Suppressed Film

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 732, 3 August 1929, Page 25

Suppressed Film

i RUSSIA BANS REMARK- i ABLE PICTURE RECORD ! OF DASH TO SAVE j ITALIA’S CREW

It Is uncanny to see on the screen | one of the most discussed human 1 tragedies of modern times just as if ; it were a super-film posed for the entertainment of the filmgoer. Watching the cinematographicrecord of the Soviet ship Krassin's rescue of the fated Italia’s crew one i does become conscious of the fantastic : side of modern invention; an airplane . is lifted from the decks of the courageous ice-breaker in bits and pieced together in an off-hand manner that is I simply amazing; lost explorers whose I lives are in a most precarious position ! sit down to listen-in to a radio concert, observes an English writer. Sitting in a little Swiss cinema I beheld close-ups of the captain registering agony when the onslaught on the ice proved ineffective, cut with shots of the wireless operator being agitated with dials and knobs. A survivor, half-dead, Is lifted aboard in semi-long-shot in the Krassin film; Tshucknoiski sets off on his historical flight with a camera-man; the famous red tent is discovered by a somewhat refractory hand camera! Forgetting the grim side, one can but wonder at the value of this documeut ! as history; indeed, Russia has con- ! sidered it diplomatic to suppress exhibition. However, there are many Impressive things untinged by controversy. When th~ giant airship is dragged from its hangar a “Metropolis”-like compnsition is achieved; each man has his own special task, and ropes are pulled

with the order and precision of a ballet. Taking into accoun* the adverse conditions the photography is good. Shots of tilting horizons, foam dashing against the side, spray falling back into the water, smoke spreading like a canopy; all these atmospheric bits, that are generally so conventional, for once have a purpose which is intelligently exploited.