Documentary News Letter (1944-1945)

24 DOCUMENTARY NEWS LETTER NEW NON-THEATRICAL FILMS the following films have become available during the last three months on the M.O.I. Mobile Film Units, and through the Central Film Library. A programme typical of those given to general urban and village audiences would be represented by one of the magazine films, Britain Can Make It, with the first four listed below. Factory audiences receive shorter programmes, say a magazine film with one of the first three films. The first twelve films have been shown regularly to many kinds of audiences in all parts of Britain, the others on special occasions or by request. The Last Shot. Produced for the British and Netherland Governments. Camera and Direction: John Ferno. Musical Direction: Muir Mathieson. Commentary: written by Arthur Calder-Marshall. 16 mins. This film has all the qualities of directness and economy one expects from Ferno. The delirium of Liberation Day in Amsterdam is contrasted with the devastation and famine accompanying the early months of peace, the ruined streets, the breached dykes, the salt-drenched fields, the pastures robbed of their Friesian cattle, the dreariness of enforced unemployment through lack of coal and raw materials. Each aspect of war's uncomfortable aftermath is underlined with telling visual illustrations. Particularly moving are the parentless Dutch children, "anonymous citizens of tomorrow, the little old men and women of Europe." The film ends with a reminder of the new spirit in Europe and of the need for the more fortunate nations to make sacrifices to help these despoiled territories. Altogether this is a most salutary and impressive document. Public Opinion. Production: Verity for D.A.K. 15 mins. A lively A.B.C.A. discussion film on the various forces which mould public opinion. All the direct and indirect influences are shown — newspapers, magazines, popular digests, posters, exhibitions, casual conversation, argument, oratory, radio, films. Opinion is shown being mobilised through voluntary movements, political parties and trade unions. The points are made briefly and dramatically, and the film ends on a disarmingly humorous note. The responsibility of the individual towards all this is brought out. Penicillin. 20 mins. (Reviewed D.N.L. Vol. 5, issue 48, p. 77.) Fenlands. 19 mins. (Reviewed D.N.L. Vol. 6, issue 51, p. 8). Myra Hess. Production: Crown for M.O.I. 11 mins. This film is made out of material shot for Jenning's Diary for Timothy. It shows the famous pianist (who at times appears to be distressed by the lighting) playing the whole of one movement of Beethoven's Appassionata Sonata. Wellshot, well-recorded and sensitively edited, it has great intrinsic interest for a concert-goer. Round Pegs. Production: Shell Film Unit for M.O.I. 15 mins. This is a short non-specialised film edited by Sylvia Cummins from the full length Personnel Selection in the British Army 1944 — Recruits. (Reviewed D.N.L. Vol. 6, issue 51, p. 9.) Proud City. 26 mins. (Reviewed D.N.L. Vol. 6. issue 51, p. 8.) Total War in Britain. Production: Films of Fact for M.O.I. Producer and Editor: Paul Rotha. Script: Ritchie Calder and Miles Tomalin. Music: William Alwyn. This translation of the White Paper on the British War Effort into film represents a successful fulfilment of an important function of documentary— the interpretation in simple human terms of official documents and statistics. Actuality shots and animated isotypes are used to clarify and humanise the detail and argument of the White Paper. Worker and War Front. No. 18. 1 1 mins. Items: (1) Razed Buildings Raise Playing Fields; (2) Magnesia; British Sea and Lime Save Imports; (3) Planning in the Potteries. Britain Can Make It. No. 1. 10 mins. Items: (1) Concrete Drydocks; (2) Motion Study in Factory Production; (3) War Artists Exhibition in London. Britain Can Make It. No. 2. 10 mins. Items: (1) Works "Uncles" — Better Factory Relations; (2) Bathrooms off the Belt; (3) Workers' Fashion Parade. These three cine-magazines were produced by Films of Fact. Worker and War Front 18 is the last number of a notable wartime series which, in spite of occasional lapses into triviality, has maintained a high standard of content, camerawork and editing. No. 18 is one of the best of these issues; particularly lucid and well shot is the middle item on the manufacture of magnesia. Britain Can Make It is a new series for peacetime, to be released non-theatrically month by month. The main item in No. 1, on motion study, is a highly effective piece of movie exposition; Sir Stafford Cripps adds a few words of approval for psychological and physiological aids to a more rationally organised form of manual work. The original wartime commentator, Colin Wills, returns with No. 2, to which Basic have contributed a well-photographed section on the prefabrication of bathroom and fireplace units. Wills' robust clarity make him obviously the right choice for the series whose main outlet will be on sub-standard film. The Plan and the People. 20 mins. (Reviewed D.N.L. Vol. 6. issue 51, p. 8.) It Began on The Clyde. Production: Greenpark for M.O.I. Producer: Ralph Keene. Director: Ken Annakin. Original Story: Brian Smith. Photography: Charles Marlborough. 15 mins. This is a more successful example of the "personal narrative" style of exposition than some recent attempts. A harassed G.P. and his patient, a rundown shipyard worker, provide the thread for an account of how Scottish Emergency Hospitals were diverted, in the absence of battle casualties, to civilian needs. The evolution and working details of the Clyde Basic Scheme are described. Achimota. Photography and Direction: John Page for M.O.I. Commentary: written and spoken by Dr. Julian Huxley, f.r.s. Music: recorded by African Choirs in Northern Territories of the Gold Coast. 19 mins. A useful description of life and work at the twenty-year-old co-educational Achimota College on the Gold Coast. The College has Secondary, Teacher-Training and First-year University Departments, and teaching of academic sub jects, of arts and crafts related to African life, and of scientific husbandry are shown. Special value is attached to the training of women teachers in a region where only one in eight of the population receives any education at all. The Story of Money. Gryphon for Banking Information Services. 15 mins. (Reviewed in D.N.L. Vol. 5, issue 49, p. 92.) It Might Be You. Production: Crown for M.O.I. Producer: Basil Wright. Director: Michael Gordan. Photography: Fred Gamage. Recording: Charles Poulton. 15 mins. This film aims at shocking audiences into an awareness that it is the carelessness of ordinary people, pedestrians, cyclists and motorists that lies at the back of most road accidents. A family out in the car for an afternoon run, a cyclist who warns his daughter to be careful before he leaves her, and a young fellow whose pleasurable anticipation of meeting the girl friend helps to make him into a jay-walker are the characters. In the final accident, the pedestrian is killed, the cyclist shaken up, and a young boy in the family car loses an arm. Deft characterisation, an air of casualness, suspense and an uncompromising denouement are all made to contribute, without over-emphasis or sensationalism, to the desired effect. Man — One Family. Production: Ealing Studios for M.O.I. Director: Ivor Montagu. Editor: Sidney Cole. Scientific Advisers: Professor J. B. S. Haldane, f.r.s., and Dr. Julian Huxley, f.r.s. (who also speaks the commentary). 18 mins. A title explains that the M.O.I, produced and translated this film into sixteen languages to show in Liberated Europe.* It is a shrewd, hard hitting, very popular-styled anti-Fascist essay on the fallacies of race purity and race superiority. As might be expected from Montagu and Cole, the treatment is extremely lively. Newsreel sequences and animated diagrams are effectively mixed together, and there is an amusing cartoon sequence to illustrate the libellous comments on other nations of a self-righteous sixteenth century Sec* While it carries an outsize punch, this film gets across a number of serious and important truths about human relationships. Lessons from the Air. Production: Merton Park Studios for British Council. 15 mins. Behind-the-scenes organisation and personalities of School Broadcasting. Made for overseas theatrical release, this is a pleasant film. School Broadcasting is, however, one of the big successes of British Broadcasting; there is room for a more detailed analytical study of its evolution and other activities. Channel Islands. Production: Crown for M.O.I. Producer: Basil Wright. Director: George Bryant. Photography: Jonah Jones. 16 mins. The story of life on the Islands from the first arrival of the predators ifganz korrekl Germans to the early days of liberation in 1945. Many of the people of the Islands, and particularly those active in the underground movement, reenact the parts they played in those days. {Continued at foot of next page) * Nevertheless we hear that the European Section of the C.O.I, has decided that it is not suitable for export .it present. OH