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DOCUMENTARY NEWS LETTER
139
associated with that chunky untidy Elizabethan masterpiece, Our Country. As the war went on, quantity had to be put before quality ; content became all important; the message — only too often solidly embodied in the commentary and absent from the visuals —became everything, and for this very reason sometimes failed to come across.
In Denmark, the documentary film became a weapon of defence. Its makers could not present the economic, political and social position as they experienced it. Had they done so, the Gestapo would have killed them. So they were forced often to deal with things of local rather than universal importance. They had to step aside from the realities of the war situation. This had an effect on their work opposite to that in England. If the English films had few frills, the Danish sometimes had too many. If the English films sacrificed form to content, it was sometimes the other way round in Denmark. If English films were often too down-to-earth and even dull, Danish films were sometimes a little too high off the ground.
The film workers in both countries are now seeking to deepen their social approach to their subject matter, to be at once more profound and critical without losing contact with their audiences. Our films must be peopled with characters who laugh, quarrel, make love, marry and beget children. They must have both grace and warmth. It is here that I think England has much to learn from Denmark, and it is for this reason that I want to touch on three particular aspects of Danish documentary films — their technical virtuosity, their humanity and their humour.
When one is with the Danish documentary people, as likely as not they will be discussing the technical side of their craft, the proper timing of a mix, the weight and effectiveness of a cut, the juxtaposition of a word and a visual, the structure and build of a sequence. This love of film for its own sake is something which I admire and respect, though sometimes it can go too far. The consequence has been that, though technically many of the films are superb and achieve a satisfying blend of picture, voice and music that any country may envy, some of them sometimes lapse into virtuosity for its own sake. For example, parts of Bjarne Henning-Jensen's two films, Paper and Sugar, suffer in this way, gay, sparkling and brilliantly put together though they be. It is not unjust to say that he has only found his mature style in Dine, Child of the People. Again, S0ren Melson was capable of making both the charming Cutler H.l\ (though even here the jazz musical accompaniment seems a little strained) and The Cow which degenerates into a ballet of blood and offals. TheodorChristensen. one of the ablest film makers in Denmark, is still seeking a reconciliation between his vivid racy impressionism and the requirements of clear and pithy exposition.* Finally, no note on the technique of Danish films would be complete without a reference to the finely conceived musical compositions accompanying many of them, and to their luminous photography.
Few Danish film directors are content with a mere statement of fact which one may take or leave. They study each new subject as a special problem on its own. They try to express their own point of view towards the theme they are
* Two of Christcnscn's most import re made
independently and arc not listed below. "I hey are a tine impressionist survey of the work of the ship-building firm ol Boumcister & vv.un, and Del Gaeld ■ 'Free
i domh at Stake), a film compilation illustrating life under the Nazis up to the liberation, and based on actuality material shot secretly by members of the underground movement.
treating. They seek to make the audience led as well as understand. They pick out special qualities and exhibit them to the audience, perhaps a fine landscape draped handsomely across the screen
or a particular quality of emotion. For this reason, many of the films have point and wit and interest far beyond the bare bones of the subject. Every now and again, of course, there is a failure Hagen Hasselbalch who has made one of the best films in the whole collection, Your Grain is in Danger, sometimes slips his anchors and hits the moon, as in Pan and the Girl.
At its best, Danish documentary shows its characters in the round. They arc not merely ob
HOLLYWOOD JABBERWOCKY
By
I. A. R. DIAMOND
'Twas ciros, and the cine lords Were lollyparsing with their babes: All goldwyns were acadawards But demille ruled the nabes.
'Beware the Jarthurank, my lad! The lion's claw, the eagle's wing! And when U-I his pix, be glad That DOS dos everything?'
He took his Johnston code in hand: Long time the ranksome foe he sought — So rested he by the schary tree, And stood awhile in thought.
And as in quota-quotes he stood, The Jarthurank, of happy breed, Came boulting through the korda wood And caroled on his reed!
For sin! For shame! On cleavaged dame The censor shears went flicker-flack! He scarred the Bard, and coward marred Went gallupolling back.
'And hast thou haysed the Jarthurank? Come to my arms, my breenish boy! O date and day! Elate! L.A.!" He xenophobed with joy.
'Twas ciros, and the cinelords Were lollyparsing with their babes: All goldwyns were acadawards But demille ruled the nabes.
Reprinted by kind permission of 'The Screen Writer — publication of the Screen Writers' Guild, Inc., USA.
served from afar off. One feels that one has met
them in the flesh. The introduction of story' and
rticularly in Drcyer's Good Mothers and
en's Health lor Denmark, is an interesting
departure.
Only one group of films is unsatisfactory. This is the set of travel or tourist films. Beautifully photographed though most o\ them are, they seem to have been made with no audience in view, or .it best for an audience that has been ul buried these last twen I -'i" they
seem to be aimed at the middle-class I nglish prewar traveller (who rarely or never saw tourist films), who used to wander across Europe, shotting the peasants, swarming over ruins, carrying his money in a little bag slung round his
neck for fear of thieves, and brewing tea on a spirit stove in his hotel bedroom at lour o'clock. The makers ol' those films have not realized that the tourist of today in the main will come from the Study Group, the Youth Club, the Workers Travel Association, the trade union and the technical school. What the new travellers want to know is, what sort of people will they meet ' What will thej eat? Where will the) st.i\ and how much will it cost.' What's the dancing like.' Is the bathing good.' Is there fresh water near the camping sites? I will bet a pound to a penny that Soren Melson's gay, intimate and goodhumoured People's Holiday will do more to bring people to Denmark than all the spires and towers and landscapes and ruins and castle and historical monuments rolled into a ball and doubled.
Wit
There is one quality for which Denmark could give points to the documentary schools of 1 land, France, Czechoslovakia, Canada and the USA, and still beat them: wit and humour. Film after film, particularly those tackling propaganda themes, has a neat and witty script, and imaginative presentation. With the exception of some of the British trailers, and the work of Humphrey Jennings, Len Lye, Brian Smith, and D' \ Cartwright, I am tempted to think that English documentary is rationed to one laugh and two smiles to every hundred films — and they don't always take up the ration at that. The Danish films scintillate with gaiety and humour. Once seen, one does not forget the crusty old gentleman in Torben Svendsen's beautiful The Seventh Age, who objects to his room mate doing physical jerks, or the old lady in the same film listening to the wedding ceremony through an ear-trumpet. One could trust Soren Melson to find the part) of plump men, stripped to the waist, wearing caps, smoking cigars and playing cards under the sweltering sun in People's Holiday. Who but Bjarne I lenningJensen would tackle such a forbidding subject as the care of the teeth by making a party of children play at being dentists and patients? Who but Mogens Skot-Hansen and Hagen Hasselbalch would have thought of making the corn w eev ils in The Com is in Danger hold a committee meeting in squeaky voices to discuss how to get rid of that pest mankind!
How can she fail?
Well, there it is. Denmark has come out of the war with a tough and lusty school of documentary. Today she is facing the problem of aligning the documentary film with the new trends of the shifting world, of finding a more stable economic film structure at home, and a more certain tribution outlet abroad. She cm scarcel) fail How could she when she has men in the public scrv ices with an understanding of film like H. II is. > h, Henning I riis, Dr l ransen, Jcngen Dich and Blom Andersen' When she has a State tributmg organization headed I gaard, journalist, teacher and film critic b) training, with a deep knowledge and love for films' And a national sponsoring organization headed
bv lb Koch-Olsen, a producer \ d, above all. a bod) of sensitive and expert directors and can'. od luck, and
good shooting to Ingoll Boisen, Theodoi ( hristensen. Carl D Hasselbalch.
ne .md \strid HenningOle Palsbo, the Roos Brothers, rorben
Svendsen, and to all the Others who have tributed so much to the art of film m IVnmark