From: Tony Williams English SIUC The thoughts on this subject presented so far by Don, Tim Garrand, and Gene Stavis (especially the last) are very much to the point. Of course, in an ideal world, film (especially 35mm) would represent perfection itself for the classroom. But this is not an ideal world and higher education is under economic attack, particularly in this era of downsizing, with administrators eagerly searching for reasons to eliminate "expensive" courses. Film rentals are high and the system is not as good as it once was for reasons already stated. Hence the main argument is economic, something the more privileged members of that SCS Committee failed to realize. In many ways, most of them are "spoiled" in terms of resources and following their arguments to the logical conclusions would mean a return to the bad old days of film courses only being available to the privileged few in prestigious locations. 16mm rental is now seriously declining. In addition to the opportunities, presented by laserdisc, many films are now only available on video. Think of TNT's restored version of the 1932 DR. Jekyll and Mr Hyde as well as the many examples of national cinema, independent film, and experimental work only available on video. Film may thus eventually become one of a number of ways in which to view cinema. This is a sign of the times and castigating less fortunate and less privileged academics as "villains" does not help matters at all. Hopefully, as technology develops both video and laserdisc formats should improve. It is better seeing a film on video or laserdisc than not at all - which is definitely the case in terms of the current richness of Hong Kong Cinema for those of us not living in large cities. The issue is complex and in need of further discussion. But filmis certainly now going to become one of the many different ways in which to view and mourning about the "good old days" of rental availability is less helpful than thinking about the future and how our economically viable means of cinematic presentation could be improved and developed. Tony Williams. ---- To signoff SCREEN-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF SCREEN-L in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask]