Cinema Quarterly (1934 - 1935)

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WORKERS AND JOBS (British). A straightforward description in one reel of the working of a Labour Exchange showing, without frills or fuss, how men get or do not get work, and what advantages the employer would enjoy if he made greater use of the machinery organised by the Ministry of Labour. With the slender resources at his disposal, I do not see that Elton could have done any other than he has, save perhaps have selected a commentator whose voice would have been more suited to the atmosphere of the Exchange. Photography is adequate, but sound might have been more carefully synchronised. P.R. DOOD WASSER (Dutch). An attempt, sincere but naive, from a new quarter to relate the human being to his surroundings in bringing a social problem to the screen. The theme is the resistance of the Zuyder Zee fishermen to the appeal to give up their old calling and settle on the reclaimed land, with an elaborate prologue of maps and news-reel excerpts to put across the history of the event. Treatment is silent in style, uneconomic and laboured, but the types are well chosen and the climaxes well contrived. As a whole, the film is too long by half. P.R. ITTO (French). Another attempt to superimpose a fictional story on natural material, again suffering from over-statement and over-length. Benoit-Levy and Marie Epstein (of La Maternelle) have secured lovely scenery and types of North Africa, but the infusion of the maternal instinct is embarrassingly handled without much result. Yet, despite its unimaginative use of sound and poor construction, Itto offers a more than welcome change from the ordinary release story-films. P.R. PRIVATE LIFE OF THEGANNETS (British. United Artists). Charming, instructive, but too long, this first of a series of nature pictures put out beneath the chime of London Films makes a healthy bid for game. Gannets, as Professor Huxley admits, are easy birds to film, but that is no alibi for the lovely use of slow motion and the beautifully shot sequence of diving. In the past, these nature films in England have been almost the monopoly of a single group. With this first effort, London Films and Huxley have forced the pace and shot ahead. They have brought beauty of photography and a certain skill of editing to bear upon the subject. P. R. ARE WE CIVILISED? (American. Edwin Carewe). The naivety of this story of modern censorship and suppression of personal freedom is offset by the timeliness of its theme and its obvious sincerity and earnestness. A newspaper proprietor who returns from America to an unspecified European country, finds a rigorous censorship of news and books in force and, by recounting the story of man's progress from early days of cave life to modern times, seeks to convince the country's rulers of the error and danger of their ways. The film's treatment and approach are hardly imaginative, but it is significant of the present concern with thoughtful themes in Hollywood that such a subject should have been attempted. F.H. WHARVES AND STRAYS (British. London Films). An independent short by Bernard Browne which claims praise for its courage and photography. The adventures of a mongrel dog, Scruffy, in exploring the activities of the London docks supply the theme and the camera for the most part concentrates its attention on the loading and unloading of ships, the work of the men on board ship and on the dockside, the low linked barges and the fussy movements of the tugs. There is no commentary, but music is used effectively to establish mood and make witty comment. And the camerawork suggests the work of a man with a feeling for mass and line. 182