Towards the end of the war, conditions for children in London were at their worst. Many who had been evacuated to the country, on the outbreak of hostilities, had come back. Fathers were away, mothers working; schools were disorganized and under-staffed and there was not nearly enough discipline. The Odeon and Gaumont Saturday morning cinema clubs were re-opened and managers complained that the children were badly in need of some form of moral training. The comptroller of the Odeon group suggested that a one-reeler film be made, showing that stealing by finding was as bad as any other kind of stealing, and I was asked to write the script. When it was shown, the effect was astonishing. Managers reported that their cinemas had come to look like lost property offices with all the things children found and brought to them. It was the effect of this film, which today would seem unbelievably corny, which made me realize how we have wasted and misused the enormous potential of the screen. I have for long advocated the harmfulness of indoctrinating children (or adults either, for that matter) with scenes of crime and violence. Much has been said and written about the harmful effects of television on morals and outlook, but very little about the good it could do. It obviously does have an effect, so why not a good one instead of a bad one?
