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http://archive.org/details/filmtvtech23asso LM AND TV TECHNICIAN
Association of Cinematograph, Television and allied Technicians
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FILM & TV TECHNICIAN January 1957
• NO NEED TO LOOK TWICE . .
. ... once is sufficient to see the noticeable improvement in all films when masked printed
by Colour Film Services Limited—Britain's biggest 16 mm Kodachrome laboratory.
22-25 PORTMAN CLOSE • BAKER STREET LONDON • W.l. Telephone: Hunter 0408-9 GDQGQG5QQGGQQQQGGQGGQQGQGCGQG!jGGQGQGGQGQGOGGGQQQGQQQDGDDQGGGQDDGQG!jDOOGC 41BIARY. January 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN
In view of the film legislation now before Parliament we print in plB*©^ of our usual editorial an article which has special bearing on the steps needed to protect British Films
WHY WE NEED A QUOTA ACT
THIS month and next will see However, the Quota Quickie was That is why the film legislation both Houses of Parliament once largely eliminated ten years later now before Parliament is so vital again discussing the film industry, when Parliament passed an amen- to every one of us who wants to and in particular the renewal for ded Act which imposed a minimum see an expanding film industry. ten of what is called another years It looks as if the Government is the Quota Act. By trying to rush its legislation Why do we need a Quota Act to through Parliament without ade- protect British Films? quate opportunity for amendment, Ralph Bond and many amendments are Surely, you may say, we have urgently needed to ensure that the been making films long enough in better for British films Britain not to need Parliamentary Act works during the next ten years. permission to do so. labour cost on all films ranking for British Quota. Although cost Let us look back a few years—to can never be the arbiter of taste 1927 in fact, when the first Quota Why on British Films? and quality. Renters had to Act was introduced. At that time who expend reasonable of hardly any British films were being a amount For instance, the conditions money soon found that it was made at all. Hollywood had so governing the definition of what is better business in the long run to captured the British cinema mar- a British film need tightening up, ket during and following World make good films. to avoid a number of abuses which War One that British films had During World War Two, British we all know have occurred recently, practically disappeared from the films, after a shaky start, really when films made abroad with scene. came into their own, and roused scarcely any United Kingdom tech- the admiration of the whole world. nicians have nevertheless obtained A few brave souls kicked up lingering resentment on the their " British " Quota certificate. such a fuss by public meetings and Any part of cinema goers towards the petitions to M.P.s that eventually There is also the more funda- home product rapidly disappeared, Parliament was forced to take mental point which A.C.T.T. has and for the first time our films steps to ensure that some British raised. Why should the Quota be took more money in our own films were made and marketed. on British films. Surely it would cinemas than many Hollywood be more logical to have a quota on This was done by imposing an epics. foreign films, thus giving our own obligation on all importers of industry a chance to climb out of foreign films to make a certain its semi-colonial status. number of British films (Renters' Wave of Optimism Quota), and a similar obligation on So please, in your own interest, all cinemas to show a definite When the War ended, there was watch things very carefully and percentage of British films on their a wave of optimism for the future be prepared to see or write to your screens (Exhibitors' Quota). of British films, and in 1947 when own M.P. and get him to support the Quota Act once again came the changes that the film Trade before Parliament for renewal, Unions want. " Quota Quickies " Renters' Quota was dropped, and Your own job may be at stake. the Act was confined to the obliga- The Act succeeded in its main tion of the exhibitors to screen a purpose. Films were made. Slowly percentage of British films. the industry revived under the protection that had been given. It Many who then supported the was also, of course, the era of the dropping of Renters' Quota have ill-famed "Quota Quickie" —a term since questioned the wisdom of of opprobrium used to describe a doing so, and in a further article FILM & TV TECHNICIAN type of cheap film made solely to we shall examine the arguments satisfy legal requirements. Such for and against this. Editor: films were often put on the The fact has to be faced, how- MARTIN CHISHOLM Renter's shelf immediately they ever, that after all these years Editorial Office: were completed; others were in- since 1927, Hollywood films still 2 Soho Square, W.l flicted on the public who rightly our cinemas to the extent dominate Telephone: GERrard 8506 resented such inferior entertain- of seventy per cent. Without the ment and gained the impression protection of the Quota Act, it is Advertisement Office: that if it was British it was no most likely that the number of 5 and 6 Red Lion Sq., W.C.I good. That suited the Hollywood British films produced each year Telephone: HOLborn 4972 book very well. would rapidly decline. —
FILM & TV TECHNICIAN January 1957
A Technician's Notebook
MIRROR SCREEN FROM POLAND
\ POLISH engineer, Jan Anto- from a die which consists of diate pictorial playback. Videotape ^*- siewicz, has evolved what several thousand " negatives " of picture quality was not comparable appears to be a novel solution to reflectors, arranged at regular in- with ordinarily good original film the problem of projecting films in tervals. The aluminium plates, and not even remotely comparable a normally lit room. impressed with the convex reflec- with the newer large negative tors, are then glued on to a large processes. The conventional matt white screen scatters light in all direc- The Ampex system records both tions through an angle of 180°, By picture and sound on a single two- which, though it enables spectators inch wide tape. Picture quality is to view the picture on the screen .'aid to be considerably better than from even the most acute angles, A. E. JEAKINS that obtained with current kine- is wasteful of light diffusing it in scope techniques. all directions beyond the range of The recorder works on the same the audience. principles as are used in a stan- sheet to screen of the dard sound tape recorder. But to To make the picture visible on make a obtain the 4-megacycle response such a screen either the auditorium required size. needed for picture recording the must be darkened, or the screen tape speed would have to be 2,000 recessed. inches a second; at that speed a In his search for a solution reel of tape 14 inches in diameter Antosiewicz turned to the ordinary " From a practical standpoint would run for only 29 seconds. mirror which reflects light at the the electronic recording of motion " Ampex have developed a system angle at which it strikes the mirror pictures is an accomplished fact which works at a tape speed of and without diffusing it. The plane Frederick in an says Foster 15 inches per second, by using a mirror is obviously unsuitable for article in the American Cinema- magnetic head assembly of 4 heads using as a cinema screen so it was tographer. points that no He out mounted on a drum which rotates the convex mirror that Antosiewicz development relating to motion at a high speed recording trans- used as the basis of his screen production has aroused picture versely across the tape instead of millions of minute convex mirrors, greater interest than that which longitudinally. This gives an effec- each mirror measuring 0.54mm. by has to do with the electronic re- tive tape speed sufficient to record 0.18mm., their rectangular shape image. cording of the picture and reproduce the 4-megacycle ensuring the diffusion of light from Enterprises, Though Bing Crosby band width. them to the occupied space of the followed by R.C.A., announced auditorium, but excluding the ceil- developments of such systems The sound is recorded normally ing or the floor. It is claimed that several years ago, no practical along one edge of the magnetic the coefficient of brightness of the equipment has been put on the tape. picture on the mirror screen is market by either company. between twenty and thirty by com- In Ampex, a manufacturer parison with the white screen. May of magnetic recording equipment, Thrillarama is the latest devel- The article from which the demonstrated their Videotape re- of screen procedure. material above was taken, and corder, a complete record and opment wide to limited information which was kindly placed at our playback unit capable of recording According the salient disposal by the Polish Cultural and reproducing commercial mono- available at this time facts are : Institute, goes on to say that to chrome TV material. The machine prevent the reflection of any other was designed specifically for the The photographic system, using surrounding objects in the screen, purpose of television programme two cameras side by side with an Antosiewicz used a " counter- delay, and Ampex have said that interlocking device, registers scenes screen ", a black cloth spread be- it will be first employed for this on separate 35mm. negatives, fore the screen at such an angle purpose only. using full aperture on both. Later synchronised for to the screen as to be visible from Addressing the convention of the the two films are in the auditorium as a showing on a theatre screen at a anywhere SMPTE in New York and referring ratio of approximately 31. to one. uniform black sheet. This prob- to speculations about the use of It is claimed that both close-ups ably means, though the article Videotape equipment for producing and long shots are photographed does not make it clear, that the motion pictures, R. H. Snyder of all without distortion in presentation. screen would have to be first of Ampex said, " Any speculation on is on a separate reel. set at a height and angle which the replacement of the 35mm. Sound track would ensure that the audience camera by Videotape is, in our The cameras were made in itself does not produce reflections belief, foolish at this time." He France, but the photographic in it. thought that a director might system was designed, engineered The tiny reflectors are mass shoot simultaneously on film and and built by Raphael G. Wolff produced in pressed aluminium, tape, using the tape as an imme- Studios in Hollywood. " !
January 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN
In shooting, the left camera photographs the right side of the Book Review action, and the right camera photo- graphs the left side. In projection, the reels are cross-beamed on to the screen. PORTRAIT OF MONGOLIA
May and Baker announce the in- troduction of a new 2 J oz. pack of
' " ", AMFIX ', the ultra-rapid liquid LAND OF BLUE SKY by Ivor be a model elsewhere. There are fixer. Intended for those who may Montagu. (Dobson, 25/-). no Soviet troops in Mongolia, the require a small expendable con- only Russians there are experts Ivor tainer, the new pack is made of On Wednesday Montagu filling special needs, such as plastic and is similar in appearance will be at an Executive Committee doctors. The relationship, econo- General Council meeting, the to the sachets used for certain or mic and otherwise, is based on a well be the side brands of shampoo. Price of the next he may other practical basis and, as a result, a
' ' his 21 oz. " Empak " of Amfix is of the world bent upon one of proud independent people as the l/3d. many specialities from peace to Mongols are, have a mutually table-tennis. So no great surprise satisfactory and friendly modus was caused by his announcement vivendi with their big Russian that he was off to spend a holiday neighbours. From the Fountain Press we in the Gobi Desert. But as lazing But " Land of Blue Sky " is have received Numbers 11 and 12 is not Ivor's idea of a holiday, he as in the Cinefacts series; they are finished up with material for much a travel book as anything " else. Few Western visitors have Tricks with Movies ", by Denys " Land of Blue Sky ", a portrait " been Davis, and Processing Amateur of modern Mongolia. to Mongolia and indeed Ivor's Movies ", by R. H. Bomback. They wife is only the second English are practical and clearly written Those acquainted with Ivor's woman visitor ever. For me, per- style will find this book true to little books aimed at the amateur, haps because I was more in the written report and selling for the very modest form. Just as in a mood for bright hospital reading, of, Conference price these days of half-a-crown say, a he has the appeal of the book was its each. " Tricks with Movies " des- attended, nothing either important fascinating portrayal of the or trivial is omitted. He bursts cribes in a straightforward way, Mongols and their country from with information, filling in the with diagrams, how the amateur thirty-five years ago, when they extras with copious parentheses, can produce the trick effects that were a million-strong nomad race footnotes and appendices, resulting lie within the scope of his appara- roaming over 600,000 square miles, in his inimitable style compre- tus; e.g., fades and dissolves, slow — up to today, when in a most rapid hensive, apparently shape- and speeded-up motion, animation, meaty, transformation they have de- superimposition, making and using less but supremely intriguing. You veloped into a country attuned to feel that not a single word which a simple matte box, etc. The pro- and helping create the benefits, if could be said remains unsaid. fessional also might pick up an that is the right word, of modern industrial progress. idea or two. Did you know that I read " Land of Blue Sky four spoonfuls of Epsom salts during the height of the Hungarian I am sure that most readers of mixed with half a glass of beer revolt and the first thought which " Land of Blue Sky " will wish on and painted on the windows of occurred to me was, whether one putting the book down that an your room will give you a realistic calls Mongolia a dependency or ally opportunity would present itself to hoar frost effect? of the Soviet Union—a current visit Mongolia to learn more about argument within the United this exotic land and its hospitable The purpose of " Processing Nations—the two countries have people. If that be so, the book can Amateur the Movies ", as author managed their affairs with each need no better recommendation. points out, is firstly explain the to other in a way which could well G.H.E. mechanism of both negative and reversal processing, and, secondly, to show how the amateur may, with suitable equipment, undertake such simple operations as title 9 development and after treatment A.C.T. Films New Production of finished films. It does NOT en- courage the amateur to set up his Following the completion of Howard Connell as Production own processing laboratory. The Suspended Alibi for J.A.R.F.I.D., Manager. photographic illustrations are good, A.C.T. Films has gone into pro- Second Fiddle is an original and all the main processing duction with another subject for story, set in an advertising office, formulae are given at the of end British Lion. and raises, among other things, the the book. right of married women to work This time it is a comedy titled and receive equal pay Second Fiddle, and it went on the floor at Shepperton on January 14th, with Bob Dunbar producing INDEX FOR 1956 GET BADGE and Maurice Elvey directing. YOUR NEW The index for the Cine Techni- The new A.C.T.T. badges and cian for 1956 will be published as The stars are Adrienne Corri, brooches can be obtained from a supplement to the February Thorley Walters and Lisa Gastoni. Head Office. Badges 2/-, brooches issue. Arthur Graham is lighting, with 2/4, post free. FILM & TV TECHNICIAN January 1957
unaffected by the artistic content of the programme? A camera- IS IT OUR BUSINESS ? man's job on The Tempest is not fundamentally different from his colleagues on Noddy. In fact, from This article expresses the personal artistic point of view. If the plastei a trade union point of view a bad programme employing lot of opinion of the writer, which differs is difficult or dangerous to work, a considi rably from the standpoint that is another matter. But surely technicians is better than a good programme employing only a few. officially taken on the subject by the individual trade unionist A.C.T.T. We print it because we should restrict his artistic judg- To suggest that it is not part of h,liin that Film and TV Techni- a trade union's province to criticise cian should be a forum for con- the artistic standard of its mem- troversy as well as a vehicle for bers' output is not to say that news and views. the conveying official individual members should not do The Editor will be glad to hear By so. We are all citizens as well as readers think about this con- what trade unionists; viewers as well as 1 1 m ( rsial subject. technicians. And if the standard Vivian Milroy of some programmes is thought to be inclining slightly towards a new low of footling and futile inanity the weapons of a free democracy are there for the using. He can write to the newspapers and in- A recent A.C.T.T. press state- flame public opinion; he can per- ment on the I.T.A. Government suade his M.P. to raise the matter ment to refusing to buy the grant, in which the quality of pro- in Parliament; he can bombard the doggies once they are made? grammes was criticised, has led to guilty organisation with letters; the impression in some quarters and he can even— if he gives that A.C.T.T. was accusing the And surely the same rule should twenty-four hours' notice to the commercial TV companies of pro- apply in the entertainment busi- Metropolitan Police — march an ducing worthless and trivial pro- ness. Take those popular weekly army of like-thinking democrats grammes. This has stirred up con- panel shows " Do you trust your from Golden Square to Kingsway siderable controversy, both as to kids " and " Take your pick of by way of Wardour Street waving the correctness of the implied your wife's money ". If the work insulting banners and shouting criticism and as to whether even of the technicians involved is rude words. But if after all this if it were true it was expedient for more dangerous than Panorama or he is offered a job on that same " the Union to express it. more arduous than The Brains Take your pick of your wife's Trust no one would deny the money ", as a good trade unionist At the TV Producer-Directors' Union's right to express an official no one will blame him for accept- Section meeting on December 21st opinion. But can it really do so if ing it or even for liking it. It is this subject was given a rather the working conditions are more or strange how differently it can warm airing. Opinions seemed to less the same— or at anv rate are appear from the inside. be divided as to just how trivial the programmes were and how far the B.B.C. had sunk in com- petitive pursuit of the mass audience.
Comparative estimates of the cultural value of Jungh Jim as against Ask Pickles, or the relative value of Fabian of the Yard and Dragnet are entertaining but rarely instructive. One point of view which so far does not seem to have been expressed—and one that in the writer's estimation could be considered— is that such matters might be said to be out- side the province of trade unionism.
It is widely held that a Trad.' Union exists for one purpose only —to ensure fair working conditions for its members. Should these con- ditions be affected by the actual work produced then it is un- doubtedly right for the union to consider this "end product". But not otherwise. The union acting THOSE IN FAVOUR for the makers of those hideous The laboratories nia.ss meeting, reported in our last issue, plaster doggies would scarcely VOtea for the new agreement criticise from an Chi istophei venture to them I Picture bj ::
January 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN
seems to consist of a large ruby and several tatters of silk. Con- cerning the suitability of this Mr. Irving Allen is reputed to have " said : What nature has given, who are Warwick to take away?" A random survey taken in War- dour Street shows a majority opinion for Miss Ekberg in the House of Lords and Lord Lucas in films.
our Basic and Countryman American about popcorn. It just FOR By Wire . . . Shop the struggle for more in- isn't a popcorn picture." telligent, higher quality films is Here is some news from Holly- their battle against unending, but Location Tip wood that may interest our far- " movie " mentality must monster from-overpaid members in Nas- have suffered an early reverse in There's always a tough battle to creno House. National Screen Ser- 1957, judging by a recent an- allowance from vice is an associate of a company nouncement from Warner Brothers. raise the location the basic five guineas. It's prob- of the same name in the U.S.A., At their Hollywood Studios ably an occupational reflex of and negotiations for a two year Warners are many producers to cross their agreement have just been com- making The Story hearts and swear that this sum pleted over there. The new agree- additional per of Mankind. To will more than cover members' ment gives an $1,560 prove that ambi- expenses in this or that country. year to the lowest paid, and $1,040 tion, at least, is In this connection an intriguing to those on the maximum. The not dead, the comment comes from a hotel guide lowest-paid scriptwriters get $330 period covered in given to me by a member recently a week, the highest $350—or this epic ranges back from a West Indies location. roughly £125 per week. It is worth from the Neoli- The document describes the shuffle- noting that quite a few technicians thic Age to the board, aquaplane and water-skiing working for N.S.S. here don't even present day. Its facilities and has a somewhat get the rate equivalent to the cast includes vague reference to the Social raise given to the lowest-paid in Ronald Colman as Hostess who will be glad to make the U.S. True, straight exchange The Spirit of Man, your holiday pleasant and enjoy- values don't tell the full story—but Edward Everett able. it looks to me as if National Screen Horton as Sir For those at work and on a coffers could be opened on this Walter Raleigh location allowance the most telling side of the Atlantic as well. and, to crown it item is " Tips on Tipping ". The all, Harpo Marx inth Baroo Marx suggestions range from 15s. per as Sir Isaac New- as Sir Isaac New- week for the bedroom maid to 35s. ton. Peter Lorre ton . . . for the waiters. One and ninepence and Cesar Romero per bag is the appropriate for bell- fpc^ are also cast but no parts men- men. For the tioned. An imagination fevered by rest — "A small the foregoing details suggests token tip is al- Gilbert and Sullivan. ways acceptable " to the Head Waiter and Cap- Wolves ? tains. At this level it seems un- RAIN WAS GOOD A statement with which many likely that any members will sympathise comes roughnecks could FOR TRADE from Miss Barbara Woolworth, sneak through the one of the fabulous Woolworth gilded doors, but Cinema attendances during the family, in an interview with Daily a severe note is third quarter of 1956 totalled 293 " smaU token Express critic David Lewin. Miss struck to avoid million, nearly 2 per cent above the Woolworth, head of the company this eventuality. corresponding quarter of 1955, and " which made Silken Affair, said On Thursday and Saturday even- gross takings were 11 per cent up " I know there are a lot of dragons, ings formal dress is requested for at £28,576,000, the Board of Trade or wolves as you call them, around dinner. Men's jackets and ties announced recently. in the film business. But I think must be worn after 6 p.m." "The bad weather in the summer I can handle them." no doubt contributed to this in- Ekberg or Bust? crease, which reversed the down- Communist Inspired? ward trend of attendances for the first since the similarly poor Warwick Films have been earn- time weather of summer 1954," the Says Mr. Mike Todd, producer ing themselves some free and, report says. of Round the World in Eighty presumably, welcome publicity in Days, of his film's distribution the House of Lords. Protesting at Of the 47 cinemas closed during " I will ban the sale of popcorn the advertising posters used for the third quarter most had between ... it will be the first non-popcorn Zarak, Lord Lucas referred par- 251 and 750 seats. Nearly all picture in America. I have nothing ticularly to a tantalising portrait of regions were affected, the north- against popcorn—I am not un- Miss Ekberg, in which her costume western region most of all. FILM & TV TECHNICIAN January 1957 FILM MAKING IN CHINA
WENT to China together with are on the payroll all the year of their other modern buildings, I Lennox Robinson, the Irish play- round as employees and are given whether Government offices or fac- wright, as the guest of the Actors two weeks holiday with pay every tories. and Actresses Association and the year and a pension scheme which There are six stages here, Writers' Association, to speak at one of them fairly large, but only the Bernard Shaw Centenary cele- about a third the size of the brations at Peking and Shanghai. big stage at Inevitably we saw a good deal of By MGM at Elstree; the other five are of medium size, the theatre and I was also afforded approximating to the old Stage the opportunity of visiting all their Three at Gainsborough Studio at film studios, watching them at R. J. Minney Lime Grove, where so many of us work and meeting most of their worked before they were taken artists and directors. over for television.
Only Three Studios They use papier mache a great deal. It seems to take the place of There are at the moment only provides for their retirement. They plaster. The walls are papier- three film studios in all China. Of are given accommodation near the mached, with struts of bamboo at these the biggest is at Chiang- studio in blocks of buildings where the back for strengthening and chun, about seven hundred miles to they have either a small flat for support; all the decorations, coats the north-east of Peking, in the of arms, statuettes, crowns and heart of what used to be Man- coronets are made of it, and most churia, but is now called the North cleverly painted. They are in con- East Province. Here, tucked under sequence very light and easy to the wing of Soviet Russia, are all move about. the major industries—coal mining, iron and steel foundries, one auto-
Old Mitchells
All the cameras are old Mitchells. some of them tied up with bits of string. We went through that our- selves during the war and our films were none the worse for it. Here, too, they seem to make-do ex- tremely efficiently. All the gantne.- Lighting in Peking Studio are made of wooden scaffolding, with wooden steps and galleries. The dolly rails are of wood too. The cameras appeared to move themselves and their families or smoothly, but I noticed that they had to be most carefully manipula- just a room to live in. I have ted. further visited a number of these homes A complication was and found them most comfortable, that the studio floor was very uneven and the rails had to be laid Entrance to Studio if a little restricted. Chiang-chun with pads here and there to get There are excellent reading them straight. rooms in a central block, as well The atmosphere behind the as facilities for table tennis and scenes was exactly as here. They mobile factory turning out their other indoor games. In the grounds allocated approximately the same tractors. 1 have read in the there is basket ball, a current first number of technicians for camera, press here that these factories craze with the Chinese, swimming sound, etc. as are required I have been placed here so close to in some cases, and other forms of for crews, and I discovered that :n for security and protection. open-air sport. At every studio Russia the higher grades the technicians is nonsense, for the coal there are nurseries for children, But this are far better paid than the actors this part of rest houses for the artists, and and iron are found in and actresses. the country, and the Japanese had sanatoria. Their health and welfare already laid the foundations of are well looked after. these industries, including films, The studio at Chiang-chun is a before the present government large modern block, very Western Wages took over. in its style of architecture, un- The second largest film studio is relieved here by a Chinese super- When we come to wages we at Shanghai, and the third at structure, with turned up ends, must remember that the standard Peking. At each one of these three placed cither at the corners of th< of living is a great deal lower in there is a stock repertory com- building or above the central en- China than it Is here. The average pany of actors and actresses who trance, such as they have on most minimum earnings in that countrv. January 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN taking industry as a whole, and in- picture would have helped much. and others for musical films—for cluding the earnings of the agri- Their standards are different and as long as twelve years. cultural workers, is about £2 a the shapes are different. Busts, for At Chiang-chun the resident week. They manage to live pretty instance, are out. I suppose I repertory company of film actors well on it, for prices are not high. should say bust are in—well in, for and actresses numbered 143 mem- The cost of living is, in fact, ex- the dresses reveal no cleavage and bers. Occasionally, especially when ceedingly low. The consumer goods the chests are dressed as flat as they are making the film version I saw in the shops cost far less they can be. The girls look none of a stage play, they borrow one than they do over here. A pair of the less attractive for that. or two of the stage cast; but for cotton trousers, for example, is the most part they prefer to rely only fifteen shillings for the best, on their own resources because, in and the rent for a one-roomed flat, No Comparative Standards the case of this studio particularly, with a small kitchen and lavatory, the theatre in Peking is many hun- is only nine pence a week. The Chinese now have no com- dreds of miles away. parative standards in films, either At the studios the bottom wage The Shanghai studio, on the technically or otherwise, for they for artists was £2. 10s. a week. The other hand, relies on the theatre don't get very much from the top grade performers get £7 to £8 not only for players but for its West. Hamlet was the last British directors. They flit from one to film they got and they will still in the other. It is quite common there raptures over it when they talked for a stage director when he moves to me. They were expecting to get to the studio to take many of his shortly Great Expectations, and stage artists with him. were looking forward eagerly to seeing it. "Can't you get your people to send us more films?" they asked. Much Longer to Make " We would welcome it." I passed this on to the Rank Organisation on my return and I hope something At Chiang-chun all the stages films, comes of it. Other film companies were being used for feature should also take note. each running, as ours, for approxi- mately ninety minutes. But the Their sets are very realistic. One films take much longer than ours film I saw being made was set in to make. I was told that the aver- a coal mine. It was as good as any age time for making a feature film we have built on the set here. is from six to eight months, for Their backcloths I thought not studio shooting alone. They are quite as good as ours. But their aware that this is inordinately long
a week. The technicians start higher and rise higher.
There are no stars at all. The star system is not operated there. Before I learned of this, when I asked who the stars were, they looked at me in wonder. They had no idea what I was talking about. They asked me to explain. I men- tioned Marilyn Monrose, but there was not the slightest show of recognition from the group of directors and technicians around me.
" Who is Marilyn Monroe?"
In a moment I got the question that you would only expect to get from a judge in the law courts in England. " Who is Marilyn Mon- roe?" one of them asked. Now you who haven't been asked it might think it is the easiest thing standard of acting is very high. and are trying to cut down on in the world to answer. But try It ought to be. Attached to every time. " We are making twelve answering it to a group of Chinese studio is a school for acting. The films this year, which will give us film men through an interpreter, pupils begin young and are kept at an average of six months a piece without even a photograph of the it for years, some of them—as in girl to help you! Not that the the case of Peking opera trainees (Continued on page 10) 10 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN January 1957 on the six stages. We are aiming tures, running time about ten chiefly screen presentations of the to double this and eventually to minutes. I saw some of these. traditional Peking operas. It is step the figure up to thirty films They were, in the main, comedies these operas that are usually done a year— before very long," they based on traditional stories. in full colour and very good the told me. In Shanghai the studio has six colour is too, for they use Agfa colour, which is obtained from the Soviet Union.
ys*^ Attached to each of these studios there are training schools for tech- nicians, a big scenario department, a panel of script readers, and groups of welfare workers to keep a close and watchful eye on work- ing conditions.
Plans were ready while I was in China for the building of five fur- ther studios—at Canton, Chung- king, Kunming, Sian and Urumchi. Two of these will be in operation this year. The Chinese are very fond of films. There are large, modern, well-equipped cinemas in all the towns with swarms of people going in all the time. The finished product from these studios is good; in many instances I found the standard very high. With the great fillip being given to film pro- duction it would not surprise me if the Chinese film industry cap- tured before long the entire film market in Asia.
They have two theatres at Chiang-chun. Both were being used for dubbing when I was there. They dub about eighty imported films each year. Most of these are from Czechoslovakia and Poland. Only a handful come in from France and Italy, and occasionally there is one from Japan, for the restriction that keeps the Ameri- cans from sending in their films applies apparently to some extent to Japanese films too.
Four Small Stages
The Peking studio, which has only four small stages, does not take quite as long to make films. The average time there is much nearer our own and approximates to about thirteen weeks for a feature length picture. The working hours stages, as at Chiang-chun, but the here, as at the other studios, is stages are somewhat smaller. Both to 12 noon, then two from 8 a.m. here and in Peking they have made COVER STILL hours off, and from 2 o'clock until films in colour, but at their chief five—a seven-hour day. On Satur- studio they were only just pre- days they finish at four and work paring to make their first colour The cover still and pictures on only six hours, making a total of film. forty-one hours per week, for Sun- pages 9 and 10 are shots from a day is a holiday. There are two Their feature films are of two film being made during R. J. additional studios in Peking—one types— straight dramas or come- for Newsreels and the other for dies (and the Chinese have a rich Minnev's visit to China. Documentaries. At the latter they sense of humour, very akin to our make their comedy cartoon pic- own)- and musicals, which are January 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 11 RIVALS OR ALLIES?
T^HROUGH my letter-box at this tervention in the film industry; under Italian Fascism there were *- time of year comes an abun- these sober business men say that a number of taxes levied for defi- dance of brochures advertising Government control of production nite purposes, such as lighting the wonderful holidays in foreign and film censorship prior to 1945 streets, poor relief and for the un- countries, and I love to spend obstructed the growth of the employed, and these were much hours studying them, because Japanese industry, and they refer resented by the Italian people. foreign travel has always inter- Therefore, he argues, if Entertain- ested me. Just recently, though, ment Tax were used to assist I received some brochures about By Italian film production it would be some foreign film industries and transforming the tax into one of these have held me fascinated in the hated, obsolete taxes. the way. came Christopher much same They Brunei Strange as this may sound to us. from Japan and Italy. it is a point of view that evidently Two arrived from Japan, and arises from the Italians' experien- they make interesting contrasts, ces, and as such ought to be because the larger, glossier one is respected. to the present state of affairs, from the Motion Picture Associa- Unlike Britain, Italian cinema- under which Government interven- tion of Japan, which represents going is on the increase, though tion is all but ended, as " the Fifth five of the six major film com- they have their own crisis in pro- Freedom Freedom of the Screen." panies, and the smaller one—dup- — duction. Something that we both licated on cheap paper—was sent have in common is the difficulty in Turning to a booklet Italy, out by one of the smaller indepen- from conquering foreign markets, par- " The Situation and the Problems dent producers, Dokuritsu Eiga ticularly the American. The book- of Public Entertainments in Italy," Company. let was written before the impor- tant agreement between the Bri- tish Film Producers' Association Americanization and the Italian Producers was concluded, and so the system of A while ago I reported that the especially favourable relations be- Japanese colour processes were tween two nations is not men- being pushed out of their own tioned. Briefly, this is a method home market by the American of trading, whereby two countries Eastmancolour process. Startling agree to grant each other conces- confirmation of this Americanisa- sions— in the case of Britain and tion of the Japanese film business Italy, Italy grants British films is seen in the films made by the concessions over the " Dubbing five major companies in 1956. Tax " and Britain guarantees cir- From the figures they give, it cuit bookings to a number of appears that these producers make Italian pictures. over 300 features a year, and they It is a means of gently easing give details of the thirty best ones out the Americans from their of 1956 (which probably includes dominant position in both coun- all those made in colour). Eleven tries and, naturally, the Ameri- of the best features were in East- — cans have protested vigorously mancolour, and one, Madame against the deals that the B.F.P.A. Butterfly, an Italian-Japanese co- has been with Italy and production, was made in Techni- making France along these lines. color. Not one was listed in Fujicolour or Koni-colour, the It seems to me that, while not Japanese colour processes. The imitating the methods such film- same is true of the short films producing countries as Japan and listed in the year's production. Italy adopt to help their native industries, we should learn to Far more adventurous is the in- understand their if dependent Dokuritsu Co., which methods to see Twelve there are ways in can has made its first children's film Months which we co-operate to in Koni-colour, a six-reeler of the our mutual benefit. fairy-tale by Samuel Marshak, the published by Lo Spettacolo, I find noted Soviet author, called Twelve the same mistrust of the Govern- Months, which scored a great hit ment taking a hand in the affairs on the stage with Tokyo's children. of the film industry. The writer, NOTE THE DATES The big Japanese producers give Antonio Ciampi, is very scornful an interesting short history of of a proposal to help film produc- their country's film industry— since tion by a Treasury rebate scheme, A.G.M. 1897, when the first film was shown which appears to have similarities SATURDAY AND SUNDAY, there, to the present day. An in- with our own most helpful Eady teresting aftermath of Fascism is Scheme. The reason he rejects MARCH 9th & 10th, 1957 their mistrust of Government in- State aid is an historical one, too; 12 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN January 1957
General Council in Session
ACTION ON FILMS BILL
THE main items considered this Films Committee, and the Acting so prejudicing reputable units from -*- month were the 24th Annual General Secretary stated that all getting contracts, and it appeared Report, which will go to all mem- the other Unions responsible for that the A.S.F.P. were also in- bers for the annual general meet- the Trade Union Policy Pamphlet terested in this matter. It was ing on March 9 and 10, 1957, and had been informed of A.C.T.T.'s recommended to the Executive: the tabling of amendments to re- action and a letter had been re- 1. That a letter be sent to the submitted ceived from the E.T.U. indicating solutions that had been Advertising Agencies remind- and Sections. their agreement with the action by Shops ing them of our agreement taken and expressing appreciation Owing to the shortage of time and of the importance of at having been kept informed. The left, only one item of the Execu- maintaining standards of Executive authorised the Legis- tive's report to the meeting was quality. lation to continue considered, namely the endorse- Committee the highest level pressure, utilising all 2. That we should seek a meet- ment of proposals for increases in necessary means which should in- ing with the A.S.F.P. with salaries of Head Office staff. clude personal contacts with one the following points in mind: It was, therefore, agreed to give or two of the M.P.s who have (a) Agencies should be re- the Executive authority to proceed always been friendly to A.C.T.T. quired to disclose to the on the basis of its report on all in addition to the Films Committee contractor the name of other matters in the report; some of the Parliamentary Labour the production company. the main items covered are of Party. The Executive to be kept (b) A quota on foreign given below. informed of developments. material. CINEMATOGRAPH FILMS BILL: CUT RATES BY TV COM- (c) Joint representations to The Executive were advised of the PANIES: The Shorts Committee the Programme Con- meeting with representatives of has been very concerned with TV tractors. undercutting, the Parliamentary Labour Party companies who are {continued on page 1 3)
ANIMATORS TRACERS PAINTERS Excellent Prospects
Please apply by letter to:
Studio Manager HALAS & BATGHELOR
10a SOHO SQUARE W. I GERrard 7681-2-3 : :
FILM & TV TECHNICIAN SUPPLEMENT January 1957
Guide to British Film Makers
PORT AFRIQUE X—THE UNKNOWN SAILOR BEWARE
Year of Production: 1955. Year of Production: 1956. Year of Production: 1956. Studio: M.G.M. Elstree. Studio: Bray. Studio: Shepperton Studios. Laboratory: Technicolor Ltd. Laboratory: Olympic Kine Labs. Laboratory: Humphries.
Producing Company : Coronado Produc- Producing Company: Hammer Film Producing Company: Remus Films tions (England) Ltd. Productions. Ltd. Producer: John R. Sloan. Producer: Anthony Hinds. Producer: Jack Clayton. Stars: Pier Angeli, Phil Carey, Dennis Stars: Dean Jagger, Edward Chapman. Stars: Peggy Mount, Cyril Smith, Price, James Hayter. Leo McKern. Ronald Lewis, Shirley Eaton. Director: Rude Mate. Director: Leslie Norman. Director: Gordon Parry. Camera Department: Lighting Camera- Scenarist: Jimmy Sangster. Scenarists: Philip King, Falkland L. man, Wilkie Cooper: Camera Opera- Camera Department: Lighting Camera- Cary. tor, Gus Drisse; 1st Camera Assistant man, Gerald Gibbs; Camera Operator, Camera Department: Lighting Camera- (Focus), Mike Wilson: Other Camera Len Harris; 1st Camera Assistant man, Douglas Slocombe; Camera Assistant, Mark Hyams; 2nd Camera (Focus). Harry Oakes ; Other Camera Operator, Jeff Seaholme; 1st Camera Operators, Ian Struthers, Peter All- Assistant, Michael Rutter; Second Assistant (Focus), Gerald Fisher; work. Camera Operator. John Reid. Other Camera Assistants, Ronald Sound Department: Recordist (Mixer). Sound Department: Recordist (Mixer), Drinkwater. Sash Fisher: Sound Camera Operator, Jock May; Sound Camera Operator, Sound Department: Recordist (Mixer). Harold Clark: Boom Operator, John Michael Sale; Boom Operator, Jim Peter Handford : Sound Camera Streeter; Other Assistants (Main- Perry; Dubbing Crew, Anvil Films. Operator, J. Smart ; Boom Operator, tenance), Michael Basselt ; Dubbing Beaconsfield; Sound Maintenance, Bill Cook; Dubbing Crew. R. Jones, Crew, J. B. Smith, W. Carr, C. Jones. Charles Bouvet. P. Cunningham, B. Hopkins. J. Bramall. Art Department: Art Director, Edward Art Department: Art Director, Norman Art Department: Art Director, Wilfred Marshall; Draughtsman, Don Mingaye. Arnold; Draughtsman, W. Hutchin- Shingleton ; Assistant Art Director, son. John Hoesli: Draughtsman, Kenneth Editing Department : Editor, James Tate; Dress Designer, Julia Squire. Needs; 1st Assistant, W. Bouvet; Editing Department: Supervising Dubbing Editor, A. Cox. Editor. Ralph Kemplen; Editor, Stan Editing Department ; Editor. Ray Poul- Hawkes ; 1st Assistant. Alban ton; Assembly Cutter and 1st Assis- Production Department : Production Streeter; Assistant, John tant, Valerie Leslie; Other Assistant. Manager and/or Unit Production Other Peter Keen; Dubbing Editor, Winston Manager. Jimmy Sangster; 1st Assis- Kelly. Ryder. tant Director, Chris Sutton; 2nd Productit Department: Production Production Department: Production Assistant Director, Roy Stevens; 3rd Manager. Raymond Anzarut ; 1st Manager and/or Unit Production Assistant Director, Hugh Harlow: Assistant Director, Buddy Booth; 2nd Continuity, June Randall; Assistant Director, David Bracknell; Manager, R. L. M. Davidson; 1st Production Assistant Director, Gus Agosti; Secretary, Margaret Quigley. 3rd Assistant Director, Otto Plashkes: 2nd Francis; Assistant Director, Jeremy Summers; Stills Department: Still Cameraman, Continuity. Doreen Produc- 3rd Assistant Director, Peter Len- Tom Edwards. tion Secretary, Doris Prince. nard; Location Manager, Juanito Special Processes: Trick Work, Bowie Stills Department: Still Cameraman, Solorzano; Continuity, Angela Allen; Margutti. Eric Gray. Production Secretary, Sheila Neal. Publicity Director: Bill Batchelor. Special Processes : T. M. Brian Langley Stills Department: Still Cameraman. (Hired from Pinewood Studios). Eric Gray. Publicity Department : Publicity Direc- Special Processes: Tom Howard tor, Lilanna Wilkie. (Model), E. Bennett. D. Manning. THE HIGH TERRACE Publicity Director: Catherine O'Brien. Year of Production: 1956. Studio: Nettlefold, Walton-on-Thames. Laboratory: Denham Laboratories. THE LAST MAN TO HANG THE SHIELD OF FAITH Producing Company: Cipa Productions Ltd. Year of Production: 1956. Studio: Nettlefold Studios. Year of Production : 1955. Producer: Robert S. Baker. Studio: National Studios, Elstree. Laboratory: Rank Laboratories. Laboratory: Denham Laboratories Ltd. Production Supervisor: Ronald C. Producing Company: A.C.T. Films Producing Company: G.H.W. Produc- Liles. Ltd. tions Ltd. Stars: Dale Robertson, Lois Maxwell. Producer: John Gossage. Stars: Elizabeth Producer: Church and Chapel Films Director: Henry Cass. Tom Conway, Sellars. Ltd. (i/c Production: Jas. B. Sloan). Eunice Gayson, Freda Jackson. Scenarists: Norman Hudis. Alfred Director: Terence Fisher. Stars: Mervyn Johns, Adrienne Corri. Shaughnessy. Emrys Jones. Scenarists: Ivor Montagu and Max Director: Norman Walker. Camera Department: Lighting Camera- Trell. Scenarists: Lawrence Barrett from an man, Eric Cross; Camera Operator, Camera Department: Lighting Camera- Davis: 1st man, original story by J. Arthur Rank and Desmond Camera Assis- Desmond Dickinson; Camera R. Noel Evans. tant (Focus). Manny Wynn ; Other Operator, Brian Rhodes ; 1st Camera Camera Department: Lighting Camera- Camera Assistant, Ken' Goodman: Assistant (Focus), D. Lewiston man, Lionel Banes: Camera Operator, Second Camera Operator, Eric Other Camera Assistant, John Shine- Harold Haysom; 1st Camera Assis- Besche. rock. tant (Focus), Derek Whitehurst Sound Department: Recordist (Mixer), Sound Department: Recordist (Mixer), Other Camera Assistant, Ken Claik. Fred Ryan; Sound Camera Operator. Wally Day; Sound Camera Operator, Sound Department: Recordist (Mixer), Aubrey Lewis: Boom Operator. Bill Ray Raynham: Boom Operator. D. Dave Howells; Sound Camera Opera- Baldwin: Dubbing Crew, Anvil Films Somerset; Dubbing Crew, R.C.A.. tor, Michael Bassett; Boom Opera- Crew—Beaconsfield; Sound Mainten- Hammersmith: Maintenance. Charles Earl. tor. George Paternoster; Dubbing tance, Dennis Arundell. Crew. Maurice Art Department : Art Director. Allan Askew, Bernard Art Department : Art Director, Arthur Harris: Draughtsman, Childs, George Lewis. Lawson; Assistant Art Director David Butcher. and Editing Department: Editor, Art Department: Art Directors, George Draughtsman, Maurice Pelling. Peter J. Taylor: 1st Assistant. Peter Miller; Provis, Cedric Dawe. Editing Department: Editing Department: Editor. Henry Other Assistant, R. Love. Editor. Duncan Richardson: 1st Assistant, Roy Production Spence: 1st Assistant. Terrv Hine: Department: Production Norman; Dubbing Editor, Henry Manager. Fred Swann; 1st Assistant Other Assistants. Moira Finney Richardson. Dubbing Editor, Duncan Spence. Director. Rene Dupont : 2nd Assistant Production Department: Production Director, Charles Production Department: 1st Assistant Hammond; 3rd Manager, Charles Permane; 1st Assistant Director. Pat Morton: 2nd Assistant Director. Dennis Hall: Assistant Director, Clive Midwinter- Continuity, Pauline Roberts; Produc- Director, Dave Tomblin; Continuity. 2nd Assistant Director. Majorie Round. Ted Sturgis- tion Secretary, Sallv Rich. Continuity. Barbara Thomas; Pro- Stills Department: Stills Department: Still Still Cameraman. Cameraman. duction Secretary, Elizabeth Carr. Dick Cantouris. Cyril Stanborough. Stills Department: Music: Henry Reed. Still Cameraman Publicity Department: Publicity Direc- Frank Bellingham. tor. Horace Beck. .
FILM & TV TECHNICIAN SUPPLEMENT January 1951
Production BEYOND MOMBASA Department: Production Production Depart mi nt : Production Manager- and/or Unit Production Manager and/or Unit Production
Manager. W. Kirby; 1st Assistant Mana-.i i'h\, Ki . . .1 man lsi Assis- i ( in- o) Production: 1956. Din. i.. i, Spencer; Studio: M.G.M. Studios. Ronald 2nd Assis- tant Director, Gordon Murray ; 2nd tant Director, David Bracknell; :iid Assistant Director, Betty Crowe; 3rd Laboratory : Technicolor. Producing Company: Hemisphere Assistant Director, Peter Parsons; Assistant Director, George Wilkinson; Films Ltd. Continuity, June Randall; Production Continuity. Gladys Reeve; Production Producer: Adrian D. Worker. Secretary, Ella Wylie. Secretary, Anne Krish. stills j Stars: Cornel Wilde, Donna Reed, Leo Department : Still Cameraman, Spinal 1 io,issis Howie and Margutli Genn, Ron Randell. Norman Hargood. (Travelling Matte). Director George Marshall. (Location Special Processes: Si < nic Artist, Basil Retakes Ken Hughes). Mannin; Model Shots, Wally Veevers. Scenarists: George Levitt and Richard Publicity Department: Publicity Direc- English. tor, Joy Raymond. Camera Department: Lighting Camera- man. Freddie Young; Camera Opeia- HOME AND AWAY tor. John Harris; 1st Camera Assis- i i ar of Production . 1956. tant (Focus), Peter Allwork; Other studio: British National. Camera Assistants, W. Byatt, G. Laboratory: Denham. R. Gibbings; Second Camera Elliott LOSER TAKES ALL Producing Company: J. G. & R. B. Operator, H. Smith; Second Camera Wainwright Limited. Lighting, Eric Cross. Producer: George Maynard. Sound Department: Recordist (Mixer), \
duction Secretary, Sheila O'bonnel. Year O) Production : 1956. stills Department: Still Cameraman. studio: Bushey Studios. Raj Hearne. Laboratory: Rank Laboratoi Special Processes: Matte Shots—Wally Producing Company: Femina Films A HILL IN KOREA Veevei s. Ltd. Publicity Department: Publicity Direc- Sci narist : Peter Rol tor, Victor Betts. Director: Gerald
1955/56. ... >i,n : / i year o) Production: nt ion ; Monte Carlo. Si ists Peter Rogei S. Studio: Shepperton. Eastman Colour CinemaScope Camera Department Lighting Camera-
; Laboratory Humphries. man, Otto Heller ; Camera Op.i Producing Company: Wessex (Finan 1st +. Gus Drisse; Camera Assistant rial Set-up: Ian Dalrvmple Advisors (Focus), 1>. nil Fox; Second Camera Ltd. I. Operator. Ian St rut hers. Ian .... iii Producer: Anthony Squire with Sound in /nn I Recordist (Mixer), I >alrymple. ONE WISH TOO MANY Frank Flvnn: Sound Camera Opera- Stars George Baker, Stanley Baker, tor, Rill Kobson: Hoom Opeiator.
1 < i/i Direi tor: Julian Aymes. studio Rotherhithe. R. Jones. P. Cunningli . nt, 1 i Scenarists: Ian Dalrymple, Anthony / m atory . Ka Art 1< p " ( "" nt \i t I 'ire. or, Ceorge Squire, Ronald Spi m ei Producing Company Realist Film Unit Provis. i amera l>< part mi nt : Lighting Camera Ltd. Kditina Department Editor. Peter man. Freddie Francis; Camera Prodn, i i Ba il Wright. Boita: 1st Assistant. Michael Round. Operator, Arthur Ibbetson; 1st stars: Gladys Young, Sam Ci production Depart nn nt Produi Camera Assistant (Focus). Derek Director: John Durst. Manager and or Unit Production is/ Browne; other Camera Assistant S< . nin .John Eldridge. Manager, Al Marcus; 1st Assistant i Lonald Anscombe. Camera Department Lighting Cam. Directoi Basil Keys; 2nd Assistant i.in Sound Department: Recordist (Mixer), man, Adi .leakms ; Camera Opt r; Director, John Meadows Continuity, .. i A. G. Ambler: Sound Camei 0] tor, Bill rxlej . 1st Cam. ra Assis- jinn Randall; Production Secretary. i"i i I »ei k Tate ; Boom ( >perator, tant (Focus), Stanlej Fairhall; Other Trixie Wilkin. P Dukelow; Other Assistant. E. Vin- Camera Assistant. Charles Hasler. stills Department: still Cameraman, cent; Dubbing Crew, Red Law, Bob Junior. i .te Ridlej Jones. Sound Department Recordi I (Mixer), 1/' i \ tel ( Department: Art Director, Cedrii 'Li Cot , Sound Camera (p \: i. Dav tant Art Director. W. tor, Ken i ioddard Boom < >perator, Hill. Inn ..ii Draught men. F Wilson. Peri \ Britten; Dubbing Crew, Ken I i i i A. M Woolai d . >ress Desij 'am. ..ii and Anvil Films Cr< w. PACIFIC DESTINY .i.e. Win dr. John McCorry. Art I >i !"ii mi nt Art 1 )ii ei tor, Bei nai d i I i irtment: Editor. ..ii In he . i dits l..i this film, pul li Hunt; Assembly Cutter. M. I' rl Di pal tmi nt Editor. Jatnes in October 1966. Robert Winter's 1st t . , Assistant. John Poyner; Othei Clark i Assistant, Deveril Good- should ha\ i "u. Assistant. Eric Brown (Dubbing), nian Othei Assistant, Ernest Xerrl. Rdi' : January 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 13 KODAK: Our members at Kodak matter and provided that year be a total of seven for foreign have recommended that we seek irrespective of any fall in the producers and seven for foreign discussions with the Management Index the cost of living bonus directors based on an estimated on the following: shall not be reduced below the production of 78 films during the 1. Three weeks' holiday after figure of £2 10s. Od." period concerned. The Executive 10 years' service. This proposed formula was recommend that the proposed 2. Time and a half for night endorsed. quota be accepted on the under- standing that the question be re- work. (b) A.S.F.P. At a joint meet- examined after six months, and, if 3. Premium rates for holiday ing between representatives of the the total production is less than periods and sickness for those A.S.F.P. and A.C.T.T. both sides anticipated, the quota should be on permanent shift work to agreed to recommend to their reduced accordingly. endeavour to bring them into governing bodies acceptance of the line with the Laboratory following proposals: (d) Associated - Rediffusion: Agreement. Feature rates and overtime pay- That as from January 1957 the ments are now being paid to The Executive endorsed this re- new Index of Retail Prices be A.C.T.T. members employed in the commendation. adopted for calculation of the Film Section at Associated- cost of living bonus on the CURRENT NEGOTIATIONS: (a) Rediffusion following negotiations basis of a rise or fall of Is. 6d. N.R.A. The Executive had before with Head Office. In addition to per week for each rise or fall it the following proposed formula receiving wage increases, lump of one point in the Index in- for revision of the Cost-of-Living sum payments totalling approxi- stead of Is. a point on the old Bonus Clause in the agreement mately £1,050 to cover retrospec- Index, together with payment between A.C.T.T. and the N.R.A. tive adjustments have been re- of the full cost of living bonus ceived by seventeen of the "As from January 1957 for each at age 18 instead of 21. rise or fall of one point in the members. new published Index the bonus The Executive endorsed the pro- shall be increased or decreased posal. RADIANT COLOUR LABORA- TORIES: Radiant Colour is still by Is. 6d. per week provided (c) B.F.P.A. The Acting operating and had on January 9 that if the Index rises by more General Secretary reported a letter in hand. Shop than eight points the N.R.A. from the B.F.P.A. proposing that two weeks' work Steward, Bro. Norley, informed the shall have the right to call a the agreed quota for foreign pro- that normal hours and joint meeting to review the ducers and directors in the coming Organiser rates of pay are being paid, and that there are now eight members employed there. OFFICIAL APPOINTMFNTS Efforts have been made to assist those who have been made redun- dant, but several of the members, FILM DIRECTOR/CAMERMAN required by GOVT, of WESTERN particularly the women, are not REGION of NIGERIA on contract for 12/24 months in first instance. willing to work outside Slough. Salary according to qualifications and experience in scale (including In- One of the members has obtained ducement Additions) £1,728 rising to £1,944 a year. Outfit allowance up employment at another laboratory, to £60. Gratuity at rate £150 a year. Free passages for officer, wife and and one is now working at Pine- three children under age 13. Liberal leave on full salary. Candidates wood Studios. should have had at least 5 years' experience with a reputable Film Pro- (continued on page 14) duction Unit or firm including 16mm. and 35mm. productions in black and white and colour mediums. They should be able to script for dialogue and must have had experience of supervising at dubbing sessions. Write to the Crown Agents, 4 Millbank, London, S.W.I. State age, name in block letters, full qualifications and experience and quote M3B/43785/CY. Camera Hire FILM PRODUCTION OFFICER required by NIGERIAN FEDERAL GOVT. INFORMATION SERVICE on contract for 12/24 months in first (1) NEWMAN SINCLAIR— Mirror Shutter. instance. Salary according to experience in scale (including inducement All Cooke Lenses including Series 2., 25mm., f.1.7. SINGLE FRAME EXPOSURE addition) £954 rising to £1,488 a year. Gratuity at rate £100/£150 a year. and Electric Motor Drive. (Available fully Outfit allowance £60. Free passages for officer and wife. Assistance adapted for CINEMASCOPE if required.) towards cost of children's passages and grant up to £150 annually for (2) NEWMAN SINCLAIR--Mirror Shutter. their maintenance in U.K. Liberal leave on full salary. Candidates Cooke Lenses and 24mm. Angineux Retro- must be of good education and fully conversant with 16mm. and 35mm. focus. editing. Write to the Crown Agents, 4 Millbank, London, S.W.I. State (3) NEWMAN SINCLAIR— Model G. All age, name in block letters, full qualifications and experience and quote Cooke Lenses. SINGLE FRAME EXPOSURE M3B/35002/CY. and Electric Motor Drive if required. Kingston] Tubular and Vinten Light Gyro FILM EDITOR required by GOVERNMENT OF NORTHERN REGION Tripods. OF NIGERIA on contract for 12/24 months in first instance. Salary according to qualifications and experience in Scale (including inducement LOCATION addition) £810 rising to £1,716 a year. Gratuity at rate £100/£150 a year. Clothing allowance £45. Touring Equipment Allowance £40. Free CAMERA DOLLYS passages for officer and wife. Assistance towards cost of children's Mecal construction, pneumatic tyres, drop- passages and grant up to £288 annually for their maintenance in U.K. down jacks, lightweight tracks, etc. Liberal leave on full salary. Candidates must have had at least 5 years' experience with reputable film units and long practical experience of handling 35mm. and 16mm. film and magnetic tape recordings. Write S. W. SAMUELSON to the Crown Agents, 4 Millbank, London, S.W.I. State age, name in FINchley I 595 block letters, full qualifications and experience and quote M3B/43721/CY. 14 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN January 1957 ing this fact, it was thought that Annual Conference of the Non- General Council Sections' recommendations were Manual Workers' Advisory Council not taken seriously enough as on December 7, 1956. Eighty-eight (continued) there was adequate proof that in delegates from 36 Trade Unions INDUSTRIAL DEATH BENEFIT: cases where Sections had been representing 1.229,000 Trade Paddy Leech represented the over-ruled the person being Unionists were in attendance. widow of one of our members at granted membership against the George Elvin, our General Secre- an Insurance Appeal in Taunton. Section's advice had proved un- tary, was again elected on the Mrs. Burchett's husband was killed satisfactory on the job. It was Executive Committee. The follow- in an accident while working for felt that this only added to unem- ing resolution, moved by the Guild the Nigerian Colonial Film Unit. ployment and, on a long-term of Insurance Officials through their Because of the terms of the Indus- policy, brought the Association General Secretary Henry Levitt, trial Injuries Act, Mrs. Burchett into disrepute. was opposed from the platform on grounds of economics, but was is not eligible for benefit. She is TELEVISION PROGRAMME the receiving a widow's pension and CONTRACTORS — NEGOTIA- nevertheless carried almost unani- mously by the Conference: also a pension from the Nigerian TIONS: The Executive had before "This Conference notes the Government but this case raises it a draft agreement drawn up by widespread lack of knowledge the question of principle. The the T.V.P.C.A. as a result of nego- amongst non-manual workers Executive agreed the matter tiations. After very careful con- of the functions and policy of should be taken up with the appro- sideration, the Executive agreed the Trades Union Congress, a priate department of the T.U.C., that the draft should be referred position which is often accen- asking them if they are aware of to a small expert committee for tuated by misrepresentations the situation and requesting their consideration and report back, the in the press and other organs views as to what approaches committee to comprise one tele- of information. should be made. vision representative from each of " Conference notes the diffi- the major companies together with FOREIGN DIRECTORS: Darryl culty presented to individual one from the B.B.C. It was agreed Zannuck, Robert Rossen and unions in combating this situa- that the conference should be an William Lee Wilder have been tion and with a view to apply- all-day affair and one of the points given temporary membership of ing a remedy on a national for consideration should be ways the Union. scale, Conference urges the and means of strengthening the General Council to consider PROVINCIAL TV MEMBERS negotiating committee. Five Exe- the possibility of using tele- AND A.G.M.: The Executive gave cutive members were appointed to vision, films and other modern very careful consideration to the attend. publicity methods to present problem of ensuring that TV mem- authoritative information bers in Manchester and Birming- NON-MANUAL WORKERS' AD- VISORY the Trade Union Move- ham should be given every oppor- COUNCIL: The Acting about General Secretary attended ment." tunity to attend the Annual the General Meeting. After consider- able discussion it was agreed that for the forthcoming A.G.M. A.C.T.T. will arrange transport with a view to getting provincial members down to the meeting. It was also agreed that Head Office should send out an appeal to THE THEATRE members living in London to pro- CROWN vide accommodation for these Lessees LTD. members. FILM PRODUCTION SERVICES (Surrey) CONFERENCE ON NEW MEM- Provides Complete Studio Projection Sen-ice BERS: Since the question of new at Any Time to Suit Your Requirements entrants into A.C.T.T. has been bothering a number of Depart- mental Sections in the production DOUBLE HEAD PROJECTION side of the industry, the General Council called a conference on MIXING PANELS FOR TRACKS December 10, 1956, to consider also Union policy in regard to new members. Twenty-six members SUB-STANDARD PROJECTION attended covering representation from the Sections and from the SEATING FOR 70 PERSONS Executive. Alf Cooper took the Chair. The meeting was reminded of the powers of the Executive and SOUND SYSTEM General Council under Rule, and, while Sections' activities were welcomed, the Executive and General Council had no option but EDITING ROOMS FOR HIRE to interpret the Rules as approved by the Registrar of Friendly 86 WARDOUR ST., LONDON, W.l Societies. In discussion the main criticism Tel: GERrard 5223 Editing Rooms GERraru 9309 appeared to be that, whilst accept- ! January 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 15 Shorts & Documentary Section London's latest STEVE COX WRITES : The Old Year went out with the usual festivities and Unit parties, and there is one in particular I would like to mention : the Crown dubbing theatre Film Unit Reunion. This is an annual "do" for all members who have been associated with the Unit, and invitations are sent out by the organisers. So if any of you who are ex-members of the Crown Unit did not get notified about the last Reunion in Decem- ber, please send your particulars to John Legard if you are inter- ested in future gatherings. Terry Trench FILM HOUSE PRODUCTIONS LTD. I understand that Terry Trench, for hire who, you may remember, went to announce Australia to work on the Olympic a modern and economical recording and dubbing Games Film, has decided to stay in the sun, down-under, to "cut" theatre in central London. another film. Situated in Wardour Street the facilities available for Hard Luck, George! use by film production companies include: Recently I mentioned George A Main Channel recording unit consisting Noble and Cyril Sirapoff. George, as you know, is on leave, and of an R.C.A. PM 38E for photographic or Cyril is "standing-in" for him and magnetic recording. This can be used with staying in George's bungalow. either 4 synchronous photographic and 2 Well, I met George and his brother Joe, and I enquired if there was non-synchronous reproducer heads, or 1 any news from the Gold Coast. magnetic, 3 photographic synchronous and George laughed and said " Oh yes, 2 non-synchronous reproducer I've had a letter from Cyril, and heads. he informs me that he's had a Ancillary burglary and all my shirts have equipment enabling the Main been stolen." Hard luck, George Channel to transfer £in. standard tape at 7^ Still, I understand they are in- or 15 i.p.s. to 35mm. photographic or mag- sured, so have a grand time on your leave. netic film, or vice-versa. The Main Channel can Now for 1957. I sincerely hope it A Leevers-Rich synchropulse tape which can will be a prosperous one for us all, be used for the transfer be used for and I trust I shall be able to keep synchronous shooting on location. you fully informed of the news. of 331 45 or 78 RPM I should like to thank all those A 16mm. photographic or magnetic projector who have helped with information disc recordings to which can be run in synchronisation with the during the past twelve months and 35mm. equipment. This projector can also I will wind up by saying : my tape or film. ambition is to have a full-page record magnetically independently on 16mm. "spread", as we did in the Decem- film. ber issue, every month, so please help me to help you. The Studio Manager, Film House Productions Ltd., WANTED all enquiries should be made to: Film House, EDITOLA or similar wanted s/hd. Wardour Street, W.i. Essential available inspection Lon- don area. Details and price to the Telephone: GERrard 6461. Secretary, British Film Institute, 164 Shaftesbury Avenue, W.C.2. 16 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN January 1957 Still pictures on ILFORD HP3 and HPS films. ' 3401 ILFORD LIMITED ' ILFORD LONDON Cine Sale-; Department, 104 High Holborn, London, W'.C.l Tel.: HOLborn Published by the Proprietors, The Association of Cinematograph, Television and allied Technicians, 2 Soho Square, London, and Printed by Watford Printers Limited, Watford, Herts. ! FILM AND TV TECHNICIAN TAKE THAT (See page 25) POLICY QUESTIONS FOR THE A.G.M. SITUATION AT KODAK THE CINEMATOGRAPH FILMS BILL FEBRUARY I 957 Association of Cinematograph, Television and allied Technicians Vol. 23 No. 146 PRICE 6d. . 18 • •' . FILM & TV TECHNICIAN February 1957 * NO NEED TO LOOK TWICE . . , ... once is sufficient to see the noticeable improvement in all films when masked printed by Colour Film Services Limited—Britain's biggest 16 MM Kodachrome laboratory. 22-25 PORTMAN CLOSE • BAKER STREET • LONDON • W.l. Telephone: Hunter 0408-9 QQQQOQOQQOQQQQOQQQQQQQQGOQQ|jQQQOQQqqqqoDQQDQQQQQDQGDQQQOQQ!jQ!jQ!jQ(j!jIjIjOQQE of Modecrt Aft Tfcfr K^ittitft February 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 19 THE ANNUAL GENERALTMEETING THE Annual General Meeting, This year's A.G.M. comes at a to the fact that the B.B.C. still -*- which will be held at the Beaver time when the future of the British refuses to recognise A.C.T.T. in the Hall, Garlick Hill, Cannon Street, film industry is under debate in Television field and asks for the E.C.4, on Saturday, 9th March, and Parliament and it is therefore not wholehearted support of members Sunday, 10th March, is the one surprising that the agenda should in any action that may be deemed great opportunity which every contain a number of resolutions necessary for the establishment of member of A.C.T.T. has to express designed to ensure the healthy trade union standards in this field his views on Union policy and to growth of the industry, with a of work. help in the shaping of that policy consequent increase in security for In the name of the General for the ensuing year. all trade unionists working in it. Council, too, there is a composite These resolutions include a call We hope that all members who resolution dealing with the effects upon the government to revise its can possibly do so will seize that of Government policy on the living policy toward the cinema in order opportunity and come, ready with standards of trade unionists in to ensure generous and imagina- their views and any constructive general. This motion protests in tive sponsorship of documentary criticisms that they may have to strong terms against the increased films to make known at home and offer so that the incoming General under the National Health abroad the problems and achieve- charges Council can tackle its task in 1957 Service, the increased cost of ments of the British people. with a full knowledge of what is in transport and the new Rents Bill. Another resolution calls for the our members' minds. In this way resolution instructs the incom- establishment of a National Film The the Union leadership will be enor- Unit under a National Film Board. ing General Council to take all mously strengthened for such to resist any The establishment of a National necessary steps struggles as may lie ahead. attempt to reduce living standards Film Circuit is also called for. The nation's In one direction in particular the setting up of a fourth circuit has as a means of solving the A.G.M. of 1957 is breaking new for long been part of the policy of economic problems. ground. For the first time a A.C.T.T. and the other unions con- What we have outlined above special effort is being made to see cerned with the film industry. are some of the more important that A.C.T.T. shops in the Midlands items which A.G.M. will have shall be adequately represented. Naturally the agenda paper before it for debate. There are This is a direct outcome of the carries a number of resolutions many others which closely touch growing importance of our Tele- dealing with Television. One, in the interests of every member of vision membership and special the name of the General Council, the Union. March 9th and 10th arrangements are therefore being reaffirms A.C.T.T.'s policy of will provide you with the oppor- made for transport and accommo- lOCr membership in the appro- tunity of doing your part to see dation for members who are able priate grades in Television. It that those interests are protected. to make the journey from the also draws the attention of the Midlands to London. Postmaster General and the T.U.C. REMEMBER THOSE DATES. This is Urgent A.G.M. PROVINCIAL MEMBERS' REPRESENTATION Accommodation is still urgently required for provincial Television members attending the Annual General Meeting. The Executive Committee therefore appeal to all members in the London area who are in a position to do so to offer such accommodation. Please advise Head Office without delay, either through your Shop Steward, by telephone to Gerrard 8506, or alternatively by completing the form below and posting it to Head Office, 2 Soho Square, London, W.l, staring whether you can accommodate one or more members for the night of Saturday, 9th March, 1957. To Association of Cinematograph, Television and allied Technicians, 2 Soho Square, London, W.l. I can accommodate (number of members) for the night of Saturday, 9th March, 1957. (NAME) (Telephone number ) (ADDRESS) 20 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN February 1957 Our A.G.M. Guest STEPHEN SWINGLER, M.P. IT is said that one of the features returns three or four years ago questions which stirred things up which most impresses the foreign and came to the conclusion they most effectively. visitor to this country is question- time in the House of Commons. The subsequent successful prose- Any visitor there at that time will cution of defaulters and the decline almost inevitably see Stephen in quota defaulters, particularly Swingler, Labour member for New- among some of the larger cinemas, castle-under-Lyne, pressing Cabinet are in most people's minds attribut- Ministers on a variety of subjects, able to the campaign started by for he is one of the most regular Messrs. Wyatt and Swingler and and persistent of Parliamentary carried on by Stephen Swingler questioners. after Woodrow Wyatt's General Election defeat. A.C.T.T. knows him through films, but the film industry is only It was the start of this cam- one of the many subjects in which paign which brought A.C.T.T. in he takes an expert interest. touch with Stephen Swingler and since then we have had the friend- The usual two guesses for his liest possible contact. We are there- interest in films are both wrong. fore particularly glad that he has He was not lobbied by his brother been able to accept the General Humphrey of Green Park Produc- Council's invitation to be the guest tions, nor was he approached by speaker at our 24th Annual Gen- A.C.T.T. eral Meeting, and we are sure his attendance will be added induce- The reason is much simpler. ment to members to be present on Woodrow Wyatt—now no longer a were excessive and that the Board the second day of the Meeting, Member of Parliament—and he of Trade were doing little about it. Sunday, 10th March, when he will were looking at the published quota They therefore tabled a series of be speaking to us. VONT fofaCF AffTEcfiioa You, <» WUflTtv^K. RAM. VVlLL ^ :Dii>Co^>SkD A I Oil ! : February 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 21 KODAK AMONG the many resolutions on met the management to pursue last five years, have failed to imple- the agenda of our Annual Gen- grievances arising from job evalua- ment the holiday allowance operat- eral Meeting will be one from tion. It is not uncommon to find ing in the Film Laboratories, i.e., Humphries Laboratories on the rates decreased after an assess- three weeks' holiday after ten question of Trade Union recogni- ment. years' service. With the exception tion at Kodak Ltd. This again will of certain grades, Kodak employees focus the attention of our member- By have to complete twenty-five years' ship on the attitude of this Ameri- service with the company before can firm whose persistence in re- becoming entitled to three weeks' fusing to negotiate with the Trade Bessie Bond holiday. Unions continues. Under our Laboratory agreement How much do other sections of all holiday and sickness benefits our membership really know about for permanent shift workers are this giant company, who employ The company find it extremely calculated on premium rates. But over 7,000 workers on film, sensi- profitable to employ people on at Kodak both holiday and sickness tised plates, paper and camera night work. Under the A.C.T.T. benefits are based on flat rates production ? agreement with the Film Labora- although the company could well tory Association night work is afford to implement these benefits Kodak Ltd. can be classified paid at time-and-a-half, but our already enjoyed under A.C.T.T. under the heading of reasonable employers who concede pension members at Kodak receive only a agreements. rights, profit sharing, bonuses, social facilities, etc. to their em- ployees. However, experience in the Trade Union movement has taught us that concessions given in the absence of negotiated agree- ments can also be taken away. These concessions can never be a substitute for Trade Union repre- sentation and recognition. Wage Rates Wage rates at Kodak are not determined by the practice gener- ally accepted throughout British industry, i.e., through negotiation with the Trade Unions. They are established by a system of job evaluation. Periodical assessments are car- ried out by the company's " Inde- pendent Evaluation Officers ", and at times it happens that as a result of these assessments dissatisfac- tion arises even if increased rates are awarded One case was that of a Film NO' NO' A THOUSAND HMEf NO Dryer who had succeeded in pass- ing a departmental examination and had accepted promotion as a meagre allowance of 7/- per night Under the Government Contract Film Tester (a grade carrying a above their normal day rate. Law any employer working on Gov- higher basic rate). On the next ernment Contracts, as Kodak do, company evaluation, the Film On this issue alone our members must recognise the right of their Dryer rate was increased to sur- have distributed over 2,000 leaflets employees to join their appropriate pass that of a Film Tester. This which met with favourable res- union. Kodak Ltd. are obliged to meant that the individual con- ponse at the factory and assisted adhere to this ruling, but this is cerned was receiving a smaller in consolidating and recruiting where their obligation ends. It is rate than he would have received members. true that the management on cer- on his original job. Is this pro- It is significant to note that the tain occasions agree to meet us motion ? company which made, before taxa- On a number of occasions I have tion, over £12,000,000 profit in the (Continued on page 22) ! — 22 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN February 1957 people lobby their M.P.s about the Rent Bill, that Bill can be delayed and amended— but, of course, the Government considers the Rent Bill TALKING POINTS far more important than the Films Bill, so it will not be an easy fight. Talking of lobbying, the cinema (JHOP Stewards get strange ques- extra cost on to your employer owners are putting a lot of work •^ tions from their members, and assuming you are not unemployed into trying to get Entertainments they are pretty good at finding the Tax reduced in the Spring Budget. right answers. However, try this I wish them luck, but do not think one on yours and see what happens me back-handed if I qualify those —"Are you breaking the agree- By good wishes. Our colleagues, the cinema staffs in should ment if you drink coffee in the NATKE, tea break?" a get some of the benefit from a Cadmus" reduced Tax, as should the cinema This all came about because we patrons and the producers of Bri- were talking of the shortage of tish pictures. sugar which there appeared to be in some parts of Soho recently, just before the price went up. The No Calamity? manufacturers were accused of —and see what happens ! If you holding the sugar back, knowing are one of those under the Labora- It would be foolish to make any that the price was to increase, and tory, Shorts or Newsreel Agree- predictions about the Tax and the some A.C.T.T. members were won- ments who get an automatic rise Budget, but it is worth noting that, especially since cost dering whether and when they as the official cost-of-living index Suez, the high of armaments will prevent the might get an increase to compen- rises, you will find that it is so Government being very generous sate for this latest example of the arranged that it is a long time to benefits of private enterprise. after the prices have gone up in the cinemas. When owners com- the shops that you get anything plained that a number of halls were closing, they callously and then it will not be enough to were Mr. Cube " told : all compensate you fully. by Lord Mancroft We know places in which there seem Smiling on all this with his sweet If you are a feature or TV mem- to be competing cinemas on every tooth is " showing the famous Mr. ber, or working on making equip- corner, and it is little wonder that Cube " of Tate and Lyle, who ment or at Kodak, you may well in times of declining cinema atten- seem to have monopolised sugar as get a lecture on how poor your dance some of these must of neces- efficiently as Mr. Rank has films employer is and how wicked you sity close their doors. But it would " " and flour. Mr. Cube's West are for creating a wages-prices be quite wrong, I think, to see in Indian plantations had an excel- spiral. this a calamitous situation." lent year; "Mr. Cube's" own fleet of sugar ships have been packed It has been suggested that full, and he has put up the freight That other sweet pleasure cinema Entertainments Tax may charges to the refineries. And who be slightly reduced, but, to make " owns the refineries? Why, Mr. Of course, there is more to life up for this, there will be some form Cube ", who has passed on the than eating sugar, Take that other of tax on television. The argu- charges (plus a nice little extra sweet pleasure, paying your land- ment is that the Government would amount for the refineries' profits) lord his rent, for instance. not dare give the cinemas much of to you. a concession as that would en- But I shall not say much on this courage umpteen others to demand But just you try passing the topic, it as is to be aired at our similar treatment; and so it views annual general meeting on 9th and the entertainment business as a 10th March. Let me just make a single industry, and it intends : is point or two the Government juggling with the tax it gets from saying it must rush the Rent Bill different departments of that in- through Parliament because of the dustry. Damn clever, these politi- pressure of business there—exactly KODAK cians ! the same point that Lord Mancroft We all know the close business {continued) made on behalf of the Government in the House of Lords in December, links between some sections of the and listen to our point of view, but when it tried to rush the Quota film and TV worlds—Granada TV they decline to negotiate with us, section of the Cinematograph Films and Granada Theatres, for ex- or with any trade union. Bill through without proper oppor- ample, or Rank's interests in tunity for amending and discussing Cinema-Television Ltd. All this Nevertheless our for film growing it. raises again the need our strength among the key film wor- and our TV members to stick to- kers in the company is a clear and The film trade was unanimously gether, as well as the bigger ques- inspiring indication that the wor- furious about this, and the Govern- tion of Trade Union unity within kers, as a result of their own ex- ment gave in and told Stephen the entertainment industry, which periences, plus the assistance of Swingler, M.P. in the House of was considered by the T.U.C. our active members, who cease- Commons that, after all, it pro- several years ago. The latter is a lessly fight for trade union recog- posed consulting the industry on big problem that cannot be tackled nition, are learning that A.C.T.T. the future of Quota legislation. in a hurry. But there is no harm membership has plenty to offer The moral is that if enough in starting to think about it now. February 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 23 A Technician's Notebook Magnificent Photography OPINIONS about the merits of To get the effect of dusk on a stated that the Dutch firm of War and Peace as a motion winter evening a glass painting of Philips had been entrusted with the picture have varied considerably, a sky was used in front of the task of producing a suitable pro- but there has been no disagree- camera, as the wide angle lens with jector capable of showing not only ment about the magnificence of which the scene was shot covered Todd-AO 70mm. film but also the colour photography. 35mm. films shot in any of the systems in current use. In an interview with Jack By Cardiff, published in the American Stanley Bowler, who saw the Cinematographer, Derek Hill A. E. Jeakins projector demonstrated at the elicited some interesting facts Photokina in Cologne, writes about about the shooting of this huge- it in the British Journal of Photo- scale production. graphy. First about the photographic too great a field. For a sun effect Within a year of the agreement credits, which list Jack Cardiff as in the same sequence a lamp was with the American Optical Co. director of photography with addi- directed on to the sky area of the being entered into, the first tional photography by Aldo Tonti, glass painting, this combined with machines were shipped to America a leading Italian cinematographer. colour and fog filters, gave the in time for the premiere of Tonti was apparently responsible effect that Cardiff was aiming at. Oklahoma, first Todd-AO produc- tion. for some of the battle scenes and " War and Peace was in many The new Type DP70 machine all the Napoleon sequences, the ways a cameraman's holiday," is now in full production. rest of the photography was " Cardiff is quoted as saying, It As is now well known, in this handled by Cardiff. was a realistic subject and it de- system the picture is photographed This was his first picture in manded a straightforward, raw with lenses having acceptance VistaVision and before production treatment . . . the whole approach angles up to 128° on to 70mm. film. started he spent two weeks in Hollywood familiarising himself with the system. To start with, two new VistaVision cameras were flown to Rome, later four VV cameras were made available and used in photographing the three great battle scenes involving thousands of extras. Summer Snow Cardiff said that his experience on Scott of the Antarctic stood him in good stead when it came to re- creating the snow and storm effects in War and Peace. ' Re- creating ' is the right word as a large proportion of the film was shot during the height of the Italian summer. For one scene it was necessary to scatter powdered plaster over a square mile of the location to simulate the effect of frost. DUEL IN THE SNOW Sprayed Glass was deliberately broad, almost The release print carries six ' In the exterior ' snow scenes rough ". magnetic sound tracks. shot on the studio stage Cardiff used a sheet of glass sprayed white As might be expected the pro- in front of the camera plus a pale It has been announced that jector is of massive and robust green filter to produce the effect of Todd-AO will be shown in this construction. The main housing a slight mist. The duel in the country on 1st May. Readers may for the film transport mechanism snow sequence which has aroused remember that when details about is about two feet high by eighteen so much comment, was also shot this system were first given some inches from side to side and from on one of the stages at Cine Citta. two or three years ago, it was front to back. 24 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN February 1957 OUR FEARS CONFIRMED /"|UR fears that the Government Anyone who takes the trouble to We are suggesting in both cases " has no intention of accepting read the Hansard report of the that the words "United Kingdom" amendments to the new Cinemato- Lords debate will be well rewarded. shall be substituted, so as to pro- graph Films Bill have been more He will find, for instance, that the tect the employment position of than confirmed by the debates in noble lords sit only two days a A.C.T. T. and other Union members. the House of Lords during the week, one day from 2.30 to 7 p.m. Committee stage. Not only have and on the other from 3 to 7.30 Lord Farringdon tabled the all amendments been refused, but p.m. Although these working appropriate amendments in the the Government spokesman has hours compare favourably with the House of Lords for this purpose, made it clear that there is no in- A.C.T.T.-B.F.P.A. Agreement, it is but the Government strongly resis- tention at this stage to permit instructive to note that in addition ted them. changes in the all-important Part also suggest that a further Three of the Bill which deals with We definition be the continuation of the Quota pro- added to the effect that for a film to be " " visions. British the By makers must ensure that not less This part of the Bill confines it- than 95 per cent of the laboratory self to a simple extension of the processing costs shall be incurred existing Act. Now this Act is ten Ralph Bond with a laboratory in the United years old, and much experience has Kingdom. been gained on its operation during this period, and many weaknesses An amendment to secure this have been discovered. It was hoped new provision was also tabled by that these could be corrected in the to the Cinematograph Films Bill Lord Farringdon, but met with a similar fate. new Act, and it is quite monstrous their lordships also found time to for the Government to railroad consider, during these arduous What other changes do we their Bill through both Houses of working hours, the Hastings Tram- want? All the Unions are now Parliament without opportunity for ways Bill, the Dentists' Bill, the agreed that Renters' Quota should change and amendment. Ghana Independence Bill, Egypt, be restored. I mentioned in and the Public Trustee (Fees) Bill! As my article last month, this It is not as if A.C.T.T. alone is was origin- ally an integral part of the objecting to this course. For once " Act, " I am Getting Tired the whole industry appears to be but was dropped in 1948. At that united on the fact that changes are time, A.C. r.T. and others, were All this hard obviously had confident that British films could needed, even if views differ, as they work effect at last their must do, as to what changes are an on Lord Mancroft, the stand on own feet, and desirable. Government spokesman on the consequently we did not oppose the Films Bill; at one stage he said: elimination of the Renters' Quota " I should like to finish the Bill on provisions. Joint Protest Tuesday night because 1 am get- in last ting a little tired of it ". To which Events the ten years have All the Trade Unions and the Lord Lucas, Leader of the Oppo- not justified these hopes. Despite everything, share of B.F.P.A. have jointly protested to sition, very properly replied: " I our our own the Government, and so, we under- have not succeeded in one of my exhibition market is still only 30 per cent. films as stand, have many other trade amendments, but I am not tired ". Hollywood are bodies. As a result of these pro- We cannot be satisfied with the powerfully entrenched as ever, and there is obligation the tests, and in reply to a question in way the Government is forcing this no on im- the Lower House from Mr. Stephen Bill through both Houses, despite porters of these films to make any Swingler, the President of the the promises of " later consulta- British films at all. Board of Trade has been obliged to tion ". Few would disagree that many give an undertaking that later in more British films could be made, the year he will consult the Cine- The changes that A.C.T.T., in and the exhibitors are not al- matograph Films Council and all association with the other Unions, together without reason in com- sections of the industry about de- desire, are of a fundamental plaining that although they are tailed amendments to the Quota character. We want a much clearer required by law to show a fixed legislation. definition of what characterises a "British" film. At the present time percentage of British films, there Amplifying this, Lord Mancroft it is possible for a film to be made is no statutory obligation on any- said in the Lords that these dis- without any United Kingdom tech- one to make them. There is there- cussions will begin just as soon as nicians being employed, and still fore a powerful argument for a the present Bill, and regulations qualify for British Quota. new Renters' Quota which would made under it, are completed with oblige all the importers of foreign requires that to a view to legislation as soon as The present Act films to make or acquire a pro- " British " film must, possible after that. be a among portion of British products. other things, be made in a studio In the meantime the Government within Her Majesty's Dominions, The Government will resist this will use its powers to get the pre- and that a required percentage of proposal because it will cause sent Bill on the Statute Book, un- the labour costs involved shall be offence to Hollywood, and will, altered. paid to British subjects. they say. be contrary to the CINE-TECHNICIAN Index Vol. 22 - 1956 SUBJECTS Page ANGLO-AMERICAN FILM AGREEMENT 147 A.C.T. CHANGE OF NAME 43 A.C.T. COMMITTEES 61 A.C.T. FILMS Suspended Alibi 165 The Jury 21,37.76 The Last Man to Hang 133 A.G.M. Best in Our History (Editorial) 35 President's Speech 39 Report of Debate 40, 41, 42, 43 BERNARD SHAW CENTENARY 123 B.F.P.A. AGREEMENT , 52 BOOK REVIEWS American Cinematographer Handbook 138 Commercial Television Year Book 58 Elsevir's Dictionary of Cinema, Sound and Music 185 Hi-Fi Loudspeakers and Enclosures 138 How Films Are Made 125 How to Write Film Comedies 58 Kemps TV Directory 138 Sunshine and Champagne 165 Sunshine and Shadow 155 CAMERA COLUMN 5, 22, 60, 72 CAMERA OF 1910 86 CHAPLIN, CHARLES, LIFE MEMBERSHIP 90 CINEMA'S DIAMOND JUBILEE t 88 CINE TECHNICIAN, CHANGE OF NAME 188 CO-OPERATIVE MOVEMENT 118, 136 DERMATITIS 5, 42 168 DYNAMIC FRAME TECHNIQUE 102 ELVIN, GEORGE 21st Anniversary I.. \3 The Early Days 6, 7 " " Birthday Party 7, 14 " Twenty-one Years," by Harold Myers 8, 9, 10, 11 Illness 148 EDITORIALS Without Prejudice 3 We are Not Alone 19 Best A.G.M. in Our History 35 The Cost of Living 51 " Not bloody likely " 67 A Policy for British Films 83 Some Basis for a Policy 115 Prepare for these debates 163 Not Good Enough ? 179 FILM AND TV ROUND-UP 13, 29, 45, 59, 70 FILM STATISTICS 185 FILMING ROUND THE WORLD, Talk by S.r Arthur Elton 54 GENERAL COUNCIL IN SESSION 28, 75, 92, 107, 124, 140, 157, 172, 188 GENERAL SECRETARY WRITES 4, 20, 52, 68, 69, 100 GOVERNMENT AND FILMS 115, 163^ 179 GUIDE TO BRITISH FILM MAKERS 15, 30, 46, 62, 63, 77, 78, 94, 95, 109, 110, 127. 142, 158, 159 HUMPHRIES' NEW LABORATORY 53 HUNGARY FUND 190 LABORATORIES Lab Topics 5, 22. 36, 56, 69, 70, 87, 105, 126, 148, 168, 187 Case for New Agreement 100 George Humphries—a Correction 171 Humphries' New Laboratory 53 Letter on 21st Anniversary Ig5 New Agreement Accepted 181 Pioneers Remember 153 President Congratulates Labs 147 Proposals for Lab Agreement 92 Twenty-one Years of Struggle 150 Why Labs want a New Agreement 73 Page LABOUR PARTY CONFERENCE 169 MANCHESTER TV RECRUITING 55 NATIONAL FILM FINANCE CORPORATION 67 OBITUARIES Arthur Barnes 181 George Burgess 58 Arthur Dent 106 George Gresty 171 Sir Alexander Korda 23 Erin Lindegaard 37 Billy Russell ..." 181 F. A. Teather 172 OBSERVER FILM EXHIBITION 103 ORGANISER'S PAGE 12, 27, 44, 55, 74, 92. 125. 139, 156. 167. 183 PARIS STOCKTAKING 104 PETROL RATIONING 183, 188 RANK ORGANISATION REPORT 149 "RUSHES". By " Focus " 186 SHAW, BERNARD, CENTENARY 123 SHORTS & DOCUMENTARY SECTION 11. 57, 75, 91, 101, 135. 156. 169. 182 TECHNICIANS' CREDITS. See Guide to British Film Makers TECHNICIANS NOTEBOOK 11. 21, 38. 71. 72. 86. 122. 134. 164. 180 TELEVISION How we get on the air 117 ITV—a Policy for Balance 170 Time, Space and the I.T.A 99 TV Branch Formed 157 TV Producers' and Directors' Dance 157 TV Producer-Directors' Section 106, 155 Twenty Years of Television 184 TRADE UNION TALKS IN ROME 116 THREE EXPERIMENTAL FILMS 26 "THREE-HEADED EDITOR REQUIRED" , 24 TRADES UNION CONGRESS REPORT 131 U S. FILM SQUEEZE IN JAPAN 83, 84 TRADE UNIONS' POLICY FOR BRITISH FILMS 85 WORKERS' EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 166 AUTHORS BESWICK, FRANK, M.P. Co-ops in Action 136 They Started a Revolution 118 BOND, RALPH National Film Finance Corporation Report 67. 68 Observer Film Exhibition 103 BOWER, DALLAS. Twenty Years of Television 184 BRUNEL, C. Five Shillings a Day Holiday 133 They Start on April Fool's Day 185 U.S. Film Squeeze in Japan 85 COOPER, ALF. Lab Topics 22, 56. 69. 87. 105. 126. 148. 168 187 COX, STEVE. Shorts & Documentary Section Report 11. 57. 75. 91, 101, 135. 156. 169 182 DAVIS, DESMOND. Time, Space and the I.T.A 99 DICKINSON, THOROLD. Paris Stocktaking 104 ELTON, Sir ARTHUR. Filming Round the World (talk) 54 ELVIN, GEORGE and BOND, RALPH. T.U.C. Report 131 ELVIN, GEORGE and WHEELER, CHARLES. Trade Union Talks in Rome 116 "FOCUS". Rushes 186 GREEN. ERNEST. Sorry—It's Education 166 HARDY, FORSYTH. Years of Constant Struggle 88 HARRIS, LOUIS. Three-headed Editor Required 24 JEAKINS, A. E., Technician's Note Book 11, 21, 38. 71. 72. 86. 122 LAUNDER, FRANK. Sir Alexander Korda 23 LEWIS, MORTON. Film and TV Round-up 13. 29. 45. 59. 70 McLEOD, LEWIS. Dynamic Frame Technique 102 MIDDLETON, H. T. Labour Party Conference 169 Organiser's Page 12. 27, 44. 55. 74. 92. 125. 139. 156. 167. 183 MILROY, VIVIAN. How we get on the air 117 MYERS, HAROLD. Twenty-one Years 8 ORNA. B. and E. Camera of 1910 86 TWIST. DEREK. Rank Organisation Report 149 WHEELER, CHARLES and ELVIN. GEORGE. Trade Union Talks in Rome 116 WHITTEMORE, BILL. Why Labs Want a New Agreement 73 — February 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 25 Geneva and Havana Agreements on Tariffs and Trade. Our concern Shorts and Documentary Section is not with these Conventions, but with providing the means for a big expansion of the British film pro- U duction industry, and if G.A.T.T. FILMS WE MAKE" prevents this, it is up to the Gov- ernment to get tough. France and Italy are parties to G.A.T.T. but their Governments can find ways STEVE COX WRITES : is a vast number of productions and means to help their film in- I sure that our Section churned out with a monotonous dustries. Why can't ours? am Com- mittee and all the members who voice, droning on and on. have attended will agree that our Well, now I know that if and Up to AH of Us shows on the Films We Make are when I ever become a Producer giving great satisfaction. no comments, please! —I shall the time you read this article By want a good sponsor, give my the debate in the House of Lords Our second show. People, Not director plenty of time on the will have concluded, and the Bill Things, at the Mezzanine Theatre, treatment and script, not too long, will have had its third reading. Shell Mex House, was even better though, and I shall want good dis- it will go to the House of attended than the first. Now tribution to get the sponsor's Commons for the same procedure. The first film shown, Thursday's money back. Children, was introduced Direc- It is important that every effort by On behalf of the Committee I tor Brenton, also be made to challenge in the Com- Guy who wrote would like to thank all those who mons the Government's arbitrary the script. He explained how, un- attended and made the show the sponsored, the Unit set out to por- attitude. success it was. tray the teaching of deaf children, So please write or, better, see whose ages range from four to to Middle your M.P. Even if you don't like seven years, and how, when funds Rushed East writing letters this is the one were exhausted, Jimmy Carr of Now for an item of news. I re- occasion when your own personal World Wide Pictures stepped into cently met Director George Sturt, interests are vitally affected. It's the breach and sponsored the film out in Ceylon for four and up to all of us. through the editing, dubbing and who was a half years working for the Ceylon final stages. Government. Two months after his Guy went on to say that the film return here he was lushed off to won an Oscar in 1954. It repre- the Middle East to direct Jack sented Britain at the 1954 Venice Howell's picture Journey from the Death of Festival and was awarded a prize East. in Edinburgh. Yet after all this Jack wrote the script and pro- the big circuits refused to book it. Percy duced the film, Cyril Arapoff was Hermes However, eventually it was booked Cameraman, and Terry Trench was and shown at the Granadas. the Editor. I believe these have The sudden death of Percy The second film, Continuous been mentioned in this column be- Hermes wili come as a shock to Observation, was written and fore, so I will add that Jack, who all who knew his lovable and directed by Margaret ("Tommy") was in hospital is back in his pro- amusing personality. Thomson for Basic Films and spon- ducers' chair. Cyril is due back sored by the Ministry from the Gold Coast shortly and Percy entered the industry with of Health for the training of nurses in mental Terry, to my knowledge, is ^till Henry Edwards at Teddington health. basking in the Australian sun. Studios in 1931, remaining when Warner Bros, took over. When war broke out he joined Launder-Gilliatt For Nurses Productions as their Permanent Still First Assistant Director, and re- "Tommy" introduced the film, Cover mained with them for many years. explaining that it was made speci- Jimmy Edwards, as Harris, in Of late he had been engaged on ally for nurses dealing with the Three Men in a Boat, gets tough work for Douglas Fairbanks Pro- care and treatment of patients with a Zoo parrot. suffering from psychosis. The film ductions. L Still by Ray Hearne. showed the early experiences of a During his twenty-five years in young nurse training in a hospital the studios he had amassed credits for mental cases. on nearly three hundred produc- A very lively discussion followed tions. FILM & TV TECHNICIAN the showing of the films. In the His son Douglas, also an Assis- course of this the view was ex- Editor: tant Director, to whom we extend pressed that apart from sponsor- MARTIN CHISHOLM our deep sympathy, carries on the ship and distribution, both, of tradition. He has been set high course, important factors, the Editorial Office: standards by the respected and script is vital, and to make good 2 Soho Square, W.l popular Telephone: Percy who will be sorely films more time is needed at the GERrard 8506 mis'sed in those places where pic- treatment and script stages. Also, tures are Advertisement Office: made with an occasional it was urged, films should contain 5 and 6 Red Lion Sq., W.C.I laugh as well as with keen effi- the human element because people ciency. Telephone: HOLborn 4972 are interested in people, yet there 26 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN February 1957 in Prague has a back page still of Miss Diana Dors. The magazine has a more serious side with articles on films made by the Prague High School of Cinemato- graphy. A quote from the caption under a cartoon, a jaded producer " speaking : Oh, it's the same old story . . . mad scientist meets ape- girl, ape-girl throws mad scientist into volcano, werewolf bites ape- girl, elephant boy marries The winter issue of " Bulletin ", definitions, the Act states: " A daughter of vampire." organ of IATSE, our counterpart ' coloured person ' means a person in the U.S.A., throws an interest- who is not a white person or a ing light on union affairs over native, a ' white person ' means a Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. there. It seems the Sound Section person who in appearance ob- Alan Blay on the birth of a there are as much in the vanguard viously is, or who is generally daughter, Susan Ann, on 7th Feb- as here. In a large box on one accepted as a white person, but ruary. Both mother and daughter page is notice of a substantial does not include a person who, are doing well. Alan Blay is our wage increase and a cut in the although in appearance obviously deputy steward at Shepperton working week from 44 to 40 hours white, is generally accepted as a Studios, and our members there, for R.C.A. sound maintenance men. coloured person ". particularly the sound department, extend their best wishes to the The final paragraph of the notice family. would ring a bell for sound mem- Hungary It Our stills have lost an bers. refers to violations of the Members will be glad to hear, members 44-hour old friend and colleague in Frank week and asks members to following the generous response to Bourne, died recently in submit copies of their time-sheets the TUC appeal, that the Hun- who hos- when this has occurred. garian TUC has written thanking pital. He had been in bad health for some time, but before that he An item for the Television Pro- the TUC for their help. had always been an enthusiastic gramme Contractors : Seattle member of the union and parti- members of the union, helping in a Assistants ? No cularly of the stills section. He state-wide campaign to popularise joined the A.C.T.T. in 1938 and will the buying The Rank Organisation is noted of goods bearing a be remembered and missed by union label, made a brief television for its excellent publicity. Re- many old friends in the business. film on the subject. The three cently it took a half-page in The local stations showed the picture Times for an advertisement that free on their allotted public service depicted the whole production time. team from production manager to clapper-boy all standing on the Among the five new designs of set. A chart by the large photo- Christmas cards sold in 1956 ftfCU* by graph (on which several A.C.T.T. the Motion Picture Relief Fund, members were recognisable) indi- the first two selected by the judges cated the various jobs. I scrutin- were the work of the Hollywood ised the list, found there were full Scenic Artists Branch. Said their crews but for some reason or other secretary, " are proud We of our only the First Assistant Director members. They were competing was included. A film at Pinewood with art directors high-rank- and without second and third assistants Cover Competition ing ". artists of the nation . . is rare to the point of being non- existent. Result A note for the Publicity Section : When Local (818) (Publicists) held its annual party one of the guests, Redundancy First a young star, made her entrance prize of £10 10s. Od. I have been asked to reassure on a baby elephant, and Miss Jayne in the competition for our our members in Associated-Re- Mansfield attended in a miniature diffusion TV about redundancy cover leopard's skin bikini. (How new has been rumours in this company. I have " miniature " can a bikini get?) awarded to Jack Timms. it from most authoritative and re- liable sources that there are to be The second prize of South Africa no dismissals among those con- £3 3s. Od. cerned with the writing, trans- has been awarded Freedom is having a tough time mission, and distribution of memos. to Albert W. l T rry. Nine of it in many parts of the world If anything, there is likely to be entries were received and these days and not least in South an increase in this work. Africa. Skimming through the the Journal Committee pages of the I.L.O. review, usually " Young Film " packed with .such information as would like to thank all " " the fact that Afghanistan has rati- I have a copy of Young Film entrants fur the high fied one ILO convention since that before me, a new publication put standard of work sub- body's formation in 1919, I came out by the International Union of across the following piece of Students, and meant for young mitted. vicious legal jargon from the South people working in or interested in African Industrial Relations Act films. It is an interesting develop- 1956. In the section dealing with ment when a magazine published — February 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 27 Lab Topics RADIANT • TECHNICOLOR • OLYMPIC OUR Shop Steward at Radiant Olympic Labs have been more or frozen assets in this country could ' Color Laboratories, Slough, less on the market ' for the last not itself unfreeze sufficiently to tells us that work is still going on five years, and some four years include in that letter some pittance and that they have a hope of this ago Republic Pictures Corporation for loss of office, good will or what- laboratory remaining open. All our have-you. members who became redundant a By Let us hope that they will be short while ago have not been fixed more generous to our Paramount up with jobs yet, as there seems a Newsreel members when, by put- reluctance among some of them to ting out the final issue on 14th move from the Slough area. How- A Cooper February, they will, after twenty- ever, one has obtained employment If six years' loyal service, be putting at Pinewood Studios. themselves out of a job." The Technicolor Shop has now started the experiment of subscrip- The A.G.M. tions being stopped at source each nearly bought them up, but the Laboratory members total some- week, as agreed by the General deal never went through. Council some little while back, and thing like one-third of the member- it is felt by many of us that one Leaving the controversial side of ship of our Union. Here it comes of the biggest headaches in a large the Rank deal out of these notes lads, don't forget that 9th and 10th shop such as this is about to end. altogether, may I, as an ' Ex- March is A.C.T.T.'s 24th Annual Many of the members are really Olympian ', welcome the boys and General Meeting, and a large keen on this idea, but it is only girls of Olympic to the same pay very large—number of us should fair to report that some are not roll, if not to the same building, make a date to be there. The too happy. and pass on to them the first-hand laboratories are a really important information given to both George section of this industry, some of us The shop committee hope that as Irons and myself by Mr. Bill Har- thing the most important. That I he idea gets into full swing every- court, Managing Director of Rank may not be quite true, but to those body will realise that it is a good Laboratories, in the hope of alle- of us in the section it is important system, with more good points than viating any fears for the future that the incoming General Council bad ones. To the really good Trade that may be in their minds. shall know well in advance our Unionist, who cannot afford a requirements in the coming year. year's subscription in advance, it Olympic is to be used exclusively Only by attending the A.G.M. can certainly is a comfort to know that for Black and White processing, you make them aware of your own at all times he is in good standing all colour will be centred at Den- point of view, and that we are a with his brothers, and that the ham, leaving North Acton free to section made up of keen and reso- union is able to plan ahead and concentrate on their normal Black lute members. meet all its financial obligations and White plus the additional foot- the because its revenue, part of which age that will be sent there from Remember, laboratories over this last year or he supplies, is getting to Head Denham. This includes 16mm. as two have had a Office regularly each week. Shift well as 35mm. It is expected that tendency to decrease rather than work of members and collectors output processing at North Acton increase—getting together after the is has caused people in the past to will be so increased as to make it event too late—we have got be weeks in arrears many times possible that we shall have to in- to find an answer to maintaining per year. This will now not be crease the staff; redundancy at continued employment for us all possible. Olympic is certainly not contem- now, and only by getting together plated. The jobs there are safe. as often as possible can the best Mr. Harcourt further told us that methods and ideas be obtained. A Weeks of Rumour virile it was intended to have key per- and well-supported organisa- tion is by far the best weapon After many weeks of rumour it sonnel from Olympic spend some when meeting opposition to any is now a fact our lads at Olympic time at Denham and vice-versa. schemes or ideas that an organisa- are under the Rank banner. Sid In that way each will get to know tion such as ours is trying to put Bremson, who has worked with and find out how the other operates. into effect. both sets of Lab boys, and at the I understand that a letter ter- moment, as you all probably know, minating their employment by is working at the Rank Labora- Paramount has been received by tories, Denham, reports the follow- all personnel working at Olympic Suspended Alibi ing: and Paramount take the oppor- " The taking over of Olympic tunity of thanking members for A.C.T. Films latest completed Kinematograph Laboratories by their long and loyal service, but production. Suspended Alibi, reference to gratia the Rank Organisation on 4th Feb- make no an ex commences a full Odeon Cir- ruary brings the flood of rumours payment for that loyal service. It cuit release on 25th February. which have been circulating for the might well be that this great last month or two to an end. American company with all its 28 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN February 1957 fore, it is very much the business Letters to the Editor beginning to do without them. of A.C.T. T. to be concerned about Therefore, for aesthetic reasons what its members help to produce our newsreel and laboratory mem- for the cinema and cathode ray bers are suffering economically. IS IT OUR BUSINESS? screens of the country. But I think there is a further point as well : there I should like to take up Vivian This argument is well illustrated always seems Milroy's estimation that Unions, or by the case of the cinema news- to me to be very much more satis- our Union, should not criticise TV reels, which in their presentation faction in turning out a good and " programmes because such mat- have for a number of years been worthwhile product, whether it be newsreel, feature ters might be said to be outside the extremely conservative (in the TV programme, ". province of Trade Unionism political sense of the word, too, or short, because both as indivi- duals and as Union members we My annoyance is not that unions incidentally); they are very old- like to feel proud of what we do. should take up very earnestly the fashioned in their choice of sub- ject and in their treatment of these art of public relations, for that is Yours faithfully, what it is, but that our trade union subjects, and this has been one of movement doesn't even know the the major reasons why cinemas are Christopher Brunei. subject, and that to its detriment. As Vivian Milroy will agree, it's the trade union movement which protects and advances the real social and economic interests of General Council in Session the people. Yet on such public relations we are asked to mind our own business. Various American unions have shown their maturity when TAKE-OVER BY RANK they express their organised be- liefs, not merely through simple press statements or even television, KAY AND OLYMPIC LABS AND an early meeting with the manage- but through films, such as Brother- PARAMOUNT NEWS. The Acting ment to ascertain their intentions, General Secretary reported that and if the intention is to dispense hood of Man (Automobile Workers' Union). The Japanese unions the Manager of Kay Laboratories with the services of any of our (N.U.T. & E.T.U.) have campaigned had been in touch with him re- members we should press for some the processing for their members and citizens garding the ban on form of remuneration by the com- of for the B.B.C. which pany equivalent to the alike, against the H-bomb tests by Sportsmen) what mem- sponsoring and producing films on had originated at Olympic. Sub- bers concerned would have obtained sequently had issued a press pension scheme been the subject. Kay's had a statement on the matter. Strong operated. I brief examples show hope my rumours of a take-over of Olympic The Council was told that Para- is principle of that there a impor- Laboratories and Paramount News mount refused to meet A.C.T.T. tance at stake here, especially in by the J. Arthur Rank Organisa- and discuss compensation for Para- these days the offensive is when tion were reported, and in view of mount News staff, and it was the basic rights of trade against the problems created, not only in agreed to reply that it was our unionism, which at least I trust regard to our members at Olympic duty to protect our membership Vivian Milroy accepts. over the processing of Sportsview, and we reserved the right to take but other problems which might There are a growing number of any action in the matter; it was arise including redundancy if the prepare case in people would restrict the in- also agreed to a who rumours proved correct, the Exe- terests of Trade Unions to purely conjunction with our newsreel cutive Committee authorised Head public campaign working conditions. members for a Office to take whatever action over Paramount's refusal to dis- As to whether the actual Press appeared necessary. cuss the problem with the Union. statement in question was correct It was also agreed that the or at fault I do not know. But I Legislation Committee should con- SPORTSVIEW. After considerable do agree that our General Council sider at an early date the whole discussion of the situation on should issue such statements if it problem of the Rank Organisation Sportsvieiv it was agreed that the considers it in the interests of our in relation to the Monopolies Act. material for this programme could Organiser the members and the public. Subsequently an saw go to any British laboratory pre- Manager of Olympic Labs together Yours sincerely, pared to pay the rates negotiated with the Shop Steward when the with A.C.T.T., instead of being sent Lewis McLeod. changeover to the Rank Organisa- abroad for processing. The tion was confirmed (see page 27). Manager of Rank Laboratories, Denham, was reported as saying PARAMOUNT NEWS. The Exe- that as far as he could see, the take-over of Olympic would not re- cutive Committee also considered Vivian Milroy in his article redundancy, but he Paramount News, where the mem- sult in any seems to forget that the film and could not guarantee this. The bers have all been in the company's I'V industries are more than just Council instructed Head Office to service for many years and most businesses—they arc arts as well. seek guarantees for any members of them are near retirement age, shifted one lab to another. Whether they are healthy or not although they are not covered by from depends on artistic as well as on any pension scheme. It was agreed economic factors, and very often that the Acting General Secretary BRITISH ACOUSTIC. The Shop the two are linked. Surely, there- and the Organiser should press for Steward, Bob Langdon, reported to February 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 29 the Council that the company had and now hoped that under all the suggested by the Shorts and Docu- declared a 20 % redundancy with circumstances their case would be mentary Section. effect from the following week on given special consideration. The the grounds of trade recession in Shop Steward, Derek Knight, was RECORDING DIALOGUE ON the home and overseas markets. in attendance at the Executive and CHILDREN'S FILMS. A long The A.C.T.T. and A.E.U. members made additional points, which he memorandum had been drawn up in the factory had immediately de- felt should be considered with by the A.S.F.P., following a nego- clared an overtime ban (except for some sympathy in view nf the good tiating meeting with them, which maintenance) and had passed a relations which existed with Tech- was considered by the E.C. It was resolution saying that there should nical and Scientific and their good agreed that it be referred to the be a 4-day week in place of re- record to date as far as strict Sound Section for its detailed com- dundancy; the company had turned application of the Shorts Agree- ments as a matter of urgency, this down. Paddy Leech was in- ment is concerned. The Executive and then reported back to the E.C. structed to take up the matter Committee agreed that: immediately, and the Council re- RESOLU- solved to congratulate the B.A. (a) The work should not be A.G.M. EMERGENCY TION. The Laboratories Com- Shop on its action to combat re- blacked on this occasion but mittee, having considered the take- dundancy, to assure the members the company should be given of Olympic Labs by the Rank of the Council's support and to a firm warning that on no over Organisation, recommended the congratulate the Steward on his account would any such con- General Council of reporting of the matter. cession be made in future, tabling by the unless the request for a con- an Emergency Resolution on the cession is lodged with the contraction of laboratories and on N.S.S. LABS. Bessie Bond reported Union before any contrac- monopolies. This was agreed, and that the company was being diffi- tual arrangements with the Laboratories Committee was cult about operating the recent clients are entered into. asked to prepare research material Laboratory increase. The manage- for the use of the Union. ment said they were in a different (b) Those members who were category from other laboratories aware of what was being; MEETINGS BETWEEN BFPA who depend on outside customers done and said nothing until AND THREE UNIONS. Bert their return from location to give them work. They existed Craik and Charles Wheeler re- entirely on their own and the lab. should be reprimanded and ported on meetings between that was running at a loss. They have reminded they should A.C.T.T., E.T.U. and N.A.T.K.E. offered 50% of the increase. The notify Head Office im- with the BFPA on such subjects mediately anything of this Council agreed that the Organiser as the Cinematograph Bill, con- kind occurs unless they have should press for the payment of ciliation to prevent stoppages and the full increase. been advised beforehand interruptions of production, enter- that such departure a from tainment tax, spread-over of pro- the provisions of the Shorts INDUSTRY TRAINING duction, a proposed Casualisation SCHEME. Agreement has been ap- Bert Craik reported on Fund for employees on the film pro- a letter proved. received from the British Film duction side of the industry, and the reduction in cinema atten- Academy, requesting a meeting to (c) A letter of thanks should be dances. The reports were endorsed consider the possibility of reviving sent to the Editor for his with thanks to A.C.T.T.'s represen- a training scheme in the industry. keen attention to the prin- tatives. After considerable discussion the ciple involved and to the E.C. agreed to appoint representa- Shop Steward for drawing tives to the meeting and to ask the our attention to the matter. Academy for copies of the paper which they have prepared. The representatives were mandated to KODAK—APPROACH TO THE make clear to the Academy repre- MANAGEMENT. It was agreed Camera Hire sentatives the various reservations that the recommendation of the A.C.T.T. has on the question of a Kodak members should be imple- (1) NEWMAN SINCLAIR— Mirror Shutter. training scheme. All Cooke Lenses including Series 2., mented and Head Office should 2Smm., f.1.7. SINGLE FRAME EXPOSURE request a meeting with the and Electric Motor Drive. (Available fully adapted for CINEMASCOPE if required.) TECHNICAL AND SCIENTIFIC Management. FILMS. (2) NEWMAN SINCLAIR— Mirror Shutter. A problem had arisen Cooke Lenses and 24mm. Angineux Retro- over non-synchronous sound effects AFFILIATIONS. It was agreed focus. for a 16mm. Kodachrome film, to continue affiliation to the Film (3) NEWMAN SINCLAIR— Model G. Al 1 Caribou, being for made Priestman Industry Sports Association, the Cooke Lenses. SINGLE FRAME EXPOSURE and Electric Drive if required. Company Ltd. for non- Film Industry Employees' Council and Motor theatrical use. The Shop Steward and the National Federation of Kingston Tubular and Vinten Light Gyro confirmed that the company had Professional Workers. It was also Tripods. been experiencing undercutting by agreed to affiliate to the Man- other firms, which are not mem- chester and Salford Trades Council LOCATION bers of the A.S.F.P. and do not on the basis of 90 local members operate the Shorts Agreement. On at the cost of 30/- per annum. CAMERA DOLLYS this particular film the clients in- Metal construction, pneumatic tyres, drop- sisted on sound effects of their down jacks, lightweight tracks, etc. cranes at work without being pre- TV COMPANIES' CUT RATES, pared to pay the price of the re- It was agreed that Head Office S. SAMUELSON cording with an A.C.T.T. crew. should write to the A.S.F.P., re- W. However, Technical and Scientific questing an early meeting to dis- FINchley I 595 went ahead on their clients' terms cuss some form of joint action, as 30 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN February 1957 approximately three times more than his British counterpart's. Also, I am told American writers Did You Know ? have insisted on all credits on all forms of advertisements. I hope readers will hear replies this " CincmaScopc installations have Also, it appears plans are afoot on score from the appropriate reached their saturation point prac- for a co-production. Producer Akos section. tically everywhere . . . 17,561 in the Rathonyi wants to make Zsigmond U.S. and Canada, and 21,792 over- Moricz's novel " Sarany " using a For H.P. Payers Only seas." — Spyros Skouras (20th Cen- cast of English, American and As H.P. is on the increase tury Fox President). Hungarian actors. in this country and likewise short time and unemployment, I should like to British Chimneys Honoured Attention, all screenwriters! pass on this tale from an American Every national film industry is Trade journal : Two Hungarian film makers, on the lookout for successful plays, Union Istvan documentary producer Simar scripts and budding new writers. A young lady, several payments and cameraman Janos Badal, were This great need is showing itself behind on her fur coat, received in recently to film in colour London in percentages. the following letter from the their State Song and Dance En- " Finance Company : What would semble. A recent analysis made by the your neighbours think if we found N.F.F.C. on production costs re- During their five-week visit they it necessary to come and repossess have also been shooting the usual veals that only 4.5 per cent is allo- your fur coat?" cated for story and script. In London material of Big Ben, Hyde A few days later the company Hollywood the figure is around 12 Park, Soho, etc. But while in Dover received the following reply from to 15 per cent of the whole cost. they became suddenly intrigued " the young lady : I have taken up " by the uniformity of the houses Now I wonder why this is so? the matter with my neighbours as with chimneys of so many different Could it be that our American you suggested and they all think ". types So now British chimneys Screenwriters' Union are better it would be a lousv trick ". have been honoured on film in a organised and generally are more future Hungarian " Chimney Re- on the ball? I gather that the view ". screenwriter's rate of fees is Lewis McLeod A COMPLETE LABORATORY SERVICE PRODUCTION FILM PROCESSING & RUSH PRINTING TITLES • OPTICALS • INSERTS • SPECIAL EFFECTS ANIMATED DIAGRAMS • EDITING • NEGATIVE CUTTING FILMLETS AND FILM STRIPS IN B & W AND COLOUR STU DIO FILM LABORATORIES L 71 DEAN STREET, LONDON, W.I TELEPHONE: GERRARD 1365-6-7-8 REVIEW YOUR FILMS AT OUR R.C.A. PREVIEW THEATRE February 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 31 -'" "-•'•' ::<: . -;.;.;.;. ..-.---..-.v.-.-.v.-.v.-,;.;.:.;.;.:.:.;. ;...;. ./...... G E VAERT SOUND RECORDING FILMS The remarkable increase in sales of Gevaert Sound Films for variable area recording, S.T.4 and S.T.6, is easy to understand. Each in its class is outstandingly good and will give you better cancellation, better high frequency response, and will enable you to work at lower lamp currents. 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Telephone: Hunter 0408-9 GGGOGGGGOGOGGGGOGGOGGGGGGGGGGOGGGGGGGGGGGOOGGGOGGGGGGGGGCGGGGGGGCGGGGGGE -; ; : 957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN SUPPLEMENT of McAfee llii a Rr PModcai GjifT/e to British Film Makers ODONGO Production Department: Production Camera Department: Lighting Camera- Manager and/or Unit Production man, Geoffrey Unsworth; Camera Kear o/ Production: 1955. Manager, John Pellatt ; 1st Assistant Operator, Jack Atcheler: 1st Camera Studio: M.G.M. Director, Douglas Hermes; 2nd Assistant (Focus), John Alcott Laboratory : Technicolor. Assistant Director, Peter Price; 3rd Other Camera Assistants, M. Wilson. Producing Company: Warwick Film Assistant Director, David Tringham; Sound Department: Recordist (Mixer), Productions Ltd. Continuity, Olga Brook; Production Geoffrey Daniels; Sound Camera Executive Producer: Islin Auster. Secretary, Sheila O'Donnell. Operator, C. Arnold; Boom Operator. Producer: Max Varnel. Stills Department: Still Cameraman, Pat Wheeler; Boom Assistant, A. E. Stars: Macdonald Carey. Rhonda Norman Hargood. Carverhill; Dubbing Crew, Gordon K. Fleming, Eleanor Summerfield, Juma. Special Processes: Scenic Artists, McCallum, Ted Karnon, C. le Mes- Francis de Wolff. Basil Manning, Wally Veevers, surier; Music, Ted Drake. Directors: John Gilling, Michael For- George Samuels. Art Department: Art Director, Jack long (2nd Unit). Publicity Department: Publicity Direc- Maxsted; Assistant Art Director Scenarists: Islin Auster, John Gilling. tors, Kenneth Green, Victor Betts. (Set), Arthur Taksen; Draughtsmen. Camera Department: Lighting Camera- Harry Pottle (Chief), Peter Lamont, Ford; Camera Bob Cartwright, men, Ted Moore, Fred Ramsay Short : Operator, Ernie Day; 1st Camera Dress Designer, Eleanor Abbey. Assistants (Focus), Peter Hall, Ceri Editing Department: Editor, John Davies; Other Camera Assistants, IT'S A WONDERFUL WORLD Guthridge; Assembly Cutter, James Kelvin Pike, Neil Gemmell ; Second Kelly; Other Assistants, Richard Camera Operator, Fred Ford. Year of Production : 1956. Woodworth, Maureen Howard; Dub- Sound Department: Recordist (Mixer), Studio: Shepperton Studios. bing Editor, James Groom, (Asst.) Gerry Turner; Sound Camera Opera- Laboratory: Technicolor. Gareth Bogarde. tor, Peter Day; Boom Operator, Derek Producing Company: George Minter Production Department: Production Kavanagh; Other Assistant (Main- Productions Ltd. Manager, Roy Goddard; 1st Assistant tenance), N. T. Stevenson; Dubbing Producer: J. G. Minter. Director, Bob Asher; 2nd Assistant Crew: M.G.M. Sound Crew. Associate Producer: D. O'Dell. Director, Harold Orton; 3rd Assis- Art Department: Art Director. Elliott Stars: Terence Morgan. George Cole. tant Director, Peter Carey; Con- Scott. Ted Heath, Mylene Nicole, Kathleen tinuity, Tilly Day; Production Secre- Editing Department: Supervising Edi- Harrison, James Hayter, Denis Lotus. tary, Jean Tisdall. tor, Alan Osbiston; Editor, Jack Director: Val Guest. Stills Department: Still Cameraman Slade; Assembly Cutter, Mary Russell- Scenarist: Val Guest. Harry Gillard. Wood; 1st Assistant, Philip Barnikel Camera Department: Lighting Camera- Publicity Department: Unit Publicist. Other Assistant, Alan Pattillo; Dub- man, Wilkie Cooper; Camera Opera- Bob Herrington. bing Editors, David Elliott, Geoff tor, Alan Hume; 1st Camera Assis- Lawes. tant (Focus), Godfrey Godet ; Other Production Department: Production Camera Assistant, Ronnie Anscome Manager and/or Unit Production Second Camera Operator, Ernie Manager, Henry Geddes; 1st Assis- Webb. tant Director, Douglas Twiddy; 2nd Sound Department: Recordist (Mixer), Assistant Director, Rene Dupont; 3rd Bert Ross; Sound Camera Operator, HOUSE OF SECRETS Assistant Director, Jackie Green; E. Webb; Boom Operator, Peter Dukelow; Dubbing Crew, Law, Continuity, Maisie Kelly; Production Red Year of Production: 1956. Secretary, Marguerite Green. Peter Jones, Barbara Hopkins. Studio: Pinewood. Stills Department: Still Cameraman, Art Department: Art Director, Elvin Laboratory: Technicolor. Bert Cann. Webb; Assistant Art Director, Producing Company: Maurice Fowler; Draughtsman, D. Rank Organisa- Special Processes: Cinemascope-East tion Film Productions Ltd. ; Designer, mancolor. Woolland Dress Julie Producer: Vivian Cox. Harris. Publicity Director: Euan Lloyd. Stars: Michael Craig, Julia Editing Department: Editor, John Arnall, Brenda De Banzie, David Pomeroy; 1st Assistant, R. Copple- Kossof, Geoffrey Keen, Barbara Bates. man ; Other Assistant, Alma Godfrey: Director: Green. Dubbing Editor, Chris Greenham. Guy GREEN MAN Production Scenarists: Robert Buckner, Bryan THE Department: Production Forbes. Manager and /or Unit Production Year Production: 1956. Camera Department: Lighting Camera- of Manager: A. E. Brettell ; 1st Assis- man, ; Studio: Shepperton Studios. tant Director, Gerry O'Hara; 2nd Harry Waxman Camera Opera- tor, Laboratory: Humphries. Assistant Director, Ted Sturgess; 3rd Jim Bawden ; 1st Camera Assis- Producing Company: Grenadier Pro- Assistant Director, John Kerrison tant (Focus), Alec Mills; Other ductions Ltd. Continuity, Phyllis Crocker; Produc- Camera Assistant : Ron Anscombe. Producers: Frank Launder and Sidnev Sound Department: Recordist (Mixer), tion Secretary, Phyllis Townsend. Dudley Gilliat. Stills Department: Still Cameraman, Messenger; Sound Camera Associate Producer: Leslie Gilliat. Laurie Ridley. Operator, C. Arnold : Boom Operator, Stars: Alastair Sim, George Cole, Terry Special Processes: Wally Veevers (i/c John Salter: Boom Assistant, A. E. Thomas, Jill Adams. Special Effects. Shepperton Special Carverhill; Dubbing Crew, Gordon K. Director: Robert Day. Effects Dept.—Matte—Painters). McCallum, W. Daniels, C. le Mes- Scenarists: Sidney Gilliat. Publicity Department: Publicity Direc- surier; Music, Ted Drake. Camera Department: Lighting Camera tor, Pat O'Connor. Art Department: Art Director, A. man, Gerald Gibbs; Camera Operator, Vetchinsky; Asst. Art Director (Set). Alan Hume; 1st Camera Assistant Arthur Taksen; Draughtsmen, Lionel (Focus), Godfrey Godar; Other Couch (Chief), Terry Marsh, Charlie Camera Assistant, Ian Muir. Bishop; Dress Designer, Julie Harris. Sound Department: Recordist (Mixer), JACQUELINE Editing Department: Editor, Sydney Buster Ambler; Sound Camera Hayers; Assembly Cutter, Roy Fry; Operators, Harry Tate, Jimmy Year of Production: 1956. Other Assistant, Tristram "Cones; Dooley; Boom Operator, Ken Ritchie; Studio: Pinewood. Dubbing Editor, Archie Ludski; Boom Assistant, Fred Peters; Other Laboratory: Denham. Assistant, Chris Lancaster. Assistant, Eric Vincent (Main- Producing Company: The Rpnk Production Department: Production tenance) ; Dubbing Crew, Red Law. Organisation Film Productions Ltd. Manager. H. R. R. Attwooll; 1st J. Aldred, B. Hopkins. Producer: George Brown. Assistant Director, Bob Asher; 2nd Art Department: Art Director, Wilfred Production Controller: Arthur Alcott. Assistant Director, John Oldknow; Shingleton; Assistant Art Director, Stars: John Gregson, Kathleen Ryan 3rd Assistant Director, Peter Carey; John Hoesli (Set Dresser); Draughts- Jacqueline Ryan, Cyril Cusack, Noel Continuity, Tilly Day, Susan Dyson; man, Frank Wilson; Dress Designer, Purcell. Production Secretary, Teresa Bolland. Anna Duse. Director: Rov Baker. Stills Department: Still Cameraman, Editing Department: Editor, Bernard Scenarists: Patrick Kirwan and Liani Harry Gillard. Gribble; 1st Assistant, Eric Brown; O'Flaherty. Special Processes: W. Warrington, Other Assistant, Jeremy Saunders; Additional Dialogue: Patrick Camp- F. George, S. Pearson, W. Marshall. Dubbing Editor, John Glen. bell and Catherine Cookson. Publicity Director: George Mason. : — March 1951 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN SUPPLEMENT DRY ROT ZARAK Dillon; Draughtsman, Ernest Archer; Dress Designer, Yvonne Caffin. of Production: 1956. Year of Production: 1955/56. Editing Department: Editor, Frederick Studio: British Lion Studios, Shepper- Studio: M.G.M. Studios. Elstree. Wilson; 1st Assistant, John Cooke; ton. Laboratory: Technicolor. Other Assistants, Geoffrey Fry, Paula Laboratory: Humphries. Producing Company: Warwick Film Devenish; Dubbing Editor, Roger Producing Company : Remus Films Ltd. Productions Ltd. Cherrill. Producer: Jack Clayton. Producer: Phil C. Samuel. Production Department: Production Production Supervisor: Raymond An- Stars: Victor Mature. Anita Ekberg, Manager and /or Unit Production -/.arut. Michael Wilding. Manager, R. Dennis Holt; 1st Assis- Stars: Ronald Shiner, Brian Rix, Sid- Director: Terence Young. tant Director, James H. Ware ; 2nd ney James. Associate Directors: Yakima Cannut. Assistant Director, Bert Batt : 3rd Director: Maurice Elvey. John Gilling, Richard Maibaum. Assistant Director. Pat Clayton ; Con- Scenarist: John Roy Chapman. Camera Department: Lighting Camera- tinuity, Joan Davis; Assistant Con- Cat era Department: Lighting Camera- men, John Wilcox, Ted Moore, Cyril tinuity, Penny Daniels; Production man, Arthur Grant; Camera Operator, Knowles; Camera Operators, Denys Secretary, Jean Forbes. Peter Newbrook; 1st Camera Assistant Coope, Ernest Day, Ray Sturgess; Stills Department: Still Cameraman, (Focus), Alan Hall; Other Camera 1st Camera Assistants (Focus), Ronnie Norman Gryspeerdt. Assistant (Clapper/Loader), Ronald Maasz, Alan Hall; Other Camera Publicity Director: George Mason. Drinkwater; Lighting Cameraman Assistants, Peter Hall, Cere Davies. (2nd Unit), Freddie Francis. Alf Hicks, Dickie Robinson, Alex Sound Department: Recordist (Mixer), Thompson, Roy Ford. Peter Handford; Sound Camera Sound Department: Recordists (Mixer), CHECKPOINT Operator, Jack Smart; Boom Opera- Peter Davies, Gerry Turner; Sound tor, Bill Cook; Dubbing Crew, Red Camera Operators, Al Thorne, Peter Year of Production: 1956. Law, Bob Jones, Barbara Hopkins; Day; Boom Operators, Jim Whiting, Studio: Pinewood. Sound Maintenance. C. Hunt. Derek Kavanagh; Boom Assistant, Laboratory: Rank Laboratories (Den- Art Department: Art Director, Norman Jefrey Bernard; Other Assistants ham) Limited. Arnold; Assistant Art Director and (Maintenance), E. Stoneham, Brian Producing Company: Rank Organisa- Draughtsman, W. Hutchinson. Hunter, N. T. Stephenson; Dubbing tion Film Production Limited. Editing Department: Supervising Crew, J. B. Smith, John Bramall: Producer: Betty E. Box. Editor, Ralph Kemplen; Editor, Gerry Camera Maintenance, Ron Ford. Production Controller: Arthur Alcott. Hambling; 1st Assistant, Tony Gibbs; Art Department: Art Directors, John Stars: Anthony Steele, Odile Versois, Other Assistant, Norma Bremson. Box, Bill Andrews; Assistant Art James Robertson Justice, Stanley Production Department: Production Director, Sid Cain; Draughtsmen, Baker. Manager, Robert Sterne; 1st Assistant Wallis Smith, Alec Gray, Kenneth Director: Ralph Thomas. Director, Jack Causey; 2nd Assistant Tait; Dress Designer, Phyllis Dalton. Scenarist: Robin Estridge. Director, David Bracknell; 3rd Assis- Editing Department: Supervising Camera Department : Lighting Camera- tant Director, Otto Plaschkes; Con- Editor, Alan Osbiston; Editor, Bert man. Ernest Steward; Camera Opera- tinuity, Doreen Francis; Production Rule; Assembly Cutter, Geoffrey tor, H. A. R. Thomson; 1st Camera Secretary, Doris Prince. Botterill; 1st Assistant, Ivor Selwyn; Assistants (Focus), John Morgan, Stills Department: Still Cameraman, Other Assistant, Peter Elliott; Dub- J. Alcott (Location); Other Camera Eric Gray. bing Editors, Don Saunders, Malcolm Assistant, Joe Levy. Special Processes: Brian Langley, Reg Cooke; Dubbing Assistant, Ivor Sel- Sound Department: Recordist (Mixer), Johnson (Travelling Matte). wyn (after final cut). O. C. Stevens; Sound Camera Opera- Publicity Director: Lilana Wilkie. Production Department: Production tor, E. J. Karnon ; Boom Operator, Managers and/or Unit Production Gus Lloyd; Boom Assistant, Ken Managers, John Palmer, Henry Ged- Reynolds: Dubbing Crew, Gordon K. des; 1st Assistant Directors, Jack McCallum, W. Daniels, C. Le Mes- MY WIFE'S FAMILY Martin, Bluey Hill, Frank Hollands. surier; Music, Ted Drake; Main- Robert Lynn; 2nd Assistant Directors. tenance (Location), Peter Glover. Year of Production: 1956. Tom Sachs, Bert Pearl, Dennis Hall: Art Department: Art Director, Carmen Studio: Associated British Elstree 3rd Assistant Directors, Peter Len- Dillon; Assistant Art Director (Set), Studios. nard, John Pitcher, Joe Marks; Dario Simoni; Draughtsman (Chief), Laboratory: Denham Laboratory. Location Managers, John Pellatt, Ernie Archer; Dress Designer, Producing Company: Forth Films Ltd. Robert Navarro, Douglas Twiddy: Anthony Mendleson. Producer: H. G. Inglis. Continuity, Pamela Davies, Kav Editing Department; Editor, Freddie Shiner, Ted Ray, Greta Rawlings; Production Secretaries. Stars: Ronald Wilson ; Associate Editor, Roger Hare. Beti Parry, Mary Timewell. Gynt, Robertson Cherrill ; 1st Assistants, Geoff. Fry. Director: Gilbert Gunn. Stills Department: Still Cameraman. Stan Fiferman; Other Assistant, Sci narists: Talbot Rothwell, Gilbert Bert Cann. Paula Devenish; Dubbing Editors, Gunn. Special Processes: Special Effects Arthur Ridout, Eric Boyd-Perkins; Camera Department: Lighting Camera- Director, Jack Erickson; Special Dubbing Assistant, Graham Harris. man, Gilbert Taylor; Camera Opera- Effects Supervisor, Cliff Richardson Production Department: Production tor, Val Stewart; 1st Camera Assis- Travelling Mattes. Tommy Howard. Manager, Denis Holt; 1st Assistant tant (Focus), Peter Hendry; Other Public it ii Department: Publicity Direc- Director, Bert Batt: 2nd Assistant Camera Assistants. T. Cole, K. Pike. tor, Anthony Howard. Director, Maurice Gibson: 3rd Assis- M. Arnold. Casting: Nora Roberts. tant Director, Joe Marks; Location .Sound Department: Recordist (Mixer). Manager, Jimmy Ware; Continuity. A. Bradburn; Sound Camera Opera- Gladys Goldsmith; Production Sec- tors, L. Grimmell. J. Young; Boom retary. Pauline Kernick. Operator, D. Macfarlane; Boom Assis- Stills Department: Still Cameraman. tant, 1'. Nicholson: Other Assistant. Ian .leaves Dubbing Crew, Len S. Conley; THE IRON PETTICOAT Special Processes : W. Warrington. Shilton, D. Grimmell, L. Abbott, Bert Marshall. Frank George. J. Young, M. Bradbury. Year of Production: 1955/56. Publicity Department: Unit Publicist. Uol.oM Studio: Art Department : Art Director, Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath. Gerry Lewis. Jones ; Draughtsmen, J. Jones, G. Bucks. Kirhardson; Dress Designer, Anna Laboratory: Technicolor. Duse. Producing Company : Remus Films Ltd. Editing Department: Editor, E. B. Producer: Betty E. Box. Jarvis; 1st Assistant, Miss J. New- Stars: Bob Hope. Katherine Hepburn. son; Other Assistant, Miss I. Ibbet- Director: Ralph Thomas. CORRECTIONS son; Dubbing Editor, Miss Phil Camera Department : Lighting Camera- Woods. man, Ernest Steward; Camera Opera- Production Department: Production tor. H. A. R. Thomson; 1st Camera PORT AFRIQUE & CIRCUS FRIENDS Manager and /or Unit Production Assistant (Focus), Steve Clayton: The credits for these two films should Manager, Gerry Mitchell; 1st Assis Other Camera Assistant (Loader). have read : Second Unit Cameraman " tant Director. Frederic Goode; 2nd Jack Hickson. Ian Struthers (not Second Camera Assistant Director, Jeremy Summers; Sound Department: Recordist (Mixer), Operator). 3rd Assistant Director, Michai I John Mitchell: Sound Camera Opera Profit; Continuity, Pam Gayler; Pro- tor, R. Butcher; Boom Operator. duction Secretary, J. Parcell. J. W. N. Daniel; Boom Assistant. HOME AND AWAY Stills Department: Still Cameraman. R. Charman : Dubbing Crew. G K. R. Pilgrim. McCallum, W. Daniels, C. Le Mes- The credits for this film should have Publicity Department: Publicity Direc- surier. read: Dubbing Crew—R. Colwell, and tor, Jean Garioch. Art Department: Art Director, Carmen not R. Coldw.-ll. March 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 35 EDITORIAL WE SHALL MOVE FORWARD TOGETHER PROBLEMS arising from the rapid and ever- when the Meeting came to consider, and to pass continuing growth of Television, concern with acclaim, an emergency resolution tabled by over trends toward monopoly in the film industry the General Council reflecting the concern of and a serious preoccupation with the mainten- members in the Laboratories and working on ance of the standards of British film production the Newsreels at the growth of monopoly ten- were among the outstanding features of the dencies in the industry. The disappearance of Annual General Meeting. newsreels and the swallowing up of laboratories was most clearly felt to be a matter for con- In particular the debate on TV organisation tinual vigilance for all members of the Union. was noteworthy for a number of reasons. In The General Council will have this question con- the first place this was the first A.G.M. at which tinually in its mind during the coming year. there was a substantial representation of members working in the Television field and it On the question of promoting the highest tech- became evident from the outset that they are nical and artistic standards in British film pro- determined to see that trade unionism becomes duction there was some very lively debate in as strong in this field as it is already in the realm which it was heartening to hear a number of of film production. As the President stressed in younger members—younger, that is, in years, his opening address, it is certain that in the though by no means necessarily in period of years ahead there is going to be some shift of membership—making important contributions to emphasis in the work of A.C.T.T. the discussion. As was natural in a debate on this subject Once again, as there must be in every Annual there were criticisms of what has already been General Meeting. if it is hot to be clogged by done and of some of the things that have not complacency, there were differences of opinion, yet been done. But the point that emerged in this case not so much on objects as on the strongly from the discussions was that there are best methods of achieving them, and in this no fundamental differences between our Film particular debate the eloquence and sincerity of and Television members. At bedrock the prob- the movers and supporters of the resolution gave lems of workers in Television and workers in them the distinction of defeating the General Film are the same. We are, in fact, all members Council by a narrow margin. of one union, we are all working in one big The keynote of the discussions throughout the industry, the entertainment industry, and it was A.G.M. as a whole was the determination of all generally realised and accepted as a matter of members, whatever differences of view there course by all speakers that only in unity can we might be between them on individual points, to go march forward together. forward in 1957 to consolidate and strengthen the Union's position in every field and to protect The Television debate will leave the incoming the living in- General Council in no doubt whatever of the view standards of the workers in the dustry against attacks individual of members and should serve materially to any whether by employers or groups of employers, or arising strengthen their hands in the work that lies legislation ahead both of organisation and of negotiation from by the Government itself. for agreements on the Television side of the industry. Our TV members, too, will be in no FILM & TV TECHNICIAN doubt that in whatever struggles lie before them Editor: MARTIN CHISHOLM they can count on the understanding and on the Editorial support of their colleagues working in the film Office: studios and the laboratories. 2 SOHO SQUARE, W.l (GERrard 8506) Advertisement Office: The solidarity of members in widely different 5 & 6 RED LION SQ., W.C.I (HOLborn 4972) sections and branches was shown once again — 36 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN March 1957 Leisurely . . . ? I'm no expert on the Russian film industry, but I was struck by an article in the current issue of " Soviet Union " which described the making of Shokolov's Quit t Flows the Don. Whatever other worries the Russian producers may have, a tight schedule doesn't seem to be one of them. Interviewed on location, producer Sergie Gerasi- " TV7ITH the A.G.M. over and the Meetings and meetings and . . . mov said, We shall spend all the " dust of controversy, tempor- winter and spring on the Don, then A thought for those stalwarts arily at least, settling, it is happy return to Moscow for the studio who have served on the General to recall the personalities and the shooting. In summer we plan to Council and Executive Committee human side of the meeting- and to make a fresh expedition to the Don whether for many years. One often won- forget for a week or two region." A nice location ! this or that amendment won or ders, as a cross is cheerfully put by lost the day. a name, if it is appreciated what a Stop-press . . .! The real highlight for everyone commitment election can be. At came when George Elvin made his least one evening meeting a week Head Office found itself inundated entrance, looking and sounding in (E.C. or Gen. Council) —a section with trunk-calls from Manchester once that is the the best of health and spirits. It is meeting a month— one afternoon a couple of weeks bare minimum. But a week never to be hoped that it will not be ago. The press had heard there passes without an additional com- " long now before his recovery is was to a dramatic one-minute complete and permanent. mittee—be it legislation, feature, strike " in Granada Television. shorts or one of the negotiating Our Granada shop New Faces committees, A.C.T. Films, or Jour- steward Gavin Wad- nal. In February three E.C. mem- dell took the brunt There will be several new faces bers spent three Saturdays and a of the press chase. on the Executive Committee this Sunday poring over the clauses of When all was said year. Bill Whittimore comes in to the TV draft agreement. Consider and done the press reinforce his Laboratory colleagues. that a fair proportion of the E.C. had picked up the Bill is our steward at George are shop stewards as well, and you conversation of an Humphries and has represented the have some idea of the time, labour enthusiastic member Union on many committees and at and responsibility involved in being with ideas about many conferences. a voluntary official. And I have what should happen probably forgotten a whole legion Walter Lassaly and Lindsay if the Programme of duties expected of an Executive Contractors would Anderson are particularly well Member! known on the short film side not come to terms Walter particularly receiving high with the Union on a Golden Rule tribute for his photography on The national agreement. Girl in Black, the Greek film cur- Strike or no strike, the Manchester " Newsweek " has an interesting rently showing at the Curzon. press now have a lively interest in article on Dave Beck and Jimmy Lindsay Anderson occasional film the local A.C.T.T. Granada is one — Hoffa, the two heads of the U.S. critic of the " Statesman "- of our best organised Television New Teamster's Union had one of the films he directed, shops, and is already actively nego- — rough equiva- O Dreamland, in the brief Free tiating with the management on a lent of our Trans- Cinema season at the National wide range of issues. A large dele- port and General gation came from Manchester to Film Theatre last year. Workers' Union Derek Twist, the director, of the A.G.M. ( and the largest course needs little introduction to union in the members. He has played a leading U.S.A.)—Beckhas Thank You, Mr. Preminger part in Union affairs, particularly a $50,000 home Our grateful thanks go to Mr. in the Producers-Directors' Section, and from all ac- Otto Preminger who has gener- for years. many counts has been a ouslv agreed to place the proceeds This year is the first in the tough customer of the British Premiere of his pro- Union's history that Television has since his child- duction of St. Joan at the disposal had any specific representation of hood. He once an- of the Benevolent Funds of its own—Desmond Davis becomes nounced that several thousand of A.C.T.T., E.T.U. and N.A.T.K.E. the first TV Vice-President. Tony his members were taking ju-jitsu Shine, our Associated Rediffusion lessons "for their health". His No. 2, shop steward, was elected to the Jimmy Hoffa, it seems, is an even Commercial Television seat. Tony rougher, tougher customer. He is has been one of the Union's leading reputed to have said once, " I was ItfC^ negotiators on the Programme hit so many times with clubs, Contractors' Agreement (and will sticks and brass knuckle-dusters be for many months to come!). I can't even remember where the From the B.B.C. comes Harold bruises are." According to " News- Clayton, a director of long stand- week " Hoffa's own version of the ing, and for the past year Chair- Golden Rule, learned during a A.C.T.T. badges and brooches can man of the TV Producers-Directors' tough childhood, is " Do unto be obtained from Head Office. Section. others—first." Badges 2/-, brooches 2/4, post free. : — March 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 37 Shorts & Documentary Lab Topics Section By Steve Cox Writes : The latest of our ' Get-together" evenings on "The Films We Make" was held on Tuesday, February A If Cooper 19th at the Mezzanine Cinema, Shell Mex House. Once again it proved a successful and well- supported venture. Three films were shown, all made for theatri- of I cal distribution. The A.G.M. again gave many have often wondered why firms our members an opportunity to that are up against trade unions The first film, Do You Remem- chat with old friends who, owing to are not automatically boycotted by ber, sponsored by the British various changes of jobs, do not all workers up and down the Transport Commission, was intro- meet in the course of the year. country. Most workers are mem- duced by Director Tony Thompson. This year I felt that apart from bers of trade unions and a little Designed for general audiences the hardy annuals many fresh personal effort by each of us and employees of London Trans- faces appeared and those wearing against these companies would port, it explained, in a very light- a television hat certainly knew have a very good effect. hearted manner, the workings of why they came and just what they the Lost Property Dept. of the require from their Union and their L.P.T.B.. employers in the coming year. We George Plays Truant The second film, Pit Incident, in the Laboratories certainly wish sponsored by the Coal Board and them every success and support. To those members who did not introduced by Alun Falconer, was The problem worrying the labs attend the A.G.M. let me say that a theatrical version of a longer the growth of monopoly control in if they had the impression it would training film, made by the Coal the industry had a very good — be dull owing to the absence of Board's Safety Branch, based on an meeting, the hearing at the and our General Secretary they were actual pit fire. emergency resolution instructing very wrong because, apart from The third film. Foothold in the new General Council to watch the very able way Bert Craik filled Antarctica, sponsored by the Bri- and combat this problem was adop- the breach, George Elvin was able tish Petroleum Company, was ted in full. to play truant from hospital and made by World Wide Pictures, and spend a few hours with us during introduced by Director-Camera- Kodak Sunday, and indeed was up on his man Derek Williams. This was a The problem of Trade Union feet couple of occasions lead- r " on a colour film, about 25 r of it blow- recognition by Kodak Limited ing forth as only George can. The up " from Kodachrome, the rest again came in for some very hard fact that George was able to attend in Eastmancolour, showing the words and the membership gave this meeting is a sign he is on the first journey of the Commonwealth everybody to understand that it right road to good health, a fact Trans-Antarctic Expedition led by of American takes a very bad view that the whole membership is very Dr. Vivian Fuchs to set up its firms trading in this country and thankful for. Base in the Weddell Sea. giving the unions the brush-off, and most certainly expects the To all Laboratory Shop Stewards: Ideas on Technique next Annual Report to show a Will you please start right away In the course of the discussion marked improvement in this situa- sending in your reports for inclu- that followed the showing of the tion, in fact, complete recognition sion in the April issue of the films some interesting ideas on of A.C.T.T. by Kodak. Journal. Thanks. technique came up. Tony Thomp- son explained that his film was in- tended to be of a humorous nature, and that the personnel of the Lost Property Office were very afterwards. One of the draw-backs you would like, and let the Com- helpful and co-operative. Someone of this type of film was that the mittee know what it is. suggested that the film gave the director did not see his rushes. I would like to thank Dennis impression that we could now lose Segaller for his assistance in com- things more confidently. Must Persuade Sponsors piling this report. Alun Falconer explained how the Now for some news, Norman " " The general feeling at the end of Incident in the mining film was Hemsley tells me that Cameraman the discussion was that sponsors rigged and how the miners them- Norman Johnson, and Dickie Lorri- broader selves thought that the "fire squad" must be persuaded into more were leaving for New Guinea took everything too calmly. and better films and that producers on March 13th on the Whispering with " guts " were needed to put Derek Williams said he thought Giant to shoot some material for the true points over. films came into two categories the British Petroleum Company. " films that you control and films It is clear from the interest They hoped to spend one night in that control you." Foothold in shown at the meetings that there is Sydney on the way. I understand Antarctica came in the second a real demand for them, so please that Norman was taking a New- category, because one " shot " as come along to the next one with man and a spare spring. I wasn't one went and knocked it into shape your idea as to the type of show told if he was taking any film! 38 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN March 1957 THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING Referring to the responsibilities Bill now before Parliament, the President's Speech " which Television entailed, the President said : Let me say right " President said : Many of us, and away that we welcome the Bill THE growth of Television and the indeed our Union officially, whilst because it will preserve and shift in emphasis that this welcoming the employment which strengthen British film production. would entail in the future work of independent television provides, But it has a number of short- A.C.T.T. were stressed by the were highly critical of the Govern- comings." President in his address opening ment policy which established the Twenty-fourth Annual General alternative programmes to the Shortcomings of Bill Meeting, which was held at the B.B.C. in their present form. Whilst it was good that the Bri- Beaver Hall, Garlick Hill, on " Experience to date has obliged tish Film Production Fund had March 9th and 10th. us to pinpoint the almost com- plete failure of the Programme been put on a compulsory basis, Until now the production of films the of deciding Contractors to fulfil their obliga- method each year's for showing in cinemas had been tions to put out a balanced pro- amount would hamper and not en- our main preoccupation, the Presi- gramme, and we are alarmed at courage production. The annual dent said. the generally low standard and levy might be anywhere between The recent figures of over 6i trivial content of independent tele- £2 million and £5 million. There million television licence-holders in vision. Money has been spent was no indication as to where be- the United Kingdom showed the mainly on those types of pro- tween these two extremes the rapid growth of what the film die- gramme calculated to attract a actual figure each year would fall. hards still called a competitor but majority audience, which we fore- The low figure was clearly inade- quate and the top figure, although which we, with members operating saw was bound to happen if adver- in both fields, should and must tisers had to be relied upon to pay an improvement on the present call an ally. for the programmes. level, was only somewhere near the mark of the industry's needs " I hope," the President con- if production remained at its pre- tinued, " that instead of continuing Ever-decreasing Quality sent level and cost. to snarl at each other cinema and " As a statement recently issued One of the shortcomings of the television will get together and see by the General Council said, wo, present voluntary scheme, which how they can be complementary. I representing the creative workers was repeated in the new Bill, was realise many headaches will have in this field, are of the strong that it tended to restrict rather to be endured meanwhile. opinion that immediate steps than increase production because " Our friends the musicians will should be taken to stem the ten- the Fund was a fixed figure and recall how it was said the radio dency towards an ever decreasing therefore the greater the number would kill the demand for the live quality and its consequent effect on of films produced, the less was the orchestra. But the result has in public taste, and that the enormous levy available to the producer of l':irt been a stimulus. I believe that power of commercial television each film. The President hoped with wisdom on both sides the should not merely be used for that during the passage of the Bill same beneficial results can be frivolous entertainment." through Parliament there would be achieved in the effect of the growth Turning from Television to the clarification as to how the amount of television on cinema going." Government's Cinematograph Films of the Fund was to be ascertained R March 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 39 STEPHEN SWINGLER, M.P., A.C.T.T.'s GUEST OF HONOl each year and also that the size of Quota which scarcely employed ing conditions, on such a joint the Fund each year would be suffi- anybody from the United Kingdom. basis had petered out in failure. cient to ensure that the producer Films made under the stimulus of This new effort started off by an of all but the unfortunate flop will a United Kingdom Act of Parlia- appreciation that the interests of recover his production costs. ment should employ predominantly producers and employees were The question of advance notice United Kingdom labour and be either identical on a number of as to the size of the Fund for each processed in United Kingdom key issues or at least so close to ensuing year was also important if laboratories. Therefore a new defi- each other as to make co-operation production was to be properly nition of a British film was one of possible. Some of the matters planned. the main amendments we require. which the President touched on had been covered in these discussions The Quota Act Whole Basis Wrong and he was sure that if these talks continued in the spirit in which We were unanimous in welcom- We also wanted an abolition of they have been started nothing but ing the provisions in the Bill for the position of our films being a good could come from them. But keeping the National Film Finance junior partner to American films. at the same time neither side must Corporation alive and providing The whole basis of the present Act expect that because there were for the Quota Act to run for a was wrong whereby we were these talks on common ground, one further ten years, but we were graciously permitted to have shown side or the other would be expected equally unanimous in condemning in British cinemas a relatively to soft-pedal on legitimate claims the intention of the Government to small number of films, the actual in other directions. let the Quota Act continue un- number of which rose or fell changed in substance. according to the number of Ameri- International Federation All sections of the industry had can films shown. Let us start on numerous points to put forward the assumption of British films be- One of the disappointments of for improving the Act and some of ing the dominating factor in a the post-war world had been the them were of vital importance if British market, the foreign films failure to establish any inter- the protection of the next ten years shown being a stipulated quota national federation of film techni- is to do the job it is intended to do. based on our own product. cians. We had always maintained " friendly I am therefore glad that fol- We wanted, too, authority for relations with technicians lowing pressure from the unions the State to acquire a circuit of of other countries and, indeed, and producers we shall now have cinemas equal in size and booking there had been some extension in our contacts during an opportunity to put forward power to the present main cir- the past year. amendments for consideration. But cuits. A third circuit would ensure But the split in the international it is regrettable that it is the Gov- the fair distribution and showing Trade Union Movement had, if not ernment's intention that the Bill of independent productions. entirely responsible, been a main should go through unamended in obstacle in bringing technicians of The President welcomed the in- substance and we have to wait till all countries into close association. itiative of Mr. John Davis in pro- an unnamed future date Since the Annual Report was pre- for amend- posing the meetings now being ing legislation the pared A.C.T.T. had received an in- to Quota Act." held between the British Film Pro- vitation to attend a conference con- There was developing, quite ducers' Association and N.A.T.K.E., vened by the International Con- legally under the wording of the E.T.U. and A.C.T.T. In the past, federation of Free Trade Unions to present Act, a position whereby efforts to discuss industry prob- pictures were made for British lems, other than salaries and work- (Continued on page 40) 40 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN March 1957 President " I doubt if the Government will by and see the standard of living (Continued) any longer try to talk the jargon of its members deteriorate. I know of wage restraint, but even if it you wholeheartedly endorse this consider once again the establish- still feels so inclined it could well determination and the incoming ment of an International Federa- save its breath as the entire British General Council will not be back- tion of Entertainment Workers. In Trade Union Movement has made ward in putting forward the neces- principle we naturally welcomed clear that it is not going to stand sary demands." the move but the General Council had reaffirmed its policy that A.C.T.T. could only associate with any such federation provided it was of an all-embracing character. In the same way as film technicians joined our union whatever their personal politics so we demanded the right to co-operate inter- nationally with the film workers of all other countries whatever their personal or their parent organisation's politics. " Our friends the actors and musicians are members of inter- national federations operating under this principle. We support them and will not join any federa- tion which rules to the contrary. We want to be equally friendly and co-operative with film workers of America, the Soviet Union, West- ern and Eastern Europe and throughout the world, and whilst there are big political differences between the Trade Union centres in these countries, we hold they should not be carried down to tech- nical and professional level. There is enough division in the world " " without film technicians refusing ON" PAROLE to speak to film technicians." George Elvin, out of hospital for a few hours, chats with the President and Stephen Swingler Hectic Year Ahead Matters had been relatively quiet on the negotiating front during the past year but it seemed certain A MAKESHIFT BILL that this year would be hectic. " The Government's policy," the CTEPHEN SWINGLER, M.P., who the National Film Finance Cor- President said, " makes wage de- ^ was A.C.T.T.'s guest of honour, poration after all the consultations mands inevitable. The higher described the Government's Film and discussions last year. I think rents, as a result of the Rent Bill, Bill as " a very makeshift and un- that makes it even more important the increases in the cost of school inspiring effort, a very dreary re- that you should kick up a row and dinners and children's milk, the in- production of past palliatives." we on the Committee shall cer- creased insurance contributions and tainly do our best in that direction. higher prescription charges, and " It comes," he said, " of rather " I welcome very much the the whole pattern of Government weak parentage, and it has cer- widening area of agreement which policy will impose burdens on our birth. tainly had a premature has developed in this industry members and their families which in Frankly, I hope that the Unions about matters of taxation and pro- will make wage demands inevit- industry are going to kick up the duction amongst the unions and I able. Yet at the same time the a hell of a row about amendments look forward to this widening area Government hastens to impose to the quota system. of agreement on what should be these burdens it talks but does " done about film production and the nothing about the £1,500 million a I see absolutely no reason why the Government should have re- taxation of the cinemas having its year defence bill. produced, after all these years of political impact. But there has to " Economies in this direction experience, an unamended repeti- be much more pressure yet before would not only provide all the tion of the Quota Act, since they that can come to fruition. revenue and more which the Gov- are in possession of all the results " The trouble with Government ernment aims to obtain by its of your labours and the labours of policy on films is a fundamental attacks on the social services but others that took place last year, one and we need today a new and would also make it possible to although we who sit in the House honest approach to the whole sub- undo the effect of other burdens have not, of course, had the benefit ject. There is a lot of bunk being they have imposed on us previous we should have had of having seen talked at the moment about free to their recent pronouncements. a it-port and recommendations of trade. The question is —freedom : March 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 41 for whom? Of course everybody wants to see trade barriers between Members in Debate countries being broken down but we don't want to see it done at the expense of killing our own produc- tion and killing our own industry, Below are summarised some of the more important debates on and it is clear to those of us who individual A.G.M. Resolutions are not completely blind that laissez-faire capitalism would per- manently limit us to the position of Hollywood's 49th (or is it 50th?) market. And the outlook of boom TV ORGANISATION or bust in this industry would be fatal to British films. "I believe that Britain is entitled to claim for British filming, as we One of the most important items first feature films per week. The claim for British farming, guaran- on the A.G.M. Agenda was the staff needed for television was suffi- teed and expanding markets, fair resolution (No. 18) on Television cient to make nearly 12,000 feature returns to producers and full em- Organisation moved by John War- films per year. ployment for the workers in the in- rington. The staff were young and en- dustry, and we should constantly This resolution noted the excel- thusiastic. They were Directors, press upon our political represen- lent work accomplished in the field Cameramen, Engineers and Sound tatives who go to international of television, particularly in regard Technicians, all with the ideal of trade negotiations that they should to the new draft Agreement and putting out the best programme stand up openly and honestly for the formation of the Television that they were allowed to put out the rights of the Government in Branch. It asked the incoming by a very unambitious B.B.C. or this country to subsidise British General Council advertising executives, but these film production and to give special (a) to be unremitting in its TV young people knew nothing about tax relief to the exhibitors to en- recruitment drive; A.C.T.T. courage them to make British (b) periodically to circularise all showings. One Indivisible Union television members with a No Museum Piece bulletin informing them of While raising this criticism John the working being done on Warrington stressed " We don't want just to preserve at the same their behalf; and that " the British film industry as a static time We are one Union, in- divisible. are not museum piece. We want to see an (c) that all provincial centres We against expanding industry and a fostering should be visited by an A.C.T.T., we are fighting on your of the best talent we have. Organiser at least once a behalf." He then referred to " The Government takes enough month. struggles against the Association money out of cinemas and they of Broadcasting Staffs, and de- should put more of that money Not A New Medium clared that its real aim was to pre- vent any extension of A.C.T.T. back into production, and put it "We are fighting back directly in my opinion. That Moving on behalf of the TV Pro- not only the B.B.C, not only the Contractors, is why I want to see enlarged the ducer/Directors' Section John War- but those agitation for a state film corpora- rington stressed that TV was not who are well organised and are tion in Britain and for a national a new medium. It was over 20 determined to prevent the exten- circuit of cinemas because, in my years old. It had been a major sion of our Union." view, these are the only ways in part of entertainment for 10 years, He urged the need for increasing which we can ensure full employ- had been a tremendous industry for the staff of A.C.T.T. in order to ment in the industry and its ex- five years, and two years ago com- provide a full-time first class pansion. mercial television was in operation. Organiser for Television. " It not or Your industry, like all industry, was a toy a Government He also stressed the need for depends in the last resort on the play-thing. continual publicity regarding what living standards of the people who He calculated that the output of A.C.T.T. was doing in the Tele- go to the cinemas, and we are not Independent Television in London vision field. going to maintain the habit of alone was equivalent to nearly 40 cinema-going or maintain the pay- Monthly Visits Urged ments on the purchase of TV sets by a policy that takes profits out Vivian Milroy, seconding, urged of the pockets of the poor and puts " We have a Government that that the provincial centres should bigger profits in the pockets of was prepared to defy Washington be visited by an Organiser at least the stockholders and landlords." on certain important things and to once a month. He was critical of Mr. Swingler said he was con- accuse other governments of pur- the amount of information on Tele- stantly told one must not raise suing evil policies in other cases, vision in the Journal and urged the certain questions because it would but it is not, apparently, prepared need for a bulletin being issued to annoy America at international to ' go it alone ' in the right direc- every single member at least once trade conferences. " That is why," tion. I think that to stand up for a month to inform them of what he said, " we are told we should a state subsidy for British films was going on. It was very likely, not raise the question of state would be a right policy. I think he added, that there were good subsidy for film production, or that to introduce a discriminatory reasons why negotiations for a special tax relief for encouraging taxation relief for British films Television Agreement should have home production because it would would be a good way of standing taken over a year and still no final be contrary to G.A.T.T. and Holly- up for British national indepen- agreement had been reached, but wood would not like it." dence." (Continued on page 42) : ; 42 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN March 1957 A.G.M. delay in coming to a final agree- with one organisation but with five (Continued) ment. It also drew the attention separate organisations, each with a of the Postmaster-General and the different method of working and a people in the industry were un- T.U.C. to the fact that the B.B.C. different scale of pay and different happy about it, thinking it had still refused to recognise A.C.T.T. in grades. " So we never know what forgotten. If been shelved or they the Television field. The resolution the devil we're talking about." had been told of what was being pledged wholehearted support to Referring to the B.B.C.'s refusal done, or if that was difficult, even the incoming General Council and to recognise A.C.T.T., he said that of that of the number meetings the Television membership in any the B.B.C. hit with a manicured had been held they would at least action deemed necessary for the hand. When we went to the B.B.C. know what was going on. establishment of Trade Union stan- and said that we represented 60' , Desmond Davis, agreeing with dards in this field of work. Moving of their employees working in the the mover and seconder, said our the resolution, Desmond Davis said grade of Cameraman and we this record over Agreement had wished to be recognised, they re- not been good but there were very plied that they had no grade of good reasons for this, and it was Cameraman, the gentlemen who no good belly-aching about the OFFICERS ELECTED operated their cameras were En- past. He, too, urged the need for a gineers of a certain grade. " This, " cracking good Organiser ". FOR 1957 of course, is no more than a bare- faced fiddle with words and I call Organise in the Shops upon the incoming General Council President: Asquith to take firm measures to put an Leon Clore said one could not Anthony end to this." always put in resolutions to the in- Vice-Presidents coming General Council and Ex- Tony Shine, seconding, referred Max Anderson to the negotiations for an Agree- ecutive giving them the respon- Alf Cooper ment and said that although the sibility for the drive for member- Sidney Cole first draft had been torn up on the ship; that was really the respon- Desmond Davis spot by the Executive they had at sibility of people on the floor. One Terry O'Brien last got something and every sec- could not always refer it back. He Charles Wheeler tion would have to see it before stressed the need for organising it went back to the Programme in the Shops themselves. Treasurer: Frank Fuller Contractors. Kurt Lewenhak stressed that A.C.T.T. was a national union with General Council: A Cast Iron Case nation-wide responsibilities, and it Ralph Bond Chris Brunei must organise as such. He, too, George Elvin said that he felt Kenneth Gordon strongly urged the need for he could not go back to his hospital monthly visits to provincial centres Desmond Dickinson supper without speaking on one Walter Lassally and suggested that it might be resolution, and he had chosen this Fred possible for A.C.T.T. to establish Swann particular one. Desmond Davis had Lindsay Anderson some kind of regional office which said that A.C.T.T. had a cast-iron Derek Twist could be used as a base for an case for being recognised by the Monica Toye Organiser who could cover Bir- B.B.C. in Television. " We must George Irons mingham, Manchester and Scot- take a lesson from the Musicians' Len Runkel land. Union and Equity who equally had Ray Sharpe Alf Cooper welcomed the new this problem and faced up to it by Sid Bremson blood and fresh faces in A.C.T.T. action. The Musicians' Union Bill Whittemore and the enthusiasm of the Tele- sought recognition not by arguing Harold Clayton vision members. He agreed that but by a threatened stoppage on Tony Shine they needed staff representation the job and we must be as militant Ken Roberts from Head Office and the support in order to be recognised. We must General Council. referred of the He Trustees: have a similar showdown with the to early experiences in the Labora- that which the Musicians Geoffrey Bell B.B.C. to tories and Studios and urged that had." Basil Wright and Equity members in TV " must fight like In the Laboratories agreements hell ", and then at the next A.G.M. were taken for granted, but they they would not be talking about were not taken for granted as far getting an agreement but about " the membership strength in Tele- as Television was concerned. We getting improvements in the agree- vision was growing apace but one have got to work hard in the next ment they had obtained in the few months to get through in meantime. must not be content with less than membership. They must Television the same sort of agree- The resolution, which was sup- 100% work hard, then they could talk ments as in films." ported by the General Council, was real turkey, and they wanted to Bert Craik hoped that members carried unanimously. too despondent be- talk. They must have a well- would not get organised recruiting drive and they cause the Programme Contractors TV AGREEMENT " must have missionary zeal from were still talking to us. It is we held up negotiations. Another resolution on Television individual members. " It is up to who have submitted to us, after talks (No. 17), moved by Desmond Davis, you personally to get this 100' They Agreement reaffirmed A.C.T.T.'s policy of membership," he said. Referring to with our side, a draft Executive were not 100% membership in the appro- the negotiations for an agreement which the and had spent priate grades in television, noted with the Programme Contractors happy about we that negotiations between the Pro- he said this was a matter of the four weekends amending it," he completed our work gramme Contractors and A.C.T.T. most ghastly complexity. It was said. We had were progressing but regretted the not a question of an agreement (Continwi A Technician's Notebook REVISED EXPOSURE STANDARD THE British Standards Institution that they now have four outfits complete with a backing screen. has issued a revised British available, with camera crews if For TV use the device would be Standard for Photographic Ex- needed. placed directly in front of the posure Tables. This standard first Two of the cameras are of the receiver. appeared in 1941 as a War Emer- type which can be converted to gency Standard following upon a shoot 16mm. in a matter of request from the Admiralty Last December the Hollywood In 1947 a new standard on speed plant of Technicolor Ltd. passed and exposure index of photographic By the 5,000 million mark in pro- negative material was published cessed footage. Most of this foot- and it was, therefore, necessary to A. E. Jeakins age was accounted for in the form revise the one dealing with ex- of 35mm. positive colour prints posure tables. At the same time manufactured by the Technicolor the exposure values were brought imbibition process. More Techni- line with the corresponding into seconds. With 16mm. film lenses color prints have been made of American Standard and this in- down to 13.5mm. can be used, with Gone With the Wind than of any volved an increase in the exposure other picture : 2,000 in fact, total- 35mm. film an 18.5mm. lens is pro- the tables. This in- obtained from vided. The range of lenses extends ling round about 41,000,000 feet. crease was generally considered in upwards to one of 500mm. focal ("American Cinematographer"). this country to be too large and it length. There is a choice of sync, was explained in an amendment or wild motors, and one outfit is that the scene indices for black fitted with a contactor for the and white negative material incor- Leevers-Rich Syncropulse sound porated a safety factor of 4 to NEW ORGANISER system. A blimp is available when guard against the likelihood of needed. Magazines of 100, 200 or Tj^RED TONGE, a Trade Union under-exposure due to errors in 400 feet capacity can be supplied. *- Organiser with thirty years' ex- scene estimation and to deteriora- Equipment for special applications perience in the Transport Salaried tion of emulsions. —for example time lapse, remote Staffs' Association, has joined the Recent experience in America control, underwater photography, staff of A.C.T.T. as a temporary has confirmed the British view that etc. can be provided. Organiser. this safety factor was too high, He started his Trade Union and the American Standard was activities as Branch Secretary at recently revised to incorporate re- Swindon. In 1939 he transferred duced safety factors and a modified Recently I gave some details of to London, and two years later he scene structure classification. a " mirror " screen being developed became Secretary of the Padding- in Poland which enabled pictures The new British Standard main- ton Branch. tains the alignment with the to be projected under normal room In 1943 he elected the American standard. There have lighting conditions. The "American was to Cinematographer " reports experi- National Executive of the T.S.S.A., also been other changes : provision serving on the Negotiating Com- is made for the more logical series mental development of a radically mittee. He also served for fifteen of shutter speeds which is being new type picture screen that years on the Superannuation Com- included in the revised British makes possible the viewing of tele- mittee and for ten years Standard " Camera Shutters " now vision and motion pictures in on the being prepared; and an appendix artificially or naturally lighted Sectional Council, which deals with conditions of employment apart has also been added which gives an rooms, by the Radio Corporation from nationally negotiated agree- approximate table for converting of America. It is reported that the ments. the European Scheiner, Weston and new screen makes possible in- DIN speed systems to the British creases of up to 20 to 1 in picture Between 1943 and 1956 he repre- Standard (logarithmic) and the contrast under adverse ambient sented the T.S.S.A. at the T.U.C. American Standard (arithmetic) light conditions. The R.C.A. screen and the Labour Party Conferences. exposure index. has a honeycomb structure, con- He has been a member of Trade sisting of a network of tiny, inter- Copies of this Standard, B.S. 935: Union delegations to Belgium, connecting cells. It is made of 1957, can be obtained from the Austria, Czechoslovakia and the aluminium foil, 001 inch thick; B.S. I., 2 Park Street, London, W.l. U.S.S.R. He stood as Parliamen- cell width, length and depth can The price is 3/-. tary Labour candidate for Chelsea be varied to produce a range of in 1950 and 1951. In 1952 he was viewing angles. elected to the L.C.C. for South For motion picture use the Hammersmith. This constituency W. F. Dormer Ltd. inform me screen, or " directional viewing disappeared under the re-distribu- that the Camefiex hire service they device " as it is called, can be tion of 1955. In 1956 he was elected started several months ago with mounted in front of the theatre or an Alderman of St. Pancras one camera has proved so popular home screen or it can be made Borough Council. 44 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN March 1957 General Council in Session PROGRESS IN TV FIELD TELEVISION. P. Leech reported RANK LABORATORIES, BEN- tions, were written to on this that full Committees were func- HAM AND ACTON. The Acting matter last August. It was also tioning in Associated Rediffusion General Secretary reported that he agreed that Head Office should and Granada, Manchester, and had written to Mr. Harcourt re- send a circular to all Feature and there was an A.C.T.T. Steward in questing an assurance on the Shorts Shop Stewards, and Section the A.B.C. Studios in Manchester. points raised at the last meeting of Secretaries, advising them that no Our members in I.T.N, have formed the General Council and had re- member, with the exception of a committee and elected a Steward. ceived a reply giving assurance those grades set out in the Feature A shop meeting was held, at which that there was no intention to Agreement who have the right to an Organiser was present, and fur- transfer personnel from one labora- negotiate an individual contract, ther steps are being taken to tory to another unless it was the should sign contracts at an all-in organise this company fully. The express desire of a particular em- rate for location work. company is now to be represented ployee. On the question of possible on the Programme Contractors' future redundancy at either labora- RANK PRECISION INDUSTRIES Labour Relations Committee. A tory were assured that the we (British Acoustic): When the well-attended meeting of Produc- consider the matter company would Organiser (P. Leech) appeared at three the tion Assistants from of in the light we mentioned and due the Works, the Steward, Bro. four TV Contractors was held. The notice would be taken of length of Langdon, was informed that if he conditions of Production service. working insisted on the Organiser being Assistants in A.B.C. Television are present the Company would insist with the company. " ". Acting to be taken up SPORTSVIEW The that the redundancy issue become have been held with General Secretary reported that Negotiations one for the Federation of Engineer- on the re- General Council's decision re- Associated-Rediffusion the ing Employers, and that their of 9, and a number garding the printing of Sportsview opening Studio representative would have to be have been been implemented and as of redundant members had present. Because of the pattern set re-engaged. Olympic had not approached us by by the employers at Federation The Organiser was to visit Man- the deadline date given to them level on redundancy, it was felt chester to attend a joint committee had advised Kay's Management we that to make such an insistence of and A.B.C. through the Shop Steward that it meeting Granada would be unwise at that juncture. meetings of the Ex- in order for print Four weekend was them to Therefore the Organiser and Bro. sub-committee to amend if so wished. ecutive Sportsview they Langdon suggested to the A.E.U. the Programme Contractors' Asso- and Sheet Metal Workers' Stewards C.T.T. Agreement have ciation/A. SHIFT-WORKING FOR DUB- an approach to obtain the four-day held, with members from the been BING STAFFS AT PINEWOOD: week; failing satisfaction on this: main companies present. A letter from the B.F.P.A. pro- posed to introduce shift work for (i) to find the definite number dubbing staffs at Pinewood in and the departments involved ASSOCIATION OF BROADCAST- order to try and avoid excessive in the redundancy; letter been overtime which otherwise would be ING STAFFS. A has i ii i to reduce this number as received from NATKE suggesting necessary to cope with the volume much as possible; informal meeting between Sir of work. The B.F.P.A. suggested an (iii) the principle of last in first O'Brien, Mr. Frank Haxell of meeting with representatives of Tom a out and re-engagement in the General in order to the E.T.U. and the Acting NATKE and A.C.T.T. the same order; Secretary to discuss the activities discuss detailed proposals. The (iv) adequate compensation (bear- of the A.B.S. in the commercial letter was considered in conjunc- ing in mind our Technicolor television field with a view to a tion with the views of the Pine- experienct ). joint approach to the General wood Committee, and it was agreed Council of the T.U.C. The Execu- that the Acting General Secretary The Management could not tive agreed that we should take should reply, saying that we should accept a four-day week as the pre- part in these discussions. be prepared to meet the B.F.P.A. sent position could continue for a on our own and under the terms of year, but they accepted the prin- our agreement. ciple of last in first out, and re- CINEMA MANAGERS' ASSOCIA- engagement in the correct order, TION. The Executive Committee SOUND SECTION. The Executive while refusing to give the exact agreed that we should be represen- reconsidered the letter from the number of redundancies and the ted on the Committee which this Sound Section of the 8th October, departments concerned. On com- Association proposed should be 1956 itemising various complaints pensation they refused to give de- established with a view to obtain- and drafted a reply. In connection tails but refilled to their handling ing trade union representation on with Ail-In Contracts, it was of a previous redundancy, i.e.. after the All-Industry Tax Committee, agreed the Section be advised that 3 years two weeks' salary, after and Sidney Cole and Chris Brunei both the A.S.F.P. and B.F.P.A., 5 years one month's, with a month were appointed A.C.T.T.'s repre- together with companies not in for every 5 years' service above sentatives. membership of these two organisa- this. Up to 3 years, nothing. : — March 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 45 on record their full support to the The Council also had before it General Council members. the announcement of the formation of the British Commonwealth In- (continued) THE AFRICAN BUREAU. After ternational Newsfilm Agency Trust. considering the following declara- After discussion it was agreed that, A series of full Shop meetings tion of this Bureau submitted by failing satisfaction from Para- had been held, with the A.E.U. in Anthony Perry, the Executive mount, the matter be referred to the main accepting the Manage- recommended A.C.T.T. associate the Ministry of Labour, and that ment's conditions. When the total itself with it powers be given to the Executive redundancies were announced they " to take further action if required. We, the undersigned . drawn from involved some 30 workers, only the field of art and sport, are dis- It was further agreed to seek a two of whom were A.C.T.T. mem- mayed by the danger that is arising meeting with the Newsreel Asso- in Africa from the theory and practice bers. These members have subse- ciation and to approach the Trust of apartheid. We believe that the quently found other jobs but at less theory is inhuman, and that the prac- immediately to discuss their work pay. A.C.T.T. members are expect- tice restricts arbitrarily, even pro- and the question of the employ- hibits, the enjoyment and the use ing further redundancies and are of of members. human talent, ment our not happy at the way things have " Sport and the arts are concerned gone. The A.C.T.T. committee is with those things mankind has in meeting the joint works committee common. Today, when men increas- to discuss future redundancies and ingly hunger for freedom and unity, we believe that we have a special the policy that should be pursued. responsibility to cherish and advance APPOINTMENT VACANT This brief report does not do full the liberties which have been so justice to the efforts of Bro. Lang- hardly won through the centuries. Office junior with typing experi- don, who has had to fight under the " To impose any form of discrimi- ence required for Records Depart- nation on grounds of race, colour or difficult conditions and has ment at A.C.T.T. Head Office. most religion is contrary to all we believe Office made extraordinary efforts to help and work for. We are determined Applicants should phone non-members affected by the re- nowhere to condone it, but to oppose Manager at Gerrard 8506 for inter- it by every means in our power; and view. dundancy. we invite anyone who shares our view Arising out of this report the to join us in this declaration." Executive Committee agreed that with a view to working out a PARAMOUNT & NEWSREEL policy for the future the Organiser TRUST: The Acting General Sec- should raise the matter with the retary had written to Paramount, WANTED A.E.U. Area Organiser. as instructed the General Coun- by Composer wishes to break the cil earlier in and had February, " Chicken or the Egg " sequence NATIONAL SCREEN SERVICE. received a reply indicating that the has written score documentary alter A further approach was made to company was not prepared to film and signature tune for indus- its original attitude that it would this company pressing for the full trial series. Now wishes more implementation of the Laboratory not negotiate with A.C.T.T. over (much more!) film work. Capable Agreement, implying also that we compensation for former Para- anything from "ferronconcrete" to may have no alternative but to mount News employees. Bert Craik "neo-Stravinsky". Write BOX 201, instructed the Executive to take the matter to arbitration if was by Film & TV Technician, 5-6 Red the matter could not be settled reiterate that we have a duty to Lion Square, London, W.C.I. amicably. The company have writ- protect the interests of our mem- ten to say that if they are com- bers; he had also said that if we pelled to pay the full increases did not get satisfaction by return they would have only one alterna- of post we would report the matter tive, obviously hinting that it as a dispute to the Ministry of would mean redundancy. The offer Labour and take steps to have the matter raised in the House of they have made in writing is an Camera Hire increase of 5/6d. per week to each Commons. It was reported to the long employee and a change in the cost meeting that members with (1) NEWMAN SINCLAIR— Mirror Shutter. of living bonus to l/6d. per point service had been given compensa- All Cooke Lenses including Series 2., f. 1.7. FRAME EXPOSURE tion at the rate of a week's pay for 25mm., SINGLE from the week commencing 31st and Electric Motor Drive. (Available fully December, 1956. The Executive every year with Paramount News, adapted for CINEMASCOPE if required.) and, in view of all the circumstan- Committee agreed that Bessie Bond (2) NEWMAN SINCLAIR— Mirror Shutter. should press the case and placed ces, this was regarded as in- Cooke Lenses and 24mm. Angineux Retro- adequate. focus. (3) NEWMAN SINCLAIR— Model G. All Cooke Lenses. SINGLE FRAME EXPOSURE OFFICIAL APPOINTMENT and Electric Motor Drive if required. Kingston Tubular and Vinten Light Gyro SOUND TECHNICIAN required by KENYA GOVT. INFORMATION Tripods. DEPT. on probation for pensionable establishment. Normal tour 36/45 months. Salary scale (including Inducement Pay) £1,056 rising to £1,341 LOCATION a year. Commencing salary according to qualifications and experience. Free passages. Liberal leave on full salary. Candidates should have had CAMERA DOLLYS at least 5 years' experience of sound recording in all stages of film Metal construction, pneumatic tyres, drop- production, the installation and maintenance of electronic equipment down jacks, lightweight tracks, etc. and a thorough knowledge of magnetic recording media and methods. They also experience of production with mag- must have had 16mm. S. netic tracks, synchromous recording, dubbing and transfer. Write to W. SAMUELSON the Crown Agents, 4 Millbank, London, S.W.I. State age, name in block FINchley I 595 letters, full qualifications and experience and quote M3B/43956/CY. 46 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN March 1957 A.G.M. immediate reaction of newsreel would consult the Cinematograph (Continued) members to the newly-formed Bri- Films Council and all sections of tish Commonwealth News Film the industry about detailed amend- now and would submit the new Agency was one of fear. The dan- ments to the quota legislation. The draft to the Executive, to a meet- ger they saw lay in the tie-up with resolution, which was carried, ing of the Television Section, and the B.B.C. and the Rank Organisa- stressed the need of sufficient Par- then to the Programme Contrac- tion. They presumed the Rank liamentary time being allowed for tors for negotiation." outlet for news would be on closed amending legislation before the circuit television. If other circuits present Cinematograph Films Act were not so well equipped for this expired. Monopoly Trends it meant all newsreels would be in only other The Government was called upon, As a matter of emergency the the hands of Rank. The outlet they had for broadcasting in a resolution moved by Sam A.G.M. had before it a resolution I.T.N who, signifi- Napier-Bell, to revive the former in the name of the General Council TV news was been in- policy of generous and imaginative expressing concern at continuing cantly enough, had not vited to join this organisation. The sponsorship of documentary films. monopoly trends in the film in- obvi- dustry, particularly the expansion contraction of outlet would ously mean some contraction of of the major cinema circuits, the Artistic Standards absorption into the largest mon- work. opoly Walter Lassally, seconded by group of Olympic Labora- The resolution was passed. tories, and the newly-formed Bri- Lindsay Anderson, succeeded in tish Commonwealth International Another emergency resolution, narrowly defeating the General News Film Agency, and instructing moved for the General Council by Council on a resolution which he the General Council to take such Ralph Bond and seconded by R. J. moved calling upon the incoming action as it deemed necessary. Minney, stressed the need for sub- General Council to accept respon- stantial alterations in the Quota sibility for promoting the highest professional and artistic standards Labs Worried provisions of the Cinematograph Films Act and protested against in films, particularly when con- Alf Cooper, moving on behalf of the decision of the Government to sidering the encouragement of new the General Council, said that in extend this section of the Act for talent into the industry, applica- the laboratories they were very a further ten years without altera- tions for temporary membership, applications for varying the estab- worried at the concentration of the tion. It noted that, following pres- industry into the control of too sure from the Unions and other lished terms and conditions of few people fighting one another to trade bodies the President of the employment for special projects, the detriment of the employees. Board of Trade had now under- and exchanges with technicians of Terry O'Brien, seconding, said the taken that later in the year he other countries. Demands for the establishment by the Government of a National Film Circuit in order to stimulate British production and for the setting up of a National Film Unit under a National Film Board were made in two resolutions put for- ward by the National Coal Board Technical Film Unit. Both these THE CROWN THEATRE resolutions were passed. Lessees FILM PRODUCTION SERVICES (Surrey) LTD. A resolution in the name of the Producer/ Directors' Section was Service Provides Complete Studio Projection passed calling on the General Coun- at Any Time to Suit Your Requirements cil to investigate the possibilities of setting up international co-produc- tions along the lines of those made DOUBLE HEAD PROJECTION by various combinations of Euro- MIXING PANELS FOR TRACKS pean countries where the films pro- duced were eligible for double quota. also The incoming General Council SUB-STANDARD PROJECTION was strongly urged, in a resolution moved by Bill Whittemore, to ex- SEATING FOR 70 PERSONS amine all means of bringing pres- sure to bear on Kodak with the object of achieving recognition of A.C.T.T. SOUND SYSTEM EDITING ROOMS FOR HIRE COVER STILL 86 WARDOUR ST., LONDON, W.l Cover still by Ian Jeayes is of Dirk Bogarde and Brigitte Bardot Tel: GERrard 5223 Editing Rooms GERrard 9309 in Doctor at Large. March 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 47 G E VAE RT SOUND RECORDING FILMS The remarkable increase in sales of Gevaert Sound Films for variable area recording, S.T.4 and S.T.6, is easy to understand. Each in its class is outstandingly good and will give you better cancellation, better high frequency response, and will enable you to work at lower lamp currents. G EVA E RT MAGNETIC FILMS AND TAPES Gevasonor magnetic coatings are available on 5 thou, base in 16 mm., 17.5 mm. and 35 mm. widths or as ^-inch tape. These materials are of such quality that for some scientific applications where freedom from dropouts and evenness of coating is essential no other tape available will fulfil requirements. GEVAERT " Full Technical Information from : GEVAERT LIMITED, Motion Picture Department, Acton Lane, Harlesden, London, N.W.10 ELGar 6755 48 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN March 1957 — a magnificent tribute to the fine-grain qualities of ILFORD FP3 35 nun Cine Negative Film ILFORD TLFOBD LIMITED • ILFORD • LONDOPi Cine Sah-s Department 104 High Holborn, 1 ondon, W.C.I. Telephone: Holborn3401 Published by the Proprietors, The Association of Cinematograph, Television and allied Technicians, 2 Soho Square, London, and Printed by Watford Printers Limited, Watford, Herts. WKVWW FILM AND TV TECHNICIAN Association of Cinematograph, Television and allied Technicians Vol. 23 No. 148 PRICE 6d. 8 50 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN April 1957 Cut your Scaffolding costs by one third . . use Boulton (British Standard Specifications 1139 51) RUST-PROOF FITTINGS STUDIOS Boulton scaffolding for erection and dismantling of sets costs less. IT'S QUICKER IT'S SIMPLER IT'S LIGHTER Write for further information to BOULTON TUBULAR STRUCTURES LTD Putney Bridge Road, London, S.W.I Telephone: VANdyke 5889 Booth Street. Birmingham 21 Telephone: Northern 2176 ! : April 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN EDITORIAL INCOMPETENT AND INEPT THE> new Films Bill has now sold lock stock and barrel to pri- of Trade has had to go a bit passed through all its stages in vate enterprise. further, and announce another con- the House of Commons and has In the words of Mr. John cession. He said, in Committee become Law. " " I repeat my assurance that Rankin, M.P. : Take away the con- As A.C.T.T. forecast, the Govern- Film Finance Corporation and we when we have finished the sultations with the industry which ment resisted and defeated all are handing over the industry to amendments designed to improve the great monopolies." are necessary to carry out the pro- Labour visions of the Bill, should it become the Bill and the most the Mr. Stephen Swingler, M.P., put opposition extracted from the law, we shall go straight on to the it even more forcefully. " It seems President of the Board of Trade discussion of quota legislation. to me ", he said, " that this is all were two concessions. That ought to give us a fair part of the philosophy of saying amount of time to bring in legis- The best that can be said for the that we should socialise only the lation next session or in the follow- Bill or rather, now, the Act is losses and should always privatise — — ing one—but I cannot commit the that it carries forward, for the the profits; that profits should Government since we do not yet time being, the functions of the always go into the hands of the know what our legislative pro- National Film Finance Corpora- private capitalist and only losses gramme will be." tion, and imposes a statutory Eady should be borne by public funds. the third reading he tabled Levy in place of the present un- Why should not we in this country At satisfactory voluntary system. have a publicly-owned films bank a Government amendment the effect of which is to carry on with and why should it not be a suc- The positive value of these two cessful piece of public enterprise?" the present quota legislation until sections of the Act is that inde- 1960 instead of 1968 as originally pendent producers can still obtain And what was the Government's proposed. financial backing from the Film answer to that? The House of Commons agreed Finance Corporation for agreed Sir David Eccles, President of to this, but not without protest. projects, and British producers can the Board of Trade, was perfectly Mr. Stephen Swingler again be assured that their box-office " open about it. The Hon. Mem- pointed out that despite the fact returns will be augmented by a ber and his Hon. Friends believe that the views of all the trade Levy which will produce £3| mil- in the Government staying in busi- organisations were known months lion pounds in the first year, and ness. We on this side do not ago, the Board Trade requires anything between £2 million and of believe in it." another three years and the exist- £5 million in subsequent years. Apart from the fact that it is ing system with all its faults is to Against these helpful features not the Government that is in busi- be prolonged until 1960. can be set a number of serious ness, but the community as a The ineptness and incompetence defects, not the least of which is whole, the implication of this state- for with which the Government has the clause in the Act providing clear. It is the inten- ment seems handled the whole matter is clear the sale of the assets of the tion of this Government, when it all see. Admittedly National Film Finance Corpora- for to a three thinks it can get away with it, to year wait is preferable to ten, but tion. sell up the Film Finance Corpora- three years is far too long, and Despite the most vigorous fight tion to private enterprise. A.C.T.T., at least, will not be con- put up by Labour M.P.s, the As other Labour Members tent to suffer in silence. Government insisted on the reten- pointed out, why stop at the films tion of this clause, and the only bank? Why not sell up the schools, concession made was an amend- or even hand over the Army and ment to ensure that any purchaser Navy to private enterprise? Why of the Corporation must be and not indeed? The Government must remain a British company. would really then be out of busi- Let us consider for a moment ness, in more senses than one FILM & TV TECHNICIAN the iniquity of this section of the As members who were at the Act which says that at some period A.G.M. will know, one of the most Editor: the assets of the Corporation can serious criticisms we had to make MARTIN CHISHOLM be sold to a company which satis- of the Bill was that it extended the fies the Board of Trade that it is quota provisions for another ten Editorial Office: willing and able to make adequate years without change. 2 SOHO SQUARE, W.l financial facilities available per- to As a result of our protests, com- sons wish arrange for the (GERrard 8506) who to bined with those of others, the production or distribution of cine- Board of Trade had promised con- matograph films. Advertisement Office: sultations this autumn on amend- In effect it means that at any ments to the quota, but without 5 & 6 RED LION SQ., W.C.I time during the next ten years, the guarantee of Parliamentary time (HOLborn 4972) Government can decide that this and new legislation. publicly-owned films bank shall be Now the President of the Board " 52 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN April 1957 A Technician's Notebook NEW GATE MECHANISM • CINEMIRACLE • FRENCH LENSES RECENTLY I was invited to stration of the accuracy of the Hollywood showed perfect blending look at a very interesting modi- registration of this gate. of the three sections of the picture fication of an Arriflex camera; As one might expect with a on the screen with no " jiggle nothing less than the fitting of a movement employing a moving between them. completely new gate mechanism back pressure plate it is rather National Theatres are behind incorporating a double claw pull- noisier than the standard Arriflex this new process, on which develop- down and register pins. ment was begun in 1952. The it is the outcome of enterprise Mitchell Camera Company built and initiative on the part of the By the camera unit, which consists technicians in a documentary unit basically of three cameras mounted who felt that there was a need for on a base plate. The centre camera a light portable camera with a A. E. Jeakins shooting straight ahead records standard of performance generally the central panel of the triptych, associated only with heavy studio the two flanking cameras set at an equipment. They were fortunate in angle photograph the left and right having as enthusiastic collaborator hand panels through mirrors. a young engineer who, convinced gate, but it was stated that the "The American Cinematographer" gate could quieter running of the practicability of the idea, be made article says that an important by changes in some of the details set to work, designed and produced feature of the set-up, responsible of its construction. the gate which has now been given for the excellent photographic Because of the fact that the the name P.F.P. results, is an interlocked electronic pressure plate works positively by The P.F.P. gate has all the ap- control linked with the Smith- and is not spring loaded pearances of being built to good a cam Dietrich lens system, but does not some adjustment would be neces- engineering standards. The film is go much further in explaining sary to accommodate a thicker pulled down by double claws, what this system is. As in Cine- operated by two cams which ensure film stock like Eastmancolor. rama, a six sprocket hole film Another feature of the P.F.P. that the claws enter and with- frame is used. worth noting is that though draw from the perforations at right gate the modification carried out angles to the direction of film was on a Model II camera, tests have Single Booth travel. The two register pins are revealed that it works equally well also driven positively by a cam, and II. with its larger As mentioned above, the three do not use return springs. with the A shutter opening. As the II and projectors for showing the Cine- miracle pictures are housed in a Improved Definition II. A shutter mechanisms are inter- changeable, this has obvious single booth. The centre projector The back pressure plate is also advantages. screens the centre section of the cam operated and clamps the film The cost? It is estimated this picture, and the left and right hand in the focal plane during exposure. would be about £300, with a de- panels are projected by machines I was assured that this has pro- livery time of roughly six weeks. set at right angles to the centre duced a considerable improvement Anyone interested to know more projector and projecting through in definition; and, because the back about the P.F.P. gate should get mirrors which are adjustable to the pressure plate is retracted while in touch with Clifford Cameras and fine limits necessary to produce the film is being pulled down by Equipments, 1 Soho Square, W.l. the illusion of a single panoramic the claws, one of the main causes picture on the screen. The projec- of negative scratch is eliminated. tors are fitted with 8,000 ft. spool The Arriflex camera to which Cineniiracle boxes. The sound track is on a the gate has been fitted has been separate magnetic film and runs in in use on a production, and to date Cinemiracle, the newest of the sync, with the picture on equip- about 20,000 feet of film have been super wide-screen systems, uses ment interlocked with the projec- shot, with entirely satisfactory three cameras in one photographic tors. results in respect of steadiness and unit and three projectors inter- The Cinemiracle screen used in definition. locked to produce a picture with a the demonstration measured 63 ft. As proof of this we were shown horizontal angle of 146° on a giant by 26 ft. with a maximum curve on the screen shots taken at curved screen. Unlike its predeces- of 13 ft. at the centre; covering a various stages of the production. sor in the same field, Cinerama, field of vision 146° wide and 55° Also screened were double exposure only one projection booth is used. wide. steady tests of the displaced cross According to an article in The first Cinemiracle feature. type, and split screen shots, with "American Cinematographer " by Cinemiracle Adventure, is in course both horizontal and vertical splits. Joe Henry, on which these notes are of production. The story is con- They were an impressive demon- based, demonstration screenings in cerned with the last of the square- April 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 53 tween the back glass and the film plane is so much greater than in a conventional lens, that it is pos- sible to use shorter focal length lenses with mirror shutter cameras than would otherwise be possible. The Retrofocus computation makes possible far greater back- focus lengths than do orthodox reverse telephoto formulae, and it is at the same time so flexible that wide angle lenses of astonishing aperture can be made; an example is the 10mm. f/1.8 for 16mm. cameras. Angenieux has also pro- duced a 25mm. lens—also for 16mm.—with an aperture of f/0.95! (Another lens in the Retrofocus range, the 18.5mm. for 35mm. cameras, is widely known in this country.— Ed.) Bell-Howell to Distribute Bell-Howell of America have acquired the world distribution rights of these lenses and have re- designed some of their cameras to P. F. P. Gate Mechanism accommodate them. Promised for the future are a 15mm. f/1.3, a 50mm. f/0.95 and a compact zoom of new computation. lenses, rigged sailing ships and involves teur's best value at present; light, In connection with zoom the name of another famous French shooting in many parts of the but nevertheless robust, it provides world. continuous viewing through the optical manufacturer comes to taking lens while shooting, by mind— Som-Berthiot. Their first zoom lens, which had a range of " In Praise " means of a pellicle, inserted behind of the French aperture the lens and in front of the shutter, 20mm. to 60mm. with an Brian Stanford begins a recent which reflects about lO^r of the of f/2.7 over the full range, was article in the " British Journal of successful. experi- light through the focusing tele- deservedly The " " Photography called In Praise of scope. This gives a bright enough ence gained led to the design of a the " saying in of 17-68 French by that the image for focusing, and the loss of new model with a range past the inventive genius of with the impressive aperture light is negligible as far as ex- mm. France in the cinematographic field of f/2.2. posure is concerned. A variable has not received a proportionately shutter and film wind-back allow deserved financial investment by fades and mixes to be made. France herself. Other countries New 16mm. Series have benefited financially from The 8mm. Camex tackles the many of the inventions originating continuous viewing problem in yet Som-Berthiot, who can look back in France. This is not to ignore another way. The shutter works on 100 years of existence, made the international reputation of like a reciprocating guillotine; a their entry into the 16mm. field in names like Debrie and Eclair. But prism attached to it deflects the 1932 with an f/1.5 lens. They are since the war there has occurred image formed by the lens through now on the point of putting a new " a sudden explosion of inventive the viewfinder when the shutter is range of 16mm. lenses on the in the closed position. genius . . . coupled to intensive and market, starting with a 25mm. successful native commercial ex- f/1.4, a 10mm. f/1.9 and a 75mm. ploitation." f/2.5. These will be followed later Brilliant Computations Dr. Stanford, who is writing by a 25mm. f/0.95, a 100mm. f/3.5 mainly about 16 and a 145mm. f/4.5. mm., instances the In the matter of lenses for cine- Cameflex camera, backed by the cameras the French have done even Kinoptik, founded by M. Grosset famous name of Eclair, with its better with some brilliant new in 1932, is another famous lens- novel gate interchangeable to take computations. Pierre Angenieux is making firm which originally made 16mm. or 35mm. stock, and its quoted as the outstanding example. lenses exclusively for the 35mm. mirror shutter, as the first intima- Research during the occupation market, but have recently intro- tion of the spirit that new was period led him to develop the duced lenses for 16mm. professional rising in France. theory of his Retrofocus lens, use. The Cameflex was followed a which is based on the principle of The Kinoptik range of lenses is few years later by the 16mm. the reverse telephoto in which the held in the same esteem in pro- Pathe-Webo, also produced by a length of the mount is longer than fessional circles, Dr. Stanford says, company with a considerable manu- the effective focal length. As is as are our Taylor-Hobson Cookes, facturing experience. In Dr. Stan- well known, the advantage of such and are recommended equipment ford's view it is the serious ama- a system is that the distance be- for the Eclair Cameflex. 54 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN April 1957 TALKING POINTS TV CRITICISM MORE ADULT AUDIENCES AUTOMATION Bouquet to Simon Brooks, sur- Adrian Brunei urges film and TV in France, where some of the veyor of TV in the " Daily Film producers to remember these voices were post-synched into Renter ", for plugging a new devel- statistics and to appeal more to English. These and other press opment in press previewing tele- adult audiences. Particularly im- comments add point to A.C.T.T.'s films on the same lines as cinema portant is it, he says, for the policy that foreign language dub- pictures. He points out how absurd cinemas, who find regular patron- bing into English should be done it is for critics only to see these age dropping off as boys and girls in this country. We have proved recorded television programmes progress through the twenties, pos- we have first class facilities here, when the public does; it is like a sibly because they are assuming and it stands to reason that English film critic having to wait till after household responsibilities, and pos- people know the intricacies of the the general release before he can sibly because many of them have English tongue better than anyone tell his readers about the film. grown bored with the fare that else. consists so much of a repetition of If the BBC and the programme Automation was the subject of contractors do adopt this useful a lecture-film show, which the regards step, which Simon Brooks Scientific Film Association has " " as inevitable in the progress of By beensponsoring, and very revealing TV in Great Britain, care will need it has been, too. The speaker. to be taken that the critics do not S. B. Bailey, of the Intelligence become unofficial appendages of a Division of the Government's De- the publicity Cadmus" departments and fan partment of Scientific & Industrial " ", clubs. That kind of criticism Research, pooh-hooed the idea that with its lack of independence of workers had anything to fear from thought, really does not do the automation, but significantly said trade much good in the long run. that one of the main uses of auto- Equally, TV film reviewers films of war, violence and murder. mation films was to enable factory should not ape those clever-clever As Mrs. Eirene White, M.P., said personnel departments to sell the critics who rarely lose an oppor- recently in the House of Commons, idea to the workers. As an ex- tunity to work in a sarcastic sneer; " Cinemas cannot live on courting ample of this kind of propaganda the most important quality a critic couples alone." film he showed Technique for To- needs is a love of the medium he morrow, made by the Ford Motor I would add that British film has under his inspection. That way of America; this docu- producers must wake up to the Company even the fiercest criticism will be well made, but I fact that a number of Hollywood mentary was constructive. Few critics in Bri, if it fool British film-makers are now tailoring their doubt would many tain, compared with America, pictures to a more mature audience people. France or Italy, measure up to this —because it pays. If you doubt criterion as well as being indepen- this, do as I did, and go on a diet dently-minded. of American pictures for a few Chance for Unions it will cure weeks. I guarantee It was clear, however, that in- Teenage Problem you of any complacency about dustrialists are going to put over is Leading figures in the film trade British pictures. Hollywood a lot of stuff about how automation still repeat that our policy is to backing its new pictures with a will produce more goods for the aim principally at the teen-age per- special publicity appeal to the more nation; but they will soft-pedal the sonality. A man who profoundly adult sections of the population, as fact that they want this done with disagrees is Adrian Brunei, who is seen in the advertisement by fewer workers and they will ignore tells me this is not sound business, Universal - International for The altogether the fact that automation " for by appealing mainly to teen- Great Man. If you rarely go to will help the industrialists make pictures," reads the advertise- agers we are limiting our target to the still bigger profits. Here is a " less than ten per cent of the ment, then one of your rare visits chance for the Unions, in particu- population. is now, to see The Great Man." lar those in engineering trades, to He reached this conclusion by But lift up your heads again, become the sponsors of documen- the simple process of looking up British technicians, for "The Times" taries and show automation to be the official census figures published and the "Daily Worker" agree! Of a means of great social advance earlier this year. According to the The Hunchback of Notre Dame the when in l>i< hands of the workers. latest analysis of the 1951 Census. anonymous critic in "The Times" This question of the Labour and ". sponsoring 72% of the inhabitants of the said, . . the acting is poor and Trade Union movement United Kingdom were over teen- is made to seem even poorer by more films keeps coming up at the age, and this figure shows an in- the dubbing ", and Robert Ken- Shorts & Documentary Section, and crease over that of the previous nedy in the "Worker" wrote, it is about time that the Unions Census of 1931, so illustrating that " atrociously dubbed; the acting is realised that films can put over a the expectation of life is now amateurish." This latest version of case far more graphically than longer. the Victor Hugo classic was made any other medium of expression. April 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 55 FIRST MEETING OF TV BRANCH ON the morning of Saturday, pointed out that almost every re- television industry and it was April 6th, there was held, in former in history has started out strongly felt by many of those the York Hall, Caxton Hall, West- with the stigma of " trouble present that this was a gathering minster, the inaugural meeting of maker ", in fact it is very nearly of people who were there not the Television Branch of A.C.T.T. an essential visa on the passport to merely to grab what they could The purpose of the meeting was Westminster Abbey. get but who wished, in a respon- to elect officers and to discuss the The President congratulated the sible manner, to contribute to the new draft between the prosperity and efficiency of in- agreement newly-formed branch on its birth the Association and the TV Pro- and only regretted the absence dustry in which they worked and to gramme Contractors. through illness of the chief mid- stake a reasoned claim in a In view of the fact that there wife, the General Secretary. share of that prosperity. had already been a meeting of the Officers of the branch were then After some two hours' discussion, Manchester members to pass this elected. They were as follows: it was moved that the meeting draft and these were, therefore, Chairman—Desmond Davis. Vice- should authorise the negotiating not present, and in view of the fact Chairman—Tony Shine. Secre- committee to go ahead on the basis that very many members were on tary—Ivan Ager. Publicity Officer of the draft. This was voted upon duty, the meeting was exception- —Graham Turner. and carried unanimously. ally large. Well over a hundred The meeting then moved on to Desmond Davis, the TV Vice- members were present. discuss the main business of the President, then rose to thank the Ralph Bond took the chair. On day, the draft agreement. members for their attendance. the platform with him were Bert After emphasising very strongly Craik, the Acting General Secre- the need for missionary zeal in Agreement Approved tary, and four members of the Draft recruiting, he warmly thanked the negotiating committee - - Vice- This discussion was full and film members of the negotiating Presidents Max Anderson and lively and many most interesting committee, Charlie Wheeler and Charlie Wheeler, the TV Vice-Pre- comments and suggestions were Max Anderson for their hard work sident Desmond Davis and one of made and duly noted for action and skilful help in framing the the TV General Council members, by the negotiating committee. draft agreement, Bert Craik and Tony Shine. Also on the platform Several extremely useful and con- Paddy Leech for their gargantuan was the President, Anthony structive points were raised by labours and Ralph Bond for chair- Asquith. members and a small number of ing the meeting. voted upon. The President, in his opening amendments were The meeting ended on a most address, welcomed the formation It is particularly interesting to stimulating note when Len Runkle, of the TV branch. He recalled how, note that the very first amendment on behalf of the Labs Committee, twenty-three years ago, the then that was voted on and passed, and pledged the fullest, unquestioning newly-formed ACT was regarded much of the discussion was aimed support of the Laboratory mem- by the tycoons in Wardour Street at ensuring smoother running and bers to their Television brothers in as a bunch of trouble makers and more efficient organisation in the their impending negotiations. THE Annual General Meeting of 9 J- the Television Producer/Direc- TV Producer J Directors Section tors' Section was held on April 4th. Officers for the coming year were elected as follows: Chairman, Leonard Brett; Vice-Chairman, present policy of granting A.C.T.T. Producer/Directors' section are Andrew Millar-Jones; General membership irrespective of qualifi- looking forward to an interesting Council representative, Robert cations or experience but after dis- and vitally important year. Barr. It was decided to elect four cussion it was realised that until VIVIAN MILROY. deputies for the General Council such time as the Union has a representative to enable other majority power within television it members of the section to gain was more important to build up experience in the work of the membership figures. General Council. The four elected FOR SALE were: John Warrington, Vivian The first of the Bulletins on tele- 16mm. BELL HOWELL 70DL with vision demanded by the union Milroy, John Fitzgerald, and Cecil 1 inch f/1.9 YVAR and 16mm. A.G.M. already been circulated. Petty. has f/2.8 COOKE—IN CASE. EEL The section secretary, Paddy COLOUR TEMPERATURE Robert Barr reported for the Leech, was complimented on the METER. SUNDRY 2in. and 3in. newly-formed advertising sub- speed and efficiency with which the square WRATTEN FILTERS ALL committee which had been actively bulletin had been got out. PERFECT SOME UNUSED. FOR engaged in stimulating interest With the enormous increase in SALE SUBJECT TO OFFERS BY among members engaged in adver- television members and with the CAMERAMAN TURNED DIREC- tising. contractors' agreement about to TOR BRIGGS, 65 CARLTON Some unrest was evinced at the enter its final stage the Television HILL, N.W.8. 56 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN April 1957 The Case for Co-productions W/HEN the Annual General and, last but not least, in order for overwhelming odds! " Meeting of A.C.T.T. unani- this country to work in partner- Maybe I should mention here mously voted in favour of explor- ship as an equal with other that I have no intention of attack- ing ways and means for the nations, perhaps even as primus ing Hollywood. The Americans setting up of co-productions on the inter pares and not as the poor make pictures of world-wide European pattern, a decision had relation. appeal. In production, distribution been taken which can result in a and exhibition they believe them- very substantial increase of film selves to be champions, and they production in this country, pro- By defend their title with the same vided it is pursued vigorously stamina and enthusiasm for the by our General Council, pro- rules of the game as did Rocky tected with the proper safeguards Charles Frank Marciano in his fight against Don by the Board of Trade and Cockell. I do not blame Hollywood launched with skill and determina- for going all out for their pictures. tion by our producers. I blame us for failing to look after ourselves. Trade follows the film. We all Time and again in recent months know the slogan. Hollywood has we have witnessed the fantastic What, you may ask, has all this proved its validity over the years. spectacle where some of the big- got to do with co-productions ? I The Government tell us that gest productions (financed with will tell you. Britain is about to enter the Euro- frozen money, every penny of The advent of Cinemascope, VistaVision and the like has brought in its wake the trend towards bigger films. The longer and costlier they get, the smaller is the number of films actually being made. The Basic Pattern On the Continent of Europe, the leading film producing nations have got together. Their respec- tive Trade Ministries have worked out a formula which brought into being the so-called twin-produc- tions, jointly financed and pro- duced by two nations under certain rules mutually agreed upon by the industries and Trade Ministries of both countries with the one tre- mendous advantage that the pictures thus created by both countries should be eligible for quota in both countries. To illus- trate the procedure, here, very briefly, is the basic pattern of the co-production Agreement between France and Italy: 1. A French and mi Italian pro- THB Hl'NOHBACK OF NOTRE DAME duction company agree to one in France A Recent Example of International Co-production make two films, and the other in Italy. In Pic- ture 'A' the studio work is pean Common Market and its Free which had been paid by the people done in France, in Picture 'B' Trade Area. This, then, would of this country) had an American in Italy. appear to be the ideal moment for producer, an American director, an 2. Each company provides one British Film Production to join American script and one or more French and one Italian Pro- hands with our colleagues on the American stars; and each of these ducer to work on both pictures. Continent, in order to make the films was given British Quota, and In Picture 'A' the Director is kind of pictures which we should all of them are eligible for money Fnnch. in Picture 'B' the otherwise never make, in order to from the Eady fund, a fund Director is Italian. Key per- make more pictures than would specially created to help British sonnel on both films are ap- normally be made in this country. producers in their struggle against pointed and shared by mutual — April 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 57 agreement on a 50/50 basis. Co-productions, the figures in American stars have commanded 3. Production costs are shared on the table below appear to suggest, the British Army, Navy and Air either a 50/50 or a 60/1,0 or a mean an increase of production Force in order, we were told, to 70/30 ba^is, the proportion to and improvement of the employ- conquer the American market be reversed in Picture 'B'. The ment situation. But this will only just as incongruous perhaps and French Producer retains the apply to this country if we manage just as rewarding, but hardly for whole of the French-speaking to evolve the right formula. Only the British Producer. territories, the Italian the if genuine British finance and Genuine co-productions, how- whole of the Italian-speaking genuine European finance are ever, will carry the British way of territories; the rest of the allowed to be used for these twin- life into the heart of the continent world is divided on the basis of productions, and only if the Board of Europe. Because of the double each producer's financial con- of Trade or a body appointed by it, quota, our co-productions will get tribution. acts as controller before granting the same showing as any French Italian 4. In both pictures, one of the quota, can the scheme be made to picture in France and any two stars is French, the other Italian. 5. BOTH PICTURES ARE QUOTA IN BOTH COUN- TRIES and are eligible for whatever production fund benefits (Eady money, VAide du Cinema, etc.) exist in the respective countries. France has co-production agree- ments with Italy, Germany, Aus- tria, Spain, Mexico, Argentina and Japan. The average production cost of a purely French top feature is estimated at about £80,000, whereas the average production cost of a co-production top feature works out at about £182,000. It is evident, therefore, that most of these co-productions could never have been made but for the inter- European agreements. It is equally clear that these co- productions did not only not cut down on domestic production but were in fact instrumental in in- creasing production, and thereby ROMEO AND JILIET employment in the industries of A British-Italian Film the countries concerned. work here. Without this safe- picture in Italy. The names of In this connection (a point of guard, production could be reduced our sta^s will become household particular interest to all A.C.T.T. rather than expanded. words in Europe as much as they members) it is necessary to have a already are in this country. And look at production figures in Still, if the producers of the we shall get a glimpse into the France over the last five years other European nations were able way of life of the other European when co-productions began to get to protect their own vital interests, nations. We shall realise that into their stride, and compare then surely our own organisations basically we all have the same the corresponding figures should contrive to do the same. them to problems and look for the same in this country. The French pro- But there is more to this co- things in life: how to live decently duction figures were given me by production idea than greater out- side by side with fair shares for all. Unifrance Film, the British figures put and employment. It is a two- by the British Film Producers' way traffic of ideas and ways of Co-productions can forge a link, Association. Owing to the single life. Occasionally, it may be mis- an important link, between Britain feature programme operated in used. British-European co-produc- and the Commonwealth on the one France and most other European tions may cast Gina Lollobrigida as hand and the continent of Europe countries, the average length of a a Highland lassie or Anna Neagle on the other. That alone should be top French feature is about as Mistinguette. The results may a good enough reason to call them 9,000 feet, whereas the figures be incongruous yet highly reward- into life. quoted by the B.F.P.A. include all ing. But I seem to remember films from 6,000 feet upwards. that in the not so distant past Pure British French French Co- Feature Ivor Montagu Year Productions productions Total Production 1952 88 21 109 65 We regret that Ivor Montagu's 1953 67 53 120 74 name was inadvertently omitted 1954 53 45 98 86 from the list of members elected 1955 76 34 110 88 to the General Council by A.G.M. 1956 90 39 129 89 published in the March issue of the Journal. 58 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN April 1957 of the would-be dictator of the Book Review imaginary State of Footballia, where the position of the Govern- ment depends on whether the national soccer team wins the international championship. The UNIONS AND THE LAW Council of Ministers agrees to buy the best player from the Hun- TRADE UNION LAW, by H. and within a union, a modification garian team at any price, but the Samuels. 5th Edition—Stevens of the absolute immunity from Admiral entrusted with this 12/6d. being sued for wrongs, such as mission buys the wrong man—an negligence, and provision for mem- error which is only discovered just Mr. H. Samuels is a barrister bers to sue on collective agree- before the decisive match! Ferenc well known to members of A.C.T.T. ments made for their benefit. Puskas, Sandor Kocsis and the for the cases he has conducted on other members of the Hungarian Trade unions have a long history its behalf and the other legal national football team are guest of conflict with the law which assistance he has given to it. artists in the picture. tends to them suspicious of Members of the Union will, there- make law and sometimes also of lawyers. fore, be interested to know that Fortune Smiles This was very natural in days gone the fifth edition of his book on The other soccer comedy, A Tale Trade Union Law has been pub- by but such an attitude should now regarded as old fashioned. of Twelve Points, is about four lished. Five editions in ten years be Trade Unions are some of the most people who join together to form shows that the book has been a syndicate to enter for the State powerful bodies in the state and it found generally helpful to the football pool; fortune smiles on trade union movement, and there would perhaps be unnecessary for them to view with hostility any them and they get the winning is not much in print which sets out twelve forecasts—but next day trade union law so simply and proposal for rationalising trade union law. they learn with disappointment clearly. that so many others won that week There are few areas of law However this may be, there are that each one's share is quite in- which so much need rationalisa- many cases which come before the significant! courts which concern unions. Mr. tion. Trade Union law is still These two comedies, which Samuel's book is not a substitute based on the old common law sound as if they would be very for legal advice, but it is very de- which held that trade unions were popular over here, show part of the sirable for those who are dealing illegal because they are in restraint trend in Hungarian pictures re- with union affairs to have an out- of trade. It would surely be sen- cently (and more especially since line knowledge of trade union law. sible now to replace this with a the coming of the new govern- This is what Mr. Samuels provides. modern code. ment), for more warmth and In the next edition he might use- A writer in The Modern Law humanity in the subjects produced fully substitute set of Review recently suggested that, a model and in their treatment. rules for the first appendix on the in addition to the removal of this Separate Union common law stigma, consideration 1946 Act which is now no longer necessary. should be given to universal regis- This edition should There are virtually no film tration of trade unions, the render- have a wide circulation. actors and actresses who work only for films, as they all also get ing enforcible of all contracts with Robert S. W. Pollard. engagements on the stage and on the radio. It is generally held that the best film artistes are the stars of the stage classics, amongst which Shakespeare and Moliere are very popular. Film-Making in Hungary Trade Union organisation is now on a different basis, as all film By CHRISTOPHER BRUNEI, workers are in a separate Union from other entertainment workers —until a little while before the Six months have passed since of the globe than we are privileged October events they were all in the the beginning of the insurrection to enjoy. same Union. in Hungary, and conditions are When I was there last Summer, now improving again. Budapest I heard a lot of praise for such cinemas reopened very soon after British comedies as Genevieve and the fighting stopped, and the pro- Laughter in Paradise, as well as ORDER YOU RUMOX ductions that were held up by the the more sophisticated humour of BADGE October events are being com- Anthony Asquith's The Importanci Brooches pleted in the Hungarian studios, of Being Ernest. Among the latest A.C.T.T. Badges and and some of them are already be- Hungarian productions are a num- can be obtained from Head ginning to entertain the film- ber of home-made comedies — two Office hungry citizens of Budapest. of them with a football background, Like us, the Hungarians are one of which I saw being filmed at BADGES - 2/- the mammoth People's Stadium in great filmgoers—you have to book BROOCHES - 2/4 Budapest. ahead to be certain of a seat in post free Budapest, despite the number of Our cover still this month is cinemas- but they see a far richer from The Football Star, and shows SEND FOR YOURS TODAY variety of pictures from all corners Laszlo Ungvary playing the part April 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 59 HERE AND STILL OF THE YEAR THERE Every film maker and technician, whatever his grade, who takes cinema seriously, should subscribe to, borrow, or steal the new Ameri- can film magazine Film Culture. Its claim and desire is to ad- vance the study " of a more pro- found understanding of the func- tion and aesthetics of Cinema ". The first few numbers contain articles like " For a Universal Cinema" by Orson Welles (about censorship and stupid customs rules), articles by Joris Ivens, Hans Richter, two Synopses by Stroheim and reviews of world productions. In particular there is a splendid contribution by George Fenin on •' Motion Pictures and the Public," showing how desperate Hollywood is becoming with new public tastes and demands both at home and abroad. He thinks Hollywood is becoming " a spiritual desert in glorious technicolor ". Enigma " The enigma of film making is that it is at once a dictatorship and a democracy—the dictatorship of the creator who makes absolute his conception of how the script should be transferred to the screen; and the democracy of scores of highly- skilled technicians, who must work as a team, pooling their knowledge and experience, to make that transition from the script." —Billy Wilder in " Films and Filming ". Financed by Church The powerful Presbyterian Church in America, according to Congratulations to Ken Danvers who has once again won " The Cinema's " Still Dr. Ch. Leber in the " Kine ", has of the Year Award, this time with the magnificent still reproduced above from " put up half a million dollars for an the American film " The Pride and the Passion Eastmancolor Superscope feature titled Accused. Why has the church gone in for financing features? "We wanted to make an impact, calls it preaching or not it's cer- Teehnirama and commercial cinema is still the tainly needed, especially in places Technicolor are the latest to most opinion-forming medium in like Alabama and South Africa. the world," says Dr. Leber. sponsor a wide screen system. Lewis McLeod. Teehnirama, as the system is The church is not asking to be called, employs standard 35mm. associated with the film. It is being negative which moves horizontally made by Film Productions Inter- through the camera exposing an national, a Hollywood company. NEWS FLASH eight perforation picture as in " This picture doesn't preach Just as we were going to press Vista-Vision. An anamorphic or anything," he explains. " The fact we learned of the marriage of two CinemaScope type Technicolor is the church has a story to tell, stalwarts of the Editorial Section, release print made from the Teeh- which it believes must be told. It Stan Hughes and Norma Bremson, nirama negative allows for maxi- deals with the problems of racial daughter of E.C. member Sid mum use of the available positive equality and the rights of self- Bremson. We wish them happiness frame. (American Cinemato- determination ". Well, whether he and prosperity. grapher). 60 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN April 1957 amining the needs of specialised General Council in Session film production for trainees and newcomers; the resolution would also be borne in mind during the discussions that had started just before the A.G.M. with the British Film Academy, and it was also referred to the New Entrants KODAK: THE NEXT STEP Committee. REPRESENTATION OF MEM- A petition is soon to be launched mended that our members stop BERS AT A.G.M.s. The whole by the Union as a further step work with the A.E.U. members for problem of devising machinery in the campaign to get the as long as the dispute with the whereby members on duty at the Kodak management to recognise Engineering Employers' Federa- time of the A.G.M. and those A.C.T.T. This was one of the de- tion lasted. After discussion, the working in provincial centres be cisions taken by the first meeting Council agreed to instruct mem- given full and proper opportunities of the newly-elected General Coun- bers to abide by normal Trade of expressing their wishes was re- cil, following the unanimous adop- Union action, by which they would ferred to the Executive to prepare tion at the Annual General Meet- refuse to handle any work nor- a report. ing of the resolution strongly mally done by A.E.U. members in urging the Council to examine all dispute, and that in the meanwhile means of bringing pressure to bear the Executive Committee would GOVERNMENT POLICY AND on Kodak with the object of examine the best ways and means FILM PRODUCTION. On the re- achieving Trade Union recognition. of assisting its brothers at British solution urging the Government to Head Office is to prepare the peti- Acoustic. It was further agreed to revive the former policy of tion in conjunction with our mem- contact the A.E.U. to find out in generous and imaginative sponsor- bers at Kodak, and it is to be what way our assistance at B.A. ship of documentary films to make signed by leading technicians, in could be given. known at home and abroad the order to show the management problems and achievements of the that the question of recognition On a recommendation of the British people, it was agreed that has the support of the Union as a Laboratory Committee it was Dr. Charles Hill, M.P., the Govern- whole. agreed nem. con. to give financial ment's co-ordinator of the infor- support to the Confederation of mation services, be asked to re- Shipbuilding and Engineering ceive a deputation; the resolution " DREYFUS CASE ". The Acting Unions in their dispute and that a would also be sent to the A.S.F.P. General Secretary reported that circular should go out to Shop for information. the Ministry of Labour had Stewards about it. The Executive granted permits both for an has donated £100. American Producer (Sam Zim- NATIONAL FILM UNIT. Copies balist) and a Director (Jose Ferrer, of the resolution calling upon the who was also starring in the film), 1957 A.G.M. DECISIONS. A num- Government to establish a to work at M-G-M, despite the ber of the resolutions passed at the National Film Unit under a objections from A.C.T.T. The Annual General Meeting were con- National Film Board would be sent matter was being pursued with the sidered by the General Council. to the Prime Minister, the Company and with the firm sup- On the resolution instructing the Treasury and the Leader of the port of the Producer/Directors' General Council to do all it can to Opposition. Section and the General Council. revive any joint machinery with employers and other bodies which will ensure a suitable and con- BRITISH FILM PRODUCTION ENGINEERING DISPUTE AND trolled supply of new entrants into STANDARDS. This resolution, British BRITISH ACOUSTIC. The the film industry, the Council which urged the General Council to Acoustic Shop Steward, Bob agreed to remind the A.S.F.P. of accept responsibility for promoting Langdon, reported that the the clause in the A.S.F.P.-A.C.T. the highest professional and A.C.T.T. Shop Committee recom- Agreement on the question of ex- artistic standards in technique and content, as well as its responsi- bility for industrial terms and con- ditions, was referred to the Execu- tive for recommendations to be given to a future Council meeting. OFFICIAL APPOINTMENT FILM PROCESS INSTRUCTOR (LABORATORY SUPERVISOR) NATIONAL FILM CIRCUIT. The required by NIGERIAN FEDERAL GOVT. INFORMATION SERVICE resolution, which called on the for one tour of 12/24 months in first instance. Fixed salary (including Government to establish a National Inducement Addition) £1,600 a year. Gratuity at rate £150 a year. Free Film Circuit in order to stimulate passages for officer and wife. Assistance towards children's passages British production and give scope and grant up to £150 annually towards maintenance in U.K. Liberal to independent pictures would be leave on full salary. Candidate must have a thorough knowledge of all sent to the President of the Board aspects of cine film processing both 16mm. and 35mm. and will be of Trade, the Film Committees of required to open up and run a small laboratory and to train African both the Labour and Conservative staff. Write to the Crown Agents, 4 Millbank, London, S.W.I. State Parties, and the other film unions; a^e, name in block letters, full qualifications and experience and quote it was also referred to the Legis- M3B/43986/CY. lation Committee to discuss how April 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 61 the A.C.T.T.'s national film policy stressed by a number of Council could be popularised. members and Shop Stewards from DEATH OF all side of the industry. The first resolution, which among other ARTHUR BUSHNELL FEATURE FILM AGREEMENT. things drew the attention of the The Feature Branch Committee Postmaster-General and the T.TJ.C. We announce with deep regret and Feature Negotiating Com- to the fact that the B.B.C. still the death of Arthur Bushnell, mittee were asked to make their refused to recognise A.C.T.T. in known to everybody as " Busby ", joint recommendations to the the television field, would be sent who first joined the industry Executive on the resolution de- to the Postmaster-General and the during Rome Express at Lime manding immediate negotiations T.U.C. It was further agreed that Grove. He started from the Royal with the B.F.P.A. for a substan- an Organiser should be allocated Navy, where he was a telegraphist, tial wage increase for all members full-time to TV work, and that the on maintenance, and became mixer covered by the B.F.P.A. /A.C.T.T. Finance and General Purposes for G.B. News after the 1937 Feature Agreement, as well as on Committee should go into the need close-down. the resolution that called for an to engage extra Head Office staff " Busby " was the happiest man examination of the supplementary in consultation with George Elvin. in the studios and had the readiest in the The whole question of grades B.F.P.A. Agreement recognition and most infectious laughter I with a view to including certain for A.C.T.T. by the B.B.C. was have ever known. One executive of in the schedule. referred to the them ordinary Executive. said it was impossible to tell Busby off; he just laughed in your face. KODACHROME PROCESSING. Busby was a staunch trade unionist, not one of the spectacular The request from Colour Film Ser- FOREIGN LOCATIONS. After a type but of the solid kind that vices members to negotiate with lengthy discussion it was agreed to every organiser and shop steward the F.L.A. the inclusion of Koda- circularise all Shop Stewards with likes to have behind him. chrome in the Integral Tripack the resolution urging that no He started with the E.T.U. (Sound Agreement was considered and re- member of A.C.T.T. should be Branch) at a time when it was ferred to C.F.S. members for them allowed to proceed on film or TV dangerous to admit to prepare a case for presenting foreign location, with the excep- you were in a trade union and changed to the F.L.A. tion of urgent newsreel assign- to ments, without notifying Head A.C.T.T. with the other sound men. Office and checking that the terms Everybody who knew him will TELEVISION. The two resolu- and conditions of the location had miss him. tions on this subject were con- been cleared. H.L.B. sidered in the light of the debates at the A.G.M., which were fully reported in the Film & TV Tech- nician last month; in parti- cular, the need for a fast time- table in negotiating a new TV Agreement with the Programme ACCESSORIES FOR THE Contractors' Association was MODERN EDITING ROOM Kl C \AI I MagneticTrack Reader lib,"* Designed to fit your own Synchroniser. Camera Hire The perfect supple- (1) NEWMAN SINCLAIR—Mirror Shutter. ment to your 'Ciniola' All Cooke Lenses including Series 2., 25mm., f. 1.7. SINGLE FRAME EXPOSURE or 'Editola'. and Electric Motor Drive. (Available fully adapted for CINEMASCOPE if required.) Excellent Reproduc- (2) NEWMAN SINCLAIR— Mirror Shutter. tion. Cooke Lenses and 24mm. Angineux Retro- Ample Volume. focus. Quick Delivery. (3) NEWMAN SINCLAIR— Model G. All Cooke Lenses. SINGLE FRAME EXPOSURE PRICE and Electric Motor Drive if required. £45 EX WORKS Kingston Tubular and Vinten Light Gyro (Excluding Synchroniser) Tripods. LOCATION CAMERA DOLLYS PHOTOGRAPHIC Metal construction, pneumatic tyres, drop- TD down jacks, lightweight tracks, etc. ELECTRICAL C° L S. W. SAMUELSON PHONE 71 ST., FINchley 1595 DEAN LONDON, W.I GER 4633 62 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN April 1957 LAB TOPICS — By A Cooper fully to get on with the job of If preparing a document ready for joint signature with the manage- ment. Peter Booker was elected as Shop Steward Alf At the first meeting of the At the moment our members at and Hunter as Laboratories Committee after the Colour Film Services are working his deputy, Bob Catford was re- elected Chairman A.G.M. Daphne Le Brun was again without the protection of a full and Ted Davies as Shop Secretary. elected as Secretary, George Irons Trade Union Agreement. This is re-elected as Vice-Chairman and one of the points the meeting de- We all wish the C.F.S. boys good myself as Chairman. The commit- cided must be put right in the very luck with their Agreement and, as tee also officially recorded their near future and so, having elected always, we will give them all the appreciation and thanks for the a new shop steward and committee, support and help that may be re- work put in for the Labs by Bessie they mandated them very force- quired. Bond during the year. The Committee directed that the new General Council be asked to look into ways and means of pur- suing a stronger and more vigorous campaign to remove the iniquitous regulation in the Un- Shorts & Documentary Section employment Act which enables the employers to lock out employees and thus, with the aid of this Gov- STEVE COX WRITES : for non-theatrical distribution. ernment regulation, starve the Our Section A.G.M. held at the After the showing, John Arm- workers into submission because Mezzanine Theatre, Shell Mex strong took the Chair to be " shot unemployment pay is not forth- House, on March 26th, was very at " during the discussion. The coming. successful, and very well attended. general feeling was that the com- mentary was poor, that the music The Secretary's report led to Strong Feeling didn't do what effects could have some discussion regarding adver- done, and that the passengers, or As you know, all the Lab boys tising agents and companies tourists, gave the impression of not feel most strongly about this one- making TV commercials. Helpful leaving the ground. But the photo- sided Act. It is to be hoped that contributions were made from the graphy was first class. the new General Council, with the floor and I am sure the new Com- aid of progressive M.P.s and the mittee, will note the points raised. Personally, I also felt that T.U.C., will get this matter put dozens of aircraft were leaving the right in the near future. It is only New Committee airstrip together, and it seemed a fair to state here that the General miracle that there wasn't a " pile- The new committee elected at ". Council has made a lot of progress up the meeting is as follows: Shorts in this direction but it still has a Vice-President Anderson, long way to go. Max Didn't Come Off Chairman; Eric Pask, Vice-Chair- During the Lab Committee meet- man, and Steve Cox, Secretary; To sum up the discussion, it ing, Alf Hunter, who has been seems as though something big in Committee members : Ralph Bond, attending the Committee on behalf Gloria Sachs, Chris Brunei, Derek Documentary had been attempted, of Colour Film Services for the Knight, Ralph Sheldon, Lindsay but that it didn't come off. last eighteen months, handed in his Anderson, Joe Telford, Alun Fal- We also saw another Shell Film, resignation because his wife's ill coner and Denis Segaller. directed by Denis Segaller, called health makes it impossible for him Lubrication in Industry. This film It will probably be noticed that to be absent from home during the had a " gimmick " of going alter- have six new faces on the Com- evenings. The Committee ex- we nately from black and white to mittee to look after our interests pressed its regret at hearing this colour. There was no time for dis- for the next twelve months. On news and thanked Alf for the cussion afterwards, but I did glean behalf of the Section I should like great amount of work and effort some points of view, which all to thank the members who were he has put in for A.C.T.T. during boiled down to the fact that the re-elected for their services his period as Shop Steward at not " gimmick " wasn't necessary. "All during their term of office. Colour Film Services. or none ", was the verdict. Now, as Secretary, I want to Alf has been with the Union Now for the News; and what a something like twelve years and on apologise to Bessie Bond, our news flash ! For making this an- Organiser, for not mentioning in leaving Technicolor soon found nouncement I shall probably have himself a Shop Steward's ticket. my report the assistance and guid- my invitation withdrawn ! Many of ance she has given us and all the We all sincerely hope that his our members in Shorts and in work she has done for our Section. wife's health will soon improve. the Labs may be surprised to read Thank you, Bessie, and please ex- Some of the Committee members this. Eric Pask, our Vice-Chairman, cuse my thoughtlessness. were invited to attend the next has decided that being a bachelor meeting of Colour Film Services. To wind up the meeting we had calls for paying too much income Bill Whittemore from Humphries, a viewing of Song of the Clouds, tax, so on May 11th he is going to Laurie Ward of Kays, Finsbury a colour film made by the Shell the altar with a very charming Park, and I went along to this Film Unit and directed by John Brummie lass, Joan Robinson. The meeting on the following Friday Armstrong. wedding and reception will take evening and had a very enjoyable Sponsored by Shell, the film dealt place at Birmingham. Best of time among a bunch of good, loyal with air travel on the major air- luck Eric and Joan (I say this on Union boys. lines of the world. It is intended behalf of all of vou). . April 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 63 • NO NEED TO LOOK TWICE . . once is ^ ... sufficient to see the noticeable improvement in all films when masked printed by Colour Film Services Limited—Britain's biggest 16 mm Kodachrome laboratory. 22-25 • PORTMAN CLOSE BAKER STREET • LONDON • W.l. Telephone: Hunter 0408-9 BGGGGGGGQGGGGGGGOGGGGGGGOGOGGGGGGGCGGGGOGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGE 64 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN April 1957 a clear case for ILFORD HP3 & FP3 35 mm cine negatives Columbia Pictures present a Maxwell Setton Production JOHN MILLS CHARLES COBURN and BARBARA BATES m TOWN ON TRIAL also starring DEREK FARR and introducing Elizabeth Seal Screenplay by Robert Westerby and Ken Hughes Produced by Maxwell Setton Directed by John Guillermin Director of Photography : Basil Emmott Photographically speaking exposures are invariably a problem for a Director of Photography. In this man-by-man murder puzzle Basil Emmott was very satisfied with the results he obtained from using Ilford HP3 and FP3 cine negatives. ILFORD HP3& FP3 35 mm cine negatives Ilford Limited Cine Sales Department 104 Hts;h Ho/born London W.C.I ' Holborn 3401 Published by the Proprietors, The Association of Cinematograph, Television and allied Technicians, 2 Soho Square, London, and Printed by Watford Printers Limited. Watford, Herts. MAY .... 1957 Association of Cinematograph, Television and Allied Technicians Vol. 23 No 149 PRICE 6d. JOHN DAVIS LOOKS AHEAD TV PRODUCTION FILM OR 'LIVE' ? GENERAL COUNCIL AND FOREIGN TECHNICIANS Charlie Chaplin in the British Film "A King in New York' . 66 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN May 1957 • NO NEED TO LOOK TWICE . . , ... once is sufficient to see the noticeable improvement in all films when masked printed by Colour Film Services Limited—Britain's biggest 16 MM Kodachrome laboratory. 22-25 PORTMAN CLOSE • BAKER STREET • LONDON • W.l. Telephone: Hunter 0408-9 GGGGGGGOGGGGGGGGGOGGGGOGGOGGOOGGGGOGOGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGCGGGGGGGGGGOGGGGGGQr May 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN '* Vtattum of ModJ^I Art EDITORIAL JOHN DAVIS LOOKS INTO THE FUTURE TYJE can well understand little the stranglehold Hollywood has We welcome Mr. Davis making " enthusiasm being displayed by had on our screens for the past his statement. We applaud its the delegates to the Summer Con- forty years. However, we don't lucidity. We are grateful for his ference of the Cinematograph Ex- think shortage of product alone, criticisms of incompetent and out- hibitors' Association when listen- particularly bearing in mind the moded exhibiting and renting in- ing to the paper read by their change in exhibiting technique by terests. Many of the problems guest and fellow-member Mr. John road showing and longer runs, will posed are vital. A number of his Davis. After all no one likes be- necessarily lead to America losing thoughts are new and should be ing told they are out of date, ineffi- its grip on the world's markets. examined by us all. The joint cient, excessive in number and will But we must at all costs avoid a committee of the British Film Pro- have to go out of business, stric- position whereby on the score of ducers' Association and the Trade tures which, as the speaker said, European unity we destroy the Unions should discuss them. But applied to many of Mr. Davis's individuality of each national pro- in so doing we must face up to audience. You like it less still duction industry—and incidentally the issue, which Mr. Davis ignores, when told the facts of life by the adversely affect employment—as that in passing from a haphazard managing director of the in- in that course lies death not life. industry to a ruthlessly efficient dustry's biggest combine which But as members know, all the one, meeting all the challenges of very much intends to stay in busi- problems of co-production, impli- the times, we also have to safe- ness, whoever else is forced to the cit in Mr. Davis's proposals, were guard both the public good and wall. But it is not out of sympathy discussed as recently as our last that of the workers in the industry for impoverished and incompetent Annual General Meeting. by having that measure of public cinema-owners that we adopt the control, social ownership and joint gathers that Mr. Davis unusual course of summarising at One industrial responsibility which is length in subsequent pages the almost sees the motor-car as a essential for those purposes. address given by Mr. Davis. Our greater competitor to the cinema views and policy on the economics than television. A rather odd of the monopolistic tendencies in thought from the man who distri- the industry are well known. It is buted Genevieve'. But at least is in because Mr. Davis is one of the he right coming round to our Our New Cover largest and certainly the most in- point of view that cinema films E appear this month in our fluential employer of our members and television are complementary w cover, which symbolises and the first person, other than the parts of one big entertainment in- new Trade Unions, who has given real dustry, and it is foolish for one to the growing importance of Tele- thought to the place of films in a continue to seek to ignore and try vision. The design, by Jack Timms, changing world. to combat the existence of the Lettering Artist at Denham, was other. the winning entry in our Cover One of the most significant Design Competition. This month's views he expresses is the anticipa- But when it comes to solutions cover still shows A.C.T.T.'s most tion that Hollywood will lose its we must part company with Mr. recent Honorary Member, Charlie grip on the world's markets. Davis. Rationalisation, modernisa- Chaplin, in the British film A King Whether this is coloured by the tion, efficiency—all, of course, ad- in New York, which was shot at fact that the American industry mirable in themselves—are his Shepperton Studios. The film is doesn't like Mr. Davis—and we solution. No mention is made of distributed in the United Kingdom hazard the reverse also holds good the tightening monopolistic con- by Archway Film Distributors, to — is a matter of conjecture. Be- trol which such processes will put whom we are indebted for the still. cause of American product short- in his, and age Mr. Davis anticipates an in- others', hands; creasing number of dubbed foreign no thought of the FILM & TV TECHNICIAN films being shown on our screens, social implica- the European films commanding tions of his Editor: MARTIN CHISHOLM quotas as British films do now. If policy; certainly Editorial Office: such films are shown at the ex- no word about 2 SOHO SQUARE, W.l (GERrard 8506) pense of American films the idea the workers who is well worth investigating, and are to lose their Advertisement Office: the intention is to have a Euro- jobs through 5 & 6 RED LION SQ., W.C.I (HOLborn 4972) pean Common Market to smash these processes. 68 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN May 1957 The TV Quiz Show is, by Ameri- can standards, I suppose, still much in its infancy. The whole operation would seem to be a pretty innocent one. From an article in Time magazine this would seem to be far from the case with the myriad quiz pro- grammes on the U.S. Television Networks. Time asks the question " Are the quiz shows rigged? " and answers it by saying that the pro- Tj^OCUS this month is on the Tele- Government has awarded a pay ducers of many quiz shows control -*- vision side. At the time of increase to the doctors! the outcome as closely as they dare—without the actual collusion going to press our Television For several horrible minutes it of the contestants. members have endorsed the Tele- seemed that not only was the pro- vision Agreement proposals and gramme " under fire " but rapidly So little is apparently left to they have been sent to the Pro- going down in flames. Luckily it chance that a new group of crafts- gramme Contractors. It is a turned out that the news an- men calling themselves " audience worthwhile question to ask nouncement had been misinter- participation comedy writers " has whether the Association of Broad- preted and the doctors were able arisen. On some shows they even casting Staffs has put its nego- to go forward with their interro- write the ad-lib banter between tiating proposals before its mem- gation. contestant and questionmaster. bership in commercial television. One of Herbert Wise seemed to take the the biggest problems seems to In the meantime, local repre- situation calmly enough—one can be how to get rid of the contestant sentations from A.C.T.T. in only suppose that experiences like who does not make Granada and A.R.T.V. have won this in TV are added to the ulcer high premium payments for the bill. For Herbert the evening had staffs over Easter. Our policy of only started with this incident. local achievement as well as the Midnight found him in the outer struggle for a proper national reaches of Manchester helping to agreement is winning increasing change the tyre on his taxi! membership in such companies as Alpha Television in Birmingham and A.T.V. in London. Quote . . . " It is perhaps symbolic of the The Daily Express" —certainly situation in commercial Television no lover of commercial Television, " and the difficulties of obtaining but like our members, very con- To get rid of the contestant just rates and conditions for tech- cerned about the amount of filmeo* nicians that a contract reputed to American material that is appear- be worth over £100,000 per year ing on TV recently, had this to good entertainment and how to has recently been signed for the say, " The B.B.C.'s leaning to- encourage the dramatic person- purpose of supplying " audience wards American TV this week ality who might fall down on the data ". For the purpose of supply- adds up to a solid 8 hours 20 tough question. On one show ing top technical ability the re- minutes of States-side imported candidates cannot qualify for the sources seem to be a little more stuff. . . . Even commercial TV, show without taking a four-hour, reluctant. notorious customer for the Ameri- 363-question test. Said one pro- can stockpile of canned film, could fessor, " The questioning was com- Under Fire! not compete . . . we are being bull- parable to an oral exam, for a dozed by noise, dubbed applause, Ph.D." but not too typical, Typical— and slickness, into a state of I hope of the hazards of working — hypnotism ... if the B.B.C. sets its Veteran Honoured in Television is the experience suf- mind to paying, nurturing, and fered Herbert Wise, director of Veteran Producer - Director, by giving the same professional treat- Granada's Under Fire programme. Adrian Brunei, father of Chris ment to British script writers as The programme has two M.P.s in Brunei, Executive Committee London questioned by an audience member, was recently in Italy in the Manchester studio on some and was honoured by the Mayor burning issue of the day. of Rome. He was presented with a silver medal in recognition of his On this occasion the M.P.s were writings on that city. Adrian under fire from the local doctors Brunei's writings have not been concerning the B.M.A.'s pay claim confined to travel. Younger mem- ^"i their behalf. Herbert was busy bers should find " Nice Work ", in the last hour before the pro- Adrian's autobiography, a witty gramme went on the air organis- and instructive story of the early ing the main spokesmen— reassur- struggles of the industry. ing the doctors on their first TV ". " i|" 'arance. The last points had . . into a state of hynotism boon cleared up, everyone was keyed up ready to go on the air the Americans give to theirs, we JtfCJ^ when in walks a technician and might have a better product, and anxiously announces that the less dollar buying." ;, ; ; FILM & TV TECHNICIAN SUPPLEMENT May 1957 Guide to British Film Makers THE MAN IN THE SKY Stills Department: Still Cameraman. Special Processes: W. Warrington. Ricky Smith. Bert Marshall, C. Culley, F. George. Year of Production: 1956. Publicity Department: Publicity Direc- Unit Publicist: George Mason. Studio: M.G.M. British Studios. tor, Horrace Beck. Laboratory: Humphries. Producing Company: Ealing Films HOSTAGE THE SPANISH GARDENER Limited. Producer: Sir Michael Balcon. Year of Production: 1956. Year of Production : 1956. Studio: Pinewood. Stars : Jack Hawkins, Elizabeth Sellars. Studio: New Elstree Studios. Associate Producer: Seth Holt. Laboratory: Humphries Laboratories. Laboratory: Technicolor. Director: Charles Crichton. Producing Company: Westridge Pro- Producing Company: Rank Organisa- Camera Department: Lighting Camera- ductions. tion Film Productions Limited. man, Douglas Slocombe; Camera Producer: Thomas Clyde. Producer: John Bryan. Production Controller: Operator. Chic Waterson ; 1st Camera Stars: Ron Randell, Mary Parker. Arthur Alcott. Assistant (Focus), Herbert Smith; Director: Harold Huth. Stars: Dirk Bogarde, Jon Whiteley, Other Camera Assistant, Michael Camera Department: Lighting Camera- Michael Hordern, Lyndon Brook. Geoffrey Keen, Sarafian ; Second Camera Operator, man, Brendan J. Stafford ; Camera Josephine Griffin. Rosalie Crutchley, Hugh Wilson. Operator, Leo Rogers ; 1st Camera Maureen Swanson. Bound Department: Recordist (Mixer), Assistant (Focus), Monty Tomblin. Cyril Cusack. Norman King; Sound Camera Opera- Sound Department: Recordist (Mixer). Director: Phil Leacock. tor, Eric Stockl; Boom Operator, Stanley J. Smart; Sound Camera Camera Department: Lighting Camera- Cyril Swern; Other Assistant, Ray Operator, Derek Monk; Boom Opera- man: Chris Challis; Camera Opera- Palmer; Dubbing Crew, J. B. Smith, tor, Ted Belcher. tor, Austin Dempster; 1st Camera J. Bramwell, W. Carr, C. Jones. Art Department: Art Director, Harrv Assistant (Focus), Steve Claydon Art Department: Art Director, Jim White. Other Camera Assistant, Michael Fox. Morahan; Assistant Art Director, Editing Department: Editor, Peter Sound Department: Recordist (Mixer), Alan Withy; Draughtsman, Kenneth Pitt; Dubbing Editor, Harry Booth. John W. Mitchell; Sound Camera Operator, Tait. Production Department : Production Ron Butcher; Boom Opera- Editing Department: Editor, Peter Manager, Barry Delmaine; 1st Assis- tor, J. W. N. Daniel: Boom Assis- Tanner; Assembly Cutter, Harry tant Director, David Tomblin; 2nd tant, R. Charman; Music, Ted Drake; Aldous; Other Assistant, Robin Assistant Director, John Roddicit; Dubbing Crew, Gordon K. McCallum. Clarke; Dubbing Editor, Alastair Continuity, Barbara Wainwright. W. Daniels, C. Le Messurier; Sound Mclntyre. Stills Department: Still Cameraman. Maintenance (Location). Austin Part- ridge. Production Department : Production Cyril Stanborough. Manager and/or Unit Production Production Secretary: Gladys Houck. Art Department: Art Director. Maurice Manager, Spike Priggen; 1st Assis- Carter; Assistant Art Director (Set), tant Director, Tom Pevsner; 2nd Vernon Dixon ; Draughtsmen, Bert Assistant Directors, Michael Birkett, UP IN THE WORLD Davey (Chief), Ramsay Short, John John Meadows; 3rd Assistant Direc- Jones, Bob Cartwright. Year of Production : 1956. Editing Department: Editor, tor, Ronald Purdie; Continuity, Jean Studio: Reg Pinewood. Mills; Assembly Cutter, Graham; Assistant Continuity, Lee Laboratory: Rank Laboratories (Den- Noreen Turner; Production Secretary, Daphne Ackland; Other Assistant, Peter ham) Ltd. Bushell; Dubbing Editors. Paice. Producing Company: Rank Organisa- Harry Stills Department: Still Cameraman, Miller, Barbara Rodwell (Asst.). tion Film Productions Ltd. Production Department: Pioduction Roy Gough; 2nd Cameraman, Gordon Producer: Hugh Stewart. Manager, Peter Manley: 1st Assistant Dines. Stars: Norman Wisdom, Jerry Des- Director, Harold Orton ; Publicity Director: Jack Worrow. monde, Michael 2nd Assis- Maureen Swanson, tant Director. Charles Hammond; 3rd Caridia. Assistant Director. Peter Carey; Con- Prodtiction Controller: Arthur Alcott. tinuity, Joan Davies; Production Director: Carstairs. NO ROAD BACK John Paddy Secretary, Jean Tisdall. Scenarists: Jack Davies, Henry E. Stills Department: Still Cameraman. Year of Production : 1956. Blyth, Peter Blackmore. Norman Gryspeerdt. Studio: Walton Studios Limited. Camera Department : Lighting Camera- Dress Designer: Maggie Furze. Laboratory : Rank Labs, Denham. man, Jack Cox; Camera Operator, Unit Publicist: Jean Osborne. Producing Company: Gibraltar Pic- Dudley Lovell ; 1st Camera Assistant tures. (Focus), Jim Devis: Other Camera Producer: Steven Pallos. Assistant, Kenneth Coles. YOU PAY YOUR MONEY Associate Producer: Charles A. Leeds. Souyid Department: Recordist (Mixer). Year of Production: 1956. Stars: Skip Homier, Paul Carpentei Dudley Messenger; Sound Camera Studio: Walton-on-Thames. Patricia Dainton. Operator, Charles Arnold;- Boom Laboratory: Kays Laboratories Ltd. Director: Montgomery Tully. Operator, John Salter; Boom Assis- Producer: W. G. Chalmers. Scenarists: C. A. Leeds, M. Tully. tant, A. Carverhill; Music, Ted Stars: Hugh McDermott, Jane Hylton, Camera Department: Lighting Camera- Drake; Dubbing Crew. Gordon K. Honor Blackman. man, Lionel Banes; Camera Operator, McCallum, W. Daniels, C. Le Mes- Director: Maclean Rogers. Leo Rogers; 1st Camera Assistant surier. Scenarist : Maclean Rogers. (Focus), Mark Hyams; Other Camera Art Department: Art Director, Cedric Camera Department: Lighting Camera- Assistant, D. Area. Dawe ; Assistant Art Director (Set), man, Jimmie Harvey ; Camera Opera- Sound Department: Recordist (Mixer), Graham Goodwin; Draughtsmen. Jack tor, Des Davis ; 1st Camera Assistant W. Lindop; Sound Camera Operator, Shampan (Chief). Bob Cartwright, (Focus), Manny Winn. H. Raynham ; Boom Operator. G. Bruce Grimes. Sound Department: Recordist (Mixer). Humphries; Maintenance, C. Earl; Editing Department: Editor. John Freddie Ryan; Sound Camera Opera- Dubbing Crew, R.C.A. Shirley; Assembly Cutter, Peter tor, Terry Sharrat ; Boom Operator, Art Department: Art Director, John Flack: Other Assistants, Michael D. Somerset: Maintenance, G. Barnes. Stoll; Draughtsmen, Supplied by Edmonds, Peter Taylor; Dubbing Art Department: Art Director, Bill Walton. Editors, Jimmy Groom (Asst.), Les Dennison. Editing Department: Editor, James Wiggins. Editing Department: Editor, Ben Connock; Assembly Cutter, Edward Production Department: Production Hipkins; 1st Assistant, D. Hipkins. Jeffries; Dubbing Editor, James Con- Manager, Jack Hicks; 1st Assistant Production Department: Production nock. Director, Pat Marsden ; 2nd Assistant Manager and /or Unit Production Production Department: Production Director, Luciano Sacripanti; 3rd Manager, Fraser Foulsham ; 1st Assis- Manager and/or Unit Production Assistant Director, Dominic Fulford tant Director, Ralph McCormick; 2nd Manager, Robert Dearing; 1st Assis- Continuity, Joan Davis: Assistant Assistant Director, Harvev Woods; tant Director, George Pollard ; 2nd Continuity, Maureen Hensby; Pro- Continuity, Margery Lavelly; Pro- Assistant Director, Paul Freeman duction Secretary, Ruth Grossman. duction Secretary. Sheila O'Donnell. Continuity, Barbara Thomas; Pro- Stills Department: Still Cameraman. Stills Department: Still Cameraman. duction Secretary, Maureen Meldon. Albert Clarke. Douglas Webb. , ; : :: FILJVl & TV TECHNICIAN SUPPLEMENT May 1957 odom.o A istant Direct or, T< m Wallis; Con- THE KEY MAN tinuity, Peggy Anderson; Produ ti The sound crew responsible for all 1 I Attrill. Seci an Y, in ni Production 1957 Post /Synch (with the exception of one stills Departm nt Still Cameraman, Melton ' character) and all music sessions in Cyril Stanborough. Odongo (see March Supplement) were Laboratory : Denham. Maurice Askew (Mixer), Bill Germain Producing Company Anglo-Guild Pro (Assistant Mixer and Boom), Edward ductions. Producei Ui Li. Nakhimoff (Sound Camera Opera 01 C Snowden. FORTUNE IS A WOMAN 1 Associati I ,,, ii,, 1 1 j. O'Connolly. George Lewis (Maintenanci l Y< 'if of Production: 1956 7. stars. Lee Patterson, Hy Hazell, Colin Studio: Shepperton Studios. Gordon, Philip Li / nh in atoi a 11 umphries. Director: Montgomery Tully. TIGER IN THE SMOKE I'i mlii, mo Company: John Harvel Si 1 narisi . J. Mai lai en Ro Product ions Ltd. Camera Department: Lighting Camera- Year of Production 11)50. man, Philip Grindrod; Camera Opera- Studio: Pinewood. Producers: Frank Launder and Sidnev tor. Bernard Lewis: 1st Cat Laboratory. Rank Laboratories (Den- Gilli.it Producer: Leslie Gilliat Assistant (Focus), Peter J, ham) Limited. Associate Hawkins, Arlene ' ahl Other Camera Assistants, I. M. Millan. Producing Company: Rank Organisa- Stars: Jack Dennis Price, Ian Hunter, Bernard Sound Department Recordist (Mi tion Film Productions Ltd. Keith Barber: Sound Camei, < Producer: Leslie Parkyn. Miles. Director: Sidney Gilliat. tor, Arthur Vincent; Boom Operator, Production Controller: Arthur Alrott. Sidney Gilliat. Frank Tom Otter: Boom Assistant, Keith Stars: Muriel Pavlow. Donald Sindcn, Scenarists: Launder and Val Valentin. Pamplin; Dubbing Crew. Re Tony Wright. Abbott. Baker. Camera Department: Lighting Camera Director: Roy man, Gerald Gibbs; Camera Operator, Art Department: Art Director, Wilfred Scenarist: Anthony Pelis ii 1 1st Camera Assistant Arnold: Assistant Art Director, Camera Department: Lighting Camera Alan Hume; (Focus), Godfrey Godar; Other William Holmes. man, Geoff Unsworth; Camera Op' re Camera Assistant, Ian Muir. Editing Department: Editor. E) tor, .la k Atcheler; 1st Camera A Sound Department: Recordist (Mixer), Hilton; Dubbing Editor. Derek tant (Focus). John Alcott; Other John Aldred Sound Camera Holding. Camera Assistant. Jack Ri son; Desmond Edwards; Boom Production Department: Produ Second Operator, Robin Operator, Camera Operator. Charles Wheeler; Other Manager, William Shore; 1st Assis- Vidgeon. Assistant (Maintenance), Georgi tant Director, Derek Whitehurst; Sound Department: Recordist (Mixer), Widdows; Dubbing Crew. Red Law. 2nd Assistant Director, Charles Mans- Geoff Daniels; Sound Camera Opera bridge; 3rd Assistant Director, John Operators. Paddy Cunningham. tor, D. Barnett; Boom Art Department: Art Director, Wilfrid Kane Archer, Wheeler. R. Charman : Dubbing Pat Shingleton; Assistant Art Director. stills Department: Still Cameraman, Crew, Gordon K. McCallum. V Frank Wilson; Draughtsmen. Martin Frank Otlev. Daniels, C. Le Messurier; Music, T I Atkinson and Mrs. James Levis: Drake. Dresser. Kenneth Bridgeman Art Director, Jack Set Art Department: Dress Designer, Anthony Mendleson. Director (Set), Maxsted; Assistant Art Editing Depart mint: Editor, Geoffrey SEVEN Townsend; Draughtsmen, H. WAVES AWAY Len Foot; 1st Assistant. Michael Hart; Pottle (Chief), Tony Rimmington. A sistants, Marcel Durham, Year Production 1956. Peter Bob Eadie; Dre Other of Lamont, Alan Corder. Charles Morgan S'lulio: Shepperton Studios, Middx. Designer, Joan Ellacott. John Dubbing Editor. Chris Greenham. Laboratory: Denham Laboratories. Editing Department: Editor, Production Department: Production Producing Company: Copa Productions Guthridge; Assembly Cutter, Jim Manager and/or Unit Production Limited. Kelly; Assistant, Maureen Other Manager, Parkinson: 1st Assis- Executive Producer: T. H. Richmond. Editor, Roger Roy Howard; Dubbing tant Director. Douglas Hermes; 2nd Producer: John R. Sloan. Assistants, Stan Cherrill; Dubbing Assistant Director, Peter Price; 3rd Stars: Tyrone Power. Mai Zetterling, Fiferman, Peter Pennell. Lloyd Production Assistant Director, Roy Baird; Con- Nolan. Production Department: tinuity, Phyllis Crocker; Production Directors: Richard Sale: 2nd Unit. ; Assistant Manager, Fred Swan 1st Secretary, Cynthia Maugham. D. Eady. Director, Peter Manley; 2nd Assis- Stills Department: Still Cameraman, Scenarist: Richard Sale. Tat Clayton; 3rd Assis- tant Director, John Jay. Camera Department Lighting Camera- tant Director, Ron Jackson: Con- Special Processes: Wally Veevers, man, Wilkie Cooper Cat a 1 1 tinuity, Daniels; Production Penny George Samuels. tor, Ronnie Taylor; 1st Camera Assis- Secretary, Pauline Davies. Publicity Department Publicity tant 1 Focus), Michai 1 Wil oi 1 1 Stills Department: Still Camerama 1, Director, Robin Grocott. Unit, M. Hyams); Other Camera Charles Trigg. Assistants, R. Etherington. J. Salis- Special Processes: W. Warrington bury, David Griffiths; Second Unit Pear- Bert Marshall, C. Culley, Syd Camera Operator, G. W. Kelly. son. Sound Department Recordist (Mixet Publicist: Herrington. ASSIGNMENT REDHEAD Unit Bob W. S. Salter; Sound Camera Operator. )', of ar Production : 195G. H. Tate; Boom Operators, C Wheeler Studio Nettlefold Studios, Walton-on and C. Hitchcock: Other Assistant MORNING CALL Thames. ("Maintenance), George Widdows: Laboratory: Kays Laboratories. Dubbing Crew. Red Law, P. Cun- Year of Production: 1957. Producing Company: Butcher' Film ningham Studio: Walton. Productions Ltd. Art Department: Production Designer. Laboratory Kays Producer: W. G. Chalmers. Wilfrid Shingleton: Art Director, Producing Company: Winwell Prod 11 Stars: Richard Denning. Carole Ray Simm; Assistant Art Dire< tions Ltd. Mathews. Frank Willson Producers: Bill Luckwell, D. E. A. liin ,-lir Marl' ari I 'oners. Editing Department: Editor. Raymond Winn. Icenarist: Maclean Rogers. Poulton ; Assembly Cutter, Valerie Stars: Ron Randell, Greta Gynt. Camera Department : Lighting Camel Leslie: 1st Assistant. Peter Kei 1 Director: Arthur Crabtree. man. Ernie Palmer: Camera Opera Other Assistant. Karen Heward: Screenplay: Bill Luckwell, Len Town, tor. Nobby Smith; 1st Camera Assis- Dubbing Editor. Winston 1; end tant (Focus), Eric Williams Assistant Dubbing Editor. P. Mus- Camera Department: Lighting Cami Sound Department: Recordist (Mixer), grave. man, James Harvey: Camera Opera S. Squires; Sound Camera OperatOl Production Department: "rode tor, Desmond Davis: 1st Camera A. Lewis; Boom Operator, Robin Manager and /or Unit Production 1 : Assistant 1 Focus). Manny Vosoa : Clegg Dubbing Crew, I C * Ham Manager. R. L. M. Davidson: 1st other Camera Assistant, Petei Ma mersmith; Maintenance, F. Tomlin Assistant Directors, Basil Keys <-nd Donald. Art !>• partmt n< \r\ Director, John Unit. P. Crowhurst): 2nd Assistant Sound Department Recordist (Mixer) Stoll. Dire, tors. Albert Pearl, then E. W. Bernie Brown; Sound Camera Opera Editing Department: Supervising Hill and David Bracknell ; 3rd Assis- lor. Aubrey Lewis; Boom Operator, Editor. Peter Mayhew; Assistant tant Directors. E3. W. Hill, then .1 S Kevin Sutton; Sound Maintenance Editor. Ernie Hosier. Angus; Location Manager. Martin Charles Earl. Production Department Production Schute; Continuity. Betty Forster: Art Department: Art Director, John Manager and/or Unit Production Production Secretary, Inez Eiston Stoll. Manager, Clive Midwinter; 1st Assis- Stills Department: Still Cameramen. l-'il'tuni Department: Editor John tant Director. Don Wcrks: 2nd Assis Eric Gray C.'nd Unit A. Evansi. Ferris; 1st Assistant. Lollette Currie. tant Dire, tor. Stanley Goulder; Con- Special Processes: Wally Veevers. Production Department: Production tinuity. Yvonne Richards: Production Publicity Department: Publicity Manager and/or Unit Production Secretary, Cynthia Maugham. Director. Catherine O'Brien. Manager, Clive Midwinter; 1st Assis stills Department: Still Cameraman Scenic Artists Gilbert Wood. J. tant Director. Stanlej Goulder; 2nd Rickie Smith. Macky. T. Samuels. Rasil Manning '1*9 My^.m of Mcxjvfn Aft May 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN &I3SARI 69 w-... A Technician's Notebook THE B.J. ALMANAC A LONG with all the other pheno- photography technique contains it possible to give a more precise £* mena of spring we welcome the latest information in the pro- answer to that question. once again the British Journal cesses available in this country, " Sharps' Colour Chart and Grey Photographic Almanac making its Scale ", to give it its correct title, 98th annual appearance. And once should prove a valuable aid to the again we marvel at the prodigious art director, cinematographer, amount of material packed into so By photographer, in fact anybody, compact a volume. whether he works in films or tele- In order and lay-out the con- A. E. Jeakins vision, who is interested in know- tents follow the traditional pat- ing how colours will reproduce in tern; the regular Almanac reader, monochrome. I think it is true to say, can turn The chart consists of a ten-step up the section he wishes to con- grey scale, a set of four cards on sult, if not blindfold, at any rate with instructions for user pro- which are printed a series of 32 without looking it up in the table cessing Agfacolor, Ferraniacolor colour patches abstracted from the of contents. and Gevacolor reversal and Euro- Wilson Colour Chart, and a colour pean colour materials and colour conversion table. From this table " " Physics and Metaphysics papers. There is also a very use- it is possible to find out the grey ful list of colour balancing and scale equivalent of any of the 32 First come the special articles colour temperature correction colours on the cards, as it will re- headed by the one for which the filters. produce, not only in the standard editors are responsible. This year New this year is a nine-page Kodak and Uford emulsions, but they have taken as their subject section which deals with " the con- also on Image Orthicon and Photo " Physics and Metaphysics in fused situation surrounding elec- Conductive TV camera tubes, by Modern Photography ", a brief but tronic flash factors and developing daylight and tungsten. nevertheless fascinating survey of times ", and includes tables for the the part played by photography, principal units and sensitive allied with techniques such as materials available here. Matching electron microscopy, X-ray crystal- The glossary of technical terms, The matching of to lography, etc., etc., in the revela- the colours the list of books dealing with the scale tion of facts and phenomena that the grey was carried out by history, technique and applications practical tests with the emulsions lie beyond the reach of unaided of photography, the directory of and television human vision. camera tubes. Any- repairers, the formulae are all There are four other more one who wishes to, can, of course, here, and dozens and dozens of specialised articles by Keith use the grey scale to make his own other items for the information tests with colours other those Hornsby, Bernard Alfleri, W. S. than and guidance of the photographer, Sharps, and George Ashton, who in the chart. The publishers state far too numerous to catalogue deal respectively with developer that they are prepared to arrange here. replenishment, wild flower photo- for the supply to order of colours One must, however, mention the not included in graphy, photography and tele- the standard set. pictorial supplement with its It is noting the vision, and the use of filters in worth warning thirty-two examples of in colour photography. work that coloured materials which con- various styles from photographers tain Abstracts from articles pub- dyes that reflect light outside all over the world excellently re- lished during the past year, mostly the visible spectrum and to which produced in photogravure. the in the British Journal of Photo- TV tubes and films are sensi- The British Journal Photographic graphy, are grouped together tive, may produce different results. Almanac is edited by Arthur under the heading Epitome of Pro- "Sharps' Colour Chart and Grey Dalladay and published by Henry " is gress. Reviews of new apparatus Scale compiled by Wallace S. Greenwood and Co. Ltd., London. and materials occupy over a Sharps and, as I mentioned above, It sells for 6/- or 8/6 according to is hundred pages and form a useful published by The Fountain whether buyers' guide. you choose board or cloth Press, London. The price is 19/6. binding, and it's excellent value The lists of sensitised materials for money, either way. for colour and black-and-white still photography and sub-standard Last month reporting on the cinematography, with data relat- Sharps' Colour Chart P.F.P. gate for the Arriflex ing to speed, availability, suitable camera, I said that an adjustment " developers, etc., have been brought How will that green photo- might have to be made to it when " up to date. The list of colour graph? using thicker film stocks like " materials is particularly compre- Umm—a sort of darkish grey, Eastmancolor. I am informed that hensive, covering as it does, all I imagine." this is not correct and that East- known processes. A chart recently published by mancolor has been used success- The section dealing with colour The Fountain Press ought to make fully with the prototype gate. : 70 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN May 1957 able portion of programmes being made up of foreign language films THE SHAPE OF which had been subsequently dubbed into English. In the past the huge supply of American films THINGS TO COME? had made it possible to avoid the necessity of looking for the best of the European and South Ameri- JOHN DAVIS SPEECH TO EXHIBITORS can product but now the smaller Hollywood supply provided the opportunity for foreign language A CALL for the rationalisation of the British Film Industry was made producers to extend their activities ' * by Mr. John Davis, Managing Director of the J. Arthur Rank in this country. They must do Organisation, at the summer conference of the Cinematograph Ex- much to help themselves and not hibitors' Association earlier this month. expect British interests to do all their work for them. Among the questions which he reviewed were the shrinking supply of Hollywood films, the advantages to the Industry of a European Common Market, contraction in the number of cinemas operating, and European Common Market the need for drastic overhaul of methods of distribution. He also stressed the need for a combined trade organisation representing all sides of " This is the opportunity for the Industry. theatre owners to exploit these In view of the importance of these proposals to all workers in the films and assist in securing for all industry we print below an extended summary of Mr. Davis's speech on films an international audience, at which we also comment editorially on page 67. the same time increasing the sup- Mr. Davis took as his text an ply of films on which the exhibitor article in the Financial Times in can draw." which the following statement Mr. Davis said that this raised Entertainments Tax relief was appeared the issue of the European Common not the solution to many of the Market which he believed would " The Cinema Industry is having Industry's problems. However un- be in the long-term interests of to adapt itself to a situation in pleasant it might be, he held the this country. From the standpoint which it has lost its monopoly of view that no final solution to these of a film producer the European mass-produced visual entertain- problems would have been found if Common Market would give the ment. Recent experience has a much larger amount of relief opportunity of securing a basic shown that the right sort of film had been granted this year. market of a size comparable with can still attract capacity crowds, that of the American domestic but the time has gone when people Move from Hollywood market. This would give pro- will watch indifferent perfor- ducers in this country and over- mances to pass the time. The ad- the opportunity of producing Reviewing the changing pattern seas justment to the new situation films of broader appeal with an of the Industry Mr. Davis said he must be painful; there may have eye to the big, basic domestic believed a situation was develop- to be better programmes, and the market. In this way one of the ing as a result of which the main trend towards elimination of the producer's problems, the problem source of production would move smaller marginal cinemas may of the small domestic market, from Hollywood. The trend of film continue. But once the readjust- should be removed and better films production in the United States ment is over, there is no reason in greater numbers should flow over the last year or so had shown why cinemas should not take their such a development. a material change aggravated by from place as a permanent and profit- financial battles for control of able part of the entertainment world." some of the great corporations. An Reciprocating Quota industry in difficulties did not easily attract new money and new " This development ", Mr. Davis brains, both of which were needed Cold Economic Winds added, " will create a situation in great quantities. which may horrify you, the " view," How many, Mr. Davis asked, are In my Mr. Davis said, thought that there would have to " going be faced with prepared to face the facts and re- we are to be a quota for films, not just shortage for adjust not only methods of opera- an American product British films, but European films tion of the individual, but in addi- some considerable time, if not for covering the countries of the Euro- tion, participate in changes which good. pean Common Market. Let us be must take place in the operation under no delusion, reciprocating of the industry as a whole? Strong Home Industry quotas must be granted in the At least until a year or so ago, Common Market for British films." Mr. Davis went on, the Industry " At home a strong production Mr. Davis then went on to dis- was very prosperous. A pros- industry will be permanently de- cuss the possibilities of large- perous industry was vulnerable veloped, making films of high en- screen television. Scientists were since it was often reluctant to face tertainment value with an eye on already talking about world tele- up to facts. " It is the cold econo- both domestic and world markets. vision networks operating in the mic winds which ultimately force Entertainment supply will become next ten years. " We must organ- " an industry to re-adapt itself. more and more on a global basis, ise ourselves ", Mr. Davis said, so These conditions have been with us and if our producers grab the that we participate in these new for some years, but many people opportunity British Production will developments. European and world have tried to avoid facing the issue play an increasingly important networks with large screens cer- — until now when they can avoid part in the world." tainly open up new sources of it no longer." This would envisage a consider- supply of entertainment and new May 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 71 methods of presentation such as must materially reduce the cost of an extensive use of world actuali- distribution which was far too ties." high, not only in this country but FRENCH Turning to the question of com- world-wide. This must involve a petition from television Mr. Davis common servicing organisation TECHNICIANS' said that, from the point of view separate from any one company of the Film Industry, the public and divorced from selling, to A.G.M. felt that they received from tele- handle the physical side of distri- vision a large quantity of free en- bution. tertainment. This made it un- YV7E have received from the Syn- attractive for the public to go and " dicat des Techniciens de la see average films when something Scrambled TV Network Production Cinematographique, similar to the average film could the French film technicians' Union, be obtained in the home, appar- Looking further ahead Mr. Davis a copy of resolutions passed at General Meeting held ently free. Thus only important believed the time would come when their Annual March 10th, 1957. films of high entertainment value films would be distributed either on were of interest to the public. through the medium of tape, wire A series of demands were made " Piped or Coin-in-the-Slot tele- or through a television scrambled concerning the Social Service vision will certainly come. I am network. scheme. These included the convinced that it will be used in adaptation of the scheme to the No side of the industry could casual nature of film technicians' the foreseeable future. Will the exist successfully without the suc- industry use it? Surely the in- employment, a revision of the cess of all sides. It was essential dustry and can harness it for points-calculation for pensions, must to work out methods of increasing its ". an improvement in health and own benefit? box-office returns. Producers must and safety precautions in studios. The have the opportunity of earning that health maximum returns on important resolution stated Competition for Leisure standards in the industry had de- entertainment films. They, on teriorated alarmingly, partly as a their side, must use imagination to People today had more leisure result of the speed-up of produc- keep costs down and to make films time and the more leisure they tion over recent years, and ended which would satisfy the changing had the greater was the competi- demanding the resumption of tastes of the public. by tion for it by all providers of discussions on the re-establish- entertainment, be it television, " I have already intimated that, ment of the 5-day working week. radio, the ballet, music, sport, in my view, a contraction in the motor-cars or films, and one of the quantity of film must continue. Separate Union greatest competitors for that The unanswered problem is the leisure time was the motor-car. speed of this contraction. In addi- French television technicians are With this increased leisure the tion there is already a permanent organised in a separate union, the public would become more selec- reduction in the supply of second Syndicat des Techniciens du Spec- tacle Televise, this, like the tive in its tastes and audiences features and other supporting film. but would no longer be prepared to go Ultimately the programme will be S.T.P.C., is affiliated to the to the cinema unless they were reduced to single features which National Entertainment-workers' offered not only good entertain- may lead to a change in present Federation, and the two unions of ment but adequate facilities and public tastes for the continuous work together on matters com- comfort under which to see the programme." mon policy. The last resolution of programme. the S.T.P.C. meeting gave strong support both to their own Direc- In Mr. Davis's view the facilities tors' Section and to S.T.S.T. in in many cinemas not ade- One Trade Organisation were their defence of the moral rights quate today. " Theatres not in of creative workers in the products first-class condition must be closed At the present time the Industry of their labour and especially in or alternatively had over sixty trade associations rebuilt to the opposing the "Producers' Charter" latest and most modern standards with an annual operating cost in drawn up by the International of comfort and projection, etc." excess of £250,000. It should set up a combined trade organisation Federation of Film Producers' at the top of which there should Associations. Rationalisation be an executive council presided over by an independent chairman Management Criticised " But in my view ", Mr. Davis having no connection with any The resolution further criticised added, " nothing can stop side of the Industry. Under this a the attitude of the management of material contraction in the number executive there should be com- French Radio Television to Trades of cinemas operating in mittees representing each section the Wes- Union agreements and protested tern world. The present limited of the industry. Such an organisa- against attempts by the same supply of pictures and the chang- tion would facilitate the sorting management to exclude film tech- ing competitive conditions in the out of the problem for the creation nicians from television production. mass entertainment market will of the successful pattern of the On this latter subject, it instructed bring about the closing of many future. the Executive of S.T.P.C, in col- theatres; only those with good " We must have rationalisation laboration with S.T.S.T., to take earning potential will be retained." in our industry. The closure of all necessary action, including a While a most careful rationali- the uneconomic unit will come, publicity campaign, to further the sation in theatres was essential it taking into account whether the possibilities for fruitful collabora- also was necessary to overhaul the unit is uneconomic because it is tion in the television field between present methods of distribution redundant or whether it is un- technicians of the two unions. which were obsolete and unneces- economic because it is in poor con- sarily complicated. The Industry dition." MAX ANDERSON. 72 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN May 1957 Win Min Than had never seen tele- vision until she came to England to co-star with Gregory Peck in 'The Purple Plain'. "We do not have " television in Burma she says, "hut then we are a naturally happy people!" We have invited QUENTIN LAWRENCE, of A.C.T.T.'s Television Producer-Directors' Section, to <•( ntribute occasional articles on various technical aspects of television production. He opens in this issue with a subject of never-ending- controversy. Film or 'Live 9 ? SINCE this journal is read by film in the last twelve months between the technique of directing a film is and television technicians alike, active direction in both media, and to be provided with the means of perhaps it would not be inappro- immediately prior to that I re- solving, by the same rules as one priate to devote a few lines to a ceived my grounding as a director learned in the film studio, nearly topic on which controversy rages in the much-discussed High-Defini- every problem that presents itself unceasingly, and on which I sup- tion venture, a true hybrid if ever in the planning of a Television pose the last word will never be there was one. Any conclusions production. said; I refer to the general ques- which I may by now have come to Ninety per cent of the television tion of "live" versus "film" studio are therefore based on fairly com- director's technical problems (ex- production technique. prehensive practical experience. In cept, of course, those concerned Perhaps the word " versus " is point of fact they are few, but in- with writing and acting, which out of place; the two techniques teresting to me because they are must come first) are concerned are not of course competitive. If so diametrically opposed to what with where to place the camera, one has to make a film, one makes I expected at the outset. with what lens, and; when and it in a film studio; if one has to how to cut from one shot to the do a live production, one does it next. Now if one is capable of By the same rules live. However, the end-product is participating in these decisions on the same— a story told in pictures The raison d'etre of the High- the studio floor and in the cutting- on a screen with accompanying Definition project was the applica- room, one can just as easily—very sound— and sidelong glances, some- bility of Television production often more easily—make them times envious, sometimes derisive, methods to film making. I now under TV production conditions. are often being cast from one find myself implacably dedicated Many film technicians get very camp to the other. And whichever to the exact complementary idea, bewildered and baffled by con- one is engaged in one cannot—or which is the applicability of the ditions in a TV production control at any rate should not- banish basics of film production to live room, which often seems to re- from one's mind the question of Television. It never ceases to semble the bridge of a destroyer how the other medium would tackle astonish me that this approach is under fire during a naval battle. the same problem. not more widely canvassed in the The important thing to remember It has been my good fortune to grounding of training of Television about this is, that once a director divide my time pretty well equally directors. To have once mastered climbs into the " gallery" his work — ! May 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 73 is, or should be, finished. He is wished on them by a director who merely watching his picture being doesn't realise what can be lit and acted, photographed, edited and what cannot. George Elvin dubbed—all at once! He has only What of the reverse of the others one screen to watch; the coin ? What can the film techni- are there for the various techni- cian derive from Television tech- Back cians who need them, and if he nique? There is no doubt that the Members will be glad to know has done his work properly he one big advantage, the thing that that George Elvin is back in the should be able to watch it in makes Television possible (and be- saddle having made a complete reasonable quiet and comfort also makes it tremendous fun) is recovery. In fact he seems to be cause everyone else has been told the psychological factor of purely at the very top of his form and —by him—what to do and when to going " on the air " at a set time fighting fit. do it. with the knowledge that several " million people are looking in; From what I see after my first which gives the whole operation, few hours in the office ", George Chaos on Screen from the first planning conference said on the day of his return to " The director who does not pre- or rehearsal, a sort of tempo which work, the film industry and its plan, who tries to knit together has no equivalent in film produc- trade unions are much the same as the production from the control before. But whether they are or gallery by watching four screens not, I want to let you know that at once, manipulating three I am passed as completely fit and cameras " off the cuff ", and often I am delighted to be around again. even giving impromptu directions DYNAMITE? I am most grateful to everybody to the wretched actors over a within A.C.T.T., from Head Office The views expressed in this loudspeaker, gets chaos in the con- through the Shop Stewards to the article be technical dyna- trol room—and on the screen. This may rank and file for showing so effec- latter feature he never really mite among Television Pro- tively during the past seven months that it is all nonsense knows about because he is too ducers. We hope they are. to busy. claim that A.C.T.T. was anything If they create an explosion of like a ' one man show '. There is a terrible lot of non- contending opinions Film and sense talked about the special nature TV Technician wants to report of Television. There is absolutely A.C.T.T. " healthier than ever " no fundamental difference between it. What are YOUR views? a live Television production and a Write and tell us. We are 'A.C.T.T. seems, if anything, I healthier than ever. I look film of the equivalent story. waiting for the " big bang " forward hold the view that the only way to to meeting the members again plan a live Television sequence is over the coming months." to imagine how one would shoot Following George's return Bert it on film and then see how closely tion and cannot be synthesised by Craik, who so magnificently held one can approximate to the same any means. the fort during the General Secre- result using multiple cameras and There may be odd technical de- tary's absence, is taking a well- continuous shooting. And it would vices and tricks which could find deserved holiday. All members amaze many people to know how a place in film production; for in- will wish him an enjoyable rest often one can get very near to the stance, do film sound editors and and will thank him for the sterling answer. There are certain same dubbing mixers know about the work he did in George's absence. live Television impossibilities in German E.M.T. gramophone turn- for instance, when cross-cutting tables which A.T.V. are now using on dialogue one can never get for cued background music and round as near to the mutual eye- effects? These are capable of line as one would wish, but at least running - up virtually instan- TV AT EDINBURGH if one understands the problem one taneously on a selected musical can work out methods of coming FESTIVAL phrase or sound effect and can be pretty close to the ideal. The growth of television is to be very simply operated to an accur- reflected in the programme for acy of time equal to all but the this year's Edinburgh Fes- most precise track-laying. Their Film " " tival which is being held from Same handwriting use in the dubbing theatre could August 18th to September 8th. save time in the cutting room, as If one has worked for any length Plans include an international con- well as eliminating an inter- of time in a film studio one in- ference on the production and use mediate transfer from disc to film. evitably gets to know what sort of documentary film in television. of set-ups are easy to light well There will Future Articles also be discussions of and yield good photographic re- plans for the international ex- sults. It is quite astonishing to I hope that in future articles change of television film material. find that if one uses this same other devices peculiar to Tele- M. Henry Cassirer, head of the " handwriting " in a Television vision but with possible film pro- Television Branch of U.N.E.S.C.O., studio, one finds in nine cases out duction applications will be is drafting a programme for the of ten that one is getting Tele- described. It would be of great conference which will attract film vision pictures of truly cinematic help in the planning of these and TV experts from many quality. Television lighting men articles if readers would write to countries. are not idiots. Though many me, c/o Head Office, about the sort people think they are and can be of subjects which they feel should A Festival conference on the use pardoned for thinking so because be covered in this feature. of television in education is being they so often have to light vir- planned by the Scottish Educa- tually " unlightable " set-ups, Quentin Lawrence tional Film Conference Committee. — 74 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN May 1957 TALKING POINTS A - Bomb • Third Programme • Entertainment Tax /^OMING events, they say, cast think it clever to call intellectuals the question of choice is the im- ^ J their shadows before them, and names would make up their minds. portant one. with a jolt I realised the deep One moment intellectuals are re- For a great and progressive " truth of this corny old saying, ferred to as the long-haired people with ambitions to go for- ", critics when I was privileged to go to a boys and then their go to ward it is not enough that the special showing of a most moving the other extreme and call them Third programme should only be new documentary film that has "egg-heads"! This silly talk is allotted three hours a day, while just been re-edited over here. The really nothing more than envy, and the Light and Home together get picture comes from far-away ten times as much. Japan, but there is nothing I have left to the last the aspect about it, for it By quaintly oriental that affects us most directly as a shows in ordinary human terms, Trade Union. If economies are any nationality, understandable to it the order of the day, not only are exactly what are the effects today Cadmus" regular employees of the BBC that fell on of the atomic bomb threatened, but also those long- and Nagasaki nearly Hiroshima suffering free-lance members like twelve years ago. writers, who scrape a living in the media of radio, television and film, snobbery always No Bitterness its inverted will find it even more difficult. I'm strikes me as especially vulgar all for changes at the BBC, but The makers of this film do not when relatively intelligent people this one is retrogressive and ought dwell on the past, and, believe-it- are dismissed as " Third Pro- itself to be changed. or-not, they show no bitterness gramme types ". against those who dropped those Perhaps it is part of the British Predictions Correct terrible bombs. The effects of habit of running down the things radiation from these bombs and that foreigners admire most about The only thing that pleased me from the Bikini H-bomb test of us. I have often noticed how about the Budget was that the 1955 are still today killing people friends from America have gone predictions I made in February in Japan, but this shadow on the into rhapsodies over our BBC proved correct. I wrote then that bright face of the inhabitants is Third Programme, now so sadly the Government would not be very shown by the film to be a warning curbed by Sir Ian Jacob on generous to the cinemas and sug- " against the hydrogen bomb tests grounds of economy. ("It might gested that cinema Entertain- ment be slightly reduced, that the great nations are still con- mean small reductions in staff ", Tax may tinuing. The film's title is The added Sir Ian). Despite some irri- but, to make up for this, there will Shadow of Hiroshima. tatingly pretentious material on be some form of tax on television." Last the Chancellor A.C.T.T. put down a resolution occasions, the Third has pioneered month of the Exchequer cut cinema duties on the subject of H-bombs and the remarkably enlightened pro- by £6,500,000 (the industry asked for genetic effects of the tests for the grammes, as well as catering for a £21,000.000 cut), and increased Women's T.U.C. at Hastings, and the ever-growing public that the combined radio and TV when our delegate Mrs. E. J. enjoys serious concerts and operas, licences from £3 to £4, which Wallis told the conference that and does not want them packaged would net an extra £8,000,000 in a the Women's Advisory Committee in half-hour periods. full year. had ruled it out of order, there were some angry clashes with the The total abolition of Entertain- platform. In a way the Advisory Deserved Wider Audience ment Tax on the live theatre and Committee was right in saying sport only serves to emphasise the Many of the experiments on the that the conference could only deal iniquity of the remaining Tax on Third that have deserved a wider with women's problems the H- " cinema tickets. The Federation of — audience have been " promoted bomb tests concern men, women Theatre Unions can feel pleased to the Home or Light for repeats, and, most particularly, children with their campaigning over the which is, surely, a high tribute. but their " Out of Order " decree Tax on the live theatre, and their Those who were so vociferous in bureaucratic. success should spur us on to com- seems most as an demanding commercial TV bine with the other film Unions If The Shadow of Hiroshima had alterative programme to BBC now in preparing for the next been shown to them first, I am television have been strangely Budget. sure they would have realised the silent during the controversy over importance of everyone freely dis- the Third; but, really, the same cussing the problem, for this 22- principle of giving the public as minute film is of enormous assis- much choice of listening as pos- BELONG tance in graphically bringing home sible applies; restricting the Third SHOW THAT YOU the truth of the hazards to the to the awkward hours of 8 to A.C.T.T. badges and brooches can world of nuclear tests. 11 p.m. prevents so many people be obtained from Head Office. post free. I wish those abusive people who enjoying it when they want to, for Badges 2/-, brooches 2/4, — May 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 75 "Kemp's"—1957 Book Reviews KEMP'S FILM AND TV DIREC- TORY, 1957 (10/6—Free to British production companies and Studio Push-Bike across India Managers). The Ride to Chandigarh, by Harold lot, from buggy-carts to buffaloes, the This directory includes for Elvin. Macmillan, 25/-. from lechers to lepers, from rick- first time a Technicians' Section " When India in the partition of shaws even to trains, and sling for which A.C.T.T. and N.A.T.K.E. '47 half the Punjab to them all in as if tightly stoppered co-operated with the publishers. lost Pakistan, the Indian Punjab lost up into twenty short yards so that Whether you want to find a com- can't the street its capital, Lahore. So now they the hero get down poser for a TV jingle, buy some building a capital, and cutting-room equipment or hire a are new they are doing it on virgin land, police car, you can find names, and its nearest village is Chandi- addresses and 'phone numbers garh and hence its name. I just listed in the appropriate cate- want to see it." gories, which are conveniently in- That was how Harold Elvin ex- dexed at the end. plained to his host, an Indian Salvation Army Major, why he was starting out on a cycle ride In New Form of over two thousand miles across India to the foot of the Himalayas. This is the first issue in a new " And this city, is it a worth form, and I do not mean to be dis- seeing place ", the Indian asked. couraging to the publishers in " It will be. It's only just be- pointing out a few things that ginning. They sent for four of seem to be rather strange. If you the most famous architects in the wanted to look up the address of world to design it; the Frenchmen A.C.T. Films Ltd., you would look Le Corbusier and Jeanneret, and in vain under " Producing Com- the English Maxwell Fry and his panies Feature Films ", and yet — wife Jane Drew ". it appears in a number of such categories as the producers of TV Threefold Equipment commercials, cartoons and enter- tainment shorts. Among the trade " The Ride to Chandigarh " to and professional associations one see " the vast areas of nothing cannot find the E.T.U., the Musi- that will soon be something," is Peasant Face cians' Union, the Children's Film certainly a most " well worth [Still by Frank Horvat Foundation, nor the Newsreel reading book ". Harold Elvin had Association to mention a few. How the advantage of a three-fold has a German documentary pro- equipment for his task. In the without being lost to the camera duction company with a Berlin first place he is a long-distance ten times: and all this to give an address crept in among the scores pedal cyclist on truly epic scale. a impression of the East. But here of animated and cartoon produc- His pilgrimages on two wheels had it all is! But ten times more tion companies? already taken him to Constan- packed and extending for miles, tinople and back and to Leningrad Our Union's name is printed in not for yards." and back. He had cycled in the two different ways—both of them And then a note of burning in- cold of Lapland as well as in ex- wrong. Such errors will, no doubt, dignation creeps into the descrip- tremes of heat. be corrected next year, but I would tion, for in Poona Elvin found not In the second place he travels suggest to the Editor that he in- only seething life and colour but with an appreciative eye cludes a few blank pages, where and an also " stench and poverty to set appreciative mind. His ride omissions and changes of address across the whole world to shame that India was to see the beginnings of can be filled in by the owners of while this exists they dare to talk a great architectural experiment, the Directory. of money for armaments." and he himself has had an archi- This is a book which will be tect's training and worked in enjoyed by anyone who wants to architects' offices. On top of that Co-operation know about the places and the Welcome five years working in Elstree Film people of India that lie off the Studios, in the Art Department beaten track as well as such Increased members' co-operation and as Floor Manager, have given in future no doubt will be wel- famous monuments as the Taj him an artist's appreciation of Mahal. comed by the publishers, whose people as well as places. M.C. address is 299-301 Gray's Inn Road, W.C.I. Poona WORKERS ABROAD, Vol. Ill I have been severe in criticism (published by the United Anyone who has ever worked on but only in the spirit of being Nations Educational, Scientific a film with an eastern setting will helpful towards a most valuable and Cultural Organisation, appreciate this description of book, whose printing is beautifully Paris, 1957, in English). Poona: " Sometimes in Hollywood clear and which is attractively they make a street scene of the For some of our members, who bound in a glossy stiff card cover. East and they go round scraping go on foreign locations, the thrill C.B. up everything from every studio (Continued on page 76) — 76 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN May 1957 Book Reviews PREMIERE HERE & THERE (continued) of " Rock Round the Clock, which ST. JOAN cost only $300,000, is reckoned to of travelling and working abroad recover eight times over its cost." may have lost its excitement and — Variety. novelty. When Greek workers The British premiere of Otto helped build the temple of Baalbek Preminger's production of Bernard and French masons, working for Shaw's St. Joan is on Thursday, Change of Theme the master-builder William de June 20th, at the Leicester Square Sens, built Canterbury Cathedral, Theatre. President of Takimura Produc- they may not have realised how Starring in the film are Richard tions reports that in an " effort to their labours would be admired Widmark, Richard Todd, Anton increase the popularity of Japanese for centuries, though they must Walbrook and Jean Seberg. films in the States, they intend to have been filled with a wonderful As we announced in our March use contemporary themes, as spirit of adventure. Maybe these issue, Mr. Preminger has gener- opposed to the ancient themes that " co-productions " of bygone days ously agreed that the proceeds of have been great successes." Far will be less fleeting than the works the premiere shall go to the East Film News. of the modern travelling film tech- British Film Studio Workers' nician. Benevolent Funds. Exchange Schemes Tickets, price £5 5s. 0d., Who cares as long as it sells ? £3 3s. 0d., £2 2s. 0d., £1 Is. Od. and This booklet, which the T.U.C. 10s. 6d., may be obtained from: " It may be a soul-searing drama sends us with its commendation, is Mrs. Madge Clarke, 59 Stanhope of violent passion or a highly- intended to give information about Gardens, Kensington, London, polished bedroom comedy, with schemes for the exchange of young S.W.7 ('phone FREmantle 2285/6). lots of lingerie; but whatever it is trainees between the nations of the the customers will lap it up. For world; in some cases the worker the British cinemagoer— bless him wants to spend a period abroad to —is incurably convinced that the improve his technical skills, and in lives of Europeans are infinitely others he may want to get to know A. T. T. C. more inhibited than his own, so the people of another country by that he accepts quite easily the and living among them. working HELPED HIM most extraordinary behaviour on Workers Abroad shows that this is the part of characters in films. also of advantage to the respective " In November 1955 Mr. Frederick And who are we to say him nay? employers of the travelling Slater, one of our members em- —Michel Williams, " Continentals, journeymen of today. ployed at Technicolor, was Answer to Product Squeeze ". Just as one is beginning to knocked down by a motor car dream of exciting and educational on a " zebra " crossing while re- adventures, one is brought back to turning from work and seriously Asian Co-produotions Increasing reality by the statement: injured. " In trades where considerable A.C.T.T., through their solici- According to Dr. Hoffmeister, unemployment has been known, tors, took up Mr. Slater's case a member of the Czechoslovakian and where the union has built up with the motorist's insurance com- cultural delegation to India, India some form of trade security for pany and have been able to obtain and Czechoslovakia will produce its members , hesitancy to accept £525 compensation for Mr. Slater, jointly a puppet film. He said a worker from abroad is per- plus all costs. that India was an ideal place for ." fectly understandable Mr. Slater writes: "May I sin- producing puppet films by virtue of its rich folklore. That, unfortunately, is just cerely thank you for the great help where, despite the good efforts of accorded me in trying to get a Also to be co-produced is an UNESCO, the scheme cannot satisfactory settlement. ... It has Indian-Chinese film Under the really apply to us to any great been a great relief and I am deeply Blue Sky; this is to be shot in extent, and this is an additional obliged for all the assistance I China and Burma and directed by crime one must lay at the door have received." a team of Bengali directors. of those responsible for the unem- Lewis McLeod. ployment and casual work in the entertainment industry, because, CAMERA HIRE while unemployment lasts, there is 1957 Arriflex Model Ha bound to be suspicion that foreign complete with Blimp workers might take our jobs. and Power-Pack there have been a MR. AND MRS. HAWKES Fortunately, 25 mm. few such international exchanges 32 mm. COOKE Miss Norma Bremson, daughter of film technicians (though not on 40 mm. II SERIES of Mr. and Mrs. Syd Bremson, was a reciprocal basis), and in addition 50 mm. married to Stan Hawkes, to the advantages of trainee ex- 75 mm. LENSES recently of the Editorial changes, which this booklet gives, 18mm. Cooke Retrofocus also available a fellow stalwart regret that in our I would stress another: for Section. We LEEVERS-RICH to get to know their last month's issue we gave the workers 'SYNCHROPULSE' RECORDER fellow Trade Unionists in other name of Miss Bremson's husband as Stan Hughes. Our countries will greatly help to build S. W. SAMUELSON wrongly lasting world peace. apologies and wishes for every FINchley I 595 C.B. happiness to Mr. and Mrs. Hawkes. — May 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 77 LAB TOPICS Bill Sharp Retires Bill Sharp, known to many of the older school of laboratory technicians, has been retired by A.B. Pathe, having worked for the company and its predecessors con- tinuously since 1912. Frank Fuller writes: Of late his health has not been too good, bronchial troubles cur- tailing his activities considerably and forcing him to have frequent spells away from work. Looking back to 1912, Bill re- calls that he first started as hypo boy to Jock Gemmell who was then the developer. Jock needs no introduction from me having been established as a newsreel camera- man as long as I have known him. Both Bill and Jock agree they were paid in gold in those days. Bill, taking home a golden sovereign at the end of the week 15/- wages plus overtime— still earned more than his father, who had a large family to support. World War I saw Bill in the Army, serving in France with the 23rd London Regiment. Demobbed in 1919, he returned to Pathe in time to work on the newsreel Bill Sharp receives A.C.T.T. Darts League Shield covering the victory parade of as Pathe Captain that year. Management Sympathetic For many years he was senior member Bill as one of the active Many of our members are still developer at Pathe and for the members in organising the forma- worried about the dermatitis prob- last six years was put in charge of tion of the Laboratory Branch of lem in the Laboratories and a sub- the positive examination depart- the Union. He was an untiring committee was formed at the last ment, a move made in the hope of worker on behalf of A.C.T.T. and Laboratories Shop Stewards Com- benefiting his health. One must was in fact the first Shop Steward mittee to produce a full report on congratulate the management for of the Wardour Street Laboratory, this item for the next meeting to the generous and sympathetic con- a job he held with distinction for be held in May. sideration given to a loyal and effi- some three or four years. cient worker in making it finan- He was a good mixer, liked cially possible for Bill to enjoy a social activities and " skippered " somewhat premature retirement. the successful Pathe darts team of FOR SALE.—Vinten Light-Gyro A collection made among the a few years ago. Tripod with tall and short legs, people at Elstree and Wardour Through the years he has been top-hat, fitted case. £90. Box 204, Street Labs, Pathe News and Pic- a source of strength to A.C.T.T. F.T.V., 5-6 Red Lion Square Lon- torial resulted in a presentation of and has always been ready to give don, W.C.I. a barometer and a sum in cash advice and the benefit of his ex- FOR SALE. Newman Model G being made by Manager C. J. perience to the local Committees — in excellent condition. All Phillips at a going-away party in if required. Camera Lenses, his office on Friday, April 12th. Cooke SINGLE FRAME Those present included Mr. W. A. EXPOSURE device, etc., etc. £400. Fielder (General Manager), Box 205, F.T.V., 5-6 Red Lion Square, London, W.C.I. Messrs. A. Turner, J. Gemmell, Alf Cooper writes: A. Simon, E. Potter, R. H. Bom- Following the close-down of WANTE D.—Friction Tripod back, W. Robinson, J. May, Radiant Colour Labs, it is with (Medium Duty size) suitable for A. Lawrence, J. Rees and F. Cull. pleasure that I can report that all wild Newall and Vinten Model H Those members who can cast redundant personnel are now re- Cameras. Box 206, F.T.V., 5-6 Red their minds back to 1935 will re- employed within the industry. Lion Square, London, W.C.I. 78 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN May 1957 USE OF LIGHTING Council in Session EQUIPMENT General BY MEMBERS OF A.C.T.T. A complaint was received from the E.T.U. against a member of A.C.T.T., who it was alleged in- tended using his own lighting "THE DREYFUS CASE" equipment on a job without the services of a production electrician. It was necessary to call a joint meeting with the E.T.U. and the FOREIGN TECHNICIANS. Be- H-BOMB TESTS. The United member concerned present. The cause of the unsatisfactory out- Nations Association, to which the meeting was a friendly one and the come of negotiations with M.-G.-M. A.C.T.T. is affiliated, had written, matter was sorted out satisfac- over the employment of two asking for support in calling on torily. The E.T.U. representative, foreign technicians on The Dreyfus the Government to : however, said that where members Case, and because the company 1. Suspend the present series of of A.C.T.T. themselves own light- could give no undertaking to em- tests, and ing equipment and engage elec- ploy a British Producer or Director 2. Put forward to the Disarma- tricians they should do so through on future productions, the Execu- ment Sub-Committee pro- the E.T.U. office and not from any tive Committee had agreed to re- posals for the cessation of all other source. commend to the General Council tests. that action be taken to enforce The Council agreed to send out a our policy that both the Producer circular to all Shop Stewards, LEAGUE FOR DEMOCRACY IN and Director shall be British on all urging Shops and individual mem- GREECE asked for the support quota films made by companies not bers to their opposition to make of A.C.T.T. in demanding the re- covered by the B.F.P.A. Quota of the H-bomb tests felt. lease of Trade Union leaders im- Foreign Technicians, until these prisoned in Greece. The Executive companies jointly met us to nego- T.U.C. MEMORIAL BUILDING- agreed that a cable be sent as sug- tiate some form of quota agree- LOANS. The Acting General gested by the League. ment. To enforce this policy the Secretary reported that, owing to Council unanimously agreed to ad- the continual rise in costs over the vise the Ministry of Labour and outstanding estimates of capital B.B.C./E.T.U. A dispute had the main American companies expenditure in connection with the arisen between the B.B.C. and the immediately that A.C.T.T. was T.U.C. Memorial Building, a sum E.T.U on the operation of the Con- issuing instructions to members in of roughly £72,000 remains to be sole at Riverside Studios, and the Studios and Laboratories not to raised. The T.U.C. have decided, BB.C. had demanded that in- work on a Quota film for any such therefore, to invite all Unions to dividual Trade Unionists should company which goes on the floor make loans in units of £1,000 re- contract out of a freely negotiated after August 1st, 1957, unless all payable with interest at three per industrial agreement and abrogate the technicians are British and cent per annum within a period of their rights and duties as members members of A.C.T.T. or the pro- five years as approved by Con- of the Union. A.C.T.T., Equity duction has received clearance gress. At present the T.U.C. have and the Musicians' Union had been from A.C.T.T. in mind, among other things, that invited to meet the E.T.U. to dis- any union in financial difficulty cuss this and they had jointly A number of members contri- should be able, if they so desire, asked the B.B.C. to withdraw the buted helpful suggestions to to obtain at least part repayment ultimatum and to reach a speedy further the campaign, and it was of the loan at any time during the settlement with the E.T.U. to pre- agreed that a leaflet and a Press five years. The F. & G.P. recom- vent an extension of the dispute Statement be prepared on the mended that we be prepared to which might affect members of matter of foreign technicians, lead- make a loan of £1,000. The Execu- other Unions. The E.T.U. had now ing up to a further deputation to tive agreed to this recommenda- asked A.C.T.T. to issue state- the Ministry of Labour. tion. a ment that the operation of the Console is the job of an E.T.U. member. It was decided to issue a state- OFFICIAL APPOINTMENTS ment that A.C.T.T. had never laid claim with the B.B.C. to the FILM EDITOR (known locally as Film Production Officer) required by mechanical operation of electrical the Federal Government of Nigeria for the Film Production Unit of the lighting equipment, including the Information Service on contract for 18/24 months in the first instance. lighting console, and a letter of Salary according to experience in scale (including inducement addition) explanation should be sent to our £1,170 rising to £1,488 a year. Gratuity at rate £150 a year. Outfit members in the B.B.C. who were Allowance £60. Liberal leave on full salary. Free passages for officer Lighting Engineers. and wife. Grant up to £150 annually for maintenance of children in U.K. Free passages for children up to cost of two adult return fares. (It is thus often possible for an officer whose children are being educated in the U.K. to arrange for them to spend two or more school vacations in A. B.C. TELEVISION. Paddy Leech West Africa with free passages). Candidates must be experienced in spent a day in the Manchester editing to final stage both 16mm. and 35mm. documentary and educa- Studios of this company, and it is tional films and must have the ability to lay dialogue, commentary, music, hoped to develop our membership and effects tracks. A knowledge of film processing would be an advan- here. The Company is using an tage. Write to the Crown Agents, 4 Millbank, London, S.W.I. State exceptionally large number of age, name in block letters, full qualifications and experience, and quote trainees, who are responsible for M3B/35002/CY. putting out programmes. The May 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 79 Organiser took up in London the an interim measure with a further RANK SCREEN SERVICES— question of the hours worked by review to take place shortly. Im- PINEWOOD. Notification had been Production Assistants. At a portant modifications have been received from this Company that second meeting, the company made in a Management qualifica- fifteen of our members would not accepted that excessive hours had tion pay scheme for certain grades. be with the firm after May 3rd. been worked and gave an assur- Increases in pay for telecine opera- Thirteen were at Pinewood, and ance that an instruction had been tors, with ex-gratia payments in two at Hill Street. Fred Tonge given that all Production Assis- lieu of back pay have been won. visited the Studios to meet the tants must work a five-day, members who were available and 44-hour week. Negotiations are phoned Hill Street. still in progress to raise the A.T.V. We are making organisa- The Studio Manager stated that salaries of several lower-paid Pro- tional progress here despite some he hoped the majority would be duction Assistants. apparent hostility from heads of of departments and membership is found jobs in some other part slowly being built up. A very the Rank Organisation but could GRANADA TELEVISION. Paddy successful meeting was held at the give no definite promise on this. Leech attended a Committee meet- Foley Street Studio and a con- Members would be paid to May 3rd ing at this Manchester shop, where siderable increase in membership but were free to depart earlier. we have an excellent organisation. can reasonably be expected. The Holiday credits would be paid Recent negotiations at shop level, Organiser is taking up with the after May 3rd. Fred Tonge re- without prejudice to the National Management a clause in some ported to the Council that all ex- Agreement, have resulted in in- contracts restricting membership cept five members had now found creases of from £50 to as much as to the Association of Broadcasting other work. £250 a year for numerous grades. Staffs. Our Steward, Gavin Waddell, was successful in stopping a process by LABORATORIES AGREEMENT. which A. B.C. Television, under- TV DRAFT AGREEMENT. Copies The Laboratories Committee had crewed, made up its complement of the TV Draft Agreement have pressed for up-to-date printed of staff by using Granada per- now been sent to the Programme copies of the Agreement to be sonnel (A. B.C. Television are week- Contractors with a letter from the made available, and it was agreed end, Granada weekday contrac- Acting General Secretary seeking that Bert Craik, the Acting tors). This has been placed on a an early meeting. As only an General Secretary, should get in proper consultative level, with acknowledgment had been received touch with the Film Laboratory " emergency " as the criterion of from the Contractors the General Association and get the Agree- such hiring. Council unanimously agreed to ment printed as a matter of press for a meeting. urgency. A.R.T.V. Brother Shine, our A.R.T.V. Shop Steward, with the Organiser present, has had a series of meetings with the Management in recent months. These have led to increased staff being taken on from those declared redundant as THE CROWN THEATRE Lessees FILM PRODUCTION SERVICES (Surrey) LTD. Camera Hire Provides Complete Studio Projection Service at (1) NEWMAN SINCLAIR— Mirror Shutter. Any Time to Suit Your Requirements All Cooke Lenses including Series 2., 25mm., f.1.7. SINGLE FRAME EXPOSURE and Electric Motor Drive. (Available fully DOUBLE HEAD PROJECTION adapted for CINEMASCOPE if required.) (2) NEWMAN SINCLAIR—Mirror Shutter. MIXING PANELS FOR TRACKS Cooke Lenses and 24mm. Angineux Retro- focus. also (3) NEWMAN SINCLAIR— Model G. All Cooke Lenses. SINGLE FRAME EXPOSURE SUB-STANDARD PROJECTION and Electric Motor Drive if required. Kingston Tubular and Vinten Light Gyro SEATING 70 Tripods. FOR PERSONS 18mm. COOKE RETROFOCUS f 1.7. for Mirror Shutter and Model 'G' Cameras. LOCATION SOUND SYSTEM CAMERA DOLLYS Metal construction, pneumatic tyres, drop- EDITING ROOMS FOR HIRE down jacks, lightweight tracks, etc. ST., S. W. SAMUELSON 86 WARDOUR LONDON, W.l FINchley 1595 Tel: GERrard 5223 Editing Rooms GERrard 9309 " 80 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN May 1957 ! ii The Bespoke Overcoat a REMUS production Winner of the 1956 Oscar for the best short in the world ,4- \ , -K a dream of a film . . . brought to life on ILFORD^ & W® 35mm cine negative films Awarded First Prize as Romulus presents a Remus the host short story film at the THE BESPOKE OVERCOAT, production starring DAVID KOSSOFF and ALFIE BASS. 1955 Venice Festival Producer Director : JACK CLAYTON. Screenplay : WOLF and First Prize as the best short in the MANKOWITZ. Photography: W. Suschitzy. Distribution con- British Film Academy Awards 1955 trolled by Independent Film Distributors Ltd., in association with British Lion Films Ltd. ILFORD LIMITED CINE SALES DEPARTMENT • 104 HIGH HOLBORN LONDON, W.C.I Tel. HOLborn 340' Published by the Proprietors, The Association of Cinematograph, Television and allied Technicians, 2 Soho Square, London, and Printed by Watford Printers Limited, Watford, Herts. JUNE-JULY 1957 Association of Cinematograph, Television and allied Technicians Vol. 23 No ]50 PRICE 6d. FILM and TV FOREIGN PRODUCERS AND DIRECTORS BRITISH SHOWING AT CANNES MOVE FOR FEATURES WAGE INCREASE "They loved life" {see page 90) 82 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN June July 1957 IMOUR FILM sekvi m iTii 'You see . . . their Ko4liivhrom<> primhug mulivs all ihv ilUFi>n>m*i>" 22-25 PORTMAN CLOSE BAKER STREET LONDON W.I Telephone: HUNter 0408-9 June ''July 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 4U1ARK EDITORIAL A THORN IN OUR FLESH A FTER eleven years of abortive work on such films brings to our B.F.P.A., and notably from the J-*- negotiations A.C.T.T. officially members, we believe that it is American Companies. Time and informed American film companies utterly wrong that films made again approaches have been made, on May 9th that unless in the under such conditions should be either collectively to the Motion meantime an agreement is reached entitled to the classification of Picture Producers' Association ' over the number of foreign pro- British ', especially when one which represents all American ducers and directors employed on realises the limited amount of companies, or to companies in- quota films made by American- screen time available to British dividually, in the hope of getting controlled companies in Britain its films under a Quota Act which in some form of quota arrangement members in film studios and effect reserve:, over 70 per cent of on the lines of the B.F.P.A. agree- laboratories will be instructed not screen time for American pro- ment. to work on any film made for a ducts, and also that such films " ". A.C.T.T. has gone as far as it production company which is not receive Eady money could go to make agreement pos- a member of the B.F.P.A. after Let nobody suppose that the ban sible but in every case it has met July 1st, 1957, unless all techni- which is to operate from July 1st with a negative response. Even cians employed on the film are is a piece of arbitrary action in- an amendment of policy which British and members of A.C.T.T. spired by insular prejudices. The would enable us in most cases to or the production has received General Council in reaching its accept a position whereby either clearance from the Union. decision had no such thoughts in the director or producer could be This action, taken by the General its mind. The decision which has foreign provided the other key Council with the full approval of been taken, and which we are con- post was held by a British tech- the Feature Producer/Directors' fident that all our members will nician has not induced the Ameri- Section and endorsed by a very loyally observe, has just one aim, can companies to negotiate. large majority at a crowded meet- to give our Union the power to It because ing of members of the Features force the American companies to may well be that we exercised patience over eleven Branch on May 14th, marks a negotiate a fair settlement. have long years the strength of our decisive step forward in our We have always welcomed the desire to get this problem settled, struggle to achieve an equitable co-operation of outstanding film both for the safeguarding of our solution of the problem of foreign makers on British productions pro- own producers and directors and technicians working in this vided that it was on a regulated of British film production, has been country. basis, and on such a basis we shall under-rated on the other side of The absence most certainly continue to do so. of any agreement the Atlantic. But American com- on this subject with What we find intolerable, and what American panies, like ourselves, are realists, companies has been a thorn in we are determined no longer to the and we believe that they will now flesh of A.C.T.T., tolerate, is the complete refusal of and particularly interpret rightly our determination of our own producers American companies, either collec- and directors, to see the present unsatisfactory for tively or individually, to enter into a very long time. position ended. Indeed, as we go any agreement to regulate the Recently a London evening paper to press a conference was held number of their producers and had this to say of a certain new under the chairmanship of the directors employed here. film: Ministry of Labour at which suffi- With the B.F.P.A. we have an Officially listed as a British cient progress was made to enable agreement under which B.F.P.A. quota film, but employing an us to suspend the ban pending the members employ each year American director and three may conclusion of negotiations. foreign producers or directors Hollywood stars, (it) ... is equivalent in number to not about as English as the more Yankee Stadium. than ten per cent of the total number of first feature films made FILM & TV TECHNICIAN Similar criticisms could have by B.F.P.A. members as a whole. fairly been applied to very many From our point of view, and we Editor: films made here in recent years. believe from the point of view of MARTIN CHISHOLM That particular film was made the B.F.P.A., that agreement has Editorial by a company with whom A.C.T.T. been a complete success. The Office: has no particular quarrel. The agreement has been satisfactory, 2 Soho Square, W.l Telephone: GERrard 8506 company has always employed too, from the point of view of the A.C.T.T. members and has meti- Ministry of Labour. There is no Advertisement Office: culously observed trade union trouble here. 5 and 6 Red Lion Sq., W.C.I agreements. For our part, while The trouble comes from com- Telephone: HOLborn 4972 we welcome the employment which panies outside the ranks of the ! si FILM & TV TECHNICIAN June/July 1957 the production side of the industry depends on the full exploitation of theatrical and TV film distribution. All the fuss stems from a short 25-word paragraph in the Annual Report and Statement of Accounts of the N.F.F.C. for the year to March 31st, 1957 IH.M. Stationery Office, 1/3), and has tended to dis- tract attention from what has be- come one of the most important documents of each year. A POINT of some interest to our more shows, Under Fire, directed Here this year are reflected the fortunes of our in colour -^ TV members arises from the by Herbert Wise; Youth Wants to members laboratories, recent TV link with Prague for the Know, by Kurt Lewenhak; and as seen by the fact European Amateur Boxing Cham- What the Papers Say, by James that less is on average spent on laboratory charges pionships. It appears that several Ormerod, have all tended to stimu- on each N.F.F.C. of the Czech camera operators late the minds of viewers as well -assisted production, be- cause were women— a fact that aston- as providing good entertainment ". more black-and-white sub- jects were made last year; here, ished the British commentator. The author is writing of Granada also, is evidence of further speed- I can't say that I have ever seen TV. Herbert Wise is the Granada up in the studios—each feature film representative the a camera (wo) man anywhere in TV on TV Nego- taking an average of thirty-nine (any offers?). Nor telecine opera- tiating Committee, Kurt Lewenhak days in front of the cameras, in- is the deputy tors or control for that matter. steward, and James stead of forty-one days the year The only inroad into the Ormerod a leading of the males' member before, and forty-six days the year customary province I of is Granada Committee know before that; here, too, are signs of in Associated Rediffusion, where Government policy, as seen in the there is, I think, a woman sound " Temptation Pink " ? recent reduction of Entertainment balancer. In films the lines of de- Tax and increase in the Bank Rate. marcation seem to be traditionally In an industry noted for its rapid even more rigid. Women changes, the latest idea for in- "mixers"? It seems unthinkable. creased efficiency comes from ABC Not Enthusiastic About the only department where Television. This is to have the women and men compete on equal technicians in coloured jerseys. The Report is not really en- terms is in the editorial and pro- Sound and camera wear red, elec- thusiastic about either—the in- " " duction section. But A.C.T.T. is not, tricians grey, and props black. terest paid by the Corporation on of course, opposed to full sex There has been no suggestion so loans from the Board of Trade and equality, and we remember one or far for jerseys, or their colours, the banks has had to be increased two very competent women mem- for directors, for instance, but if with the Bank Rate, and the stabil- bers of the Sound department dur- there is to be a different colour ising effect of the reduction of E.T. ing the war, as we also remember jersey for every grade in television is not regarded as likely to offset the all-women documentary unit the ABC TV management will the reduction in net box-office which functioned for a short while. have to turn to the lipstick manu- takings due to any further falls in facturers for tints! cinema-going. Warm enough? Production costs on the average film have increased in the past Head Office has had a letter from H.M.S. Warrior, somewhere, tpcP^ year, and the N.F.F.C. has in- creased its profits to a record I presume, in the Pacific. It is from Harvey Harrison, who has figure of £84,727. Maybe that is why, although it notes that it sub- been directing the official film of mitted proposals to the Board of the H-Bomb tests in the Christmas on is Islands. Trade what needed to safe- guard British film production, says He that the heat was ter- there are no signs in the Report of rific —averaging 96 in the shade, any suggestions for any funda- humidity of 98 s and —which made N.F.F.C Annual mental change in the set-up of the " " it uncomfortable at times. For industry. my money, that close to the Report H-Bomb tests would make it un- This is in marked contrast to comfortable all the time. Harvey the long-term and short-term pro- Harrison wishes to be remembered Those film industry chiefs who posals made at the same time by to his friends in the Street— and have been throwing their arms up the six film Unions. This Shaw- hopes to see them all in July. in surprise at the National Film cross-like mentality on the part of Finance Corporation making a the N.F.F.C. may please the small loan for a TV picture are Government, but it will not begin Tribute . . . only displaying their own ignor- to solve the problems of closed The tale that it is the dis- ance of the purposes of the studios. unemployment, casual gruntled and inefficient who make N.F.F.C. The Corporation's con- work and American domination in enthusiastic trade unionists dies stitution allows it to finance TV the way that the Unions' joint hard. It's all the more pleasant to films, and, as its Managing Direc- document can. see a tribute, in a sense, to the tor David Kingsley told our annual Union in the Daily Film Renter of general meeting over two years May 24th. The quote : " Three ago, it considers that the future of Christopher Brunei June /July 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 85 AS OTHERS SEE US FRED TONGE, our new Organiser, gives his impressions after his first four months with A.C.T.T. " ICH DIEN ". Were the A.C.T.T. impose changes without prior dis- a union. If you are literate an individual and not a corporate cussion, and local bosses try to enough to sign your name, or fail- " body, " I serve might well be its circumvent the provisions of ing this, make a cross, you become motto. national agreements. Too many of a member. the ' higher-ups ' do not believe in I have been asked what im- This is understandable in an in- pressed me most on coming into dustry where there are large sec- the organisation, after many years tions of unorganised workers, and with another union (the Transport where every member counts, but Salaried Staffs Association) and I find it refreshing to come into long experience through Trades an industry where four sponsors Councils with various unions. and the blessing of the shop steward must accompany every To me, the most striking thing application for membership. That is the service given to members, the sponsors and the shop steward and the degree of consultation be- are required to give reasons tween management and workers. in writing why they consider the There are, of course, obvious applicant is fit to be a member differences between the railway in- of the industry and of the Union, dustry—purely utilitarian, in makes it clear to the applicant many respects sadly behind the that he is, by joining the A.C.T.T., times and handicapped by lack of expected to make his contribution finance—and the film industry both to the Union and to the in- which is creative, artistic, and by dustry. comparison, modern. Room for Improvement Attitude of Managements I do not imagine, of course, that every I find of particular interest the member of A.C.T.T. is a attitude of the managements in 100 per cent trade unionist, or that the film industry to the Union. The all members play an active part in line of demarcation between the Union—I am sure there is Fred Tonge managerial function and union room for improvement in atten- activity is not so sharply drawn dance at branch or sectional meet- ings, as in all other unions. as it is in many other fields. This nationalisation of the railways and is I I due think to the comprehen- have not attempted to make it Neither am under the illusion sive agreements which have been work efficiently. that all employers are angels, drawn up, together with the fact some do attempt to pull a ' fast This attitude makes negotiation that many of those in authority one ', sometimes they get away a very hard task, and calls for are members of A.C.T.T. Joint with it. The reasonably satisfac- constant vigilance on the part of consultation is more of a reality tory situation is the result of the the union members, through their than in any other industry with strength of the Union and the local departmental committees and which I have come into contact. loyalty of its members. Trade Union Branches. In so many industries, the union, The relation between the various no matter how well organised, is Impressive Speed unions in the film industry is an amicable always the suppliant, and is de- The speed with which minor one, and is certainly far happier than the relations between barred from discussing many sub- differences in the film industry are the railway jects of vital interest to its mem- ironed out has greatly impressed unions. Unfortunately the joint action built up bers, on the grounds that this or me. My previous experience has during the war years had broken that is a managerial function and been that far too often matters down and public disagreement and re- not the concern of the Union. It that should have been settled in criminations will be appreciated that this atti- a few moments have been delayed are not uncommon, with the resultant weakening of tude is bound to lead to frustration for weeks and even months simply the Union's bargaining powers. and is not conducive to getting the because no one appeared to have best from the people on the job. the authority to reach a settle- Within the A.C.T.T. itself, there is greater In the Railway Industry one has ment. cohesion between various grades; the whole crew, to contend with an attitude among The attention given to applica- whether camera, sound, produc- the management which has its tions for membership of the Union tion, or what have you, is con- origins in the past, when workers is something quite new in my ex- cerned with the ultimate result of were unorganised and consulta- perience. The old army joke " If their work. There is pride in the tion was unheard of. Too often, you're warm your in ", can far too even today, managements seek to often be applied to membership of (Continued on page 86) 86 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN June July 1957 As Others See Us ( Continued) TECHNIRAMA " end product ". On the railway, too often the " end product " is never seen by the rank and file By Ralph Bond worker. As I intimated earlier, the in- dividual attention given to mem- An impressive demonstration of had the Odeon audience applaud- their " " process was bers of the Union is something Technirama ing enthusiastically. given by Technicolor at the Odeon, new in my experience. Every Productionwise, Leicester Square, on June 1st be- it is claimed member seems to be known per- that the process fore an invited audience of over increases costs sonally at Soho Square, committees by no than £5,000-£7,000 2,000 people. more on give more detailed consideration an average feature film. Stock to individual problems than I have Technirama is a new anamor- consumption on the first five experienced before. This is, of phic system which claims to over- Technirama films increased not by course, possible because of the all the defects of standard f come 100', but by 60 r. as a result of compact area within which the anamorphic systems and to present the fewer set-ups required. All the Union operates, and the relative a picture of perfect sharpness and usual special effects — dissolves, size of the film industry to rail- definition. fades, matte shots, etc. —are prac- ways. These claims seem fully justified ticable and the results enhanced I have found my first four and if the brilliance of the Odeon because of the larger negative. months exciting and invigorating. demonstration can be repeated in I would like to thank the members the average release cinema, audi- Breath-taking Beauty of A.C.T.T., be they members of ences are in for a treat. the General Council, the Executive Most of the extracts Excerpts from many films now shown at Committee, shop stewards or rank the Odeon were exterior scenes in production and using the new and file with whom I have come from films on location in France, process were screened, first in into contact, for the friendship and Japan, Italy, and other countries, CinemaScope ratio, then in Vista- toleration they have shown to the and it is here, probably, that " ". Vision and finally in the full "Road new boy Technirama is shown at its Show" ratio where a special best. Scenes of breath-taking beauty The A.C.T.T. is respected among double-frame projector is used. other Unions, not only in the en- were unfolded without a flaw to tertainment industry, but in a far In each case the results were mar the perfection. outstandingly good. There was wider field, because it has set a Technically our industry great depth of focus, pin-point marches standard of approach and conduct forward in a wondrous way, but definition, and no fringing or fall- second to none. that ever-nagging still-small-voice ing away at the edges. All the excerpts were projected without that demands subject matter to the technique sound so that the audience could match will not, we hope, be quietened. FILM COMPETITION concentrate on the picture quality alone. (For the benefit of our In connection with the Inter- Sound Section it should be stated national Exhibition to be held in that this does not forecast a return Brussels in 1958 La Cinematheque to silent films!) de Beige (The Belgian Film Library) is organising an Inter- national Experimental Film Com- 35mm. Colour Negative Soho Fair petition open to independent film- The great merit of Technirama makers throughout the world. A special feature of this year's is that it employs standard 35mm. Soho Fair will be " MEET THE Films entered may be either in colour negative which moves hori- WORLD ", an exhibition of photo- 16mm. or 35mm., in black and zontally through the camera ex- graphs in the hall of Notre Dame white, or in colour, sound or silent. posing eight perforation frames, de France, 5 Leicester Place, purpose of the competition is this negative prints can The and from Leicester Square, from July 15th " to encourage free artistic crea- be made for practically all aspect to July 20th. tion, the spirit of research and ratios — CinemaScope, VistaVision pioneering effort." The term " ex- and other standard projection The organisers' aim is to portray perimental " will be interpreted as ratios, including 16mm. No new Soho at work and play: they would embracing all films which " in projection equipment is needed in welcome the co-operation of their form reveal an attempt to the cinema, except for the " Road A.C.T.T. members in lending explore new developments of cine- Show " prints where a special pro- photographs within the following matographic expression, or which jector has been designed in which range: studio portraits and Soho by their content touch on subject a double-frame print from the personalities, theatrical pictures, matter unfamiliar in the cinema." negative moves horizontally Soho activities and street scenes through the projector at twenty- and pictures of the Soho Fairs of There will be two Grands Prix, four frames per second. 1955 and 1956. one of ten thousand Belgian francs and one of five thousand Belgian This double-frame projection Will members who have pictures francs. Full particulars of the (which incorporates anamorphotic to offer please contact the Secre- competition may be obtained from correction by vertical compression tary of the Soho Association, Mr. La Cinematheque de Belgique, instead of horizontal expansion) Michael Napper. St. Anne's House, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels. achieves quite amazing results and Dean Street. (Gerrard 2030). " June/July 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 8? Obituaries A.C.T.T. Moves on Features W. H. LINDOP Wages All A.C.T.T. members, and parti- cularly members of the Sound Sec- tion, will learn with regret of the A.C.T.T. is making an immediate £12 10s. Od. a week in 1947 had death of W. H. Lindop, " Lindy move for a substantial increase in since then received increases total- to his many friends, a long-stand- wage rates for members working ling £3 0s. 4d. All grades between ing member and Sound Supervisor in Features. £12 10s. Od. and £25 had received at Walton Studios. increases totalling £2 9s. 4d. Grades This step, which follows on the "Lindy" first entered the industry with a minimum salary of £30 had resolution passed by A.G.M., was in 1933 at British and Dominion received £3, while those on a by a unanimous vote at Studios, Elstree, leaving there in endorsed salary of £40 and over had received an exceptionally well-attended 1936 to go to Pinewood. While in increases which totalled £4. These meeting of the Features Branch this studio he was mixer for figures represented increases of at Caxton Hall, Westminster, on Woman Alone, starring Elizabeth 24% for the lowest grade, 20% to May 14th. Despite the heat-wave Bergner. 10% for the second grade and 10% and the lure of the open air the After the war, during which he for the remaining two grades. hall was so crowded that it was a was attached to the R.A.F., he re- case of ' standing-room only ' for turned to Denham, and after this Against this the cost of living, many who were not able to get studio closed down he went to as indicated by the Index of Retail Walton. Here he was mixer of there early. Prices showed food up by 86% as such films as Scrooge, Pickwick The two main items on the compared with 1947, clothing and Papers, Man Who Watched the agenda were the endorsement of household goods up by 48% and Trains Go By and Joe Macbeth. the ban on foreign technicians drink and tobacco up by 23%. On W. H. Lindop was highly thought (with which we deal on our Edi- an arithmetical basis, in terms of the present purchasing of by his colleagues in the industry, torial page) and of the move for a power of the pound, both as technician and friend. At wages increase. members on the 1947 rate of £12 10s. Od. should now be the last meeting of the General the claim Speaking on wages getting £20. Those on the £25 rate Council, members stood in silence reviewed the in- George Elvin should be getting £40, those at £30 to his memory. creases that had been obtained should be getting £43 16s. Od. and The Union offers sincere con- since the Features Agreement was those at £40 £58 8s. Od. dolences to his family. first signed in 1947. All grades, he said, which did not exceed The General Secretary pointed out that the Eady Levy had now been got on to a compulsory basis, and A.C.T.T. was among the unions that had pressed for this. This HAROLD KING In 1948, after the old B.I. P. assured an increase of £1^ million stages were rebuilt as A.B.P.C.'s in the first year to the producing Members of A.C.C.T. will regret new studios, he was appointed Re- companies and there was a case, to hear of the death at the early cording Director there, a position quite apart from the rise in the age of 49 years of Harold King, he held until his death. cost of living, for film technicians Director at A.B.P.C. Recording to receive some of this increase. Studios. He died on Wednesday, Only those who worked with him May 22nd, 1957, in St. Mary's Hos- know the amount of work and The General Council felt justified pital, Paddington, after a long and effort that he put into the building in going ahead on the basis of the painful illness. and equipping of the A.B.P.C. A.G.M. resolution and an official Harold was educated at Batter- Sound Department. He had an approach would be made at once to sea Grammar School, and took an appreciation of the finished pro- the B.F.P.A. asking for an im- early interest in radio, serving as duct second to none, and was mediate meeting to discuss a sub- a ship's radio operator in his always striving for the best. He stantial increase. " We shall make youth. readily tried and adopted new the application right away," George techniques, but always with the " He first entered the film industry Elvin said, and we shall report end result in view. as an electrician at Beaconsfield back to you. The result of our Studios, and then became a Without doubt his strength lay negotiations will depend just as Camera Operator on some of the in his wide knowledge of all much on your solidarity and enthu- silent films made there. branches of film making, attention siasm as it will upon our negotiat- ing skill." Later, with the advent of talkies, to detail and a dogged perse- verance which persisted even he transferred to B.I. P. Elstree, George Elvin added that A.C.T.T. through his long illness. and was employed as a Sound had a very difficult job in these Camera Operator on the first During the last year of his life, matters. They had members who sound film made there. Blackmail. his courage in carrying on nor- were paid low rates and others Afterwards, returning to mally with his job, despite the con- earning very high figures. All that Beaconsfield he became Sound siderable pain he suffered, com- they could do was to negotiate on Mixer, and later Chief of Sound, manded the admiration of all his a minimum for each grade. At the and remained there until the out- colleagues. He never gave up and same time they felt that members break of war, when he took over as always maintained he would receiving a small personal extra Chief Sound Engineer at British recover. for merit should be included in the National Studios, Elstree. N.C. increase that A.C.T.T. was seeking. : — \ FILM & TV TECHNICIAN June/July 1957 CANNES IN REVIEW by Lindsay Anderson IT all depends where you sit. how far we in Britain are falling fully, you must have some idea of " This Year's Flop," ran the behind. what is being done in the cinema headline of the Kine Weekly report It has been a swift reversal. The outside the industries of Britain on this year's Cannes Festival, and first time I went to Cannes, to the and America—and this of course is its correspondent went on to say: festival in 1949, our prestige one of the chief fascinations of " I the impression festivals. This year got was high : in fact we won th? these international Two the festival was a ' has-been '." Grand Prix, with The Third Man. or three years ago, the emphasis Yet to many of us (myself in- Since 1951, however, when The was all on the new techniques, and cluded), this tenth International Festival at Cannes was one of the best of the series, and certainly one of the most vigorous and en- couraging in recent years. En- couraging, too, not merely for the quantity of good and promising work shown, but for the quite ex- tensive reporting of the films in the more responsible papers. There was one aspect of the occasion, though, that largely escaped attention, and that is our own showing. Yet this is an im- portant aspect, and one we should do well to consider. I wish indeed that more British film makers had been able to see that fortnight's bird's-eye-view of world produc- tion. There was much to learn from it. Disturbing Since I am writing as a techni- cian, to technicians, there is no point in my straining for polite- ness. So I will kick off by saying that the really disturbing thing about Cannes this year, from the British point of view, was the faded appearance of our own con- tribution. As the young Argen- tinian director of The House of the Angel remarked to me after the showing of our first entry " It reminds me of the sort of film " DON QUIXOTE . . Kl Ssl you were making in Britain before the war." Browning Version was prized both on colour and Cinemascope in par- This perhaps comes as some- for script and Michael Redgrave's ticular. Every director, at every thing of a shock to technicians at performance, we have not won a press conference, was asked what home, where certainly both High single award, except for shorts he felt about them : and of course Tide at Noon and Yang-tsi Inci- The Stranger Left No Card, The every director made the same " dent must be numbered among the Pleasure Garden and Together. Yet reply : It depends on the sub- more ambitious and respectable of people abroad still remember the ject." This year there was no need our current productions. It is only palmy days of the British cinema to ask such questions at all. It when you get to an international in the immediate post-war years. was obvious that the new tech- festival, and see work presented " Surely," they ask, " Your selec- niques have been largely assimila- not only by the big film powers tion must be badly made? Surely ted. They are no longer considered like America, Russia, France, this isn't the best you have to send particularly exciting in themselves, Italy and Japan, but also by coun- us?" Such questions are difficult and they do not atone for weak- tries with resources and experience to answer. nesses in ideas, stories or direction. far more limited, that you realise To understand these criticisms Films were shown at Cannes in June/July 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 89 colour and in black-and-white; in the old standard proportions, in wide-screen, in wider-screen, and in CinemaScope, with and without stereophonic sound. But whatever the format, one characteristic was common to films from almost everywhere : a high percentage of location shooting, realism of sets and use of authentic exteriors, are no longer considered particularly adventurous. Films today are ex- pected to look lifelike. To give a few examples. The American Bachelor Party (widescreen black- and-white : like Marty directed by Delbert Mann from a Paddy Chay- evsky script) drew a large part of its strength from the authentic New York atmosphere of its shoot- ing. The Russian Don Quixote (colour and CinemaScope) gained enormously from its lavish use of exteriors, its wide, rocky land- scapes, as well as its fine sets. Jules Dassin's Celui Qui Doit Mourir (black-and-white Cinema- Scope) could not have carried any- thing like such a dramatic impact without its extensive use of harsh Cretan landscape. Nor is this true of large-scale productions only. Take Rekava, for instance {The Line of Destiny : black-and-white standard screen). This is the first film from Ceylon to capture a truly national flavour, made on a tiny budget and with primitive facili- ties. Nevertheless, Lester Peries, its young director, has had the courage to break away from the studio-bound conventions of the Singhalese cinema, and so has pro- duced a picture which conveys PEOPLE OF THE RICE LANDS "... JAPAN charmingly the feel of life in the fields and villages of this country. turbing to see how cut off our such things may never happen Artificial and Enclosed cinema remains from the move- again." Surely it is only such a ment of thought and feeling in the basic attitude that can justify con- It is by comparison with films world outside. This was not so tinued production of films about like these that our contribu- own with most of the films shown on the war. tions seemed sadly artificial and the screen at Cannes. Problems of enclosed. A story like High Tide life in the big modern cities at Noon cries out for lyrical, Eager to Learn a (Bachelor Party); problems of open-air treatment : yet even its adolescence and snobbery (The The most encouraging thing documentary sequences seemed House of the Angel); conflicts of about Cannes this year was its tame, and at every possible oppor- emotion and conscience (the Rus- revelation of the amount of daring, tunity we cut back into studio. sian The Forty-First); the problem searching work being done by film Outside a gale was blowing, but all of violence and exploitation ( Celui makers over the world—and of the backing through the window Qui Doit Mourir); the problem of the rapidity with which the remained solidly static. Even war ... Of course we make war younger industries are developing. Yang-tse Incident, seen abroad, films in Britain, plenty of them. The Poles are eager to see films has the same timid, conventional But how often do they get above from abroad, eager to learn tech- feel to it. That final sequence, the level of a boy's adventure niques from Hollywood. Yet if you with the ships racing joyfully to- yarn? One of the most powerful see their films, you wonder what wards each other, did my eyes films at Cannes this year was the they have to learn—beyond com- deceive me, or was there really no 1 Polish Kanal, a tragic recons ruc- mercial gloss. Far more impor- corresponding movement on the tion of the last days of the War- tant is the fact that they, and backing as we jolted back to the saw Rising in 1944, grim, pitiless many others, have the courage studio insert of Richard Todd on and magnificent. " We do not pre- and the capacity to tackle the the bridge of the "Amethyst " ? sent this film," said the Poles, " as problems of today in a really con- Technique is finally secondary. an exciting entertainment. We pre- Agreed. But it is even more dis- sent it as a reminder. So that (Continued on page 90) : ! 90 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN June/July 1957 temporary spirit. And this is what makes exciting, living cinema. In such an atmosphere you Camera Column realise, as perhaps it is difficult to realise at home, that the panic into VOUR outgoing Committee did a done about this. I have a sugges- I very good job— all their meet- tion : Why not start a Camera- ings were very well attended and man's Annual Award for the best I think we owe them a vote of colour and black and white photo- thanks. graphy in the country. We could " Your new Committee elected at call it the Cinette "... or if you our last Camera A.G.M. are: have any suggestions, let's hear Chairman, Ted Worringham; Vice- about them. Chairman, Gerry Moss; Secretary, Harold Payne; Assistant Secre- Commercial TV tary, Manny Yospa; Feature Re- presentatives: Ron Boakes, Wally A formula has been found— give Byatt, Phil Chips, Bert Easy, them good quality and use the best Freddie Ford, Arthur Graham, Bob technicians. Huke, Walter Lasselly, Bernie I have just been associated with Lewis, Morton Lewis, Jock Mills, a series of thirteen 15-minute com- Ron Robson. Shorts and Docu- mercials for the News of the mentaries: Ken Gordon, Lewis World, which was well received by McL.od, Alf Hicks (this Com- the clients. Here are the names mittee will co-opt a further five of the camera crew that worked on Newsreel: members). Jimmy the productions : Gemmell, Bill Hooker, Terry Cameramen: Henry Alekan, O'Brien, Eddie Smales. Lionel Baines, Desmond You can support your Com- Dickinson, Otto Heller, Morton mittee by turning up at all general Lewis, Cedric Williams. Camera Section meetings. Operators: John Breen, Cec. Cooney, Denys Coop, Gus Crewing Drisse, Harry Gillam, Harold The General Council have en- Haysom, Gerry Moss. " Caberia's Nights " Italy dorsed our recommendation relat- 1st Assistants: Peter Allwork, ing to camera crews not covered Jimmy Devis, Stan Evans, by existing agreements as follows : Mark Hyams, Gerry Lewis, which many of us have been Keith Nielsen, Paul, 1. SOUND. —Shooting with their Les Reg thrown by the encroachments of own sound unit; a crew of Selley, Monty Tomlinson, television is an unreal thing. four—Cameraman, Opera- Brian West, Paul Wilson, The cinema can only be "killed" tor, 1st and 2nd Assistants. Manny Wynn. by if we have enfeebled it first 2nd Assistants: Ronnie TV 2. sound. —Shooting as extra Fox, by starving it of ideas and intelli- alongside unit; a crew of Revel King, Bob Parker, gence and passion; by continuing three — Cameraman, 1st David Rea, Jim Shimerock. to rely on " safe " formulae. The and 2nd Assistants. I must apologise for not men- British specialised distributor at 3. silent. —Exterior shooting tioning the rest of the technicians, Cannes who remarked that he saw which does not involve but this is a Camera column nothing of commercial interest at lights, reflectors or artistes, the festival except Funny Face is a crew of two—Cameraman only demonstrating his lack Plane Facts own and 1st Assistant. of showmanship and imagination. Desmond Dickinson told me that The same lesson must be learned 4. All other silent shooting, a crew of three Cameraman, after shooting was finished he was by all of us— writers, directors, — 1st and 2nd Assistants. going to Paris for a few days. I producers technicians to- and suggested that the accountant gether. Now it's up to you to see that could buy his flight ticket from his these recommendations are carried We can unship as many boat- salary and thus save tax. He out. " loads of starlets as we like on the answered : Thanks very much, beaches of Cannes and Venice. But but I have my own plane." The Hal Britton Fund our cinema will be no nearer re- has A cheque has been presented to Of course, the story another gaining its lost prestige until we ending. for Mrs. Hal Britton for £90 8s. 6d. We wanted him a take it seriously ourselves, and She wishes to thank everybody fortnight's shooting at a later date bring it up to date. concerned for the kind thought. but he was somewhere in France. After calling four airports he was located, agreed to come back (be- Good Work COVER PICTURE cause his plane had broken down, I thought Cameraman Jack and the money was good) —if we COVER STILL is from the Polish Hilyard did a beautiful job on paid his air fare. And we did! film They Loved Life, the story of Anastasia. The majority of the public did the 1944 Warsaw Rising. Director Foreign Assignments Andrej Wajda. not know the film was made here, or that it was photographed by an Cameraman Cedric Williams is | Englishman. Something should be in Western Nigeria for their In- ! —:!: June/July 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 91 formation Service. I understand he Experimental Production Fund will be there for twelve months. Cameraman Ben Hart has prac- tically settled down in Nairobi as SIR MICHAEL BALCON WRITES: a Producer/Director, and if you happen to wander around through May I, through the courtesy of elaborate technical means usually the jungles of Kenya you'll most your journal, give some informa- have to be rejected because of into Cameraman likely bump tion to your readers about an costs : potential applicants should Bernard Kunicki shooting game activity which I believe to be im- bear this in mind. the govern- with a camera—for portant to the future of British I hope you will agree that the ment. film-making : the work of the work of the Committee in finding France British Film Institute's Experi- and encouraging talented young I had occasion to visit the mental Production Fund. film-makers is important and help Billancourt, Paris, Studios, w'.^re The Fund was set up with money us by bringing it to the notice of I saw a fashion show being shot voted by the film trade Associa- your readers. for a British TV commercial. pre-statutory British tions from the Yours faithfully, Cameraman Henry Alekan turned Film Production Fund at the time in a beautiful job on a Dupont of the establishment of the MICHAEL BALCON, Superior No. 2. Picon Borel was National Film Theatre. It is ad- Chairman, B.F.I. Experi- the operator and the Assistant ministered by a Committee set up mental Production Fund. Mike Mickachosky. I didn't get by the Governors of the British the Loader's name. They were so Film Institute. In the four years busy he never left the dark room since its inception, the Committee While I was in Paris I bumped has produced, or helped to produce, BERNARD FORD MARRIED into Colonel Thornton Freeland, ten films —among them The Door Freddy Ford's second son, who used to work here before the in the Wall, Indian Fantasy, cameraman Bernard Ford, was war. He was producing and Momma Don't Allow, Rowlandson's married at the end of May at directing a documentary for England, A Short Vision and Eastcote to Miss Celia Marilyn the U.S. Government through Together. Potts, of Ilfracombe. S.H.A.P.E. It was a nice set-up : We continue to look for promis- Bernard Ford was cameraman 350,000 three camera units and ing projects. Our normal pro- at Pinewood Studios on Tame as a Paris to the dollars just to show cedure is, in the first instance, to Turtle, A Town Like Alice, An Yanks. Some documentary consider outline treatments with Alligator Named Daisy and Reach an approximate budget : we prefer British National Studios for the Sky, including special them to come from people with effects. His current picture is are two series on the There TV some amateur or professional Campbell's Kingdom. floor. The Charlie Chan series is knowledge of film production but photographed by Ken Talbot Miss Potts, who is an all-round being this is not an invariable rule. Film- sportswoman and local tennis who, I understand, is in the run- makers are not paid—we provide ning for the title of the " Most champion, was Beauty Queen at stock, equipment, facilities—but ". Opera- Ilfracombe in 1954. Handsome Cameraman they share in the revenue from the is not in the tor—Gus Drisse—who films. running. Assistant Cameraman CYRIL KNOWLES Loader: Michael We are interested in genuinely Wally Byatt; We are glad to see cameraman Nunn. experimental work but have no preference between experiments in Cyril Knowles back in harness The other series entitled O.S.S. style, technique or subject. The after his recent illness. or Office of Strategic Service, or films may be made on 16mm. or His work on High Flight was the M.I. 5 of U.S.A. is being photographed by Brendan Stafford, 35mm. but ideas requiring first class. " whose hair is turning silver ". Operator : Leo Rogers. Assistant Monty " Tiny " Tomlinson. Peter Burke—and no cracks. And the Camera Department is still under OFFICIAL APPOINTMENT the supervision of Terry (Limited Company) Turtel. FILM EDITOR (known locally as Film Production Officer) required by Federal Government of Nigeria for Film Production Unit, Information Complaint Service, on contract for 18/24 months in first instance. Salary accord- That not enough Camera Section Members turned up at the A.G.M. ing to experience in scale (including inducement addition) £1,170 rising I am sure if you tried you could to £1,488 a year. Gratuity at rate £150 a year. Outfit Allowance £60. make it, so start training for next Liberal leave on full salary. Free passages for officer and wife. Grant year's A.G.M. up to £150 annually for maintenance of children in U.K. Free passages " Viewfinder" for children up to cost of two adult return fares. (It is thus often possible for an officer whose children are being educated in the U.K. FOR SALE to arrange for them to spend two or more school vacations in West Pictorial record of Edwardian era. Africa with free passages). Candidates must be experienced in editing " Complete set of " Ladies' Field to final stage both 16mm. and 35 mm. documentary and educational films 1898-1908. Can inspect London and must have the ability to lay dialogue, commentary, music and effects Office. Sell £12 or offer. Box 209, tracks. A knowledge of film processing would be an advantage. Write Charles Sell, 5-6 Red Lion Square, London, W.C.I. to the Crown Agents, 4 Millbank, London, S.W.I. State age, name in block letters, full qualifications and experience and quote M3B/35002/CY. ! 92 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN June July 1957 Not So Free Cinema FILM technicians, being cynics, Circus on any Saturday night. It mation " can be argued another will not need to be told that is really beyond analysis because time. The only positive affirmation " " Free Cinema doesn't mean any- it is so much a personal viewpoint. in Every Day Except Christmas is thing of the kind. In fact the Bri- To anyone who recalls Ruttmann's that the workers in the Market are tish Film Institute, which on the Berlin (1927) it would seem to be splendid people, warm, human, whole does a useful job of work, a dull and uninspired exercise in expert at their craft, the Salt of deserves a smart kick in the pants peep-hole manipulation, although th^ Earth. Between them, Ander- for applying such a stupid generic it has its flashes of perception as son and Lassally have proved this title to films which it finances from when the National Anthem of the point nobly. a special fund to aid experiments closing cinemas is played against But is it enough? Grierson and which might not the giant hypnotising neon lights in the medium his group proved the same thing otherwise find financial backing. of Coco-Cola. in other fields twenty years ago. By " free ", the Institute pre- often with much keener penetra- " " sumably means films that are not Every Day Except Christinas tion. Is Lindsay Anderson satis- sponsored, tied or restricted by The more important work of the fied with proving it all over again? financial or any considerations two is Lindsay Anderson's Every Where does the film of human other than the pure flow of the Day Except Christmas, which as I values go from here? When the creative spirit. This makes non- mentioned earlier, was financed by next step can be taken, when " sense of the new " free cinema Ford's, whose only condition, I be- human values can be related to programme at the National Film lieve, was that the film should the H-Bomb world we live in or Theatre where the piece de resis- involve transport. My recollection may soon die in, it won't matter tance is a film financed by the is that the old Gas Company adop- whether we call it free cinema or Ford Motor Company, but more of ted a far more " free " policy in anything else because the aggres- this later. the thirties when it financed that sive criticism and the positive shattering social documentary affirmation will be fused into a Housing Problems without insist- new kind of cinema that will be Occasional Enlightened ing that it should be a film in- worth shouting about. volving gas ovens. Sponsorship I hope Lindsay Anderson will go Lindsay Anderson's film is about on trying. There is, of course, no such thing Covent Garden Market and within " ", but there is to RALPH BOND. as free cinema the limitations he has imposed be found occasionally, and much himself on the conception and {See also Sir Michael Balcon's too occasionally, an enlightened letter on page 91) shaping of his theme, it is an im- sponsorship, whether from Ford's pressive if much over-long exer- British Film Institute, or the cise in a style of documentary film- give rela- which is prepared to a making which was once fashion- THE EDITORIAL SECTION creative film tive freedom to the able but has recently been out of there be any mis- invite you to join them on maker, and lest favour. Its impact owes much to more this hap- their Riverboat Shuffle understanding, the the brilliant, uninhibited camera the health of pens the better for movements of Walter Lassally and on Friday, July 5th our industry. This being said, the it is a pity that the sound track Depart 7.45 p.m. Westminster Tier " free " film makers must be pre- does not have the same mastery of No Passports needed! . . . Bring Unfor- pared to take criticism. intention and achievement as the your own Mae West tunately some orthodox critics, camera work. punch-drunk with years of review- Dancing . . . Fully licensed ing the standard commercial pro- In the programme notes handed Tickets 12 6 each obtainable from duct, are inclined to throw over- out at the Press Show there is a A.C.T.T. Head Office board any critical sense that may long piece by Lindsay Anderson remain to them and shout " Halle- stating what he was and was not " lujah " when the " free cinema trying to do in this film. He was " boys come to town. not trying to make an informa- tion film, or an instructional film This frame of mind does no good or a picturesque film." He goes on E.M.I. TR51A to anybody. Early British docu- " to say : I feel that at the moment Latest portable kin. high quality " mentary which pre-dated free it is more important for a progres- " cinema by twenty years or there- sive artist to make a positive abouts, fought for favourable affirmation than an aggressive TAPE RECORDER notices but also thrived on criti- " criticism." And : It is in the cism and its inheritors must learn light of my belief in human values For hire from £2 10s. per day to do the same. that I have endeavoured to make Also S.T.C. CARDIOID ami The new programme " Free this film about Covent Garden " Cinema Three— Look at Britain Market." PENCIL microphones and features two films, Nice Time and So his film must be judged 12 volts VIBRATOR PACK Evert/ Dun Except Christ mux. The against his intentions. Whether the former is made by Claude Goretta film of aggressive criticism (Hous- PARTNERSHIP - EL'Ston 5292 and Alain Tanner and purports to ing Problems again) is more im- FILM be an impression of Piccadilly portant than the " positive affir- — June/July 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 93 General Council in Session MONOPOLY IN THE INDUSTRY A.C.T.T. is to suggest to the available to speak to Labour FORTY-HOUR WEEK: The terms F.I.E.C. that it considers prepara- Parties, Trades Councils, Co-opera- of this resolution were endorsed by tion of a report for the Monopolies tive organisations. Chambers of the Council, and it was agreed to Commission on monopoly in the Commerce, etc. The Council also press the matter whenever nego- entertainment industry, as a result agreed to seek a further meeting tiating new agreements. of the emergency resolution unani- with the Parliamentary Labour- mously passed at the annual Party Films Committee to review ALL - INDUSTRY PENSION general meeting in March. This the present position and discuss SCHEME: It was agreed to ask a was decided on at a special General further steps, as well as meeting Sub-Committee to investigate not Council meeting on May 29th, the Conservative Films Committee only the existing pension schemes called to deal with outstanding on some points. in the industry, but also the wider business. question of a National Pension SPECIALISED FILM PRODUC- Scheme. Decisions on the other resolu- TION: A number of points regard- tions were as follows : ing the growing unfair competition HONORARY MEMBERSHIP FOR REPRESENTATION OF TV in this field f film production from BILL SHARP: It was reported at AT AGM's: The Rules companies not observing the MEMBERS the June meeting of the General Revision Committee, together with A.C.T.T. agreements had been Council that this long-standing the three Executive members from considered by the Eecutive, and it member of A.C.T.T. had retired on TV, should go thoroughly into the was agreed that: pension from A.B. Pathe, and, in problem, co-opting members where 1. A copy of the resolution should be recognition of his long and sterling required; they would study rules of sent to all Shop Stewards, asking service to A.C.T.T., it was agreed other Unions with similar prob- them to inform Head Office of any cases which come to their notice. that a small party be held in his lems, but would not necessarily be honour, at which he be presented expected to produce one solution 2. The A.S.F.P. should be ap- proached again with the idea of a with a cheque and a scroll of if necessary, they could put for- Trade Union label. Honorary Membership. ward two or three methods of 3. A Sub-Committee should reorganisation. be formed to help an Organiser col- lect new facts on the companies BRITISH COMMONWEALTH GOVERNMENT POLICY AND not observing the agreements and INTERNATIONAL NEWS FILM the films they made, in order to AGENCY LTD.: Mr. K. N. Dick, FILM PRODUCTION: The Chan- provide solid evidence to take to cellor of the Duchy of Lancaster the A.S.F.P. The Sub-Committee Managing Editor of the Agency, to take evidence from Laboratory in an interview with Bert Craik, had received a deputation, led by and TV members on the companies said that a number of A.C.T.T. the General Secretary, on May 14th they were doing work for. and told them that the question of members employed in the Cutting It was also agreed that the Pro- Government expenditure on film gramme Contractors and TV mem- (Continued on page 94) services, particularly overseas ser- bers be kept fully informed of any vices, had been reviewed and the " blacked " work of this character. amount increased by f 80, 000; a further review was in progress. The deputation also stressed the 100'r MEMBERSHIP AND RE- need for increased use of TV and COGNITION IN TV: When con- Camera Hire for a revival of the Crown and sidering this resolution the Execu- (1) NEWMAN SINCLAIR— Mirror Shutter. Colonial film units, and the Chan- tive, after careful consideration, All Cooke Lenses including Series 2., 25mm., f.1.7. SINGLE FRAME EXPOSURE in all agreed that the best policy at the cellor agreed to bear mind and Electric Motor Drive. (Available fully that A.C.T.T. had said, when he moment was to concentrate on adapted for CINEMASCOPE if required.) achieving an agreement with the made his report to the Cabinet. (2) NEWMAN SINCLAIR— Mirror Shutter. The Council agreed that the Films Television Programme Contractors, Cooke Lenses and 24mm. Angineux Retro- Committees of both the Govern- after which the B.B.C. should be focus. ment and Opposition be advised of tackled again. (3) NEWMAN SINCLAIR— Model G. All Cooke Lenses. SINGLE FRAME EXPOSURE these talks with the Chancellor and Electric Motor Drive if required. and that they be asked to press the KODACHROME PROCESSING: Kingston Tubular and Vinten Light Gyro matter at the appropriate time. Our members at Colour Film Ser- Tripods. vices were asked to prepare a case 18mm. COOKE RETROFOCUS fl.7. Mirror Shutter and Model 'G' CIRCUIT: The for the inclusion of Kodachrome in for NATIONAL FILM Cameras. Legislation Committee reported on the Tripack agreement, and the ways of publicising A.C.T.T.'s Shop's case for a higher rate was LOCATION general film policy, including endorsed by the Laboratory Com- CAMERA DOLLYS getting a prominent member to mittee; after discussion it was help publicise it through the Press, agreed that the matter be pursued Metal construction, pneumatic tyres, drop- down jacks, lightweight tracks, etc. Radio, TV and with other Trade locally at first, and that in the Unions; the extension of Trades meanwhile, the General Secretary Council affiliation would also give be asked to investigate the results S. W. SAMUELSON added publicity, and a panel of of litigation against Kodak in the FINchley 1595 speakers was considered, to be U.S.A. under the Anti-Trust Laws. : 94 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN June/July 1957 Department for Paramount News A. B.C. Television Studios. A large " A King in New York " had been transferred to the Agency number of individual cases are pay-roll and would be paid under being taken up, and our member- Charlie Chaplin's still camera- the terms of the Newsreel Agree- ship here is growing stronger in man on A King in New York, a ment. The Company was set up numbers and more conscious of picture from which appeared on to supply a world-wide News Film what can be won by Union action. our cover last month, was Eric service, available to anyone in- In A.R.T.V. an individual claim Gray. terested. Processing would be on behalf of a Production Assis- done at the Rank Laboratory, tant has been won. Union repre- Acton. The organisation was still sentations have also resulted in in its development stage, and if it two more redundant Control FILM PRODUCERS GUILD LTD. prospered as anticipated, the Operators being re-engaged. The Agency had in mind offering a Executive Committee agreed that require Writers and Directors for seven-day service round the clock the General Secretary should write Documentary and Entertainment which might necessitate shift work to the T.V.P.C.A. to the effect that, Films. Write stating experience to in the Cutting Rooms. The Coun- unless the Agreement is signed and A. T. Burlinson, Guild House, cil agreed that the TV Producer/ operating by July 1st, strong Upper St. Martin's Lane, W.C.2. Directors' Section and all TV Shop action will be taken to obtain a Stewards be advised to watch for settlement. any material coming from this agency and let Head Office know if the material is going to a TV BANK SCREEN SERVICES — MEN WORKERS OF ALL AGES Company. Also, Head Office should APPRENTICES: Our members at don't advise the Agency that at this this unit ask the Executive to take risks stage we are not prepared to com- open up negotiation < with the GIVE LIFE A LIFT mit ourselves to agreeing that all Management with regard to work of this nature would neces- apprenticeship. They are not satis- start wearing at once a sarily come under the terms of the fied that their scheme is working LITESOME SUPPORTER Newsreel Agreement. satisfactorily. One meeting with the A.S.F.P. was held but the (Better than Briefs) problem is still unresolved. The Send 7/6 and waist measurement to: TELEVISION: Since the last re- Executive instructed the Organiser FRED HURTLEY & SON Ltd. port Paddy Leech had spent a to press for a meeting with the Dept. A.S., KEIGHLEY week-end in Manchester at the management. 1957 Edition «/- a/6 Board Cloth Covers Bound (Postage inland 1/4) [Postage inland I 4 The Big Book of Photography This 98th edition consists of 400,000 COPIES lliis cyclopaedic: annual again presents to all photographically-interested people every item of information to enable them to keep abreast of the photographic world —an ever increasing world of domestic, scientific and industrial achievement. Obtainable from your Bookseller, Photographic Dealer, or direct from the Publisher \ HENRY GREENWOOD & CO., LTD. 24 Wellington Street, Strand, London, W.C.2 Phone: TEMple Bar 5330 & 7555 95 June/July 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN ry °fG ma { evae' °*gers . are ff 61 We/y reajj. m Sf ise °cJt 6 *"**«.*« ^ree a /lor ^8er of~* nr„_ ^ 0f Sf°c*s fa. #Ws. ^ eve e 0; f hind > are our tfe r s at erv,ce e our ->esf sr ^ cfejjv oatf c e. and fOry o- ser Wce <*able ,ri "sr the b give us yo ^eSs »the GEVAERT GEVAERT LIMITED Mot/on Picture Department GREAT WEST ROAD - BRENTFORD • MIDDLESEX EALing 3488 96 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN June July 1957 UNITED ARTISTS present BRIAN DONLEVY in "QUATERMASS II with JOHN LONGDEN SIDNEY JAMES BRYAN FORBES WILLIAM FRANKLYN and VERA DAY ILFORD Original story by Nigel Kneale Screenplay by Nigel Kneale and Val Guest Produced by Anthony Hinds : Directed by Val Guest A Hammer Production Executive Producer — Michael Carreras FP3 Director of Photography — Gerald Gibbs 35mm cine negative film ILFORD LIMITED, Cine Sales Department, 104 High Holborn, London, W.C.\. Telephone: HOLborn 3401 Published by the Proprietors, The Association of Cinematograph, Television and allied Technicians, 2 Soho Square, London, and Printed by Watford Printers Limited. Watford. Herts. OCTOBER 1957 Association of Cinematograph, Television and allied Technicians Vol. 23 No. 153 PRICE 6d. F I LM and TV BRITISH FILMS FOR BRITAIN TUC REPORT Anthony Asquith directing " " Orders to Kill [Still by John Jay] 130 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN October 1957 LARGE BATCHES Apart from the superlative print quality you obtain from Gevaert Fine Grain Positive, the very large sizes of the batches, the freedom from annoying mechanical defects and the utter reliability of the material will appeal to you. One million feet for 16 mm. and two million feet for 35 mm. are smallish batches for Gevaert. GEVAERT GEVAERT LIMITED, Mot/on Picture Department GREAT WEST ROAD BRENTFORD MIDDLESEX • EALing 3488 October 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN H* Museum of Modw* ^ UltAU EDITORIAL DOES THE BOARD OF TRADE WANT BRITISH FILMS? DOES the Board of Trade want a healthy " This shortage is also tending, we believe, to- British film industry, or could it not care wards an increase in studio rentals and this less? Is it, in fact, aware, even now that the again will present an additional burden to the making of films is one of the country's essential, producers of modest budget films. repeat essential, industries? " We would beg to suggest that the whole The answer, of course, should be an unquali- matter should be reviewed by your Department fied ' yes ', but recent happenings in connection or the Cinematograph Films Council or some with British production facilities make one pause other appropriate body as a matter of urgency." and wonder. We understand that the Board of Trade, in its A.C.T.T. members will recall that in the spring reply to this approach, took its stand on a state- of last year the six Trade Unions concerned with ment made by the President of the Board of film production were asked for their views on the Trade in February 1955 in which he said: "I measures necessary to help the industry. Among must make it plain that I have no responsibility the many points covered in the Unions' reply for the erection or sale of individual film studios. was the question of shortage of studio space. The Government's policy for the film industry is We pointed out that the studio facilities then carried out on a much broader basis." The view existing were far from adequate while the of the Board of Trade is, apparently, that a demand for studio space would undoubtedly review of studio space would not serve any useful increase. purpose. Our advice on this point went unheeded at No useful purpose ? Is the encouragement of the time. the smaller independent producers to make A month ago, A.C.T. Films, faced with the British films for showing not only to Britain but problem of finding studio space for a forth- to the world a " useful purpose " or is it not? coming production, raised the matter with the Is the Government aware, too, that there is a President of the Board of Trade. growing tendency to use film for the making of " I have been instructed by my directors," the Television programmes ? It is already clear that " General Manager of A.C.T. Films wrote, to American Television producers are turning in- draw your attention to the very serious situation creasingly to film because in this way they can that has now arisen concerning the availability sell a television programme not once but several of adequate studio space for the production of times. In Britain we shall be faced with the British films. This situation is particularly grave alternatives of doing the same or seeing our tele- for the smaller independent producers such as vision screens become more and more Ameri- ourselves, and we believe that we are not the canised while British TV programmes are scarcely only company of this type to be experiencing seen abroad at all. Is encouraging British this problem at the present moment. television a useful purpose or is it not? The " Several months ago we drew the attention Board of Trade must think again—and think of various authorities to our fears that such a quickly. situation would eventuate, but we were informed that there was no reason to suppose that a studio shortage of any serious proportions would arise. FILM & TV TECHNICIAN " We believe that the current situation is Editor: partly caused by the closing down, for structural MARTIN CHISHOLM reasons, of of a number stages at Shepperton Editorial Office: Studios. This has meant that several produc- % Soho Square, W.l tions which were to go into Shepperton have had Telephone: GERrard 8506 to be accommodated elsewhere, with the result Advertisement Office: that accommodation that might normally have 5 and 6 Red Lion Square, W.C.I been available to companies such as ourselves has Telephone: HOLborn 4972 now been booked. 132 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN October 1957 So as a slogan for Kine.'s next 50 years I commend: "British films for Britain—and more of BRITISH FILMS FOR them." But these days it is pointless for the entertainment industry to talk merely in terms of cinematograph BRITAIN films. There is on the one hand wholesale condemnation of tele- vision by the film industry and The article printed below was contributed by GEORGE ELVIN to the yet, on the other, film interests are fiftieth anniversary edition of the KINEMATOGRAPH WEEKLY, to quite properly carving their own niche in this new medium. whose Editor we are indebted for permission to reproduce it here Now the Rank Organisation has joined ABC and Granada in the television field. Yet presumably ANE of these days we shall pre- quota can be fulfilled without a our film industry will continue to " sumably reach agreement on single film being made in the breathe of fire against tele- the overall case for the production United Kingdom. words vision when it is not too busy and exhibition of British films and Indeed, but for the doggedness pretending it doesn't exist at all. how to fulfil it, but ever since my of the trade unions, and particu- best safeguards our association with the industry a One of the larly their determination not to industry has had with reference to handful of people and a still countenance British films being the of television is the fore- smaller number of organisations impact made other than under the terms sight of the film trade unions who have been battling against all of their agreements with the em- have always looked upon it as a comers— including those sup- ployers, we could have been flooded legitimate field of organisation. posedly favouring British film pro- with films made in the Common- Not only, therefore, are the film duction —either to stop the indus- wealth and in Colonial territories, trade unions numerically strong in try dying or at least to permit it and employing a substantial pro- that field, but they have also for to continue just ticking over. portion of foreigners supplemented that very reason helped to mould In no other industry (and mak- by a modicum of local labour and its policy along the right lines. ing films is as much an industry yet still ranking for United King- as most other pursuits) would dom quota although using neither TV Agreement home producers continue to our studios nor staff. tolerate example, a position whereby they Naturally I am all in favour of To mention the obvious are very much the junior partner the development of film industries the trade unions have now reached to imported product. Yet I have in the Commonwealth and agreement with the programme seldom known British producers, Colonies, but not at our expense. contractors, albeit not without distributors or exhibitors collec- some struggle, which will prevent tively advocate policies which Kite-flying television production being in would lead to a substantial in- cheap competition with films in the crease in British production. On Recent kite-flyings are even labour sense. the whole they have generally pur- more startling. We had John It is about time other film in- sued lines to foster the hold of Davis's speech at the 1957 CEA terests took an equally realistic foreign product on British screens. Conference at Gleneagles which attitude and thought out and advocated a get-together with sought out policies which will en- Cockeyed some of the Continental countries. able films and television to de- I am all for the entente cordiale, velop as complementary partners The same thing can be said for provided it is to the common bene- in the entertainment industry. hybrid bodies such as the Cine- fit of all parties and at the expense Let us hope that when our matograph Films Council which of other imported films. But grandchildren are asked to write are charged by Act of Parliament rumour has it that there is a articles for the centenary year of to protect the wellbeing of British school of thought in both France Kink, or Kine. and Television film production and yet appear to and Great Britain advocating the Weekly as it will doubtless by spend a lot of their time taking possibility of altering our own then be known- the first fifty action which to my view has a British quota to a combined Anglo- years can be dismissed as the contrary effect. French quota, so that French films nightmare which they have largely They have never once, as far as can be shown over here as if they been. I can remember, agitated for in- were British. On the other hand, let us hope that the 50 years about to begin creased quota. They did nothing, Kuropean common markets are being will be a period in which we have despite urged to do so by all very well if they are really the all learned from the mistakes of trade unions, to force the common markets and in fact, the past and will record the pro- government to halt the scandal of build up a genuine free trade area. gress of an industry serving the the shortage of studio space. But the whole purpose is nullified public in the twin fields of cinema Where can an independent pro- if that free trade area merely and television providing an in- ducer find space today and whittles the small degree of what down creasing number of British pro- chance have we got to hold our protection at present reserved by grammes until we can hold our own, let alone progress, with the British government for wholly own with ease with the rest of Denham and a dozen so British product. or other the world. studios remaining unavailable. Fancy the British public going Above all, in doing this we can Recent tendencies are making to the cinema and seeing a British provide a service to the British matters even more cockeyed. We quota film, not a word of which it public which only a British in- have now reached the stage where can understand unless it is dubbed dustry, because it is British in all theoretically, at least, British or sub-titled! meanings of the word, can fulfil. October 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 133 A LTHOUGH this year's T.U.C. -^was in the main quiet and The General Secretary and Ralph Bond report non-controversial, many policy re- solutions of great importance to on the the Trade Union Movement were agreed and the fact that most of them were passed unanimously or with large majorities, and without the necessity of a single card vote, BLACKPOOL T.U.C. enhances their importance. Both the resolutions submitted remain uncontrolled, to take such the general policy of the Trade by A.C.T.T. were well received and steps industrially to ensure that Union and the Labour movement. carried unanimously. wages keep pace with rising costs. Coming back again to inter- Ralph Bond moved our resolu- It also called on all trade unionists national affairs, two other resolu- tion on the H-Bomb and as five to work for the early return of a tions in addition to our own were other trade unions had submitted Labour Government. carried. The first demanded that similar resolutions we all got to- Congress wholeheartedly de- China should be admitted to the gether and agreed to a composite. nounced the new Rents Act and United Nations, and the second The main point of the resolution called upon the next Labour called for the establishment of a was to demand that H.M. Govern- Government to repeal it. United Germany to be achieved by ment propose to the U.S.A. and the It carried with enthusiasm a the withdrawal of all foreign Soviet Union an immediate and resolution demanding an im- troops from Europe and the estab- unconditional suspension of all mediate and substantial increase lishment of a system of collective nuclear tests as a first step to- in Old Age Pensions, reaffirming security involving all European wards the banning of these its belief all workers countries and including weapons. that are the U.S.A. entitled on retirement to a mini- and the U.S.S.R. mum pension sufficient at least to Public Demonstration Urged provide the necessities of life and ensure a reasonable measure of International Solidarity In concluding his speech Ralph Fund comfort. Bond suggested that the General A special report was also given Council of Congress should pre- On the Health Service it de- on the proposal of the Inter- end to all charges sent the resolution to the Prime manded an on national Confederation of Free prescriptions the Minister, backed up by an officially and removal of Trade Unions to create an inter- restrictions spending in called public demonstration in on hos- national solidarity fund and the which the members of every pitals. General Council of the T.U.C. has affiliated Trade Union would be On the question of public owner- set as its target the raising of called upon to participate. ship a resolution was carried in- £500,000 during the next three This suggestion was greatly structing the General Council to years. It proposes to raise this applauded and our own General work out a policy for social owner- not by asking for donations from Council might consider following ship and to consult with the the central funds of the affiliated it up with a letter to the Secretary Labour Party. Trade Unions, but by each Trade of the T.U.C. A resolution calling for public Union urging its members to con- George Elvin moved our second ownership of the Machine Tool tribute individually 6d. a year over resolution on restrictions and industry was carried. the next three years. It is not a monopoly of the Press, which in- statutory levy but Congress ob- structed the General Council of viously felt that such a fund Congress to take all appropriate European Common Market should be raised, although one or action to halt all monopolistic two delegates were a little dubious Although there was no resolu- tendencies in the field of publica- of some of the purposes for which tion dealing with the proposed tion and reiterated the necessity of it is to be used. Our own General European Common Market the the Trade Union and Labour Council is required to consider this General Council made it clear that movement retaining policy control matter. in its opinion this country would over its own daily newspaper. In the elections for fare worse if it kept outside the the new General Council, George Another resolution of a similar free trade area than if it went in. Elvin character had been withdrawn so At the same time the General received 1,229,000 votes, but Tom we had a clear field on this issue. Council would require firm assur- O'Brien was again elected for our Section. It is impossible to mention all ances from the Government con- the resolutions considered by Con- cerning the maintenance of full Your delegates were also able to gress, but we give below a sum- employment, etc., although some perform useful service for A.C.T.T. mary of the more important de- speakers pointed out that such outside the Congress as, for ex- cisions. assurances even if given were no ample, in getting the immediate On wages and economic policy sure guarantee. Congress was support of N.A.T.K.E. and the a composite resolution moved by obviously divided on this question E.T.U. for a telegram of protest to the Transport and General and no vote was taken. the National Federation of Profes- Workers' Union and supported by A special report on the position sional Workers who we understand six other unions was unanimously of the " Daily Herald " was given were sympathetically considering carried. It denounced the Tory in private session and members the admission of the Association Government's refusal to direct the will now be aware of the new of Broadcasting Staffs. We made country's economic and social arrangement that has been made it clear that if the A.B.S. was policies, rejected wage restriction whereby the " Daily Herald " has accepted for the affiliation, in any form and reaffirmed deter- greater freedom of action although N.A.T.K.E. and ourselves would mination, while prices and profits undertaking to continue to support withdraw. 134 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN October 1957 Organisers' Page TELL US WHEN YOU GET A JOB AST month I referred to the same evening the company were is working in Canada as Director of IJ failure of members who obtain advised. The first thing the next Photography in Regal Films, employment to notify Head Office. morning was an enquiry from Toronto, which I think members I do not apologise for quoting the another studio which gave details will like to read. He writes: following instance which occurred of what they had heard had hap- Many thanks for placing me on during Bunny Garner's absence on pened. For once the bush tele- the list for the above situation. holiday. I had been trying to graph was too quick. But it does I am delighted at being here to satisfy a studio's request for staff keep you on your toes! photograph the first black and conversation was roughly and the Many locations are at present white CinemaScope feature being as follows: "These are available operating, and cover great dis- produced in this country by a Miss A, Miss B, and Miss X ". tances. One small but undoubtedly Canadian company. There was a burst of laughter from the studio end of the 'phone. I never thought I should have " Miss X has been working here By an opportunity of shooting a for the past three months ". My modern cowboy story. face was slightly pink. It does I have a complete crew: I have made emphasise the point FRED TONGE Operator Jackson Samuels (Cana- previously, that our members, on dian), 1st Assistant Manny Alpert work, should advise commencing (American), 2nd Assistant Don us. McMillon (Canadian), 3rd Assis- Congratulations to Vivian pleasant one is on the " Queen tant Ted Winters (Canadian), Temple-Smith, A.C.T.T. Shop Elizabeth " to New York and back, Clappers Loader Denny Murphy Steward at Pinewood, on his elec- others are on the Jungfrau in (Canadian) and two Grips tion as Chairman of the Joint Switzerland, in Dublin, and on the (Canadian). Committee. This is I be- Works Virgin Islands; others range from Just returned from our first at Pine- lieve the first occasion the Tyrol to Brighton. week's shooting on location, wood when an A.C.T.T. member A meeting was held recently of " Owen's Sound," Georgian Bay. It is a has been so honoured. a location which was proceeding Real cowboys, ranches, horses, tribute to the sterling work fitting abroad to elect Unit Steward and cattle and gun-running bandits, in- Vivian in the compara- put in by settle one or two minor details. cluding the old sheriff in this film. time that he has been tively short This was settled and I felt that all The cast, actors from Hollywood, there. our Steward was well. A day or two later I Alison Hayes, Jim Davis, John Friends will be pleased to hear met an officer of one of the other Hart (of The Last of the Mohicans that Peter G. Nash has had a very unions concerned. It seems that fame), Tony Brown (The Boy and successful six months as a lighting some of his members had signed His Dog), Austin Willis and many cameraman in the Pagewood individual contracts and were as other featured players. Saw some Studios, Sydney, Australia. He a result very much worse off than of the rushes on Saturday. has now gone to New Zealand to their colleagues in the other two Apparently the Director, Sam work with the New Zealand Film unions. Newfield, is delighted with the Unit. Individual contracts may look photographic quality. The boss, very nice on paper but on more Mr. S. Newfeld, had a representa- Logic careful scrutiny they may well tive from 20th, Hollywood, visit An enquiry recently into absen- show that the worker is going to the studio to view our efforts, he teeism (not, I hasten to add, in be the loser. In this particular sent me congratulatory messages. A.C.T.T. grades, or in fact in the case no A.C.T.T. personnel were The star, Alison Hayes, has re- all) film industry at asked a involved, but it should warn our ceived another contract from the worker concerned this question, members that the normal con- company because of her good " Why do you only work three ditions laid down are in their best looks and performance, she also " days per week ? The reply was interests. In the few grades where thanked me for my efforts on her " I have discovered it takes that individual contracts are specifi- behalf. So, you see, we are making much to keep me." cally mentioned in A.C.T.T. agree- pretty good headway over here. experience our ments has shown It's a great country, food ex- look for, it Hush Telegraph members what to and cellent, hospitality outstanding, is well known that these members people will- In all industries the bush tele- and generous who are have their contracts "vetted" from accept knowledge from per- graph is a well used and respected ing to time to time. here institution, and in films it acts with sons who arrive with ex- great speed. A meeting had been perience and willing to teach them Ford held at one studio to discuss a Freddy the up-to-date methods of our location, details had been dis- Bunny Garner has passed on to cussed and after E.C. approval the me a letter from Freddy Ford who K 'ontinued on page 142) s — October 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 135 Sir Alexander Korda I am writing a biography of the THE RANK late Sir Alexanda Korda. Though his life and work are fully docu- mented by printed material, I would be extremely grateful to LABORATORIES receive any record of personal ex- periences from people in the film " any producer would readily It is good to see this tribute to industry who have worked with As agree, the finest production com- the work and skill of A.C.T.T. him or had personal contact with pany in the world would only be members in both laboratories. him. wasting its talents if it had not After outlining the various All material will be acknow- the benefit of skilful and intelli- types of film processing jobs done ledged and due credit will be given, gent co-operation from the pro- at the laboratories the brochure, if so desired, to those supplying it. cessing laboratories." with illustrations and diagrams, These thirty-four words sum up Yours sincerely, tells the story of " How colour as concisely as possible the part Paul Tabori, gets on to film ", starting from played by the laboratories in the 14 Stafford Terrace, the moment when the colour nega- film industry. They are taken from London, W.8 tive film is exposed in the camera, "The Rank Laboratories (Denham) a story which will perhaps come Ltd ", a sumptuous publication de- as something of an exciting shock signed to give their customers an to technicians working in some insight into the work of the other sections of the industry. Denham and Olympic laboratories. Obituaries Some idea of the scope of these laboratories can be gained from CHARLES SELL We very much regret to announce the death of Charles Sell, Adver- A Technician" Book Review tisement Manager of Film and TV Technician. Notebook LEROTISME AU CINEMA, by Lo Duea (distributed in Britain by Charles Sell, senior partner of The Rodney Book Service, 9-11 for A. E. Jeakins, who write's Charles Sell and Co., had many Monmouth Street, London, W.C.2). years been associated with the 'A Technician's Notebook', as ad- The commercial side of the trade union movement an is at present away on loca- vertising expert. After getting a entertainment business is so taken tion. shall resume this the quest for filthy lucre thorough grounding in advertising We up with he joined the staff of the Police feature on his return later —and sometimes the filthier the more lucrative that it is espe- Review Publishing Co. Ltd. before in the autumn — cially refreshing to find a film the first World War. He started " the ever-so- his own advertising agency in trade paper attack 1919. In 1930 he became Adver- saucy-sexy-Frenchy exploiteers British public's tising Manager and then Director the fact that they can handle for who trade on the of their of the Police Review. processing over 5,500,000 feet of ignorance neighbours film weekly or, as the Rank across the Channel." LOUIS LEVY brochure points out, the equivalent So wrote Bernard Charlesworth, of over 650 full-length feature in an important recent article in We also announce with regret prints. On top of that they pro- the Daily Film Renter, on the the death, just as we were going cess each week more than half a irresponsible get-rich-quick pro- to press, of Louis Levy who, million feet of film for pictures in ducers of " strip-tease exploitation although primarily a musician, was production and also many hun- specials ", which he believes have for many years a very popular dreds of prints of short films and done so much harm to the French member of A.C.T.T. as associate two twice-weekly newsreels. industry. But the author of producer. We hope to publish a L'Erotisme au Cinema adopts fuller obituary notice next month. First-class Staff an intellectual approach to smut which to me smells of hypocrisy " Services on such a scale ", the and perhaps this is emphasised for brochure says, " would clearly be British readers by having the text without first-class in French. We Thought Too impossible laboratory staff—and in this we Not many pictures in M. Lo Big can claim to be second to no other Duca's book are from English similar organisation in the world. films, but pride of place is given In our report of the agreement Working for us we have over eight on the frontispiece to one from on Foreign Technicians last month hundred experienced and highly- that boring experimental film, we referred to " extra permits skilled people. Well up in the The Pleasure Garden, which I where required in respect of each forefront of all the latest technical seem to recall one critic as saying film exceeding £3,000,000 budget developments, ever-ready to tackle consisted of the dancing of fairies cost." Of course, we like to think any unusual and unexpected prob- of both sexes. Ugh! big, all film technicians do, but in lems that may arise, they are none This French book could well stay this case we thought a little too the less ready to apply their skill on the other side of the Channel. big. The figure should, of course, and ' know-how ' to their ordinary have been £300,000. day-to-day work." Christopher Brunei. 136 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN October 1957 U WE LOST THE KEY" " W^ITH the introduction of says a thing like that. She is I put that question to Miss Gish. " speech into motion pictures quiet, relaxed and speaks thought- " I think ", she replied, " that we lost the key to people's under- fully and very modestly about a what we should aim at is not, standing of each other." medium to which she is utterly perhaps, silent films, but films in which instead of dialogue we That thought-provoking state- marry music to vision. And when is considered view of ' ment the By I say ' music I certainly do not Lilian Gish, veteran stage, screen and television actress, who has » just completed work at Shepper- LILIAN GISH ton on Anthony Asquith's Orders to Kill. in an interview with This does not mean that she is not happy in a speaking role. Far Martin Chisholm from it. " I have never had ten happier days anywhere in the world," she told me, " than work- ing with Anthony Asquith on this devoted. There is not the slightest picture. The whole time there doubt about that. Take this LILIAN GISH BETWEEN SHOTS AT SHEFPEBTON [Still by John Jay] exclude the music of words. The words of Shakespeare, for in- stance, are music in themselves, and has a finer film been made than Henry the Fifth? " You may smile at what I am going to say, but I'd like to tell you this. In the old silent days we felt that we were working in a medium that the Bible had pre- dicted, a medium which had the possibility of growing into a uni- LA STRADA versal language which could make all men brothers. Yes, we really was a sense of working with a question of speech on the screen, felt that, and we felt that this group of artists and technicians for instance. medium was so much greater, so important, than any who, all, much more each and were dedicated " see," said, " is so What we she of us. with that idea to just one thing, getting it right. We worked much more important than what constantly in our minds. The " There was one sequence in we hear. It makes so much medium had power and we felt I on us. which was very troubled by greater impact We who our responsibility in its use doubts. I felt that perhaps I had work in motion pictures should deeply." not been able to convey what was never for one moment forget that Lilian Gish thought for a in the director's mind, and, for the the quickest way to the brain is moment, and then she added: "I first time in my life I felt that through the eye." think that too many men have lost I could not face seeing my Does this mean that even today, that sense of responsibility to the rushes." with all the available richness of medium. We had better get back There is nothing intense in new sound techniques, there is to it if we don't like the state of Lilian Gish's manner when she scope for a revival of silent films ? the world as it is today." October 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 137 The very lack of words was the most important factor in building up audience participation. The audience had to draw on its imagination to supply the speech and it was much more moved in consequence. " People remember me today from the silent films ", she said, " but they don't remem- ber because it is me. They re- member because they had to supply in their own minds, and with their own feelings, the works of the human beings I portrayed." Suicide Turning her mind back to the 'twenties, Miss Gish recalled that D. W. Griffith, after a number of great silent films, made his first talkie in 1921, a picture called Dream Street. Then he discarded talkies. " Talking films are suicide ", he said. " With talkies we can only play to the English- speaking world." I think that some such thought is in Lilian Gish's mind now when she speaks of what film, properly used, can do. "As things are we have lost a world audience," she said. " Translations of speech dubbed as captions over vision are not good theatre, not good film and not good art. . . . But pictures Above: " The Red Balloon ". Below: D.W.Griffiths' great spectacular picture " Intolerance ". like La Strada, M. Hulot's Holiday and, I am told, though I have not seen it yet, The Red Balloon, in which words are subordinate to married sound and vision, can go out and speak to the world. Japan has lovely things to send us, too. Why should not every country send out its own particular beauty to the rest of the world, so that we can participate in its poetry of sound and movement." More Difficult Task When Miss Gish speaks of ' songs ' she is not speaking of music in the dictionary sense but what she calls ' the music of understanding '. She is the very first to admit that creating these ' songs ' is a more difficult task than the making of dialogue films because, when the audience has to supply its own thoughts and words and feelings the film maker (Continued on page 138) \:\s FILM & TV TECHNICIAN October 1957 Lilian Gish (Continued) Talking Points has to give it a great deal more to work on. us think big. Not for its To provide the pictures for these is the short- IET Another difficulty -J own sake, but because our place cinemas of the (not so distant) capable of working age of writers in the entertainment industry de- future, our producers will have to this way, but here, she sees in mands it. These grandiose thoughts think big too, as there is a great Tele- great hope in television. are forced on me by some industry shortage of good, attractive big in the United vision, in her view, developments, particularly in the productions to hold the audiences. developed far more States, has Rank Organisation. But, in order to get them into pro- than films have writing talent duction, big money has to be Angry Men, No This large monopoly has never done. Twelve raised. This has been one of the Marty and believed in putting all its eggs in Time for Sergeants, major problems facing our Holly- all come one basket. If it can make money The Young Stranger have wood competitors. from TV writers and directors, she from television, from radio sets or snap-shot cameras, it will. But, pointed out. The American producers have basically, it still must sell tickets been glad to sell their old pictures " other medium than In what at the cinema box-office, which is to TV in order to finance their new, write some- television can you quite a problem these days. With giant-sized productions, and film- month, learn thing, see it next other entertainments vieing for the makers over here are looking write from it and then sit down to smaller amount of spare cash one around for similar sources of cash. medium again? There is no other has these days, new methods are Anyone got a few thousand to playwright can in which the young being tried to attract regular cus- spare? learn so much so fast." tom. The method, which is also being " Depth Men " tried in the U.S.A., is to build up Epic Without Script a sort of community centre around I am indebted to Leslie Adrian, place where, as a writing in The Spectator, for in- The problem of writers turned the cinema—a watching at home, troducing me to Motivational Re- Miss Gish's mind back to the early change from TV get entertainment to suit search, for it seems that M.R. is pictures of D. W. Griffith and she you can and moods. likely to be most important for reminded me of something that a variety of tastes those making TV commercials. will perhaps come as a shock to You want some of the world's many younger film technicians. finest ballet? Well, as an experi- The folk in M.R. are called When he made the greatest spec- ment Paul Czinner's film of the Depth Men (a new grade for the tacular film of all time, Intolerance, Bolshoi Ballet, featuring the won- TV Agreement, perhaps?), because a twelve-reel picture taking in, in derful Ulanova, is being exhibited they use psychological probings to one great sweep, the fall of in selected Rank theatres. find out the reasons why one buys Babylon, the Crucifixion, the certain goods and not others. You massacre of St. Bartholomew, and have probably guessed from this a modern story of capital and Want to Dance? jargon that the whole thing labour, Griffith had no script at originates in the United States. all. You want to learn to dance well? This is the way the scheme is For a small fee you can go to one He did his own research, con- said to work: associate some novel of the Victor Silvester dance ceived his story and the linking feature with what you are selling, attached to a number of sequences, shot mile on mile of studios publicise the novelty, and you're Gaumonts and Odeons. Strict tempo film. The only writing that was rich. music will be played from record- done was by the cutter who For instance, the size of the car ings (Musicians' Union, please watched the last rehearsal and that people will buy appears to note) while you are given expert took down the sequence of events. be the all-important feature. For- tuition in the art of ballroom Until then there was nothing on get whether they will ever find dancing. significant point in the paper. He held the whole thing A enough parking space, think big colour advertising trailer, now be- in his head. " That ", said Lilian and make the cars long and low, ing shown, is that the appeal is to Gish, " was the measure of the and with a little bit of skilful pub- both young and old. This will mean licity they are sold. Not only the that a growing number of people size, but the smell and noise the habit of going in the We Need Writers will get the car makes are said by the Depth direction of a Rank cinema, and Men to be important as prestige up film audi- That does not mean that the this will help build a symbols. ence of all ages and of all intellec- cinema can do without writers The sound made in slamming the tual levels. today. Very far from it. doors is especially valuable to " The cinema needs writers," sales. " We've got the finest door Miss Gish said. " We have in- slam this year we've ever had ", vented wonderful machines and we Chevrolet boast about their 1957 " ." ;uc not able to live up to them. need men of conviction. We have models, a big car sound . . We need writers who are prepared been making ' The Cowboy and the That wonderful sound effect the to stand up and say what they Ladies ' since 1906. It is time that BBC has of a breaking glass shop believe in and, it necessary, to somebody got up and said some- window tempts me to suggest that take the count for their beliefs. thing new, or some old truth in a it would be most useful in TV com- " The world respects a man who new way. We need it said beauti- mercials. Yes," says the com- believes something deeply. We fully and said with courage." mentator (commentators always — October 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN i:«) seem to start sentences with "Yes"), "when you smash up our new 1957 model you, too, will make the big car crash." TELEVISION is careful to add ABC Leslie Adrian that we stolid British may not be affected in quite the same way as the Americans. Just the same, he On August 21st there was a of an experimental evening when adds that we may not be able to large-scale meeting of the ABC new ideas will be tried out on avoid this impact of the motiva- Drama Department which, under closed circuit from the Manchester tional advertising man, as leading Dennis Vance, is now one of the studio. U.S. firms are now spending an largest and most active depart- twelve million dollars a Personnel at the moment work- estimated ments in commercial television. In them, he ing for ABC Drama include year on M.R. Among addition to a weekly output which Directors : George More O'Farrel says, are companies like Goodyear, consists of an hour's mystery play, Lever (whose experience in Television General Motors and a ninety minute Armchair Theatre Brothers, who have associates stems from early Alexandra Palace and a half-hour serial, ABC are here. " It obviously gets results," days in 1936), Stuart Latham, John also setting up their own film unit he ends, " and it is certainly going Burton, John Knight, Wilfred to produce a series of half-hour to arrive over here before long." Eades, Philip Dale, Guy Verney films for transmission here and and Vivian Milroy; Studio Man- There is quite a lot that the also for sale to U.S. markets. agers : Richard Hayward, Bill M.R. characters can achieve, but Dennis Vance complimented the Daw, Pat Kennedy, Anthony Fin- they should not kid themselves unit on the year's work and men- negan, Chris La Fontaine and Don that the human mind is just putty tioned that the viewing figures Gollan; P.A.s: Esther Frost, Janice in their talented hands. Most throughout had been agreeably Willet (shortly moving to adver- people have a healthy streak of high, very frequently topping large tising magazines as a director), independence in their mental scale light entertainment and Bernice Dorskind, Verity Lambert, make-up—and that helps them to variety programmes. He also ex- Mavis Lock and Judith Dent. Cast- reject a lot of spurious propa- the pleasure of the man- ing Director is Dodo Watts (for- ganda. Besides, there are other pressed agement at the signing of the merly with ATV and 20th Century good qualities in life apart from the Script is prestige. agreement with the A.C.T.T. and Fox), and Department looked forward to a bright future under Mae Murray. 'Cadmus' for all concerned. A new departure is the creation VIVIAN MILROY. CAMERA HIRE FOK III!!/, 1957 ARRIFLEX Model 2A with Cooke Series 2 lenses. Available as mute camera or with full BLIMP Fully Equipped CUTTING ROOMS equipment. NEWMAN-SINCLAIR mirror shut- WEEKLY—MONTHLY, OR FOR ter and model G cameras. Cooke lenses, SINGLE FRAME EXPOSURE, ENTIRE PRODUCTION PERIOD electric motor drive—as required. 18 mm. COOKE extra wide angle lens with full range of Wratten filters. For Arriflex, Camiflex and Newman-Sinclair cameras. FOR HIRE LOCATION ARRIFLEX CAMERA CAMERA DOLLEYS with BLIMP and FULL ACCESSORIES S. W. SAMUELSON FINchley I59S NEWMAN SINCLAIR CAMERA MODEL "G" FOR SALE Newman Sinclair Model A. 35mm. Cine Camera with 4 magazines and 4 lenses, gate focuser and camera case. In good condition and full All Enquiries: GERrard 2360 working order. £200 for quick sale. Wanted: Acmiola or Moviola 35mm. Donalds of Guiseley Motion Pictures. 1 III FILM & TV TECHNICIAN October 1957 The General Council in Session PEARL & DEAN: Bessie Bond and Overseas Information Services to work in shifts, one from 6 a.m. reported that members at Pearl & and particularly the report of the to 3 p.m., and another from 3 p.m. Dean, Acton, were being threat- Chancellor of the Duchy of Lan- to midnight; payment would be ened with dismissal if they refused caster. They put forward the the guaranteed day plus overtime to work overtime, and it was also union's point of view on the White at appropriate rates for those nor- reported that they were not get- Paper, which they criticised along mally in receipt of overtime for ting the Cost of Living Bonus the lines of the Editorial in the the hours outside the guaranteed under the A.S.F.P. Agreement. August Film and TV Technician. day. Transport and catering The Organiser told them that They gained the impression that would be arranged as and when overtime was voluntary and that the representatives of the Com- required. The Pinewood Shop this should be made clear to the mittee shared their view that the Steward reported to the Council management, and the members White Paper was inadequate in that the Editorial Department unanimously agreed that the Shop many respects and they would wel- refused to work these shifts, and Steward and Deputy should take come more being done, but the the view was forcefully expressed these two points up with the com- points on which they were opposed at the Council that the proposed pany. to Union policy were on such arrangement was tantamount to At the Dover Street branch of matters as the revival of the compelling members to work over- the company an excellent meeting Ministry of Information and the time. It was agreed that the had been held to set up proper Crown and Colonial Film Units. Organiser should visit Pinewood A.C.T.T. organisation, when a However, they did share the and discuss the matter further on Shop Steward and Committee were Union's view that more should be the basis of these views. elected. A dispute had arisen over done and that particularly, there the dismissal of a member of the must be some super-Ministerial Cartoon Unit, and the members co-ordinating body which could co- agreed to ban all overtime until ordinate and initiate production YTSTAVISION AND OPTICAL she was reinstated or pending and they gave an assurance that COLOUR PRINTERS—INTERIM negotiation; the Organiser called they would do their best to make REPORT: The Management of the a general meeting of members in this clear either informally to the Rank Laboratories were asked for the Pearl & Dean group of com- Minister or when the matter is a meeting to fix local rates for panies, and after a very full dis- discussed in the House of Com- the grades of VistaVision and cussion, the members agreed to mons. Optical Colour Printers but were support the overtime ban. At a unable to accept the proposal on meeting with the management the the grounds that other Labora- Organiser pointed out that the FILM AND TV TECHNICIAN: tories employ these grades. It has Union's main concern was with the A report was received from the now been decided to discuss the future policy of the company in F. & G.P. regarding a free issue matter at F.L.A. level and a meet- regard to dismissals, but if they of the journal to all members. ing will be arranged on Mr. would give an assurance that After going carefully into the esti- Strachan's return from holiday. they would in future consult with mated cost of such a free issue the Union before dismissals took compared with the present cost, place we should accept their offer they recommended that the matter of four weeks' wages to the mem- should be left open for the time TELEVISION: Paddy Leech had ber. The company said they would being, as the additional expendi- attended meetings of the TV Nego- be prepared to do so, provided the ture would be considerable and tiating Committee and over the A.S.F.P. advised them to. The they felt the extra money could be week-end of August 10th-12th had Executive instructed the Organiser used to better effect on other attended meetings with the to continue to press for the assur- things. After a very full discussion General Secretary and Brother ance from the company, and gave the following resolutions were Tony Shine in London, Manchester their full support to the members carried by the Executive: (two meetings) and Birmingham. in the action they had taken. (a) Thai the F. & G.P.'s recommen- Two other meetings, also to en- dation be endorsed. dorse the National Agreement, Subsequently it was reported that the company had given the (b) That the F. & G.P. look into the were held in London, for A.T.V. possibility of producing some and I.T.N, members. Approxi- necessary assurances. kind of half-yearly bulletin for free issue to the membership. mately 300 Television members were present at these seven meet- (c) That shops should be advised to appoint a Journal Steward Cor- ings, the voting in favour of en- CONSERVATIVE M.P.'S FILM respondent responsible for sales dorsing the agreement being 280 of the journal and for obtaining for, 20 against. The Organiser has GROUP—GOVERNMENT WHITE local material. PAPER ON OVERSEAS INFOR- attended " assimilation " meetings MATION SERVICES: The General This report was agreed by the to correlate job titles and grades Secretary reported that Max < teneral Council. in the various companies into the Anderson, Derek Twist, and him- Agreement in A.R.T.V., A.B.C. self had met representatives of the Television Manchester (two meet- Government's Films Committee to DOUBLE DUBBING AT PINE- ings) and in I.T.N, with the local discuss the Government's report WOOD: Fred Tonge reported on on the use of films in the Home proposals for two dubbing crews (Continued on page 142) October 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 141 Joint statement by The British Employers' Confederation and the Trades Union Congress JJN increase in personal savings would trial nations in the markets of the world. be greatly to the advantage of Great In addition, individual savers who are able, Britain at this time. That is a conclusion even with some effort, to put something by upon which employers and trade union regularly will find it greatly to their leaders as well as all the political parties personal advantage to do so. are commonly agreed. For these reasons we, representing respec- One important benefit which, we believe, tively the British Employers' Confedera- would result from a substantial increase tion and the Trades Union Congress, call in savings would be to slow down the rate upon all leaders of industry among em- of the inflation of our currency which has ployers and the trade unions to give their been going on steadily for a number of best help to the National Savings Commit- years. Another would be to help us to tee in their campaign during the coming finance the very heavy programme of in- winter to increase by not less than five per dustrial development Great Britain must cent, the number of people saving through undertake if we are to compete success- National Savings Groups in places of fully with other highly mechanised indus- employment. 24.8.1957 Cv4u4^f A*xO^^y (Sir Thomas Williamson) (Sir Colin Anderson) Chairman President General Council Trades Union Congress British Employers' Confederation ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL SAVINGS COMMITTEE LONDON, S.W.7 " 1 12 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN October 1957 General Council the continuation of the full-time exchange at West Drayton was Organisers' Page not justified in view of its ( Continued) Continued) proximity to the exchanges at ( Uxbridge and Hayes, the office Stewards and officials. Membership business, so enabling them to should be kept open part-time, is steadily increasing, and our establish a sound foundation for these arrangements to commence organisation in several companies producing feature films in this on September 2nd. improving. Local committees have country which, although young, given support to ensure that the has terrific possibilities. Agreement is properly imple- mented. TELEVISION PRODUCER/ The first impressions on arriv- DIRECTORS' NEGOTIATING ing here were the huge cars they The Organiser has written to the COMMITTEE: As the Agreement run and the high speeds. In the Secretary of the T.P.C.A., enclos- to cover Television Producer/ studio car park the scene was ing B.F.P.A. rates and terms, Directors still has to be nego- amazing— looked as though a con- seeking the implementation of film tiated, the following were ap- vention was in progress, but the rates for our members in TV com- pointed to be the Negotiating Com- cars only belonged to the studio panies' film departments. letter A mittee: employees. Mind you, petrol is only has also been sent to Scottish Tele- George Elvin 2s. 6d. a gallon and of course no vision, enclosing the National purchase tax. These cars are P. S. Leech Agreement and informing them certainly a comfortable ride. that A.C.T.T. expects the Agree- Desmond Davis Rennie-du-Pont, the 1st Assistant, ment to be observed, and stating Max Anderson has already bought one. I expect that Union officials are willing to Bob Dunbar most of the other English boys enter discussions immediately. Our will follow suit, one hardly ever Derek Twist members there have also been sent sees an English car out here. copies of the Agreement and asked together with one Producer/Direc- Rennie is on a TV Tugboat to recruit membership as speedily tor from each company including Annie series and is also thoroughly as possible. the B.B.C. and a nominee from the enjoying the experience out here. TV Branch Committee. When in the studio shooting a few WEST DRAYTON EMPLOY- tests, many of our A.C.T.T. tech- MENT EXCHANGE: The General nicians came along to see me. I Secretary reported that a reply NINETEEN FOREIGN TECH- was surprised, for I never realised had been received from the NICIANS were reported to be we had such a strong contingent Ministry of Labour stating that, working in Britain; with the ex- out here, almost like being back as a result of representations ception of two Dutchmen, all were home in our studios! made by local bodies, the Minister Americans. They were all working had finally decided that although with permits from the authorities. Yours sincerely, Freddy Ford. Where Else Could This Happen ? On one of the very few really hot evenings we have had this THE CROWN THEATRE summer a meeting of one of the Sections was held at 2 Soho Lessees FILM PRODUCTION SERVICES (Surrey) LTD. Square. The Secretary was very sensibly clad in open-neck shirt Provides Complete Studio Projection Service and flannels and one or two of the other members were in normal at Any Time to Suit Your Requirements summer dress, including a lady member in summer frock. The DOUBLE HEAD PROJECTION meeting was presided over, how- ever, by a Chairman, no doubt on MIXING PANELS FOR TRACKS the way to another function, also resplendent in white tie and tails, complete with gardenia. I won- SUB-STANDARD PROJECTION dered if it could happen in any other union than A.C.T.T. I was SEATING FOR 70 PERSONS reminded of Verdi's wonderful Aria in Tosca, " Recondita Armonia (Strange harmony of contrasts). EDITING ROOMS FOR HIRE Shop Steward's comment on a membership form recently re- 86 WARDOUR ST., LONDON, W.l ceived: " Even after making allow- ances for the sponsor's eulogies, I find, is still good Tel: GERr.ird 5223 Editing Rooms GERrard 9.W) this applicant, a worker." ; :; FILM & TV TECHNICIAN SUPPLEMENT October 1957 Guide to British Film Makers THE PASSIONATE STRANGER ILL MET BY MOONLIGHT Thomas Goswell ; Draughtsman, E.ic Saw. Year of Production : 1956. Year of Production : 1956. Editing Department: Editor, Peter Studio: Shepperton. Studio: Pinewood. Boita; 1st Assistant, Michael Round; Laboratory: Humphries. Laboratory: Rank Laboratories (Den- Other Assistant, Fred Burnley; Dub- ham). bing Editor: Eric Boyd-Perkins. Producing Company : Beaconsfield Films Ltd. Producing Company: Rank Organisa- Production Department : Production Manager and /or Unit Production Producer: Peter Rogers. tion Ltd. Manager, "Freddie" Pearson; 1st Associate Producer: Gerald Thomas. Producers: Michael Powell, Emeric Assistant Director. Rene Dupont; Pressburger. 2nd Stars: Ralph Richardson, Margaret Assistant Director, Kim Mills: Con- Leighton. Production Controller: Arthur Alcott. tinuity, Rita Davison; Production Secretary: Pauline Chessell ; Pub- Director: Muriel Box. Associate Producer; Sydney Streeter. licity Director, Vic Betts. Scenarists: Sydney and Muriel Box. Stars: Dirk Bogarde, Marius Goring. David Oxley, Demitri Andreas, Cyril Stills Department: Still Cameraman, Camera Department : Lighting Camera- Cusack. Fred Williams. man, Otto Heller; Camera Operator, Gus Drisse; 1st Camera Assistant Directors: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger. (Focus), Brian West ; Other Camera SUPREME SECRET Assistants, James Hopewell, Alan Scenarists: Michael Powell, Emeric Rowland. Pressburger. Year of Production : 1957. Sound Department: Recordist (Mixer), Camera Department: Lighting Camera- Studio: Southall. George Stephenson ; Sound Camera man, Chris Challis; Camera Operator, Laboratory: Rank Laboratory (Den- Operator, Sandie Fairlie: Boom Austin Dempster; 1st Camera Assis- ham) Ltd. Operator, Jack Davies; Other Assis- tant (Focus), Steve Claydon ; Other Producing tant. Alan Blay (Maintenance); Dub- Cameia Assistant, Ronald Anscombe. Company: G. H. W. Produc- bing Crew, Red Law and Crew. tions Ltd., for Church & Chapel Films Sound Departm nt: Recordist (Mixer), Ltd. Art Department: Art Director: George Charles Knott; Sound Camera Opera- Executive Producer: Clifford Provis; Assistant Art Director, Ron tor, Martin McClean; Boom Operator, Jeapes. Benton; Draughtsman, Roy Walker. Basil Rootes; Boom Assistant, Ken Production Controller: Jas. B. Sloan. Editing Department: Editor, Jean Reynolds; Dubbing Crew, Gordon K. Stars: Hugh David. Meredith Edwards, Barker; 1st Assistant, Marcel Dur- McCallum, W. Daniels, C. le Mes- Harry Fowler. surier; Music, Ted Drake. ham; Dubbing Editor, Chris Green- Director: Norman Walker. ham. Art Department: Art Director: A. Scenarist: Lawrence Barrett. Production Department: Production Vetchinsky; Assistant Art Director Manager and/or Unit Production (Set), Maurice Felling; Draughtsmen, Camera Department: Lighting Camera- man, Lionel Manager, Jack Martin; 1st Assistant Lionel Couch, Harry Pottle, Bruce Banes, F.R.P.S. (2nd Director, Jack Causey; 2nd Assistant Giimes; Dress Designer, Renate Unit. Alan Hewison); Camera Opera- Routh. tor, Leo Rogers; 1st Camera Assistant Director, David Bracknell ; Con- tinuity, Phyllis Crocker; Production Editing Department; Editor, Arthur (Focus), Jim Turrell : Other Cameia Assistant, Secretary, Nona Binstead; Publicity Stevens; Assembly Cutter, N. Ack- Ronnie Rogers. Sound Director, Ken Green. land ; 1st Assistants, Jack Gardner, Department: Recordist (Mixer). Dick Smith (2nd Unit, Taylor); Stills Department: Still Cameiaman, A. Godfrey; Other Assistant, Noiman Derek Norman Hargood. Wanstall : Dubbing Editor. Archie Sound Camera Operator, Brian Ludski ; Dubbing Assistant, C. Lan- Hunter; Boom Operator, John Brom- caster. ag?; Maintenance, Fred Goodes Production Department: Production Music, Henry Reed; Dubbing Crew, Maurice Askew, Bill Manager, Jack Swinburne; 1st Assis- Germain, Ed- ESCAPEMENT ward L. Nakhimoff. Bernard Childs. tant Diiector, Charles Orme ; 2nd Year of Production : 1957. Assistant Director, Harold Orton; 3rd Art Department: Art Director, Herbert Studio: Merton Park. Assistant Director, David Tringham Smith; Draughtsman, Tom Goswell. Continuity: Gladys Pro- Laboratory: Denham. Goldsmith; Editing Department: Editor, Duncan duction Secretary, Jean Tisdall; Unit Spence: 1st Assistant. Brian Hickin Producing Company: Anglo-Guild Pro- Publicist, Jean Osborne. Other Assistant. Terry Hine. ductions. St'lls Department: Still Cameiaman, Production Department : Production Producer: Alec C. Snowden. Harry Gillard. Manager. Harry Woof; 1st Assistant Associate Producer: Jim O'Connolly. Special Processes: W. Warrington, F. Director, John Peverall: 2nd Assis- Stars: Mary Murphy, Rod Cameron, Geoige, H. Marshall, C. Culley, D. tant Director, Roger Pennington: Peter Illing, Meredith Edwards. Hume. Continuity, Gladys Reeve. Directors: Montgomery Tully, David Stills Department: Still Cameraman, Paltenghi. Frank Bellingham. Scenarist: Charlies Eric Maine. AFTER THE BALL Camera Department: Lighting Camera- MARK OF THE PHCENIX Year of Production : 1956. man, Bert Mason ; Camera Operator, Bernard Lewis; 1st Camera Assistant Studio: Beaconsfield Film Studios. Year of Production : 1957. (Focus), Peter Jessop; Other Camera Laboratory: Humphries. Studio: Walton. Assistants: I. McMillan. Producing Company : Beaconsfield Films Laboratory: Kay Laboratories Ltd. Sound Department: Recordist (Mixer), Ltd. Producing Film Keith Barber; Sound Opera- Company: Butcher's Camera Producer: Peter Rogers. Productions Ltd. tor, Alan Mills: Boom Operator, Tom Otter; Boom Assistant, Keith Pam- Stars: Pat Kirkwood, Laurence Harvey. Producer: W. G. Chalmers. plin; Dubbing Crew, Ronald Abbott. Director: Gerald Thomas. Stars: Julia Arnall. Sheldon Lawrence, Art Department: Art Director, Wilfred Scenarists: Peter Blackmore, Hubert Anton Diffring. Arnold; Assistant Art Director, Wil- Gregg. Director: Maclean Rogers. liam Holmes. Camera Department: Lighting Camera- Scenarist: Norman Hudis. Editing Department: Editor. Geoffrey man, Jack Asher; Camera Operator, Camera Department: Lighting Camera- Muller; 1st Assistant, Ina Davidson; Leo Rogers; 1st Camera Assistant man, Geoffrey Faithfull: Camera Dubbing Editor, Derek Holding. (Focus), Hugh Salisbury; Other Operator, John Winbolt ; 1st Camera Camera Assistant, Rod Fisher. Production Department : Production Assistant (Focus), John Shinerock; Manager, William Shore; 1st Assis- Sound Department: Recordist (Mixer), Other Camera Assistant. Peter Mac- tant Director, Peter Crowhurst; 2nd Bill Sawyer; Sound Camera Operator, Donald. Assistant Director, Charles Mans- George Rice; Boom Operator, Don Sound Department: Recordist (Mixer), bridge; 3rd Assistant Director, Arthur Roberts; Other Assistant (Mainten- Cliff Sandall; Sound Camera Operator, W. Nicholls; Continuity, Marjorie ance). Frank Sloggett; Dubbing Crew, Owens. Aubrey Lewis; Boom Operator. Jim Anvil Films Ltd. Perry; Maintenance. C. Earl. Stills Department; Still Cameraman. Art Department: Art Director: Nor- Frank Otley. man Arnold: Assistant Art Director, (Continued overleaf) October 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN SUPPLEMENT MARK OF THE PHCENIX A CENTURY OF BUSES LEVEL CROSSING GATES (Continued) 16mm Kodachrome 14 minutes 45 minutes Art Department: Art Director, John Producer: Ian Ferguson. Producer: Edgar Anstev. Stoll. Director: Tony Thompson. Director: Kenneth Fairbairn. Editing Department: Editor, Harry Cameramen: Ronald Craigen, Robert Cameraman: David Watkin. Booth: 1st Assistant. Marianne Paynter, Bill Williams (SNR). Editor: Alf Chapman. Temple; Dubbing Editor, Leslie Editors: Margot Fleischner, Fat Jones. Assistant Cameraman: Jack West. Assistant Trevor Assistant i 'asker. Cameramen: Roe, Editor: Rosina Pedrick. '« Production Department: Production Lewis McLeod, Hugh Raggett. j . hi ding Am il Films Manager and/or Unit Production Assistant Director: Frank Hoi ton. Manager, Charles Permane; 1st Assis- Assistan' Editor. Hazel East. tant Director, George Pollard; 2nd Commentary u ritten by Paul Le Saux. Assistant Director, Jan Saunders; Cumin ntarn spoken hi/ Stephen Jack. LOOKING AT TRANSPORT Recording : date Studios, Elstree. Continuity, Doris Martin; Production 13 minutes Secretary, Doris Prince. Stills Department: Still Cameraman. Producer: Ian Ferguson. Cyril Stanborough. CYCLISTS ABROAD Director: Norman Prouting. Cameraman: David Watkin. 16mm Kodachrome 15 minutes Ed tor: John Legard. Producer: Edgar Anstey. Assistant Director: Roy Meredith. Director: Tony Thompson. Assistant Cameraman: Jaik West. THE FLESH IS WEAK Cameramen: Ronald Craigen. James Assistant Editor: Joyce Clarke. Commentary written by Norman Prout- Year Production: 1957. Ritchie. of Editor: John Legard. ing. Studio: Walton. Commentary Assistant Cameramen: Trevor Roe, spoken by Colin Wills. Laboratory: Denham. Music composed and played by David Jack West. Hencker. Producing Company: Ravstro Films Assistant Director: Donald Wash- Ltd. bourne. Recording: Anvil Films. Producer: Raymond Stross. Assistant Editor: David Plumb. Associate Producer: Victor Lyndon. Commenary written by Paul Le Saux. Stars: John Derek, Milly Vitale. Commentary spok-n by Frank Duncan. MECHANISED RENEWAL OF Director: Don Chaffey. Recording: Pathe. Scenarist : Leigh Vance. PLAIN LINE Camera Department: Lighting Camera- 33 minutes man, Stephen Dade: Camera Opera- FOUR BACK ROOMS tor, Gerry Massy-Collier; 1st Camera Producer: Stewart McAllister. Assistant' (Focus). Mark Hyams; 17 minutes Director: Tony Thompson. Other Camera Assistant, Peter Mac- Producer: Edgar Anstey. Cameramen: Ronald Craigen, Robert donald. Directors: Kenneth Fairbairn. Peter Paynter. James Ritchie, John Turner. Sound Department: Recordist (Mixer). M. Sims. Editor: Bert Eggleton. Cliff Sandall; Sound Camera Operator, Cameramen: Ronald Craigen, Robert Assistant Cameramen: Lewis McLeod. A. Lewis; Boom Operator. D. Cavan- Paynter. Jack West, J. Hermges. Assistant Director: Ken Cooper. agh ; Dubbing Crew, R.C.A. Editor: John Trumper. Assis'ant Editor: Valentine Director. Assistant Directors: John H. Arm- Rylands. Art Department: Art John Recording: Anvil Films. Stoll; Draughtsman, W. Benson. strong, Paul Khan, Ken Cooper. Editing Department: Editor, Charles Assistant Cameramen: Cyril Moorhead. Hasse; 1st Assistant, Abel Goodman; Trevor Roe. Other Assistant, Audrey Bromberg; Assistant Editor: Wilfred Fisher. Dubbing Editor, Noreen Ackland. Commentary written by John Trumper. MAKING TRACKS Production Department: Production Commentary spoken by Michael Good- (R^-edit of above) Manager, Clifton Brandon; 1st Assis- liffe. Music composed by Julian Leigh. 17 minutes tant Director, Rene Dupont ; 2nd !.' i hi ding il Films. Assistant Director. Kim Mills; 3rd Am Producer: Edgar Anstey. Assistant Director, John Archer; Director: Tony Thompson. Continuity, Jane Buck; Production Editor: John Trumper. Secretary^ Cynthia Maugham. THE ENGLAND OF ELIZABETH Assistant Editors. Rosina Pedrick. Wil- Publicity Department: Publicity Direc- Technicolor print from Eastman- fred Fisher. tor. Leslie Frewin; Unit Publicist, Commentary written by John Trumper. hi High Sampson. colour 26 minutes B( ding : Anvil Films. Stills Department: Still Cameraman. Producer: Ian Ferguson. Ricky Smith. Director: John Taylor. Cameramen: James Ritchie, David Wat kin. MEN ON THE MEND Editor: John Legard. 13 minutes BRITISH TRANSPORT FILMS Assistant Directors: Ken Cooper, Roy Meredith. Edward Scott. Producer: Edgar Anstey. ON ALL FILMS: Assistant Cameramen: Jack West, Director: Kenneth Fairbairn. i Lewis McLeod. Cmni aim n : Ronald Ciaigen, David I: vi i utive Producer: Edgar Anstey. Assistant Editor: David Plumb. Watkin. Production Manager: Len Oirdlestone. Editor: John Legard. Asst. Production Manager: Ruth Pratl Commentary written by John Moore. Commentary spoken by Alec Clones. Assistant Directors: Edward Scott, Music composed by Ralph Vaughan Dmial '• V ;i li'-oiirne. Williams. Assistant Cameramen: Lewis McLeod, Recording: Ken Cameron. Anvil Films. Jack \V> st. Assistant Editor: David Plumb. ANY MAN'S KINGDOM Commentary written by Paul Le Saux. Technicolor from Kodachrome Commentary spoken by Duncan Carse, THE LAND OF ROBERT BURNS Conrad Phillips 21 minutes Technicolor print from Eastman- /. ecoi ling Am il Films. Producer: Ian Ferguson. Diret tot Tonj Thompson. colour 21 minutes Cameramen: Robert Paynter, Reg Producer: Stewart McAllister. Hughes. Director: Joe Mendoza. Edit01 John Legard. Cameramen: Robert Paynter. Assistant Cameramen: Derek Witham, Editor: Margot Fleis. liter BROTHERS IN LAW Cordon Thornton. Assistant Cami rninan : Cyril Moorhead. Assistant Directors: Michael Healv, Ass stunt Director: Ken Cooper. /» tin credits for tins tilin published tin tin nami Edward Scott. .1 ss stant Editor: Pat Jones. ui August Supplement of Ko\ given as Supervising Assistant Editors Harry Hastings. Commentary written by Maurice Lind- Boulting was Fit, tnr that thert . Wi an David Plumb. saj informed c, mi ii>, a a spoh ii In/ Stewart Mc- n ,is m fact no Supervising Editor for ntary written Commi by Harry Green. Allister. tins picture. G. T. Ambler should Commi ntni Music composed by Elisabeth Lutyens. Thorpe i >a^ ie Asst n, hlu Cutter. We regret these /,-. /.'. . 01 ding : Anvil Films. - 01 dxng Anvil Films. errors. . October 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN i i:; :M imOHR FUJf SERVICES LTtt 'You see . . I he fg multe no «».v/r## charge for using prc-Hashed printing stock a ' mm; mkmi Apply for free technical brochure 22-25 PORTMAN CLOSE • BAKER STREET - LONDON W.I Telephone: HUNter 0408-9 144 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN October 1957 interviews ROBERT KRASKER Director of Photography THE STORY OF ESTHER COSTELLO A ROMULUS flta (or COLUMBIA PICTURES " Esther Costello " looks like being a winner, Mr. Krasker. Yes—we're, all very pleased. It's the sort of Jilm anybody would be proud to have had a hand in. What about the actual photography? Are you happy about that? Oh, more than happy. As you know, we shot it all on Ilford FP 3. / chose FPZ specially bun us, of its wide tone scale, and fine grain which is particularly suitable fat- wiil, sen , n pro], rtinn. ILFORD LIMITED, CINE SALES DEPARTMENT, 104 HIGH H0LB0RN, LONDON, W.C.1 TELEPHONE: H0LB0RN 3401 Published by the Proprietors, The Association of Cinematograph, Television and allied Technicians. 2 Soho Square, London, and Printed by Watford Printers Limited, Watford, Herts. NOVEMBER . 1957 Association of Cinematograph, Television and allied Technicians Vol. 23 No. 154 PRICE 6d. an HONORARY MEMBERSHIP FOR BILL SHARP RUSSIAN FILM SEASON IN LONDON Maydana's Donkey (U.S.S.R.) (See pa ye 152) 146 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN November 1957 "GOOD CURVES" We refer not to the vogue for " vital statistics " but to the excellent characteristics of Gevaert film stocks. Whichever Gevaert film you use, negative, positive, duplicating, recording, reversal, you may be sure that the sensitometric characteristics are ideally suited for the purpose. GEVAERT GEVAERT LIMITED Motion Picture Department GREAT WEST ROAD BRENTFORD MIDDLESEX EALing 3488 : Ths Museum of Mod— Art November 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN tltlAtl A.C.T.T's STRUGGLE WITH SCOTTISH TELEVISION OUR experience in Scottish Tele- The following day, Thursday, 4. With reference to the dates of ob- vision shows how Trade Unions October 3rd, our members unani- servance of the above clauses it is understood to can never take anything for that these refer the mously passed a resolution that commencement of liability of the granted. Here we are having just unless they received satisfactory company and the actual payment signed an agreement with the Pro- assurances in connection with the shall be made to the members of the union as soon as reasonably gramme Contractors Association national agreement, including com- practicable. and having obtained some two mencement of negotiations within years back a Fair Wages Clause in a week, immediate implementation the Television Act. In theory, of a 44-hour week with overtime Agreement Repudiated therefore, all is set without fear, All was well at last, we thought. trouble or strife, for any technician But whilst Paddy Leach was employed in commercial television travelling up to Scotland to report to receive the rate for the job and By the back to our members, I got a work under Trade Union condi- phone call from the Press at tions. GENERAL Harrogate, where I had travelled But what happens in Glasgow? to attend a conference for A.C.T.T., We make the appropriate initial ap- in which I was told that Mr. Thom- proaches to the management draw- SECRETARY son had repudiated the agreement ing attention to our existence and signed by his General Manager. referring to the Agreement exist- So Paddy had to start all over ing to cover our members. We re- again and clear to the com- ceive a polite letter back from Roy make payments thereafter, and Thomson, the proprietor himself, operation pany that unless the agreement of the proper rates from the date stood our members' resolution be- implying all will be well and as of this first meeting, they would came operative and Scottish Tele- soon as the official opening is off take the appropriate industrial vision would off the air, as his company's hands they will meet go action from 6 p.m. the following decided. the full us in London to negotiate the originally We had Tuesday, October 8th. support of the other two unions agreement. Which is fair enough. organising in Scottish Television and there was no doubt that our Despite Provocation action would be completely effec- Members Incensed This led to meetings in London, tive. The company, therefore, had That was in August. We wait, first with Bert Craik and then, on second thoughts and decided to and nothing happens. So after the Monday, the day before zero hour, recognise the agreement they had station has been on the air about between Paddy Leach and myself signed. six weeks an organiser goes up to and Mr. J. A. Jelly, the General Glasgow and is informed by the Manager of Scottish Television. Two issues ago we reviewed in Managing Director that it will be Despite the provocation to dig in film & tv technician a publication impossible to meet us for three or on the strict letter of the law, we by the Trades Union Congress on four weeks. He hedged on the met the company on the point the Tolpuddle Martyrs. We don't immediate rectification of abuses which, admittedly, must be causing appear to have travelled far in 120 which it was known existed. Our them some difficulty : namely the years, do we? Congratulations to members had other views. They number of trainees they have had our Scottish members on their were incensed at the management's to employ at the outset. Taking magnificent stand. At least they attitude, seeing they were working care of this in Clause 2, we signed haven't been sentenced to seven between sixty and seventy hours a the following agreement years' transportation for a "crime" week without a penny overtime, not all that dissimilar from their 1. That as from the 1th October, 1957, even the sickness Trade pioneers in and suchlike all the Clauses of the Agreement Union Dor- clauses of the National Agreement between members of the Pro- chester! were not being observed, and rates gramme Contractors Association and the Association Cinemato- were in of many cases several hun- graph Television and allied Tech- dred pounds a year below what nicians shall be operated with the they should have been. Some tech- exception of Clause 29 as provided hereunder. nicians actually putting shows on FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 2. That there shall be immediate dis- the air were being paid as little as cussions between the company and Editor: £6 and £8 a week —and that for a the union to vary for an agreed MARTIN CHISHOLM 60-70 hour week. period of time, if it should be found necessary, the maximum number of So Organiser Paddy Leach went trainees which may be employed. Editorial Office: back to the Managing Director and 3. The company agree to observe the 2 Soho Square, VV.l said we could only agree to a provisions of the Schedule to the Telephone: GERrard 8506 Agreement with payment as from delayed meeting if some agreement the next pay-day. llth October, Advertisement Office: could be reached on back dating 1957, and to this end discussions- and 6 and payment for overtime. The shall commence immediately be- 5 Red Lion Sq., W.C.I company would tween the company and the union Telephone: HOLborn 4972 not agree to this. to agree an Assimilation Schedule. 148 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN November 1957 Lab Topics BILL SHARP, LABS' FIRST HONORARY MEMBER The highlight of recent weeks people like Bill Sharp who loyally said. " Without it I should have on the Laboratories side was the .-support their colleagues. fallen flat on my face in the first presentation, at a party held at " The last thing that Bill Sharp few weeks." last the Chandos Hotel just as the wants is the limelight, but we in He recalled the day when he issue of the Journal was going to A.C.T.T. are everlastingly grateful joined the Union. " Everybody of press, of a Scroll Honorary to people like you and Frank seemed afraid to say it was a Membership and a small financial tribute to Bill Sharp on his retire- ment from Pathe. Bill thus becomes the fourteenth Honorary Member of the Union, and the first Laboratories member to receive this honour for long and untiring service to A.C.T.T. Telegram from President Anthony Asquith, away on loca- tion, sent the following telegram : " I am more sorry than i can say, dear Bill, to be unable to join tonight in honouring a most dis- tinguished member of A.C.T.T. and a greatly esteemed colleague and friend, and I hope you will accept my apologies with all the spirit the occasion demands. The unit join me in wishing you all possible hap- piness today and every day. Tony Asquith." George Elvin made the presen- tation. " Bill Sharp is unique," he said, " we couldn't do better than make him Laboratories Honorary Member Number One ". He re- called how Bill started his working life delivering milk in his spare time to help his parents and from that had gone " to the dizzy height of working at Pathe for some thirty-five years." Working-class Base Labs' Honorary Member Number One " In our early days," George Elvin said, " we knew that we Fuller who have helped to build Trade Union," he said. " They must have some industrial base to our organisation." called it an organisation. I asked, ' it and our Union, a hard base of people Mr. Bill Fielder, General Man- Is a Trade Union or not?' ' said, bred and born in a working-class ager of Pathe, who, with Mr. Cyril when they said Yes ', I '. background. We knew that what- Phillips of Pathe was among ' Well, there's my dollar, take it " ever happened, if there was a row ' A.C.T.T.'s guests, said : Bill has " After that I thought, We've with the management we should worked for Pathe so long that started this thing and we've got have colleagues in the laboratories we've got no records to check up to carry it on '. My father had had would give us sound and solid who on him ! We wish him the best of thirteen weeks on strike and had support. luck and a happy and long retire- to go and sing in the streets to get " When we decided to press for ment." strike pay. That was one of the better conditions Bill was in the Bill Sharp, in reply, paid a tri- things that had impressed on my vanguard. One of the reasons for bute to the help of his A.C.T.T. mind that a Trade Union was the the respect for our Union in the friends in the Lab. " I couldn't one thing I should be in if ever I industry was that we have had have carried on without it," he got a chance." ! —" November 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 149 Some days after the ceremony George Elvin received a letter LEVY : LOUIS said LATE from Bill Sharp, in which he THE " Now I would like to say 'thank you ' to A.C.T.T. for the honour THE passing nf Louis Levy, a sympathetic, co-operative and that has been bestowed upon me; whose death was announced loyal colleague with a quiet enthu- it is something that I shall cherish last month, must bring recollec- siasm for obtaining the best pos- until the end of my days. Although tions in the memories of many sible results in happy conjunction I have received this honour, I think members who had the great with all departments. a great deal of the credit must go pleasure of meeting and working At that time the problems of to our Branch, who in the early with so unique and delightful a acoustic treatment, direct music confidence days gave me so much personality. recording on the set (in the by putting their faith in me that His vast knowledge and ex- absence of advanced dubbing tech- I was able to go forward as I did, perience of films and the applica- niques), etc. were many and diffi- and I can assure you that I had no tion of music thereto went back cult. It can be truly said that his regrets; also credit is due to the to the dim and distant past of contributions to the technical im- great help given to me from the early silent movies —in the latter provements were great and never General Council in those early period of which he and his at the expense of the other fellow. days. orchestra were the showpiece of " It gives me great pleasure to the new luxury " Pavilions " then look back to the days from 1935 shaping the exhibition side. Film Annual Film Ball to 1939 and then to look upon theatres as lovers stormed the On the social side his musical A.C.T.T. as it stands today, and much to hear and see Louis Levy organising for the Annual Film then realise that all the work put as to view their favourite films Ball held at the Albert Hall every in by all those early members was and stars. year during the 30's was stupen- not in vain. It is my wish to see the com- that A.C.T.T. go on gathering dous. To see—and hear— of the Brigade of strength as time goes on, and also bined bands Turmoil together with the two to see that they do not lose that Guards " orchestras regularly employed personal touch which I think has With the advent of Talkies the enabled them to reach the strength the industry was thrown into a under his direction which took floor midnight awe-inspir- they are in today. greater turmoil than " wide- at was screen ", TV, or any other tech- ing even to film folk who flocked " My wife is very proud of the nical advance has ever created to this occasion every year before Scroll of Honour and says when it small wonder then that with un- the war. is framed it will take up a very prominent position in our home. completed films shelved, produc- She would like to have been with tion stopped, studios outdated and of Radio Shop Window us all last Thursday, but owing to useless overnight, Producers the health reasons she cannot travel." calibre of Sir Michael Balcon, At this time too he induced the Victor Saville, Alfred Hitchcock B.B.C. to take an active interest and the late Robert Flaherty, to in film music so that for years his name a few, were delighted to " Music from the Movies " main- know that Louis Levy was avail- tained a radio shop-window for able to assist them in the new films. at such a serious and ex- Three old hands leaving medium Of recent years he had con- perimental time. Denham tended cheerfully with ill-health, but despite this, to the end he Syd Bremson reports from Den- Humility and Patience maintained his high reputation as ham : Musical Director to Associated Everything, it is said, goes in He had, despite his reputation British Picture Corporation. The threes, and the following is no ex- and great experience, a humility industry is poorer by the passing ception. First Charles Wartman, and patience both of which greatly of this " great little man ". We second Adam Black, and third, Pop encouraged those with whom he all owe much to so helpful a Wingrave, each within a month or worked. Sound Engineers and pioneer. two of completing twenty-one Editors, particularly, found in him W.S. years' service, have all left within a month or two of each other. Charles Wartman was in charge of Stores since the opening of the Laboratories in 1936, a quiet, un- known as Jock, moved into the apprenticeship. He has been a assuming fellow just doing his job Laboratories from the Studios on martyr to sciatica for the past two in spite of the handicap of being 17th October, 1936. He remembers years, during which time he has minus one leg, lost during the the trials, tribulations and teeth- been attending hospital twice a 1914-18 war. He managed, with ing troubles of those early days. week in the hope of affecting a the aid of his artificial leg, to drive cure. Added to this, Jock has now a small car from Cookham to Den- developed a heart condition, and ham and would, in fact, be still Served Apprenticeship has had to retire almost at the age doing so had he not, for purely Jock has been a Trade Union of sixty-five; to quote his own personal reasons, changed his member for forty-five years, having words, "Five years before I wanted home to Shoreham. Good luck joined the A.S.W. in 1912, a crafts- to". Never mind Jock, we all wish Charles man of the old school, very proud Adam Black, affectionately of having served his full five years' (Continued on page 155) 150 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN November 1957 ship and control by purchasing shares without necessarily obtain- THE LABOUR PARTY ing control, in a number of the country's key privately owned companies. CONFERENCE The critics lost by 5} million to li million on the reference back and by 6 million to 600,000 on the Extracts from the General Secretary's Report amendment. The document was then approved by 5.309,000 to 1,276,000. THIS year's Labour Party Con- but Ft. H. S. Crossman, who intro- Foreign Affairs more ference has led to even duced the scheme for the Execu- On Foreign Affairs there was no post-mortems than usually follow tive, not only drew attention to the division in the Conference and a political event of the increase in taxation that this the Party resolution was passed setting forth year. That is due partly to docu- might involve but also argued that a stated list of objectives includ- being presented to the Con- the insurance principle a vital ments was ing the peaceful reunification of ference by the National Executive safeguard, for without it govern- Germany; reduction in armaments; which, in searching for could cut pensions in Committee ments times extension of international trade; lacked clarity, partly unanimity, of stress. establishment of a permanent because Labour's shadow Foreign United Nations police force; the Secretary, Aneurin Bevan, found Points not Pressed admission of China to the Security himself at issue with the 'Bevanite' Council; and general discussion partly Mr. Crossman also argued that line on the H Bomb, and with the leaders of the U.S.S.R.. so long as the trade unions and the because, through Bevan no longer China and Peoples' Democracies. being a " Bevanite ", the strong community generally accepted dif- " rebel " element in many con- ferent wage levels, so unequal pen- Disarmament stituency Parties lost their inspira- sions should be accepted. He also There were three composite tion and idol for whom they have pointed to the trade unions in motions on disarmament : two in replacement. answering criticisms that the In- no adequate general the third calling surance Fund should be able to terms and Yet, paradoxically, far from the for unilateral renunciation invest in private industry, saying by Conference breaking up in a Britain of the testing or some unions had done so with Great shambles, it maintained a unity of satisfaction. manufacture of nuclear weapons. purpose, with minorities accepting The other resolutions proposed the majority decision, which is all- None of the critics pressed their immediate suspension by Britain of points after a very able reply to important if victory is to be won the H Bomb tests, but they sought the discussion by Dick Crossman; at the next General Election, as the support of all nations through the critical Labour is determined it shall be. resolutions were with- the United Nations for an actual drawn and the document itself There were three main debates : ban on production, destruction of on National Superannuation, on accepted. existing stocks and progressive Public Ownership, and on Foreign disarmament. Affairs, including Disarmament. Public Ownership It was the difference between Great Britain taking the initiative National Superannuation The second main debate resulted in the adoption, by a five to one in stopping production or, on the Until recently most of the majority, of 'Industry and Society', other hand, only moving by inter- Labour Movement, including the the Executive Committee's policy national agreement with other Trades Union Congress, have been document on future public owner- countries, that led to Aneurin opposed to State pensions being ship. It was in many ways a re- Bevan's unpopularity with his erst- based on an individual's earnings. markable debate, with delegates while supporters. They wanted Bri- " The policy document National such as Herbert Morrison and tain to act unilaterally. Bevan did " Superannuation approved by the Emmanuel Shinwell leading the not. Conference shows new think- how rebels from the floor—a 30-40 year There was contradiction in argu- ing with investigation and re- flashback, probably. Criticism was ment by Bevan as much as any- examination of a difficult problem on two main grounds. Firstly, it body else. He made the obvious can lead to a different and accept- was not clear what the Executive's point : it is no use producing if able policy. intentions were, and it was clear, you are not going to test; yet he No one will quarrel with that even if unsatisfactory, that a num- accepted there should be no testing part of the proposals which will ber of critical delegates only with- but not the cessation of production. lead to a Labour Government rais- drew their opposition on the He argued that if Britain re- ing the basic old-age pension to £3 strength of what the platform nounced, unilaterally, the use, test- a week and it, subsequently, keep- spokesmen interpreted the docu- ing and manufacture of nuclear ing pace with any rise in the cost ment as meaning. Indeed, Harold weapons, it would be unable to of living. Contention was on the Wilson told us we should have been influence American or Russian proposals for eventual half-pay at the Press conference when the policies, and in any case we retirement for all on a contribu- document was published, then all couldn't act alone in these matters, tory scheme basis with the invest- would have been well! having responsibilities to the Com- ment of the scheme's funds in com- The second main ground of criti- monwealth. mercial firms, which, it was cism was that, even after the ex- Eventually, Mr. Bevan carried claimed, was essential to make planations and interpretations, it Conference "with him by 5,836,000 such a plan work, as did existing was completely unsatisfactory, to 781,000, and the other two com- private schemes. both on the grounds of principle posite resolutions were carried Some critics wanted the entire and practicalities, to interpret unanimously. scheme financed out of taxation, Labour's policy of public owner- George Elvin. — November 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 151 TALKING POINTS A Missed Opportunity THE entertainment industry is so that stamps were expensive things with as much vitality as both of publicity conscious that I hope to print. Actually, stamps of them put together. He answered I may be forgiven for attacking Great Britain cost only some 6id. our questions with great charm, the authorities for missing a won- per thousand to produce, so why humour—and tremendous know- derful opportunity of publicising couldn't we have had a special set ledge. In reply to a question of Britain to the world. It is a last month to celebrate the 21st mine, he made the startling re- shame that Britain, which was the anniversary of Pinewood Studios ? velation for a famous star that first country to issue postage Not only would he did not like stamps, should be so unimagina- this have helped appearing in tive in their design. Other nations in the impor- By close-ups. The fanfare their achievements and tant work of reason is that their culture to the rest of the p o p u 1 arising he finds that globe, while we seldom have more British pictures technique often than a few simple decorations abroad, but it CADMUS gets in the way around the Sovereign's head. would also have of an actor's told our own self - expression, Belgian Film Stamp citizens of the and in what he calls " the nar- To celebrate a film festival in achievements of " June 1947 Belgium issued a stamp British technicians, craftsmen, row screen he feels too confined. artistes and producers in one of with a portrait of Dr. Joseph Refreshing Plateau, the Belgian inventor, who our finest film production centres. in 1831 commercialised the idea of Further, it would have brought in I found this a refreshing point moving cartoons by sketching thousands of pounds, dollars, of view, as so many serious drawings on a cylinder; when the francs, roubles, pesetas, forints artistes in the West take a scorn- cylinder revolved, the audience, and other currencies from the ful attitude towards wide screen. looking through a peephole in world's stamp collectors. For Nikolai Cherkassov the wider front, saw the drawings move. In Among the British inventors in field gives more scope—but maybe 1949 the Russians issued a stamp the field of kinematography and this is because his main work is to mark the 30th anniversary of TV, Britain could issue commem- on the stage (at the famous Soviet moving pictures, and this oratives of William Friese-Greene, Pushkin Theatre in Leningrad). year both France and the Federal Robert W. Paul, Alexander Parkes, I liked, too, his open admission of German Republic have issued John Logie Baird and J. Arthur the faults in Soviet pictures " stamps on the theme of television, Roebuck Rudge. Incidentally, do heaviness is perhaps one of our and you can see reproductions of you know for what these men are national shortcomings," he replied them on this page. famous? You should, you know, to a questioner who wanted to but in case not, I give you thumb- know if any Soviet productions nail biographies at the end of this were being specially tailored to column. Western tastes. No, he continued, • - - ' 1^amO^^^O^^qi- T-o^Tj:--v:^-1 L ii.J iTiM>, l Soviet films were made first and ' Cherkassov foremost for their own people. I « In speaking my mind openly in wish we could say the same about 1 print like this it sometimes our pictures—they would be far cjllllf^P"^" " '"^ISo happens that I fearlessly say some- more true-to-life, if they were. mrr'tOTi * < thing which frightens the Editor Now for the answers to my 1 x • •••« • . so much that he cuts it out! That general knowledge test: 1 happened last month, but he made ^ William Friese-Greene (1855- • BUN O'E'S POST it to meet * up by sending me the 1 celebrated Soviet actor, Nikolai 1921). His patent of June 21st, Cherkassov, who was introduced to 1889, is the first in the world to me by my friend Lindsay Ander- give full particulars for both The rather abstract design of son. taking and showing moving pictures by photographic means. the West German one, which was Cherkassov is one of the few issued He made a camera, which took on August 23rd, although Soviet film stars who is at all about ten pictures a second on not to my personal taste, is simple well known in this country, having celluloid strip, he printed this film and effective; it was chosen after played such outstanding roles as and showed it on a screen, the two competitions had been held, Ivan in Eisenstein's /ran the intermittent pictures merging to and is said to suggest the lattice Terrible and Professor Polezhayev give the impression of movement. of light that appears on the TV in Baltic Deputy, and we shall soon screen, when the set is switched on be seeing him in what promises to Robert W. Paul (1869-1943) was and off. be his most interesting and exact- primarily a scientific instrument part, Since the recent rise in postage ing Don Quixote. maker, and became one of the first rates (a heavy burden on A.C.T.T., In appearance he is a mixture incidentally), one might imagine of Vic Oliver and R. J. Minney, (Continued on page 158) — — 152 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN November 1957 The fortieth anniversary of the Soviet Film Industry will be marked in November by a season of RUSSIAN FILMS IN LONDON RATHER than dwell on the Yosif Hcifitz, who has made many Institute of Cinematography, and Soviet pictures of the past t.rue-to-life and deeply moving who in appearance might be called the classics of Eisenstein, Pudov- human pictures. Sasha Rumyant- a Soviet Pat Roc. kin, Dovzhenko and others — I sev is a young lorry driver who Youngsters, in particular, will should like to mark the fortieth finds himself the innocent victim love the adventures in Old Khntta- anniversary of the Soviet film in- of a gang of crooks. One might bych of schoolboy, dustry by giving a preview of some the Moscow Volka, discovers an old jar of the new films coming from their who while swimming; when he opens it. studios, especially those soon to be out comes the Jinni, Khottabych, seen at the Season of Soviet Films By who performs incredible miracles in London this November. Perhaps for him : he plucks a hair from in this way you will see the youth- his long beard and caravans of ful freshness and spirit of an in- STANLEY camels loaded with gold and pre- dustry that is expecting to expand cious stones appear; he can pass from eighty-five first features last through a thick wall, and, if he year to some hundred this. FORMAN likes, can alter the course of a football match. In fact, the old magician shows his powers in a Development of New Directors multitude of ways, accidentally putting Volka in many a stupid One of the most successful inno- suppose that The Rumyantsev Case and ridiculous situation. vations of recent years has been was just another thriller —a type the development of a new genera- of film up to now rare in the tion of Soviet directors and artists USSR, but all too common here by the already established ones, and in America. But the film's Rounded People each of whom has taken one or makers have created something Now, in contrast, there is a story more under his wing. The new quite different a psychological — of romantic-spirited men and graduates have come mainly from drama of great intensity that only women who find the extraordinary, the Institute of Cinematography, uses the crime theme to show its not in dreams of fantasy, but in in Moscow, and are generally in main characters in action. The their daily work. Jolly and un- their early thirties. One of the various attitudes of Sasha's friends selfish, mischievous and kind- best examples of the new school is and workmates to his predicament, hearted, forthright people, who Grigori Chukhrai's The Forty and in particular the moving scene love and hate with passion—such First, which opens the London in which his best friend adopts a are the heroes of Great Height, Season at the Palace Theatre on young child from an orphanage, produced and directed by A. Zarkhi, November 3; since the Cannes stand to make this a modern which won a main prize at the film festival earlier this year, screen classic. Karlovy Vary film festival in where it won a special prize, The Czechoslovakia this year. This Forty First has received more dramatic, human story is about a favourable comment in the Western Too Few Comedies team of men who come to work World than any other Soviet pic- Comedies and musicals are still on the assembly of a new blast fur- ture, not excluding The Battleship far too few, but the colour musical nace. Great Height is one of many Potemkm. comedy Carnival Night, and the examples that I could give of how children's film Old Khnttabych This story of a young woman Soviet films have got away from a (also in colour), will show that the sniper in the Civil War of 1919, rigid "black and white" manner of Russians have not lost their sense who falls in love with a White a few years ago; the people in it of humour. I am sure that British Guard prisoner, is not another are rounded, life-like persons, not audiences will also appreciate the Potemkin, although it has all the just characters representing heroes satire in Carnival Night, which is elements to make it the most popu- and villains. Soviet audiences have about how the plans for a New lar and acceptable of all Soviet a great hunger for such stories concert at a factory club are films among British film-goers. Year with contemporary backgrounds nearly wrecked by the man tem- ether recent films have dealt with This film was not just a flash- porarily in charge with his pom- such themes as juvenile delin- in-the-pan — there is, in fact, a pous counter-plans; he wants to quency, housing problems, living stream of pictures on the most "enlarge" the quartet and swap the with in-laws, black marketeering. varied themes now emerging from youth jazz band with an orchestra unmarried mothers, and red tape. Soviet studios. The days when of ancient musicians; but (need I breaking production records on col- add?) all turns out well with the Many critics at the Edinburgh lective farms formed the basic concert— and with Grisha, the elec- festival last year praised the formula for film-makers have gone trician, who has fallen in love with simple and touching Magdana's for ever. One of the most popular Lena, the pretty young singer and Donkey, when it was awarded a productions among Soviet audien- dancer. Lena is played by the ver- Diploma of Merit there. The USSR last satile has a number of autonomous film ces year was The Rumyantst i and vivacious Liudmilla Case (in Sovcolor), directed by Gurchcnko, who studied at the production centres spread over all November 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 153 Russian film-makers have dis- covered that new techniques alone do not produce good productions, and there has been a return to the normal size black-and-white pic- ture, where the nature of the sub- ject demands it. In conclusion I must mention a technique that is also common to both our countries, because it greatly increases our ability to understand and appreciate each other's films — foreign language dubbing. The showing of the Soviet film Othello at the Royal Festival Hall this summer marked the first public performance of a Soviet film dubbed into English since the war. The clubbing of Othello, which has been brilliantly done by the De Lane Lea process in Britain, is the first of a series which includes Twelfth N^ght, Skanderbeg, Carni- val Night, The Forty First and Don Quixote. Dubbing of this calibre greatly increases the audi- ences for such films in a way that sub-titles could never do. The fact that British technicians and artists have had considerable employment Above: "The Forty-First", which won a special prize at Cannes, in this work has been a further " opens the London season. Below: " Magdana's Donkey welcome way of celebrating the anniversary of a film industry that is forty years young this November. the Republics, and this one comes from the Georgian studios. It is a local story from the last century of a poor peasant widow and her three children, who find a sick donkey on the road, and nurse it back to health. Incidentally, the independence of the local studios is an important feature in the new policy of decentralisation which has recently been adopted in the USSR. The job of the film depart- ment of the Ministry of Culture is to co-ordinate the production of the many studios without interfering with the artistic side, which is left entirely to the producers, directors, stars and technicians. Finally, a film from the popular treasury of Russian classics, The Grasshopper, which is based on a short story by Anton Chekhov. For many Londoners this will be a most welcome return of a colour picture that ran for a most successful season at the Everyman, Hamp- stead, nearly a year ago. I have left to last the technical advances of Soviet film production —perhaps readers of film and tv technician will be the best judges of that, anyway. I should mention, however, that new techniques have come to the fore, including Sov- scope (an equivalent of Cinema- Scope), stereophonic sound, and panorama (similar to Cinerama). But like their British colleagues, 154 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN November 1957 Organisers' Page OUR NUMBERS GO UP AND UP IT is always gratifying to watch moters, stated that already there his help, and the Musicians' Union, any increase in membership of a had been applications from techni- British Actors' Equity and the Trade Union, and it is therefore cians at present working in this Electrical Trades Union also most interesting to note the steady country. Head Office are watching attended the initial meeting. strides which A.C.T.T. is making. the developments with interest and Charles Bishop, former Secre- Since the beginning of the year if any member has any useful in- tary of the Art Section, has made approximately 1,000 applications formation to pass to us we should unavailing efforts again to launch pleased it. for membership have come in. be to receive the Art Department Year Book. It Naturally quite a considerable is to be regretted that there was number, but by no means all, have not sufficient response for the pro- come from the Television Studios, By ject to go forward. All members thanks to the efforts of Paddy who had paid for the proposed Leech and his colleagues in Tele- book were circularised asking their vision. The flow of applications FRED TONGE wishes in the matter. The result also indicates that the film studios was that the very large majority are much more busy than is usual agreed that any outstanding at this time of the year. The pro- monies should be used for some gramme already envisaged by charitable object. At the last meet- Earlier this year, as was re- many studios suggests that there ing of the section £13 5s. Od. was ported in the August FILM & TV will be far fewer A.C.T.T. mem- handed to the A.C.T.T. Benevolent technician, a Conference was held, bers not working than is usual at Fund. Hearty thanks are due to which Sidney Cole and I attended, this season. Mr. Bishop for his efforts in this to attempt to bring Paul Robeson connection and to the members for to this country to sing and act. Shepperton this welcome contribution to the The slogan at this Conference was Benevolent Fund. I understand that at last a start " Let Paul Robeson Sing ", and it has been made on the roofs of the was sponsored by a very large stages at Shepperton and this number of well-known people in Subs, in Arrears again, although it will probably be the fields of art and culture, to- We spent quite a lot of time at a long job, will have the effect of gether with many prominent politi- Head Office trying to trace the giving more studio space and cal and Trade Union leaders. As a comparatively few members who therefore more work for our mem- result of the initiative of George are in arrears; it is true to say bers. Elvin and others a meeting has that they are not many but it is of of This is all to the good, as the been held representatives all extra work. On occasions we most important thing in any Trade unions within the entertainment get in unit lists and find names of this Union Organisation is a strong industry. The one object of members who have paid no sub- membership. With membership, committee is to attempt to bring scriptions for some time. I would however, there are of course res- still further pressure on the remind members that annual sub- in to ponsibilities, and it is regretted authorities the United States scriptions are payable in advance enable to visit this that at times there are not suffi- Robeson and that it is the responsibility of cient members at a section com- country, where it is certain that a the member to see that his subs him. mittee or full meeting for points great welcome awaits are paid. On a recent location of of vital interest to be discussed. about twenty members no less One evening a month, or perhaps A Chance than half were found to be in even not so often, is not a great arrears. In no case was it due to According to a message which deal of time to give to problems anything more than forgetfulness, Robeson delivered by Trans-Atlan- which are of paramount interest to but it does cause extra work. tic telephone when he spoke and your conditions and interests. sang to the Eistedffod organised by The work of A.C.T.T. has to go the South Wales miners he has on and if the majority of members New Studio in Eire now received permission to travel were as slack as the minority it would possibly create a serious We have received some interest- to any point in the Americas; it is ing information of a new studio assumed that this means that at position financially. which is being opened in Eire, near last there is a possibility of Robe- Flash from recent location meet- Dublin. From what we have son being allowed again to visit ing. A discussion had been held on heard it seems that there is a other countries. I am sure that if the type of generator to be used on possibility of quite a good-sized we as an Association can assist in the job. An A.C.T.T. member gave studio eventually emerging. What common with the other unions in his forceful but impolite opinion on effect this may have on our mem- entertainment to do anything in the type of generator. N.A.T.K.E. bership it is as yet too early to say, this direction it will be appre- also said a few words from the but it would appear that there will ciated not only by A.C.T.T. mem- angle of having to man-handle the be a call for a number of techni- bers but by many, many other thing into position. Comment from " cians. Trade Unionists throughout this the E.T.u. representative : it is a The Irish press, reporting on a country. Sir Tom O'Brien, on be- very good generator, the only thing press conference held by the pro- half of N.A.T.K.E., has promised about it is, it keeps going wrong." — November 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 155 feels eternally grateful to the Labs. Basil Smith, also formerly of Lab Topics Management for the nice way they Kays, is now a Printer at Pathe. treated him when on his return he His colleagues offer their best was told that he could come and go (Continued) wishes to Alan Soanes leaves as he wished, and " don't worry who Pathe Labs after eight years to about your 44 hours ". But such is you well and know that your Car- take Pop's nature that he has never up a job as Assistant Editor penters' Shop will never be the at Shepperton Studios. Alan abused this concession. He likes same again—especially when Jim, worked in Printing and afterwards work as a means of keeping his Joe and the others have a tidy up in the negative room. mind occupied and would, in fact, in there. May you enjoy many still be at the Laboratories had it years of odd jobbing in your re- health tirement. not been that his wife's has forced him to retire. Pop Wingrave came to the Lab- oratories as a Still Man. He had My personal tribute to Pop Win- worked at stills with a firm in grave (in which I am sure all the Shorts & Documentary Watford since he was fourteen and boys and girls at Rank Labora- was naturally disappointed when tories will join) is to say how much Section he was put in to the Viewing De- he will be missed from the daily partment by Gare Schwartz where, scene. He was friendly with every- STEVE COX WRITES I together with Bill Collo, he was body, young and old, always ready to help others and always doing made responsible for 1st prints and Our Section half-yearly general something for somebody; in fact, West End Show Copies. Neverthe- meeting took place in the Crown a man who knew the meaning of less, he carried on with this until Theatre, Wardour Street, on Wed- Christian Charity a fine "young" 1942, when he was given charge — nesday, 2nd October. The meeting Christian Gentleman. of the Circulation Department was very well attended, in fact we (mixing solutions, etc. for the had a full house as far as seating Pathe Developing Units). capacity was concerned. Pop was (and still is) a very Stan Warbey writes: I am glad The business was mainly a re- placid man, only getting upset if to report that most of the members port of the Committee's activities told to dismiss any of his men at Pathe, Elstree who contracted during the previous six months, this he never did and the three Asian 'flu have now recovered; and there was very little discus- dozen or so trainees who passed which is just as well because the sion. through his hands feel that they staff were sadly depleted during owe him a debt which they can the epidemic. Item three on the agenda never repay. brought a on the We have also had a bout of the new member to Committee, namely Roy Pace of " love bug ", because three mem- bers were married within four TV Cartoons. The vacancy was National Savings brought about by the resignation weeks : Sheila Marsh, now Mrs. From 1942 Pop took over the Coughlan; Eileen Murdock, now of Ralph Bond, who had been advised National Savings Campaign and in Mrs. Poyner, and Gordon Beavis, to cut down on evening activities as he has been overdoing the same year pushed savings up each of whom were presented with it and has got to take it easy for to £1,000 per year. He continued a wedding present from their fel- a little while. to run the savings group—ever low members, the presentation increasing the takings but had to — being made by Mr. Ash, the Super- The usual practice in such cases disband it at the time of the lock- visor. is to take the next on the list of out. With the summer holiday period nominations, taken at the A.G.M. Pop remained in sole charge of over our thoughts, naturally, have This happened to be Walter his department until 1950 when, turned to Christmas, and provi- Lassally, but he, when invited to with the expansion of the Labora- sional arrangements are already in serve on the Committee, had to tories and the introduction of hand for a staff Christmas dinner refuse the offer as he may be out colour, the management engaged a party, for which there is already of the country on location for some qualified Chemist. This, of course, very good support. In the past we considerable time. meant more work for Pop, which have had a running buffet but this The meeting also marked the he undertook with his usual cheer- year members have started collec- start of our new series of film fulness and loyalty, for among his tions early in order that we may shows, the " follow-up " of those qualities his loyalty was unques- have a dinner instead, as this very successful ones we had last tioned. seems to be the popular choice. winter. He served on the A.C.T.T. Com- I had a phone call from an ex- mittee for four years and managed A.C.T.T. member, Brian Francis, The films shown were The World to remain loyal both to the Union to tell me he is now the proud of Little Ig, a cartoon made by and the Management. father of a baby boy—David, and Halas and Batchelor, and High also that he is hoping to visit his Speed Flight, Part 1: Approaching For the record Pop is 74 years old friends at the Lab soon. Con- the Speed of Sound, made by the " ", his advice young and for keep- gratulations Brian. Shell Film Unit and directed by ing young is as follows : A happy Peter de Normanville. Both films family life—no secrets from the Fred Cull reports from Pathe, won first prizes at the Venice Film wife—the love of children and, Wardour Street, that Margaret Festival. when the grandchildren come Shoebridge, who joined Pathe Labs along just keep up with the (Wardour Street) from Kays, Soho The World of Little Ig dealt with youngest. Pop tells us that he en- Square, as optical assembler, will a little character named Ig and joyed good health throughout his be working with Mick St. John, his escapades when his mother working life, but some years ago also formerly of Kays, who is now had a fairly serious illness. He Rostrum Cameraman at Pathe (Continued on page 158) 156 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN November 1957 General Council in Session DECISION ON NEW ENTRANTS Arising out of the two Con- of Saturday morning. The Finance PEARL & DEAN — DOVER ferences on new entrants to the and General Purposes Committee STREET: Following on Bessie Union, the Executive Committee recommended that the charge Bond's report of last month, a had recommended that: should be 10/- per head so that further meeting with the Manage- all members desiring to do so ment was held and, after quite 1. When the General Council appoints a Committee to re- could attend. This would mean tough negotiation, a very satis- factory letter examine any changes in Rule part of the cost would be borne has been received which may be required, the out of Union funds. The General signed by both the Director and question of the desirability Council endorsed these proposals Secretary of the Company. or otherwise of Probationary and it was agreed to make tickets Although the dispute was with the Cartoon unit only, Membership in Television available to unemployed members the company should be examined. at half price. undertake to have discussions with A.C.T.T. before dismissals are 2. The following should form effected by all their companies Entrants Com- the New WORLD FEDERATION OF within the group. Our members should take the mittee, which TRADE UNIONS: It was reported are delighted with the outcome, report of the recall Con- that the Technicolor and Kodak and the Organiser wrote thanking its brief work ference as and shops had accepted invitations to them for the stand they took along similar lines to the send observers with speaking which made this victory possible. previous Entrants Com- New rights to the forthcoming Con- Shop Stewards and deputies are mittee: Fred Swann, Eric gress of the World Federation of now functioning at all the units Pask, Lindsay Anderson, Alf Trade Unions. The General Secre- within the group. This issue has Cooper, Bill Whittemore, tary expressed the view that, helped build up the morale of the Ken Gordon, Tony Shine and while he was sure the Union, as members. Charles Wheeler. always, would want to protect the The Committee should report to personal freedom of individual GROSS-KRASNE the Executive how, in their members, it would only make for LIMITED: The General Secretary opinion, all the various Rules re- difficulty, in view of the well- reported that he lating to membership should known policy of the other inter- had seen the management and operate. national trade union federation, it appeared to him that the main to T.U.C. interest in processing in Great 3. Head Office should work out the I.C.F.T.U., which the Britain was to get British quota a scheme for dealing with was affiliated, if any representa- for television. No A.C.T.T. mem- administrative problem tives went officially from A.C.T.T., the bers were employed on the produc- of sending out 8,000 new either nationally or locally, as was tion and one of those associated membership cards at the end clear from statements made to with it was an individual whom of the year. other affiliated trade unions in the past by the T.U.C. General the General Council had instructed 4. The General Secretary should Council. This was endorsed by A.C.T.T. members not to work discuss with the staff the the Council. with. He had therefore told the possibility of arranging a management that we would rota system for a period of oppose their activities, unless they at least six weeks, under VISTAVISION AND OPTICAL complied fully with our agree- which one member of the COLOUR PRINTERS: Our case ments and with the understand- staff be available from 8.30 for inserting the grades Vista- ing reached with the I.T.A. in re- a.m. on Monday mornings to Vision and Optical Colour Printer lation to the employment of deal with urgent employment in the Laboratory Technical and United Kingdom personnel on such enquiries. General Grades Agreement was films. The company then These proposals were endorsed, submitted to the F.L.A. at a joint threatened to take the processing and it was reported that the staff meeting. We argued that the back to the United States. The had agreed to point 4, which was work performed by these grades General Secretary recommended now in operation. Other recom- justified a minimum basic rate of that no attempt should be made mendations of the Executive with £13 9s. 4d. in the case of Optical to accommodate the company and regard to individual applications Colour Printers and £10 16s. 4d. in the Council endorsed this. for membership were discussed at the case of the VistaVision length by the Council, and while printers. The F.L.A. were unable a number of them were endorsed, to accept our arguments and in- CINEMATOGRAPH FILMS others were referred back due to vited us to visit Technicolor and COUNCIL: The appointment of representations of two of the de- the Rank Laboratories (Denham) members of the Cinematograph partmental sections. to examine the work. A further Films Council expired on Septem- joint meeting could then be held if ber 30th, and the General Secre- 25th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRA- A.C.T.T. so desired. The Labora- tary has been invited by the Pre- TIONS: The Criterion, Piccadilly tory Negotiating Committee de- sident of the Board of" Trade to Circus, has been booked for Fri- cided to take advantage of the in- continue to serve as one of the day, February 7th. The function vitation and arrangements are representatives of the employees could continue into the early hours being made for the visits. for a further three years. November 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 157 LONDON LABOUR PARTY 44th cellent support from other Union DOUBLE DUBBING AT PINE- were given by ANNUAL CONFERENCE: It was officials, particularly the Guild of WOOD: Reports Tonge and the agreed to nominate the following Insurance Officials, A.S.S.E.T. and Organiser Fred regarding as delegates to this Conference the Institute of Professional Civil Pinewood Shop Steward with the due to be held on Saturday and Servants. arrangements made the Sunday, March 1st and 2nd, 1958: Management at Pinewood and Fred Tonge, Len Runkel, George A resolution was moved pro- attitude of members. After dis- decision for a Irons, Dudley Birch, Ken Gordon. posing to defer a cussion, it was agreed that any month pending consultation by the further night work shall be done officers with the Unions directly strictly in accordance with the SOCIALIST MEDICAL ASSO- concerned. The General Secretary B.F.P.A. Agreement. moved an amendment to reject CIATION: An invitation had been INTER -UNION COMMITTEE: the application and inform the received to send delegates to a The General Secretary reported a A.B.S. that it would be recon- Public Meeting in connection with meeting of the Committee arising sidered as and when they had the testing of Hydrogen Bombs out of N.A.T.K.E.'s claim to straightened out their differences called by this Association, and organise certain of the grades in- with affiliated unions. The amend- Bernie Lewis and John George cluded in the new Television ment was carried by 12 votes to 11 were appointed delegates. Agreement. N.A.T.K.E. had now and carried as a substantive withdrawn their claim to some of motion by 13 votes to 6. The the grades and on others they Executive congratulated the dele- recognised that our claim was ten- NATIONAL FEDERATION OF gates on the manner in which they able. However, the grade of Tele- PROFESSIONAL WORKERS: had handled the situation. The General Secretary reported on cine Operators was still in dis- a meeting of the N.F.P.W. Execu- pute. The Inter-Union Committee tive Committee at which the appli- GRANADA TV — CHELSEA agreed that both N.A.T.K.E. and cation for affiliation from the PALACE: Bessie Bond attended a A.C.T.T. should prepare written Association of Broadcasting Staffs meeting of our members at this statements outlining their reasons had been considered. He and Alf unit, as they expressed the wish to for claiming the grade for sub- Cooper had attended and had very set up their own organisation. A mission to the E.T.U., who were forcibly put the case why the Shop Steward was elected responsible for convening Inter- A.B.S. should not be accepted into (Michael Roberts), a small com- Union Committee meetings, and membership. In addition to the mittee representing engineering there would be a further meeting. support already obtained from and production was set up and a A.C.T.T. 's claim had been pre- N.A.T.K.E., they also received ex- collector was appointed. pared and submitted. Just published THE TECHNIQUE OF FILM MUSIC by JOHN HUNTLEY and ROGER MANVELL Written in collaboration with a special committee set up by the British Film Academy for all those interested in films or music as well as the professional music-maker. It covers documentary, experimental and cartoon films as well as features, describes recording procedure and the function of the music director. Illustrated by extracts from important films. Includes an index of British and American recordings of film music. Cloth bound Size%\"x5V 304 pages 150 illustrations PRICE 42/- To be published Mid-November THE TECHNIQUE OF FILM AND TELEVISION MAKE - UP by VINCENT J.-R. KEHOE Intended primarily for the professional make-up artist, this book will be found invaluable by the amateur for its practical advice, new ideas and information on products, both British and American. Make-up for the stage is also covered and for photographic illustration, with details of the making of prosthetics. J" \" Cloth bound Size 8 X 5 264 pages 280 illustrations PRICE 42/- o FOCAL PUBLICATIONS 158 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN November 1957 'Cadmus' On Location (Continued) well-known British producers, though his film career was fairly short. Paul was the first to bring kinematography into the commer- cial field, his show at Olympia in March 1896 being the first given by an Englishman at which ad- mission was charged. Alexander Parkes, of Birming- ham, invented celluloid in 1854. Later, the Rev. Hannibal Goodwin patented celluloid film in ribbon form. John Logie Baird pioneered tele- vision in Britain; the first demon- stration of televising moving pictures, which showed detail (rather than being just .'il- houettes), was given by Baird on January 27th, 1926, in a room in Frith Street (now occupied by Bianchi's restaurant). John Arthur Roebuck Rudge worked with Friese-Greene in Bath and about 1866 made a magic lantern, which he called the Bio- phantoscope, with seven glass slides, each showing one stage in a movement; although this revolv- " ing lantern of life " did ' not Camera Crew and Continuity working on A.B.I'.C.'s • High Hell near the actually make moving pictures, it summit of the Jungfrau. Lighting cameraman is Jimmy W ilson was one of their forerunners, and helped Friese-Greene in his work. Shorts & Documentary STORK PRESS Section CAMERA HIRE JACK DAVIES, popular Boom [Continued) 1957 ARRIFLEX Model 2A with Cooke Series 2 lenses. Available Operator at Shepperton Studios, as mute camera or with full BLIMP recently became the father of a needs his assistance to get her a equipment. bonny 81b. 13oz. baby daughter. pail of water. NEWMAN-SINCLAIR mirror shut- Our congratulations to Mr. and High Speed Flight was intro- ter and model G cameras. Cooke Mrs. Davies and best wishes for lenses, SINGLE EXPOSURE, duced by Peter de Normanvillc, FRAME their daughter's future. who explained how and why the electric motor drive—as required. film, which is for specialised audi- 18 mm. COOKE extra wide angle ences, such as flying personnel, lens with full range of Wratten to be made. came filters. For Arriflex, Camiflex and The film was an excellent one, Newman-Sinclair cameras. in Eastmancolor. Direction and GET THAT BADGE photography were very good. But, LOCATION like many in the audience, 1 am A.C.T.T. Badges and Brooches afraid it was much too technical CAMERA DOLLEYS can be obtained from Head in " aeronautical parlance " for me to understand its full significance. Office. Price : Badges, 2/-, S. SAMUELSON There was very little in the way W. Brooches, 2/4 (post free). of discussion, except for a few FINchley I 59S points on camera work. . November 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 159 "•>yjvy — — .:: : : : -. ;. : ::;; .. . - .,>- **— • *• roum nuv Sm CES Lift You see . . Well over MOO copies and still spotless* Apply for free technical brochure 22-25 PORTMAN CLOSE • BAKER STREET • LONDON W.I Telephone: HUNter 0408-9 160 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN November 1957 interviews E RW I N I L L I E R Director of Photography CHASE A CROOKED SHADOW An ASSOCIATED DRAQO.V FILM LTD. production for ASSOCIATED BRITISH l'ATHE LTD. RELEASE Strong stuff, this, Mr. Hillier. Yes indeed. And my job ivas to capture the dramatic mood of the story in black-and- wh ite photography. That's where I found tin tone range of IIford FP3 so invaluable. So you're enthusiastic about FP3 ? / am - Ilford FP3 is a gnat step forward. Wliat specially impressed >n< was the improved definition - which is absolutely vital for wide screen presentation. Ill certainly be using FP3 again ILFORD LIMITED. CINE SALES DEPARTMENT, 104 HIGH HOLBORN, LONDON WC.1 Telephone: HOLborn 3401 DECEMBER . 1957 Association of Cinematograph, Television and allied Technicians Vol. 23 No. 155 PRICE 6d. WAR ON THE UNIONS WHERE DOES TV GO FROM HERE? PROFILE OF DESMOND DAVIS Film Making in Shanghai Picture by R. J. Minney (see page 170) 162 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN December 1957 CAMERA HIRE ARRIFLEX 2A. All Cooke Series 2 lenses, 400 Colour Magagines, THE CROWN THEATRE BLIMP, Power-Pack, etc. Full equip- ment for "Wild" shooting available Lessees FILM PRODUCTION SERVICES (Surrey) LTD. if required. ARRIFLEX 2A. All Cooke Series 2 Provides Complete Studio Projection Service lenses, 400' Colour Magazines, etc. at Any Time to Suit Your Requirements Newman-Sinclair Model N. (Mirror- Shutter). All Cooke lenses including DOUBLE HEAD PROJECTION 25mm. Series 2. Single shot, electric motor, Cinemascope adapted, as MIXING PANELS FOR TRACKS required. 35 mm. Magnetic Sound Newman-Sinclair Model N. (Mirror- Shutter). Cooke lenses, plus 24mm. also Angineux Retrofocus. SUB-STANDARD PROJECTION Newman-Sinclair Model G. All Cooke lenses, Single shot, electric SEATING FOR 70 PERSONS motor, as required. 18mm. COOKE EXTRA WIDE ANGLE lens, for Arriflex, Cameflex, SOUND SYSTEM Mitchell, Newall, Newman-Sinclair (Model N & G.) LEEVERS-RICH SYNCHR0PULSE RECORDER EDITING ROOMS FOR HIRE LOCATION CAMERA D0LLEYS 86 WARDOUR ST., LONDON, W.l S. W. SAMUELS0N Tel: GERrard 5223 Editing Rooms GERrard 9309 FINchley I S95 OFFICIAL APPOINTMENT FOR THE MODERN FILM EDITOR required by GOVERNMENT of NORTHERN EDITING ROOM REGION of NIGERIA on contract for 12 - 24 months in first instance. Magnetic Track Reader Salary according to qualifications and experience in scale (including Designed to fit your own synchroniser inducement addition) £810 rising to The perfect supplement £1,716 a year. Gratuity at rate to your "CINIOLA" £100 £150 a year. Clothing allow- EXCELLENT REPRODUCTION ance £45. Touring Equipment AMPLE VOLUME Allowance £40. Free passages for officer and wife. Assistance to- £40 £%SL £45 wards cost of children's passages Single Track Adjustable Track or grant up to £288 annually for 2 or 4 way Synchroniser to order extra their maintenance in United King- dom. Liberal leave on full salary. Candidates must have had at least 5 years' experience with reputable PHOTOGRAPHIC ex- film units and long practical TD perience of handling 35mm. and ELECTRICAL C° L 16mm. film and magnetic tape re- cordings. Write to the Crown PHONE ; ESTABLISHED Agents, 4 Millbank, London, S.W.I. G£R 46 3 3 71 DEAN STREET, LONDON, W.l 25 rEARS State age. name in block letters, PROMPT SERVICE TO ALL TYPES OF EQUIPMENT full qualifications and experience and quote M3B/43721/CY. December 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN _ 163 EDITORIAL THEY WANT WAR rpHE' Government, it is now be- to see that 'independent' employers with full employment, yet the -^ coming increasingly clear, is do the same." Government has instituted financial hell-bent for war on the Trade The Government was not slow to policies which by discouraging in- Unions. implement this attitude in the case vestment are bound to curb rather Recent facts speak for them- of the railwaymen. than foster the expansion of in- selves and their meaning should be dustry, and to lead to unemploy- Clearly, in the light of all this, it trade clearly grasped by every would be a pathetically trusting ment rather than full employment. unionist in the country, whatever trade unionist who could go before As the T.U.C. Economic Com- his personal political outlook may any arbitration tribunal on a ques- mittee has pointed out, the Govern- the be. Take the question of tion of wages with any confidence ment's financial measures have led for instance. Health Employees, in receiving an impartial finding. to a position in which the right to Representatives of both sides on work is no longer acknowledged as the Whitley Council agreed on an a social and economic priority. increase of 3% for those below a The results of such a policy may certain salary. The Minister of ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING bring disaster, and, of course, there Health, presumably with the full NOTE THESE DATES will be an attempt to pass the backing of his colleagues in the The Annual General Meeting blame to the Unions if and when Government, refused to operate will be held on Saturday, it comes. this properly negotiated decision. March 8th and Sunday, What we have written above By this action alone the Govern- March 9th, 1958, at the* applies to the industrial field as a ment has thrown, and deliberately T.U.C. Memorial Buildings, whole, but members of A.C.T.T. thrown, the largest size spanner in 23-28 Great Russell Street, will not have forgotten that we the whole national machinery of London, W.C.2 ourselves have some claims pend- negotiation. Without a declaration FINAL DATE FOR ing on behalf of our members. of war it has perpetrated an act RESOLUTIONS There will, for instance, be a claim of war. All resolutions and nomina- going shortly to the Laboratory But that is not all. The Chancel- tions must be received at employers, and we have no inten- lor of the Exchequer, speaking in Head Office tion of being put off with a refusal the recent economic debate in the NOT LATER THAN based on the Chancellor of the House of Commons, had this to FRIDAY, DECEMBER 27th, Exchequer's statement which we 1957 say : quoted above. " Wages increases unrelated to, Then, again, there are to be and going far beyond, the general approaches to the A.S.F.P. for a growth of real wealth within the Tribunals in the past, though consolidation of the cost of living country are by far the greatest they have perhaps not been en- bonus. danger we have to face, and we tirely free from prejudice on all We feel it necessary to make one should be deceiving ourselves if occasions, have at least served as thing crystal clear. While the cost we pretended otherwise. Those who reasonably impartial bodies, and in of living continues to rise there ask for wage increases, those who doing so they have been a valuable will be wage claims from various grant wage increases, and those element in preventing unnecessary sections of the industry, but we do who adjudicate about wages should industrial warfare. That they can not accept the cost of living and have this fact firmly in the fore- no longer perform this service is a productivity as the sole determin- front of their minds." matter of the Government's seek- ants of wages. As long as the What the Government, through ing. It seems that they would employers are entitled to operate the Chancellor of the Exchequer, is prefer open war to peaceful nego- for their own profit workers in the " tiation. Trade Unionists every- in fact saying, is this : If you are industry are equally entitled to a a wage earner do not ask for any where will note the Government's fair and reasonable share of the more money. If you insist on ask- choice. proceeds. ing, we shall do everything in our The war against higher wages power to see that your employer and the spanner in the machinery does not give it to you, even though of negotiation are two aspects of FILM & TV TECHNICIAN he may recognise the justice of a policy that is bound to have very your claim and be willing to in- grave consequences. But this is Editor: crease your pay. Of course, you not all. The Chancellor of the Ex- MARTIN CHISHOLM are perfectly free to take the chequer attacked " wage increases Editorial Office: matter to arbitration. Do so, by all going far beyond the general 2 Soho Square, W.l means. We shall warn the arbi- growth of real wealth ". This gen- Telephone: GERrard 8506 trators to find against you, and if eral growth of real wealth, on Advertisement Office: they ignore our warning we shall which the well-being of the country 5 and 6 Red Lion Sq., W.C.I refuse to implement their findings as a whole depends, demands the Telephone: HOLborn 4972 and we shall do everything possible maximum of productivity together 164 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN December 1957 WHERE DOES TV GO FROM THE first shots are being fired on the future of television. It is soon * enough, but not too soon, for the B.B.C. Charter expires in 1962 and off HERE? the Charter of the I.T.A. in 1964. That sounds a long way but the almost certain Royal Commission, and drafting and debating the legisla- tion which have to precede the new patterns will between them occupy a considerable amount of time. Organisations directly and keenly con- 3. The maintenance of an element cerned, which of course include A.C.T.T., should therefore soon start of public service in the operation giving thought to what their policies will be. of all stations. 4. The maximum of competition in order to maintain the integrity One thing is certain. Policies By the which may have been right at the and creativeness of programmt time when the introduction of com- staff and the best choice for tin mercial television was being de- GENERAL viewer and listener. bated are now in many respects His four public corporations out of date. The B.B.C.'s monopoly SECRETARY would be as follows : First, the has been broken and there will be B.B.C, which would broadcast two few advocates of its restoration. basic national programmes in Competitive television in some form sound only, rather like the Home or another is here to stay. Service and the Third Programme. Let us consider some recent pro- from Sidney Bernstein, who says This should be able to be picked up First, Beadle, nouncements. Gerald that when it comes to quality all over the country. The B.B.C Director of B.B.C. Television Granada will match the B.B.C. would also handle all overseas Broadcasting, speaking at a Radio production for production. He will broadcasting as it now does. Industries Club luncheon on 30th have nothing of Mr. Beadle's blast October said that the function of about I.T.V.'s role as entertainer New Corporation the B.B.C. Television service would to the lowest common denominator. be so different from that of com- Herbert Morrison, M.P., former Secondly, there should be a mercial television in the future Home Secretary, in a speech on new corporation established called that only in the most superficial 9th November hit another angle. the " Independent Broadcasting sense would they be regarded as He attacked commercial television Authority" (I.B.A.), which would alternatives. as " wholly inflationary ", and take over the Light Programme as THE observer reported him the second competitive national pro- Educated Democracy a next day as saying : gramme. It would also be respon- " Commercial television has sible for technical co-operation It would be a mistake, Mr. duplicated capital costs in a field with the regions. The regions Beadle said, to expect commercial where technical labour supply is would be completely autonomous television to be " a reflection of not plentiful. It is lowering our and free to make their own net- the advancing tastes and aspira- standards and facing the B.B.C. work arrangements. Local V.H.F. tions, or of the perplexities, of an with rt dilemma as to whether it broadcasting would also be stimu- educated democracy in the mak- should depreciate its own stan- lated by the regions. ing." Its programmes, he implied, dards or face the possibility of Thirdly, B.B.C. television should were to cater for the mass audi- lessening its number of viewers. be hived off as the British Tele- ence while, on the other hand, the " The Television Act was a bad vision Corporation (B.T.C). This B.B.C. did not have to sell their departure from television as a would broadcast one or more product to anyone and could con- public service as compared with national programmes and would be centrate on audiences in the television chasing 'circulation' responsible for foreign links, like plural. Mr. Beadle continued : "We irrespective of standards and Eurovision. It would be completely measure our successes and failures taste." autonomous. to a large extent by whether or Finally, the I.T.A. would be not we achieve the appropriate Wedgwood Benn strengthened and given the right audience for each programme." to produce its own programmes. It The B.B.C, he said, would devote Finally, we come to Anthony would also be given a greater itself to a modern, up-to-date Wedgwood Benn, M.P., who writes authority over the programme channel devoted to satisfying the a thoughtful article in the socialist companies. The exact nature of requirements of an educated digest for November. He puts for- this relationship would be left open democracy-in-the-making. ward a proposal that the whole of for negotiation. In other words, it seemed that Britain's radio and television ser- There is one further point, men- Mr. Beadle was saying that com- vices should be run by four public tioned by none of the foregoing mercial television could concen- corporations, all having a share in protagonists but which deeply con- trate on broad, popular entertain- the licence fee and allowed to cerns us as Trade Unionists. The ment for the masses, bringing the accept advertising. He wants the B.B.C, despite the terms of its advertiser in touch with the large new public service based on four Charter and despite recommenda- audience essential for effective principles : tions of the Beveridge Report, re- sales promotion, while the B.B.C. mains one of the most reactionary would reflect the British way of 1. The continued expansion of tht and impossible of employers. Com- life at its best, with particular pro- TV s( rvice. mercial Television, on the other ej amines to appeal to particular 2. The continuation oj full public hand, albeit after some pressure, audiences. control oj all technical until* is. s This at once brought a broadside through tin Postmaster General. (continued on page 16 ) — December 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 165 Talking Points DOES TV HELP CINEMAS? NO HORROR HERE is about time we stopped let- of this amusing British film (over " He detested the brutality that IT r ting people kid us that films and 30 /c of those quizzed gave this has entered pictures in the last television are basically different reason for going to the pictures decade. It made him unhappy and opposed to one another. True, that day), but here, again, I feel that the public seemed to want I have yet to see a cinema adver- it." tisement urging patrons to watch I wonder whether the public a particular TV programme really wants it. Anyway, now here (though I expect that will come), is Sam Wanamaker, in introducing but I should like to commend some his New Shakespeare cinema- fascinating work done by young theatre-club-concert-hall in Liver- Theo Richmond,* which indicates pool, saying he will not show films that a large section of cinema- of violence, horror, science-fiction goers are induced into the pictures and exaggerated sex, nor produc- by publicity on TV, both BBC and tions glorifying war. Bravo ! But commercial. that TV must be reckoned, together Wanamaker then goes and spoils with the other means of publicity, it by banning the sale of confec- A Contradiction to have had its effect, as most of tionery in the auditorium. Why put the programmes featured one or films that emphasise the unnatural is at first Richmond what may more of the stars. It is significant side of life in the same category as sound like a contradiction in terms, that all the TV publicity was in the very natural, harmless desire to for he is a film publicity director entertainment programmes—seven have a bite to eat or a refreshing and a scientist, and the Boulting of them from the BBC—and no drink? Brothers, who employ him, have commercials were telecast for the just published his enquiry into picture. I hope John and Roy Spoil Sports what made people queue up to see Boulting and their far-sighted pub- Brothers In Law in the London licist Theo Richmond will carry A similar ban mars the excellent general release area. out a similar survey with Lucky National Film Theatre in London. Six out of ten who went to see Jim (in my opinion a better piece I wonder if these spoil-sports this comedy also watch TV, but of filmcraft than Private's Pro- understand the traditional likes of half of them only do so less than gress or Brothers In Law), for British audiences. John Hollings- three evenings a week. Just the which 15-second commercials have head, one-time manager of the same, the TV programmes, which also been put on the air. Gaiety Theatre, described the featured something about Brothers No hasty conclusions can be habits of the gallery at the Old In Law, were so effective that 209f drawn from the present enquiry Vic about 1838, which consisted of of those interviewed gave TV as and Richmond is careful to point " creatures ; their for the perspiring most reason going to see out the limitations in this case picture. of the men in shirt-sleeves, but I commend it to the monolithi- and most of the women bare- Actually, the main reason given cally-minded moguls of the Cine- headed, with coloured handker- those in the the by queues was cast matograph Exhibitors' Association, chiefs round their shoulders. who have been trying to stop Eal- ' . . . This chickaleary ' was * " The Answer in the Q." ing Films from selling some of always thirsty — and not their old comedies to a commercial ashamed. It tied handkerchiefs in the be- TV contractor mistaken together—of which it always lief that this will ruin the cinemas. seemed to have plenty—until General Secretary Can't the CEA see that one of they formed a rope, which was the means of financing the large- used to haul up large stone (continued) scale productions, which are so bottles of beer from the pit, necessary for their survival, is for and occasionally hats that had has faced up to its responsibilities producers to give old films a new in recognising and negotiating pro- had been dropped below." lease of life and so get a new per agreements with the appro- But I must not leave the National source of revenue from the pro- priate Trade Unions. Whatever Film Theatre on a sour note, be- duct-hungry medium of finally emerges as the new pattern TV? cause through their showing the we shall insist that the I.T.V. stan- East German picture Duped Till dards and not the archaic ones of Doomsday during the recent Lon- the B.B.C. shall continue to apply In an era when a number of don Film Festival, I spent many to those who create, produce and talented film-makers are debasing pleasant hours with its director transmit the programmes. themselves — and insulting their Kurt Jung-Alsen, who flew over The four persons I have men- audiences—with horror and other specially from Berlin. tioned have started us thinking. X certificate films, it is refreshing We discussed at length the ever- A.C.T.T. must before long get to come across influential enter- present problem of where to And down to formulating its own policy. tainers strongly condemning such good screen-writers—the acuteness Maybe we should look carefully at catch-penny tactics. In a fine of this problem in East Germany the pronouncements I have cited obituary to Louis B. Mayer the for a start. London Evening News wrote: (continued on page 166) ! . 166 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN December 1957 By this time the director's wife was showing a tendency to display her emancipation rights, when 'Take Our Rice ' instead of a reply of yes. thank ' you ' to her query Had a good day at the studio, dear? ' she heard: 'Just make another rice ' Pudding' pudding this evening, would you ? So the stills photographer's mother took over the job. Still it didn't look quite as rice Little do the members of the of the arc lamps. A little make-up a pudding great viewing public realise the was obviously needed. should to the aesthetic gaze of the director. blood, toil, tears and sweat which They dusted the surface tenderly gone into the production of ' Rip the skin off ', he demanded, have with a little Shell lubricating oil the packshot they briefly glanced ' it doesn't look anything like a and left it during tea-break to at, while gulping down their tea and rice pudding skin.' sandwiches before the play they ' But it is a rice pudding skin ', are waiting to see is due on the said a voice daringly. The owner screen. The luscious packs of was quelled by a terrible glance. chocolates, biscuits, cakes, cigar- ' Rip the skin off and take it over ettes, etc., which click on in casual to the snack bar for re-browning.' perfection, in no way betray the With the sigh of a frustrated days of drama that have gone artist, the stills photographer did before in order to get them that as he was bidden. way. The snack bar was clever at Take our rice pudding for in- dishing out steak and two veg. at stance. cut price, but when it came to re-browning rice puddings Our studio had been com- — — missioned to do a series of films The charred remains were advertising a certain brand of this mournfully deposited in the dust- nourishing food. Following the bin, and the quest for the director's cartoon action was to appear a ideal began all over again. sizzling pyrex dish of the most Tension ran high. By the time tempting rice pudding man has the eighth creation, looking more ever seen before or since. ... a little lubricating oil or less like a rice pudding in a pyrex dish, was ready for shoot- Our director's wife kindly brewed brown under a powerful bulb. ing, nobody was speaking to any- uj) the pudding in her oven, and the best are body else much. When, during the director, with his own hands, Even cooks apt to their bore the result to the studio next mistime confections and when the morning for shooting. Once under model cameraman hurried back to his he found his the lights, though, the thing work charge >Hc suffering from seemed to pale, as does the com- acute sunburn. plexion of the healthiest actress There was nothing for it but to when under the unflattering glare make another pudd. CADMUS coming self-supporting. There used to be a Government subsidy for . . . rip that skin off i continued) producers, but now box-office afternoon tea-break, someone said is made more urgent by the Gov- takings from home-produced and else: ' Rice ernment's desire to double produc- foreign pictures pay for the thirty jokingly to somebody the look re- tion to some sixty films a year. features East Germany makes an- puddings to you', he One must admire the boldness of nually. With their own films as a ceived froze him to the marrow. is gentle, kindly man. their producers in not taking well- basis they exchange them on a Usually he a tried subjects from novels, from film-for-film arrangement with Still, it is always darkest before the theatre or from other enter- other countries, so building up a the light, as some old bore of a tainment media, but in making a rich variety of international screen philosopher said, and sure enough major proportion of pictures from entertainment for the eighteen the eighth pudding was a success. original screen stories— Hcrr Jung- million inhabitants of his half of I expected a great shout to go up. r Alsen estimated about 90 ; were Germany. the sort people give when their specially written for filming. With a population three tunes horse is first past the winning post, Kurt Jung-Alsen talked of the that size this gives us hope that but no. They all just quietly went successful surmounting of many, we should be able to put our own home to supper. I know what they but not all, of the problems that industry on a healthily sound were thinking, though: 'If it's rice .' faced the film business In the basis, but before then we shall pudding for afters I'll — German Democratic Republic after need a Declaration of Independence the war, which appeared to me to —from America, ami a few other Priscilla be epitomised in the startling of our bonds will have to be economic achievement of now be- broken Bryant FILM & TV TECHNICIAN SUPPLEMENT December 1957 Guide to British Film STEEL BAYONET CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN Year of Production : 1956. Makers Year of Production : 1956. Studio: Location Aldershot. Studio: Bray Studios. Laboratory: Olympic. Laboratory : Humphries Labs. Ltd. Producing Company: Hammer Film Producing Company: Hammer Film Productions. Productions. Producer: Michael Carreras. Producer: Anthony Hinds. Associate Producer: Anthony Nelson KILL ME TOMORROW Associate Producer: Anthony Nelson Keys. Keys. Year of Production : 1956. Stars: Leo Genn, Kieron Moore, Studio: Southall Studios. Stars: Peter Cushing. Hazel Court. Michael Medwin. Laboratory: Olympic. Christopher Lee, Robert Urquhart. Director: Michael Carreras. Producing Company: Delta Films Ltd. Director: Terry Fisher. Scenarist: Howard Clewes. Producer: Francis A. Searle. Scenarist: James Sangster. Camera Department: Lighting Camera- Stars: Pat O'Brien. Lois Maxwell, Camera Department: Lighting Camera- man, Jack Asher; Camera Operator, Freddie Mills, George Colouris, man, Jack Asher; Camera Operator, Len Harris ; 1st Camera Assistant Tommy Steele. Len Harris; 1st Camera Assistant (Focus), Harry Oakes; Other Camera Director: Terence Fisher. (Focus), Harry Oakes; Other Camera Assistants, Peter Tabori, Stanley Camera Department: Lighting Camera- Assistant, John Pratt. Evans, John Foley; Second Cameia man, Geoffrey Faithfull; Camera Sound Department: Recordist (Mixer), Operator, H. P. Gerald Moss. Operator, Desmond Davis; 1st Camera W. May; Sound Camera Opera- Sound Department : Recordist (Mixer), Assistant (Focus), Mani Wynn. tor, Michael Sale; Boom Opeiator, Cliff Sandall ; Sound Camera Opera- Sound Department: Recordist (Mixer), Jimmy Perry; Dubbing Crew, Anvil tor, Walter Day; Boom Operator, Richard Smith; Sound Camera Opera- Films. Charles Harris; Dubbing Anvil Art Department: Designer. Crew, tor, Stanley Samworth: Boom Opera- Production Films. tor, Anthony Field. Bernard Robinson; Art Director, Ted Art Department: Art Director, Ted Art Department: Art Director; Bern- Marshall; Draughtsman, Don Mingay; Marshall; Draughtsman, Don Mingay; Dress Designer. Molly Arbuthnot. ard Robinson; Draughtsman, David ' Dress Designer, Molly Arbuthnot. Butcher. Editing Department: Editor, James Editing Department: Editor, Bill Editing Department: Editor, Ann Needs; 1st Assistant, Roy Norman; Lenny; 1st Assistant, John Beaton; Chegwidden; Assembly Cutter, P. Other Assistant, Max Wheeler. Other Assistant, Max Wheeler; Dub- Blarney. Production Department: Production bing Editor, A. E. Cox. Production Department: Production Manager and/or Unit Production Production Department: Production Manager, Weeks; 1st Assistant Manager, Tom Connochie; 1st Assis- Don Manager and/or Unit Production tant Director, Chris Noble; Con- Director, Derek Whitehurst; 2nd Manager, John Workman ; 1st Assis- tinuity, Margery Lavelly; Production Assistant Director, Jimmy Komisar- tant Director, Don Weeks; 2nd Assis- Secretary, Pat Moon. jevsky; 3rd Assistant Director. Hugh tant Director, Stanley Gouler; 3rd Harlow: Continuity, Doreen Soan; Stills Depart merit: Still Cameraman. Assistant Director. Hugh Harlow; Frank Bellingham. Production Secretary, Faith Frisby. Continuity, Rene Glynne; Production Publicity Department: Publicity Direc- Secretary, Faith Frisby. tor, Leslie Frewin. Publicity Department: Publicity Direc- Stills Department: Still Cameraman. tor, Bill Batchelor. John Jay. Stills Department: Still Cameraman, Special Processes: Eastmancolour. John Jay. Special Processes: Frank George, Syd Pearson; Special Effects, Pinewood. QUATERMASS II Year of Production : 1956. Studio: Danziger Studios. Laboratory: Olympic. MY FRIEND CHARLES Producing Company : Hammer Film Productions. Year of Production: 1957. TIME LOCK Producer: Anthony Hinds. Studio: Beaconsfield. Associate Producer: Anthony Nelson Laboratory: Humphries. Year of Production: 1956. Keys. Producing Company : Beaconsfield Films Studio: Beaconstield Films Ltd. Stars: Brian Donlevy, John Longden, Ltd. Laboratory: Humphries. Vera Day, Sydney James. Producing Company: Producer: Peter Rogers. Beaconsfield Films Director: Val Guest. Stars: John Mills. Derek Farr. Noelle Ltd. Scenarist: Nigel Kneale. Middleton, Ronald Culver. Wilfrid Producer: Peter Rogers. Camera Department: Lighting Camera- Hyde White. Stars: Robert Beatty, Lee Patterson. man, Gerald Gibbs; Camera Operator. Director: Gerald Thomas. Betty McDowall. Len Harris; 1st Camera Assistant Sceyiarist : Francis Durbridge. Director: Gerald Thomas. (Focus). Harry Oakes; Other Camera Camera Department : Lighting Camera- Scenarist: Peter Rogers. Assistants, A. Gatward. man. Otto Heller; Camera Department: Camera Operator. Lighting Camera- Sound Department: Recordist (Mixer), Alan Hume; 1st Camera Assistant man, Peter Hennessy; Camera Opera- Cliff Sandall; Sound Camera Operator, (Focus). Brian West; Other Camera tor, Zeo Rogers; 1st Camera Assistant Bill Robson; Boom Operator, Claude Assistant, Fhilip Finch. (Focus), Paddy A'Hearne; Other Hitchcock; Other Assistants, J. West: Sound Department: Recordist (Mixer). Camera Assistant, Philip Finch. Dubbing Crew, Gate Recording Len Page; Sound Camera Operator. Sound Department: Recordist (Mixer). Theatre. George Price; Boom Operator. Don Len Page ; Sound Camera Operator, Art Department: Art Director, Bern- Roberts; Other Assistant. Frank George Rice: Boom Operator, Don ard Robinson; Draughtsman, David Sloggett (Maintenance); Dubbing Roberts; Other Assistant (Mainten- Butcher: Dress Designer, Rene Coke. Crew, Anvil Films Ltd. ance), Frank Sloggett ; Dubbing Crew, Editing Department: Editor, James Art Department : Art Director. Jack Anvil Films Ltd. Needs; 1st Assistant, Michael Hart: Stevens; Draughtsman. Erie Saw. Art Department: Art Director, Norman Dubbing Editor, A. E. Cox. Editing Department: Editor. Peter Arnold; Draughtsman, Eric Saw. Production Department : Production Boita; 1st Assistant, Mike Round; Editing Department: Editor, John Manager and/or Unit Production Other Assistant, Peter Keen; Dub- Trumper; 1st Assistant, Alan Bell; Manager: John Workman; 1st Assis- bing Editor. Richard Marden. Other Assistant, Raymond Lovejov. tant Director, Don Weeks; 2nd Assis- Production Department : Production Production Department: Production tant Director, Stan Goulder; 3rd Manager and/or Unit Production Manager, John 'Pinky' Green; 1st Assistant Director. Hugh Harlow; Manager. Basil Keys; 1st Assistant Assistant Director, Bob Jones; 2nd Continuity, June Randall; Produc- Director, William Hill; 2nd Assistant Assistant Director. Jan Saunders; tion Secretary, Angela Taub. Director, Bob Jones; Continuity. Rita Continuity. Rita Davison: Production Publicity Department: Publicity Direc- Davison; Production Secretary." Paul- Secretary, Pauline Chessell. tor, Bill Batchelor. ine Chessell. Publicity Department: Publicity Direc- Stills Department: Still Cameraman. Publicity Department: Publicity Direi tor. Leslie Frewin Organisation. John Jay. tor, Leslie Frewin. Stills Department: Still Cameraman. Special Processes: Special Effects De- Stills Department: Still Cameraman. Tom Belshaw. partment, Pinewood. Tom Belshaw. . December 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN SUPPLEMENT THE SMALLEST SHOW ON CAT GIRL ACCOUNT RENDERED EARTH Year Production: Year of Production: 1957. of 1957. Studio: Studio: Southall. Year of Production: 1956/57. Beaconsfield. Laboratory: Rank Laboratories (Den- Producing Company: Major Produc- Studio: Shepperton. tions (London) Ltd. Laboratory: Humphries. ham) Ltd. Producing Compami: Insignia Films Producer. John Temple-Smith. Producing Company: Hallmark Pro- Stars: Griffith Jones, Ursula How ell- ductions Ltd. Ltd. Honor Blackman. Producer: Michael Relph. Producer: Herbert Smith. Executive Producer: Peter Rogers. Director: Peter Graham Scott. Associate Producer: Leslie Gilliat. Stars: Barbara Shelley, Robert Ayres. Camera Department: Lighting Camera- Stars: Virginia McKenna, Bill Travers, man, Kay Callard. Jimmy Harvey; Camera Opera- Bernard Miles, Peter Sellers, Mar- tor. Tony Heller; 1st Camera Assis- garet Rutherford. Din i tor: Alfred Shaughnessy. Scenarist: Lou Russoff. tant (Focus), Peter Sandford. Director: Basil Dearden. Camera Department: Lighting Camera- Sound Department: Recordist (Mixer). Scenarists : William Rose, John man, Peter Hennessy; Camera Opera- Dick Smith: Sound Camera Operator-. Eldridge. Harry Tate: Boom Operator, John Camera Department: Lighting Camera- tor, Paddy A'Hearne; 1st Camera Assistant, Tommie Fletcher; Other Brommage. man, Douglas ; Slocombe Camera Camera Assistant, Michael Art Department: Art Director, Norman Operator, Rutter. Jeff Seaholme; 1st Camera Sound Department: Recordist (Mixer). Arnold; Draughtsman. Thomas Cos- Assistant (Focus), Paddy A'Hearne; Len Page; Sound Camera Operator, well. Other Camera Assistant, Ron Drink- George Rice; Boom Operator, Don Editing Department: Editor, Thomas water. Roberts; Other Assistant, Frank Simpson. Sound Department: Recordist (Mixer), Production Department: Production Sloggett (Maintenance); Dubbing Manager, Buster Ambler; Sound Camera Opera- Crew. Anvil Films Ltd. Donald Wvnne; 1st Assis- tor, Jimmy Dooley; Boom Operator, tant Director, Buddy Booth: 2nd Art Department : Production Designer, Ritchie; Assistant, Eric Assistant Director, Ken Other Jack Stevens; Art Director, Eric- Jan Saunders; Vincent (Maintenance); Dubbing Shaw. Continuity, Gladys Reeve; Produc- Crew, Bob Jones, John Aldred. Editing Department: Editor, Jocelyn tion Secretary, Tfix Wilkin. Stills Department: Art Department: Art Director, Allan Jackson; 1st Assistant, Chris Hone; Still Cameraman. Harris; Draughtsmen, Roy Walker. Other Assistant, Ian Marsden. Curtis Reekes. John G. Earl; Dress Designer, An- Production Department: Production thony Mendleson. Manager, Pinky Green; 1st Assistant Editing Department: Editor, Oswald Director, William Hill; 2nd Assistant Hafenrichter; 1st Assistant, Alban Director,. Bob Jones; Continuity, Streeter; Other Assistants, Eileen Olga Brookes; Production Secretary, Daines, Alan Corder, Guy Ambler; Cynthia Maugham. British Transport Films Dubbing Editor, Arthur Cox. Publicity Department: Publicity Direc- On all films Production Department: Production tor, Philip Ridgeway. Manager, John Pellatt ; 1st Assistant Stills Department: Still Cameraman, Executive Producer: Edgar Anstey. Director, Eddie Pike; 2nd Assistant Tom Belshaw. Product ion Manager: Len Girdlestone. Director, John Meadows; 3rd Assis- Assistant Production Manager: Ruth tant Director, Claud Watson; Con- Pratt. tinuity, Jane Buck; Production Sec- retary, Jean Williams. Publicity Department : Publicity Direc- NORTH TO WALES tor, Robin Grocott. Technicolor from Kodachrome Stills Department: Still Cameraman, Norman Hargood. 15 minutes Special Processes: Wally Veevers, George Samuels. MIRACLE IN SOHO Producer: Ian Ferguson. Director: Michael Clarke. Year of Production: 1957. Cameramen: Reg Hughes, Michael Studio: Pinewood. Currer-Briggs. Laboratory: Rank Laboratories (Den- Editor: Margot Fleischner. ham) Ltd. Assistant Director: Paul Khan. Producing Company: Rank Organisa- Assistant Cameramen: David Watkin, tion Film Productions Ltd. John Mantell. Producer: Emeric Pressburger. Assistant Editor: Pat Jones. Production Controller: Arthur Alcott. Commentary written In/ Norman Prout- LIGHT FINGERS Associate Producer: Sydney Streeter. ing. Commentary spoken by Meredith Ed- Stars : John Gregson, Belinda Lee, Year of Production: 1957. Cyril Cusack. wards. Studio: Walton-on-Thames. Director: Julian Amyes. Music composed by Edward Williams. Laboratory : Denham. Recording : Anvil Films. Scenarist : Emeric Pressburger. Producing Company: Parkside Film Camera Department: Lighting Camera- Productions Ltd. man. Chris Challis; Camera Operator, Producer: Roger Proudlock. Austin Dempster; 1st Camera Assis- ROUND THE ISLAND Roland Culver. Stars: Eunice Gayson, tant (Focus), Steve Claydon; Other Technicolor from Guy Rolfe. Camera Assistant. Leon Davis. Kodachrome inn ctoi Terry Bishop. Soiiiitl Department: Recordist (Mixer), 24 minutes Scenarist: Roger Proudlock. John W. Mitchell; Sound Camera rami in Department: Lighting Camera- Operator, Ron Butcher; Boom I'rtitlu, t i Ian Ferguson. man, Jimmy Harvey; Camera Opera- Operator, John Daniel: Boom Assis- Director: Tony Thompson. tor, Eric Williams; 1st Camera Assis- Cameraman: Ron Craigen. tant. Roy Charman ; Dubbing Crew, Editor: John Legard. tant (Focus), Mike Wilson; Other Gordon K. McCallum, J. L. W. Wood- Assistant Camera Assistant. Peter Burke. wiss, C. le Messurier; Music. Ted Director Edward Scott. Sound Department Recordist (Mixer). Drake. Assistant Cairn raman : Lewis McLeod. H. ('. Pearson; Sound Camera Opera- Art Department: Art Director, Carmen Assistant Editor: David Plumb. tor, I). Gardner; Boom Operator, Dillon; Assistant Art Director (Set), Commentary written by Norman Prout- C. Humphreys; Maintenance. C. Vernon Dixon. Draughtsmen. T. Marsh ing. Barnes; Dubbing Crew, R.C.A. Ham- (Chief), P. Lamont, M. Lamont; Commentary spoken by Ralph Wight mersmith. Dress Designer, Julie Harris. man, Uffa Fox. Ill / >t inn t mi at Art Director, Tony Editing Department: Editor, Arthur Music composed by Hubert Clifford. Masters; Assistant Art Director, Stevens; 1st Assistant. Jack Gardner; Recording: Anvil Films. Draughtsman, Dress Designer—c/o Other Assistant, Norman Wanslall; NettlefnM Studio: Dubbing Editor. Arthur Ridout ; Dub- Editing Department: Editor. Lito bing Assistant, Graham Harris. WHY BOTHER? Carruthers; 1st Assistant, Bill Creed. Production Department: Production 5 minutes Production Department: Production Manager. Charles Orme; 1st Assistant Manager, Ben Arbeid ; 1st Assistant Director, Bob Asher; 2nd Assistant Product r Stewart McAllistei Director, Douglas Hickox; 2nd Assis- Director. Charles Hammond; 3rd Director: Tony Thompson. tant Director, John Roddick : 3rd Assistant Director, Denzil Lewi.-; Cameraman: David Watkin. Assistant Director, Jacques de Lane Continuity, Gladys Goldsmith; Assis- Editors: Stewart McAllister. Adrian de Lea; Continuity. Bettj Harley; Pro- tant Continuity. Loreiev Stephens; Potier. tet. I duct ion Sei -it \ . liana Italian. Production Secretary. Jeanette Green Assistant Cameraman: Jack West Publicity Department Publicitj Direc- Publicity Department Pnii Publicist, Assistant Editor: Rosina Pedrick. tor, Jack Daw. Jean « isborne. Writti a by Paul Le Saux. stills Department: Still Cameraman, Stills Department Still Cameraman, Spoken tiu Harry Locke, John Warren I touglas Webb. Norman Grys] rdt Bi i ording Anvil Films. December 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 167 ON BEING DEDICATED TO FILMS HAVE been dedicated to films advice to playwrights, " Let your an asset to films and the best of I practically all my grown-up life. inspiration come from life, not this category are amongst the I threw in my lot with the cinema from the theatre." world's outstanding movie-makers. in its comparatively early days, Many film technicians are dedi- when pay was low and one had to This is a risk we also run when cated men and women— until ambi- directors, fight alone against snobs and we get in the swim as tion leads them to become direc- associate-producers, script-writers Philistines for the recognition of tors ! While they were good or and others in important key posi- this new art. very good script-writers, camera- men, art-directors or editors, for The cinema then was not only example, they were dedicated to ignored or even despised by the By their chosen tasks as well as to the intelligentsia, but Wardour Street cinema and were creative film- and the studio chiefs were distrust- makers in production teams, even ful of workers whom they regarded though individualists. as "educated". (How different ADRIAN things became in this respect some Then the glamour of being head- years later when at certain studios BRUNEL man on the studio floor or the one could hardly get a job without inner conviction that they could do an Old Etonian tie and a university better than the welder-in-chief with education —though, as an alterna- whom they worked, gets hold of them. Occasionally their hunch is tive, titled relatives would help tions, and we become involved in a right their change of position more than somewhat!) succession of first nights, film and parties, Savoy Grill suppers, is justified, but too often they lack Pioneers Caprice luncheons and mixing only something, such as a forcefulness in their dealings with their War- Shortly after I had committed with other people in the show dour Street bosses, and so, in the myself to films, there was quite a business, dashing from studios to battle for assignments and treat- flow of dedicated men into our these occasions in our fast cars ments, they temporise, their dedi- studios. That in the mid- and losing touch with the realities was cated and missionary principles twenties, the first Film when dwindle and they end up cynical Society was formed, when we were and disillusioned hacks, and as a fighting for the first Film Quota result we lose keen and first-rate legislation (with its vital require- writers, cameramen, art-directors ment for Renters to sponsor a or editors. quota of British productions) and when Ivor Montagu and I were " Don't Lose Touch " active with our film-editing com- pany, supplying British studios it is because I have seen this with our hand-picked colleagues, happen that I have begged such all of whom were dedicated friends of mine when embarking on pioneers and included such men careers as directors not to lose as Ian Dalrymple, Frank Wells, touch with their old techniques, so Angus MacPhail, Jock Orton, Tod that if they are not the successes Rich, Michael Hankinson and they hoped to be as directors, they Sergei Nolbandov. could still maintain pride of achievement in their previous jobs Even in those days, I realised that there were degrees of dedica- and thus remain dedicated to films, tion and that one could give one's instead of becoming cynical and disillusioned. devotion to films in different ways. Some of my associates lived en- Adrian Brunei with his l!tl!) model I am reminded of my own experi- tirely in a world of films, going to Debrie camera ence. As a director I was always see movies every night, travelling thoroughly at home in the job, considerable distances to track of life, which is regrettable since working with artists and techni- down a film they had missed, these people set the tone for our cians, but I was not tough enough noting cinematic tricks and productions. in the constant battle with my dramatic twists, and storing their There are many ways in which employers. I would have been far impressions for future use. one can be dedicated to films. happier had I kept in touch with the market for editors, alternating Although the enthusiasm of these There is the careerist, whose assignments to direct with those devotees was inspiring and their medium is film. He is often some- knowledge of trends and experi- what more dedicated to himself to edit. I would have been more successful, too, if I had pursued ments in film production kept us than to the cinema and is generally policy, for I informed, their suggestions at a diplomat, a good mixer with such a never reached work were derived from other important but inferior people and a position where I could pick and choose my stories or my employers; films, rather than from life. I am a ruthless handler of his financial reminded of William Archer's backers, yet in many cases he is (continued on page 168) — His FILM & TV TECHNICIAN December 1957 Profile DESMOND DAVIS (TV VICE-PRESIDKNT) humour that can turn as often army, he was again producing tele- against himself as against other vision shows and, when American people; his practical enthusiasm television started, he was sent for for the Guild and for the union is to advise and lecture on television evidenced by the number of com- production methods. Back in this mittees he serves on, and the country he helped to pioneer the amount of time he spends away High Definition system of film from home and office, and yet he making under Norman Collins. hates politics and is a devoted family man, proud father of two It is this breadth of experience daughters; he is a keen fighter for in several media that is his parti- freedom—particularly his own cular strength. His basic training "DHYSICALLY he is a squarish, which is why, having escaped from in the theatre and in the control of •*- saturnine near-fifty with a dis- the tentacles of the BBC and re- actors has ensured that he is tinguished head of immaculate signed a top administrative posi- equally at home in theatre, radio, iron-grey hair. Psychologically he tion with ATV, he now insists on television and film. As a director, is a disciplined rebel, an optimist, remaining a completely free free- Davis is a dedicated man, satisfied and an enthusiast for the good lance producer. only with the best, and demand- things of life. The facts behind ing just that, whether it is from the man are legion and illuminat- actor, writer, stage-hand, camera- man, ing; a BBC staff television pro- Felt the Call management or, above all, ducer in 1938; one of the founders himself. and now chairman of the Guild Desmond Davis started his He will work long hours, fre- of Television Producers and career as an engineer but soon felt quently deep into the night, ironing Directors; first A.C.T.T. television the siren call of the entertainment out every little Vice-President and television Exe- industry and spent his apprentice kink and detail for a forthcoming production. His cutive Council member; first Head years acting and stage-managing, method with actors is to cajole of Drama for A.T.V.; and producer notably for Basil Dean, and for and explain rather than of more television plays than he Sir Nigel Playfair at the Lyric to dominate, and any really can count. Theatre, Hammersmith, where he important point is gained the musical experience worked out over a drink is in a nearby pub. Here he is at his The man behind the facts which in October 1939 led the best, a fluent talker and raconteur more elusive, and frequently con- BBC to transfer him to the Music who, when his particular tradictory; he is a meticulous, Productions of sound radio where interest painstaking craftsman who plans he wrote, adapted and produced is aroused, will tend to dominate his productions with an accuracy musical shows, operas and any conversation, not from selfish reasons, by that prevents much of the scurried operettas. but the sheer weight panic that is so common a feature of his enthusiasm. of a television studio, and yet he After the war, even before he has a ready and biting sense of was officially demobilised from the Against Diets A conservative in the best, and least political sense of the word, he is on the side of civilisation- On being dedicated to films to the cinema should make sacri- particularly a classical civilisation, fices in its cause. An obvious and strongly deprecates the inven- tion of the internal combustion ( continued) sacrifice is active participation in Union affairs, together with addi- engine. He is for Georgian archi- the inexorable demands of land- tional political agitation for the tecture and against modern flats; lords and household expenses protection of our film production he is a wine drinker and a gourmet, usually landed me an assignment industry—such as pestering M.P.s and against cocktails and diets that at its best was a challenge to and newspapers with personal and pill-taking; he would inevit- disguise and gild a piece of tripe. letters. Not so much of a sacrifice, ably be against television were it to quote Anita Loos. My main but rather a pleasurable duty, is not his chosen profession. This comfort is, however, that I never to support such institutions as the being so he brings to this new- lost my faith in the cinema, for British Film Institute, the British fangled entertainment process all films had become an ineradicable Film Academy, the National Film the passionate absorbed concentra- " religion " and an obstinate Theatre and one's local Film tion of love and attention that an " patriotism " with me. Society. old-time actor-manager would give to his theatre. Although I have stressed the And finally, a personal sugges- importance of keeping closely in tion for your home— collect things touch with real life and with people of interest connected with films, Vivian of all kinds. 1 maintain that one such as books, stills, programmes who would claim to be dedicated and even apparatus! Mihoy : December 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 169 PROBLEMS OF THE NEWSREELS CINCE the close down of Para- some controversial topic of news ^ mount News earlier in the year by or to some news story which war- there has been considerable com- rants a longer pictorial presenta- ment in the industry about the tion than would normally be given. future of the remaining cinema TERRY O'BRIEN It has been reported that Movie- newsreels. Most people have adop- tone, later next year, may be pro- ted a pessimistic attitude and on ducing a black-and-white Cinema- the face of it with some justifica- Scope reel. The Rank Organisation tion. There is no doubt that the selves, they are financially badly is considerably developing along newsreels in their present form are hit. certain lines and how G.B. News no longer in the fairly strong posi- will fit in is, at the moment, purely There is a definite resistance on tion they were about ten years ago. guesswork. the part of exhibitors to show a of The usual reason advanced, Obviously, considerable re-think- course, is that it is because of the ing on presentation will have to be rise of television news. This is not made. The formula which has been altogether true. the point of From in existence for nearly thirty years " up to dateness " in news, the This will be inadequate. Have we the cinema newsreels, for obvious Freedom people in the newsreels who are reasons, have never tried to com- One of our members writes capable of producing a new style pete with television newsreels any of reel, or are they so inbred that more than television itself has We Tories recently encour- they have got into a rut? Can the seriously tried to compete with aged the G.P.O. to increase newsreels risk the financial cost of news broadcasts on sound radio. the telephone charges. Thus or will the demand for telephones experimenting they just fade away? has decreased or, to put it They would disagree more positively, UNDER THE TORIES THE SUPPLY Finest in industry Some of my TV colleagues would OF TELEPHONES HAS IN- strongly disagree with this. The CREASED. Our newsreel technicians are tendency international among TV The direct result of this among the finest in the industry. networks is to get their news pic- businesslike policy is my Not only have the cameramen to tures out, if not by hours, by all telephone: the number is . be technically proficient under minutes ahead of their rivals. But kinds of difficult conditions, but We (the Tories) are busy in this country, between B.B.C. and they must be first-class journalists organising a slump, or, again I.T.N., the emphasis is gradually as well in order to provide a com- more positively, increasing shifting to the presentation of plete pictorial report of a news the supply of labour. it is news. If event to editors who only have a my labour that is increased This brings us back to the few hours to sort out the material and in case you hear of newsreels. and present it in a comprehensible cinema They are de- something at which I might signed form. It is a wonder that there are to form part of a cinema earn a crust, please make a programme. They have been hit any pictures at all ! The standards, note of my number. financially for more or less the efficiency and discipline are there same reasons that cinemas have TORY FREEDOM PAYS! —what are we going to do with been hit. A lot of people are con- them ? vinced that the cinema industry This article is necessarily brief. was fundamentally wrong in the It would be impossible to go into way it handled the rise of televi- the problem in detail, nor is it sion. First, it pretended that TV newsreel. The excuse is usually called for. It's purpose is to pro- did not exist; secondly, that it was that it costs too much for the pro- vide a fairly informative back- not much good as an entertain- gramme time involved, and in any ground to any discussion our mem- ment medium, and thirdly, that it case, " everybody has seen it on bers may have. would not last. television already ". The cost of It is not the purpose of this producing a newsreel has, without article to discuss what should have any doubt, risen enormously, and been done or what steps are now revenue has not kept pace. How That dog again 1 being taken within the industry, these losses are offset by the parent companies of the newsreels but the newsreel companies, to a or by ". . . in between the big debates, other methods is something we very large extent, identified them- Conference found time to flay the cannot go into here. selves with this attitude of the present Government for its present exhibitors. True, they did not have However, within newsreel circles economic and financial policy, in- much option, but now with the the talking point is "presentation". cluding raising the Bark Ftate."- falling of box-office takings and Pathe News are now, from time to Misprint in George Elvm's report the closing down of cinemas them- time, devoting the entire reel to on the Labour Party Conference. 170 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN December IBS'* Book Review ample, which were a curse of old China : " The next morning, while Len- nox* and I sat talking in his room, we saw our first fly in China. We had not been forty-eight hours in CHINA TRANSFORMED the country. The fly crawled along Lennox's desk, stopped, saluted us cheekily with both front feet and trotted on gaily. We leapt out of our chairs to have a closer look. NEXT STOP PEKING, by R. J. about production and trade, will be — The fly stopped again and stared Minney. Newnes, 25/-. disappointed. That is true in a defiantly . . . Undoubtedly it was an way because it is not that kind of event. Here at any rate was one Members had a glimpse of R. J. a book. But he does much better fly . . In all, during the entire Minney's visit to China when he than that because, in a live, fas- period of our stay, we saw eight wrote on their film industry in cinating personal record of his flies in various part of China. The tally was carefully kept." Then he tells us how, with the help of Street Committees sanita- tion has been organised and clean- liness imposed, resulting in the virtual extermination of flies and other insect pests as one of the results of the exercise. In such fascinating ways " R.J." pictures the new China; the awakening of a giant, as he des- cribes it, with vast agricultural and industrial development, rising living standards, and a people happy and imbued with hope. Not only have I been thrilled by Next Stop—Peking, it has left me Above: One of (he Rates of the Walled City, Peking. Bight: K. J. Mi nney in Peking. Cover still shows the film & TV technician some months tilming of an ago. Now in Next Stop—Peking opera in he tells the whole exciting story of colour in his trip to lecture in Peking and Shanghai. elsewhere at Bernard Shaw Cen- tenary Celebrations. Also, as be- hoves a good film man, he illus- trates his book for good measure with numerous colour and mono- chrome photographs taken by him- self. My first reaction on reading the book is to wish that R. J. Minney could be appointed perpetual sec- 16,000 mile journey through Rus- itching, as I know it will other retary to the numerous delegations sia, Siberia and China, he conveys readers, to travel the same route which visit Russia, China and to us the transformation which is and see for myself the rapid and Eastern Europe and return home happening in those countries, par- beneficial strides being made with reports which are frequently ticularly China, much more vividly along the road to accomplish one as indigestible as they are statisti- than most travellers have done of the supreme achievements of cal. using the more traditional report- the present-day world. q h E in his preface "R.J." says that ing-back methods. • Irish " for himself. Lennox the play- those who expect a political treat- But let R.J." speak wright, was " U.J.'s " colleague on ise, with comparative statistic On disease-carrving flies, for ex- the trip. December 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 171 FILM MANUFACTURE IN EAST KEN ROBERTS, Secretary of the Kodak employees' A.C.T.T. Branch, describes his visits to the Agfa GERMANY and Dekopan factories TOURING a recent stay in In the main departments, a items appertaining to the welfare U Eastern Germany, I eagerly round-the-clock, three-shift system of the workers, among them being accepted an invitation from the is worked, consisting of eight wages, social insurance, safety East German Chemical Workers' hours per shift. measures, etc. From what I saw Union to visit the raw film manu- Numerous grades, positive, nega- and heard it is not failing in its facturing plants of Agfa and tive, colour and X-ray are being job. Wages by present East Ger- Dekopan. produced for internal consumption The State-controlled Agfa works and for export. Ninety-nine per is situated at Wolfen, in a greenish cent of production, I learnt, is now area about thirty miles from on safety film base. Leipzig. It is indeed an astonish- It was pointed out to me how in ingly large plant employing over pre-war days, under the economics 15,000 workers of whom are 60% of private ownership, thousands of on film and sensitised employed pounds were often spent and goods production and 409f on the countless man-hours invested, in manufacture of rayon, artificial an attempt to discover a process silk, chemicals and magnetic tapes. or a production method which another local film competitor had Dressed in White already discovered. Constant antagonism between companies Before commencing my exten- existed. But today, I was informed, sive tour accompanied by the in Eastern Germany all film com- factory manager, interpreter and panies pool their ideas and ex- officials of the Chemical Union, I change personnel and experiences. was dressed from head to foot in Joint meetings are held, too, be- white protective clothing, which is tween German, Russian, Czecho- the usual precaution taken when slovakian and other film workers. entering workrooms where sen- This has tremendously minimised Ken Roberts at Agfa Factory sitising is taking place; this helps raw film defects, overcome produc- to prevent dust contamination on tion bottlenecks and has revolu- the film emulsion surfaces. tionised methods. Industrial man standards are good. Every At my own request the pro- secrets are shared, full co-opera- kind of factory amenity one could gramme was concentrated round tion is the motto. wish for is available, canteens, the actual making of the raw film children's nurseries, dental treat- viewing of the base, the emulsion ment, X-ray units, and excellent coating machines, the spooling Advanced Techniques medical facilities. sections, melting departments, etc., in fact, all the processes which are This united co-ordination has not I was assured that dermatitis essential in making it possible to meant a destruction of the com- which can arise from the handling put that treasured roll of film in petitive spirit, or a stagnation in of chemicals, raw emulsions, etc., the technician's camera. production. On the contrary, it is extremely rare owing to pro- seems to have had the opposite tective measures which are in I was shown everything I effect. My attention was drawn operation. wanted to see with the greatest to the high degree of mechanisa- friendliness and readiness. During At the Dekopan film works at tion, with the most advanced discussion I learnt that the Agfa Kopenick, East Berlin (prior to techniques I have ever witnessed. works emerged from the last war 1945 this plant was owned by I observed by the speed of the almost undamaged, all the Kodak Ltd.), over 1,000 workers machines and the intelligent team machinery and technical installa- are employed. It suffered substan- work, that even under darkroom tions were unscathed, making it tial damage during the war but is conditions there was extremely possible to start production im- now fully reconstructed with new high productivity, without signs of mediately after the end of hos- extensions. It produces its own sweated labour. tilities. film base. As a trade unionist, I of course Seemingly a great obstacle to Owing to space I must sum up took interest in the activities the competitive capacity of Agfa of my impressions in a few words. the factory union. Membership of in the world market was the com- Work conditions and amenities, in the Chemical Workers' Union, pulsory release of all their patents common with Agfa, are first rate. which caters for all Agfa and processing methods. However, workers, Modern perfected darkroom tech- is voluntary. There is no closed I saw for myself that today they niques exist. A recent achievement shop. are working to full capacity. The by Dekopan is the development of working week generally is 44 I was told that the main duties hours. of the union were to deal with (continued on page 172) — 172 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN December 1957 Organisers' Page Beaconsfield Films FREDERICK OUGHTON, who has been elected Journal corres- pondent at Beaconsfield Studios, WE GET AGREEMENT writes: " A meeting was called recently C'MPLOYERS in the Film In- for the purpose of clarifying issues ^ dustry as an almost invariable HONOURED arising out of reports in the trade rule honour the agreements, but press to the effect that Julian recently a case arose of a girl who Wintle had done a deal and bought was given one week's notice in- the studio. This affected many of stead of the customary two. On the N.U.R., I would like briefly to our members who had been at approaching the employer we were pay a tribute to a man of out- Beaconsfield since the Group Three told that as she was not a member standing integrity and humanity. days. They felt that the new it was not our concern. It had to Not a brilliant orator, he spoke owners, Beaconsfield Films Ltd., be pointed out that no one can be with such sincerity and argued had come to the studio with great employed at conditions less favour- with the B.T.C. the case for the ideas but could not now live up to able than those laid down. It is railwaymen with a real under- them. fair to add that the two weeks' standing and genuine feeling. Jim " I said that I had received notice was given. Campbell will be missed, not only reassurances from the Board of all in In another case it was brought by railwaymen, but by people Directors, with whom I had had to our notice that a member had the organised Trade Union move- several meetings, that Mr. Wintle not received the latest increase, on ment. would keep on the existing techni- the plea that he had received a cians and crews, though this was merit award just prior to the date strictly a gentleman's agreement of the award. The management and a verbal one. did not feel that a further advance Recently a Probationary mem- Disappointment was justified, but it is pleasing to ber submitted an application for note that after eleven weeks the the shop full membership; " Several questions were asked, advance was paid with retrospec- comment is worthy of steward's and some members expressed their tive respect. " It is considered reproduction: my disappointment that Peter Rogers, wrote, " that the opinion," he Managing Director of Beaconsfield JIM CAMPBELL above-named sponsors are either Films Ltd., had decided to make have been lying in their teeth or features elsewhere. In many ways The tragic death of Jim bought. Mr. X ... is a monarchist, Campbell, General Secretary of the this marked the disintegration of a reactionary and a religious what they thought was a good N.U.R., in a car accident has brought disaster fanatic. He has team. Mr. Rogers' position was robbed the labour movement of a chaos upon every picture on and that he desired to make large-scale great figure. As a former railway worked. is sworn which he has He features on location, using such worker although not a member of the Union by internal to smash studio space in Britain as may be erosion. He demoralises all who available in the future. work with him, grinds the faces " of those below him into the mud of His position was now compli- our car-park and gives succour cated by the advent of the tele- East Germany and encouragement to our tyran- series, Ivanhoe, which was occupy- nical capitalist masters. ing the main stage and would con- tinue to do so until early next year. ( continued) " If your honours are prepared This cut both ways : the Beacons- to ignore these several points, a yellow-based X-ray film giving a field technicians and general staff though, I have no hesitation in clearer definition than the familiar would continue until Ivanhoe came recommending that his application black and white type. This has to an end and there was the chance be accepted so that he may take been acclaimed as the X-ray film of another long-range job being his rightful place with the rest of with a future. Output of film and put on the floor, though no details us rogues. — — , Shop Steward." printing papers for still photo- wore available at the moment. graphy seemed to be one of their The member who very sportingly " The meeting was held under specialities. sent along this high commenda- the chairmanship of Herbert Smith tion with the form made this com- If I asked deepest im- with Les Gray as secretary." am my ment: " Concerning the Shop pression of the East German film Steward's remarks, I feel he is a workers, my answer would be, first member of the wrong Union, I their enthusiasm, and second, their think he ought to belong to Equity sense of ownership of their fac- Priestley like any other comedian." Judgment tories. "... a great deal of nonsense In conclusion, I am indebted to comes out of TV sets. But a good the Agfa and Dekopan Manage- Fred Tonge deal of sense comes out of them, ments for their generous hos- too, probably far more than most pitality and particularly to the elderly lawyers imagine. And after officials of the East German "A member should carry not all, much the same can be said of Chemical Workers' Union, who only a Union card in his pocket judges. A great deal of sense went to great lengths to make my I ut Trade Unionism in his heart." comes out of them, and so does a visit pleasant, instructive and en- Walter Reuther, U.S.A. delegate good deal of nonsense." J. B. joyable to the T.U.C. Priestlei/ in Retinoid* Y< ictt. — December 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 173 Films in the Service of Industry MAX ANDERSON REPORTS ON THE HARROGATE FESTIVAL Harrogate Festival was the with, the work of professional Honourable Mention: Atlantic hint; THE Technical and Scientific Films for first opportunity ever for spon- technicians. Nevertheless, it will Central Office of Information sors, producers and users of films be interesting to watch the de- Producer/Director: Jack Green- for industry to meet, show one velopment of the move by Colour wood. Director of Photography: another their wares and discuss Film Services Ltd., to sponsor an John Wiles. common problems. Among the 500 association of bodies engaging in SALES PROMOTION or so attending were representa- this sort of activity. 1st Prize: Introducing Telex R.H.R. Productions for Creed & Co. tives from practically every pro- Ltd. duction unit, from many official Discussion Sessions Producer: Ronald H. Riley. Direc- and other public bodies, from all tor: Richard Tambling. The discussions sessions were Honourable Mention: Pipeline into the country's major industries and perhaps the most difficult part of Persia many of the lesser ones, and from Greenpark Productions for Costain- the proceedings to assess. The several overseas companies. John Brown Ltd. subjects chosen ("Productivity", Producer: Humphrey Swingler. Other than ourselves, there were " Public Relations ", " Technical Director / Cameraman: Roland only four Trades Union delegates, Stafford. Education ", " Sales—Home and from the T.U.C., E.T.U., NATKE TRAINING INSIDE Overseas ", " Health and Safety ", INDUSTRY and the Union of Post Office 1st Prize: Successful Instruction " Job Training " and " Distribu- Workers. Officials of the National R.H.R. Productions for Army tion") were in themselves interest- Kinema Corporation. Union of General and Municipal ing and important but offered too Producer: Ronald H. Riley. Direc- Workers and the T.U.C. were tor: David Villiers. wide a scope to be dealt with ade- among the speakers and the latter Honourable Mention: Safe Transit quately in a couple of hours, and Pilot Films for British body was represented on the Coun- Transport this problem was accentuated by Commission. cil of the Festival and on various the number of platform speakers TECHNICAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL sub-committees. Of course, nearly — usually four—at each session and 1st Prize: High Speed Flight Ap- all the delegates from the pro- proaching the Speed of Sound by the restriction of the floor ducing side were A.C.T.T. mem- to Shell Film Unit for Shell Petroleum questions rather than discussion. Co. Ltd. bers. As a result, while the general Production Consultants: Film Cen- tre, London. Director: Peter de exchange of Wide Range of Subjects views and information Normanville. was useful, it was rare for any FOR USE IN SCHOOLS Of some 330 films submitted, 131 single point to be pursued to a 1st Prize: Mirror in had been selected for exhibition. the Sky satisfactory conclusion. Realist Film Unit for Milliard Ltd. They carried the credits of 60 and Educational Foundation for separate units, and carried a wide Visual Aids. Difficult to Assess range of subject matter, Producer: Basil Wright. Director: purpose Alex Strasser. One of and treatment and cost. In each the primary objects of SALES AND DEALER TRAINING of the Festival, of course, was to the ten categories into which 1st Prize: Golden Minutes they were divided, there were two spread the gospel of the film to United Motion Pictures for Wolf awards to be won, and a list of the sectors of the industry which have Electric Tools Ltd. Producer: J. J. Sheppard. winners appears of so far made little or no use of the Direc- at the end this tor: Forbes Taylor. report. medium. On this point, too, the Honourable Mention: Demonstrational Incidentally, it is a sad comment results are difficult to assess with- Selling Harold Goodwin for the scientific out fuller knowledge of Gas on the position of train- the Council. interests represented, ing and recruitment in British in- but it is HEALTH & SAFETY IN INDUSTRY obviously, in any case, dustry that there were compara- not a short- First Prize: Don't be a Dummy tively few entries under the head- term matter, and the very fact Verity Films for Central Electricity ing " For Use in Schools " and that a co-ordinated attempt has Authority. Producer: O. Skilbeck. Director: " Guidance " been made on the problem is itself on Careers and that J. Mendoza. in these categories and that of a hopeful sign. Honourable Mention: Criticality " " Technical and Technological At the close of the proceedings, Film Producers' Guild for U.K. Atomic Energy Authority. the juries found no film worthy of delegates were asked for their Producer: G. Buckland - Smith. a second prize. views on whether the occasion Director: Bill Pollard. Lord Mancroft, in a lively speech should be repeated. It is our view CAREERS IN INDUSTRY opening the Festival, had firmly that if the inevitable teething 1st Prize : Golden Future suggested that " film making troubles mentioned above can be World Wide Pictures with Film Centre for Transvaal and Orange should be left to the professionals" overcome, the event should become Free State Chamber of Mines. and this advice was repeated by one of positive value to the Producer: James Carr. Director: several subsequent speakers. There specialised side of film making. Julian Spiro. were, in fact, besides the work of INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTIVITY 1st Prize: Introducing contracting companies, and of full- Work Study " World Wide Pictures for British time internal units ", some ten Productivity Council. films on view produced for indus- Producer: Hindle Edgar. Director: trial firms by their own regular The Winning Films Clifford Parris. Honourable Mention: Think of the staff. When available finance is PUBLIC RELATIONS AND PRESTIGE Future small and intended audiences very 1st Prize: Oil Harbour— Halas and Batchelor Films for Aden European limited, such productions may well World Wide Pictures for George Productivity Agency with Central Office of Information. be considered as complementary Wimpey & Co. Ltd. Producer: James Carr. Director: Producer /Direct or: John Halas. to, rather than in competition Derek Williams. (continued on page 174) 174 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN December 1957 MEMBERS SCREEN Lab Topics CREDITS Derek Whitehurst informs us DEATH OF BRIAN that owing to an error on the part BOLT of the producers he did not receive the screen credits due to him as W/E very much regret to He joined Pathe as a trainee, assistant director of Inside Infor- " announce the death of Brian and, apart from two years in the mation and The Case of the Bolt in New Cross Hospital on R.A.F., he had worked con- Smiling Widow in the Scotland October 18th. tinuously for the firm, both in Yard series made by Anglo-Amal- Wardour Street and at Elstree. gamated at Merton Park Studios. Fred Cull, Shop Steward at Pathe, Wardour Street, writes: Prior to his illness he had been The credits were inadvertently very fond of sport, playing both Brian Bolt was a very likeable given to a previous assistant football and cricket, and he was personality who, through his un- director. seldom, if ever, absent from a failing friendliness to everyone social function. Derek Whitehouse took the was a popular member of the matter up with the production Printing Room staff. He was only For a time he acted as Branch company who apologised and con- twenty-four and he leaves a widow Secretary and also as a member tacted A.C.T.T. in order to give the and a daughter some two years of the Branch A.C.T.T. Committee. Union the correct credit informa- old. Brian, who will be sadly missed tion. About eighteen months ago by us all, was buried in Crayford Brian contracted a serious illness Parish Churchyard. Among those and from that time onwards there who attended the funeral were began an unequal fight against Charlie Day, Bill Newman and failing health. Periods in hospital Fred Cull from Pathe. UNITY THEATRE and attendances as an out-patient, interspersed with spells work, Fred Tonge represented A.C.T.T. at stamped him as a fighter. Even Alec Garnett III at a conference which was con- when obviously extremely ill he vened to attempt to work out plans We regret to announce that Alec still managed to laugh and joke for securing better support for Garnett, of Kays, and formerly of about his misfortune. Unity Theatre. Technicolor, has been ill in hospital for two months. There was an attendance of over We wish about sixty representing the Trade him a speedy recovery. Unions, Political Parties, Co- THE ANNUAL REUNION operative Organisations and others. of the Two suggestions were made for improving the liaison between the CROWN FILM UNIT and Cynical Theatre and the Labour Move- Gay will be held on ment: " I see from the programmes of 1. A ))( -rmntu nt advisory committee FRIDAY evening, DEC. 20th, the new National Film Theatre consisting of representatives of the that someone has dreamed up a I in.i, Unions Parties, and Political at the — 'Captive Cinema'. with Co-ops, etc. new movement At last the film makers of England 2. Committee to meet at the start of each production to give pul>licitii "NAG'S HEAD," COVENT have a banner to which they can Hi i mn/liiiiit /In Limdon Lalxnu rally with a clear conscience.'' and Trade Union movement. GARDEN Lindsay Anderson in the .Ye if 1 An appeal was made for more SI a 1 stna/n. affiliations, to which the General Council has responded by affiliat- ing A.C.T.T. to Unity. OFFICIAL APPOINTMENT Winning Films LABORATORY SUPERINTENDENT (Film Processing) required by Federal Government of Nigeria for Film Production Unit, Information {Continued) Service, on contract for 18/24 months in first instance. Salary according Honourable Mention: Mechanisation of to experience in scale (including inducement addition) £1,170 rising to i.ir, stO( I. Farm ing £1,488 a year. Gratuity at rate £150 a year. Outfit Allowance £60. Kandom Film I 'i odu< t ions for Shell- Liberal leave on full salary. Free passages for officer and wife. Grant Mi \ and B.P. Ltd. I'i -inlm-ei Direelor Pel el Mills. up to £150 annually for maintenance of children in U.K. Free passages for children up to cost of two adult return fares. (It is thus often possible Ill M\\ KKI.ATIONS IN INDUSTRY for an officer whose children are being educated in the U.K. to arrange 1st Prize Mi a mi tin Mi nd for them to spend two more school vacations in West Africa with free British Transom! Films for British passages). Candidates must have a thorough knowledge of all aspects Transport Commission of cine film processing both including negative cutting I 'i odui « i Edgar Anstey. Direi 16mm. and 35mm., tor: Kenneth Fairbairn. experience. The officer will be required to work with and take over, as Honourable Mention: llemel Homestead required, from the officer in charge of the laboratories. Write to the i Film Unit for I Dexion Dexion Crown Agents, 4 Millbank, London, S.W.I. State age, name in block Producer: Dr. Peter Cardew. letters, full qualifications experience and quote M3B/35002/CY. I lirector [an MacPhail. and December 1957 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 175 General Council in Session COST OF LIVING BONUS The General Council, at its meetings of the Committee was Irish law. The General Secretary November meeting, had before it given at which draft notes pre- reported that an Organiser would the resolutions of a recent Shorts pared by Sir Robert Fraser on the be visiting Ireland within the next Section general meeting; the first British nature of television films two or three weeks to investigate sought a meeting with the Asso- had been considered. Sir Robert and report back to the Executive ciation of Specialised Film Pro- sought guidance from the meet- Committee on the proposed Irish ducers " to raise the question of ings, and much progress had been studios. consolidating the cost of living made. bonus into the basic wage rate." The Executive and General Coun- " CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS: The HARRY BLACK " - MARSHAM cil agreed to press for the meeting with the employers' federation. following notice had been circu- PRODUCTIONS LTD.: It was lated by the B.F.P.A. and F.B.F.M. agreed that a reasonable number On the initiative of A.C.T.T. to their member companies: of Indian technicians could be members at Rank Screen Services employed while the production The B.F.P.A. and the Federa- Local Filmlet Studios, the Section Harry Black was on location in tion of British Film Makers have drew the Executive's attention to India for a period of eight or more agreed to recommend to their the fact that because Cartoon and weeks. given an companies that the The Company had Animation members have no equi- member Christmas Holidays 1957 undertaking that a full A.C.T.T. valent gradings in the B.F.P.A. for should be Wednesday, Thursday, main shooting unit would be em- Agreement, they do not enjoy any ployed the location, together and Friday, 25th, 27th on increases when doing TV or Adver- 26th and December. with an A.C.T.T. second unit of tising work, other than what is Lighting Cameraman, Camera laid down in the A.S.F.P. Agree- Employees who are required Operator, two Focus Pullers, Clap- ment; it was agreed, as a first step to work on Friday, 21th Decem- pers/Loader, Director, Assistant in overcoming this anomaly, to ex- ber should be given a day off Director, Stills Cameraman and plore the possibilities of incor- in lieu. Location Manager. The second porating these grades into the Companies who implement this unit would be proceeding about 1st B.F.P.A. Agreement with the recommendation may wish to December and there would be the Federation of British Film Makers secure an undertaking from em- usual three-union location meeting and the B.F.P.A. •ployees that, in return for the beforehand. additional day's holiday on the TELEVISION: A drive to organise Friday, a full day's work will be the I.T.A. Transmitters is being carried out on Tuesday, 24th December. TV PRODUCER / DIRECTORS made and, when conditions permit, DRAFT AGREEMENT: This docu- every effort will be made to organ- The Executive asked that this ment, already accepted by a well- ise TV Shops in the B.B.C.; a matter be raised with the other attended meeting of TV Producer/ special " B.B.C. Issue " of the TV employers' federations, and the Directors, was presented to the bulletin would be prepared shortly General Council heard that the Executive which, after making after the one which was now at A.S.F.P. noted the B.F.P.A.- certain amendments, decided to the printers had been sent out. F.B.F.M. circular and would leave give detailed consideration to the Organiser Paddy Leech reported the matter to individual Shorts draft at a subsequent meeting; the that a meeting had been arranged employers. following Executive meeting spent between representatives of the the whole evening on this matter. Union and Independent Television Various deletions and amendments News to start talks on an agree- FIFTY-SEVEN MEMBERS were were agreed and it was also agreed ment for the film side technicians registered on the Union's Employ- that, prior to submitting it to the who were at present covered by ment Bureau as at 1st October, a Programme Contractors, the the Newsreel Agreement. decrease of thirty-nine compared amended draft should be approved with the September figure, though Council. The Organiser had visited Chel- by the General the Employment Officer, Bunny sea Palace (Granada TV), where The Council considered the draft Garner, reported that the figure of Shop Steward Mike Roberts had agreement in detail and made a unemployed had risen again since convened a meeting of members number of further amendments. then. Eighty-six vacancies were and where a considerable number The document was then unani- filled by the Bureau during Sep- of technicians had been recruited. mously endorsed for submission tember. to An early meeting was sought with the employers. the Station Manager of Television West Wales to arrange for the IRISH T.U. ORGANISATION: National Agreement to apply to The F. G.P. recommended this station. & that SOCIETY FOR FRIENDSHIP the office be authorised to deposit WITH BULGARIA: The F. & G.P. £1,000 with the Irish Ministry for recommended and it was agreed RADIO AND TELEVISION Industry and Commerce, as a pre- that we affiliate to the Society for SAFEGUARDS COMMITTEE. A requisite to having a branch of a fee of 10/6d. per year. This detailed report of the last two A.C.T.T. in Ireland, as required by was agreed by the Council. . 176 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN December 1957 "ilSas ".' 1 11HUH II I II 'I \3 LTfl. \ EMMS \ '" : ' \ pi;:- 4 • • 1 «## see . . ••>>// oi?er lOO copies ami still spotless" \ Apply for free technical brochure 22-25 PORTMAN CLOSE BAKER STREET LONDON W.I Telephone: HUNter 0408-9 and allied Technicians, 2 Soho Published by the Proprietors, The Association of Cinematograph, Television Herts. Square, London, and Printed by Watford Printers Limited, Watford. FILM and TV TECHNICIAN \T.T's 25th Birthday Issue MAY 1958 Association of < iikih.ii re* allied Technicians VoL 24 No. 160 PRICE 6d. 242 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN May 1958 Shell Films The Shell Film Unit was founded in 1933. Its documentary films are known throughout the world; more than 3,000 copies of current productions are distributed annually overseas. The majority are revoiced in more than a dozen languages. The Shell Film Library contains over 150 films covering not only every aspect of the oil industry but also many subjects directly or indirectly related to it. Song of the Clouds A colour film about world civil aviation and the far-reaching organisation on which it depends. Three recent Caracas productions An English version of a film made by the Shell Film Unit in Venezuela about life in the capital o( that country. I High Speed Flight — Part 1 — Approaching the Speed of Sound An introduction to the problems of high speed flight. L_. .J Shell films can be obtained on free loan by responsible organisations SHELL for showing to non-paying audiences in nearly ever) country in the world simply on application to the local Shell Company , or in Great Britain to the Petroleum Films Bureau, 29 New Bond Street, London, IV. 1. May 1958 FILM « TV TECHNICIAN fl» i»r oi Modm llltAtl cu._ f Wherever there's show business for know how and show how. . . 244 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN May 1958 BRITISH TRANSPORT FILMS vf welcome the opportunity to send THANKS AND GOOD WISHES to two hundred and fifty members of A C T T who at one time or another have given us their help The Companies in Membership of the Association of Specialised Film Producers send Best Wishes to all Technicians engaged in making British Films May 1958 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 245 The finest cranes are TRANSATLANTIC'S " Big Bill " camera crane Electrically driven and is suitable for black and white or colour photography. Can be used with or without tracks. Easy to handle and can manoeuvre very easily. The turret head can operate through 360 degrees. The lens of camera can be raised from 3' 6" to 16' 0". Requires only four men to operate it. "Academy " camera crane Electrically driven and adapted for TV. Can be used with or without tracks. It will pass through an average doorway 3' 6", and is driven by a HOv DC. 5 H.P. motor. Provides a lens height from 2' 6" to 10' 6" from the floor. It can pann around camera axis 340 degrees. " Baby " camera crane For black and white or colour photography. Battery driven and can be operated in studio or on location. Can be used with or without tracks in the studio — providing the floor is in good condition. On location, tracks are a necessity. Small enough to be driven through an average size door. Improved turret head can operate through 360 degrees. Requires only two men to operate it. Enquiries to Miss M. Haselwood, Transatlantic Pictures Corporation Limited, 36 Golden Square, W.l. REGent 8080 246 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN May 1958 Technically and Artistically Associated-Rediffusion, as the pioneers of Independent relevision in Great Britain, have today, after only • yi .us. ' the leading tv facilities in the world. A mobile, miniature tv camera, nicknamed the 'Peepie- ( Ireepie', is our latest piece of equipment. It can transmil from places hitherto inaccessible to a TV camera. As a result of up-to-date technique and equipment, we can transmit to the London area and the full ity net- work the best possible programmes both technically and artistically. ASSOCIATED-REDIFFUSION pioneer the best TV techniques May 1958 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 247 A COM PLETE LABORATORY SERVICE PRODUCTION FILM PROCESSING & RUSH PRINTING TITLES *OPTICALS* INSERTS* SPECIAL EFFECTS ANIMATED DIAGRAMS • EDITING * NEGATIVE CUTTING FILMLETS AND FILM STRIPS IN B & W AND COLOUR STU DIO FILM LABORATORIES L 71 DEAN STREET, LONDON, W.I TELEPHONE: GERrard 0831-5 REVIEW YOUR FILMS AT OUR R.C.A. PREVIEW THEATRE TWO KODAK SPECIALS WITH TEN LENSES A bolex h 16, two Kodak B cameras, G.B. 622 and 630 projectors, with all lenses to 4 in., most in duplicate, a 9 -5mm. Bob Betteley Eric Pask projector, an animated viewer, titlcr, recorder and various screens... is equipment, mentioned in the Eric Davidson Peter Pickering This one amateur's April issue of AMATEUR CINE WORLD. In the May issue : Langton Gould-Marks Sally Presley articles on making an electric motor drive for a Bolex tor less than 30s., and instructions for constructing a developing tank Francis Gysin Ken Reeves out of a vegetable rack and a waste bin It is this almost breath-taking variety which makes Rolf Hermelin Suschitzky W. AMATEUR CINE WORLD such intriguing reading. And Robert Kruger Derek Witham the professional film maker often finds interest and entertain- ment in this catholocity of approach, since it can keep him informed on aspects normally outside his province. Also in the May issue: full results (13 pages) of the send their best Wishes and Amateur Cine World Ten Best Films competition - the most famous amateur film contest in the world. heartiest Congratulations PRESENTATION OF THE TEN BEST FILMS National Film Theatre Part 1, 21st - 25th May; Part 2, 11th June - 15th June to Seats 2s. 6d., 3s. 6d., 4s. and 5s. all bookable, from box office (WAT 3232) AMATEUR CINE WORLD, 2s. (over 100 pages) from news- agents and photographic dealers, is published on the 25th of A.C.T.T. the month from 46 - 47 CHANCE RY LANE LONDON WC2 . May 1958 2 I s FILM & TV TECHNICIAN Mazda 20 Kw Studio lamps The new Mazda 20 Kw. Studio Lamp is now available for immediate delivery ex stock. This lamp has been designed in conjunction with Mole Richardson for use UL in their studio spot and floodlight housing. * The Mazda 20 Kw. lamp is supplied for it <: operation and is also available for 2301., 240V. and 250V. supplies. Ir provides light a! 3250 K and is an addition 10 the range of 2 Km., 5 K. i. and to Kw. Mazda Studio Lamps. MELTON F.OAD LEICESTER 4758 May 1958 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 249 u 1896- (£)> -1958 Csor b2 years we hare been making L. inematoora/m C cfuifiment at L amden CzJown, which/ so our customers inform us, whether for ClJroductiou, Csroccsstuo or for 'rojectiou, has always had a certain something about it thai readily identifies it as oeino of liloy manufacture. (_Jlus we hare always accepted as a compliment, of which, c/iute frankly, we are rather foroudi and our constant endeavour will be to lire up to this longstanding reputation for many years to come. ERNEST F. MOY, LTD. 134 BAYHAM STREET, CAMDEN TOWN, LONDON, N.W.I The ANVIL REALIST SEVEN LEAGUE GROUP takes this opportunity oj extending to all its Friends in the Industry GREETINGS & GOOD WISHES • ANVIL FILMS LTD • REALIST FILM UNIT LTD • ANVIL FILMS (SCOTLAND) LTD • SEVEN LEAGUE PRODUCTIONS LTD • WORLD MIRROR PRODUCTIONS LTD 250 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN May 1958 The Single-lamp Technique — A NEW 20kw SPOTLIGHT! More and more the technique of TRUNNION LOCK studio lighting veers towards the use LIFTING EYE (CONCEALED! of a single lamp as the main source. Only by this means is it possible to secure correctly lit studio exteriors. During the last six months over 100 of the new M.R. 10 k.w. lamps have been supplied. We now offer a lamp specially designed for this technique —the Type 20,000 20 kw. SWITCH FOCUS HANDLE / BULB CLAMP BULB NECK TELESCOPIC CLAMP MOUNTING LIFTING EYE WIND OUT HANDLE (CONCEALED) (MECHANISM TILTS AS EXTENDS) The Hen MR Typi 20,000 20kw Studio Illuminator, with rear- opening lamphouse, 24-inch lens and sound-proofed blower to stop bulb blistering. The whole lain/mouse slays cool to the touch. Look at these Features: 1. Scientifically designed ventilation natural convec- FOCUS tion plus silenced blower. HANDLE 2. Simplicity of opening even when at an angle of 45 deg. TILT RELEASE 3. No danger of damaging bulb when removing for SLIDE RELEASE cleaning. 4. Easy access to all moving parts. SWITCH (OTHER SIDFi 5. At-a-glance examination of bipost contacts. 6. Contacts fully floating yet bulb rigidly held in focal position at all angles. TELESCOPIC 7. More robust easy maintenance. MOUNTING \IK Typt 10,000 RO \0k« Studio Illuminator, also 8. New style finish. with rear-opening lamphouse and with 20-inch lent. MOLE-RICHARDSON (engl*nd.)LTD. CHASE ROAD, LONDON, N.W. 10 . ELGar6834 . Cables: Molereng, England Branch Companies in PARIS. ROME, MADRID. MUNICH Agents and Representatives in many other countries May 1958 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 251 TWENTY-FIVE YEARS YOUNG By Anthony Asquith \ DELIGHTFUL old lady I knew was left to play different categories, ranging from the three-hour with a small boy of four by his mother who feature film to the thirty-second advertisement murmured apologetically something about his being " snip ", from the full-length television play to the " very young ". The boy overheard the words and usually depressing weather forecast. But all these " was puzzled by them. " Are you very young too? have one thing in common—visual and aural com- he asked my old friend. " Yes," she answered, " but munication, indeed our craft, and only ours, is con- I've been very young for a very long time." cerned with the most powerful and, with the possible exception of music, the most universal To be able to say this with perfect truth, as she medium of communication yet devised by the mind was, seems to me a most desirable thing not only of man. for people, but for organisations. The recent dupli- cation of its final " T " ensures that A.C.T.T. Because of this, as a Union we bear a double remains the youngest union affiliated to the T.U.C. responsibility—a responsibility to our members for But even without the help of our splendid new tail their pay, their conditions of work and their general feathers, we have been very young for twenty-five well-being, and a responsibility to our craft and, years—a respectable span in the life of any union. through it, to Society as a whole. The value of our And I think we can claim without immodesty that end product varies as greatly as the forms it takes. we have stayed young without ceasing to grow with Very occasionally we produce something which can extraordinary rapidity in physical strength, but also, justly claim to be a work of art, something, that is, I believe, in the capacity which is the fruit of the which is of lasting value. Quite often we produce ability to learn from experience. good entertainment I in case of misunderstanding I would like to emphasize as strongly as I can that Our is not—and must never be—the youth of I believe the common distinction between art and arrested development, where a huge unwieldy body entertainment to be utterly false. A work can be pathetically and flabbily encases a pin-head of entertaining without being a work of art, but no intelligence. Nor, when the next twenty-five years work can be a work of art without being also have passed, may our youth have become that entertaining. The difference is that the passage of " second childhood " due to the hardening of the time does not diminish, it may even increase, the imaginative arteries, which springs from the meticu- power of the true work of art to entertain, i We lous preservation of the letter of tradition, without also produce works which, though essential, are by in the least understanding their spirit or intentions. their very nature of only temporary significance, A living tradition is ours which continuously re- news items, topical discussions, etc. And alas ! we news and changes its outward expression. It is an also produce a large amount of unspeakable tripe. oxygen tent not a strait-jacket. There is nothing As an individual craftsman, it must be the more tragic, than when a living stream is fossilized pride of each of our members to do his particular into a stalagmite. It may be beautiful but you can- job as well as he can. But as a union it should not drink from it. just as surely be our duty, not only to safeguard Now I do not believe that A.C.T.T. is in danger of and enhance the material well-being of our members, its youth suffering from either of these perversions but to use all our influence to see that their skill is as long as we remain what our title proclaims us used on something worth doing. This has always to be, an association of technicians, a comradeship been a guiding principle in A.C.T.T., and as long as of craftsmen, each of whom in his own way is con- it remains so, I believe that we will, in the best tributing to produce the same unique thing. It is sense of the word, go on being very young for a true that our " end-product " may fall into many very long time. Sir Michael Balcon on Features . Page 252 Desmond Davis on Television . . Page 268 Thorold Dickinson on U.N. Films Page 265 Bert Craih on the Laboratories . Page 271 Sir Arthur Elton, Bt., on Documentary . Page 262 FILM Along the Mole troops, waiting evacuation from Dunkirk, press back OS the wooden structure disintegrates THE Association's 25th anniver- and from Europe 1 1 have in mind sary has an especial interest for such outstanding technicians as IT me since, although my own film Georges Perinal. Max Greene, Glen career is longer, it so happens that McWilliams, Otto Ludwig. Gunther the life of the A.C.T.T. corresponds Krampf and many others) and I IS TIME to some extent with what I might think we must, to some extent, be call the second stage of my in- grateful to them for helping to dustry life — the period with train some of the British personnel Ealing. who were to become the backbone of our industry. Early apprentice- TO I am asked to write, however, ship schemes were also established, about the development of feature including classes at the technical films during the life of the Asso- school near the studio, principally ciation, which means that I am ADJUST for the training of make-up artists. dealing also with that period of about five years before I joined They were in some respects good Ealing. days and, on looking back, I re- Well — 1933 was a period of high member with affection such films hope. Under the aegis of Mr. as Jack's tin Boy, Man nf Aran, Isidore Ostrer and his brothers, the Rome Express, Tin Midshipmaid activities of the then Gaumont- and The Good Companions. British Corporation were of an ex- By Alas, our fondest hopes w< i pansionist nature in that the new dashed to the ground. We failed additions to Shepherds Bush to conquer the American market MICHAEL Studios had been completed and and round about 1936-37 we were we were embarking on a large pro- faced with one of our earlier crises gramme of films with which we The pity of it was that this was m BALCON aimed to conquer the world's some respects a vantage period for markets British films, with stars like Jack Hulbert, Cicelj Courtncidgc. It i.-' perhaps Interesting to re- Conrad Veidt, Jessie Matthew.-'. member that at that time there " Wc ntuxt reconsider out whoh Tom Walls to mention but a few were not nearly enough trained — —at the peak of their success. approach to film production in technicians In the country. But we had no difficulty in importing first- There is no doubt that since its rt !at i"ii to content." class men from the United States foundation the Association has I ! — May 1958 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 253 done a great deal for the working parallel with the situation in to the shorter working week) but conditions of its members, but I America, described not very long and this is infinitely more impor- hope I am not committing a heresy ago by a well-known commentator tant—in relation to content. " in saying that up to 1933 (the year in these words : The motion We must realise that we have your Union came into operation) picture industry has functioned a different, younger population and in fact in the immediate years without noticeable adjustments to who are intelligent and capable following we did not really have economic realities . . . for four enough to respond to our films pro- much cause to grumble at our lot decades." vided we deal with subjects that at Shepherds Bush. In a sense, of course, the end of are of vital importance and in- All was not well, however, the silent picture was the end of terest to them. despite the excitement we felt about our work in those days. We had not made the progress we had anticipated in the creation of a native school of film production. Many of the films (with notable exceptions, of course) even if they were not slavish copies of the American type of picture, could have been better made in Holly- wood. There was even a period when we fell for the idea that the importation of American stars, directors and American-type stories would somehow provide the necessary ingredients for conquer- ing the American market and pro- ducing vast revenues. It was a mirage—nor did we make any great impression in any market oversea. Their Own Idiom It was not until the war period that the British feature films began to express themselves in their own idiom (the British documentary, to its everlasting credit, had already done so, and I still look upon the work of the early documentary units as being the greatest single influence in British film produc- Sir Michael Balcon, producer of " Dunkirk ", chats with director tion). Leslie Norman and star John Mills Naturally one thinks back on one's own work, and the immediate post-war years at Ealing Studios were spent under ideal working an era and it may well be that we Much has happened in these conditions, and produced, I think, are moving into something of a twenty-five years. We have seen not only a typical Ealing picture similar nature today. the gradual concentration of film but something that was indigenous There is much adjustment which production in the four main studio in its conception and proof posi- — needs take place and much of it centres, Pinewood, Shepperton, tive of your President's belief that is self-adjustment. It is no use our Elstree and Boreham Wood, and in the truly international picture is saying that the responsibility for the more recent years, the signifi- the film of national appeal. our present troubles lies exclu- cant development of Anglo-Ameri- We are always hearing about sively with television or the ex- can production. crises in the film industry. Each hibition or distribution side of the We have seen also the establish- one I have experienced in more film industry. Although many ment of the National Film Finance than thirty years in the business changes must inevitably take place Corporation and a statutory pro- has been heralded as another nail there, we must be thoroughly intro- duction levy. During the life of in the industry's coffin. Each time, spective and see what we ourselves the Association taxation on the in- however, the film industry has can do. dustry has developed from the risen again and found a fresh and The easy solution is not the em- punitive to the lethal; and, to his stronger voice in the world. ployment of gimmicks, whether in everlasting credit, John Davis for As I look back over the last few the technical developments of the first time in British film history years—and I recall that there was screen dimension or negative size, has built up a world selling organi- yet another " crisis " in 1949— or the production of horror or sex sation of significant proportions. must say that I consider some features. We have witnessed the develop- ground has been lost in feature We must reconsider our whole ment of another great medium of film production. Although for approach to film production not mass communication and enter- some time we have been facing only in relation to shooting tainment. I would not, however, falling returns, the inflationary schedules (which in the lifetime like to forecast the pattern of film pattern in production still con- of the Association have increased production over the next twenty- tinues. In fact there is some in many cases far out of proportion five years 254 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN May 195S CAMERAMAN in ANTARCTICA (iKOKGE LOWE IN ACTION WITH THE TRANS- ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION. A film iij the Expedition t urn iiii.s.snuii il hit the linlish Petroleum Co. Ltd. is being made by World Wide Pictures and will be ready for showing m the autumn. On Right: "LAB TOPICS" \EAK THE POLE May 1958 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 255 *^; :|fc^ Above: ' ROC KN ROLL ' TRAPPED IN A CREVASSE. Left: PROBING FOR A SAFE PATH. Below: GEORGE AND SOME GEAR Pictures by courtesy of the Trans-Antarctic Expedition 256 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN May 1958 Pattern for the Future By GEORGE ELVIN I DOUBTLESS because he is aware side particularly in those labora- when a large shake-up must take '-'of the thin dividing line be- tories which do newsreel work. nlace in the British film industry. tween dotage and anecdotage, the On the other hand, there may Cinemas, if they are to stay in Editor suggested I might in this well be a development in television business, must be modernised and rather article look forward than newsreels and therefore within the those who control production leaving of the backward, review union as a whole the shake up may must stop playing fast and loose other past twenty-five years to not be very substantial. Although with the livelihood of their em- contributors. here, too, recent developments ployees and settle down to a broad The only major change in the such as tape recorded television expansionist policy. of Union over the past indicate television pattern our that newsreels The present crisis is a challenge quarter of a century has been the may function without the neces- to British producers. While re- development of television and the sity of processing. laboratory turns generally are down it is slight shrinkage in the influence We are certain, of course, to significant that British films con- of feature film production. Where- have developments and expansion tinue to attract more money to the as in the early days our member- in television and it is likely that box office than foreign films. ship was primarily composed of before long the Government of the technicians engaged in feature day will introduce legislation to Expand Production films, their numbers now are only establish competitive television about one-sixth of the total. channels. Whether they will be One of the steps which should be administered by the B.B.C. or by taken in order to overcome the In- Expansion of Documentary Independent Television or by some dustry's difficulties would be an new third body is much more expansion of production instead of There has been expansion on the problematical. But in any case we the foolish contraction which re- shorts and documentary side pri- can look forward to an expanding cently took place in certain marily due to development in the membership. quarters. non-theatrical use of films, and One thing is certain, though there has, of course, been an ex- Must Wake Up some people do not appear to pansion in our laboratory section appreciate it, namely, that unless which we started to recruit a year films are made and made available The side is or so after we were formed and cinema much more for showing, nothing on earth will problematical but I not one of which has subsequently become a am attract the public back to the very substantial proportion of our those Jeremiahs who foresee the cinemas. membership. demise of the cinema in favour of television, as at least one Govern- An analysis of the output of the There has, on the other hand, ment spokesman who recently re- leading directors of the British been a shrinkage in newsrecl mem- ceived a deputation from A.C.T.T. film industry would show that, bership as result of virtual a the seemed to do. At the same time, through no fault of their own. demise of two of the five News- unless the film industry wakes up then output is at a very much reels. level of its ideas it is sure to go through lower than that leading This year's Annual General continuing difficulties despite the directors in other countries. There Meeting is the first year when all tax relief granted in this year's is an obvious case in point. At the these varying changes have be- budget and, we hope, the com- very time when our own Presi- dent's last film, Orders to Kill, come really noticeable. I don't plete abolition of th< tax next year was indeed re- think it needs a very accurate if it cannot be forced through being acclaimed and crystal ball to prophesy that earlier. ceiving rave notices in the British twenty-five years hence there will press, his employers were busy But while tax relief, or prefer- shifts of cancelling his next production, an be many more balance ably abolition, for which we must within the Union by reason experience which he and other of continue to fight, will mean the changes in films and television leading directors have suffered all removal of a great injustice for in than there have been in first too frequently recent years. our the film industry, that by itself twenty-five years. will not necessarily lead to any We must stop for all time this British For a start, unless they wake up benefits either to the public, to sorry business of produc- their ideas and put out pro- production as a whole or to the tion being used as a pawn in the play grammes which the public will employees in the industry. If, as game which cinema owners with the Government and others clamour to see, it is virtually cer- our President said in his Address tain there will be no cinema news- to the Annual General Meeting, on whom they wish to exert pressure. reels twenty five years hence and tax relief is used simply to bolster this is almost sure to have some profits or buttress losses we are At times 1 almost despair of repercussions on the laboratory merely putting off the evil day British exhibitors acting intelli- , May 1958 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 257 gently. It was Sir Alexander As a leading projectionist said other when one of the major cir- Korda who said years ago that no at a recent inter-union meeting, cuits has an outstanding film the film has ever earned its full poten- a few are quite happy to drop out other circuit also has to show a tial from the box office. How reels two and seven of a support- real top-notcher so that, as mem- Exhibitors continue ing film in order to sure that right he was. make bers of the public have said to me, to have this silly policy of films nothing interferes with their it is impossible to plan one's three slavish to such time- running for one week or days adherence cinema going. One has to go two longer because of an tables. and seldom or three times in one week in a antiquated booking policy. Why is it that apart from the month and then may very well Why is it, for example, that in development in the sales of ice wish to skip the remaining weeks. OCR " BIRTH CERTIFICATE IS" I to -HH^r Qeriificttit of Registry of Trad* I { 1 J;\ ( .7 i i O 4 it i< \wu tifteci that +kr? Register No. ! 1%£ '! hi Trade ! liav of 11 f 10 33- f\ / Copy h : (Jhhj K-'j) >'(' The official entry recording the foundation of the Union the large seaside towns where the cream nothing has been done in Members can, I am sure, think public is changing each week recent years to help attract of many other examples of unen- throughout the summer we can patrons back to the cinemas ? Why lightened policy of the cinema have plays and variety pro- is it that, so many a parent tells owners and the first thing they grammes running unchanged me, films at school holiday times must learn if they wish to stay in throughout the whole season, are frequently of such a character business is that they must com- whereas the same treatment is that children cannot go to them pletely reorientate their ideas. seldom accorded to a film ? or at least have to be accompanied There is another point which by adults? Surely cinemas can needs airing. The National Film Why is it that cheap morning find out intelligently in advance Finance Corporation has rendered matinees which were quite a what the school holidays are and valuable service to British Film feature of film exhibition in Lon- plan their programmes accord- Production and indeed without it don and similar large cities before ingly. the war are no longer operated? there would be no independent pro- Why is it too that if by reason If the answer is financial, why duction today. Now it seems to be of diabolical weather or some aren't other means sought to cater getting in a groove. On a short- other special cause a film which for those numerous members of term basis it seems to be running is expected to attract the crowds the public who cannot go to the out of money and unless the has a rough time on its first time cinema in normal times because Government acts quickly, the round such film seldom comes back they are working? N.F.F.C. may not be able to again to catch the public which finance all the worthwhile inde- Why is it that exhibitors under normal circumstances it pendent productions which it slavishly stick to their routine of would have had? Why is it, too, opening and closing times? that in order to compete with each (Continued on page 259) LT,X FILM & TV TECHNICIAN May 1958 Mood TO SUIT ALL SUBJECTS! WE HAVE AVAILABLE AN EXTENSIVE LIBRARY OF Music RECORDED MUSIC PLUS THE SERVICE OF OUR LONG AND VALUABLE EXPERIENCE IN FILM REQUIREMENTS PRODUCERS! HERE IS YOUR OPPORTUNITY TO SAVE TIME & MONEY OVER YOUR MUSICAL PROBLEMS SEND NOW for our CATALOGUE of RECORDINGS SUITABLE for NEWSREELS AND DOCUMENTARIES HIGH FIDELITY RECORDING FRANCIS DAY& HUNTER LTDtK'a&l^^^^cSgSI 1^ I //'//'////////' //.J C // //' /// C\ /.; ////// V /.;///// INDEPENDENT ARTISTS BEACONSFIELD STUDIOS May 1958 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 259 GEORGE ELVIN The scheme got off to a good start go into them here. But in my is initial view it would (Continued) and it possible there was be wrong when we expansion of production in both have another competitive channel countries, but now there are many to act on the assumption that the would wish to finance in the near in those two countries who are B.B.C. should operate as a Third future. On a long-term basis it opposed to it, partly because the Programme for Television, and should have both sufficient capital concentration on reduced pro- that the I.T.A. should be regarded and powers to act as a kind of duction costs, upon which emphasis as comparable to the Light Pro- cushion to the vicissitudes of pro- has been laid in the schemes, has gramme in Radio, leaving the new duction. not led to the production of either channel to operate a kind of Home Whenever there is some tempor- outstanding films or indeed films Service. ary crisis in films that may be to recoup which have managed The only way to get the best caused by outside dictates over their cost of production. False service available to the public and, which it has no control, for ex- economy in production is no econ- indeed, to give technicians every ample, the recent changes in the omy at all. opportunity to do justice to them- Bank Rate which have added It is quite clear, too, that only selves is to have networks which burdens to independent producers certain types of stories are suited are completely competitive in all and indeed to the bigger com- to co-production and even then senses. panies as well, it is surely the job there has to be meticulous care in of the N.F.F.C. to buttress produc- May I in conclusion say just a all facets of making the film itself. tion to make sure that the in- few words on the past quarter of We must at all costs avoid making dustry is able to overcome such a century within A.C.T.T. It has films the object of which is, for difficulties. been an exciting twenty-five years, example, simply to substitute and fruitful in many ways. On for British labour or French more than one occasion, and par- British for Italian labour, irres- Target for Industry ticularly at the outbreak of war, pective of the story to be filmed. it was the trade unions who were What I would like to see is some On the other hand some form of in the vanguard of the fight to pre- kind of annual budget or target in European Common Market would serve the industry. With all due which the industry sets out to be worthwhile if it were used to modesty we can say that the size make a stipulated number of stimulate development of native and importance both of British films each year, preferably on productions in each country and to films and television today are in a rising scale. It should be a restrict the amount of screen time some measure due to the success- prime job of the N.F.F.C. to play which is at present commandeered ful struggle which has been carried a prominent part in ensuring that by American productions. on over the years by our own such a target is met. It should Union and others operating jointly also have power to take over pro- with us. Must Co-operate With TV ductions which, whether for wise We have naturally enough been or foolish reasons, are about to be Above all, films must reach a at all times mindful of the jobs, cancelled by producers so that we modus vivendi with television. It salaries and working conditions of avoid the sort of experience which is significant that, after the initial our members, but we have equally has been suffered at Pinewood hostility of films to television, a tried to be farseeing on the recently, when no one has known number of the leading film broader issues and we have lost no whether the productions on which interests are now directly con- opportunity in advocating pro- they commence work were likely cerned in operating television posals designed to foster the well- to be completed or not. stations. As long as we realise being of British films and British There is another aspect of the that basically the type of pro- television. future to which we shall have to duction which is most suited to ex- give considerable thought long hibition in cinemas is not the type May Unity Continue before the next quarter of a of production which is best suited century has expired. The British to the television screen there is no Government is shortly entering reason at all why there cannot be We have built up our member- into discussions with European fruitful co-operation between the ship from a handful of pioneers to Governments on the part which two media. nearly 8,000. We have developed films could or should play in a from an unorganised rabble to a Turning to television, the future cohesive and strong force. We European Common Market. as is far less uncertain. As long have seen the conditions of em- A.C.T.T. has tele- not yet discussed the public continue to buy ployment of our members advanced this and I would not like to pro- vision sets in increasing numbers from terms which were scandalous phesy what its attitude would be, so we are almost sure to have an into Agreements which are as good but I anticipate it will is be along expanding industry. But it as those held by any other British the lines that, while it would wel- equally certain that when sets trade union. We have developed come co-operation between paid for, the have been acquired, and from a collection of individuals un- British industry and continental likely to be the public are much used to organisation and inexperi- industries to protect and help each more discriminating in what they enced in how to go about improv- other, it would strongly oppose see on television and some of the ing their lot into a trade union any move which would seek to re- lessons of the past few years will which is as strong, even if numeri- place British film production by have to be learnt if the public is cally small, as any other collection continental production or by co- still going to look to television as of employees in Britain. And in productions. one of its main sources of enter- making this progress we have tainment. I have talked to many people managed to retain that degree of both in France and Italy on the Some of the pitfalls were dis- unity and sense of comradeship co-production scheme which has cussed and received headline pub- which should pervade the trade operated between those two licity at our last Annual General union movement. May it always countries for the past few years. Meeting and I need not therefore be so. 260 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN May 1958 LOOKING BACK Some A.C.T.T. Highlights fair wages clause, and general pro- 1942 September visions fostering British produc- First Agreement with Association tion as a result of mass lobbying 1933 June 21st of Specialised Film Producers. and other trade union intensive A.C.T. formed. pressure. 1943 January First Agreement with British Film Producers' Association. 1944 September First Agreement with Newsreel Association. &> k 1939 February First major agreement signed. With Laboratory Section of the Film Production Employers' Federation (forerunner of the Film Laboratory Association). 1945 September National Arbitration Tribunal 1934 January awards in favour of A.C.T. follow- George Elvin appointed General ing thirteen weeks' dispute with Secretary. Film Laboratory Association on terms of new agreement. Sub- 1935 May stantial wage increases and im- First number published " Journal proved working conditions laid of the Association of Cine-Techni- down. cians ", now " Film & TV Tech- nician ". 1946 March-April Repair and Despatch Strike. 193(5 December First industrial agreement signed. 1940 Negotiated with Gaumont-British Intensive activity with other Trade Picture Corporation (Shepherds Unions and producers to preserve Bush). industry (which Government planned to scrap) and ensure it played a full part in war effort. 1947 June Demarcation Agreement signed 1937 May settling long-standing differences Anthony Asquith first elected between A.C.T., E.T.U. and 1941 President. N.A.T.K.E. Arrangements made to staff Ser- 1938 April vice Film Units with A.C.T. mem- 1948 April New Cinematograph Films Act bers who, it can now be revealed, New Cinematograph Films Act in- (Quota Act) in which union policy were released from Church Parade corporating progressive improve- reflected in minimum cost clause, to attend Trade I'nion meetings. ments on previous Acts. — — —— s May 1958 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 261 19-49 December 1953 November Short-lived Joint Industrial Coun- Parliament approves introduction JUST cil formed between B.F.P.A., of commercial television. A.C.T., E.T.U., NA.T.K.E. A 1950 May PRINT! Formation of A.C.T. Films Ltd., the first film production company in the world owned and operated 'Twixt a print from a dupe and a by a Trade Union. dupe from a dupe The difference is vast, And complications do ensue If the original is masked. By printing from an unmasked print With geometry reversed 1954 March You get a print the wrong way up, Laboratory Lock-out and Strike. Projecting it head first. 1955 April To overcome this paradox Strike to force A.C.T. recognition You print it cell to cell, in commercial television. Reversing it from left to right 1956 March And upside down as well. A.C.T. becomes A.C.T.T. By then of course the perfs will 1951 January (C be Mass trade union demonstration at The wrong side of the frame; Wyndhams Theatre to focus And so you show it back to front, Government and public attention It comes to much the same. on plight of British film production. To make it clear, you mask the print And dupe it cell to light, Reversing it from head to tail To make it come out right; Remembering to compensate 1957 August For difference in sync. Agreement signed with Pro- By moving down the S.S. mark Contractors' gramme Association by fifteen frames—I think. on behalf of technicians employed in commercial television. The second generation print 1952 February Will now be mirrorwise, inverted, but End of an era. A.C.T. fails to pre- 1958 21st June That is to say, vent Government abolishing Crown If I may just reprise Film Unit (formerly the G.P.O. Film Unit). 25 TODAY ! Just mask the print and print the dupe And dupe it with the track Illustrations by Land A masked masked print of an unmasked dupe of a master you'll get back And when all's done and back it WIDER YET AND heart?" when and if it gets to comes your local. And it's shown upon the screen, WIDER! M.L. No matter how you've done the job, Cinerama — CinemaScope — " To my mind the film is far been. Todd AO - - Miraclescope — you How careful you have more important than the ' Daily think you've heard them all? Well Telegraph ', or ' The Times ', or Though you have not made one I just read about one you haven't. ' Daily Express '." — Sir Henry How about SHOCKIKU-GRAND- mistake French, quoted in the Journal of (pronounced Schock-he- Accept this with a shrug SCOPE the British Film Academy. you, I presume). Its a Japanese The print you see will be N.G. process. What's it like? Don't * Because of flutterbug. ask me, go and see Chased, billed The fourth Soho Fair will take as " Would she give up her hus- place this year, starting on July band to be a murderer's sweet- 13th. E. Davie — — : 2tV2 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN May 1958 Twenty- Five "The Gas Turbine", a Shell film directed by Peter de Xormamille diagram of a Turbo-jet Years of Documentary A S a recognised movement with in 1928—Creighton's One Family, -'* aim and purpose, documentary By about a little boy who went to began in 1929 with John Grierson's Buckingham Palace to pull the Drifters, screened for the first time ARTHUR ELTON plums of Empire out of a Christ- at a Film Society performance as mas pudding; and Drifters, a a curtain raiser to Potemkin. Its study of North Sea fishermen. success decisively affected national One Family died an immediate film policy thereafter. it came to endorse John Grierson's death in the Palace Theatre Drifters and the documentary theories of the creative interpreta- Drifters became famous overnight. movement came out of the econ- tion of actuality and his belief Shortly afterwards, Grierson's omic situation of the early thirties. that, if only one could see clearly EMB Film Unit was called into The Empire was turning into the enough and sympathetically, the existence by Sir Stephen Tallents, and the first documentary films made their appearance: O'er Hill mid DaU , Shadow on the Moun- tain, The Other Half of the World, Industrial Britain, Upstream, Aero-Engine and an odd little com- pilation called Conquest. It was a time when, to many people, the entertainment cinema seemed more than usually jejeune, so to the movement were attracted not only a group of young film makers, among others Basil Wright, Stuart Legg, Edgar Anstey. Paul Rotha. Harry Watt, Donald Taylor, Marian and Ruby Grierson, John Taylor, and J. D. Davidson, but also young writers, poets and musicians, including W. H. Auden. Benjamin Britten " Kiihaiiliram ". produced for Burmah-Shell bj lliiiiuar Publicity and Walter Leigh. classroom in Indian communi(> school Cavalcanti came to us from France and in a year or two Commonwealth, a change which humblest and the dullest occupa- taught us more about cutting and became inevitable as soon as inter- tion could be made as romantic as the presentation of our material Empire protective tariffs were the dare-devil exploits of a cow- than we should have learnt by our- abandoned. boy. No greater drama could be selves in a month of Sundays. Bob The Empire Marketing Board found than the drama of social Flaherty rampaged over the Mid- technological was set up to do something to and development lands and, seen through his eyes, soften the blow by persuasion and and change. the Black Country took on a beauty publicity. One of its jobs was to The birth of documentary was of its own. Much later Carl Dreyer knit together the peoples in the not without pain, for the old came to us from Denmark and British Commonwealth. A good Empire school of propagandists be- made his own special contribution St way of doing this seemed to be lieved, with dying vigour, in a type to the script of North a. by the film. That is why the of propaganda Kipling and Kit- When the Empire Marketing Empire Marketing Board has such chener would have endorsed. As a Board was scrapped. Tallents an intimate connection with the result, two films were commis- moved over to the Post Other, at history of documentary, and why sioned by the EMB simultaneously that time the only Government — May 1958 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 263 department, except the Ministry its best it was responsible perhaps Problems book and left Free of Labour, in intimate contact for the finest war film of all Cinema unsuccessfully to pursue a with the public and suffering from Humphrey Jennings' Fires Were freedom Captive Cinema has long a surfeit of public disfavour. He Started. since commanded. took the EMB Film Unit with him Today the need for the creative If today some British documen- and renamed it the GPO Film interpretation of actuality is as taries seem a little dead-beat this Unit. From it stemmed another great as ever, but the subject is anything but true of the films famous series of films : Night matter of the films is changing, coming out of Asia, Africa, the Mail, 6.30 Collection, Weather and the purposes are different. Middle East and Latin America. Forecast, Under the City, The We are facing a crisis in education There a documentary film move- Copper Web, North Sea, and a when the old classical and liberal ment is bubbling up beside the score of others. The gas industry, values are being found wanting developing social and economic locked in combat with electricity, and the new scientific and tech- forces. The foremost exponents of took the film under its wing and nological ones not wholly the documentary film today bear gave us Housing Problems, Enough yet accepted. This is why the liveliest names which sound strange and to Eat and Children at School. contemporary documentaries are far away in the purlieus of Soho Tea brought Song of Ceylon. The occupied, not with housing and Square. Atma Ram of India, BBC gave us BBC— The Voice of Britain, and the Ministry of Labour, Men and Jobs. The Shell Film Unit was founded in 1933 and early undertook a pro- gramme of films on physics and aviation. It is often supposed that the term "documentary" applies to a technique of film making. It does not. It refers to a point of view on the part of the maker. It hap- pens that films fitted this point of view peculiarly well and became its principal instrument of expres- sion. A decade earlier radio might have been the choice. Twenty-five years later it is no accident that John Grierson is conducting a TV programme in Scotland. The job of the original documen- A documentary in the making—" Venezuela Fights Malaria ", produced by tary film makers was to bring (nidad Filmiea Shell, directed by Boris Woron/.ow alive the world around them at a moment of ferment engendered by the rise of social democracy as we nutrition, but with the interpreta- Abou il Naga of Egypt, Ebrahim know it today. So the subject tion of science and technology. Golestan of Iran and Nestor matter of many of the films was Lovera of Venezuela have taken found in housing, nutrition and One result is that Approach- the standard and are carrying it communication. These things were ing the Speed Sound shared a of to new heights. One of the more central in the public thinking of Venice prize with Every Day Ex- significant films of our time is a the thirties, and first cept It the documen- Christmas. stems directly 16mm. Egyptian documentary with tary films were part of the social from the old EMB Aero-Engine the strange title of Tie Up Your life of their time. and early Shell films like Power Camel and Leave the Rest to God. When the War came in 1939, the Unit and Springs. documentary small, That documentary is the only movement was For all its solid elegance. but strong. It seized the initiative creative contribution Britain has Every Day Except Christmas dis- and the ever made to the art of the film is was entrusted with task plays a sense neither of social nor bringing Britain's not to be doubted. We can be of war effort of economic reality. Lindsay proud that its point of view and alive. It expanded many times Anderson parades his engaging over. The result that the principles are recognised by film was and ebullient cast like a mission- movement gained in size but lost makers all over the world. We are ary showing off converted canni- in direction. The Documentary honoured that many of us have bals to a visiting bishop. So came to mean a kind of film with- been called to help the new docu- marked is his lack of social aware- out actors. Experimental tech- mentary film find its feet. We can ness in a subject one would have be reassured, too, for the new over- niques and styles hammered out in supposed he would have found seas movement has produced not the '30s quickly became formulae. bristling with social problems, only new possibilities and pur- It is to Canada that one that it suggests there may not be must poses, but new jobs. look for the complete flowering of much place today for the so-called the pre-war British documentary social film. Television has taken It is up to us to keep up with movement. Even the Crown Film over the job and has found a direct the inspiration and freshness of Unit, inheritor of the traditions of approach to its subject matter the new overseas documentaries. the GPO Film Unit, sometimes that eludes contemporary docu- The disciplines of the movement took on the airs of a society lady mentary. Michael Peacock, Caryl are open to everyone, but they in a ringside seat at a circus, and Doncaster, Peter Hunt, Peter leave little room for the man with finally behaved in a way calculated Morley and Michael Ingrams have his eyes on his feet and not on far to secure its own demise. But at taken a leaf out of the Housing horizons. ! 264 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN May 1958 Magnetic tape can be wiped and the recording can be monitored used again and again and as there during editing and the wipe switch is no processing involved the cost pressed at the correct moment, of recording a programme on there will be nothing on the TED LANGLEY monitor to indicate when to release VERA is much less than a record- ing on film. the wipe key at the end of the sequence, with the consequent Euro- Senior Cameraman Contributions to or from danger of wiping beyond the vision are catered for by the con- required point. B.B.C. Television Service verter at Swingate, which consists of a display (TV cathode ray tube) with a static Television camera working at the required line fre- introduces frequency focused on it. Programmes recorded on VERA could only be offered abroad via this facility. In other words, the VERA tape cannot be sent abroad for transmission by a foreign station. Even if the foreign station had a 'yHE latest addition to the B.B.C. VERA, they would still need a con- * Recording Equipment, the verter to convert the recording to Video Electronic Recording Ap- their own line frequency. There- paratus, VERA for short, is being fore, programmes recorded on installed at Lime Grove and will VERA would have to be trans- be ready for service very soon. A ferred to film for sale abroad. demonstration was given on Panorama on Monday, April 14th, Ampex System the vision signals being recorded on the prototype apparatus at the It might be interesting to men- B.B.C.'s Research Department at tion the Ampex system which is Nightingale Square. used in the U.S.A. This uses a Normally Telerecordings are slow tape speed and a system of done by filming the picture from a rotating heads which lay the Cathode Ray Tube. The film is recorded video information across, then sent to the Laboratories in the rather than along, the tape. A usual way for processing. This drawback of this system is that transfer of essential takes anything up to twenty-four the same heads must be used for Editing by to another machine, hours for urgent prints. If the recording and playback. VERA material stopping at the point of retake, film is topical and urgently re- recordings are not bound by this on the transfer quired the negative can be used critical requirement. doing the retake for transmission and phase- machine, then carrying on with Magnetic tape cannot be stored the original reversal applied in the video the transfer from gradual channel. for long periods without machine, might appear to be a loss of the higher frequencies and solution. Unfortunately, synchr- By using magnetic tape, this there is also the possibility of nisation of the two machines would can be recorded and transmitted in print-through. Great care must be be absolutely essential and this a few minutes, in other words, exercised at all times to keep the would be virtually impossible in the time it takes to re-wind the tape away from magnetic fields because the run-up time varies. tape back to the start position. such as generators, etc. For News and programmes like Cutting and Joining Panorama and Sportsview VERA Full technical information on editing is not yet available. is a Godsend. Cutting and joining would be the The tape travels through the In the case of a play being best method, using a frequency heads at 200 inches per second or recorded there are sometimes a blip above the audio range super- 1,000 feet per minute and the run- few re-takes necessary after trans- imposed on the sound track to up time is approximately twenty mission has taken place, due, per- mark the splicing point. This blip seconds. It is possible to monitor haps, to an artist fluffing lines, would be heard as a whistle when vision and sound whilst recording someone making a noise, a camera- the tape was played back slowly. is in progress. Twenty-thousand man, producer or sound mixer The splice would probably cause a feet reels are used which give making an operational error. This change of syncs on transmission nearly twenty minutes recording. necessitates editing but this pre- which would be visible as a momentary line twitter or a frame Three tracks are used on i-inch sents no problems with film. Edit- roll but this would not be serious. un-sprocketed tape. Of these, two ing high speed tape, however, would appear to present some pro- are for vision and one for sound. It remains to be seen whether blems and would require a high The video waveform ( picture i is eventually all telerecordings will divided into degree of concentration, probably two frequency bands, be done on VERA. I do not think behind locked doors one frequency band per track. It so because material for archives is believed that the upper fre- It could be done by wiping the or other similar requirements will quency band is heterodyned to pro- faulty sequences, but what is onlj retain its original quality over duce a lower band of frequencies there to guarantee that the re- tin' years if done on film, and pro- for easier recording. This would take time is exactly that of the grammes for sale abroad also need be converted back to the original original and will fit perfectly the to be done on film for reasons frequency band on reproduction. wiped portion? Also, although already given. : May 1958 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 265 Death of FILM MAKING FOR THE A. E. Inglethorpe We very much regret to announce the death of one of UNITED NATIONS A.C.T.T.'s oldest members, Alfred Edward Inglethorpe, one of the old-time news-reel cameramen who By worked for many years for Gaumont and Pathe. THOROLD DICKINSON Brother R. W. Smith writes •' Alfred Edward Inglethorpe had Head of United Nations Film Services an inventive brain and was respon- improvements on sible for many United Nations Film Services takes place in a war-devastated projectors. Many cine cameras and work as uncompromisingly inter- village near Monte Cassino in constructed a tripod years ago he nationally as A.C.T.T. tries to Italy, the second in the agri- to correct with a floating head work nationally. Our range of cultural highlands of Tahiti. The filming at sea. Even horizon when nationalities includes French, Czech, third is in a hydro-electric com- death at the up to the time of his Indian, Jamaican, Russian, Ameri- munity at Kitimat, British 69 working on a age of he was can and British. Each of the Columbia. his own back projection model of eighty-two nations has a quota of for in schools and for The epilogue is planned as an design use the staff of the whole organisation advertising. He will be remem- attempt to show what effect the according to the amount of its by old use of nuclear energy can have on bered with affection financial contribution. members of A.C.T.T." these and other communities if The annual contributions of the shared under international control. member nations to the Film We have completed a batch of Services amount to an average of more routine films and have also a little over two thousand dollars in hand a three-reel film which Two Weddings per nation. scrape additional We attempts to illustrate the services money by working for Specialised Brian Shemmings, Branch Sec- of the United Nations family of Agencies of the United Nations retary, Pathe, Wardour Street, Agencies to the individual who family like U.N.I.C.E.F. (The writes : asks for them through his Govern- Children's Fund), or by publicising ment, and it is quite a range of Two of our members got married special projects like the UN services, too. during March this year. The first Emergency Force in the Middle was Ronnie Steele, who was East; or by making joint pro- We try to keep away from the married on March 22nd at St. ductions with individual member standard information film whose Margaret's Church, Streatham, to states on subjects of mutual work, to my mind, is better done Miss Marion Lait. There were 90 interest. by the spoken or written word. guests at the reception. The We are trying to work through Branch presented Ron and Marion Millions of Feet the emotions of the audience and with an electric fire as a wedding we try to aim at a particular type present. Our film library contains millions of audience, suitable for the recep- The second was Les Holland, of feet of coverage from all over tion of the subject chosen. In the who was married on March 29th the world as well as coverage of past there was a curious notion meetings of the Security Council at St. Jude's Church, Elephant and that any film should be applicable and the United Castle, to Miss Eileen Sone. An Nations General to any audience—a tall order in a Assembly. This historic material archway of fishing rods was lined world as varied as ours! is available at the cost of a dupli- up outside the Church, for Les is negative an ardent member of the South- cate for any production wark Angling Club. There were or television programme consonant with 52 guests at the reception, includ- the interests of the United Nations. Indeed, give all the ing his brother Bill, who works we help with him at this Branch. Les and within our scope to any pro- Eileen were presented with a can- ducer whose interests coincide with teen of cutlery, a wedding present ours. from the Branch. We also make films. In Haiti, earlier this year, we have been making a three-reel anecdotal about United Nations Technical FILM & TV TECHNICIAN Assistance work in introducing modern methods of co-operative Editor: farming. This was to form the MARTIN CHISHOLM second of three episodes designed to the Editorial Office: make up first United Nations film of feature length, 2 Soho Square, W.l under the working title of Telephone: GERrard 8506 Power Among Men. It is a study of post- Advertisement Office: war efforts to regain, to raise and 67 Clerkenwell Road, E.C.I to maintain standards of living in Telephone: HOLborn 4972 conditions of defence, agriculture and industry. The first episode 266 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN THEN and NOW STILLS FROM THE NATIONAL FILM ARCHIVE ANTHONY ASQUITH Pygmalion, 1938 Orders to Kill, 1958 JOHN FORD Young Mr. Lincoln, 1939 Gideons Day, 1958 May 1958 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 267 CHARLES CHAPLIN Modern Times, 1936 A King in New York, 1957 DOCUMENTARY ARTHUR ELTON & EDGAR ANSTEY LINDSAY ANDERSON Housing Problems, 1935 Every Day Except Christmas, 1957 — 268 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN May 1958 WHERE DOES COMMERCIAL TV GO FROM HERE? T3EFORE examining the future of cinemas on their hands and these is not Britain and it is sound think- '-* commercial television, it is were hastily adapted because they ing to give the regions a proper essential to get a clear picture of were immediately available and in voice in television, the biggest the past. spite of the fact that, except for voice that they can be given. There certain sorts of " variety ", the are, however, limits to which this For purely political reasons, is practicable and economically commercial television was mounted sensible. This limit is reached and started in this country in just By when it comes to drama, variety about half the time that was really and " pure entertainment ". needed to do it well, and it was done, for the greater part, by DESMOND For three hundred years, now, people with little or no previous London has been the Mecca of all knowledge of television. A few those who would make a place for experts were enticed out of the DAVIS themselves in the entertainment B.B.C. but there were not enough industry. Everyone from Aber- to go round and the remarkable TV Vice-President deen to Aberystwyth who has wanted to make a living as an actor or singer or dancer has emi- grated to London to do it, with the theatre is, architecturally and result that London is now the only acoustically, just about the worst place in the country that has a and most awkwardly unsuitable large population and a huge re- kind of building for the purpose. serve of professional entertainers. To make confusion even more Because of this, it is also virtually confounded the I.T.A., by its rigid the only place that has all the over-insistence on regional tele- ancillary arts and industries that vision and by its complete ignor- support them—the costumiers, ing of the fact that London is, and the wig makers, art directors, and always has been, the traditional hirers of firearms and furniture, centre of the entertainment indus- the film processing laboratories try, placed many of these com- all the things that go to make up panies in places where there was entertainment. no large, resident population of The result of this is that if you professional entertainers — actors, want to cast and equip a complex writers, dancers, musicians and the . . . enticed out of the B.B.C. like; with the result that these exiled companies had to import a thing is not that so many mistakes very large proportion of their pro- were made, but so few. That it gramme material from London. A started at all when it did and that, most cumbersome and expensive in a mere two and a half years, it operation. has taken such a hold on the public imagination, is a tribute to every- Awkwardness and Improvisation one concerned. Many of the faults inherent in The commercial companies this kind of start have since been started with no premises, no staff, rectified, but many have not and no equipment, no income, no the general picture of awkward- audience and no time. In a year ness and improvisation still, widely transmissions had begun. It is remains. What should be done ? hardly surprising that the whole operation was permeated with an First of all, to build studios that are really and solely designed for air of frantic improvisation. . . . everyone lias emigrated to London television production. This work Hastily Adapted is going ahead, but it takes time piece of entertainment you have and money and it will be quite a got to do it from London. The personnel was hastily few years before we are finally rid What happens at the moment assembled, the equipment was of the improvisations. The second with, say, a television play from often not the best that could be thing to do, as I see it, is to get Manchester? A Director, living in obtained but what could be regional television into its right London, takes a script which has obtained in the time; the studios, perspective and build these studios been written or adapted in London in in the beginning, could not be the most economic and con- or the home counties and easts it pecially designed and built but venient place. with London based actors. He pre- had to be converted from existing Genuine, regional television is pares it and rehearses it in London buildings. Most of the companies an excellent thing and should be and then, with a huge load of had a lew derelict old theatres or encouraged in every way. London costumes, wigs, furniture (you May 1958 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN I'll!) can't even hire the furniture in the with the other markets for his satisfactory, will render, instead provinces!), cans of film, gramo- work. of black and white, an all-over, phone records and properties he pallid, foggy, fuzzy grey. His We must strive, too, for more lumbers up to Manchester, does the professionalism. Too much of effect and the general quality of brings the lot back will show and whole television production and direction the picture be gone. On the to London, having wasted the best control gallery monitor which has is slipshod, amateurish, under- part of five hundred pounds on rehearsed and unpolished. Pro- D.C. Restoration the result may be bills and trunk fine, transport, hotel ducers and directors must fight for but the picture on the home calls. It is not regional and it is more rehearsal time but they must set which has not got it will be a idiotic. mess. also learn how to use it when they have got it. The one-run-through This hampers and hamstrings " " Let's not Deceive Ourselves and bash-it-on-somehow days are the director to a terrible extent. It over. There is no excuse for them means that if the script says " The Let us have as much genuine any more. Let us look at the pre- room is dark, the door opens, a regional television as possible, but cision and polish and exactitude of shaft of bright light falls on the let us not try and deceive ourselves the tip-top, first feature film and figure on the sofa, a man stands and the public as to what is the slap-up, West End theatre pro- silhouetted in the doorway ", he genuine and what is phoney. duction and set our sights as high can't do it. He has to write that scene One would have thought that the as these. out of the script. place to build new studios was London. One would have thought Poor Lighting that it would have been sensible for the provincial companies to And what about the technical have got together to build and side of television? There is room share London studios specially de- for improvement here. There is signed and equipped for this type still a great deal of lighting that of entertainment. One would is poorer than it should be. There have thought that the I.T.A. is still a great deal of set design- would have seen the logic of the ing and direction that takes no case and have relaxed the rigidity notice of the lighting man's prob- of its rules for this type of show. lems and makes his difficulties What else would one like to see greater than they should be. A lot . . . the picture will be ;i mess happening in the future ? I, for of telecine projection work is poor one, would like to see more flexi- and a great deal of film is shot for bility in the programme planning; telecine which is not suited to it The elimination of the D.C. com- fewer series and serials and fixed because no exact standards have ponent from modern television re- spots at fixed times so that there been codified and issued to film ceivers is one of the major was more room for the off-beat, camera lighting men and pro- scandals of the industry. We exceptional and individual pro- cessing laboratories. should all do everything in our gramme that does not lend itself power to put an end to it. But it is in the field of television to the conveyor-belt system and at receiver manufacture that the And what of the establishment present finds no place. greatest room for technical im- of a training school ? Most of the provement lies. For instance, we companies run an occasional, per- Importance of Writers must insist that D.C. Restoration functory training session, but these is included in all sets sold to the are mostly inadequate. There is I would like, too, to see a more public. For those who are as un- no concerted and complete effort genuine realisation of the supreme technical as I am, let me try to and organisation. The newcomer importance of the writer in tele- explain D.C. Restoration. to the industry usually half learns vision. He is our life blood. We his job by being allowed to hang cannot live without him and we are around and watch for a bit and is D.C. Restoration not treating him properly. At pre- then kicked into the deep end to sent we are consuming scripts sink or swim, with the result that faster than they are being written. D.C. Restoration is that essential a proportion of television is slip- Soon we shall run out. We are part of a television receiver that shod and messy and displays a already scraping the bottom of the is designed automatically to con- wide ignorance of the elementary barrel and producing stuff that trol the brightness and contrast of grammar of camera work. One ought never to see the light of day. the picture, to balance the blacks hopes that the production com- We are not encouraging the first- and whites. Unfortunately it costs panies, in their own interests, will rate writer to write for television. a little money, around five pounds, soon get together and combine to This we shall have to do if we are I believe, and, in order to reduce establish a really first-class staff to survive. At present a writer the cost of manufacture, a very training college. can make much more money large number of the makers of I suppose one cannot write an writing a novel than he can by television sets have agreed to omit article on the future of television writing two or three television this component from the models without saying something about scripts. He can make twenty that they sell. What is the result ? colour. The B.B.C. has an experi- times the money by writing a play As long as the picture is a brightly mental colour system which gives for the theatre than he can by lit one, the quality is acceptable, remarkably good and effective re- writing the same play for tele- but as soon as the director wants sults but it is still in the labora- vision which is seen by a hundred to do a dark scene, moonlight for tory stage and is far from being times more people. If we, our- instance, or some dramatic either a practical or a commercial selves, are going to live, then we " effect " lighting with bright high- must give the top grade writer a lights and deep shadows, the proposition. One of the senior living in television and compete domestic picture, far from being (Continued on page 270) — 270 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN May 1958 COMMERCIAL TV (Continued) B.B.C. engineers was asked when Cameramen on the he thought that it would really Move come in. His answer was illuminat- ing and typical. " It will start ", he said, " in my opinion, Ave years from some, as yet, unspecified In an average year, cameramen dealing with highly paid human date ". in Pictorial, News and Documen- artists). tary departments travel Looking back on the history of many Incidentally, the Pic cameramen thousands of miles abroad. They television, one is amazed at the can probably claim to be the most work hard, but at least they do speed of its development and the experienced of all in dealing with see the world, while the rest of us breadth of its achievement. I wild animals. Among the inci- have to keep in the picture with think we may congratulate our- dents that spring to mind is the selves; but. for heaven's sake, let guide books. time that . . . Stan Goozee filmed us not be complacent. Let us not Recently, however, the adminis- at the flat of two spinster ladies imagine that television has suc- tration " backroom boys " have who kept two huge crocodiles in ceeded because of the excellence of been holding aloft the Pathe the bath! Another is when Martin the product. It has not. Tele- standard overseas. They include: Rolfe escaped unscathed after film- vision has captured its audience ing a fully grown " tame " lion in Terry Ashwood, General Mana- because it appeals to the lazy and someone's back garden, only to be ger of the Production Division, the impoverished, because it calls bitten next day by a tiny bear cub accompanied by Harry Field, Pro- for an expenditure, on the part of at London Zoo. the viewer, neither of money nor duction Executive of the TV Com- mercials recently of effort. Compared with the Department, returned from a ten visit to general run of its rival arts, the days the Warners, Columbia, Desilu theatre and the cinema, its and 3P^5-~ standards are dismally low. There studios convinced that film pro- duction over there is still thriving. is still much to be done. Judging from the general enthu- d 3 siasm everywhere there are very few indications of the truth in rumours that times are bad, they report. Bob Fitchett, Production Mana- ONE-MAN ger, TV Commercials, has had ten days in Italy, supervising company interests in Rome. An interesting SHOW aspect of the business over there noted by Bob is the fact that com- mercials on television are trans- personality Cornel Lucas, photo- mitted every evening in one grapher with the Rank Organisa- quarter-hour programme, so that in photography tion, who has been viewers can switch off if they so for twenty years and a member of desire. On the other hand, with of A.C.T.T. for the same length all due respect to the advertising time, is holding a one-man exhibi- spots produced in this country, tion of his work at Kodaks, Kings- some of which are quite good, the I'll say it's a luxury cinema way, until May 21st. Italian two-minute twenty-second look how you sink into the commercials have considerably The exhibition includes many ex- carpet more entertainment value. amples in colour and black-and- white of personalities he has The comparative tranquility of photographed over the last our busy Wardour Street studios twelve years. During this time was threatened recently by the Talking about animals reminds he has photographed some of the arrival of a ferocious looking me that John Parsons, who handles world's most attractive women. He leopard, booked for a session on Casting for TV Commercials, has travelled round the world the set with Director Eric Fullilove really has his hands full these twice photographing the faces of and his crew. Extensive pre- days. And besides the leopard I film personalities. He has also cautions were taken, and, needless mentioned before, there seems to covered film festivals wherever the to say, heavy insurance taken out have been a heavy demand of the British Film Industry is repre- in view of the jungle cat's reputa- domestic sort —not always with sented. tion. It says much for the com- gratifying results. For example, posure of the technicians that they iust to add to Eric Fullilove's Cornel Lucas has had many ex- stood their ground firmly as the burden, a band of cats was booked hibitions of his work throughout leopard stalked In, dragging his for a cat food commercial. For a the country but none of them as trainer behind. But when the whole day they fought when they large as the present one which is studio lights were switched on. the should have purred, and purred tlic first one-man exhibition of a overgrown pussy-cat rolled over on when they should have fought, photographer in the film industry. to its back, and literally asked for until it was decided to make a At the conclusion of the London its tummy to be scratched! Film- fresh start at the home of the cats. showing the exhibition will go on ing went off without a hitch (which tour. is more than we can say when Roy H. Lewis — May 1958 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 271 The Laboratories have always formed the hard industrial core of our Union. The article which appears below tells the history of some of the earlier struggles which have led up to the much happier circumstances in which relations between employers and employees in the laboratories stand today. The Laboratories' CILVER JUBILEE! The strug- employers had no intention of ^ gles, the trials, the patience making real progress. The Corona- and the triumphs that have punc- Story tion of King George VI fortunately tuated our progress during the came along at that time and we past twenty-five years! decided to stop the industry. The employers gave in and we started Indeed, the Laboratory Branch M. Ash, who is now the manager off on the difficult job of negotiat- can be justly proud of the part its of Elstree Laboratories, and Alf ing the 1939 laboratory agreement. members played in forging some Cooper, now Vice-President and example, eventually of our history. For Chairman of the Laboratory We reached agree- membership had just topped the Branch. From Gaumont British ment, then the employers refused 750 mark when Laboratory Laboratories, Shepherds Bush, to sign until the studio agreement, workers began to join A.C.T. May Dennington, G. Duff, Albert discussion on which had not yet George Elvin, Ken Gordon and Sid commenced, had been completed. Cole had a lot to do with this early We raised hell and in the end, on recruitment. In one way or By February 16th, 1939, the document another, they managed to meet was signed. This was a landmark laboratory workers and gain their BERT CRAIK in our history. It was the first interest in the trade union move- agreement negotiated with any ment. I remember Sid Cole employers' association by A.C.T. addressing a group in the boiler and covered fourteen film process- house at Elstree Laboratories ing laboratories. Oliver during one lunch hour in October Dyas, Charles Gunnel, F. C. To give some idea how bad gathered P. Knight. 1935, where the boys had and wages and conditions were at that sand- out of the cold to eat their The Laboratory members were time, wages rates as low as £2 and wiches. soon operating on a branch basis. £2 5s. Od. per week were agreed Those earlier years were spent in and represented increases Branch for Hard Core of preparing a draft agreement and chose members concerned. Fur- the membership. The thermore, although This concentration on early building up we established Laboratory recruitment went on appalling conditions in film pro- the principle of overtime pay- cessing laboratories helped a lot. ments, these were on weekly from August until December, 1935, a and There were about fifteen labora- not a guaranteed daily basis. and during that period, the first The tories all paying just what they principle of extra 80 members were accepted and payment for liked to their staff, with working night work was also formed the hard core of the agreed but widely and Laboratory Branch which now has conditions fluctuating the rate was only an extra 1/- per no employers' organisation shift. On the other a membership of nearly 3,000. hand, two which policy weeks' holiday Charles Parkhouse, now Studio through a common with pay was could be discussed. Wages were agreed, together with Manager at Carlton Hill Studios; payments low that printers could be got during periods of sickness. Sid Bailey, Negative Developer at so How- at 35/- a week. In such a setting ever, the most important points Stolls, and Cyril J. Philips, now that trade union arising Managing Director of Pathe it was inevitable from these negotiations the only to Laboratories, were three of the organisation was way were that we did achieve Trade set about forcing improvements. Union recognition and signed first members to join. IncidentaUy, a National Philips was the first chair- Eventually, the Film Group of Agreement which set out Cyril minimum man of the Laboratory Section; the Federation of British Indus- rates and conditions for film laboratory workers. and I can still remember him com- tries, though precluded by their fortably puffing away at his pipe constitution from discussing whilst presiding over meetings. labour matters, agreed to meet Arbitration Award Number 758 From Pathe Laboratories, Frank A.C.T. We stressed the need for industrial agreements and put as In due course, we sought to Fuller, a previous Chairman of case for Laboratory terminate this agreement and the Laboratory Section, a Vice- priority the have made negotiate a better one, but in the President, and now Treasurer of Agreement. We must impression for, in due course, meantime, the Employers' Asso- the Union, also joined together some there emerged the Film Produc- ciation had disbanded and although with Bill Sharpe, Joe Bremson and tion Employers' Federation with the agreement was still binding J. Ritchie. At Elstree Labora- studio and laboratory sections. thanks to the fair wages clause tories, there were Steve Cox and which Labour M.P.s and Peers had Clifford Boote, both editing now, We started meeting the labora- succeeded in having incorporated also Bob Bennett, Reg Marsh, tory group, after our laboratory in the Cinematograph Films Charlie Holloway, Sid Twyman, members, following innumerable Act, we could find no authoritative A. Taylor, Eva Howes, Gwen meetings, had prepared their de- Evans. Ernie Welch, Arthur Lee, mands. It was soon obvious the (Continued on page 272) 272 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN May 1958 LABORATORIES* STORY increases due under the award. wage packets containing wage in- (Continued) The Arbitration Award provided creases for the previous six for: months or more. body with whom to negotiate. By 1. A IfJf-hour week in Newsreel The dispute was the greatest Laboratories. then, owing to the war, we were trial our membership had gone also wanting a cost of living 2. Overtime payment for all through to that date and we came bonus. We had already got one hours worked before 8 a.m. out of it with flying colours. For for studio members and took the dud after 7 p.m. the first time, the laboratory employers to arbitration to seek a similar one for laboratory workers. This brought the em- ployers together in self-defence. We got the bonus, but, what was equally important, we got a new Employers' Federation. In the case of an Improver who returns to a particular After preliminary delays the department after employment in some other department two negotiating bodies reached previous service in that particular department shall be taken into agreement which it was recom- full account in computing the six months sen. ice necessary mended, when signed, should for promotion to a graded employee. operate from February 1st, 1945. In the csent of an Improver who has become a graded The main body of the employers, employee but has not served his full three years service as an however, refused to endorse the Improver he may in the event of his changing his emplovment, return to work of their committee in cer- the Improver class it his employment is in a different tain vital respects, namely half-a- department from that in which he qualified as a gr„ded dozen or so wage rates and the employee. provisions for a guaranteed day the ratio "I employment of Improvers and Newcomers to Graded Employees shall with payment of overtime for all not exceed 1 : 10 in the case of Associates employing 25 Graded hours worked before 8 a.m. or employees or more, and 1 : 5 after 7 p.m. We offered to refer in the case of Associates employing less than 25 Graded the two outstanding points to arbi- employees. tration, but if the employers in- sisted in their obstinacy, to impose For and mi Kh.ilf of an official overtime ban in every Film Production Employers' Fmh.katiok, section of the industry. (Signed) R. NORTON, Chairman of the Executive Committee. Would not Budge P. KIMBERLEY, Member of the Executive Committee. The employers would not budge R. TERRANEAU, and the ban came into operation Member of the Executive on May 4th, 1945. The only ex- Committee. ceptions were the Kays Group of M. NEVILLE KEARNEY, laboratories who were outside the lion. Secretary. Foi and Federation and readily agreed to on behalf of sign the agreement as negotiated. The Association' or Cine-Technicians, (Signed) ANTHONY One company, Humphries ASQUITH, President. Laboratories, attempted to break the ban by dismissing the em- H. CRAIK. ployees who refused to work over- Chairman of the Laboratory Section. time. Twenty-five members were RALPH BOND, locked out. Those remaining at the Member of the Executive Committee. firm were the only A.C.T. members GEORGE H. ELVIN, who ignored the overtime ban in- General Secretary. structions. Dispute benefit was paid to the victimised members 11 and the rest of A.C.T. imposed a boycott of the company. They refused to handle work to be sent to or from that laboratory. Eventually, the dispute was re- llic Signature Page of the first Laboratory Agreement ferred to the National Arbitration Tribunal which awarded com- pletely in favour of the Union retrospectively to February 1st, 1945, the date originally agnni 3. Time and a half for night- workers had a decent wage packet with the employers. Meanwhile, work. and decent working conditions, ob- the pressure on Humphries had If. E(jual pail fur equal work. tained solely by sticking together as of a trade union with been felt and no sooner had the 5. Rates for 17 new grades. members award come to hand than Mr. Ter- the help of their fellow members 6. Wage increases ranging from raneau agreed to reinstate the in Studios, Newsreels. and Shorts. 13/- to £2 tOs. " Humphries during that trying lunch together and the principle of menced. After four joint meet- time and also to Frank Fuller, Les one man one job and one man one ings, several of the claims origin- Pryor, Sid Bremson, Charlie machine was strictly enforced. ally put forward were settled, i.e., Wheeler and lastly, but not least, 30/- of the cost of living bonus On March 9th, 1945, the F.L.A. led the above was consolidated in the basic to George Elvin, who advised A.C.T. that as from throughout the whole wages, a third week's holiday after committee March 12th, one week's notice of the negotiations. ten years' service was agreed, a would be given to all laboratory meal allowance for transport This victory was followed by employees, other than those re- drivers approved and the Union's some years of peaceful negotia- quired for care and maintenance claim for a wage increase and a tion. On December 4th, 1946, an work, unless the Union withdrew 40-hour week was referred to arbi- agreement was signed which the overtime ban and instructions tration with two arbitrators, one established for all laboratory cleri- to work to rule. nominated by each party, the cal workers a 40-hour week to- parties to accept any award made. gether with wage increases and Eventful Days Most The award of the arbitrators on recognised conditions of employ- the two remaining points brought ment. A mass meeting of 1,900 mem- the dispute to a victorious con- Arbi- bers was held on Sunday, On December 7th, 1948, clusion. tration Award No. 758 was incor- March 14th, at the Gaumont Ham- at which a resolution increase of porated in an agreement with the mersmith, An average wage employers whose association had condemning the employers for re- 9/- per week was awarded. The fusing to negotiate and threaten- Technicolor Laboratories now changed its name to the Film hours at Laboratory Association. A similar ing a lockout, was overwhelmingly were reduced from 45 to 44 with- agreement was also signed with carried, together with a pledge of out loss of earnings and the arbi- Technicolor. full support until a just settlement trators recommended that both of the Union claims had been met. sides consider ways and means These agreements gave further The lockout took effect as threat- further to reduce the normal increases and also a 5-day, wage ened and the maintenance engin- working hours over a period with- 44-hour week to laboratory tech- eers came out on strike in sym- out loss of output. A technical nical workers. The Laboratories pathy with their locked out fellow sub-committee was also estab- continued to prosper but cost of members. The whole machinery lished, which in due course living rose substantially. A further of the Union was then put in gear approved rates for a number of wage increase of 18/- was there- to win the fight. The stoppage new grades including that of Pro- fore negotiated and incorporated lasted just twelve days, which man. agreements dated duction Contact in new were probably the most eventful July 20th, 1951. Towards the end of 1956 a fur- twelve days in our history. ther wage increase of 11/- payable The Great Lookout Committees were set up at all to all laboratory employees was laboratories and pickets were laid negotiated. Provision was also In October, 1953, A.C.T. asked on. Marches were organised, in- made for payment for the full cost for a revision of the existing cluding one to the Waldorf which of living bonus at 18 years of age. which included a de- during agreements paraded outside the hotel At the moment of writing, 30/- wage increase. mand for a a Technicolor shareholders' meet- another wage claim with certain The Film Laboratory Association too numerous to ing. Members amendments to the agreement, rejected the application, refused to name, had always mention by who including the 40-hour week, is negotiate pressed that the and remained in the background, came under consideration. matter be referred to arbitration. forward and took leading roles in the conduct of the dispute. There A mass meeting of laboratory We Can Be Proud workers held on Sunday, January was a comradeship that had to be 24th, 1954, decided to impose an seen to be believed. Looking back over the history overtime ban and work to rule. In an effort to bring further of our Laboratory Branch, we see There followed a strike of 29 mem- pressure on the Union, the British in miniature the story of the Trade bers in the developing department Film Producers' Association gave Union Movement; the struggle for of Technicolor Laboratories on the support to the F.L.A. and threat- recognition, followed by estab- threat of the management to alter ened to close all film studios. The lished wages and conditions, of shifts during the period of work- Ministry of Labour intervened and rising profits and rising prices ing to rule. The management re- after meetings with both sides, set with the workers fighting to main- taliated by locking out a further up a committee of investigation tain their standards of living and, 134 members. A resolution from into the dispute and requested that wherever possible, to improve that a mass meeting of 1,200 Techni- all forms of pressure be lifted: standard. It is a struggle that color members led to a meeting that is the lockout, strike, over- will go on far into the future with with the management at which the time ban and work-to-rule. Both the Trade Union Movement ever company withdrew the notices and sides were urged to agree to a re- watchful to see that some of the the local dispute ended on Feb- sumption of work without vic- benefits arising from changing ruary 19th, 1954. timisation. techniques and automation shall But the F.L.A. still refused to The F.L.A. agreed to reinstate come the way of the men and negotiate. every member without victimisa- women on the job. In effect, they wanted A.C.T. to tion and a mass meeting of labora- A.C.T.T. can be justly proud of agree that the dispute be referred tory members accepted the pro- its Laboratory members who, in to arbitration as an alternative to posals in the belief that such a turn, are proud to be associated negotiation. We could never have move would lead to a resumption with fellow members in other accepted such a proposal. So of negotiations. The pressure sections of the film industry who working to rule continued and was from both sides was called off, the stood by them and supported them tightened up to the extent that members returned to work and as in time of stress. It is indeed a all laboratory members broke for anticipated discussions recom- magnificent history! 274 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN May 1958 Camera Column By Morton Lewis THE ROAD TO ALDERMASTON The Wednesday before Good feet of them(!) seem to justify hack, Paul Lecker, Morton Lewis, Friday, Lewis MacLeod dropped the whole operation. Lewis Macleod, Stephen Peet, into my office. Brian Probin, Karel Reisz, Eda Very few sequences " Have you got any spare carry any Segal, Ramsey Short, Bill number stock? " he asked. boards, so whoever is Smeaton - Russell, Suschitsky, going to break This was a rather strange open- down the rushes, Terence Twigg, Harry Woolf. ing for anyone — Lewis in parti- cular. By painful cross-examina- tion I discovered that he was scouting for stock on behalf of the Films and TV Committee of the A.C.T.T. in a protest against Nuclear Weapons. Following the resolution at the A.G.M., the Films and TV Com- mittee had been established to give what support they could to the campaign. This was, on this occasion, to take the form of film- ing the Aldermaston March with an eye to producing a documen- tary. Got His Stock Lewis got his stock, plus an Eyemo and an Arriflex. He also got me and three other members of our shop. There must be some- thing about his taciturn, soft-sell approach! From all round the Industry the Committee, led by Derrick Knight, raised a Blimped Arri, with synchronous tape recorder, New- Morton Lewis with Directors Lindsay Anderson and Lawrie Knight mans, wild Arri's, stock, techni- cians the lot! It was quite a turn-out and quite heartening in let alone cut them, has some nasty Derek York, Mannic Yospa. an Industry that is often accused moments coming his way. NON-A.C.T.T. MF.MBERS : of being mercenary to the nth So there it is, 18,000 feet, in- Allan Forbes, Lew Gardner, Derek degree cluding a good proportion synch, Hill, Rex Tasher, Roger Tully, Good Friday, 11.00 a.m., saw the interviews, speeches, etc., shot in Bernice Nassamer, together with Sound Unit favourably positioned four days with a cast of thousands many back-room organisers, secre- on the plinth of Nelson's Column, for what amounts to nothing! taries, etc. and several wild cameras shooting Whatever the outcome of the pro- EDITORIAL : crowd and cover shots. The March test, whether we get blasted into The film is being cut by: Terry formed up and moved off for eternity or not, I think the Twigg and Mary Beales. Aldermaston, after short speeches organisers of the filming and the NARRATIVE : from the leaders of the campaign. technicians who made the whole Lindsay Anderson; also Charles ' ' thing possible can be congratu- Standing on Keep Left bol- Coplin, a Canadian Newsreel lated on achieving what may at lards, hanging out of the backs of Cameraman, on loan from an ad- first have looked like an impossible camera cars, standing on soap vertising agency, who ably assisted project. boxes, and generally infuriating me, and took the stills to prove the police, the A.C.T.T. camera I think that all the Unit should that I was there! crews went too! receive credit, so here goes: A Levers-Rich was donated by The whole four-day march was The Generalissimo was Derrick Brian G. Salt, many cameras and covered, plus a solo effort by a Knight; the rest of the Army was much film came from all sections marcher from Southampton, who as follows: of the Industry, and the Blimped marched up from the coast en- A.C.T.T. MEMBERS : Arriflex was hired from Sydney tirely on his own, handing out Lindsay Anderson, John Arnold, Samuelson. Transport and petrol the leaflets all over place. Kevin Connor, John Cromc, Derek came from— well, your guess is as I think everybody enjoyed doing Ford. Penelope Isaacs, Lawrie good as mine! I In job, and the rushes all 18.000 Knight, Peter Jessop, Kurt Lewen- FOOTNOTE. —We also had the use May 1958 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 275 of a Camera-Plane donated for use on one of the days! If this whole operation had been a commercially Fred Jacobs' Golden Jubilee sponsored venture it would have cost an estimated £3,000! Old Days Fred Jacobs, holder of A.C.T.T. ring the teen-age Jean Simmons. card number 136, has a special The next five years until May, I have had several enquiries reason for celebrating the silver 1955, he spent mainly in Paris as about the film Mill on the Floss, anniversary of the Union. For Chief of the Film Department for which was made at Shepperton him it is a golden jubilee year. Studios, then called Sound City. the Productivity Division of E.C.A., " " Most of the enquiries were for a Jake's father wanted him to M.S. A., etc. During these years in list of Credits. To the best of my join him in the music-engraving Europe working for the Americans, knowledge, the film was shot in business. But Jake, as young men Jake visited Belgium, Germany, 1936. It was produced by John are wont to do, thought otherwise Holland, Italy, Denmark, Norway Cline, the artistes were Frank and on March 12th, 1908, he and Sweden. Lawton, Fay Compton, James joined a French firm of manu- On returning to England he facturing agents in the City named Mason, Geraldine Fitzgerald, to handled all the material for the name a few. It was directed by R. Prieur & Co. The firm shortly Tim Whealan, 1st assistant Phil afterwards took over the London Brandon, I forget the 2nd assis- agency of the Lux Film Company tant, 3rd assistant Michael and opened an office in Gerrard {Around the World in 80 Days) Street. Jake was thus transferred Anderson. John Shimar was im- to the new office to become a pro- ported from America as Lighting jectionist and something of a super Cameraman, Operator Hone Glen- salesman. denning, 1 pulled focus, then went Ruffells and Jury were the big on as second operator. exhibitors in those days, and after As for the rest of the crew, my viewing the films, they would buy mind is a complete blank. Perhaps copies according to their liking at someone has a better memory and the modest sum of fourpence a would be good enough to write in. foot outright ! Jake sold them two-reclers, three-reelers and even L.C.C. an epic ten-reeler, an Italian film entitled Nero and Agrippina. Our congratulations to brother 'resenlation from Genera] Council member, script-writer Donald Ford on his being re-elected to the His First Talkie London County Council for Lam- beth/Brixton, with a tremendous film taken at Geneva for the From 1915 to 1918 Jake was in United Nations, on the Peaceful majority. Donald Ford is also a the army in France, serving with Uses of Atomic Energy. Parliamentary Candidate, in a con- the Royal Fusiliers and spending stituency that looks like a good most of the time in the trenches. It was a fitting development to bet, so I may have another item Returning to his old job at the end Jake's varied career when tele- after the General Election. of the war, he stayed only a short vision claimed him. He spent six Congratulations, too, on their while, then left to join the British months with Associated Re- election to the L.C.C, to Organiser and Colonial Kinematograph Com- diffusion to complete a series of Fred Tonge, and to Lord Faring- pany in Endell Street as an Assis- children's TV films entitled Colonel don, who for many years has been tant Editor on features. He stayed Crock and another six months with a very good friend to A.C.T.T. there until 1922. the BBC news and newsreel depart- whenever film matters have come ment at Alexandra Palace. To Then came a spell with Ideal at up in the House of Lords. complete the record, Jake has been Boreham as assistant to Wood working with British Transport H. W. Kemplen, Ralph Kemplen's A Prize Films for the last year. father. It was with Ideal that To help sell our Journal and Jake handled his first talkie, doing It is easier to record a career obtain a wider distribution to our a small job of re-editing on Rio than to sum up a personality. His members, I am going to propose Rita, a musical starring John fifty years in the film industry that a competition be held with a Boles and Bebe Daniels. seem to have left no mark of prize offered to the member who physical strain on Jake. Perhaps In obtains the greatest number of 1932 he deserted the feature his youthful appearance and subscriptions, say, during the world to become chief cutter for agility — he travels up from months of July, August and Sep- Pathe News, a job he held until Brighton daily — are due to his tember. 1946, when he moved on to the ill- calm, unruffled temperament. Or fated Metro News, which I shall put the question of the ceased perhaps being the eldest of a large after only a year. It prize up to the F. & G.P. Com- was at Pathe family made him specially self- that Jake acquired his mittee and I shall suggest that nickname. reliant. from next month on a subscrip- From 1948 to 1950 Jake worked Jake's golden jubilee was tion form be inserted in the as a freelance on both features and marked by two presentations, one Journal. If each reader tried to documentaries for various British made by Edgar Anstey on behalf get one friend each month to sub- companies. During this period he of his colleagues at British Trans- scribe this Journal would really be returned to Pathe for a short time port Films, and the other, which able to do the job itnended and and edited several advertising was a cheque from the General perhaps make a profit. How about films for G.B. Screen Services, as Council of A.C.T.T., by George it? well as a children's feature star- Elvin. 276 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN May 1958 CONGRATULATIONS and BEST WISHES on your 25th ANNIVERSARY CHARLES SELL ADVERTISING LTD., 67 CLERKENWELL ROAD, LONDON, E.C.I Telephone: HOLborn 4972 MEN OF ALL AGES OFFICIAL APPOINTMENT Don't take risks! FILM DIRECTOR required by the NIGERIAN FEDERAL GOVT. GIVE LIFE A LIFT Information Service on contract for one tour of 12/ 24 months in first instance. Salary, including Inducement Addition, in scale we May 1958 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 277 Lab Topics PROGRESS ON DERMATITIS Following discussions between Silver Jubilee, members such as he in 1921, and now has a steady 37 the F.L.A. and A.C.T.T. Negotiat- are well able to think back over years behind him. Believe it or ing Committees it is found that the years with a feeling of great not, he was engaged on a pro- both sides are genuinely interested pride when they realise that all bationary period and tells us he in the problem of maintaining their time and effort spent on hopes to be permanently engaged complete freedom from Dermatitis on the job in the near future, as he among Laboratory employees. It never was informed that he could is very encouraging to know that Edited By keep at his work for the next 37 the employers have given this item odd years. a lot of deep thought. On the " Dry Side " of the This particular disease happens ALF COOPER Laboratory, and into the Grading to be one in which it appears that Department, we have H. Wall- the medical profession is very bank, with a score of 29 years, and divided as to the best methods of with him Luke Slow (he even protecting persons exposed to the remembered the date, August 6th, known hazards and sources of con- behalf of the Union has played a 1927), a very steady 31 years! major in organis- tagion. It is thus very difficult to part making our Also on the same job is Eric lay down absolutely water-tight ation the success it is. Edwards with 26 years. Turning methods of safety for everybody. Bert Craik, our Senior Organiser, from Grading to Printing, one let all Here me stress that persons is writing at some length else- finds Sid Cooper, Foreman Printer, with any knowledge of this com- where in this issue, about the who has had his finger on most of plaint are agreed that operators Union's 25 years of life and I have the printing projects which have cannot too well or often wash too no doubt in my mind that being developed at Kay's and he is now with good soap and clean water Bert he will really soft pedal the " printing out " his thirtieth year. during their working hours. enormous contribution which he Bert Maskel, of the Sensito- himself has made to this success, Department, is reading a Asked to Report not only as a full-time organiser metric with him but as a laboratory employee work- steady 26, and along In line with the above, it is four ing on the various committees (just those few years ago) agreed that the Senior Medical other " youngsters " came through within A.C.T.T. in its early days. Inspector of Factories be asked to the front entrance of the firm, Les look at the measures of protection Charley Sparkes, the Den. Labs, Webb and Les Morris of the 16mm. used in the three major colour night steward has, unfortunately, Printing Departments, Bill Jackson laboratories, in company with the been ill during the last couple of and Frank Lawman of the Nega- Union Medical Officer and the weeks. I understand he has been tive Developing, making up the medical officer of the company con- ordered by his doctor to take four. cerned, with a view to submitting things a little easier for a short Side of the job, a report for the benefit of both while. We all hope that he will On the Colour Bill of the sides. soon be quite fit; in the meantime, Gorgen and L. Andrews Colour Developing, both share a One member at Denham Labora- Bob Harding will carry on the round 31 years, and in the Printing tories, as reported by Cyril Sparres job of Journal Reporter for his Room of the Colour Department at the end of these " Topics ", colleagues. Many thanks Charley Jim Mann boasts of 27 years. having contacted Dermatitis, has for your contributions. been receiving full pay during his Not forgetting the female ele- absence and at the same time will KAY'S LABORATORIES report : ment of Kay's, we have Miss not lose his rights to normal sick- Just a short while ago, four Emmie Porter, who casually men- ness benefit as provided for by our members of Kay's staff were tions 32 years (Negative Cutting Agreement. That is very much in having their tea-break, and their Room) and, in the same depart- line with the requirements of the conversation worked round to the ment, Miss Nora Edwards and Laboratories section. old favourite question " How long Miss Ann Nichols score just over " At the Laboratories shop have you been here? —and much twenty years each. Quite a stewards' committee meeting held later in the day, after a little number of the staff not mentioned on Monday, March 17th, being the thought on this question, it really here, range between 15 and 20 first meeting after the A.G.M., strikes one that Time awaits no years' service, so to close this " Miss Daphne Le Brun, our Secre- man, and the years roll by, and Service line shoot " just one before join- tary, was re-elected for, I believe, you know where you are word to the youngsters now " her fourth term of office. George you have become one of the Elite ing the trade, keep at it — time of ". irons is again Vice-Chairman, with Old Timers. soon goes by myself Chairman. George, as we Take for example Sam Williams, writes : all know, has been on the Lab. chargehand developer of the nega- C. Sparkes of DEN. LABS report Committee for very many years tive and positive departments. He I am sorry to have to and as this is " " year A.C.T.T.'s was a brand new boy way back ( Continued on 'par/e 280 278 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN May 1958 Start savins- Main selling agents throughout the world Jar the MR |AWLEY JUNIOR Dual Gauge 16/35mm. FILM PROCESSOR A unique self-contained developing plant, ideally suited to handling television films, technical and research films, in the laboratory or in the field. Here are some of its outstanding features: fa Daylight operation throughout. fa Continuous processing of 35 mm. and 16 mm. films in any sequence or length. fa Temperature control to within 0.3 deg. Fahr. under all ambient conditions from 50 to 90 dee. Fahr. fa Processing to a gamma constant within 0.01 of accuracy. -j^- Provision for automatic develop fix replenish- ment. fa Finished results on negative materials within 7 minutes when needed. fa Solution economy with minimum carry-over. fa Any length of film instantly loaded or removed without interruption of processing. fa Output of finished film, neg. or pos., up to 40 ft. per minute. fa Self-contained —size 40' 30' 54" high, on casters for mobility. Also for 16 mm. film only, to the same specification. with maximum output of 80 ft. per minute. Manufactured by A British thoroughbred that leads NEWMAN & GUARDIA LTD the world in specification, workman- ship and reliability Harlow, Essex TECHNICAL LITERATURE AND DEMONSTRATIONS ON APPLICATION TO TECHNICAL CINEMATOGRAPH REQUIREMENTS Ltd — — May 1958 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 279 Sole Distributors in the United Kingdom for Start saying- Concessionaires W. F. Dormer Ltd., of the ECLAIR CAMEFLEX MR The Most Versatile of all Motion Picture Cameras Many profound and some revolu- tionary features are imminent, in- cluding a sensational double system for standard magnetic tapes, ensuring true sync, and highest attainable quality. Existing users of the Cameflex will be given priority. TWO MODELS 35 mm. and COMBINED 35/16 mm. The illustration shows the camera fitted with one of the long awaited range of PAN-CINOR Lightweight Zoom Lenses now available. Fu details on application. Manufactured under Coutant-Mathot patents by Etablissements Cinematographiques Eclair, Pans. Distributors to Industry and to Professional Users for Concessionaires W. F. Dormer Ltd., of the fabulous SIEMENS "2000" 16 mm. PROJECTOR Highest fidelity recording and reproduction. Optical, optical/magnetic, striped film or full magnetic. The ideal equipment for use by industry, schools, and institutions concerned with small scale high quality film production. Only a camera required the projector provides complete recording, re- recording and dubbing channels. Phone Woking 5240 1-3 28 minutes from Waterloo, 20 seconds White Rose Lane, Woking, Surrey from station. — 280 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN May 1958 Lab Topics Talking Point Shorts & Documentary (Continued) WHY NOT A BANNER ? Section that once again that old enemy Dermatitis has reared its ugly I spotted quite a number of our head in the Labs, although we at STEVE COX \V KITES : members of the fringes of the vast Denham are very happy at the co- crowd that went to Trafalgar Since the Journal last went to operation of the management in Square the other Sunday after- press, four meetings have been this particular case. The member noon for the joint Labour Party- held directly concerning members concerned is not losing financially. Trades Union Congress demon- of our Section. So it seems that at least one case stration, calling for the suspension of Dermatitis is successfully The major meeting was, of of nuclear tests. negotiated. course, the Shorts A.G.M., held at It was good that they had res- Mezzanine Theatre, Shell Mex On the Social side, it was un- ponded to the Executive's call to House on March 25th. A very well fortunate I was too late to report back this grand rally, but how attended gathering elected the in the last issue that Denham could outsiders know of our sup- following to hold office for the Social Club started a Club Night port? Engineers, printers, super- next twelve months : Chairman on Wednesday evenings at The visory technicians and lots of Max Anderson; Vice-Chairman Vine, Hillingdon. The opening co- others advertised their presence Chris Brunei; Secretary—Steve incided with the Labs Darts final with banners, so why shouldn't we Cox; Committee Members— Eric between the Night Staff and the have an official banner for such Pask, Lindsay Anderson, Gloria 16mm. Department, which resulted occasions? The designs of those Sacks, Roy Pace, Joe Telford, in a win for the Night Staff. belonging to Unions older than Dennis Segaller, Derrick Knight, our modest quarter century were Elmer Cossey and Johnny Long- TECHNICOLOR reports : richly embroidered, and in their man. The report from this Laboratory old-fashioned designs there Chris Brunei unfortunately, for is one which no individual or breathes the long traditions of reasons many members may know, organisation ever wants to give. their founders and the pioneers of asked the Committee to accept his During the first week of April we British trades unionism. resignation. This the Committee unfortunately lost two members did with regret, and conforming to 1 think it would be presump- who had been with us one seven rule Eric Pask who received the — tuous to imitate that style for our years and the other thirteen years. next highest number of votes, was banner, and personally I dislike asked to accept office as Vice- Bros. Fred Chadwick and Cyril the stark contemporary fashion Chairman and Phil Dennis, the Harris died within two days of one with words only to it. Long before next on the list of nominees, was another Fred a member of the films and TV became mass media, — asked to complete the number of there was a very true advertising Shipping Department and Cyril a Committee Members. member of the Security Section. slogan, " Every Picture Tells a Our sympathy goes to all their Story ", so why not some illustra- After the business of the meet- dependents at this time. Both tion on our banner? What ideas ing we had a showing of films, these men were liked and respected have you got for a design? namely: Holiday, Worming of by all who came into contact with Metals, a cartoon, Two by Two, them in the Laboratory. Cadmus and a series of commercials made by TV Cartoons. Now for the other meetings. Our film show at Crown, on March 13th, was a really full house with OFFICIAL APPOINTMENT " standing room" only. The films shown were: Mak< your Money LABORATORY SUPERINTENDENT (Film Processing) required Grow, Earth is a Battlefield, and some Shell Advertising Filmlets. by Federal Government of Nigeria for Film Production Unit, Infor- Lindsay Anderson was in the mation Service, on contract for 18/24 months in first instance. Chair. Salary according to experience in scale (including inducement addi- At the .-a me rendezvous on tion) £1,170, rising to £1,488 a year. Gratuity at rate £150 a year. April 10th there was a well Outfit Allowance £60. Liberal leave on full salary. Free passages attended film show at which we saw Tht ri was a Door and the for officer and wife. Grant up to £150 annually for maintenance of A.C.T. Films Second Fiddle— the children in U.K. Free passages for children up to cost of two adult latter was a break from the usual return fares. (It is thus often possible for an officer whose children films shown at these " do's ", but are being, educated in the U.K. to arrange for them to spend two it evoked a lively and interesting discussion. Eric Pask was our or more school vacations in West Africa with free passages). Chairman for this evening. Candidates must have a thorough knowledge oi all aspects "i cine The other meeting was the film processing both 16mm. and 85mm., including negative cutting speeial meeting, held on April 1st experience. The officer will be required to work with and take over, to discuss " Social Documentary ". is required, from the officer in charge of the laboratories. Write unfortunately I could no1 attend but i understand a was to the Crown Agents, 4 Millbank, London, S.W.I. State age, name Committee elected to go into the " pro's and in block letters, full qualifications and experience and quote eons ". I hope to give greater M3B/35002/FAA. details at a later date. May 1958 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 281 interviews TED SGAIFE Director of Photography HAPPY IS THE BRIDE A PAUL SOSKIN PRODUCTION DIRECTED BY ROY BOULTING FOR BRITISH LION FILMS Are you happy, too, Mr. Scaife? Why shouldn't I be? Remember, I was using Ilford FP3 stock. Do you mind giving us your reasons? Not a bit—though you've heard it before Good tone separation. Good contrasts. And FP3 is specially good for high key work. Have I said enough? What more could you say? Just that I like using Ilford FP3. ILFORD LIMITED CINE SALES DEPARTMENT 104 HIGH H0LB0RN LONDON W.C.1 Telephone : HOLborn 3401 282 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN May 1958 SERVICE in 16mm COLOUR PRINTING EASTMAN COLOUR with automatic colour masking and silver sound track. For direct reduction from 35mm. negatives, or by means of 16mm. internegatives, for prints from 16mm. or 35mm. positives. KODACHROME for 16mm. contact prints, and for direct reduction from 35mm. positives. GERrard 5716 8935 DOTS . . The only independent laboratory undertaking (colour mim^Jrintina exclusively colour processing 89/91, WARDOUR ST.. LONDON. W. 1.(7 May 1958 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 28c Congratulations & Good Wishes to A.C.T.T. on tnenth Twenty-fifth Anniversary T.V. ADVERTISING LTD. Head Office £4 GREEK STREET, W.i Tel. Gerrard 4226 Studios FILM HOUSE, 142 WARDOUR STREET, W.i Tel. Gerrard 6461 284 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN May 1958 CONGRATVLATCS A.C.T.T on the completion 7 of twenty-five years service to the Industry George Humphries & Co. Ltd. 71-81 Whitfield Street London - W.i (MUSeum 5636 is lines) Sole U.K. agents for !///(///// ( [III R I CORP. (U.S. \.) May 1958 FILM & TV TECHNICIAN 285 PICK W I CI PAPERS SCROOGE ^Jeorge SVENGALI MINTER DANCE LITTLE LADY Congratulates the OUR GIRL FRIDAY ACTT IT'S A on its WONDERFUL WORLD 25th CARRY ON ffknniversary ADMIRAL TREAD SOFTLY STRANGER GEORGE MINTER PRODUCTIONS LTD RENOWN HOUSE, 54-58 WARDOVR STREET, LONDON, W.l Phone Gerrard 5701 L'si; FILM & TV TECHNICIAN May 1958 nnnnDnnnnnannnnnnnnnanannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn D H D H a a n a a a a a a D g The Film Producers Guild g n a a congratulates the a a a § A- C- T- T § n a a a g on their 25th anniversary g a n a and looks forward to a g many more ijears g a a a g of happij co-operation g d a n a n a g THE FILM PRODUCERS GUILD LTD g q Guild House. Upper St. Martin's Lane. 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