World Film News and Television Progress (Apr 1936-Mar 1937)

PEOPLE WITH PURPOSES "'ERRING OR 'AM?" Harold Raymond of Chatto & Windus on the public relations film Cover to Cover is the most interesting documentary since Nighl Mail. Produced by Paul Rotha and directed by Alexander Shaw it describes the history of printing, the manufacture of books and the place of books in the modern life. Rotha's sense of impressionist documentar>' is here happily combined with Shaw's more matter-of-fact style. The informative passages sit comfortably with poetic passages and direct commentary is effectively intershot with recitative. An interesting discussion has been going on about Cover to Cover in the pages of the Publisher and Bookseller, and one which every publicity officer should note. In the past there has been great divergence of opinion between the advocates of the public relations or indirect propaganda film and the advocates of the direct publicity film. Each has scorned the other's theories and practices. On the whole the indirect propagandists, with the entire weight of the documentary movement behind them, have had the advantage ; but there has always been a doubt among the conservative minds as to the selling value of the documentary film. In the Publisher and Bookseller. Mr. Harold Raymond, a director of Chatto and Windus, puts the case for indirect propaganda better than it has ever been put before, and he speaks as one slowly converted. Here is his argument : "I think that Messrs. Rotha and Shaw have produced an admirable piece of work, and they have made me feel still prouder of my trade. Most people in the book trade would agree somewhat vaguely that it is a good thing to have a film concerning the origin, production and use of books, but they ask dubiously, 'Will the film increase the sale of books?' "That was certainly the question which I put to myself when first the film came under discussion, and to begin with, I was far from an enthusiast on the idea. Later I became a wholehearted convert. And how? Simply as the result of a careful cross-examination of myself concerning my reactions to Drifters, the film of the herring industry. It was, I believe, the first of the documentary films. I saw it some ten years ago and was very much impressed by it. Did I come out from that picture registering a vow to support those stout-hearted fishermen by eating a herring for breakfast every other day of the week? Nothing of the sort. If you had asked me at the time whether the film would have any effect on my consumption of herrings I should probably have laughed at the idea. But if you ask me now whether I have eaten more herrings since and as a result of seeing that film, I will say quite positively that I have eaten at least twice as many per year. This change of habit has not resulted from any conscious and deliberate intention. The effect of that sort of publicity is subconscious. The glamour, the thrill, and the sheer interest of that film pulled the humble herring out of the bottom drawer of my mind and left it lying on the top ; so that when a waiter peremptorily utters "Erring or 'am?' in my ear, I automatically say "Erring.' '•These are reluctant admissions. We would all of us like to feel ourselves superior to the wiles of the advertiser, but we none of us are. Thousands will see the Book Film and will express their admiration of it. Probably none of them will vow to spend more on books as a result, and few of them will be conscious of any direct effect of the film upon their lives. Yet their lives will be affected. Books will be brought to the upper surface of their consciousness. The romance of a book's history, and the thrilling complications of its manufacture and distribution will be revealed to them, and they will see shots of diverse people using and enjoying books. They will thus grow more book-conscious, j ust as I, alas, have grown herring-conscious." Technical Note {by Jolm Grierson) The opening passage, which deals with the development of writing and printing, reveals how well the impressionist technique can be used for wide sweeps over history, and Rotha might note his success in this passage against further possibilities. The connecting time images of wave and gull are excellently chosen. Less can be said for the poetic images of the film written by Winifred Holmes. She is a poet of feeling, but past experience of poetry in Coal Face and Night Mail demonstrated (sometimes by default) certain limits of use, and Mrs. Holmes has not noted them. Just as commentary fights with titles, so overloaded lines of poetry fight with the attendant visual images. The first level of attention would seem to go always to the visuals, and the degree of concentration left for poetic speech is seriously affected. It was impossible in this case to hear or follow the detail of the Holmes poetry. The effect was not only missed : it was in the deepest sense out of synchronisation. In future films, where poetry is used, an attempt must be made to relate the rhythm of the poetry to the rhythm of the visual images. The poetic News Review An attempt to draw comparisons between modern styles of architecture and modern motor car design is the basis of Something New — Something Finer, a film of the Austin Motor Company. * * * Protests against "slightly hysterical safetyfirst films" is made by The Motor, the editor of which writes "at present propaganda films are failing to achieve whatever is the purpose in view. If they are intended to discourage this motoring, they are merely silly, for they are too far-fetched to terrorise more than an insignificant percentage of those who take them seriously." * * * 11,720 Plymouth school-children attended a special show of a safety-first film entitled Alert to-day — alive to-morrow. * * + A serious shortage of films dealing with "normal scenes and events in the natural life of the Dominions" is reported by the Imperial Institute. At present the limited number of films of any given Dominion or Colony makes it extremely difficult for the Institute to provide a run of more than three films in any specified month. The Institute is calling for an adequate number of films with 20 or 30 copies of each. * * * The new Morris Motors film programme ranges from a screen record of a journey across the Sahara in a Morris car to a service-station cartoon. * * * Slow-motion films are being used to speed up production at the Peek Frean biscuit factory, London. "We are taking films of various processes, such as packeting, and showing them in 'slow motion' to new employees, so that they can see exactly how a particular process can be carried out to the best advantage," a member of the firm states. "Our 'film stars' are girls and men who have shown exceptional ability in the manufacture and packing of biscuits." * * * The Irish Tourist Association is producing a travel film of County Clare. images chosen should more obviously complement the visual images. Perhaps the most serious mistake (already made in Coal Face and at least once in Night Mail) is to allow the feeling to come out of the poetry. Feeling is not effective when it is foisted on the film, and excitement in the commentator is not quite the same as excitement in the film. Feeling should obviously emanate from the combination of effects, i.e. from the combination between the visual images and the poetic. Something like go per cent, of British film stars are available for Publicity Films Ltd. productions. We use a lot of them. Glamorous little X Y may be just the girl to endear your product to Britain's millions of cinemagoers. Have a word with us about it. We collect FILM STARS' telephone numbers • • • EUROPE'S LARGEST SELF-CONTAINED ADVERTISING FILM ORGANISATION PUBLICITY FILMS Ltd Managing Director : G. E. TURNER FILSnCITT HOUSE UPPEEST.MABTIN'S LANE, W.C.2 TELEPHONE : Temple Bar 6482 • • • • 35