American cinematographer (Jan-Dec 1941)

rendered some of these films obsolete, the Army's current list includes approximately 200 training films in active use. "The value of these films for training large numbers of new troops will be obvious," General Mauborgne comments. "Suppose, for instance, we want to teach a group of selective service enrollees the assembly and operation of a machinegun. The conventional method would be •to assemble the men in a group around a skilled machine-gunner — usually a Sergeant— who would take a gun apart, put it together again, and fire it, explaining as he went along. No matter how well he explained things, his teaching would be of value to only the comparatively few men in the group who were close enough to see clearly what he was doing, and hear what he said. "With a motion picture, on the other hand, we can show the same basic action to several hundred men at a time, making each detail absolutely clear by means of close-ups, animation, narration, and similar devices. Moreover, we can make as many prints of this film as we may need, so that we could be instructing several hundred such audi ences at once. "In some of the other, broader phases of modern military science, the motion picture is almost the only way we can bring home the broad picture to the student, whether he is a commissioned officer or an enlisted man. For instance, the cooperation of mechanized units, aviation, artillery and infantry in the field is a most essential part of modern mobile warfare. Yet in actual manoeuvres, the individual soldier in any branch, regardless of whether he is an officer or an enlisted man, cannot easily grasp the broad picture of the operation; his understanding is hemmed in by his personal horizon. "But by a properly-made motion picture we can bring him the whole story of the operation, showing him on the screen just how his immediate duty of running a tank, handling a machinegun or stringing a field telephone-line is integrated with each other part of the operation as a whole. Once he grasps this broader picture of the problem, he is a far more valuable man in his individual capacity. Only by motion pictures can we bring him this broad picture. "Let me say, too, that these pictures will be thoroughly up-to-date from a military standpoint. The U. S. Army bas had, and still has, its observers with the various forces in the present war abroad. Their reports are enabling the various branches of the service to keep thoroughly abreast of developments. Our motion pictures will naturally reflect that progress and bring it in clearly understandable form to the men in the field." Some of the films it is stated, can be made more conveniently by the Signal Corps' existing motion picture units; others will demand technique and facilities which can only be found in Hollywood; still others may probably require the cooperation of both. There can be no set form for these films. Some subjects can best be made as silent pictures, with an explanatory narrative added. Others may require dialogue, sound-effects, music and every embellishment of a professional production. In the same way, some films may call for a strictly factual presentation, while others would have enough of a story to give the film a sugar-coating of entertainment as well as instructional value. We know we are by no means the first to use motion pictures for this purpose. The Germans, for example, who have long been keen students of the educational use of movies, have during recent years been known to be making intensive use of such films for military training purposes. The use of these films probably explains in some part the remarkable speed of Germany's rearming. But no other nation in the world has such a concentration of outstanding creative and technical motion picture talent as our own country, for there is only one Hollywood. And with the help that Hollywood is already giving the Army is confident of obtaining even superior results. The Signal Corps is the Army's centralized agency for making films for all branches of the service, though certain of the other branches, like the Air Corps, for example, have their own Photographic Sections. The production of a present-day Army film therefore begins when the Chief of that particular branch makes a request to the Chief of Staff for the production of such a picture. If the request is approved, the matter is then turned over to the Motion Picture Section of the office of the Chief Signal Officer, and arrangements are made for the film's production. If this is to be done through the motion picture industry, the Army's resident liaison officer in Hollywood, Major Charles S. Stodter of the Signal Corps, who as a lieutenant was among the Army's first Hollywood trainees, calls into conference Col. Levinson and his associates on the Research Council and the Motion Picture Producers' Defense Committee, to lay definite plans for making the picture. One or more officers from the branch or branches of the service involved will then be assigned to duty in Hollywood, to collaborate in the preparation of the script and to act as technical director of the film. At present, it may be mentioned, two officers are on such missions with the industry — Col. Gordon P. Savage, of the Infantry, and Major John L. Ballantyne, of the Cavalry, who are aiding in the preparation of a film dealing with the cooperation of motorized cavalry and light machine-gun platoons. The script finished, it is submitted to the Chief of the branch or branches of the Army for which the film is being made. Once the script is approved, the picture goes into production like any other of Hollywood's products, with of course the single exception that War Department secrecy is necessarily involved in every step. When the film is completed, it is submitted to the inspection and criticism of the chief of the arm involved and, if approved, ig I turned over to the War Department. 1 Release-prints are made in both 35mm. | and 16mm., according to the intended! use of the picture. In some instances, studio or commercial laboratories may I make these prints; the Eastern plant of Consolidated Film Industries, and the I DeLuxe Laboratory, of New York, have both made release-prints of the pr-sent Army films. In other instanc-'s. part or even all of the printing may be done in the Army's own two motion picture laboratories at Wright Field and Ft. Monmouth. Some idea of the efficient mechanism set up for this production may be gained from the General's statement that in the making of the first Hollywood-made Army Training film, between receipt of official approval to make the film and the start of actual shooting, only ten days elapsed, while Director Ford and Director of Photography Barnes brought the three-reel production to completion in less than the allotted shooting schedule, and considerably under the planned $8,000 budget. The present Signal Corps motion picture project is fourfold. Within the service already are two well-equipped and well-trained motion picture un :?. with laboratories established at Wright Field and Ft. Monmouth. As the Army grows, it is planned to expand the Signal Corps Photographic Section so that a mobile Field Photographic Unit, completely equipped and trained for all types of still and motion picture camera and laboratory work, can be attached to each army. In doing this, both the enlisted and officer personnel of the Signal Corps must inevitably be greatly expanded. The Signal Corps, already short of photographically trained of j ficers, is planning to set up in the near future its own specialized Officers Training Camps. Here volunteers, and especially photographic and motion pioi ture trained selective service enrollees will, on the completion of a minimum period of enlisted service, be given training to qualify themselves for coinmissions in the work in which they specialized in civilian life. In addition, the nucleus of a GHQ Photographic Unit is at present being formed in Hollywood (see AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER, February, 1941, P. 94). This basic unit will consist of experts in every phase of produc | tion, including photography, cinematography, sound engineering, laboratory work, editing, and the like, chosen from the industry's studios with such care that no one studio would be denuded of its trained personnel in case the unit enters active service. Although this unit is now being organized, it is, so to speak, planned as a group of motion 132 March, 1941 American Cinematographer