Documentary News Letter (1947-1949)

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DOCUMENTARY NEWS LETTER 127 From Pinewood — THE FLITTING OF CROWN a few months ago the Crown Film Unit migrated from the gaudy atmosphere of Pinewood to the more bucolic Beaconsfield. The move was made with all that circumspect realism for which documentary film makers are so noted. First things first, and five experienced persons from the Unit were sent forth into Beaconsfield to take the lie of the land, to sift and sample all the possible premises and to choose one which would satisfy all the Unit's various capacities. Several places were recommended, but one by one, after very close study, they were pronounced unsuitable. This was too big, that was too palatial. Until at last, when several days of unceasing application had produced no satisfaction and all seemed lost, a diminutive, ancient, amiable place was found: by name, the old hare. The basic problem solved, there was little else to worry about. As far as the studio was concerned, we had all seen the plans — nothing flamboyant but very workmanlike, homely. A stage of small but decorous dimensions, theatres, canteen, vaults, offices and the usual offices — everything was there, on the plan. Anything else we wanted we had only to ring up the appropriate Government department, the Ministry of Works or the Ministry of Supply or the Central Office of Information or the Treasury and — well, in twelve months we have already got a most wonderful road. It does not quite run from the gate to the doorstep, because the bit by the gate is not finished and we have not got a doorstep yet. When in a few weeks' time the Ministerial cars sweep over its clean, smooth concrete, the civil servants will have a decided feeling (until they get to the end of the road) that they are getting somewhere. But. in point of fact, the Crown film unit when it left Pinewood got nowhere but into a wilderness. There is much, on the other hand, in this situation of having no studio, not even an outside lot, to brighten the eyes of the older (but never ageing) documentarians. There are many who think that even the Blackheath studio, small as it was, was a lapse from purity; to them the idea of Pinewood, with its five vast stages, was anathema. To them, the best documentary films were made, and will always be made by a man and a dog and a Newman Sinclair. That is very much the situation in which Crown finds itself now. Wistful directors look out of the Beaconsfield windows and wonder whether they could lay tracks along the concrete road and shoot at night and then post synch, in order to get that long trolley shot which is so essential to the script, and which would be so simple if only they were still at Pinewood. Then someone suggests soundproofing the paint shop which is ( twelve feet high and roughly the size of a large drawing-room. If that were done, we wouldn't have to post synch, but then again, though there would probably be room for the camera, there certainly would not be room for the blimp. Then someone really bright suggests acrimoniously that if So-and-so must have that tracking shot, — To Beaconsfield why not turn it into a panning shot, build the set in five-foot sections, shoot in the lavatory and then join all the bits together? And of course, anyone who opposes any suggestion whatsoever, no matter how inane, is looked upon as a rank saboteur. So this state of studiolessness may turn out to be all for the best. It may be embittering, just at the moment, to think that we were able to shut ourselves away in a large studio in order to photograph a world war, and now, when we are asked to photograph nothing more concrete than the Future or Plans for this and that, there is no studio space in which to fake anything — but in the end, who knows, the effect of these difficulties may be most salutary. Critics not manually engaged in the arts insist that the best art is turned out by biting off more than you can chew, by cracking the hardest nuts. It may be so. Perhaps documentarians, by facing appalling difficulties again, will learn to face the facts of life, too. Perhaps we shall be so hard put to it to fake, lie and cheat, that we shall resign ourselves to telling the truth for a change. Since circumstances have decided that we cannot go on in the old way we could make up our minds to have a clean sweep of all the junk which has accumulated round the word 'documentary'. No more jovial pub scenes. No more honest workmen pushing back their cloth caps to reveal an honest forehead. No more rugged chauffeurs of the sky leaning over the clouds, their eyes as innocent as the filtered clouds themselves. No more affectionate, kindly, unquarrelling British families. In fact, no more of the documentary clichj types. They are all so damned nice. What a set of films we could make, without a stage, without settings, without a crane, about real people — normal people who are the normal admixture of pleasantness and unpleasantness, laziness and industry, crookedness and honesty, superstition and scepticism. In spite of the Central Office of Information's well-known passion for the truth at all costs, we, as proud documentary film-makers, would rather tell a varnished lie. But if we don't get our studio quickly, we may have to fall obediently into line with official wishes and tell, in a new sort of film, the unvarnished truth. HAYES SCIENTIFIC FILM SOCIETY a report received from this film society that monthly shows are now given to audiences of about 110. They held an 'audience reaction' test at the April show in which the viewers were asked to rate the films as 'excellent', 'good', 'fair' or 'poor'. Shell I il.n I Init's Approach to Science topped the list with 51 per cent 'excellent' and 4S per cent 'good'. Other films with high ratings were Stairway to Heavi n (on elementary astronomy i and Drawings that Walk and Talk (a composite history Of the cartoon). NORTHERN CO! Mil S < IIII.DKI N'S CINEMA CO! M II mi NCCCC have held their third annual general meeting. They find that their experimental Junior Club has been a success but they stress the need for more satisfying films. Treasure Island and Tawny Pippct were popular and there is an assured demand for films of any of the children's 'classics'. The report makes a complaint about the impossibility of guaranteeing the complete success of any educational film show — faulty projectors, bad prints, damaged films, arbitrary vetos between library and exhibitors — all these combine to make it most doubtful if any particular film will be able to be shown at the point at which it is most necessary in any given 'teaching' project. The NCCCC also shows French films for grammar school pupils, scientific films, films on the arts, and films for educationalists. They reach a wide audience and are doing a worth-while job. ADULT EDUCATION AT STOKE HOUSE a new adult college is opening at Stoke House, Stoke Hammond, Bletchley, Bucks, in August. This is a private venture in continued education and has no support from the local authority except in good wishes. The initiative has come entirely from Mr Noel Heath, who as Wing Commander inspecting a number of RAF educational schemes in this country during the war, realized that there was a great demand for more learning, particularly in cultural subjects. With this in view, k now bought Stoke House in order to hold short courses in art, music, drama and handicrafts. An attempt will be made to provide an outlet for self-expression, so that when students leave they will either want to come back again or they will go home determined to benefit by their introduction to creative leisure. Stoke House is opening on August 27th with a week's conference for teachers, and for others who are interested, on Understanding the Adolescent. Various subjects will lie discussed and they w ill all have some bearing on this problematic aspect of education. The speakers will be The Rt Hon H.Graham White on Human Relationships in Industry; H. A. T. Child on Vocational Guidance; Clifton-Taylor on Good and Bad i A. A. Dams on Poetry and Drama; I ionel Gamlin on I low to be a Good-Humoured i i Handley-Read on Self-expression through Painting; Dr E. Graham Howe on the Art of Healing; G. A. Lyward on the Religious Difficulties o\' the Adolescent; i J. D. vile on the Moods of the Adolescent; John Wales on the Scope and 1 imits o\ \ isual l due, it ion. Commander I , Whitehead on the Transition from School to Work. On August 28th the Central Office oi Information will show some educational films. including it is hoped. Children of the City (the film about juvenile delinquency in Scotland). Particulars of this conference m.i> be obtained from Mr < s. I) Moore, the D Si idles ,:t Stoke HOUSe; his .uldre-s is Dane Court School. Blandford, Do