Business screen magazine (1938)

ment. Industry-, and other Public Bodies to create a deeper sympathy between their activities and public understanding in Great Britain. And because they were teciinically well made and approached real life from a dramatic point of view, many of these films were circulated widely in the ordinary public theatres on a normal entertainment basis. In 1933. the E. M. B. was closed down for reasons of national economy. But the Film L nit, with its by-then extensive library of films, was taken o\er by the Department of the Post Office. The documentary group attacked the problems of communications in terms of telephones, telegraphs, mails and radio. The size of the group increased. .\lberto Cavalcanti, the French experimentalist director of Rien Que Les Heures, joined the Unit, which had just been equipped with sound apparatus. In the new films, many experiments were made with sound: use being made of specially written music, different narrators and original ideas in the writing and delivery of commentary. The films, of course, were not intended for export. As time went on creators from other fields contributed to the work of the movement: J. B. Priestley, the novelist, A. J. Cummings, the journalist. W. H. .\uden. the poet. Britten and Leigh, composers. William Coldstream, the painter. .\nd apart from the work at the Post Office Film Unit, expansion of the method into other aspects of life was rapid. Bv 1936. documentary films had been made of airways, shipping, railroads, education, slum clearance, nutrition, books, electricity, gas, and for other Government Departments such as the Ministry of Labor: all by producers and directors who had started at the original E. M. B. Film Lnit. In 1937, over forty documentary films were made in Great Britain and over sixty people were working in the movement. In addition to being shown in the public theatres, many of these films had reached the schools. -\t once it became clear that by dramatizing everyday life on the screen, documentary films could fill an important gap in modern education. They could provide a basis for discussion, both adult and juvenile, of some of the vital social issues of current life. They could link the individual with the outside world. By creating a picture of how people live and how public services work, the film THE OLD WAY: Old-fashioned school seen in ■■rjuhh.-n nl <rh, ->,-•!" V^^^^^^^B ""-wBH^^^BB^ ~ Youn^. England in "Children at School" could enter into the field of civics. Thus manv recent documentary films carry a sociological purpose. Housing Problems, Enough To Eat?, and Children At School, all produced by the Gas Industry, are films dealing with problems of not only national but international appeal. Today We Live and Eastern J alley, produced by Social Service Councils, are studies of the unemployment problem which is by no means peculiar to Great Britain. We Live In Tuo Worlds, made by the Post Office, contrasts nationalism and internationalism in present-day Europe. ♦ Technically and aesthetically the documentary film includes most of the innovations of the past ten years with the difference made by the purposive use of an unconsciously developed instrument. But it is important to remember that aesthetic purpose has always come second to sociological aim. The first E. M. B. films used an impressionist technique because it was the easiest CLRRENT DOCUMENTARY FILMS BEING SHOWN IN ENGLAND CHILDREN .\T SCHOOL Produced by the Gas Industry This film reviews the whole system of public education in England, shows the best and worst sides of the schools and presents the facts of the problem. .\IR OUTPOST Produced by Imperial Airways This picture shows the arrival and departure of an air-liner at the town of Sharjah on the Persian Gulf. The film is one of a series made about the England Australia air-route. E.ASTERN' V.ALLEY Produced by Subsistence Production Scheme The study of a cooperative subsistence scheme to relieve unemployment in one of the distressed South Wales \'alleys. HOUSING PROBLEMS Produced by the Gas Industry The problem of slum clearance is international. By means of personal interviews, this film tells what the occupants of slum houses themselves think about the matter. THE SMOKE MENACE Produced by the Gas Industry The evils of smoke pollution are an international problem. In this film some of the causes and effects "f smoke are shown, together v%ith some of the attempts being made to overcome this menace. way of arousing audience response. Later, films like Coal Face, A'ight Mail, and Cover to Cover, used poetic verse to emotionalize their content. Distinct from this creative, dramatic style, films like Housing Problems used the camera and microphone in their fundamental capacity to record interviews. The drama lay in the naked reporting of fact. Today We Live used real people as actors and invented a slight story. But whether the doctimentary film is impressionistic or journalistic in its approach to real life, it is always realistic. It is a dramatization of actuality. Its makers are thoroughly familiar with their subjects before they film them. Through historical research, through social reference, they try to bring the ordinary spectator closer to the world which is intimately his own, the world of real fact and feeling. Sponsorship by Industry and Government, support from the Press and public, have thus put the documentary film to the forefront in Britain. The men w ho lead the movement — all of them young and all of them trained to the job — have united to consolidate the ground gained for their fihns in the past eight years. Their several units work in cooperation, exchange personnel, ideas, advice, emphasizing the common goal and exploring new fields. They work collectively on behalf of a movement and not individualistically as is found in the commercial studios. They have captured public audiences by exciting technique. They have organized the educational lecture bodies into an appreciation of the usefulness of the film as an educational force. They have given Government, Industry, and Public Service an opportunity to account for their conduct of public affairs. As more documentary films are made, their producers pursue the aim of bringing the schoolchild closer to the life he will eventually live, of helping the ordinary citizen to understand the social and economic forces which govern his living. In picturing the modern world of common interests, the British documentary film is trying to make it possible for the citizen to judge the complex activities of the expert and the specialist. And in thus helping the citizen to delegate his authority intelligently, the British documentary film is trying to play a part in the revitalization of citizenship, without which, its makers believe, democracy cannot continue to exist. V.S. THE NEW: Modern school in "Children at SchooT^ documentary film 27