Documentary News Letter (1944-1945)

DOCUMENTARY NEWS LETTER 101 tumeur de la region hypophysaire (Trepanning for a tumour of pituitary region) and Trepanation pour crise d'epileptic bravais-jacksonnienne (Trepanning for Jacksonian epileptic crisis) were straightforward records in Kodachrome made by this distinguished surgeon, who at some points in the film operates with his left hand to enable the cameraman to secure a better angle. These films proved too strong for some of the audience, and one or two weaker members were carried out and had to be restored with suitable "administrations" of cognac. Medical films made up a large part of the programmes. They included Lutenbacher's (Versailles) Troubles de conduction transmyocardique (Affections of the conducting mechanism of the heart), a teaching film combining animated graphs and experimental work on a sheep's heart ; surgical films from the U.S.A. (Colonel Harbaugh's Bilateral Leg Amputations and H. N. Harkins' Surgery of Varicose Veins) ; and the Soviet Throat Wounds and their Treatment by Trutnev, Zemtrov and Fedorov. Two anaesthesia films were presented, both Canadian, K. M. Heard's Spinal Anesthesia with nupercaine, a film with a marked advertising angle, and M. D. Leigh's Pediatric Anesthesia in colour. Nothing comparable for teaching value with the British Technique of Ancvsthesia Series was shown at the Congress. Our own Surgery in Chest Disease was a considerable success and French surgeons were struck by the disciplined teamwork shown. Only two films dealing with the social aspects of medical work were given; Sergeant's Diary, a well-made but rather sentimental American film for buiiding up the morale of soldiers who had undergone amputations, and Rotha's Blood Transfusion. This latter was greatly admired and Lo Duca, the film critic of "Cite-Soir", advised French shorts producers to meditate on the effective restraint of its commentary. A record of the total eclipse of the sun on July 9th, 1945, made in Sweden by Leclerc and other French scientists, combined a pleasant account of the communal life of the astronomers of the two nations on the site, with speeded-up cinematography of the phenonomen itself. Amongst the biological films shown, Goodliffe's Scabies Mite was considered outstanding and Life Cycle of Pin Mould and Life Cycle of Maize were greeted as further examples of British photomicrography and styles of exposition. Guy-Busnel of Paris contributed an excellent film on the Colorado beetle, and the Italian film, Flower Morphology, by Professor Carano contained some good time-lapse sequences. But for me, the most fascinating of all these films were two studies of micro-organisms by the famous Doctor Comandon of the Pasteur Institute at Garches. Comandon, who has been using the cinema as a weapon of research since 1905, was unfortunately ill and his work was presented by a colleague, de Fonbrune. La caryocinese d'une cellule (Karyokinesis) and Etudes sur Vamibe et greffes de noyau d'amibe (Studies on the grafting of an amoeba nucleus) showed with some exceptionally lovely photomicropgraphy experiments in cell division and illustrated the very fine instruments for handling micro-organisms in use at the Pasteur Institute. My own feelings about these brilliant examples of what film can do were summed up at the final session by the present Director-General of the French Cinema industry, M. Fourre-Cormeray, when he said, "Maybe in the end, the scientific film, made in a spirit of complete objectivity, comes near to the supreme manifestations of art itself". We may feel a certain pride that it was left to British non-theatrical films to bring the importance of the social applications of science to the notice of the Congress. To illustrate a speech I made about the work being done over here with specialised agricultural and medical films, I showed Potato Blight and later answered questions on the work of the M.O.I. Films Division. What Denis Marion in the newspaper "Combat" called charmingly "la non-theatrical plan", was clearly a new use of the film for many of them. But it was left to World of Plenty to complete the impression of what one report called "British mastery" in this field. The presentation of a documentary which carries so strong a verbal as well as visual punch was something of a problem with such an audience. To meet this, I had the temerity to translate the commentary as the film was projected with the volume control suitably lowered. World of Plenty survived this hard treatment and its unexpected technique and the direct and human quality of its approach made a deep impression. During my stay, I attended and spoke at a meeting of the Union Universitaire Francaise, a teachers' organisation largely created during the Resistance. The subject discussed was our new Education Act, and the interest displayed in it was characteristic of the vast and friendly curiosity among the French about educational and social developments over here. Documentary and scientific films can, and should play a major role in satisfying this curiosity. There should be traffic, too, in the other direction. Many of the French scientific films shown would be of great interest to Scientific Film Societies and research workers in this country. The time has come indeed when some international mechanism of distribution and liaison should be established in this field. Cry from the Colonies From a correspondent: — Have you had a look at what Britain likes to call '■ British News? Terrible! Badly edited and scamped ! through in general with a hundred foot sequence consisting of King, Windsor Castle, the Thames, English landscapes in general and a Union Jack leading into the title which is so slow that it aptly prepares one for the dreary slow nonsense that usually follows. You should sense the feeling of audiences out here when this atrocity appears. I understand that it is prepared and sent out by the British Council. Compared to the ordinary British newsreels and the American newsreels which are usually only a week behind the times instead of our three or four months, the British News derides and besmirches the flag. Film News Film News has appeared with a new format. jit is still published by American Film Centre, but is now edited by Thomas Baird. It can be obtained from Film Centre. The subscription is ten shillings a year. |the Screenwriters' Association is about to resume publication of its bulletins listing screen (credits. In future the bulletin will appear every isix months but the coming issue will contain [details of all types of films issued between Janujary 1st, 1943, and September 30th, 1945. All jdirectors, writers and others are invited to submit (particulars of their credits to Gordon Wellesly, 1107 Latymer Court, W.6. has now completed the successor to "World of Plenty" LAND OF PROMISE A FILM ARGUMENT ABOUT OUR HOMES AND HOUSES cast JOHN MILLS MILES MALLESON MARJORIE RHODES FREDERICK ALLEN HERRERT MIMAS ELIZARETH COWELL HENRY HALLATT technical unit Associate Director: Francis Gysin. Script Team: Ara Calder Marshall, Miles Tomalin, Miles Malleson, Wolfgang Wilhelm. Camera Team: Harold Young, Peter Hennessy, Reg Wyer, Cyril Arapoff. Charts and Diagrams: Isotype Institute. Supervision: Peter Bradford. Music: William Alw \ n 25, Catherine Street, Co vent Garden, London, WC2 Telephone TEMple Bar 5116-7-8