Documentary News Letter (1942-1943)

DOCUMENTARY NEWSLETTER! CONTENTS SIGNS OF THE TIMES NOTES OF THE MONTH U.S. DOLLAR AND BRITISH FILM INDUSTRY 148 FILM OF THE MONTH PLAN FOR POST-WAR DOCUMENTARY CUMENTARY FILMS ( iiKKI SPONDFNCE A GENTLEMEN'S AGREEMENT VOL 3 NO. 11-12 PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY FILM CENTRE 34 SOHO SQUARE LONDON VV1 SIGNS OF THE TIMES f|N November 26th the first leader in The Times was headed ^"^"Obligations of Victory**. In this leader stress was laid on the fact that the people of Britain are extremely interested in the social :ture of the State after the present war and are likely to become even more interested as the United Nations move more and more to the offensive and therefore towards victory. Tb quote directly from The Times, "The keen popular interest, even at a moment of spectacular military success, in domestic policies confirms the viewthat in the present War social reform stands in a closer and more -ect relation to the national effort than Government spokesmen and Government propagandists have sometimes been prepared to recognise or admit." The Times, by the way, might have added, but did not, that such thoughts are in the minds of the common people in every nation n the world, including those which are temporarily crushed under the Nazi heel. There is nothing new in this attitude, which is indeed one which has been stressed in this journal at regular intervals since September 3rd, 1939. But a new element has entered since the United Nations, to the gratification of everyone, passed to the offensive. The invasion of North Africa, carrying with it the prospect of the re-opening of the Mediterranean to United Nations' shipping, and perhaps the invasion of Italy, was a tonic to everyone. Unfortunately this tonic was rendered temporarily inoperative by the Darlan episode. We lave no wish to recapitulate this unpleasant blot on the War policy of the United Nations. Its main value was that it proved once and for all that there can, in this conflict, be no division between military and political activities. Whatever the military values of the Darlan ;pisode may have been, their political repercussions in occupied France, to say nothing of the rest of occupied Europe, could never iave been expected to be other than disastrous. The peoples of the world, including those under Axis domination, are not merely fighting this war to beat Germany, Italy and Japan. They are lighting it because by beating Germany, Italy and lapan they will at the same time be la>ing the foundations for a new life for the common people of the world. Even if the worlJ [to them is limited by their own street or their own town, their attitude of mind is none the less positive and practical in universal terms. It is this universal aspect which lies behind The Times' eadu when it says "Only a courageous and far-reaching policy Droclaimed in broad outline with the full weight of Government authority can build up a national conviction that victory will bring .0 the people of this country a 'freedom from want* and a 'freedom ,'rom fear* (above all from fear of unemployment) not known in the years before 1939". In this The Times speaks not only for the people of this country but for the people of the world ; and it is this universal issue which the propagandists in all media, film, radio and press, must face with all the vigour at their command. But this vigour cannot exist in the vacuum of groups of propagandists, however excellent their intentions or forthright their demand for action, if Government policy fails to follow their lead. "One of the most serious indictments" says The Times, "which could be brought against those charged with the direction of national affairs is lack of preparation to meet foreseeable and foreseen contingencies." What are these contingencies? Contrary to the belief of the more esoteric of the planners, these contingencies do not relate to a cloud-cuckoo land of communal perfection to be achieved at some unspecified date after the cessation of hostilities. These contingencies are concerned firstly with what is happening now, and now means the day on which you read this article not less than it means next week or next month, and also with what will happen immediately and absolutely on the day in which hostilities, in a military sense, cease. Melting Pot Let us take the two points separately. Firstly, what is happening today? If you live in Great Britain or in any of the Dominions of the Commonwealth or in the United States or in China or in the U.S.S.R., you are today a speck in the melting pot of world destiny. You are concerned with immediate events, some apparently trivial and some, even at first glance, world shaking (it depends maybe on the headlines of your breakfast-time newspaper); and of these events you are not merely a spectator but an integral part. If you are a good citizen of any of these nations, you will instinctively be searching for all the growing points of social progress and active endeavour which are appearing as a direct result of war conditions, i.e. appearing as an ultimate necessity in the battle to beat the Axis. What are these ultimate necessities? The Axis has to be beaten because it represents all the forces of reaction against social progress and against the idea that every man and woman, ty right, has a say in his or her own destiny. Nothing can be more significant in this war than the fact that Governments throughout the world have lagged behind the wishes of the people they are supposed to represent in carrying out measures which are not merely designed to win the war quickly, but also to bring about better conditions of life amongst the majority rather than the minority of the people. Some realisation of this point of view may have been in the min