Documentary News Letter (1944-1945)

DOCUMENTARY NEWS LETTER 93 he Movement of the Tongue in Speech. roduction: Realist F.U. for I.C.I. Slow-motion holography: Kodak Research Laboratory. dviser: D. B. Fry. 13 minutes. eviewed by Sir Richard Paget, f.p.s., f.i.p. 'Abject: Movements of the human tongue and ds during speech as seen in a male patient with irt of his right cheek removed by a surgical Deration. Technicolor shots at normal speed are sociated with black and white shots of the same :tion, speeded up 40 times. <-eatment: A somewhat gruesome film, but of eat technical interest. The first instance (it is :lieved) in which the actual movements of the ngue have been made visible. Only the more irward movement can be seen, as the portion of ;e patient's cheek which has been removed only extends a little over one inch from the corner of his mouth. But many points of interest to students of phonetics and articulation are disclosed. Thus the backward curvature of the tongue in forming the English I, and the withdrawal of the tongue as a whole to form the backward closures (K. G. and ng) can be actually seen, though the final closure and release are hidden. The longitudinal growing of the tongue in articulating sh is made visible, as also the "pantomimic" upward and downward movement of the tongue in articulating the word "high". Slow motion pictures of some of the words articulated are also shown. In each case the voice of the commentator is heard giving the words which the patient then repeats after him. Propaganda Value: For instructional purposes it would be of advantage if the film could be supplemented by a short preliminary statement, together with a cartoon film showing a complete vertical section of a mouth and throat (as seen from the right) so that the relation between the movements actually shown in the film and the various accompanying movements (not visible) might be made clear. The importance of good articulation needs to be stressed in all teaching of English speech. This film is a notable achievement, and should be the forerunner of a series of cartoon films derived from X-ray and other observations, showing the movements of articulation and the gestural relationship between the short words in English (and indeed in all languages) and the fundamental meanings which they convey. TALES FOR CHILDREN Five Films for Odeon Children's Clubs reviewed > ecently a programme of five experimental •-films for children was shown to an adult idience. These films, made for the Odeon tiildren's Clubs, are described as entertain 1 ent, not education, and are produced by J. A. lank's Advisory Council on Children's Enter : inment films, in collaboration with the chil en's Film Department of G.B.I. These are entertainment films of a peculiar 'nd. Two out of the five would be better des ibed as moral lectures and two more have a oral tagged on. The adults were told by Miss ary Field that they might not like all the films, »it that did not matter, because the children d. This programme suggests, however, that it is gh time that adults, particularly teachers, aisidered not only whether there is any point 1 making such films for children, but whether ey are not positively harmful. Tom's Ride produced by G.B.I, is intended o point out that stealing by finding is as bad i any other kind of theft". Tom's people, the ory says, cannot afford bicycles both for Tom id his younger sister, so the sister has one. )m is jealous and when he finds a full note case, tempted to buy a bicycle with the money. He is Tsuaded by his sister that it would be wicked, hands the note case into a police station. I ley discover that it belongs to an old lady I no is going to town to visit her wounded son. jm borrows his sister's bicycle and gets the oney to the old lady just as she discovers her ss at the booking office. She offers Tom a tip it he says "really 1 couldn't take it for doing little". When he gets home his father gives him talking to and points out that he would not ive enjoyed riding a bicycle bought with the d lady's money. Certainly children must learn not to steal, it surely things like that can only be taught to lildren by people they respect and in terms of eir own experience and surroundings. They ould hardly respect the adults in this film. lie situation represented in Tom's Ride appears be quite unreal. Tom's people are shown as |/ing in a comfortable middle-class house. | looks as if they could afford a second bicycle ,iyway. Or if they had any common sense, ijiving given a bicycle to the younger child, they would have found some other outlet for Tom's energies. Tom and his sister are unnatural, priggish children. "What normal child would refuse a reward," said a teacher in the audience. The children who see these films are encouraged to write their view to the cinema manager, Judging by some of their criticisms, which were read out as an introduction to the film, they were reacting against the unreal atmosphere of the film. "The sister wouldn't have had a bicycle unless she had further to go to school than her brother," was a comment. Sports Day produced by G.B. Screen Services goes one further in moral uplift, priggishness and snob appeal. Here the main moral is, don't tell tales about your friends, with a subsidiary moral about being kind to animals. Colonel and Mrs. House, who live in a big fine house, have a little dog. Two boys at the nearby secondary-cumpublic school tie a tin on its tail on the way to school. The hero releases it but is wrongly accused by the schoolmaster and Colonel House of being the culprit. He shields the other boys and is prevented from taking part in the school sports. At the last minute, owing to the intervention of the hero's very pretty starlet sister, who proves to the colonel that he is innocent, Tom is allowed out just in time to win the swimming competition and the cup for his side. So virtue is rewarded. But why is a good modern secondary school peopled with boys who appear to have come from one of the less wellknown public schools, with parents to match? Why the Colonel and his large house and little dog? Why the sports-master who appears to have stepped straight out of an advertisement for blazers? Because, we were told, the producers wanted to show the children the best social background. Two of the children's criticisms were "Our homes aren't like that," and "Show us children like ourselves". Mary Field agreed that the child actors were too old and sophisticated, but pointed out that it was illegal to employ a child under twelve in a studio. Could there have been some sets left over from a feature film which suggested a cheap studio setting? For we believe there is nothing to prevent pictures being taken of ordinary children in their homes and at school if the L.E.A. agrees. The best film in the programme was Club Magazine No. 3, produced by Wallace Productions. It included items on a visit to the penguins at the Zoo, wartime work of a village blacksmith, the children's art school in Moscow and an exhibition of toys at the Nursery School Association. Foreign versions of this magazine are being made. It does tell children something of the real world and it is proposed to include some aspect of life in another country in each issue — which is a good idea. Sally the Sparrow produced by G.B.I, was made for the younger children and takes them on a visit to the Zoo. You can hardly go wrong with animals, but this film almost did. The producers thought the bigger animals should be introduced to young children who had never seen them in relation to the sparrow which they all know. We visit the animals with Sally, who flies into their cages to get food. The commentary, in verse, suggests that Sally shouldn't take other animals' food, but wait until she is fed by the children. This gives the sparrow a distorted humanised character. For if there is one bird who can successfully pinch crumbs from under the nose of the lion it is the sparrow. I thought the sparrow spoilt an otherwise useful film. Finally there was a cartoon. The children ask for a cartoon in their programmes, preferably in colour. If that is the only reason for showing one, why not show them Disney or a Popeye instead of Robbie Finds a Gun. This slow blackand-white cartoon was produced by Analysis Films with drawings by Anson Dyer. Robbie the Rabbit gets into trouble when he exchanges his catapault for a gun, and ends up in a pond. A simple cautionary tale for the younger children. The Advisory Council on Children's Entertainment films will no doubt improve on this first experimental selection. But whatever happens, even if the element of snob morality decreases in future productions, it is most important that teachers should see these films as a matter of course. For whether the children like them or not, it is an adult responsibilit> to decide whether they are doing a good job.