Documentary News Letter (1947-1949)

102 DOCUMENTARY NEWS LETTER Edgar Anstey on the CZECHOSLOVAK FILM FESTIVAL This article consists of excerpts from a recent BBC Broadcast in all my film-viewing in Prague I have seen only one film which seemed unsuitable for export. My own opinion — for what it's worth — is that the average le\el of Czechoslovak feature film production is certainly not below that of Britain or America, and is superior to such Soviet work as we have been able to see lately. Now this 1 recognize is a bold claim. It doesn't mean that Czechoslovak films yet include a great work of genius. What it does mean is that their total product includes little or none of the banal, third-rate nonsense which still forms an appreciable part of American and British output. During the course of the Festival British cinema-goers have been able to see Warriors of Faith, Stolen Frontier, Men without Wings, The Warning, The Strike, Dead among the Living, and The Violin and the Dream, together with shorts ranging from the delightfully eerie mystical legend Animals and Brigands to the fine dignity of Church of St George — a documentary of ecclesiastical architecture full of the national spirit of Czechoslovakia. General Conclusion It is not my place here to review these films in detail. But I do want to draw certain general conclusions as to overall content and style and I think the best way to do this is to tell you about the most memorable thing that happened to me during my last visit to Czechoslovakia. We had been invited to a small town called Duba, which had been chosen for the premiere of Warriors of Faith because it was from here that Rohac, the hero of the film came five hundred years ago. A party went from Prague for the occasion, led by Mr Kopecky, Minister of Information. One part of the ceremony was the re-naming of a street in honour of the film and, after the speeches had been made, the official party moved oft" through the crowds towards the hotel for the rest of the proceedings. Now the Minister of Information is a native of this district, and it was not long before he had been halted by shouts of greeting from men and women who once had been his schoolfellows. They started to ask him questions about the state of the world and the hope of peace. He began to answer them — slowly and carefully at first — in terms which 1 recognized, when they were translated by a neighbour, as being homely and yet shrewd and realistic. The discussion — on a level of man to man equality with no obsequiousness or timid deference — went on and became more and more complicated, and more and more lively and stimulating. It began there in the street and went on during most of the rest of the day. From time to time, Mr Kopecky would disappear from the formalities and later would be found at the centre of a knot of eager, inquiring citizens of Duba. Here was in fad a Minister of Information Liking advantage of a fleeting opportunity to do his job, not through his staff, or through the Press, or through the radio, but directly with the people of whom he was a leader and yet a servant. It was. as I said, a memorable experience. Democratic Realism But what has this to do with Czechoslovak films? The answer I think is that the average Czechoslovak film demonstrates a particular kind of democratic realism. Their films are conspicuously free from social or indeed intellectual distinction between groups and levels of people. They really seem to begin with the assumption that all men are equal. Then, as to realism. Even in Warriors of Faith where some people have found the plot over-complicated and difficult to follow, few of you will quarrel with the background of medieval town and castle and with the costumes or decoration. Certainly in the films of war and occupation like Stolen Frontier and Men without Wings, the settings are documentary in manner. For example, the industrial sequences of Men without Wings were shot in a real factory and not in the studio. Perhaps without immodesty, we may claim to find signs here of British influence, probably transmitted by Czechoslovak film-makers who worked here during the war. Another quality of Czechoslovak films is the readiness of characters to discuss in serious adult terms the underlying political or philosophical implications of their story. The raising of such serious issues in the dialogue is not regarded with the horror that it would arouse in many British and American film distributors and exhibitors. Mind you this sometimes lets in a bit of direct propaganda — generally, and naturally enough perhaps in this nationalized industry, against the Germans and the Hungarians. But the propaganda is never over-obtrusive. Now, since we've got to it, what about nationalization? Whatever the dangers of propaganda and censorship which it may bring, nationalization does mean that the making and distributing of films is not merely a matter of commercial relationships between different financial groups each concerned with its own section of the industry; instead the nationalized industry can concentrate as a whole on providing a public service. And I particularly noticed amongst our visitors that whilst there was a great deal of discussion about what is a good film and what isn't, the question of what the public wanted — of boxoffice — was never once raised. For the verj simple reason that the film-makers did not see themselves as being a different kind of person from the people who go to the cinema. If a film was good — and they meant good as art and entertainment, not as propaganda — then the public would like it. And that is a theory which no one has yet succeeded in disproving — at any rate to me (provided always of course that public judgment is not deliberate!) unbalanced in advance, as it so frequently is here, by enormously expensive publicity campaigns designed to persuade the public that a film known by its makers to be bad, is in fact good). I should like to speak briefly about other aspects of the festival besides the showing of films. And I am not referring to the hospitality provided by the Foreign Office, the Rank organization and other film industrv bodies. Of perhaps more importance have been lectures given by people like Mr Nezval, the leading poet of Czechoslovakia, on 'Poetry in the Film', h> Mr Brichta on 'The History oj the Czechoslovak Film', by Dr Hejny of the Czechoslovak Ministry of Education on 'The Scientific Film', and by Mr Kolda on 'The International Distribution of Films'. Some of these lectures have been given for the public, some for specialized groups in the British film industry. But each of them has represented a valuable exchange of experience. Then the documentary makers of both countries have got together to plan an agreement for the exchange of films and facilities. And the critics to examine common problems of critical standards, and resistance to unfair influence, be it political or commercial. From the British side we have heard Mr George Tomlinson, Minister of Education, speak on the importance of the documentary film in the international field. Mr Herbert Morrison has wittily drawn attention to the great moderation the Labour Government is showing in — as yet — proposing no nationalization for the British film industry. Mr Fielinger, speaking for Czechoslovakia, has reminded us in moving terms of the close bonds built up both on the personal and the national level between our two countries during the war period. Indeed one has not, I think, been over-optimistic in feeling that there does exist on both sides a deep determination that this cultural exchange shall be the first of many — exemplified best perhaps by the presence of a group of three British Cabinet Ministers at two of the Festival's ceremonies. Results What does this Festival mean for the man and woman in the street (or in the cinema)1 To begin with, it's surely an advantage that those people responsible for art and the communication of ideas in all countries, should meet to see whether in their chosen calling they may not find a common interest and a common aim which have escaped the statesmen and the politicians. And for cinema audiences, the Festival surely can bz regarded as a step in the direction of a wider and fairer exchange of films with foreign countries. It's no coincidence that a most encouraging agreement for the distribution of British films in Czechoslovakia should have been concluded during the period of the Festival. Let us hope that those cinema-goers who have seen and enjoyel the Czechoslovak films at the New Gallery, the Glasgow Cosmo and other cinemas will do what they can. individual^ and through any organizations they belong to, to encourage the distribution of the films on a normal commercial basis. I oreign dialogue undoubtedlv is a handicap, even with sub-titles, but this can be more than balanced by the atmosphere and feeling of I foreign country which its films carry. Beyont their story, their plot, there is a background, an atmosphere, a philosophy, if you like. h> which;; countrv can communicate its qualities and characteristics to the world more effectively than through an} other medium. It may do so honesth or dishonestly, and this must be taken care of b) the film-makers. But if thej do an honest joband most of them w ish to do nothing else -and i " the public insists on seeing tfuir work, then the; work of the film-maker in all countries ma) vvel prove to be the most important means we have oil breaking down the international barriers which| grow out of ignorance and suspicion.