The educational screen (c1922-c1956])

Page 388 The Educational Screen The Film and International Understanding Photoplays For International Understanding WILLIAM LEWIN Weequahic High School, Newark, New Jersey AMERICA'S splendid isolation is no more. Now that tlie end of World War II is in sight, teach- ers are preparing for the long-awaited era of international understanding. Already administrators of visual instruction are seek- ing new materials to make luminous the new curricu- lum tmits being formulated by the Liaison Committee for International Education under the chairmanship of Grayson X. Kefauver, dean of the School of Edu- cation at Stanford University, whose report appears in the November 194.3 number of the Bulletin of the National Association of Secondary-School Principals. In relation to these new units on international un- derstanding, forthcoming photoplays of interest to teachers and students include the screen version of Wendell Willkie's One World (to be released after the 1944 election) and the screen biography of Woodrow Wilson, now being prepared by Colonel Darryl Zanuck, head of the Twentieth Century-Fox studio. Walt Dis- ney is also preparing a Technicolor feature designed to cultivate Latin-American good will, Surprise Pack- age. This, following Sahidos Amigos, makes good Mr. Disney's promise of a whole series on Latin Amer- ica along the most constructive lines. Current films in this field include also the Disney short subject on Reason inid Emotion, which explains how Emotion believes unfounded rumors, while Rea.son discards them. Watch on the Rhine, based on Lillian Hellman's successful play, shows that idealistic Ger- mans, even under the present unprecedented Reign of Terror, are working for right and freedom and international understanding. Mrs. Hellman's original screen play. North Star. recently given a fine production by Sam Goldwyn, is a Russian version of the story of resistance to the invader told so well in The Moon is Down. It serves to show that Russians are, after all, people. The screen version of Ambassador Joseph E. Davies' Mission to Moscow, which stirred up some controversy, served nevertheless to point up some issues which have re- cently been resolved through the dramatic three- power conference at Moscow in terms of interna- tional cooperation toward world security. There have been a number of fine films on the plight of child victims of the war, of which Journey jor Margaret, based on a story by W. L. White, is a good example. Such films utilize the universal appeal of innocent childhood as a means toward in- ternational understanding. Illustrated reviews of these and many other films of interest to progres- sive educators may be found in "Film and Radio Discussion Guide," of which the present writer is happy to be the editor. The magazine is an out- DR. JOHN E. DUGAN. Editor Haddon Heights, New Jersey, Schools EDITOR'S NOTE—Dr. Lewin, who is Chairman of the Ccmmittee on Motion Pictures of the Department of Secon- dary Teachers of the National Education Association, is an expert on the educational use of photoplays, past and present, many of which now are available in 16mm. His work is known both in this country and abroad, and his book Photoplay Appreciation In .4nierican High Schools was fundamental to the whole photoplay appreciation move- ment. Photoplays have a moving emotional appeal which the purely educational film often lacks. Dr. Lewin's article reminds us that this appeal can be intelligently directed and utilized by educators in the field of international under- standing as well as in other areas. growth of pioneering committee activities in the National Council of Teachers of English and the Department of Secondary Teachers of the National Education Association. Illustrated classroom study and di.scussion guides to the utilization of photoplays that serve to build inter- national understanding through appreciation of basic, non-controversial elements of German, French, Rus- sian, Chinese, British, and Latin American life—many of them now available in 16mm—include those deal- ing with April Ronmnce (biographical film dealing with Franz Schubert) : the screen version of Shake- speare's As You Like It. with Elizabeth Bergner and Laurence Olivier ; Beethoven, a musical film in French ; Captains Courageous, from which excerpts are avail- able in 16mm.; The Charge of the Light Brigade, based on Tennyson's poem; The Citadel, which raises the great ethical issues of the British medical profes- sion—issues met so nobly by the Red Cross today; Conquest, dealing with Napoleon's relations with the Poles; Drums, a Technicolor film of India: Goodbye. Mr. Chips, dealing with the ideals of a British school- master, worthy to be the ideals of all teachers every- where : Edison the Man, through whose genius Amer- ica gave the electric light to the world: The Good Earth, the first film to portray the Chinese in terms of a universal theme, available in 16mm. excerpts totaling an hour's running lime; Gunga Din, based on Kipling's glorification of the Hindu water-carrier: The Life of Emile Zola, the first film to touch the theme of anti-Semitism; Little Lord Fauntleroy, one of the most charming films available in 16mm. and dealing with an Anglo-American theme; Marie Antoi- nette, which like A Tale of Two Cities, both made by MGM. tells the story of the earth-shaking French Revolution; Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream; The Mikado, which may remind us that the Japs may be viewed again some day with a sense of humor; Moonlight Sonata, with Paderewski; Music for Madame, presenting the Italian singer, Nino Mar- tini ; Mutiny on the Bounty, New Wine { Schubert) ; Nine Days a Queen; Northwest Mounted Police; (Concluded on page 390) i