Documentary News Letter (1947-1949)

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DOCUMENTARY FILM NEWS 57 approximately 200 films in about six languages produced every year. The commercial (and, therefore, primary) reason is that the cinema in India has developed into an 'omnibus entertainment' for millions of uprooted peasants and villagers who have lost their rich tradition of folk-song and folk-dance and found nothing to substitute it in the cities and the towns. We have no operas, ballets or music halls, hardly a stage, to supply the various different forms of entertainment. To most of us, the cinema is all these rolled into one; we expect it to give us music, comedy, tragedy, the vicarious thrills of romance, a taste of beauty and glamour otherwise lacking in our lives. And, shrewd businessmen as they are, the producers have been trying to supply all these in each of their films, with the result that artistic integrity as well as subtlety have constantly to be sacrificed for the sake of 'entertainment'. Song Apart from this, however, we should remember that according to the strictly Indian conceptions of romance, the love urge both in its fulfilment and frustration, has been traditionally expressed in song. Again, through religious musical expressions like kirtans, bhajans, hymns or qawwalis, the song is woven into the fabric of Indian life more closely and intimately than in any other country. Where else, for instance, on the eve of a country's freedom would the Constituent Assembly proclaim acquisition of power with patriotic hymns — sung by a lady member of the Constituent Assembly? Technique A few final words about technique. Produced for a small market (there are yet no cinemas for the 80 per cent village population of India) and, therefore, on a strictly limited budget, the Indian film cannot have the technical finish and polish of Hollywood or Rank-financed British productions. Also for a long time the Indian screen remained in a crude stage, because of the reluctance of the cultured intelligentsia to associate themselves with uneducated professional entertainers who once monopolized the studios. But things have been steadily changing for the better and today the educational and cultural level of Sim workers — among artists and technicians as well as writers— is as high as, if not higher than, any other country. The result is a considerable advance both in technique and in the artistic Dresentation of pictures, though still the artistic and experimental pictures which dare to sacrifice entertainment value' for the sake of realism and ntcgrity, are generally doomed to box-office "ailure. Even if the average product is still of a ow standard, a few Indian pictures can easily itand comparison with the best American, British, Russian or French pictures. But they lave to be judged as Indian films, produced jrimarily for Indian audiences, reflecting the ■nood and the temper and the tastes of Indians, ind not from the standards of commercialized aniversal appeal of the Hollywood films, And yet because of their peculiar Indianness they provide the sympathetic foreigner with a con/enient medium for the study and understanding )f the country and its people. Touring with Film Normandy Diary France is separated from England by a mere channel, and yet how little the averagt Frenchman knows about the British and their way of life. The mission of the British Council in France is to explain British life and thought to French men and women so that they may understand our traditions, our institutions and our characters — also our peculiarities. Films present an admirable means of bringing to foreign audiences a picture of our country and its customs, and this diary, written during a tour of Normany in mid-winter, tells of the trials and tribulations of a British official, who was sent on a films and lecture tour in the Calvados. DFN proposes to print it in serial form during the next few months — here is the first instalment. The Start Monday It was pouring with rain and the snow was beginning to melt. The equipment filled the whole of the back of the Austin car. There was a lot of it, as I thought it wise to take a second projector and accessories in case the first gave out before the end of the tour. As soon as we left Paris and came on to the auto-route at St Cloud, our troubles began. The rain was melting the snow, but there was a hard surface of frozen snow below the slush. It was difficult to see whether we were on the road or not. The windscreen wiper was not working, and frequent halts were necessary to wipe the window. When it grew light and we were on the main road to Evreux things improved slightly. At Evreux we had to get petrol. A few kilometres further on the car suddenly stopped. Usual checking of plugs, pumps, carburettor. A few more yards and another sudden stop. Luckily I had renembered being told the coil was placed upside down in this new car. It was soaking wet. We dismounted it and cleaned it, then bound it up with chatterton to preserve it from the slush. This operation took ages, as our fingers were frozen and we kept dropping spanners, nuts and bolts in the snow. The journey to Deauville was fairly smooth after that except for a minor skid and for a few seconds when the car started moving backwards instead of forwards as we climbed a steep hill. Chains would have been a great help on that part of the trip. Deauville Nevertheless we arrived in Deauville for lunch. The local representative of the Association France-Grande Brctagne, received us, and WB sat down to lunch. A ver\ welcome meal it was. The cinema where we '•ere to hold our show was on the sea-front at Iromille. next to the C asmo. We took about two hours to install the equipment. The local people seemed a little worried when they saw my small projector they thought it would project too small a picture, and great was their astonishment when I filled the entire screen using a 16 mm film! We went for a short run along the sea-front because this was the first time that Atulre. the chauffeur, had seen the sea. and he could not take his eyes off it. He kept saying: < 'est merveilleux!' The Lecture At half-past eight we went to the hall where I was to lecture on the 'Renaissance of the English Theatre'. To my horror I saw that there were about 250 children in the front of the hall and some 200 adults behind them. This was no audience for a lecture. At 9 p.m. we started. Mr F introduced me and the children giggled and chattered. I launched myself into the subject and for 20 minutes made a noble effort to pierce the barrage of children and to reach the adults at the back of the hall. My voice gave out because the hall is large and the acoustics bad. I appealed to the children to be a little quieter, but it was no use, and I turned the pages of the lecture faster and faster. I was glad when it was over and relieved to be able to start operating the projector. And the Show The programme which had been selected was Coastal Village, V-\. Steel and Desert Victory. I gave a short resume of the programme and explained 1 wanted to show a quiet English village in contrast to a noisy capital subjected to V-.l attacks. Steel in technicolor was, as usual, a great success and Desert Victory kept the children quiet. They could not in any case make more noise than Monty's guns. After the show we went back to Mr F 's house and had a warm drink before retiring to bed. I hope that I shall find other bedrooms in Normandy as warm as this one. The maid has lit a fire. In spite of the failure of the lecture (which was appreciated by those fortunate enough to be near me on the platform) the show was a success. Even in Trouville there is not much in the form of entertainment — and war films are still in demand. Perhaps it will be different in other towns and villages. Must go to sleep now as Tilly is a fair distance away and the roads are bad. (To be continued) CLASSIFIED ADS We are now in a position to accept ( advertisements. Charges for insertion: one guinea for the first three lines, J a line above three.