Documentary News Letter (1944-1945)

54 DOCUMENTARY NEWS LETTER DOCUMENTARY FILM REVIEWS Factors of Soil Fertility. Production: Realist Film Unit in association with Film Centre for I.C.I. Director: Brian Smith. Photography: Cyril Phillips. 22 mins. Soil Nutrients. Production: Realist Film Unit in association with Film Centre for LCI. Director: Brian Smith. Photography: Cyril Phillips. 19 mins. Liming. Production: Realist Film Unit in association with Film Centre for I.C.I. Director: Brian Smith. Photography: Cyril Phillips. 12 mins. Land Drainage. Production: Realist Film Unit in association with Film Centre for I.C.I. Director: Brian Smith. Photography: Cyril Phillips. 23 mins. on the face of it the soil would seem to be one of the most unpromising subjects to make films about; and a good deal of credit is due to the ingenuity which has made this subject come alive. Factors of Soil Fertility. The first film as the name implies, states the main principles of soil fertility — air and moisture for the roots, provision of a balanced diet, correction of acidity by liming, prevention of disease. It points out that the crop will be as good as the worst of these factors will allow, and by a neat use of diagram, and of speeded-up crop samples the film interprets the logic that lies behind normal farming practice. It thus sets the stage for the other three films which deal in more detail with each of the main factors of soil fertility. Soil Nutrients. The soil is all the time becoming deficient in plant foods, due to the repeated removal of crops, or to the grazing of animals. These deficiencies must be made up, either by "natural methods", such as dunging, green manuring, or the scattering of bone meal; or by the addition of artificial fertilisers. A balance must at all times be maintained and the advantages of soil analysis are stressed. Liming. This is a straightforward propaganda film for the use of lime when the soil needs it. It shows some of the sources of lime — chalk and carboniferous sand— the need for soil analysis in assessing the lime requirements of soil and the methods of applying it. Land Drainage. To a layman, this is the most interesting film of the series. By means of excellent diagrams we are shown a typical catchment area with its surface drainage of streams and its underground water table. In keeping his land well drained, the farmer has to pin down the water table wherever it is likely to rise up to the surface of the land, that is, wherever it wells up to form springs when it meets impermeable rock, and when it rises to the surface in wet weather. The farmer does this by ditching, and by subsidiary mole or tile draining. Apart from their logical exposition, what is pleasant about these four films is the feeling of sympathy they have for the farmer's day-to-day problems— the weather, labour difficulties, etc. One never has the feeling, as in so many films of the kind, that here is a council of perfection, difficult to attain. Brian Smith's own particular brand of dry humour also give the films an added lift, though one could wish the commentator had had a lighter touch. Indeed the voice of the commentator is the weakest part of these films. Under the thin disguise of a countryman's voice he still contrived to put technical agricultural terms into inverted commas. This is a familiar problem in all technical films, and it would seem to be almost better to forgo the polish of the professional commentator in favour of the knowledgeable voice of the man who does the job. United Harvest. Production: Greenpark, in association with Film Centre, for the National Farmers Union. Director: Ralph Keene. Photography: George Still. Editor: Peter Scott. Distribution: G.F.D. 17 mins. United Harvest pleads a just cause. It argues that the world's production and distribution of food should be planned on the international scale in the same way that British agriculture was planned on a national scale during the war years, and that there should be a greater understanding and co-operation between industry and agriculture. The argument is fine but unfortunately the method of putting it across is not so happy. In attempting to tell a complicated story of this sort in terms of dialogue the producers have landed themselves with a lot of very forced conversation, much of which is merely commentary. The result of putting commentary argument into the mouth of a character destroys both the characterisation and the flow of ideas. It seems a pity that the film was not given a more straightforward treatment, with undisguised commentary instead of forcing it into a supposedly popular but most unsuitable form. All the more so, as several sequences, in the train on the Continent and in the factory canteen, show considerable skill and imagination. No doubt the film's producers will maintain that their style of treatment is to some extent justified by the wide theatrical distribution which the film is said to be achieving. Today and Tomorrow. Production: World Wide for C.O.I. Producer: Ralph Bond. Associate Producer: Arthur Elton. Director: Robin Carruthers. Photography: Clifford Hornby. 40 mins. Today and Tomorrow is a good film which only just misses being very good indeed. It is concerned with the impact of the war on the precarious economy of the Middle East and explains the methods by which the Allies averted a major famine in the face of the German Army and the German propaganda machine. It shows how these same methods may help to put the countries of the Middle East on a firmer footing in the future and at the same time help solve the wider problem of the food crisis which now faces the whole world. In common with so many documentaries with their tendency to open on the Creation, skip gaily down the centuries, describe and analyse the contemporary scene and conclude with a rosy estimate of the future, this film tries to crowd rather too much into its fortv odd minutes and ends on a note of optimism based on rather slender evidence. It is extremely well directed and photographed and throughout there is a deep feeling of humanity for the peoples of the Middle East. A number of sequences notably the locust scenes, the story of the donkey, the first water coming down the canal and the beautiful sequence of the schoolmaster and the children planting young trees on the barren hillside, are excellent in themselves, but it is perhaps the changes in treatment (instructional, reportage, idyllic by turns) that together with an over-wide subject make this film not quite as good as one feels it might have been. It remains both interesting and moving. Approach to Science. Production: Shell Film Unit for A.B.C.A. Producers: Geoffrey Bell and Edgar Anstey. Director: Bill Mason. Photography: Sidney Beadle. Music: William Alwyn. Diagrams: Frank Rodker and A. Shaw. Distribution A.B.C.A. Non-T. 28 mins. A brief survey of a few fields in which science affects our daily life. The introduction contrasts the power of science to create and to destroy. The development of the modern trolley-bus and turbo-generator is traced historically through Volta, Oersted, Sturgeon, and Faraday. The sampling and testing of town water supplies, and the hand fertilisation of wheat at an Agricultural Research station are shown. The principles of Radar and of the cathode ray oscillograph are explained, Next, the applications of mass radiography and statistical methods to the problem of tuberculosis, and finally a glimpse of child psychology to represent the social sciences. The film will be shown to all ranks of all troops. The object of the film is to pose questions for discussion rather than supply didactic answers. The approach to science is through thirty bars of music, not the sinister stuff that usually accompanies film scientists at work but why music at all? In general the film is a straightforward account of a few aspects of scientific method. The topics are well chosen and well linked together, and it is clear that considerable thought has been given to accuracy. The historical sequence is discreetly done and there are no mystical dancing molecules and apparatus-packed laboratories which were a regrettable feature of "Handle with Care". Radar is explained by analogy w ith sound waves, but it was a mistake to attempt to put across the complexities of the cathode ray oscillograph in a film of this type. In spite of linking science with everyday life one still gets the impression: Science is Doingsomething-with-special-apparatus. and here are our scientists and non-scientists in water-tight compartments. It should have been made clear that science is an attitude of mind and method of approach, not merely a technique to be acquired. However, it was a good point to end with the commentator's question: "How can each one of us become his own scientist?" followed by a sequence in a public library, and the film should achieve its object of starting discussion. (continued on page 58)