Film makers enjoy resurrecting, with some regularity, pictures of past years or decades and assembling a new view of a bygone era. With good material and skillful editing, the historically minded producer can bring forth a vivid document of history. Often, however, historic materials battle with the purely nostalgic for a place of prominence in the compilation. Three recently released 16mm motion pictures are examples of different aspects of this process.
Farewell to Yesterday (Films, Inc., 202 East 44th Street, N.Y. 17) surveys the thirty years between 1920 and 1950. Using newsreel shots of momentous developments in these decades, the film concentrates on international turmoil. World War II scenes take up most of the footage. This compact, comprehensive report will have increasing value in years to come. It could be updated, however, with a new conclusion to note the end of the Korean War. Yet in an interesting way, Farewell to Yesterday reflects the ideas and attitudes that were current in this modern world at the time of assembly.
A longer treatment and a more ambitious film because of the variety of materials used is Wonderful Times. This German production is available with English titles from Brandon Films (200 West 57th Street, N.Y. 19). By blending newsreels with entertainment films, Herrliche Zeiten places considerable emphasis on social history; but this review of a half century of war and peace also scans political and military history. The producers, surprisingly, are able to interpret much of their own tragedy with a sense of humor.
Stressing the turn of the century scene in Europe, Paris 1900 examines the life and surroundings as witnessed by pioneer cameramen. Their attraction to ordinary occurrences and their experiments and tricks with the cinema camera are about balanced in this French-made film. In addition, famous personalities from almost all fields of the time are again brought to life. This lively reminiscence of an era that was soon to pass into history is also available from Brandon.
Pioneer Life
By WILLIAM G. TYRRELL
The nonrevealing title of Dear Nancy actually hides a sponsored film (Breck Shampoos) that is a remarkably detailed document of early Nineteenth-Century life. The film provides a year-around view of typical activities of rural America by using the authentic settings of Old Sturbridge Village. Craftsmanship, routine work, and recreation are appropriately described in re-creating the atmosphere of a century and a half ago. The attempt to contrast that life with conditions in the middle of the past century does not come off so effectively. Association Films (347 Madison Avenue, N.Y. 17) is the source for this account.
A more explicitly titled film, Not So Long Ago, deals with similar subjects—the community organization and craftsmanship of our ancestors. This film from Cinavision, Inc. (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) uses the backgrounds of both Old Sturbridge and Colonial Williamsburg to explain features of our heritage. Susan Reed furnishes the musical accompaniment for this delightfully informative journey into the past.
Western Americana
By WILLIAM G. TYRRELL
Fur Trappers Westward (Arthur Barr Productions, 1265 Bresee Avenue, Pasadena 7, Calif.) is one of the outstanding motion picture interpretations of an historic subject. It meticulously follows the life of the early Nineteenth-Century “mountain men” from the keelboat journey up the Missouri River to the rendezvous for disposing of the catch of furs. Set against colorfully impressive scenery, the film illustrates clearly the methods of operation of the trappers, their activities, their hardships, and the dangers confronting them. Every aspect of the film—photography, narration, and characterization—stamps it as a magnificent explanation and an unsurpassed teaching tool.
The role of the cowboy in the West also receives a close examination, this time in the filmstrip The Last Frontier (Museum Extension Service, 10 East 43rd Street, N.Y. 17). Life on the cattle range is clearly depicted in the drawings of Frederic Remington, Charles M. Russell, and other contemporary illustrators. Accompanying these well-selected and carefully reproduced pictorial materials is a written text by other firsthand observers. While there may be some question as to the historical accuracy of the title, the filmstrip, nevertheless, concludes with a brief account of the conflict between cattlemen and homesteaders.
American Transportation
By WILLIAM G. TYRRELL
The needs of a restless people in a vast continent are forcefully revealed in a Life Filmstrip (9 Rockefeller Plaza, N.Y. 20) on the history of American Transportation: Horseback to Jet. Although the subject is a familiar one, the splendid selection of pictures provides a refreshing approach to the subject. With considerable emphasis on social history, the materials should also motivate interest in related aspects of economic history and technological advance.
American Recreation
By WILLIAM G. TYRRELL
The millions of travelers using the American transportation facilities will be interested in the Life Filmstrip on our National Parks. The strip shows in splendid detail various examples of “America’s Wonderlands.” Featuring the magnificence of such parks as the Grand Teton, Yellowstone, Yosemite, and Grand Canyon, the filmstrip also includes views of the Great Smokies and the Everglades. For those who want more than the natural grandeur of the landscape, there are also close-ups of notable examples of animal and plant life. The ordinary camera fan might bear in mind that this strip utilizes the efforts of Life’s most skilled photographers.
A more historical treatment to a subject of cultural history is provided in the Life Filmstrip survey of Theater: Ritual to Broadway. The 69 black and white frames trace the development of the dramatic arts from Greek and Roman dramas to recent examples on the American stage. Most of the examples, in fact, are of modern American productions of the historic subject.
Recorded Americana
By WILLIAM G. TYRRELL
Songs of the North and South, a Decca long-playing recording (DL-8093), furnishes a musical impression of the Civil War period. Frank Luther, Zora Layman, and the Century Quartet perform 35 selections from both sides. The music expresses patriotism, love, anxiety, braveness, and humor. Many of the titles—once the hit songs of their day—have disappeared from familiarity, so that it is particularly valuable to have this collection to assist in re-creating an historic era.
Carl Sandburg recites and sings a program rich in Americana in Poet’s Gold, an RCA-Victor extended-play recording (ERB-30). In the first part of the recording, the poet reads eleven of his own compositions, most of which are on typical American subjects. The second portion consists of “From Coast to Coast in Song.” Here Sandburg draws on his experiences as a collector of folk and traditional songs and performs selections identified with various parts of our country, from “New York, Oh! What a Charming City” to “The Banks of the Sacramento.”
Another famous poet, Langston Hughes, reads on a Folkways recording, his composition The Glory of Negro History (FP-752). The essay is divided into “The Struggle” and “The Glory” and incorporates various illustrative materials including musical selections and other documentation. Hughes’ factual narrative covers the role of Negroes in American life from Phillis Wheatly and Crispus Attucks to Louis Armstrong and Ralph Bunche.
Singable and danceable melodies by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II have become a part of musical Americana. Proof of this statement is happily illustrated in the RCA-Victor recording of Oklahoma/Carousel Suites (LM-1884) as arranged and performed by Morton Gould. The Oklahoma selections can accurately be called the folk music of tomorrow.
