Documentary News Letter (1940)

DOCUMENTARY NEWS LETTER NOVEMBER 1940 15 among strangers. The commentator tells us that the Government has decided that factory efficiency and output do not ultimately benefit from abnormally long hours, and that prewar factory acts and welfare regulations are now to be reinforced. We are shown some of the new wartime responsibilities of the factory inspector and some of the measures being taken to ameliorate the effects of work imder war conditions— for example, the introduction of improved lighting v/hich helps to relieve the strain of night-shift work. (It is a pity that with the presumable intention of achieving a particular aesthetic effect — in any case inappropriate to the subject — the factory interiors are consistently photographed as if they were dungeons.) Welfare of the Workers is somewhat scrappy and shapeless but its principal fault lies in the patronising attitude which it takes towards the workers (simple, child-like folk), and in its representation of the Ministry of Labour, not as a body of public servants, but as a father from whom all blessings flow. The film concludes with familiar newsreel shots of Mr Bevin at a factory concert. Fighters of the Veldt. Production: (South Africa). Distribution: M.O.L Non-T. 30 minutes. THIS rather drab tattoo of South Africa's war effort has a commentary of rare banality ("At the traixiing camp the soldiers detrain" — work it out for yourself). Almost everything is shown that could be shown with the exception (a) of what sort of people the South African forces consist ; (b) negroes, and (c ) General Hertzog. Transfer of Skill. Production: Shell Film Unit. Producer: Arthur Elton. Direction: Geoffrey Bell. Distribution: M.O.L Non-T. 10 minutes. Transfer of Skill combines the lucid exposition of mechanical method, upon which the Shell Unit has built its reputation, with the lighter style and the more personalised subjects of the Unit's Ciueinagazines. The purpose of the film is to show how a variety of British craftsmen have found war-work which utilises their peace-time skill. The watchmaker is ideally qualified to make timing gear for shells, the jeweller's engraver makes navigation instruments, and the man whose hobby it was in peace-time to make model engines, finds that he too can make a contribution to the war effort. Transfer of Skill selects four or five examples and compares the peace-time job with the war job. There is considerable attention to the detail of the work which is often analysed in beautiful close-ups. If the peace-time job sometimes proves the more interesting and claims longer footage, this is a propaganda fault inherent in the subject and not in its treatment. But not every episode makes us sigh for the return of the pre-war crafts. It is alarming to discover how much human ingenuity used once to be devoted to the production of expensive jewellery. A more personal treatment of the workers themselves, and some information on how the change-over of jobs came about would have been welcome, but this is a one-reel film and material remains for another. Gateways to Panama. Production: March of Time (No. 5, Sixth Year). Distribution: R.K.O. Radio Pictures. Two reels. A MAJOR issue of American military strategy is to protect the maritime approaches to the Panama Canal. These approaches are besprinkled with the islands of the Dutch, French and British West Indies. Gateways to Panama attempts to explain the politico-military situation of these islands and makes it apparent that, in this corner of the globe, European problems are also America's. Apart from political and military considerations the film achieves significance in a particular respect. It devotes a long sequence to a damning expose of the conditions in French Guiana and upon Devil's Island. This sequence is deeply disturbing to witness for it records a human cancer which mocks France and indeed, all civilisation. Within the penal area annual mortality is 20%. When working in the forests a man's chance of survival is evens. This is without the assistance of the guillotine which, if one's eyes see aright, is depicted with its decapitated output stacked like faggots against a wall. Survival itself means year upon year lived under a ghastly tyranny of official graft and vengeance. It can therefore be understood why revolution smoulders and why the humans in the scenes are as camera conscious as wolves. General problems of penal reform might appear to be of secondary importance in war time; but are they? A March of Time not to be missed. Appreciation of our regular feature on Documentary Films appearing in the ^^KINEMATOCSRAPH WEEKLY'^ The Leading Journal of the Film Industry Ministry of Information, Malet Street, London, W.C.I. August §th, 1940. DEAR MR RAYMENT, Thank you for your letter of August 2nd. I found your supplement most interesting, and I look forward to your next month's issue. Yours truly, JACK BEDDINGTON. August sth, 1940. DEAR MR RAYMENT, Thank you very much for your letter of August 2nd, and the copy of the special supplement to the Kinematograph Weekly which you enclose. I have studied it with great interest, and it seems to me to have a news and propaganda value of the highest quality. With many thanks. Believe me. Yours very sincerely, J. H. BEITH, Major-General, Director of Public Relations. From LORD strabolgi, Iddesleigh House, Caxton Street, Westminster, S.W.i. August yd, 1940. DEAR SIR, I am obliged to you for sending me a copy of your new special supplement of Propaganda and Documentary Films. I consider this an excellent idea, and it should prove most valuable. Yours faithfully, STRABOLGI. Published every Thursday idne WEEKLY 85 Long Acre London, WCi