Documentary News Letter (1940)

i DOCUMENTARY NEWS LETTER MARCH 1940 13 DOCUMENTARY IN THE UNITED STATES 10! 1.1 The Association of Documentary Film Producers, which was organised several months ago, made its first public appearance when it staged a Documentary Film Festival at the New York World's Fair during the week of October 9th to 15th. The celebration was built around a series of daily two-hour integrated film programmes in the Little Theatre in the Science and Education Building. It marked the climax of a summer of showings of such films in the Little Theatre under the sponsorship of the producers association, and, so far as New York and her World's Fair are concerned, the official "arrival" of the documentary film movement in the U.S. Highlights of the week were the showings of fourfilmswhich rarely reacha public screen : Easter Island, two reels made by John Ferno in 1937 for the Belgian Government on the mysterious monoliths of the island by this name ; Wedding of Palo, two reels by Knud Rasmussen in 1937 on life among the Eskimos; The Earth is Song, ten reels on life in the Slovak mountains before the German invasion, produced by Karol Plicka and directed by Ladislav Kolda ; and Houses of Misery, three reels on slums and re-housing in Belgium, produced in 1938 for the Belgian Government; directed by Henri Storck and photographed by John Ferno. Other films (with producers in parentheses) shown were, under Travel and Exploration: Moana (Robert Flaherty), Dark Rapture (Armand Denis), and Five Faces of Malaya (Alex Shaw) ; under Workers and Jobs : Shipyard (Paul Rotha), Borinage (Joris Ivens), The Wave (Paul Strand), People of the Cumberland (Frontier Films), and North Sea (Alberto Cavalcanti) ; under Instructional: The Filter (Mary Field), Seahorse (Jean Painleve), Monkey into Man (Stanley Hawes), Highlights and Shadows (Eastman Kodak), Getting Your Money's Worth (Rothman, Kandai, Delzucca and Jays), Underground Farmers (Stacey and Horace Woodard), and Heart Disease (March of Time); under Government sponsored films: The Plow that Broke the Plains (Pare Lorentz), Coal Mining in the Soviet Union (Mabylitsky), and Men of the Alps (Alberto Cavalcanti); under Social Problems: War and Propaganda (March of Time), Return to Life (Henri Cartier), Crisis (Herbert Kline and Hanns Burger), and The 400,000,000 (Joris Ivens and John Ferno); under Public Relations : Smoke Menace (John Taylor), Men Make Steel (Jam Handy), Phillips Radio (Joris Ivens), Song of Ceylon (Basil Wright), and Housing Problems (John Taylor, Arthur Elton and Edgar Anstey). Eight Classroom Films on the Eastman Kodak Company's productions programme are scheduled for early release. Two of these, for use with girls at the senior high-school level, are classed under the general subject of Child Care. Bathing the Infant demonstrates the various types of equipment used, as well as correct methods of handling the baby during bathing. Feeding the Infant is a detailed picturisation of the routine of J feeding both the breast-fed and the bottle-fed baby. Three of the films constitute a new Safety Series. Of these. Safety at Play and Safety at Home are for children in the first three grades. Vacation Safety is for grades four to six, and for junior high schools. It covers swimming precautions in an organised camp, boating, camp safety and fire building. Vitamin B\, first of a new food series, is for high-school use. It points out sources of the antineuritic vitamin, effects of deficiency, and the need for a balanced diet. Two other health films complete the group. The Eyes {Advanced) aids high-school instruction on the structure, physiology, and hygiene of the eye. The Eyes (Primary) is a simplified version for use in elementary grades. Film Audiences for Democracy, 342 Madison Avenue, New York, N.Y., has arranged a "Series of Film Forums" with discussion guides, according to its Director of Activities, Edward Kern. Subjects covered in the series include This is America, Health in a Democracy, Housing, Child Criminality, Why WPA?, Racial Persecution and Social Injustice, The Role of Women, Why Organise?, Why Consumer Education?, What the Government Does With Oiu Money, Education in a Democracy, Who are These Orientals?, What is the Value of Co-operatives?, and The Negro. Films to cover these subjects have been selected from varied sources and a rental arrangement established. Two weekly film series, one for adults and one for children, are being presented this fall and winter by the Education Division of the Phila delphia Museum of Art. The showings, which are given on Saturdays and Sundays, are announced as covering "milestones in the development of the documentary film, ranging from newsreels, March of Time subjects and short human interest subjects, to travel, semi-fictional and advertising films". The programme, which the Association of School Film Libraries is being of some assistance in getting together, will include The Private Life of the Gannets, Night Mail, Moana, Nanook of the North, North Sea, The River, The Plow that Broke the Plains, The 400,000,000, The Wave, and the Wedding of Palo. The Department of Psychology of Columbia University has announced a series of instructional films in psychology, which, according to the University, "have been rated by producers of educational films as technically excellent". Requests for detailed information, or orders for prints of the pictures, should be sent to C. J. Warden, Department of Psychology, Columbia University, New York, N.Y. There are five films in the series. They are in silent versions only and prints can only be purchased, not rented. The five films with their 16 mm. footages and prices are: Development and Behaviour of the White Rat, 350 feet— $25. Problem Solving in Monkeys, 420 feet — $30. The Experimental Psychology of Vision, 450 feet —$30. Color Vision, 150 feet (in colour)— $22. Testing Animal Intelligence, 450 feet— $30. BRITISH DOCUMENTARY ACTIVITY Stanley Hawes has now left for Canada to join Stuart Legg in production activities on behalf of the National Film Board. Hawes has been responsible for the direction of (among other documentaries) Speed the Plough, Here is the Land and Monkey into Man. His presence in Canada will be a great help in the new and vigorous production policy initiated by Grierson and Legg. A number of potentially important subjects are in production which should do much to keep the documentary units busy. Strand Films have been asked to make three films about the British people being kept fit by sport; the achievements of Britain in the spheres of engineering, science and the social services; and London transport. Alexander Shaw is generally in charge of production. At Film Centre, Basil Wright will be responsible for a film about canals in wartime, while Arthur Elton is looking after a British railways picture and a Bren gun film designed for public audiences (Production firms not yet allocated). Mary Field, at G.B. Instructional, has a film to make about the Civilian Front. Other films, we understand, are being discussed, details of which will be available shortly. From the G.P.O. Film Unit comes news of general activity. Watt's balloon barrage film, taken up at the Firth of Forth, has been titled Squadron 992 and awaits release. Production has begun on a film about Agriculture and research script work on a British Merchant Navy picture is in hand. Editing of both French and English versions of a film on Munitions is proceeding. Work at Film Centre on the research for the four films being scripted in collaboration with P.E.P. progresses well. Contact has been made with other bodies and individuals investigating the field. At G.B. Instructional, Donald Carter continues his series of reels for the War Office and a new coloured series of Secrets of Life is being planned by Oliver Pike, Percy Smith and Durden. Convoys seem a popular location these days. Publicity Films are the latest to have two units on the high seas shooting material for a food-rationing film for Cadbury's. At the Shell Film Unit, Peter Baylis is making First Principles of Refining and Cinemagazine No. 5, while Grahame Tharp directs a film about Air Screws, both under Elton's supervision. Realist Film Unit's film for the British Council has been named Island People and is ready for screening, followed by The Times film, now called The Fourth Estate, in March. J. D. Davidson has completed his technical film for the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. March of Time unit is still in France with the B.E.F. British Foundation Pictures, Spectator Films, and Science Films all report current activity for official and other bodies, with particulars to follow.