Documentary News Letter (1941)

DOCUMENTARY NEWS LETTER JASLARV 1941 1926 saw the bceinnings of a British film revival. A scheme \sa>> put forward for men from the unisersities to become apprentices in the lihn business. Under this scheme Arthur Woods, Ralph Smart. Frank Wells, and l.dvvard Baird came to British Instructional Films. In 1927 Anthony Asquiih joined the company to make Shoori/ti! Stars, w ith J. O. C. Orton to help on scenario. Cedric Hardwickc worked at Surbilon to make his first film St-lson. Barkas brought back Palaver from VSest Africa. That strange and provocative film Bolihar was produced, it was in this period of creative activity that two recruits joined the British Instructional f'ilms staff and became associated with the "Secrets" — Percy Smith and myself. Smith had already worked for years on microscopic and plant photography, but had never been able to market his remarkable productions. I knew nothing of films but came straight from London University with a first-class training in historical research which had taught me to present a reasoned and coherent story from a chaotic mass of material. Although quite ignorant of natural history, among other odd jobs I was allowed, in the true British Instructional Film tradition, to try my hand once at editing one of the 1926 "Secrets". I have been editing them ever since, in between every other kind of him production activity. I believe I still bring to the job my original abysmal ignorance and ingenuous curiosity. So the twelve "Secrets" released in 1926 saw a development in editing and a ditTerent quality of photography, for Smith photographed what knowledge taught him must be there, and not what he happened to sec. Under his influence the "Secrets" proved deeper and were more detailed than in the past. He contributed five of the 1926 "Secrets" including the Life of a Plant and his first mosquito film The Gnat. Among the other seven was Captain Gilbert's exquisite Golden Eagle. The atmosphere of creative activity in the studios had its elTect on the "Secrets". Now, as silent films approached their /enith, titles were eliminated until, as in Berlin, they finally vanished altogether. At this time the long explanatory titles disappeared from the "Secrets". They began to become films that told their own story in pictures. As a result they needed more careful planning and production. In 1927 twelve more appeared, of which Smith contributed seven. In I92S came a second lull, similar to that of 1925. The twenty-four films released in less than two years had temporarily satisfied theatrical demand. Life histories were taking longer to plan and to produce. New editing demands often meant that two years had to be taken over a subject. ,\nd. in I92S, the Company was occupied in moving to the new studios at W'elwyn. At Welwyn British InstructiiMial Films continued its pioneer way. There was collaboratiiMi with Svcnska in the productiiMi of feature films. There was collaboration with German units both in feature productions at Welwyn. with German and British artists, and in India where British Instructional Fi'ms. Li. I. A. .and an Indian unit jointly produced the exquisite pictures .S/iira: and 7/i/ou of Due. Waller Summers returned from North Africa with the arresting silent version o\' Patrol. Ihe distributing company Pro Patria had a monopoly for the distribution of Russian films in this country. In this international atmosphere six new "Secrets" appeared in 1929 »if which Scarlet Runner and Co. became a classic, while Spring-time at the Zoo was a pioneer editing job. But all these activities were arrested by the appearance and instantaneous success of talking films. Probably no other production company in Britain was caught with so much big silent production on hand as British Instructional Films. There were some "Secrets" being made, but editing on them was immediately suspended. Then, in 1930. Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford made the first talking Shakespearean film. The Taming of the Shrew. The press show was to be a great occasion, but. incredible as it seems now. there was no sound-short to run l-)efore it. Bruce Woolfe was apjiealed to. Could he let the organisers have a sound "Secret"^' He could. So the film had to be made at lop speed, w ith no tradition to go on, in editing or commentary, and no time to evolve theories. .\ commentator was discovered in Victor Peers, then on the production staff. The technical problems with a new and untried sound equipment involved working all night. William Hodgson, famous conductor of the Marble Arch Pavilion orchestra, wrestled with planning his music to fit the three hundred foot lengths that were all the laboratories could cope with. There were no moviolas or synchronisers for cutting, and judgment or lucky guesswork took their place. The result was the sweei-pea film Peas and Cues that stole the press show. The "talking" Secrets enjoyed a boom. Twenty-four were distributed in the same year. 1930. twelve in 1931. But the complete disappearance of the sub-title made editing and continuity far more diflicult than in silent versions, and the demands of the editor on Smith. Gilbert. Head. Pike and Higham became even more exacting. In the studios the standard of experiment in sound was high. Asquith tried out new theories in Cottage on Dartmoor and Tell England. Aafa Films brought their lovely film .Avalanche, with its complicated German track, to have an English sound version made. Villiers brought back Windjammer from his voyage round the Horn. Waller Creighton, pacing up and down the studios, bent on big production, casually produced the exquisite Southern .April whose sound track, eight years too early, did all The /?/»<r ever aimed at. and more. Rotha came to try his hand at Contact. Lcgg and J. B. Holmes started their film work at Welwyn. No wonder the commentaries of the "Stvrets" of this period contain every experiment in sound that could be devised, including one of the earliest and most complicated attempts at synchroniscJ musical cutting in Daily Dozen at the Zoo, and blank verse in Plants of the L nderworld. By this time camera equipment for nature films had hejomc more complicated. Newman-Sinclairs began to take the place of hand-turned cameras and the pace in using innumerable tripods, lenses and gadgets was set by Walter Higham. a wealthy amateur, whose photographv certainly amply repaid the money he invested in equipment. Percy Smith alone continued to disregard equipment, and. given expensive new cameras, would gut them and. by adding a few pieces of meccano and oddments from Mrs. Smiths work basket, vastly improve their performance. The upheavals oi the film world broke up the old British Instructional Filrn group in 1933. The feature production staff