Focus: A Film Review (1950-1951)

196 Film Critics on Lake Lucerne The O.C.I.C. General Council and Study Conference Leaving London Airport at midday on May 24th, I arrived at Lucerne at 4-30 p.m., was met at the station by an efficient Swiss Scout who took me to the Union Hotel, where I was swept bv Dr. Reinert, the doyen of our VicePresidents and our host for this occasion, into the embrace of an Executive Committee, already several hours old. We emerged to take breath and refreshment several hours later. Friday, May 25th, was devoted to the General Council of the O.C.I.C. It began at 9 a.m. by an assembly of the representatives of 28 nations and continued until 12-15, past midnight! We had breaks for lunch and also to see a Spanish film, Balarrasa, about which I hope to say something elsewhere, but even these intervals were severely filled up with “contacts”. That is to say, between mouthfuls or eyefuls, as the case may be, one found oneself discussing the pros and cons of religious films, of film criticism, or it might be, the exchange of information between the various countries, with Frenchmen, or Spaniards, or gentlemen from Germany or Austria, or maybe from Cuba or Haiti, or Egypt or Lebanon. This kind of Pentecostal intercourse makes great demands on the nervous system and the resulting exhaustion diminishes the benefit otherwise being derived from the enormous and excellently prepared Swiss meals ! The principal business of this General Council was a Study Conference, organised by the General Secretariat of O.C.I.C. This occupied the best part of two days, Saturday and Sunday, and took place, appropriately enough, in the Parliament House of the Canton of Lucerne. Occupying elaborate seats usually filled by the legislators of this enchanting country, film critics from many lands listened to a masterly analysis of the function of the film critic, delivered by J. L. Tallenav, Editor of the French Radio-Cinema. They had their chance to speak in Parliament when, following a series of “interventions”, the debate was opened to all comers. Tallenay outlined the present position of film criticism in the form of a report on tendencies and methods and put forward some suggestions, open to discussion, by which the Christian film critic might extend both the range of his own validity as a critic and the field of his influence. It is necessary, he said, that the critic should undertake to inform his readers, since publicity is so often misleading, and to form them also, since most spectators, even though educated persons, lack the necessary knowledge to be able to judge a film technically and artistically. The Christian critic must provide his readers with enough material to enable them to form their own opinion as to whether the film is to be seen or not. Some critics fall into the error of snobbery, that is to say, of judging the film merely according to its aesthetic value, forgetting that film is a language and should have a message understandable by the public. For this reason the critic should give his reasons for liking or disliking a film, thus enabling the reader to form his judgment. On the other hand there are those who content themselves with cataloguing questionable situations in films without sufficiently considering the value of the film as a whole. The 'danger here is that films may be commended whose only value is that they contain no unseemly situation. The fact that the majority of films tend to be stupid and vulgar and thus present a danger as regrettable as immorality is often overlooked. The critic must be as well educated as the readers for whom he writes. He is offering to guide them in their