Documentary News Letter (1940)

WEI DOCUMENTARY NEWS LETTER FEBRUARY 1940 13 ecrets of Life. Production: G.B.I. Direction: lary Field. Photography: Smith, Pike, Burden. 'ommentary: Emmett. Colour System: Dufayolor. Distribution: G.F.D. (theatrical). RUCE wooLFE's "Sccrets of Life" have been en on the country's screens for so long that one lUSt applaud the tenacity, imagination, and bove all patience, which have made them posible. The present series represents a fresh stage f progress. They are photographed in Dufayolor. The very quietness and somewhat subdued Dnes are appropriate to films of natural history. )ufaycolor, moreover, with its single negative, lakes the task of the cameraman easier. Some if the more cumbersome systems would make uch photography of wild life impossible. In ertain shots the colour is very beautiful. A oung badger, with his black and white striped oat, enjoying himself in a pool of muddy v-ater, and a shot of the edge of a pond, with its tony bottom showing through the clear water, re lovely things. If colour does not unduly limit the cameralan in terms of exposure and focus, filming wild features should be easier. The difficulty of geting animals to do what the director wants is ■resumably the same, but colour permits greater ifferentiation. A male stickleback is clearly disinguished from a female by his pink throat, /hereas in monotone both would look identical. Microphotography, too, is aided by colour nd when the blood of an embryo newt develops rom a colourless to a fairly red fluid, the change ; easily discernible and scientifically important. Vrtistic though colour films can be, their greatest mportance is probably scientific. Accurate oiour therefore becomes essential. Colour is a definite approach towards realism. V water-beetle, or a dragon-fly larva in colour ^ much more real, and less photographic. Jnderwater life becomes something terrifying, istead of quaint and charming. But in these ■articular films it is difficult to estimate this ealism, because when comparison becomes posibie the commentator usually makes some crack hich serves to distract the attention. The production maintains the standard which ,iMormer films in the series have set. But it is per^ pissible to criticise the commentaries. A comnentary can be interesting, informative, and Is I .musing, without being facetious, and it is a ;3 loubtful pleasure to sit through a whole ten ,,,(^inutes of Emmett's rather overwhelming harivari. -J DUTCH DOCUMENTARY THOUGH THE SIZE of the world population speaking Dutch is relatively small, Holland has shown considerable activity in peace-time in the making of documentary films, more so for example than Belgium, Denmark, Norway or Sweden. Perhaps the most interesting documentary film maker is Dr J. C. Mol of Multifilm (Haarlem). Dr Mol is a specialist in natural history, and his films are the only ones which we know which can be compared with those of Percy Smith and Mary Field (G.B.I.). His study of the life cycle of the mosquito is one of the most remarkable films of its kind ever made. He has also made colour films of the formation of crystals out of solution and a number of black and white films on the same subject. Unfortunately he has not the backing of a system of distribution. r^ The brothers de Haas (Visie-Film, Amsterdam) are also well known for the high level of their work.. Until war broke out they were making a picture for the centenary of the Dutch Railways. Other films are De Ballade van Hoogen Hoed (Ballad of the Silk Hat), a highbrow film in the early avant garde style, and a documentary for K.L.M. on the Dutch East Indies. Working independently is Otto von Neyenhofi", a freelance documentary director. His films are well up to the level of work in other countries. In his RijksmAseiim he has taken a static subject, a picture gallery, and made it live. Jan Teunissen, the director of Pierement and Sabbath, was recently working in Paris. Joris Ivens, whose films date back to the early days of documentary, has made social films in Russia, Spain and China and is at present in New York. One of the commercial film studios, Barnstijn Filmstad at the Hague, has made a three-reeler of the Dutch broadcasting company A.V.R.O. which, though a little uninspired in treatment, is finely photographed and recorded. Unfortunately, the full length film released in 1938, describing the rise of Holland as a Colonial and European power, seems to have died an untimely death. Few people have seen the film and it is said to have been a commercial failure. It was directed by a Paris trained English director instead of use being made of the abundant Dutch talent available. There are several fine cameramen in Holland and the work of Andor von Barsy, a Hungarian by birth, can be compared with any exterior photography in the world. Dutch documentary distribution is also in advance of that in many other countries. Public cinemas are hired on Sunday and weekday mornings by private groups of restricted membership who have come together for cultural reasons; the movement is a flourishing one, and the theatres cost anything from £2 to £20 a time. The movement is analogous to the work of Film Societies in England. In other cases money is collected at the door, and the shows appear often to be run as an ordinary commercial speculation. The films, however, have a specialised appeal. There is no formal membership, and any member of the public may come in. Certain municipalities have forbidden the use of cinemas on Sunday mornings on religious grounds, but no objections are raised in the Hague, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Haarlem, Utrecht, Leeuwarden and Nijmegen. In no circumstances are the cinemas opened before 11 a.m. There is also a travelling road-show movement similar to that operating in England and handling films of an advertising nature. Co-ordinating all distribution activities is the Nederlandsche Vereeniging voor Cultureele Films. This organisation serves as a national film library. The main demand is for silent films. But it is to be noted that few of the Dutch schools, which number over 1,500, possess even silent projectors. The N.V.C.F. not only collates information and publishes a catalogue but imports non-theatrical films from abroad and enters directly into the field of distribution. It hires films to those who hold projectors, it hires projectors to those who hold films, and it organises shows in cinemas, mostly to adult education groups. N.V.C.F., though oflicially recognised, is financed by private subscription. There is also another group, the Cinematografische Volksuniversitait. (Manager: Dr N. H. Wolf.) Dr Wolf is an ex-veterinary surgeon who also edits the paper Den Kiinst. He organises Sunday morning shows up and down Holland of films varying from Vertov's Russian film on women to Frank Buck's Bring 'Em Back Alive. His organisation is without official backing. ,■; llOLUlilL^TAIn .>L" S LLTTIjn renders Mciil he interested in these pamphlets THE STORY OF THE DOCUMENTARY FILM by John Grierson Reprinted from the Fortnightly Review SEARCHLIGHT ON DEMOCRACY by John Grierson a lecture to The British Institute of Adult Education THE CINEMA AND THE INFORMATION SERVICES by Thomas Baird a leeture to The Association of Special Libraries and Information Bureaux obtainable price 3d. each (post free), from 34 Soho Square, London, W.l