Film and Radio Guide (Oct 1945-Jun 1946)

16 FILM AND RADIO GUIDE Volume XII, No. 1 land and the leading expert on the staff of Gaumont-British Instructional Films. Her films will bring to the schools of the world an interpretation of British character and ideals in terms of childhood. Such films will be interchanged with, for example, the American-made Forum Edition of The March of Time in 16mm, destined to bring world problems into classrooms everywhere. Distributed also by The March of Time will be a series of nine reels visualizing the meanings of the 800 words in the Basic English vocabulary, a series with which Harvard University’s scholars will enter the “little red schoolhouses’’ of foreign countries, as well as university classrooms everywhere. This upward trend in the extensiveness and intensiveness of education will double and triple the cost of education. The Research Division of the National Education Association says a good educational program will cost the United States nearly five billions a year, or twice what we are spending now. If our government spent two billion dollars on a laboratory to develop a bomb that could win the bloodiest war in history, is it not conceivable that the same government would contribute a fraction of that sum to advance the cause of peace? Democratic procedures alone can bring the truth about the world and its people to the rising generation. Those procedures, though expen sive, will be cheaper than a Third World War. Let us give sober thought to the words of Winston Churchill, who stated in a notable message to Parliament: “The future of the world is left to highly educated races who alone can handle the scientific apparatus necessary for preeminence in peace or survival in war.” The implication of these fateful words is clear : we must apply scientific instruments to the work of education, and the test of our success must increasingly be a measure of our ability to make effective use of modern a Kclio graphic* tools to build a secure world. *Word coined by Dr. Melvin Brodshaug of Encyclopaedia Britannica Films, Inc. Hollywood's Interest in Classroom Films BY GARDNER L. HART Director, Commission on Motion Pictures, American Council on Education Never before has so much use been made of audio-visual materials as during the recent war. The armed forces of the United States — the Army, Navy, Coast Guard, and Marine Corps — have produced and distributed many thousands of miles of motion pictures as well as thousands of filmstrips to give their men, at home and in the far corners of the world, the benefit of the most effective methods of acquiring technical skills, general information, and proper attitudes to assist them in solving the complex problems of modern warfare. *Alice V. Keliher, New York University, “Human Relations Series.” In addition to the tremendous number of pictures produced by the armed services, the United States Office of Education has produced approximately five hundred training film units designed to speed up the production of war materials. Each of these units consisted of a motion-picture film, a filmstrip, and a teacher’s manual. A large number of industries have also made extensive use of motionpicture films and other audiovisual materials in their training programs. These agencies, with almost unlimited resources in personnel and finance, have developed the production and use of audio-visual materials to a very high degree of efficiency. Not only have they improved the pre-war training films, but new patterns and new uses for films have been discovered. Prior to 1942 some work had been done in utilizing films in developing attitudes.* During the war, however, this kind of film has been developed extensively by the Army and Navy, and it is quite probable that schools can effectively use the pattern of many of these attitude films in their instructional programs. Another kind of film which has been developed during the war is that which is designed specifically to present a problem. This type may be called the provocative film. These films have fine potentialities in cer