Documentary News Letter (1940)

DOCUMENTARY NEWS LETTER DECEMBER 1940 NEW DOCUMENTARY FILMS (continued) Young Veterans. Production: Ealing Studios. Producer: Cavalcanti. Editing: Charles Crighton. Commentary: Spoken and written by Michael Frank. Distribution: Theatrical. 25 minutes. Young Veterans is one of the first batch of Cavalcanti's new productions at Ealing. If this is a typical example, Cavalcanti's unit is assured of a distinguished future. Young Veterans is a history of the War till to-day, told not in terms of dates and figures, but in terms of sentiment. Cavalcanti has done what is perhaps the most difficult job of all, the recreation of feeling. We feel the suspense of August, 1939, and the emotion caused by the outbreak of war. Our spirits rise with the attack on Norway and sink when the troops are recalled. The first optimism engendered by the B.E.F. in France gives way to depression as we come to Dunkirk. The film ends with the creation of Britain's citizen army. Most films which attempt a history of our own times, and particularly a history of the present war, are stale and flat. Cavalcanti's film has avoided this staleness; its vividness, its skill in recreating a mood, its obvious sincerity are so moving. The technical virtuosity of Young Veterans (which never obtrudes) is admirable. The film is made largely from library material skilfully woven with new shooting. The collection and selection of this library material must have been an enormous task, and no one without Cavalcanti's detailed knowledge of this field could have done it. Moreover, he has managed to avoid all the stock library shots which crop up monotonously in every war film. The material is new and fresh. The editing is expert and imaginative. There is an admirable sequence in which the drawings of "Young Bert" are brought to life. The sound track is the more telling since it is of the simplest. The commentary is as good of its kind as we have heard. No one save Cavalcanti could have made this film. Wings of Youth. Production: The National Film Board of Canada. Producers: Stuart Legg and Raymond Spottiswoode. Associate Director: Roger Barlow. Distribution: Theatrical, and M.O.I. Non-T. 13 minutes. Wings of Youth is another of the Canadian Government's one-reelers. They are usually on topical subjects and issued once a month. This one describes the Empire Air Training Scheme. Starting with Canadians in the last war, it comes quickly to the point, and we see some very nice material of the training scheme. One trainee is picked, and we follow him through until the final sequence — his first solo. The trainee sequences are spaced with the building of trainer planes and the training of crews, but because the film moves at such an incredible speed, and the commentator never pauses, the eff"ect is one of confusion. The commentary is so full of facts and figures, names and information, that at the end of the film you are dazed. Give us one fact instead of twenty. One idea instead of five. One word instead of a hundred. One shot instead of three. Give us a little punctuation — a quieter spoken commentary. These films are made primarily for the American and Canadian markets, but I cannot believe that the new world speaks and thinks so much faster than we do. Scotland's War Effort. Production: Strand. Producer: Alex Shaw. Direction: Jack Ellitt. Commentary; George Blake. Distribution: T and Non-T. APART FROM its Special wartime message, this film is one of the best and most articulate of all the documentaries on Scotland. It stresses the great'diversity of human types and characters and accents which are Scotland's great fascination, and it places in proper perspective the abruptly changing face of the land which will never cease to astonish both the casual traveller and the faithful native. It is Jack Ellitt's first film, and is wisely shaped in the simplest of forms, a series of episodes and sequences tallying with the main Scottish activities — the industrial workers of the Clyde, the Highland sheep farmers, the fishermen, and so on — not, of course, forgetting the inevitable army shots. It is not the ideal shape, but it has given Ellitt the chance to try his paces over the furlong of sequence rather than the full course of a reel, and within sequence limits he has achieved much that is pleasing and a certain amount that is impressive. The cutting is very good throughout, and so is the commentary. Fruits from the Garden (1 reel). Odd Jobs in the Garden (1 reel). Winter Storage (1 reel). A Garden Goes to War (3 reels). Production: Plant Protection Ltd. Distribution: Non-T. 16 mm. colour. Silent. THESE films contain a great deal of valuable information and advice. They are very simply made, without any production pretensions (and indeed at times without correct camera exposure for colour). Fruits from the Garden rather belies its title by dealing almost exclusively with the necessity for banding and spraying. The method of grease-banding is clearly shown, also tar-oil spraying in winter and lime-sulphur spraying at pink-bud stage in spring; the pests attacked by the sprays are also shown. It is a pity, perhaps, that no pruning hints are given and that no reference is made to the necessity for a good pressure to be maintained in spraying, particularly as regards tar-oil. Odd Jobs in the Garden deals with weedkilling, and fertilisers for cuttings (with special details on currants). Here one becomes a little too aware of the proprietary articles which are (though not really unjustifiably) used as illustrations throughout the film. Surely a reel dealing so largely with fertilisers should pay at least a passing tribute to the no doubt bulky, oldfashioned, but none the less efficient organic manures? However, amends are made to some extent in A Garden Goes to War, which contains a very good sequence showing how to make a compost heap. In three reels the whole cycle of garden operations is touched on. The sequences on double digging, ridging, and the control of common, pests such as flea-beetle and cabbage white are admirable. The scenes dealing with the preparation of seed beds, and with sowing, might however be improved by a reference to the diff"erent types of soil. Some of the instructions might lead astray any begirmer whose soil was a heavy clay. Winter Storage deals with the storing of roots in sand or ash, with the saving of seed, and with the method of salting runner beans, which is admirably illustrated. The general criticism of these films is that they often give too little information for the beginner, but do not indulge on the other hand in technicalities which would appeal to the more experienced gardener. But this criticism does not invalidate the series, which contains much of interest and importance to both. Health in War. Production: G.P.O. for the M.O.I. Direction: Pat Jackson. Distribution: M.O.I. Non-T. 10 minutes. Health in War, a M.O.I, non-theatrical onereeler, is mainly concerned with the wartime running of London hospitals, showing how most of their beds have been evacuated to the outskirts in order to leave their central wards free for air-raid casualties. And while the film concentrates on this line it is excellent, with nice shooting of ambulances, accidents, bloodtransfusion and convalescence in the country. The children, particularly, in mobile close-ups are specially well done. But unfortunately the film attempts more than this — it aims at a lyrical note on life in the country, and the way Britain was going beforer the war, with a note on war-aims and the future generation. And here the film falls down pretty badly. There is a much too long opening pointing, out the pleasures of peace time, which seem to have consisted of village-green cricket (which still goes on anyway — the only difference in our village being that the sides are posted as "We and They" instead of the villages by name), bathing and countryside views. The slums, we are told, were fast disappearing, and being replaced by something far better (blocks of flats), and a beneficent rule was just establishing an earthly paradise. This view is flatly contradicted later in the film by ecstatic praise of schools and big mansions being taken over for sick and convalescent, country nurseries for kiddies and general guff about how good it is for children to be in the country. If all this is so admirable, it is surprising that there was no more in this direction in the piping times of peace (which were so swiftly bringing the millennium) and that it has taken the war to bring about this happy state. No, indeed. The war may be pretty awful, but at least in some respects it is better than what we had to stick before; there'll be no return to those days, let's hope.