Documentary News Letter (1944-1945)

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DOCUMENTARY NEWS LETTER 63 why. The why is not an easy question — it goes to the roots of a people's thought and feeling. The result of unity achieved under the stimulus of extreme danger is in the end a deep and disturbed questioning of the structure and activities of the State. So in Britain men and women in the light of their new-found unity looked with new eyes on the weary and dislocated society in which they had been living, and asked whether, after the war, they were going to find themselves back where they began, or not? It was therefore essential to express these and similar feelings through the public information services of the State, for the needs of the total war effort were such that the problem could not be ignored (and the magnitude of the problem was subsequently to be demonstrated by the result of the 1945 General Election). Considerable freedom was therefore achieved (though not without some vicious battles with less imaginative Civil Servants) in the expression by the State of the desires of the people, even when those desires were not to the political liking of Ministers. This was the main and continuing victory of the information services of Britain, and was more and more reflected in them from the days of Priestley's first broadcasts until the end of the war with Germany. Special Services Corollary aspects were the general penetration of the community through the special interests of its groups. At an early stage this documentary technique was adopted in all branches of information and public enlightenment. Special services were provided for the agricultural community, not only to farmers, but also to farm workers, to the Young Farmers' Clubs (which in themselves represented a great stride forward), and to the new agriculturalists represented by the amateur gardeners and allotment holders. To housewives went services on cooking, diet, clothes, conservation. To mothers went special services on prenatal and post-natal care, child health and welfare. These included special campaigns on such things as diphtheria immunisation and blood transfusion. Again, civil defence workers not only were enabled to change their techniques almost overnight by the co-ordinated use of all information media (and not least the film) ; they also were encouraged to discuss international issues through film shows, lectures and study groups. One of the most sensational developments of the war years was the new system of Army education. The War Office — long known as the most crusted repository of backward thinking — reacted with such violence to the impact of total war that it became a pioneer in the educational field. With a largely conscripted Army it became clear that a citizen soldier would be a better fighting man if he knew and understood clearly the issues about which he was fighting. A system of Army education was therefore evolved, which was divided into two parts. Firstly, every opportunity was provided for soldiers either to continue their interrupted education or apprenticeship; and, in the case of Young Soldiers' Battalions, classroom work was a compulsory drill. A large panel of teachers and lecturers was assembled, and this included a number of men and women from all the Universities. Special arrangements were made for the use by soldiers of local technical colleges and evening institutes. Even to remote ack-ack batteries on lonely stretches of coast came lecturers and discussion leaders to supplement the tired, bedraggled troupes of ENSA. Role of ABCA Secondly, ABCA — the Army Bureau of Current Affairs — was set up and put in the charge of the peacetime organiser of the Workers' Educational Association. ABCA was on all counts one of the most astonishing achievements of the war. Its basis was that at least once a week, and as a compulsory drill, each officer in the British Army should hold a free and open discussion with his men on current problems and developments at home and overseas. For these discussions ABCA provided regular wall newspapers, in colour and with world maps ; discussion pamphlets for the assistance of officers ; and discussion pamphlets for distribution to the men. Courses in ABCA were provided so that officers could learn the techniques of discussion leadership, and Commanding Officers were bound to send their staffs to these courses. Two or more main subjects for discussion were selected and issued by ABCA every fortnight. Their approach was impressive, ranging from the world strategy of oil to studies of local democratic problems such as housing, employment and indeed education itself. Not only were films extensively used by ABCA wherever possible, but also travelling play units, based partly on the Living Newspaper style developed in the USA and partly on British documentary technique, were developed and gave performances in camps, barracks and training centres. It was in the strongest centres of ABCA that morale was always found to be highest. Tied in with Army education, and with the brilliant work of the Department of Army Psychiatry, new selection techniques were evolved to ensure that each man should be allocated to an army job for which his temperament, capabilities and previous experience best fitted him. This system eventually developed a method of officer selection which is second to none in the world. In this respect it is interesting to note, as an aspect of British information that the MOI issued two films, each lasting over 60 minutes, explaining the system in detail and with great clarity; and that The Way Ahead, one of the most successful feature films of the war, was an expanded re-make of an Army "morale" film, with a script written in collaboration with a group of Army psychiatrists. Films for the Colonies A further example of the reflection of the new mood of questioning among the people was the revival of the work begun by EMB. The Colonial Office, through the MOI, instituted a campaign, in which films were mainly used, to provide both foreground and background information about the Colonial Empire. The bulk of this campaign dealt with East and West Africa, and a considerable number of films were made, both from existing material and by expeditions sent specially to Africa for the purpose. The Future Today, in the confused and perplexing post war world, the documentary idea and method, spearheaded still by film, has a great part to play. It is too early yet to assess the value and potentialities of the new Central Office of Information. Its constitution gives it the opportunity to be an active and not a passive agency for public enlightenment and information, and it will be on the vigour and hard-thinking of its personnel that its success will depend. Meantime, from the point of view of documentary, the needs are clear. They are : — (1) The continuous development of all types of informational film, from the most highly specialised to the most box-office. (2) Renewed efforts on the allied fronts of distribution and exhibition. The urgency now is for maximum screen-space and screen-time everywhere. (3) Increased energies devoted to relations with the other mass-media, radio, television and the Press. (4) The widening of horizons on the international front. The constrictions imposed by Britain's wartime isolation are over. Both thought and action are needed to spread documentary effort across the frontiers of the world. Eighteen years of hard work and the meaning of the word documentary is still changing. Perhaps it needs no definition. A pithy phrase today may be meaningless tomorrow. Information, education, public relations, public policy, international relations have been taken, not without pain and strife, in its stride. It is recognised as Britain's major contribution to world cinema. Its influence on feature films has been more fundamental than is realised. That is the past and the present. The future will bring its own problems to change again the meaning of the word. The one aspect of documentary that will not change is its ability to be the spearhead in bringing a fresh and vital approach to public enlightenment. SIGHT and SOUND A cultural Quarterly MONTULY FILM BILLET1\ appraising educational and entertainment values Published 1»\ : I lit Hi itisli I ilm Institute 4 Great Russell Street, Loudon, W.C.I