CINEMA
MOST of the 200 films from twenty-five countries being shown at the Festival find their drama in fact rather than in fiction, although some have been made in part at least in the studio and others are variously experimental in content and style.
A British film for the first time opened the Festival: based on the celebrated escape story, The Wooden Horse has the distinctive realistic qualities, if hardly the stature, of such films as Rouquier's Farrebique and Flaherty's Louisiana Story, which have received this honour in previous years. It was followed by the world premiere of a long ambitious'film, Our India, directed by Paul Zits and based on Minoo Masani's book. This attempts a panoramic impressbn of Indian life and culture, loosely arranged in chronological sequence and held together more by enthusiastic belief in the subject than by narrative skill. From the coming of the Aryans, the film traces India's story through the rise and fall -of empires, the emergence and waning of British influence, and the growth of the independence movement, to Gandhi and the events of recent years. From this crowded background emerges a simple story of India today and of the conflict in the villages between those who see the need for new methods in agriculture and those who oppose them out of fear. Although the English speech of the players produces occasional naiveties, the film has a fresh vigour and a shining belief in the elixir of freedom.
The Titan—Story of Michelangelo has been adapted in America by Robert Flaherty from a pre-war Swiss film. This is a masterly exposition of the man and his work, made with feeling and imagina- tion. With landscape shots of the Italian countryside and expressive moving pictures of the streets and squares which Michelangelo knew in Florence and Rome, the film re-creates the spirit of the age in which he lived and proceeds to tell the story of his sculpture. The patronage of Lorenzo de Medici, the influence of Savonarola, the statuary of the Medici Chapel, the Sistine murals, St Peter's— to the treatment of these the film brings a flashing imagination which transforms the static nature of the subject-matter. This was a perfect film for such a Festival.
So also, in a very different style, was Kon-Tiki, the record of the Heyerdahl expedition in a balsa-wood raft across the Pacific from Peru to Tahiti. A 16 mm. camera was included in the equipment carried by Heyerdahl and his companions and from the record made during the 101 days' voyage over 4,300 miles, a full-size film has been produced. All the fascinating experiences—except the storms—familiar to readers of the book are here ; and so too is the modest informality of Heyerdahl's narrative. This is a unique record of a remarkable exploit. The photography is sometimes crude and the continuity clumsy ; but no one would look for technical brilliance on such an exciting occasion.
FORSYTH HARDY.
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