Educational screen & audio-visual guide (c1956-1971])

Ulhurch imODlCIKG A FILM We sat ill on a preview of that excellent sound and color film, In the Face of Jeopardy, and were impressed by the numbei of comments about the low-key lighting at the beginning and the end of this film. The kind of car he drove bothered them. There were comments, too, which revealed to all of us that many in this audience had 1 uggled with the "plot" or plan of le film, missing many important de1 Ills and failing to feel the weight of he film's message. We have long followed the practice I giving a synopsis of the action of uh a film. If there is not time for Kit, then we have given a compact iilroduction. We always adjust the introduction to the utilization pattern —information, discussion, worship, etc. We suggest the following general introduction for the film. In the Face of Jeopardy: "As our film opens, Doug Crane, tindredge operator for an American firm in Southeast Asia, is coming home one night from work. As our film ends his houseboy, .\h Chin, lies dead in the moonlight, shot by communist bandits. In the few days between these two events. Crane learns how Ah Chin became a Christian, why he risked his life for him, and gets a close-u|) view of some missionary activity which had been an unnoticed part of his world all along. We, too, have not noticed the relation of Christian missions to a world in revolution, to the struggle of more than a billion people for political and economic freedom. The thrust of communism into this world has For The Most Complete Selection Of Write for your free copy of owr film catalog, THE PROJECTOR. THE METHODIST PUBLISHING HOUSE Atlanta 3 Baltimore 3 Chicogo 1 1 Cincinnati 2 Dallas \ Detroit 1 Kansas City 6 Los Angeles 12 Nashville 2 New York 1 1 Pittsburgh 30 Portland 5 Richmond 16 San Francisco 2 beMttnient awakened us. Under God our destiny and theirs are intertwined. Like Crane, which way will we turn?" Suppose the film were being used as the "sermon," or message-bearer, of a service: What kind of introduction would be given then? We suggest the following: "Our world is getting smaller— our wars, both 'hot' and 'cold', have seen to that. For some. Christian missions have made it smaller. One night, as Doug Crane, tin-dredge operator in far-off Malaya, came home from work in his armored car, his world suddenly began to shrink. In a day or two the program and power of Christian missions were vividly real to him, and Ah Chin, his houseboy, lay dead in Crane's yard. In the face of jeopardy, my friends, which way lies salvation? Our minds will be heavy with these thoughts as we see our film." FILM & FILMSTRIP REVIEWS Films for Discussion Which liny Human Rights, Rumor, and Hoiv to Immunize Against Prejudice were produced by the Center for Mass Communication of Columbia University with the cooperation of the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, and all three bear the special bias of this sponsoring organization. For those untroubled by this ADL slant, and those who can take mediocre impressionistic animation and music, these three films can be used to some advantage as springboards for discussion. The first, a 9-minute film, while assuming an objective stance, is actually plugging to get human rights under some kind of international sovereignty. That's the way the questions seemed to this reviewer to point. The second film, with a running lime of 8 minutes, gives us a "casehistory of a rumor, how it started one hot June day, how it fed on prejudice and emotion, and how it ended in riots and violence." This, too. can be used by WILLIAM S. HOCKMAN to start discussion. To tliis reviewer the "art" was highly exaggerated and disgusting. The third film is the ADL "line" on prejudice. It takes up three families. They live in the same apartment. Each has a son, Junior. Each is gentile. Each wants to rear a prejudice-free child. Each family fails. One depended on parental example, another on facts and information, and the third on law and order. One day each "Junior" goes berserk; becomes a "little monster." One takes it out on the Jews; another on the Italians, and the third on the Negroes. What a film! The home, the school, the community, and their good influences, all washed out! On what shall we depend? Well. well, this one ought to start discussion, and certainly UNSURPASSED DYNAMIC TEACHING FILMS Zifeofehrist COLOR & SOUND • 16mm FILMS LIVING CHRIST SERIES . Holy Night * Escape to Egypt * Boyhood and Baptism * Men of the Wilderness * Challenge of Faith * DIscJpleshIp * Return to Nazareth * Conflict ■ just released MAIL COUPON NOW! Caihedrol^ilms 140 N.Hollywood Way Dept. ES4 Burbank, Calif. Please rush new catalog on above titles to us immediately. Name CHURCH. AddressCity The Audio-Visual Magazine — April, 1956 151