Documentary News Letter (1940)

DOCUMENTARY NEWS LETTER FEBRUARY 1940 of our pro-Nazis there is bigger game than Miss Mitford to be after. In general the newsreels tend to become cruder and heavier in editorial comment. The Gaumont reel is the worst offender and habitually whips up feeling either with a bludgeon or a sugar-boiler's ladle. Paramount News remains the most liberally-minded of the reels, and frequently shows courage and a welcome balance of judgment in its commentaries. Newsreel up-to-the-minute coverage of the war is suffering from the scrappiness and padding which must almost inevitably result from the nature of the war and the tyranny of biweekly release dates. To satisfy public demand for fuller stories, there would seem to be a special opportunity for the March of Time style of treatment with its more leisured collection and shaping of sequences. March of Time MARCH OF TIME, unfortunately, since the outbreak of war seems scarcely to have been able to maintain the remarkable quality of its work as the screen's historian of European crises. Battle Fleets of Britain, the first war-time release, had to be based almost exclusively on peace-time shooting. Although unusually loosely constructed it added a characteristic March of Time element to other earher screen accounts of the men and ships of the British Navy by including an analysis of the defensive strategy which determines the distribution of Allied sea-power in the world's oceans. The November issue — Soldiers with Wings — was a thematically unpretentious description of the U.S. Army Air Corps, depending for its effect less upon dramatic shape than upon outstandingly beautiful photography and upon the topical interest of all aspects of aerial warfare. In its December release. Newsfronts of War — 1940, March of Time returned to a more highly dramatic style of treatment than it had lately employed. The item reviewed the outstanding world events of 1939 in terms of the news gathering and distributing services of the Associated Press and finished with an estimate of the importance and nature of Stalin's present and future policy. For January the reel comes right back to the top of its form with Uncle Sam — Farmer, a beautifully documented survey of one of the problems of the United States. It shows how U.S. agriculture brought its troubles upon itself by pursuing a blind short-term policy in the last war and points a moral now that the circumstances are likely to be repeated. Here is a first-class documentary on one of the long-term economic aspects of war which might well be imitated in this country. Progress Marches On LAST YEAR a feature film from the U.S.A., called Bofs Town, tugged at a million heart-strings. Its story was based on a real reform effort in the States by Father Flanagan. Now Assistant Prosecutor L. Bond, of the Adelaide Police Court, writes that the picture has impelled him to start a similar scheme. He hopes soon to see one in every large Australian town. All this is good ammunition for Trade people who don't like clerical onslaughts on the bad influence of the cinema. If feature films can pull off these exciting and sentimental efforts, we commend the idea to any British producers who are not fully committed to spies, comic Tommies, murder dramas, and mademoiselles. Broadcasting IT IS NOT EASY to tell whether the constant protests against the alleged dilapidation of the B.B.C. Home Service really represent popular opinion. Some say that the average licenceholder is (and always was) content with light music, variety, and lashings of cinema organ, and that, therefore, the B.B.C, must cater mostly for the majority. Others retort that it is the B.B.C.'s job to raise the public's taste, not pander to it. But, in point of fact, programmes in recent weeks have improved, and oppressed minorities have less to complain of — provided the> can adjust their hours of listening to times other than the evening. Complaints, indeed, are often really about times ol broadcasts; and here certain classes, such as classical music, lovers, may have legitimate grievances. In general it seems thai the B.B.C. is still rather too complacent about the fare i' offers; and heaven knows why we still have no alternativ{ programme. The B.E.F. programmes radiated on the Londor Regional wave-length seem — apart from an occasional Gracit — to be either dull or unsuitable. Rude remarks about th« News Bulletin have been answered in part by Edward Ward' superb relays from Finland ; these challenge the best of tb U.S.A. link-ups, and both in style and matter they shoul< quickly cancel the dreary recitations by other so-calle* observers. In regard to the question of the times of thos broadcast items which appeal to smaUish numbers of listener we hope shortly to publish some suggestions as to how th problem could be met. ta Documentary News Letter THE FIRST ISSUE of Documentary News Letter was a succes! This is not an editorial judgment, nor a literary one. It strangely enough a "box-office" one. We are not accustome to box-office acclaim ; nor do we entirely trust it. But the fai remains that many wrote to tell us how glad they were to s< our first number and, more important, many filled up the litt blue form. The response has been so unquestionable that v have had no hesitation in going into print immediate! instead of waiting for six months, as we had intended. Our audience is a varied one. There are teachers cravii any scraps of news about educational films; there are the fil societies, who, carrying on in spite of difficulties, are anxious hear of their fellow-adventurers and of the latest worth-u h films, and there are the newsreel and specialised audiences \vl like to know something of the why and wherefore of t cinema. There are also the journaUsts and the odd man Wardour Street with a thought above the ballyhoo. Last . there is the biggest group of all, those who are using docmentary films non-theatrically to try and sec the life of tl. country and its people in a richer and more real context th i the theatrical cinema usually offers. We believed that, in these days when many periodicals ; : ceasing publication, a news letter, however humble, woii be welcome. The response to the first issue proves that we w<; right. But we need many more subscriptions if we are ) enlarge the scope' of the newsletter and to improve cr sources of information and discussion. to