Documentary News Letter (1944-1945)

60 DOCUMENTARY NEWS LETTER ". . . Cannot we then put away childish things, and not merely refuse to join in this chorus but openly protest against it? Cannot we say quite plainly that we hate the idea of epidemics in Germany not because, as you will hear day after day, 'the Channel is no barrier against germs', but because epidemics are a horror to the people, whoever they may be, who suffer them? Must we hide the fact — and the very question is a measure of our moral collapse — that we want to feed starving Germans not primarily as a matter of policy, but primarily because starvation is intrinsically abominable? Must we, in a word, continue to pretend that we are worse than we are?" (Victor Gollancz, OUR THREATENED VALUES) The Horizon Film Unit believes that the job of Documentary Films is to communicate people to people THE HORIZON FILM UNIT In Association with the Film Producers' Guild Guild House, Upper St. Martin's Lane LONDON W.C.2 Temple Bar 0135/6 announce further films completed From: "The Technique of Anaesthesia" Series Intravenous Anaesthesia Part 2. Signs and Stages of Anaesthesia. Carbon Dioxide Absorption Technique. Respiratory and Cardiac Arrest. Operative Shock. Handling and Care of the Patient. (Available to approved medical audiences only.) From : " The Health of Dairy Cattle " Series Hygiene on the Farm. From the " Soil Fertility " Series Factors of Soil Fertdity. Lime. Land Drainage. PENICILLIN The story of its discovery and development, and the use of penicillin on war casualties. Other films in production will be announced when completed. Applications for the loan of these films should be made to the Central Film Library, Imperial Institute, London, S.W.7 PERSPECTIVE (continued from page 5 1 ) of just as much interest to the general public as to the staff of the General Post Office. In other words, the original documentary thesis — that people needed a sense and understanding of their participation in any and all activities of the State — was proved to be true in a different context from that of the EMB. Once proved, this thesis was obvious enough, for who were the post office staff if not the ordinary people of Britain in their connotation as workers? Hence the morale job of the films was doubled: for as far as GPO staff was concerned, they not only saw their jobs in a new light, they also saw themselves being seen in a new light by their fellow-citizens. Thus, the internal needs of a single department came to be equated with the general needs of public enlightenment— a fact which, as will be seen, was of significance in other fields. Again, the specific needs of the GPO were further examined by the documentary group, and wider terms of reference were found. The communications system of the GPO was world-wide, especially in terms of airmail and radio, and it was only a short and very logical step from the technical communications networks of the GPO to the wider idea of communications as a function in international relations. There were no frontiers, no customs barriers, for radio. The GPO, then, largely through its films, found itself moving into wider and wider fields. Commercial Relations Meanwhile, the bigger commercial organisations in Britain began to look for extensions of their operations in the then comparatively new field of public relations. The most notable example of this was the gas industry, which was beginning to suffer from the fact that it was, by comparison with electricity, being regarded by the public as an outdated and rather Victorian affair. The documentary solution to the problem was to relate the function of the gas industry to the whole area of public well-being. It was realised that a total improvement of community amenities meant a total improvement in the affairs of gas. So gas moved into the public welfare field, with sociological film studies of national problems and remedies, such as slum clearance, nutrition, education, local government, kitchen design, cooking methods, and so on. Almost overnight, they became identified in the public mind with progressive policies, and even received unsolicited praise as public servants in a Times leader. Their own problem was on the way to solution, and, at the same time, a notable contribution to public enlightenment had been made. Other organisations acted in a similar way. Oil, through a documentary unit set up by Shell, produced the first film expositions of basic engineering principles ever made, and then branched out into other aspects of technology, such as scientific fruit growing, the mechanisation of agriculture, and so on. Imperial Airways in their own terms paralleled the communications story of the GPO: and many other examples could be quoted. The rapidly growing demand involved a considerable expansion of the documentary movement. While the unit at the GPO remained, a number of production units, together with a central focusing point (Film Centre) were