Scandinavian film (1952)

concerned more with aesthetic experiment or technical virtuosity than with the exacting tasks of exposition. Typical films exposing this uncertainty were Se (Look\) (1948), an attempt to draw a comparison between the eye and the camera, and Bondegdrden {The Farm) (1948), sensitively photographed but rather meaningless. Soren Melson and Jorgen Roos made some experiments in the style of Norman McLaren. Enough films were made, however, to continue the tradition established by the Danes during the war. In Vi er Banerne (We Are the Railways) (1948) Theodor Christensen took the junction of Fredericia and, working from the inside, revealed it as the nerve-centre of the country's railway system, while in Green Gold (1948) which he made in Sweden for the United Nations Film Board, he showed himself in command of the complex subject of world timber resources. Carl Dreyer, who has left the stamp of his visual imagination on Den Danske Landsbykirke (The Danish Village Church) (1947), an illuminating history of Danish country church architecture, made De Naaede Fcergen (They Caught the Ferry) (1948), a road safety film with a morbid power, and Thorvaldsen (1949) in which he recorded the sculptor's work without meeting the challenge inherent in the static material. Hagen Hasselbalch gave a witty impression of Kastrup Airport in Hvor Vejene Modes (Meeting of the Ways) (1948), and Ingolf Boisen's They Guide You Across (1949) dealt effectively with the subject of safety in the air. Johan Jacobsen made a forceful road safety film, Nceste Gang er det Dig (Next time It's You), notable for its treatment of character. Palle Alene i Verden (Pal Alone in the World) (1949) by Bjarne and Astrid HenningJensen was a delightful film for children, describing a small boy's adventures when left alone with all the resources of the world to play with. There were films on the fight against tuberculosis and rheumatism, on reconstruction and rationalization, on libraries and broadcasting, about aid for Polish children and the problem of German refugees in Denmark. These and other films revealed the versatility and resource of the Danish documentary school. In 1 95 1 it still had problems to solve and had not reached maturity; but it had a solid basis in the Government's concern with the enlightened use of the film medium and in the skill and experience of its young writers and directors. In output the Danish documentary movement stood far ahead of most countries in volume and in achievement it compared favourably with the work of much larger schools. Just as the Occupation hastened the growth of the documentary film movement in Denmark, so also it affected the production of feature films. As Ebbe Neergaard, Director of the Government Film Office, has described: 'Danish feature films, produced commercially, also raised their artistic and ideological standards considerably during the war and the Occupation. Soon after April, 1940, when the Germans came, British films were prohibited and the import of American films stopped. In 1942 the exhibition of American films was also prohibited. With few exceptions, the numerous German films presented were not seen by the 43