Film & History News

FILM & HISTORY NEWS CBS LOCMTARY RETROSPECTIVE -- JULY 30 t? SEPT. 30 A twelve-week series of some of the most influential and best known documentaries produced by CBS news during the 1950' s § 60 's will be broadcast on CBS television on Sundays, beginning July 8. The retrospective will be hosted by correspondent John Hart and will include "McCarthy" (1954), "Harvest of Shame" (1960), "Black History: Lost, Stolen, or Strayed" (1968) and "The Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson, (1963). FILfI PROPAGANDA AND HISTORIANS The Imperial War Museum in London will host a conference dealing with British official film in the study and teaching of World War II. The conference is planned for July 9, 10, and 11 and is organized jointly by the Imperial War Museum, the Slade Film History Register, and the Inter-University History Film Consortium. Participants include AJP Taylor, Richard Dyer MacCann, Basil Wright, James JoIl, Nicholas Pronay, and JAS Grenville. American historians who plan to be in London during July should make an effort to attend what promises to be an unusually interesting conference. For further information contact Frances Thorpe, Slade Film History Register, 20 Flaxman Terrace, London WCl, England. WORKSHOP ON AUDIOVISUAL MATERIALS FOR IDE HISTORIAN The University of Delaware, in association with the National Archives, is sponsoring a workshop during the summer session to acquaint historians with the use of film and other audio-visual media. The workshop will run from June 18 to July 20th and has enrolled students as well as faculty members. The History Department at Delaware will provide production facilities for various media projects. Professor James C. Curtis is the man in charge. 25 FILM AND LATIN AMERICAN HISTORY E. Bradford Burns at UCLA has prepared a booklet, The Use of Film for the Study of Latin American Social History containing a syllabus of his course, a profile of the students enrolled, reviews of films used and information on the rental of films. Professor Burns has informed the editors that some copies of the booklet are available free of charge by writing: E. Bradford Burns, Department of History, UCLA, Los Angeles, California 90024. (continued from page 10) "Top Nazis were usually cultured swine (Conrad Veidt's Major Straser in Casablanca ordering caviar and champagne; Basil Rathbone in Above Suspicion and Paris Calling; Cedric Hardwicke's commandant in The Moon Is Down; von Stroheim' s impeccably accoutred general in North Star; all conformed to this pattern.) They knew what vintage to order, relished Goethe and Wagner, but didn't hesitate to shoot hostages or torture prisoners whenever it suited their purposes. "30 Surely the analysis needs to be continued. We need to know what variations occured during the second World War, and then what sort of revision has taken place since. Besides this obvious extension in time, we must eventually ask many other questions about the material that Cías been discussed here -- what are the sources or literary origins of these movies? Who produced and directed which films? What function did the government play positively or negatively in the creative process?¡Vhat effect did censorship, federal, state, or local, play in the making of the end products which were released. What has been attempted in this paper is a prologue and a rationale for work which has yet to be done. 26 ...