Documentary News Letter (1944-1945)

10 DOCUMENTARY NEWS LETTER WORLD WIDE HAVE COMPLETED TWELVE FILMS DURING 1945 INCLUDING "TO-DAY AND TO-MORROW" "UNITY IS STRENGTH" "PAPWORTH VILLAGE SETTLEMENT" "THE RURNING QUESTION" "FOOD MANUFACTURE" "OUR ENEMY— JAPAN" (M.O.I.) (A.E.U.) (RRITISH COUNCIL) (M.O.I.) (D.A.K.) (M.O.I.) New Year Greetings to all their friends from Ronnie Anscombe, John Armstrong, Anne Darker, Ralph Rond, James Carr, Jack Caras, Graham Cutts, Frances Cockburn, Steve Cox, James Dawson, Clifford Dyment, Hindle Edgar, Mary Francis, Raylton Fleming, Clifford Hornby, Ken Hughes, Peter Hubble, Elizabeth Ince, Rernard Reeves, Retty Thompson, Geoffrey Williams and Terry Rishop. WORLD WIDE PICTURES LTD. (A Member of the Federation of Documentary Film Units) LYSRETH HOUSE, SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W.l. GERRARD 1736/7/8 ?aAE]3 itttf ?&8? present m Banana A film based on the British Government's White Paper "Statistics relating to the War Effort of the United Kingdom" Producer and Editor: Paul Rotha Script: Ritchie Calder and Miles Tomalin Spoken by John Mills Diagrams: Isotype Institute Music: William Alwyn Distribution: Ministry of Information Cert "U" Length 2 reels 25 CATHERINE STREET, COVENT GARDEN, LONDON, W.C.2 Telephone TEMple Bar 5116-7-8 teeth and the second set should be good. But if brevity is the soul of wit, surely of film, the soul is brevity and shape. FEATURES the studios are maintaining the high level that they set for themselves during the war. Ealing presents Dead of Night, a film whose credit list is as long as the film is excellent. This film, always entertaining and in certain sequences, notably that of the ventriloquist, memorable, is a very successful excursion into the field of the macabre. The script in particular, largely the work of John Baines, reaches a level seldom achieved in feature films. Ann Todd. Compton Bennet, Reg Wyer and Sidney Box have a deservedly great success with the Seventh Veil. This new organisation at Riverside holds great promise for the future. In their own puzzle corner manner Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger present I Know Where I'm Going. Here is great film-making skill, but it is rather wasted on a very slight anecdote which revolves round the question of whether you should marry for love or for money. Although the story is developed entirely in visual terms, a very rare and refreshing occurrence, the essential triviality of the theme plus the lack of plot make the film rather an ineffectual one. With great ballyhoo and sound of tuckets without, Caesar and Cleopatra has been launched into an alien world. Although our reviewer does not think that the story was worth filming or that the amount of money spent was necessary, and believes the whole thing was a lot of fuss about nothing in particular, he admits to having enjoyed the film very much indeed. The acting of Vivien Leigh was a delight to watch and she was more than ably supported by Claude Rains, Stewart Grainger, Basil Sidney and Cecil Parker. The film is very easy on the eye and the dialogue is a pleasure to listen to. An excellently adult evening's entertainment. From Independent Producers comes The Rake's Progress, directed by Sidney Gilliat. Direction, dialogue and production value are on a high level but the story somehow or other misses the mark. The Rake of the story is a cad and his Progress lacks both tragedy and pity, but as it is told with great skill and embellished by the performances of Rex Harrison, Lili Palmer and Margaret Will-she-or-won't-she-be-a-star Johnstone, it makes a pleasant enough entertainment. Brief Encounter was a sorry affair. Impeccably directed and photographed (David Lean and Bob Krasker), this slight story of two middleaged people in search of a bed became vaguely comic instead of being noble or pathetic. The comedy sequences were particularly inept and the film, apart from its polish, was chiefly remarkable for a splendid cinematic performance by the superb Celia Johnson. Finally we have the odd developments at British National, where Lou Jackson is busy producing some very peculiar films. Latin Quarter and Murder in Reverse have one great advantage in common and that is they both are made with gusto. Each has a story' to tell and is determined that you shall both watch and listen to it. In spite of some of the worst acting and dialogue seen for a long time they hold the attention in an ancient mariner fashion and you cannot tear yourself away. With an improvement in technique and no loss of enthusiasm Elstree may once again become a power in the film industry, a turbulently independent state on the edge of Rank's mighty empire.