International Review of Educational Cinematography (Jan-Dec 1930)

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— 5o — that reproduces the living hues of nature ; from the two-dimension film to the stereoscopic film ; from the film hemmed in for projection in its asbestos cabin to radio-cinematography. What may not the future hold in store ? This formidable weapon of conquest, science and knowledge is one that can either kill or cure ; it may help form the citizen of tomorrow or it may have its part in producing moral and physical wrecks who will be a burden to themselves and to society. For this reason, we are working strenuously and hopefully and have called to our aid students and research workers, even some who are amateurs in social problems. And if by these means we are able, in a near future, to present the essential features of this problem in a clear and practical light, the Rome Institute will not have worked in vain, for it will have won its decisive battle. THE FUTURE OF THE TEACHING FILM IN SURGERY Dr. Curt Thomalla has published an article with this title in the Medizinische Welt which merits attention and of which we reproduce some extracts here. « The day is approaching — he writes, — when a surgeon will be able to announce: « the operation I am about to describe is (Ed. Note). Is all this the coinage of fantasy, or is it indeed the hard cash of tomorrow ? The subject dealt with by Dr. Curt Thomalla is one of absorbing interest to the scientists of all countries. Already to-day the cinema is an instrument of incomparable beauty and untold possibilities as compared with the cinema of only a few years ago. A thirty year old industry — what is this span of life as compared with that of others ? Perhaps only the electrical industry offers us an example of another such rapid and brilliant career. And the two industries are closely akin; have we not indeed recently assisted at their wedding ? Dr. Thomalla 's works send our thoughts back to Jules Verne, and to H. G. Wells; to those brilliant imaginations which have foreseen and foretold in fantastic stories the wonders that man is now translating into fact. But the cinema has staggered the wildest imagination. Cinematographic scenography has made possible deceptions and reconstructions and adaptations which the eye of the expert is often unable to detect or explain; and while colour is making being carried out as follows by my Colleague, Dr. X., of Columbia University... » and at that moment the projection equipment concealed in the back of the room will come into play. There will be no need to darken the hall; the clear and vivid image will appear on the daylight screen. All the sub its triumphal entrance on the scene, stereoscopic relief is no longer a hope and a fancy, but a matter of tangible reality, that will soon be known to all. Sound, voice, and words are seized and held fast; tele-projection is already making headway in many countries; television is being studied and concretely realized. All this carries the cinema from the domain of mere amusement into that of science and industry — an ever more complex industry, closely bound up with the electrical power of the nations And millions upon millions are dropping into the coffers of the cinema halls , while the screen becomes an ever more powerful instrument of propaganda and knowledge. Dr. Thomalla' s article may well encourage us to pursue our campaign, for the educational film. The more perfect the cinema becomes technically and every step forward that it makes, the more deeply are we convinced that it is one of the great forces of tomorrow, not only to amuse but to educate,a powerfid instrument of persuasion in the hands of teachers, and a sure means of moral and intellectual uplift for the masses.