Amateur Cine World (May 1935)

OURSCRIFICS: REVIEW. Learn by other LAKELAND WANDERINGS. By E. HOWIE. 9.5mm. This film rather falls between two stools. Either the three young men who go wandering in Lakeland should have been featured more prominently or else they should have been kept more in the background and the scenery qua scenery featured, the human element acting as a continuity device to link up the shots or included now and again to aid composition, to help the onlooker gauge relative heights and so on. But the fact that the author has included the human element and tried to link it up as an integral part of the film deserves commendation. We have painful memories of some films which have been arid expanses of scenery without a single shot of a human being in them, much less a close-up of a human being. The film opens with some very much under-exposed shots of some waterfalls, the camera tilting down rapidly. At first we thought they were an attempt at cinematic Art (Art with a capital A), but we were by no means prepared to condemn it for we thought it possible that the author was going to try for the sort of effect that you can see in the Reginald Denny film, “ Fast and Furious’ (Wallace Heaton Film Library). That film opens with shots on an open road taken from a car travelling at a furious pace, swinging round bends, opening up on the straight, skidding and zig-zagging. No part of the car is visible. A sign post rapidly approaches. It comes right up to the screen and on it we read the main title: ‘‘ Carl Laemmle presents ‘ Fast and Furious.’ ”’ We had hoped that Mr. Howie was going to show us something of this kind, but are forced to the conclusion that this under-exposed length of film is intended only as a leader. We suggest it is taken out and a strip of blank film spliced in. The titles themselves are neat, well centred and correctly exposed, but exposures in the actual film are rather uneven. In one case the author excuses the retention of an under-exposed shot by labelling it: ‘‘ Evening.” It deceives the uninitiated, at any rate. Used rightly the device has a good deal to recommend it. We ourselves last year, when filming abroad, had the misfortune to drop our exposure meter down a ravine and had to guess at the exposure for some shots of a field of ice. They were over-exposed but the shots themselves were pleasing enough and they were the only ones we had of this particular scene. So London, E.C.1. Launching the life boat, a nicely com we attempted to Sie ae pieeinaly justi j inramed shot, wit justify their < “in thecentre asthe focal clusion by the point of interest. amateurs’ suggestions very helpful to you in the making of your own films. may be of any size or length and of any subject. tainers and addressed to the Editor, AMATEUR CINE WORLD, 4-7, Greville Street, Noms-de-plume may be used if desired, but please do not forget to enclose your name and address and the cost of return postage. READERS FILMS comments and Films sent for review They should be packed in film con experience! You will find our reviewers’ following titles: ‘‘ Dawn on the Glacier. The following pictures were taken at great personal risk. After all, we might have caught our death of cold, getting up at dawn.’ They invariably raise a laugh and most people think the shots really were taken at dawn. But this is a review of Mr. Howie’s film, not of our own. We mention the matter to show that we ourselves are not above a little bit of innocent deception now and again. There are some real evening shots of scenes on the water in “‘ Lakeland Wanderings ’’ that are very good, but immediately after these the film ends with some feet walking off in daylight. The author has an eye for scenic beauty and most of the shots are nicely framed, but we feel that he could have got some better pictures of Windermere. COWES REGATTA. By VISCOUNT LOFTUS. 16mm. This film opens with a series of pictures of ships in mid-shot, a sort of catalogue of liners, but unfortunately the pictures have no particular merit either of subject or photographically, as in most cases the vessels are rather far away, while the film itself shows an uneven quality which may be due to processing or to deterioration subsequent to processing. (Continued on next page)