Documentary News Letter (1944-1945)

52 DOCUMENTARY NEWS LETTER NOTES OF THE MONTH F.A.O. and Films the first sentence of the first article of the Constitution of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations reads : "The Organisation shall collect, analyse, interpret, and disseminate information relating to nutrition, food and agriculture." Yet the Copenhagen conference could find no space officially for the discussion of how this could best be done, though a number of people agreed that the best plans on earth, and the best machines and the best science, are helpless without the understanding and co-operation of the great multitudes of mankind. Always excepting Sir John Orr and La Guardia, most of the delegates seemed to think only in terms of abstract organisation or detailed scientific process. Any question of the ordinary people being considered as part of the agricultural process would have seemed an intrusion to them. In fact, it looks as if the first task of F.A.O. may well be to collect, analyse, interpret and disseminate information to its own members and the governments they represent. Not that films were absent. They were there in profusion. About 70 were sent in by Australia, Canada, U.S.A., England, Denmark and France. A conference committee consisting of Florence Reynolds, Mogens Skot-Hansen and Arthur Elton was at work a fortnight before the conference opened. The first week of the conference was devoted mainly to general shows of films, and the opportunity was taken to organise a series of showings to Danish audiences. These included batches of high-school students, teachers and students from agricultural colleges, trades unions, women's organisations, and other such groups. There were also a few general shows for delegates, and the excellently equipped conference cinema was running from morning to night, Saturdays and Sundays included. There is no doubt that this series of shows created a great interest in the use of the film among Danish groups who have so far had little opportunity to examine the films and methods of other countries. Nevertheless, these shows did not perform the essential task of assisting delegates. Unfortunately, it had not been found possible to relate specific films to specific parts of the agenda in advance, partly because most of the films arrived very late, usually unaccompanied by dope sheets (the important British batch from the C.O.I, did not arrive till after the conference opened) and partly because the agenda of the conference was often not settled till just before the meetings were due to be held. In order to reach the delegates, it was decided to issue, at the end of the first week, an annotated catalogue of all the films held, and to offer projection facilities to run any film at any place required, either in a conference room, in the main theatre, or even in a delegate's hotel. In this way the delegates were able to select films and programmes for examination according to their particular interests. This plan was a great success, and represents an important development in the use of the film at conferences. Ideally the catalogue should have been prepared before the conference started, instead of half-way through, but since America was the only country to send films in advance, this was not possible. Catch 'em Youny earlier this year we reprinted an article from The Times dealing with the Saturday morning shows for children. The nature and suitability of these shows is still a matter of considerable public concern. In April of this year a conference on "Children and the Cinema" was called by the National Council of Women and the British Film Institute, the proceedings of which have just been issued in printed form by the Film Institute. This report confirms the misgivings experienced by many people who have studied the development of clubs run under the auspices of the great commercial circuits. Despite the efforts of speakers put up to defend the clubs it is patently clear from the report that the majority of people present found their criticisms of all aspects of the Saturday shows confirmed as the conference developed. No amount of whitewashing could conceal the fact that the shows are run without the guidance of trained people. The children are subjected to various types of mass hysteria and to a very dubious ideology. ("We're the boys of the Odeon, we're thousands strong we can't be wrong.") Psychologists vied with teachers and parents in condemnation of the whole set-up. Even the films shown could hardly be called unexceptionable. The "representative" group shown at the Conference were trashy, artistically and socially. Yet, as it became clear, the revenue from these clubs is substantial, and the indirect return, viewed in terms of the inculcation of the cinema-going habit, considerable. The Conference clearly marked a new stage in the expression of public disquiet about the way these clubs are run. It can be argued that they serve a socially useful purpose in keeping the children off the streets on Saturday mornings. But this must be set against the insidious damage to their minds which may result from the present club procedure. The Film Societies despite all the dislocations of the war years, the film society movement has survived. Indeed, there is today a greater demand than ever for the various services which this movement can provide. Last year the New London Film Society started up with a series of Sunday programmes at the Scala, and the demand for seats exceeded all expectations. By providing a number of shows of screen classics from all countries, this Society enabled many people to achieve for the first time a perspective on cinema. This season its activities are being renewed, first with a festival of French films, together with an exhibition sent over from Paris by the Cinematheque Francaise, and secondly with twelve programmes of great American films, including, Anna Christie, The Wind, The General, Foolish Wives, Orphans of the Storm and All Quiet on the Western Front. Parallel with this opportunity to study the development of film art is the equally important opportunity to study and discuss the part played by the cinema in the social and technological problems of the day. Since its inception before the war, the Scientific Film Society movement has gained ever increasing momentum, the layman as well as the specialist evincing a keen desire to enjoy filmic analysis and discussion on all levels. The London Scientific Film Society has announced a ten months' programme, beginning in October, of scientific and documentary films. Its further activities will include special shows of research films, lectures, children's shows, and the publication of a quarterly journal. Plans are also announced for the production of experimental films by a group of members, the expressed aim being to use the film as a scientific tool "rather than in its more usual function as a medium of pictorial presentation". Add to the work of these societies the renewed activities of similar groups in the provinces, to say nothing of the summer schools, such as those organised each summer by the Workers' Film Association, and it will be realised that the film society movement in this country is a force to be reckoned with.