The Cine Technician (1938-1939)

98 T II E C 1 N E 'J' E C II N IC I A K September-October, 1089 MAX BRENNER (Continued from page y6) The wages of French editors average much below those ot their English colleagues, not to mention the American ones, though the cheaper living conditions prevailing w France must be taken into consideration . At the beginning of the Syndicate named above decided to fix the minimum wages for chief editors at 2,000 francs per week (equal to £11 6s. Od. at the present rate of exchange of 17(5.75 francs to the £), but this could never be enforced, so thai 1,500 to 1,700 francs are considered a good remuneration at present. In spite of all efforts of the organisations concerned, the system of employing an editor at a lump sum for a specific film is still frequently adopted. In such cases an amount of about 15,000 to 18,000 francs is deemed to be a proper salary. Thereby the editor often gets stung, because the production turns out to require a few more weeks than was provided for In the schedule which the clever producer had out lined to the editor when contract ing for his services. Since the middle of 1938 film editors, as well as camera-men, art directors, sound recordists and other specialists, are no more organised in the aforementioned general Syndicate of film and kinema workers, but in a group of their own, the "Syndicat des Technicians de la Production Cinema tographique. " The latter, being composed of wage-earners, belongs to the central organisation of the Trade Unions, the " Confederation Generale du Travail" (C.G.T.), while, on the other hand, it is affiliated to the "Federation du Spectacle." a body representing all members of the film industry, the legitimate stage, concert halls, etc. In some ways the tendencies adopted by the new Syndicate differ greatly from those pursued by its predecessor. It would take us too far to deal extensively with those rather complicated matters, particularly since they are connected closely with French party politics, but I should like to mention that the new Syndicate of Technicians is much more opposed to the collaboration of foreigners in French film production than the former general organisation used to be. Being not wholly impartial and disinterested I also want to refrain from expressing my personal opinion as to what extent the present active development of French film production and the world-wide reputation gained by it are based on the favourable combination of French and foreign elements, i.e., the co-operation of selected foreigners. There can be no doubt that France possesses quite a number of film creators of the first rank, such as Jean Renoir, Rene Clair, Duvivier, Benoit-Levy, Feyder, Germaine Dulac, Marcel l'Herbier, Sacha Guitry, Pagnol, to mention only the most famous. In addition, she has a veritable galaxy of literary, histrionic and technical talents. On the other hand, there is also a considerable, collaboration on the part of foreigners, many of whom, among them a large number of Russians, have been linked with the French film industry for many years and have already acquired French nationality by naturalisation. It is an interesting fact often commented upon in Paris that most of the make-up men are former Russian actors). But quite a few film workers from other countries have also made themselves a name in France in the course of the last few years. Foreigners are apt to find it somewhat difficult to work in French films, at least at the beginning, because the spoken word is always used in them as a principal means of expression. Hence, much more than in English (Concluded at foot of next column) JOHN GRAY (Concluded from page 97) On the other hand, cinema-going is distinctly cheap, the top price for a west-end cinema is in the neighbourhood of half a crown, and there are plenty of cinemas iu the inner suburbs where you can see three full-length films, news and a cartoon for 4Jd. This makes the double feature; question look rather small in comparison! Another point which rather surprised me was the slowness of the news reel service. It is quite common for the news reels to contain happenings of a fortnight previously ; and a big popular sporting event, "le nuit de Longchamp, ' at which I was present and where I saw many news reel units, had not reached the screen three nights later. In conclusion I wish, though I suppose vainly, that British film producers would take a hint from their French colleagues; it seems strange that although for the past year there have been an average of over twenty films on the floor and twenty in the cutting room at any given time in France, and that there are now seven cinemas showing French films regularly in London, British Producers still cannot see the use of co-operation to set their house in order. I must thank all the technicians who were so good to me during my stay, and especially M. Egrot and Lamarre of Pathe. Let us hope that soon, we too, may organise and have as prosperous an industry as they. HUNDRED YEARS (Concluded from page 95) scientific and industrial application of photography, though there is a diagrammatic representation of the principles of photography and space devoted to colour process. Under the scientific heading there are X-ray photos and apparatus, among the former a full-length print of the human figure, astronomical and spectroscopic^ examples. The apparatus for the photograpic recording of documents is displayed and there is also a comprehensive exhibit dealing with aerial photography ; cinematography is, surprisingly enough, not represented. It is difficult to say, from this exhibition, what part photography has played in the past hundred j-ears, but it is obviously from the modern section that, quite apart from any contributions it may make to art, it has now become an important part of modern civilisation. On more general considerations its role as social recorder is tremendous ; historians of the future writing of to-day or of the later half of the last century will not only be able to see what prominent people really looked like, but they will have preserved for them many actual happenings and cross-sections of the social scene. How photography will develop in the immediate future seems fairly clear, simple colour processes and stereoscopy are next on the list, but after that — what? Only the next hundred years can show. ARTHUR GRAHAM. MAX BRENNER (Concluded from previous column) or American pictures, the dialogue plays an important part in French films. This, however, gives them a specific flavour of their own, endows them with particular characteristics which render them different from other kinematographic works. Those distinguishing qualities are strong and forcible enough to affect the foreigner working in French film production to such an extent as to enable him to adapt himself to French ways after a relatively short time.