THE WAR BY CAMERA.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 170, 20 July 1935, Page 5 (Supplement)

THE WAR BY CAMERA.

LESSONS OF "FORGOTTEN" MEN." Scenes of the war taken by cameramen in the thick of the fighting have been assembled to make a film which is to be released locally shortly. As they were taken on every European front and from both sides, the film is said to be able to present the most convincing chronicle of the war that has yet been seen on the screen. "Forgotten Men," however, is more than an assemblage of material. It has a theme —waste. Sir lan Hamilton in a spoken preface to the film declares that he has lived in war and by war, but that the species let loose in 1914 can be revealed only by the cinema camera.

With the laying waste of Belgium there begins a chronicle of destruction which increases in force as gas, liquid fire, 'planes and tanks are seen at work. German film shows the U-boat campaign, and English pictures show the bringing down of a Zeppelin. Some of the most remarkable pictures are those taken by observers as bombs are dropped from aeroplanes. Scenes of alpine fighting, arrival of coloured troops from the United States, and the boys of 17 whom Germany was finally reduced to sending to the trenches —all these and more are shown.

| Many of these pictures have not previously been shown to the public. They may never be, for the film has not been touched by the censors. It is not entertaining to see dismembered men dying. There are scenes showing bayonet charges, the results of a well-aimed shell and. after an aid raid, a baby is seen crying among the debris of a house. But if these scenes are to be cut out the film loses both its point and its balance. "Forgotten Men" shows the war as it was. It drives home that war means waste, and the commentary is as vivid in its statistics as arc the pictures themselves. It is in the form of a lecture by Sir John Hammerton, famous historian, who from time to time introduces a number of ex-servicemen of several nations to reinforce the message of the film.