Documentary News Letter (1940)

Record Details:

Something wrong or inaccurate about this page? Let us Know!

Thanks for helping us continually improve the quality of the Lantern search engine for all of our users! We have millions of scanned pages, so user reports are incredibly helpful for us to identify places where we can improve and update the metadata.

Please describe the issue below, and click "Submit" to send your comments to our team! If you'd prefer, you can also send us an email to mhdl@commarts.wisc.edu with your comments.




We use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) during our scanning and processing workflow to make the content of each page searchable. You can view the automatically generated text below as well as copy and paste individual pieces of text to quote in your own work.

Text recognition is never 100% accurate. Many parts of the scanned page may not be reflected in the OCR text output, including: images, page layout, certain fonts or handwriting.

DOCUMENTARY NEWS LETTER APRIL 1940 15 FILM SOCIETY NEWS fifl •I THE FILM SOCIETY season is now approaching its end, and in general no more need be said than that the enterprise and courage of the Societies is a matter for congratulation. From reports received from all over the country it seems likely that all the societies now operating will open up again next autumn. DNL will be glad to give help or information to Film Societies making plans for next season. We have had several reports regarding the difficulty of obtaining certain foreign films, such as Lm Femme du Boulanger. It is not easy to find a way of dealing with the vagaries of distributors, and difficulties of this sort make it all the more regrettable that efforts to form a really comprehensive Federation (with a permanent executive in London) have hitherto failed. Only in this way could really useful action be taken in such cases. A number of valuable suggestions have been made regarding DNL's Film Society Page. The most general recommendation has been that the full programmes of all societies should be published every month, with editorial or analytical notes when necessary. This plan would need the closest cooperation on the part of Secretaries, and would involve notification of programmes in advance whenever possible. DNL hopes to start some such service as soon as it is feasible. London. For their second programme of the season the London Film Institute Film Society showed Brunius' short Violons d'lngres, a film about hobbies made for showing at the New York World's Fair. The feature was Renoir's Toni (a review of which appears on page 16). The London Scientific Film Societ> gave its third performance on March 10th and showed seven films, ranging from studies of Colloids in Medicine and Psychology Today to Rotha's Face of Britain and Anstey's Enough to Eat. The policy of this society is admirable in that it deliberately seeks to foster the idea of the scientist's place in the community, rather than to narrow down its programmes to exclusively academic and technical subjects. It might be a good idea for some of the major provincial societies to link up with the Scientific Film Society. AH the L.S.F.S. programmes are designed to interest laymen as well as scientists. In this connection secretaries might well get hold of a copy of the annual report of the Films Committee of the Association of Scientific Workers. This Committee was formed some two years ago to further the interests of the scientific film, and to act as an advisory body to any organisation desiring information in this field. To this end an expert Viewing Committee has been appointed, and a list of scientific films has been issued, graded according to subject matter, type, technical treatment and suitability both for general and specialist exhibition. A card-index of all films seen is kept at the head office of the A.S.W. with a review of each prepared by the Viewing Committee. The subject matter includes agriculture, engineering, health. transport, zoology, chemistry, aeronautics, archaeology, biology, physiology, mathematics, physics and sociology. The Committee is ready to plan film shows for branches of the A.S.W. and other interested bodies, and eight such shows were arranged in 1939, in London, Cambridge, Liverpool, Oxford and Rugby. The services performed by the Scientific Films Committee, not at the moment widely known, are of great value and their expertly prepared records provide a source of unequalled information and reference. Any organisation wishing to make use of the work that is being done should communicate with the Secretary, the Association of Scientific Workers, 30 Bedford Row, London, W.C.I. Aberdeen reports that its membership this season is 489, which is only 60 short of last season's figure. As in previous years, it was arranged to hold six exhibitions. The last exhibition was held on March 17th when the films Hostages and The First Days were shown. The fact that the membership of the Society showed such a small decrease as the result of the outbreak of the war leads to the confident expectation that an equally good membership will be obtained next season. At all events, there seems to be little danger of the Society having to suspend its activities. Dundee & St Andrews recently showed Love on the Wing and Trois Valses. They have a large student membership and in view of the approaching University holidays the final show has been fixed for April 14th. Many local members are engaged in work of national importance, A.R.P., etc., involving Sunday duty, and the cancellation of the shows in St Andrews (see DNL, March) proved a blessing in disguise to local members, as at their request there are both afternoon and evening performances in Dundee, thus enabling members to see the shows during their oft"-duty times. Evidence of the success of this procedure is given by the increase of the number of performances from six to nine. Ayrshire has had a good season and is hopeful on prospects for the autumn. Writes the Secretary: "Assuming that there is no drastic alteration in conditions in this country we will be carrying on, and I think, despite many pessimistic prophets, that there is probably an ample supply of films in the country at the moment from which to book the programmes for at least four or five other meetings." Lochaber, in addition to its usual programmes, gave a show of 16 mm. silent films at the Highland Hotel, Fort William, during March. The evening was partly a social occasion and was a good opportunity for members to discuss and criticise the season's films. The secretary also reports that there is some hope of reviving the Inverness Film Society, as during the war the number of potential members may well be higher than ever before. Recent programmes of the Manchester & Salford Film Society included Cavalcanti's Men in Danger and The City, Pabst's Dranie de Shanghai, and Len Lye's Lambeth Walk and Colour Flight. Substandard shows included The Rape of Czechoslovakia, followed by a lecture by the director, Jiri Weiss: John Taylor's The Londoners, and Ralph Bond's Voice of the People. The Oxford Film Society recently celebrated its fiftieth performance with a very eclectic programme including Ruttman's Berlin and Ophul's Tendre Ennemie. The membership of this Society is largely of undergraduates and senior members of the University; Oxford residents are also members. The Edinburgh Film Guild, although "exposed to the dangers of the front line", has had a good season of eight performances (a modification of its peacetime programmes) and the membership is 500. Films shown include Mort du Cygne, Storm in a Teacup and The Rich Bride. We learn that in addition to Bryanston School (see DNL March) both Eton and Charterhouse run flourishing film societies. The latter's is open to members of the general public. The Merseyside Film Institute Society reports that its shows of Hostages and Burgtheater both had an attendance of 1,400. Four lectures have been given on "The Films in Education", "The Film in World Conditions", "The Film in International Understanding", and "Social Implications". A film lecture on Charlie Chaplin's career was also given by Prof. Lyon Blease. This Society is now collaborating with the Council of Social Service in the provision of a panel of lecturers for unemployed centres, boys' clubs, and similar groups. Belfast's second repertory show included Retour a TAube, supported by documentaries and early silent films. A third show is planned this month. ROLL CALL (The following is, to the best of our knowledge, a complete list of Film Societies at present in existence) : Aberdeen Lochaber Ayrshire London Film Institute Belfast London Scientific Birmingham Manchester & Salford Bryanston Merseyside Charterhouse Oban Dublin Oxford Dundee Sheffield Edinburgh Street Eton Tyneside Exeter Wolverhampton Liverpool FEDERATION The Federation of Scottish Film Societies is meeting in Glasgow on April 27th to discuss summer activities and future plans. On the same day is the final adjudication and performance of the entries for the Scottish Film Festival.