and their European counterparts, to present day figures. The experiences of European directors who have worked for the Americans are also discussed. Alongside the much better known story of Hollywood, Puttnam paints an extensive picture of the European experience. One of the main lines in Puttnam's historical excursion is the comparison of approaches: the American one deeply rooted in business and turning cinema into entertainment industry, and the European one deeply rooted in enlightenment and claiming cinema as an art form. Problems in regard to political propaganda and legislation shifts, mechanisms and impediments of international distribution, regulation on production and exhibition are all considered by Puttnam in his extensive exploration of facts. Of particular interest are his critical comments on the situation in present day European filmmaking, and on the shortcomings of the administrative mechanisms which Europe has devised to fight in the battle which it anticipates. In one of the most interesting parts of the book, Puttnam discusses his personal relationship with American cinema—starting with his childhood fascination with it and describing his first visit to America in 1963 as some sort of "going home," up to his short-lived executive involvement with Coca Cola-owned Columbia pictures in 1987—a sincere account containing insightful analysis of his mistakes and misunderstandings, thus supplying the historical investigation of the book with a unique personal touch. The book is a valuable document, a rare case of a producer's take on the processes in the world of film at large. Several critical points need to be made about Puttnam's vision of the struggle for control of the world's cinema industry: First, I am not fully convinced ofeach and every piece in Puttnam's supporting evidence and the interpretation he gives it can be deemed directly relevant to the current state of things. It is difficult to convince me that today's struggle for domination is a direct continuation of the past clashes: a claim does not bring into consideration the whole complexity ofbackground factors and forces that played roles in...