Documentary News Letter (1944-1945)

104 DOCUMENTARY NEWS LETTER _ NEWS FROM EGYPT From a Special Correspondent over ninety per cent of the population of Egypt exists on starvation wages, whilst there are possibly more millionaires in the country than in any other part of the world. The country is run theoretically on modern democratic lines, yet one only has to wander a short distance off the beaten track to find a social system that is feudal. What is more important in the present context, however, is the fact that the splendour and beauty of Islamic culture has been allowed to die and has been replaced by a bastardised version of Western civilisation, adopted at second-hand and which the Egyptian does not really understand. It is on a conspicuous lack of a culture of its own, and on a most hazy appreciation of Western culture that the film industry in Egypt has been built. Egypt is still the only country in the Middle East which has its own film industry. Before 1925 all films shown in the Middle East were imported, but in that year the first local production was made by a group controlled by an enterprising woman called Aziza Amir. This early attempt was crude to a degree. Made by amateurs and without studio facilities, the film was nevertheless exceedingly popular on account of its handling of a local subject in a local setting. It was, however, a flash in the pan — the better quality of foreign films was obvious, and foreign agencies had the virtual monopoly of the circuits, which at that time were very small. With the advent of the talkie the chances of success were greater, owing to the value of dialogue in the vernacular, and Talaat Harb Pasha, the managing director of the Banque Misr, who was at that time sponsoring many new enterprises in Egypt, became interested in the possibilities of building a studio on European lines, and attempting to establish a local film industry. In 1932-3 the Studios Misr were built, and German experts and technicians (with a few Italians) were imported to make films with Egyptian actors and Arabic dialogue. At the same time young and enthusiastic Egyptians were taken on as apprentices to study the ways of film-making. To begin with the venture met with little success, but gradually it established itself and, with the growth of the circuits, the popularity of home-made Arabic films increased. Technique improved too, and a few years before the war the foreign technicians drifted away (largely because of small pay) and their Egyptian pupils stepped in. The industry has never been anything else but one hundred per cent commercial and, since the war, from the commercial point of view, it has never looked back. In a country that has as yet no modern local culture there are no modern standards of criticism. With technical improvements, with the insistence of foreign films on subjects dear to the heart of the wartime propagandists, but which are of little interest to a simple and disinterested audience, and with the spread of the circuits to almost every inhabited locality of respectable size in the Middle East, not to mention North Africa and parts of India, there is not one film made in Egypt since the war which has not brought in enormous profits. The audiences which provide the greater part of this income are not interested in ethical problems or social questions. They want merely enough crude sentiment and humour to appeal to their basic emotions, set in backgrounds familiar to them, with the guarantee of a song and a dance thrown in somewhere and somehow. Films are made in the shortest possible time, in a way so casual that it would horrify anyone from a western studio. There are practically no closed doors or red silence lights; coffee and cigarettes are dispensed freely and frequently to any friends who may drop in for a gossip and to watch the progress of shooting. Taking these things into consideration, and remembering that there are hardly any re-takes owing to shortage of stock, the results are often surprisingly good. Further, it can now be said that there is growing up a small body of young intelligent directors who, although technically lacking in competence, are genuinely trying to find out what they can do and to build up an industry as definitely peculiar to Egypt as the French film is to France. They are aware that, in balance, rhythm and composition, they are as yet extremely unpractised, but they are eager for help and advice. With the lack of natural intellectual and aesthetic background improvement will, however, inevitably be a slow business. They are also handicapped by the fact that their efforts, with a few exceptions, remain unappreciated by discerning people within the major cities of Cairo and Alexandria. It is an indication of progress, however, that the director, who only two years ago was regarded by the producers as a technician and not as a creator, and who was paid an insignificant sum accordingly, today can command a considerable amount of money for making a picture. From the point of view of the documentary film in Egypt, practically nothing has been done. The number of documentaries made in the country can be counted on the fingers of one hand, and they were made with no knowledge of the approach and methods required. The general public is not interested and regards short films of any nature, with the exception of colour cartoons, as just a waste of time. And yet there is great scope for documentary in the country. Since the war the Egyptian government has been genuinely impressed with the value of documentary and also instructional films. There have been articles in the Arab press urging the Government to start making such films for foreign showing, stressing the fact that the world is almost totally ignorant of modern Egypt and that this is a state of mind which should be remedied. Furthermore, considerable interest in Egypt is being shown today by North Africa and India. Both Englishspeaking documentaries for European and American consumption and Arabic-speaking ones for Middle Eastern consumption badly need developing. Unfortunately there appears to be no one in Egypt with the ability to start such a scheme. British documentaries are being shown in the Middle East in increasing numbers and have done as much as anything to foster this interest, though they are rarely seen in the public cinemas. Such films are shown through the agencies ofl the British Council and to a lesser extent through the M.O.I. British Council films are shown alii over the Middle East, often to highly specialised; audiences. In general, they do not reach a wide enough section of the public, being seen mainly; <■ by those who attend the British Institutes]! •< established throughout the Middle East by their British Council and in certain clubs in thei|-: cities. Similarly British features hardly ever get j so good a booking in the public theatres as doll C Hollywood productions and it is fairly exceptional to find a British feature running more than one week in Cairo. There seems to have 1been no attempt to get British documents: shown regularly in the theatres at all. SALESMANSHIP? Films from Britain is issued by British Information Services in New York. It is a catalogue containing an impressive list of films which are available to the people of America on substandard. Unfortunately, although the films listed are a good selection, the catalogue itself is badly presented. The cover design is dull and would have been more suitable for a haulage contractor's pamphlet, the paper on which the catalogue is printed is of poor quality and the lay-out of the wording is irritating and makes the catalogue unattractive to read. Finally we would suggest that to put conditions of sale and loan before the list of films is not the best way in which to lure people on to read a catalogue. Surely H.M.G. can do better than this, especially in a country where the art of presenting such information has reached such a very high level. Of course there is a possibility that the catalogue was presented in such a shoddy way deliberately as an example of austere and rugged individualism. SIGHT and SOUND A cultural Quarterly MONTHLY FILM Bl'LLETIN appraising educational and entertainment values Published by: The British Film Institute, 4 Great Russell Street, London, W.C.I.