Robert Joseph Flaherty
Boa FLAHERTY, who has died at home in Vermont at the age of 67, has been called the "father of documentary." In a sense he was, but " documentary " is much too pale and prim a word for films like Nanook and Man of Arran and Louisiana Story which have their never-failing audience. There was nothing prosy about Flaherty, who kept the innocent eye of youth throughout his life ; and every- thing he looked at was seen as though for the first time through the limpid waters of his imagination. He was a lyric poet at large in a world of brash men who know what's what, and he had many a struggle to keep going. But not many men in the film industry can have had as few enemies and as many friends as Flaherty, whose films reflect the man with astonishing fidelity. He had all the qualities which can make a man loved even by the hard-hearted. I. H.
Previous page
