PUBLICITY FILM

Waikato Independent, Volume XLIV, Issue 6105, 24 September 1947, Page 2

PUBLICITY FILM

DOMINION VISITORS’ INITIATIVE TOURIST DEPARTMENT’S DIALOGUE CRITICISED The London correspondent 'of a southern daily newspaper writes, in a recent issue, on the recognition given in British film circles of a New Zealand publicity film, the dialogue of which was supplied by the Dominion’s Tourist and Publicity Department. He says:—

.Although New Zealand has had a Government film .unit for some years now—and a Tourist Department for considerably longer—it has , been left to a New Zealander who has lived for many years in America, Mr E. H. Scott, to produce the first'adequate colour film of the country. Mr -Scott re-visited New Zealand earlier this year, and, because he was unable to find a satisfactory film which he could take back to the United States to show to friends, he decided to piake one himself.

Department’s Admiration

A copy of this film, which is divided equally between the North and South Islands, was presented by Mr Scott to the Government after the Tourist Department officers had seen it, and expressed their admiration. The Department is now having it edited and prepared fdr general exhibition as two hour-long short features. Sound track and commentary are being added in Wellington. The original version of the film was shown to an invited audience of New Zealanders and British officials in London recently, a spoken commentary being supplied by Mr Scott. It deals thoroughly with all the principal attractions New Zealand has to offer the tourist, and shows something of the country’s primary industries.

One of the best portions was taken over the Southern Alps from an aircraft chartered by Mr Scott for the occasion. There is a complete set of Maori poi dances photographed at Rotorua, which is believed to be the first complete pictorial record of the dances. The film also includes the first colour pictures of a live kiwi. Central Office of Information officers in Britain are very keen to obtain copies of the film from New Zealand, as they are constantly asked by schools and other educational organisations for films d ea hng with the Dominion, and so far have not been able to meet the requests. They were enthusiastic about the quality of Mr Scott’s ambitious production; * “ Pretentious, Wordy, Obscure ”

In view of the excellence of the photography and the work that has gone into the film’s preparation, it seems regrettable that the Govern-

ment film studios have not supplied a better commentary to be recorded on the sound track. The script, a copy of which reached London not long ago, is pretentious, wordy, and frequently , obscure. A commentary should, provide necessary explanations simply phrased; this script is a mass of verbiage. 4 Describing some Pacific islands seen from the air on the trip to New Zealand, the script informs us that “ the natural history of - the native terrestrial inhabitants is limited to a few creatures.”

In New Zealand, in the words of the script, “ the tourist is presently convinced by visual evidence that the staples of New Zealand are the varied products of grassland farming.” “ Sacrificial Stream ”

The Waikato River becomes, in the writer’s curious fancy, “ a sacrificial stream whose waters pay tribute in their upper reaches to hydro-electric generating stations.” Glaciers are “ fissured diadems.”

The North Island part the film ends with this baffling sentence: “ Truly, New Zealand’s national bird, heir of his giant congener and extinct ostrich-like moa, is the most remarkable of all struthious birds that exist to-day.” But hardly more remarkable than the mentality of a writer who expects the average film-goer to. know that this monstrous (and redundant word) means “ ostrich-like.” The whole production is intended to explain New Zealand to the interested American or Englishman. The work of editing has only just been completed, so perhaps it is not yet too late to ask the Government studios to discard this nonsense and engage an experienced journalist to write a script that is straightforward, simple, and aware of the value of silence.

Miany of the scenes are self-explan-atory and require only a well-chosen musical background; and, seeing that this film is for exhibition overseas, why not engage New Zealand’s foremost composer, Douglas Lilburn, now in Wellington, to provide an original score to be recorded by the National Symphony Orchestra, and thus complete a production which is truly New Zealand’s ?