Documentary News Letter (1942-1943)

DOCUMENTARY NEWS LETTER FEBRUARY 1942 NOTES ON VAAGSO By HARRY WATT (Director of Target for Tonight) there were six of us in the "Propaganda" party in the Vaagso raid. Harry Rignold and Roy Boulting from the Army Film Unit, Ralph Walling from Reuters, Lt. Mallindine for official stills, Jack Ramsden from Movietone and myself. My title was guest director and I went along as an observer, and to do any filming I wanted with the Army Film Unit. Despite the preponderance of film and stills people we were obstinately referred to as "the Press" and at first treated a little suspiciously. No one expected us to behave quite as ordinary human beings. We came from those twin homes of vulgarity, Fleet Street and Wardour Street, and everyone seemed to be waiting for us to show it. Perhaps because of this "the Press" was housed in the decontamination centre. Perhaps it was just because the ship was overcrowded. We beefed a lot at first but in the end it was quite successful as we had a bunch of junior officers and Norwegians shoved in with us and we used to lie around and argue politics and things far into the night. By the time we were getting ready to sail on the actual job we were quite accepted. Walling, the Reuter's man, did us all a good turn by doing a real "wet landing" on a rehearsal and carrying on in his soaking uniform. We further improved our position by insisting on going ashore with the first landing parties at Vaagso. There had been some vague idea that we would stay on board the transports and shoot it all with long-focus lenses. We were posted to the Headquarters boat. During boat drill we discovered somewhat uneasily that this carried several hundred pounds of high explosive. We were greatly relieved therefore when we were shifted to another landing boat. This turned out to be chock-a-block with fully primed hand grenades, so we stayed uneasy. Going across we shot some reconstructed interiors with two small banks of lights rigged up for lis by the ship's electrician. Harry Rignold did wonders with them. All the time Harry was the hero of the trip. He was constantly sea-sick yet never complained and turned out consistently steady, good quality stuff. We used two 100 ft. Eyemos. Jack Ramsden had a Sinclair. Both worked well though Ramsden complained that his outfit was too heavy for a one-man job. Rignold swears by Eyemos. I would say two with a Sinclair is the best, but the second man must be able to reload in a changing bag. The quick daylight loading of the Eyemos is terribly useful on a job like this. It was really too dark to shoot when we began to go ashore in Norway, but we got the German warning Verey lights and the shells exploding on Malloy island. I and the Army Film Unit went to Vaagso town while Ramsden and Mallindine went to Malloy. Our party had agreed not to make a wet landing, to save the cameras. But the smoke screen was so thick that we couldn't see how near we were to the shore. When I got to the bows of my boat I asked the Navy man in charge if it was deep as I didn't want to spoil my camera. "To hell with you and your camera" was all he said and gave me a push. I leapt wildly and landed up to my knees. Rignold was more unlucky and got wet to the waist. The first scenes ashore were quite eerie and fantastic. Here and there the bombs burned fiercely in the snow and poured out clouds of choking yellow smoke. Through this odd figures dodged. Rignold as usual kept his head and we got some marvellous set-ups against the flames. By the time the smoke had cleared, headquarters had been set up and we started towards the town. We had shot quite a bit around headquarters; so while Rignold reloaded, Boulting and I did some camera work. Both of us were rather inexpert. We kept forgetting to change the focus. But Boulting did show marvellous presence of mind in turning the camera two seconds after the ammunition dump had blown up and getting a shot of the debris falling on to us. It wasn't heavy debris, thank goodness. Up in the town, while the fighting was going on, we dodged about the back of houses and shot what we could. We couldn't give any impression of the opposition as they were all sniping from the houses and I never saw a live German except as a prisoner. But you had to move around quickly as odd bullets were constantly pinging about. There was so much to do and you were so keyed up that there was no real sensation of being frightened. But your reaction afterwards made you realise how much nervous energy had been used up. Actually, to a film man, the whole action became like the big day in a super production. Although ihe dead and wounded were real, you were so pent-up they didn't worry you. There were the same unexplainable delays, while you waited with camera poised for a house to blow up and everybody shouted "Any minute now". You had an odd feeling in the back of your mind that somebody would suddenly blow a whistle and yell "O.K. lunch, one hour" and the grips would start handing out box-lunches. But, of course, film people are always cynical of spectacular things. Our motto should be "It's done with tiny mirrors". Some reflections on the results: Cameras on the warships and aircraft involved would have made an amazing difference to the coverage. There was a completely unnecessary delay in getting the film to London. (We were over 30 hours in the train.) The newsreels, who got all the 4,000 ft. shot on the raid, made very good use of it, on the whole. One or two didn't bother to check their facts or die chronological order of shots. But in every newsreel dramatic moments, specially shot for, were thrown away. We tried to make a film. But the newsreels just strung shots together. Of course material shot quickly and haphazardly like this is difficult for the cutter to understand and assemble. The solution might be closer liaison between the service units and the newsreels after shooting. In any case "dope sheets" must be as detailed as possible. Directors, even if for nine-tenths of the time they are merelj camera helps, are of great assistance on such a job. There's far too much for one man to do alone. And lastly, it's the kind of thing that should have been done from the start of the war. Whatever its deficiencies, the public loved it, therefore it has helped morale everywhere. The authorities said "the Press" behaved well and were even a help. So let's hope we'll get some more chances like Vaagso. NOTES ON THE FILM By a Commando who took part in the raid. there is always a danger in seeing a film, or reading a book, about something or somebody, one knows well — a danger of being too critical, of selecting petty faults and overlooking the real issues. This danger does not exist where the newsreel of the Vaagso raid is concerned. However critically one views this brief crystallisation in a matter of minutes of an operation which lasted several hours, one cannot escape the authentic note. Here is an exciting operation vividly and accurately presented without touching up and with no feeling of over-dramatisation. Here, to those of us who were privileged to be present, is the real thing. The impression of careful planning, the rising tide of preparation, the silent wait for zero hour, the scramble ashore through the smoke, the bitterness of that brief, tense action ashore, the determined resistance in the spell of street-fighting, and the pall of destruction which finally hung over that once quiet fiord — these things move swiftly and surely in this film. Even those who lived through those swift excitement-packed hours cannot see this film without thrilling again to the sight of the destroyers moving up the fiord or the sound of the bagpipes coming suddenly and unexpectedly over the water. What we do not see — and for obvious reasons — is the cameramen at work. The astonishment of heavily armed commando men who watched the "film men" going about their work, often completely unprotected except for the inevitable tin-hat, was amusing to see. When one is seeking cover from bullets by crouching behind a wall, it is rather disturbing to see a gallant spirit, disembodied from his fellows, moving about restlessly in the open and calmly running his camera despite the battle around him. Disturbing, but verj heartening. Perhaps the more-keen-thinkmg o( the public who view this film will pay tribute to those who filmed— though one suspects that the innate scepticism of the public will cause them to dismiss the whole thing as trick photography or "all done with telescopic lens". But however it is explained away, whatever kind of devilment or scientific witchery is brought to blame, they cannot dismiss the fact that this film lives. The value of accurate documentation in war cannot be over-estimated and the combination of accuracy and a lively sense of theatre is so rare as to be more than noteworthy