NFR Project: Hindenburg disaster newsreel footage (1937)

 

NFR Project: Hindenburg disaster newsreel footage

Various sources

May 6, 1937

It’s one of the most iconic images of all time, instantly recognizable, a byword for disaster. When the zeppelin Hindenburg caught fire and fell to earth, killing 36, it was the end of an era for this peculiar method of transportation. It also demonstrated the value of film in capturing historic events as they happened.

The zeppelin was created in Germany in the late 19^th century. It is an immense rigid airship, consisting of several bags of lighter-than-air gas trapped in an aluminum shell in cigar shape, from which depend engines, propellers, and compartments for passengers and crew. It was a prestigious and unique way to travel, and many cross-Atlantic flights took place in zeppelins during the early part of the 20^th century.

The zeppelin was designed to be filled with inert helium gas, but the United States controlled the supply, so flammable hydrogen gas was used instead. On May 6, 1937, the Hindenburg was scheduled to come to rest in Lakehurst, New Jersey. As the craft was preparing to land, it caught fire and plunged to the ground. The fire was spectacular; the ship was completely consumed in less than a minute.

In addition to the newsreel cameras, reporter Herbert Morrison was covering the landing live for radio. His famous eyewitness report, combined with the newsreel footage, gives us an indelible impression of destruction and dismay.

After this incident, the impetus that drove the development and use of zeppelins ended abruptly. The footage was just too intense. Other zeppelins were retired. Would-be travelers had their fares refunded. From this point on, the history of aviation focused on the use and evolution of the fixed-wing airplane.

The NFR is one writer’s attempt to review all the films listed in the National Film Registry in chronological order. Next time: The Life of Emile Zola.

NFR Project: 'Daughter of Shanghai' (1937)

 

NFR Project: ‘Daughter of Shanghai’

Dir: Robert Florey

Scr: Gladys Unger, Garnett Weston

Pho: Charles Schoenbaum

Ed: Ellsworth Hoagland

Premiere: Dec. 17, 1937

62 min.

This film is a kind of miracle. Somehow, in a time when racial stereotyping in Hollywood film was casual and omnipresent, this film gives us, for the first time, Asian-American characters who are mature, intelligent, articulate, and complex. It’s amazing what you can do if you try.

It helps that its star was Anna May Wong. A California girl who started in film in 1919, Wong was an immensely popular and capable actress who commonly played the mysterious Asian beauty in films such as The Thief of Bagdad, Piccadilly, and Shanghai Express. She was desirous of more substantial parts, and she got Paramount to support her in this effort.

The script of Daughter of Shanghai was written expressly for Wong. In it she plays the daughter of a prominent importer who’s murdered when he refuses to go along with an immigrant-smuggling scheme. She takes it upon herself to infiltrate the operation and expose it; working alongside but not in tandem with F.B.I. man Kim Lee (the great Philip Ahn, early in his career).

The cast is loaded with ringers, despite it being a relatively low-budget affair. Among the bad guys are Charels Bickford, J. Carrol Naish, Buster Crabbe, and a young Anthony Quinn. Robert Florey was an experienced director, and he brings a professional finish to the proceedings, even indulging in some original camerawork to illustrate the action.

The film was released, came and went without any fanfare, only to be discovered decades later. It’s a valuable addition to the National Film Registry, and it shows us what might have been in a better world.

The NFR is one writer’s attempt to review all the films listed in the National Film Registry in chronological order. Next time: Hindenburg disaster newsreel footage.

NFR Project: 'The Awful Truth' (1937)

 

NFR Project: ‘The Awful Truth’

Dir: Leo McCarey

Scr: Vina Delmar

Pho: Joseph Walker

Ed: Al Clark

Premiere: Oct. 21, 1937

91 min.

Irene Dunne and Cary Grant are thought of today as primarily comedic actors, but in 1937 this was not so. Grant was an up-and-coming young actor, and Dunne had just starred in James Whale's adaptation of the musical Showboat. Neither was comfortable with comedy.

Enter director Leo McCarey. A dab hand at comedy, he had started out as a gag writer for silent films, later directed some of Laurel and Hardy’s best work, and created the Marx Brothers’ funniest film, Duck Soup, in 1933.

He was a fan of improvisation. After the movie’s script was worked over multiple times by a cavalcade of writers, McCarey tossed everything out but the premise – two divorcing people that are actually still fond of each other. He started filming with an off-key rendition of “Home on the Range,” and went on from there.

Dunne and Grant were chagrined. Neither had worked this way before. Dunne cried. Grant tried to get off the picture, then tried to get McCarey off the picture. This was how the first week went.

But then, the actors loosened up and started to thrive under McCarey’s spontaneous approach. Dunne is possessed of a wonderful deadpan delivery. Grant developed an entire vocabulary of comedic takes and reactions for the film. Grant hems and haws, looks askance at something, twitches, rolls his eyes, and sighs. And that’s usually just on his entrance.

The story is simple – neither Jerry Warriner (Grant) or his wife Lucy (Dunne) are particularly faithful to each other (this fact is never referred to openly, due to the code of censorship). They agree to divorce, and despite their conflict over ownership of their dog, Mr. Smith, each goes their merry way. They have 90 days before the divorce is final.

Soon Lucy is involved with an earnest young oil magnate (Ralph Bellamy) who Jerry mocks mercilessly (they still meet as they share custody of Mr. Smith). Jerry tries dating a club singer whose act is highly risqué, which doesn’t go over well. Back and forth, Jerry and Lucy match wits, piling putdown upon putdown. Each sabotages the other’s stabs at happiness until it becomes patently clear that they are meant for each other.

The script, such as it was, picked up an Oscar nomination, and the film was nominated in five other categories, with McCarey winning for Best Director. The comic byplay, the brisk pacing, and the Art Deco interiors create an atmosphere perfect for a farce. McCarey would continue to produce stellar work.

The NFR is one writer’s attempt to review all the films listed in the National Film Registry in chronological order. Next time: Daughter of Shanghai.

NFR Project: 'Lost Horizon' (1937)

 

NFR Project: ‘Lost Horizon’

Dir: Frank Capra

Scr: Robert Riskin

Pho: Joseph Walker, Elmer Dyer

Ed: Gene Havlick, Gene Milford

Premiere: March 2, 1937

132 min.

One of America’s best fantasy films was a hellish shoot, but it produced a beautiful, idealistic adventure that served as a summary of director Frank Capra’s sentiments, and affirmed the possibility of mankind’s better instincts saving it from destruction.

The film is an adaptation of James Hilton’s 1933 novel. Hilton was an incredibly popular writer of the time, and many of his works would be adapted to film, including Goodbye, Mr. Chips and Random Harvest. One might say he wrote with one eye toward the screen. The book is epic in scale, and contains much philosophical talk as well. If you can handle the fusion of the two, you will find the book and the film very rewarding experiences.

We are thrust into action immediately. The time is the present. The famous diplomat Robert Conway (Ronald Colman) is helping “white people” escape from a violent revolution in Asia. It is night; a city burns in the distance. We are at an airfield throbbing with people trying to get out. Conway sends plane after plane off. Finally, he and four others get on the last plane out of the riot.

However, they are not flown to safety but kidnapped by the mysterious pilot flying the plane. They fly far, covering plains, deserts, and mountains. Finally, they run out of gas and crash-land high in the Himalayas, subsumed by a blizzard. Natives appear out of the rocks and guide the travelers to Shangri-La.

Shangri-La is a valley protected by high mountains, green and fruitful. Its inhabitants are peaceful and content, happy to live in isolation from the outside world. They are ruled over by a sect of priests led by a High Lama. Initially, the visitors can only think of getting home; however, the pleasures and contentment Shangri-La provides soon make them happy to remain. Only Conway’s brother George (John Howard) insists on leaving, unhappy with this paradise on earth.

It turns out, of course, that Conway was brought there deliberately, to take over the ruling of Shangri-La from the High Lama (Sam Jaffe), an immensely old priest who stumbled into the valley centuries ago. He has a master plan – he sees the contemporary world destroying itself, and he seeks to preserve all of mankind’s knowledge and culture at the Shangri-La lamasery, to share with the world after its recovery from destruction.

Will Conway stay? Is Shangri-La all it’s cracked up to be? The screenplay by Robert Riskin is clear, precise, and nimble. Of note are the solid contribution of character actors Edward Everett Horton, Thomas Mitchell, and H.B. Warner. Capra shoots on a lavish budget (Shangri-La is Art Deco!) – and over his budget he went, going 34 days over schedule, shooting miles of film as well and coming up with an initial 6-hour cut. Capra saw this film as almost a crusade. The optimistic, humanistic philosophy behind all his celebrated comic fables reaches its apogee here.

The film was reduced to three hours, then to 132 minutes. In this form, it played – and failed to make its money back. It damaged the relationship between Capra and Columbia studio head Harry Cohn, and between Capra and Riskin.

The film stood shorn of much footage for decades, until a near-complete restoration brought the film back to its original length. Now best seen on a big, big screen, Capra’s lavish filmmaking is a visual treat. His philosophizing can be seen as naïve, but it is also earnest and moving.

The NFR is one writer’s attempt to review all the films listed in the National Film Registry in chronological order. Next time: The Awful Truth.

NFR Project: 'With the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in Spain' (1937-1938)

 

NFR Project: ‘With the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in Spain’

Dir: Henri Cartier-Bresson, Herbert Kline

Pho: Jacques Lemare, Robert Capa

1937-1938

20:21

This film, part of a fundraising effort, documents the actions of the Lincoln Brigade, a group of volunteers who fought the Fascists in Spain.

OK, some context. The Spanish Civil War took place from 1936 to 1939. The conflict was between the leftists, known as the Republicans (and as the Loyalists and as the Popular Front), versus the right-wing Fascists, monarchists, and conservatives under the command of military leaders, known as the Nationalists.

Republican soldiers were, by and large, Communists, and recruiting was heavy across the Western world. Eventually, approximately 3,000 Americans joined more than 35,000 volunteers from more than 50 countries round the world, their working-class compatriots, in the ranks of the Republicans.

The Republicans were doomed. Although they were backed by the Soviet Union, Francisco Franco, the Nationalist leader, had Hitler and Mussolini helping him with materiel, weapons, strategy, and more. Towns were bombed. Partisans were shot. The Republicans were outmanned and outgunned.

Thus the need for the film. It was intended as a fundraising tool for a Rehabilitation Fund for wounded American soldiers trying to return home from the front. It was created by the great French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson along with Herbert Kline, who visited the conflict during the summer and autumn of 1937. Their footage, combined with some front-line footage made by Robert Capa, were spliced together to provide a portrait of the people involved in the conflict.

“THESE NEWSREEL SCENES JUST ARRIVED FROM THE FRONT AND HAVE BEEN QUICKLY ASSEMBLED SO THAT YOU MIGHT SEE WITHOUT DELAY THESE FIRST CLOSE UPS OF THE BRAVE FIGHTERS,” the opening title proclaims. We see many short shots of the soldiers – a ragtag bunch. We see them bathing, eating, marching. We see them convalescing after a battle.

Finally, the film’s title cards exhort the viewer to contribute to the Fund. “THE PEOPLE OF AMERICA MUST HELP THESE BOYS. IN SPAIN – THE LINCOLN BRIGADE WITH THE PEOPLE OF SPAIN STILL FIGHT ON AGAINST FASCISM . . . IN AMERICA – WE MUST CONTINUE OUR TRADITION OF FIGHTING FOR DEMOCRACY. THEY OFFERED THEIR LIVES! WILL YOU OFFER YOUR HELP!”

Though more aid was forthcoming, it was not enough. On Nov. 1, 1938, the volunteers said farewell to the Spanish people at Barcelona. They returned to the United States, where their participation in such a Communist-driven affair meant that they were considered security risks. They were denied military appointments and government jobs. The veterans of the Brigade were placed on the Attorney General’s List of Subversive Organizations. “Veterans were fired, spied upon, harassed, labeled Communists to employers, denied housing, and refused passports for decades.”

Later creative works would deal with the Civil War, as in Picasso’s epic and arresting painting Guernica from 1937, and Ernest Hemingway’s 1940 novel For Whom the Bell Tolls. Franco consolidated his power and ruled as a repressive dictator for decades. The Lincoln Brigade vets who lived into the 1970s gradually gained a general respect for their service.

The NFR is one writer’s attempt to review all the films listed in the National Film Registry in chronological order. Next time: Lost Horizon.

NFR Project: 'George Washington Carver at Tuskegee Institute' (1937)

 

NFR Project: ‘George Washington Carver at Tuskegee Institute’

Filmed by C. Allen Alexander

1937

12:21

George Washington Carver (1864-1943) was one of the top agricultural scientists in history. Born into slavery, he persevered and got the kind of education he deserved. He received his master’s degree in 1896.

That same year, Booker T. Washington, head of the historically Black Tuskegee Institute, induced Carver to join the faculty. For the next 47 years, Carver taught there. He researched the causes of soil depletion – the encroachment of infertility – and championed the rotation of crops to replenish the land with nutrients. He experimented with and advocated the use of crops such as peanuts, sweet potatoes, soybeans, and others. He wrote many instructional papers to aid the farmers, and in particular the Black and impoverished farmers, to improve their farms and their lives.

The color footage we see was taken by an amateur – a surgeon named C. Allen Alexander. It is grainy but serviceable 16-millimeter film. In it, we see Dr. Carver in his office, outside his office, and walking around the grounds of Tuskegee. We also see the school’s marching band, and watch a bit of a football game. All in all, a completely typical university experience.

The film reads just like the home movies of the time – extended takes, medium shots, no real editing to speak of. Alexander did this filming on the fly. It is remarkable to see Carver in the flesh, but more importantly it speaks to the advances of Black culture that a place like Tuskegee provides. Here are college students, researchers, administrators – all Black. In a time when segregation and racial prejudice dominated the relations between Black people and white, it must have been heartening to see an institution devoted to improving Black lives succeeding.

The NFR is one writer’s attempt to review all the films listed in the National Film Registry in chronological order. Next time: With the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in Spain.

NFR Project: 'Trance and Dance in Bali' (1936-1939)

 

NFR Project: ‘Trance and Dance in Bali’

Produced by Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson

1936-1939

21:41

Margaret Mead is probably America’s best-known anthropologist. Her ground-breaking studies of other cultures were controversial and influential.

The film we see here is part of the record of the journey she and her husband, fellow anthropologist Gregory Bateson, made to Bali (now Indonesia) in the late 1930s. The culture was undocumented in a scientific way. Mead and Bateson set out to examine it.

The idea of going into a trance state is very unfamiliar to Western minds. (In fact, part of their funding came from the Committee for Research in Dementia Praecox.) Desiring to examine the rituals of the Balinese people, they set up their cameras in a village and filmed a dance concerning an ancient legends involving a witch and a dragon, opposing forces in the imaginative life of the film’s subjects.

These dances were normally undertaken at night, but of course the filmmakers had to work in daylight, which alters the perception of the rituals a bit. (Nothing is as impressive-looking in the daylight.) They also commandeered some women to do a dance with a kris knife normally done by men. Despite these changes, the film is a fascinating record of people going into and out of trance, channeling other spirits and forces.

Film’s ability to capture the impermanent is on display here. Presumably, this native culture no longer exists, thanks to globalization. Here film is a scientific document, preserving and communicating information about the human family.

The NFR is one writer’s attempt to review all the films listed in the National Film Registry in chronological order. Next time: George Washington Carver at Tuskegee Institute.