THE CINEMA
"Men of the Lightship." At the Gaumont, New Gallery, Tatler, etc.
Men of the Lightship is a factual record of an incident in the war. In the light of later events that incident (which took place in January) might seem to us small and unimportant, were it not for two facts ; firstly, the fact that this was the first time in the history of warfare that lightships—so international was their significance and need—had been attacked, and secondly, the fact that the film presents the incident so dramatically and so fiercely that it becomes a symbol for the basic beastliness of Nazidom. The film re-enacts the bombing and machine-gunning of the East Dudgeon Lightship, and the subsequent death of its crew after days and nights in the ship's boat on the bitter North Sea ; for, as they came to shore, a wave overwhelmed them, and exhaustion and cold prevented them from scrabbling up the bare beach to safety.
The film therefore has only that shape which the actuality of the event can give it, and it is significant to note how rounded and coherent it is. There are in fact only three sequences. The first shows us the crew awaiting the monthly relief boat— playing jokes on the oldest inhabitant, chaffing the youngest on his forthcoming wedding, feeding the canary, and generally living their ordinary human little lives. The second sequence shows the bombing and machine-gunning. It is shot elaborately, sensa- tionally and viciously ("You dirty bastards" says one of the rew as the Dornier dives and the bullet holes spatter and splinter across the deck). And the third shows the long-drawn agony of the open boat, the ice-wind, despair, determination, and death uncheated in the end. There are no actors ; lightshipmen play the parts of the East Dudgeon crew. The film is shot economically and without technical frills. Only one criticism may be made, and that is that the introduction of several passages of commentary —especially one at the end—is incongruous against the bare and impressive reality of the film. There is no point which the visuals, the sound, and the dialogue cannot make, and the disembodied voice can only jar against the tragic re-enactions. Men of the Lightship is also noteworthy in that it was directed by David Macdonald, who made This Man is News and other. feature films. He worked at the G.P.O. Film Unit, under Cavalcanti's producership and with G.P.O. Film Unit staff. It is a good augury that such a collaboration has been so successful.
In the future day§ of peace it will be interesting to revive both this film and Harry Watt's magnificent North Sea. They both deal with perils at sea ; but the one is a film of hate and war, of machinery and science hell-bent for destruction, and the other glorifies the right and just use of man-made marvels in the saving of life. Which, in those days to come, will appear the most moving? The answer must be sought from the children and the young men and women of tomorrow ; but it may well be guessed. In the meantime Men of the Lightship expresses, without equi- vocation, an immediate mood, and an immediate determination.
BASIL WRIGHT.
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