Motion Picture Herald (Jul-Aug 1936)

August 8, 1936 MOTION PICTURE HERALD 15 \ CAMERAMEN USE GERMAN UNIFORMS (Continued from preceding page) held and photographed outside the borders of Germany. Herr Hitler, in addition, has had Miss Riefenstahl devise a set of "working rules" which apparently are not available to the public, but which, nevertheless, are being enforced as strenuously as the contract itself. These provide that every cameraman filming the Olympic Games must wear the official Hitler-prescribed Nazi Olympic uniform. With German cameramen doing the shooting, the American newsreels find themselves in the position of being represented by Hitler-controlled subjects, wearing the Hitler uniform. If there are any concessions made, and an American representative is permitted to handle the camera for an American reel, the "working rules" provide that, "regardless of nationality," the cameraman must wear the Nazi uniform. Each cameraman must be accompanied by a German agent who will act as an individual censor on the spot, whether the subjects are photographed in action or are staged. A second censorship of the American newsreels' subjects follows when the reel turns over a print to the government. Too, the American companies must use German sound equipment. If they insist on bringing in American equipment they are compelled by Mr. Hitler's decree to leave the equipment in Germany for a whole year at the disposal of the Nazi Government. Motor cars and other transportation media required by any American newsreel staff must be engaged through or from Miss Riefenstahl. Admittedly for Propaganda Reels One of the admitted reasons for Hitler's self-acquired control of the coverage of the Olympic Games by American and other foreign newsreels at Berlin is to use the film thus photographed not only in a huge propaganda motion picture, but, subsequently in a series of short subjects, to use in developing sports and athletic prowess in Germany. Repeatedly, Miss Riefenstahl warns that the Americans cannot make such use of any of the film which their newsreels might acquire, but that the Nazis alone have that right. Miss Riefenstahl, in an interview with a Berlin reporter for Universal Service, disclosed that her plans call for the taking of 1,500,000 feet of film during the fortnight's Olympics. Feature and 20 Shorts Aside from the main Olympic film, which will be a full length feature and take 18 months to cut and assemble, Miss Riefenstahl said that she expected to make some 20 special shorter films, each of which will constitute a complete record of the more important Olympic sporting events. The sport films in short form "are being made in answer to a demand from sport bodies the world over, especially in Germany and Japan and some of the other countries where certain forms of sports need "WIDER LATITUDE," BUT NOT MUCH Motion Picture Daily reported on Wednesday from Berlin that American newsreels shooting the Olympic Games were benefiting from "a new decision changing the restrictive regulations" imposed by Adolph Hitler on the American reels. It appears, however, that the revision in the stringent regulations extend no further than the permission granted American companies to export from Berlin a few feet more of the film than originally allowed. First Olympic Games newsreel material was schedided to arrive at newsreel headquarters in New York Friday. development," Universal Service reported in the New York American of William Randolph Hearst, Jr. The Hitler cinematographic expedition at the Olympics is taking full advantage of the latest advancements in motion picture science. In the Olympic Stadium three special towers at advantageous points as well as a dozen special "trenches" have been built for the use of camera operators. One photographer is shooting all of the games from a balloon overhead. All the latest gadgets of the industry are being employed, including a special track at the finish of the rowing races at Grunau, which will enable the cameramen to keep abreast of the rowers for the last 100 yards. Strangely, Mr. Hitler's own camera division slighted the native photographic manufacturers, with their worldwide reputation, by placing an order for cameras with Bell and Howell Company in Chicago for equipment for use in the Olympic Games. To complete a last-minute rush order from the official German government photographers, Bell and Howell on July 24th shipped from New York two portable 35 mm. "Eyemo" motion picture cameras on the fast steamer Europa. The shipment reached Berlin just in time for the Olympics' opening. Bell and Howell had shipped two "Eyemos" on July 8th by steamship, and on July 14th a shipment of "Eyemo" lenses was sent by air on the Zeppelin Hindenburg. Some of the newsreel managements in New York denied the existence of any Hitler control over their Olympic Game coverage, while others refused absolutely to discuss the situation in any form. This silence might be understandable in view of the observation of one newsreel executive that "any violation of the agreement, or any public protest against Hitler's tactics at the Olympics might be felt later by our distribution department at its Berlin branch." The strong hand of the Nazis in American motion picture matters was seen quite perceptibly last month when Germany's blunt edict pertaining to films "detrimental to German prestige" and players appearing in them was applied directly to American product at the source in Hollywood, by German Consul Georg Gyssling, in Los Angeles. Consul Gyssling and the Nazi Government were charged with interference in the production and distribution of American films by Alfred T. Mannon, independent producer for Malvina Pictures Corporation of "I Was a Captive of Nazi Germany," featuring the author, Isobel Lillian Steele, whose experiences in Germany in 1934 the picture purports to depict. According to Mr. Mannon, Dr. Gyssling addressed to Miss Steele and other members of the cast in Hollywood, during the production of the picture, a letter on the stationery of the German Consulate directing attention to the text of the Nazi edict, which was quoted on a sheet accompanying the letter and in which the players were warned of reprisals in Germany for those participating in pictures "the tendency or effect of which is detrimental to German prestige." Decree Aimed at U. S. Films One of Germany's latest decrees aimed at American films comes from Dr. Paul Joseph Goebbels, Reich Minister of Propaganda and Public Enlightenment, and is regarded in American distribution quarters as a possible weapon with which the German censorship restrictions, already more than onerous, may force American films out of Germany entirely. The decree permits the barring of any picture, otherwise unobjectionable, if the company which produced it or the actors concerned in it have at some previous time, in some previous film, acted in such a way as to "injure the prestige of Germany." The first example of what Mr. Hitler has in mind was presented when his consul, Mr. Gyssling, wrote to Miss Steele and the others in Hollywood warning them on the Mannon picture. American distributors in Germany have since June been feeling the full force of the Nazi attitude, the majority of films submitted by them to the Minister of Propaganda in past weeks having been prohibited from, showing in Germany. Irving Berlin Songs Barred Newspaper dispatches from Berlin indicate that pretexts for banning Hollywood films are many. For example, a motion picture may be prohibited because a Jewish writer or a Jewish director participated in its making. As an illustration, no motion picture with Irving Berlin's songs ever appears in the Reich, it is understood. One large American distributing branch in Berlin is said to be in further difficulties because it refuses to dismiss the non-Aryans in its employ in that country. Mr. Hitler the other day condescended to allow the showing of motion pictures found unobjectionable by his agents, under severe restrictions. He granted permission to the Jewish Culture Union at Berlin to open a "ghetto" motion picture theatre where films barred to the "Aryan" public may be exhibited. Distributors of American origin now operating on large scales in Germany are Paramount, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Twentieth Century-Fox. \