Cinema Canada (Apr 1976)

We Stink Your article AMPIA vs ACCESS has just reeked my desk. Sincerely, Larry T. Shorter. President ACCESSAlberta Introducing Jean Oser I have come to look forward to reading John Hofsess’ reviews and articles and ‘“‘Yorkton Shorts’ (Cinema Canada no. 24) was certainly no exception. After reading his tongue-in-cheek impressions of the Yorkton International Film Festival I had no doubts that the man truly enjoyed himself and that he was suitably impressed by Yorkton’s biennial “film bath’. However, with all due respect to Mr. Hofsess, I must question his wnqualified description of a very dear and personal friend of mine, Mr. Jean Oser, as ‘‘a film historian and windbag”’. I would venture to say that Grant McLean, Micheline Lanctot and John Hofsess are all fairly well known names among Cinema Canada readers and the Canadian film industry in general. Unfortunately, such is not the case with Jean Oser and it seems to me callously unfair to re fer to a man as a “‘windbag”’ without: any attempt whatsoever at explanation. After all, windbag is a fairly derogatory term to most people and one which is perfectly capable of creating wrong impressions. Therefore, I wish to introduce Jean to Cinema Canada readers and give him, in small part, a measure of the recognition he deserves. Jean Oser began his film career as an editor in Germany in 1928. He spent his first seven years in the industry working for the famous German director G.W. Pabst, editing such classics as Kamaradschaft, Three Penny Opera and Don Quixote. Before Hitler’s Nazis took power Jean left Germany and moved to New York. During W.W. II he joined the United States Army as a director and editor creating information films for the troops such as How to Dig a Foxhole and The Proper Method of Building a Latrine. If you don’t believe me ask him; he'll tell you how 4/Cinema Canada and_ training they used rubber “stools” so they wouldn’t have to handle the real.thing. After the war, and before he moved to Regina, Saskatchewan to teach, Oser worked on numerous documentary, promotional and public relations pictures. Most notable among these were the syndicated television shows The Valiant Years on Churchill, the Harry Truman series and F.D.R. on Franklin Roosevelt. During this period Jean directed a series of seven shorts for 20th Century Fox, one of which was The Light in the Window on the Dutch painter Jan Vermeer. In 1952 The Light in the Window took first prize at the Venice Film Festival and in 1953, an Academy Award. Jean Oser came to the University of Regina in 1970 to teach film but he did more than teach — he started a movement. In the six short years that Jean has been in Saskatchewan his boundless energy and enthusiasm has been responsible for a tremendous upsurge of film awareness by various government departments, cultural groups and arts societies. Indeed, it was Jean’s presence as a member of the Saskatchewan Arts Board which was instrumental in convincing the Board once and for all that film was in fact an art! No small potatoes in a province which has traditionally considered all forms of art as frivolous at _ best, an effeminate hobby at worst. Jean Oser teaches film in Regina, yes, but his students leave his classes with something more than an idea of how to express themselves with film. They leave with a sense of ‘there was a_ beginning’; they feel the roots and history of our industry because Jean Oser and film grew up together. We who know and love Jean consider him to be a walking encyclopedia on film and for that reason he most definitely is a film _historian. But he’s a real one — not some guy who “studied” film — but a man who has lived it and he has every right to be an authority on the subject. In March 1975, Mr. Oser received the Venice Art Gold Medal for his outstanding contributions to _ international film and, Mr. Hofsess, as Jean himself might say, “That easy it is not.” Norman Sawchyn Critical encouragement Please advise me as to the state of my subscription to Cinema Canada... While I’m writing I may as well mention how much I dislike your covers. I am a _ staunch supporter of your magazine and I have followed its development closely. I can only remember one cover that interested me (a still from Boon Collins’ Sally Feelgood (sic) & Co.) and even then there wasn’t a decent story to go with it. I appreciate your economic situation but staying with your present format surely you can acquire interesting stills from the most promising films and write a comprehensive story that justifies your hopes for the film of the month. In my opinion, there should have been a “cover story” for Duddy Kravitz as well as the interviews with Ted Kotcheff & John Kemeny and follow-up progress reports. I would like to see it brought home to readers that this is a world class film (or it should have been). The same treatment was due Lies My Father Told Me, Mon Oncle Antoine, The Rowdyman, Black Christmas, . Paperback Hero, The Pyx, etc. — so what if some of the stars aren’t Canadian. I would also like to see more detailed coverage of non-Canadian status films that have successfully employed Canadian crews and _ locations. Look for great things from Buffalo Bill and the Indians in June! What about Russian Roulette, Class of 44, Paper Chase, The Last Detail, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Prime Cut, Little Big Man, The Bears and I, Mustang Country, Christina, The Groundstar Conspiracy and some of the made-for-TV movies. A _ little borrowed glamour never hurt the industry or the publishing business. And while I’m at it... How about interviewing our top D.O.P.s_ like Marc Champion on the Breaking Point set or Reg Morris on Food of the Gods (or the Second Wind set or Doug McKay on The Keeper set, etc.)? I know that there havé been some good articles in the past, that the magazine is growing and that your covers will improve (inevitably), so read this letter as encouragement not criticism. Celebrate our successes and brush over the disasters. «