Documentary News Letter (1947-1949)

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22 DOCUMENTARY FILM NEWS Newcastle experiment Children's Cinema by D. George Bennell it is frequently said that the noticeable lack of discipline in children's matinees on Saturday mornings cannot be improved without imposing such a strict 'class-room' atmosphere as would spoil the children's enjoyment. This is one of the statements that can be disproved by a visit to the experimental Cinema Club organized by the Northern Counties Children's Cinema Council at Newcastle-onTyne. There, soon after 9.30 the children began to arrive at the lecture hall above the News Theatre on Pilgrim Street. Two youngsters were giving out questionnaire forms, coloured for ease of analysis — pink for girls and blue for boys. Two or three grown-ups were giving out programmes and taking money from those children who have not paid at school. No ushers were needed: the children find their own seats, joining their friends in an easy, natural manner. There is no queueing, no pushing and no shouting either by the children or the attendants; the children have come for an outing and they enjoy their morning gossip before the show begins. At about 10 o'clock lights went out, the film began and within a few seconds the voices of the children were hushed. This was a colour film, The Nations Wealth; the print was somewhat dark and the light fluctuating but the children expressed their appreciation at the end. Then came The Beginnings of the Cinema, a completelysilent film showing examples of the early days of cinematography. It is important to note how interested the children were, e\en in an old, silent film. The next film was a coloured cartoon and the children hailed the title with expressions of delight; but at the end they gave it much the same applause as they had given to the other films. Canadian Landscape, a beautiful colour film showing the work of the painter, A. Y. Jackson, completed the first half of the programme. When the lights went up for the interval, Mr Tunnah, the Club Director, climbed on to the platform and asked the children to fill up the questionnaire form. 'Do not try to put down what will please us,' he said. 'Put down just what you think. Jf you like the film very much, put a cross underneath "Yes"; if you do not like it, put a cross underneath "No"; if you think it is quite nice but not very good, just leave it blank. Now with regard to the next programme : we are hoping to make it a double number, that is, eight pages instead of four. But we shall need your help and I should like you to send in as many lino-cuts and poems as you can. The competition this month is to write a ghost story or play so will you do your best to send in entries. THE FINAL STRAW I hardly ever shave or have my hair cut, 1 slop about in dirty corduroys; On Friday nights you'll find me at 'The Pillars' Commingling with the Documentary Boys. I've never missed an article by Grierson, I think I know Pudovkin off by heart; I've lent a cigarette to Arthur Elton — You'd think, to say the least, I'd made a start. I've shouted out that Rank is Britain's Danger, The Daily Worker's with me day and night; I've shared the lift with Anstey at the Gargoyle, And once I changed a wheel for Basil Wright. I'm always thinking up new camera angles, I'm more 'Avant' than the keenest 'Avant Garde' So, all in all, my treatment by the Unit To say the very least was somewhat hard. I handed in an outline on Neurosis, At a meeting I said Korda was a Curse; I wrote a script on Dysentery in Miners With a commentary in very pregnant verse. A five-reeler on the drains of Wolverhampton — A subject which I've given all I've got — And a feature on the Textile Workers' Birth-Rate Are waiting in my brief-case to be shot. I might have made an epic on Diphtheria, Or a Poem on the Trend of Workers' Flats . . . So 1 leave you to imagine what I told them When they handed me a trailer . . me! . on RATS. G. B. 'The next item is Christmas Cards. The committee have been thinking of making Christmas Cards for members and we want to know how many of you would like one.' (About threequarters of the children put their hands up). 'Then we also thought of having a Christmas partv ; I am afraid the refreshments will be very small, only tea and a bun, but how many would like to come?' (Almost all the children were thrilled at the prospect.) In the second half of the programme the children saw The Swan, a nature film of the swannery at Abbotsford; Safety First, a silent film of Harold Lloyd; and Wild Elephant Round Up, a thrilling sound film which showed the capture of wild elephants in Africa. Thus, another of the popular statements had been disproved. The Cinema Council have shown that it is possible to give children a series of interesting, entertaining and even broadly educational programmes without recourse to second or third-rate features or shorts. Sometimes the programme consists of a number of short films and sometimes of only two larger films. But the result is the same: the children thoroughly enjoy their own film shows. A third important matter is the fostering of a real club spirit. Some appreciation of this has already been given and further evidence of it is afforded by the children's behaviour at the end of the show . When they go home, there is no helterskelter down the stairs, for many of them stay to chat with each other and with the grown-ups. It was, in fact, this need for time for conversation that prompted the Committee to separate the two shows which last year were given consecutively, but which this year are arranged one in the morning and one in the afternoon. During the week the Committee meets. This is composed largely of children and they make the real decisions. It is for their benefit that Mr Tunnah has asked for the numbers of children who wish to attend the party or who want Christmas Cards. Upon that response the Committee can decide whether it is worth while printing cards and holding the partv. The w ork of the Northern Counties Children's Cinema Council during last winter is explained in the report which they have published (price Is. Id. post free from Mr F. R. Griffin. 138 Holystone Crescent, Newcastle-on-Tv ne). The number of children, 250 at a time, is easy to handle. It could possible be increased to 350 if the room were larger, but this figure is probablv the maximum that could be treated as a collection of individuals instead of as a massed audience. Of course, the Club has the great advantage that membership is a privilege: the numbers could easily be doubled if facilities were available. The important result of limiting the membership however, is that the general atmosphere is one of confidence and real enjoyment, reflecting the spirit of a genuine Club with all the members working together for the common good. It provide^ an example for the rest of the country, but in order to succeed as it has in Newcastle it needs the whole-hearted co-operation of the teaching profession.