American cinematographer (Jan-Dec 1941)

Record Details:

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16 MM Home Movie Previews 8 MM NANI O HAWAII (Beautiful Hawaii). Travel-scenic, 750 feet 8mm. Koda chrome; sound-on-disc synchronized. Filmed by Mrs. Mildred J. Caldwell. Ordinarily, four reels is much too long for a scenic or vacation film intended for other than strictly family showings. But Mrs. Caldwell handles this film of a vacation in Hawaii so deftly that one is conscious only of seeing a very fine picture, and quite forgets the passage of time. Most noteworthy, perhaps, is the way she personalizes her film, interspersing the scenic shots not only with local color, but with humorous shots of herself, apparently at work making the picture and burdened down by an incredible load of camera and accessory equipment. This furnishes a "running gag" that gives an invaluable "lift" to the picture. Her choice of subject-matter is excellent: she not only shows the conventional sights of a Honolulu visit — the huladancers, coconut palms, Waikiki beach, Diamond Head, and the like — but takes her camera off the beaten path to show parts of the island most mainlanders seldom know of, and fewer visit. In addition, she shows fascinating glimpses of the local color — the incredible life and people of this cross-roads of the Pacific. The continuity-treatment of the film is another noteworthy feature: the picture is divided into well-marked sequences, each being climaxed with a spectacular tropical sunset scene ending in a fade-out, and accompanied in the narration by the comment that so ended another day in Hawaii. With her subjectmatter organized this way, she can, when necessary, drop out an entire reel or more when this is advisable to suit her film to time requirements, or to eliminate sequences which may be uninteresting to certain audiences — and she can do this without apparently harming the flow of continuity. Visually, the film is a delight. Mrs. Caldwell has an uncommonly good eye for composition, and given the inherently pictorial possibilities of Hawaii, she presents scene after scene of such striking pictorial excellence as would wring spontaneous applause from any cameraminded audience. There are very few technical flaws to be found in the film. There are here and there occasional errors in exposure — usually on the high side — but the majority of these appear to have been made under difficult or abnormal conditions and, because of the interest of the subjectmatter, they can usually be excused. Her almost total abstinence from panning is highly commendable, as is her use of a tripod wherever possible. The closing sequence, showing the traveller sailing from Honolulu, might possibly be short ened a bit as too much rather anticlimatic footage is spent in building up to the departure. A few additional scenes showing the departing visitors finally casting their leis overboard with the hope that they may be washed ashore, which, according to tradition, is a sign the voyager will return, would also be helpful in this sequence. The musical accompaniment, largely from recordings of authentic Hawaiian music obtained in the islands, and the narration, home recorded on acetate discs by the filmer and synchronized by the "synchro-sound" method, add a fittingly professional finish to an excellent film. MR. HITLER NEVER LOSES Documentary, 50 feet 8mm. black-andwhite. Filmed by Joseph F. Hollywood. This short film is one of the most unusual little subjects we have ever screened. A satirical view of the German invasion of Poland, it is told through a combination of title-technique, "liveaction" shots and unusually effective table-top miniatures. Photographs and carricatures of the German Fuehrer are used as doubleexposed backgrounds for titles bearing quotations from some of his speeches. These are in the early sequences contrasted with live-action shots of close views of actions which contrast strongly with the dictator's quoted words — "I want peace!" close-up of a helmet being polished — "I want no war!" close-up of a rifle being cleaned — "These Poles exhaust my patience!" close-up of bullets being inserted in a bandoleer, etc. There follows a sequence of remarkable miniature-shots suggesting, by means of tencent store toys, mechanized troops on the move, a mass-attack by tanks, with guns spitting, and finally an artillery and dive-bomber attack on a city, with houses blown up, the skyline pierced by flames, etc., culminating in a montage of increasingly large sections of a military cemetery, animated maps indicating the dismemberment of Poland, etc. The entire picture — with the miniatures of course the highlight — is uncommonly well-executed. It also shows a grasp of the fundamentals of cutting, cinematic rhythm, and tempo that is seldom seen in either amateur or professional films. Mr. Hollywood is to be congratulated on both his originality of concept and treatment, and upon the cinematic skill with which he has filmed his ideas. A TALE OF THE NORTH Scenario film, 280 feet 8mm. Koda chrome; semi-synchronous musical score. Filmed by Frank de Virgilio. This melodrama of Klondike gold-rush days shows the results of a great deal of sincere and painstaking production effort, and a praiseworthy grasp of cinematic fundamentals and technique. Exposure, composition, camera-manipulation and similar technicalities are uniformly excellent. In addition, "A Tale of the North" is the first amateur film we've seen which attempts to make use in some measure of the much-publicized "panfocus" technique Gregg Toland, A.S.C., introduced professionally in "Citizen Kane" — that is, making use of the extreme depth of field afforded by shortfocus cine-lenses to permit playing action which conventionally would require intercutting of two different closer angles in a single long-shot, with one player well-focused in the foreground, and the other equally well-defined in the background. This technique is actually more adaptable in substandard filming than in 35mm., due to the greater depth given by the 25mm., 15mm., 13mm., and 7mm. lenses available for 16mm. and 8mm. cameras. De Virgilio has made praiseworthy use of this, though he has apparently had some slight compositional difficulties due to finder-parallax. The manner in which the film is divided into well-marked sequences by the expedient of panning up past tree-tops and fading out, followed by a fade-in and downward pan from other tree-tops to begin the next sequence, is commendable. So, too, is his understanding of the importance of keeping the direction of a character's movement in successive scenes continuous across the screen until he has been shown doing something that makes a change of direction logical. His direction and editing of the climaxing fight sequence is exceptionally good, especially as regards the way it coordinates with the musical accompaniment. Some criticisms are possible, however. First, perhaps is the fact that with the exception of the opening, credit, introductory and end titles, which are excellent double-exposed titles, the subtitles are all rather indifferent examples of typewritten titles, with dark lettering on a light-colored ground. These should by all means be replaced by more professional-looking titles, with white lettering on a dark-colored (say dark green) background. The opening of the film would also be improved by eliminating the short totem-pole montage between the credittitles and the introductory title; this montage is too similar to the totem-pole shots which soon after open the action. A few criticisms from the dramatic viewpoint can also be offered. First, it seems a mistake that both hero and villain should wear shirts so closely alike, unless it is intended that this similarity (Continued on Page 403) American Cinematographer August, 1911 383