TEACHING WITH FILM MARTIN ROBERTS and ROBERT WOLFSON

Sandy Upper School

History teachers are using films in their teaching with increasing frequency and their interest in films as sources of evidence is becoming more dis- criminating. These four films therefore represent an important joint initiative by Macmitlan and the Historical Association. History through the Newsreels: the 193Os, a set of four films. Series Editor Nicholas Pronay. Mac- millan Education for the Historical Association; to buy f75 for each film (f45 for a second copy); to hire 57.51 (V.A.T. inc.) per film per day. Notes for Teachers which accompany each film include a transcript of the news- reel commentaries.) Each is based on the newsreels of the 1930s and lasts about fifteen minutes. The first, News and the Newsreel introduces the audience to the importance of the cinema 40 years ago, explains the format of the newsreel, shows one complete example (of 30 March 1939) and ends with five extracts from a different company’s newsreel for the same day. The other three films each take a single theme and include nine or ten extracts from a variety of newsreels of the 1930s, linking them with written introductions before each clip. The Unemployed, prepared by Professor Marwick, well illustrates the power of the newsreel editors in the interpre- tation of the news. ‘By calmness and great courage the police have averted bloodshed and serious disturbance’ announces the commentary as mounted police are seen to beat demonstrators with six-foot batons. In the third film, Nazi Germany, Professor Grenville illustrates two different views of Hitler’s government by the use of film from two companies, Para- mount and Gaumont. The early scenes, taken from Paramount, show Hitler in a most favourable light; ‘Hitler grasps the helm, confident that he will restore Germany to a proud position among the nations of the world. The case for appeasement is clearly stated in a speech by Bernard Shaw inserted after scenes of German rearmament. In contrast Gaumont takes a very different line, openly condemning Nazi policies. It is unfortunate that Professor Grenville’s selection is chronological; all the Paramount clips are pre-1936 and all the Gaumont ones from 1936 or after. Since he is aiming to illustrate the difference between them it would have been valuable to see Gaumont’s version of Hitler’s appointment and/or Paramount’s of the occupation of Prague. Dr. Parker’s If War Should Come gives some inter- esting if at times rather brief clips of Britain’s preparations for war. It includes a fascinating and quite long, guided tour of the Maginot Line- ‘. . . checkmate to invasion. Britain’s great ally is prepared’. All the clips are taken from Gaumont, the Daily Mail of the newsreel world, and seem today splendidly chauvinistic. On this as on the other three films the com- pilers have allowed five to ten seconds after each clip should the teacher wish to stop the projector and discuss a particular point.

Plainly there is much which can be learnt from these films; precisely by whom and in what way is less easy to discern. The compilers claim to cater for an enormous audience. ‘The films . . . provide original source material for use in a wide range of courses and are suitable for use with pupils of mixed abilities. The films are suitable for examination and non- examination courses at 13-plus, 16-plus and lS-plus, studying the interwar period in History. They can be used in General Studies and in Humanities, for broadly-based courses in Contem orary Studies, Politics and Gov- ernment, where there is reference to t g e role of mass communications in

249

250 TEACHING WITH FILM

the modern world.’ To test the validity of this statement we have shown the films to vaned audiences-to mixed-ability groups of 14 and 15 year olds, to sixth-formers studying modern British and European History at ‘A’ level, to P.G.C.E. students at the Cambridge Department of Education and to our local adviser responsible for History in the county. The comments of the adviser and of the students are incorporated in the rest of this article. We are most grateful for their help.

For our 14 and 15 year olds-120 in number of whom about a fifth will be taking ‘0 level, another fifth no public examination and the rest C.S.E.-we integrated the films into a month’s study of the 1930s. The two-year course in which they are at present involved is British and Euro- pean Outlines 1870-1970. Their experience of primary material is limited and our chief film material is drawn from the the B.B.C. TV series ‘Europe 1917-1973’ and ‘British Social History’.

As far as this age-group is concerned, the compilers are too optimistic in their claims. To start with, they exaggerate the intelligibility of the mat- erial. ‘The newsreels’, they write, ‘are also exceptionally useful records from the teaching point of view because they are designed to be intelligible to ordinary people and to appeal to a mainly young audience. Their lan- guage is simple and direct and therefore can be used readily with a very wide range of pupils (in terms of age/ability)’. Our pupils however ran into problems of comprehension. B modern standards the soundtrack is of

cially on The Unemployed and on Nazi Germany. Moreover, the com- mentaries are spoken at great speed, often with music in the background. When we asked the pupils to make a brief note on what the early sections of the introductory newsreel had shown, the great majority had failed to realize that the scene had shifted from Franco in Madrid, to Mussolini in Rome and then again to Hitler in Memel. At speed the commentary ‘. . . in Rome Mussolini shouted “woe to the weak”. He announced the end of brotherhood and stated that Italy’s policy was henceforth determined by force’ meant little either to our pupils or presumably to their predecessors in the cinemas of 40 years ago. Much newsreel output like today’s tele- vision news must have been beyond the comprehension of many of its audience. Nor do the compilers’ introductory frames help greatly. Few 14 year olds will properly understand the expression; ‘. . . to project the idea that Hitler was the embodiment of the will of the whole of the German peo le’. To the 14 year old, ‘will’, is what grandpa wrote before he died,

you do for C.S.E. The compilers are confident of the stimulus and empathetic value of their

films for this age and ability range. ‘For the younger and less able pupils’, they write, ‘the films may be used to stimulate interest in the period and in the people who lived in it’. Certainly interest was stimulated but much less effectively than by the comparable B.B.C. programmes. We were par- ticularly intrigued by the empathy aspect. On the surface newsreels would seem an ideal way of ‘getting the feel of the period’. But it seems doubtful whether this is in fact the case. The 1977 pupil sitting in the classroom or lecture hall is but an observer of his 1930s counterpart sitting in a noisy, smoky cinema. Without accessories like clothes, furniture, newspapers, shops, streets and noises, he is inclined to laugh at, rather than identify with, the people and events shown. While the films will certainly give a more vivid sense of the past than most written source material, other empathetic techniques like drama and games are likely to be more effec- tive.

poor quality and sometimes in dy istinct even on the best equipment, espe-

‘em E odiment’ must be to do with bodies and ‘project’ is something which

MARTIN ROBERTS AND ROBERT WOLFSON 25 1 ‘These films’, write the compilers ‘should help pupils to examine the

differences between information and interpretation, and to distinguish fact from opinion’. We became conscious of a major problem relating to the teaching of ‘interpretation’. On whose interpretation of events should one focus; the cameraman’s, the editor’s known views, or the editor’s views modified by pressure from the owners, or from the government or from public opinion? In the Nuzi Germany film Professor Grenville confuses tlle issue further by adding his own anti-Nazi comments to some of the frames. The compilers are right in their belief that ‘the teacher will need to have enumerated the major events . . . before showing the films and might also like to put these extracts into the wider context of the newsreels of the period‘ if any effective interpretative work is to be done. This however leads directly to another major problem for those pupils working on C.S.E. and G.C.E. courses: time. As well as introducing the major events of the topic, the teacher will have to devote some lessons to an analysis of mass communications. It would have helped if each film managed to cover the major events of their subject so that they could be used simultaneously to convey information. Their coverage, however, is too selective. In the Nazi Germany film for example, there is nothing on the Munich Crisis. Despite the changing emphases which may reasonably be expected in the next few years in 13 to 16 History teaching as a result of the Schools Council project, we will be surprised if these films prove to be a really useful aid to those teachers concentrating on problems of interpretation and evidence with this age-group.

To the sixth-formers we had to project all four films in quick succession on a single morning. Nonetheless the comments of the audience at the time and their written answers later indicate that they were an undeniable suc- cess. The questions which we asked focussed on the attitudes of the film- makers and drew responses that showed that the major issues which the compilers aim to clarify were generally appreciated. Surprisingly perhaps, their most vehement comments were on the extreme patriotism of the final film. In addition, most felt that the films provided an excellent means of identifying with the period; ‘shows the attitudes of the time which helps you to understand how events were allowed to happen, like Hitler coming to power’, noted one. At sixth-form level therefore they seem to be val- uable in two main ways-in the identification of opinion and interpretation and in encouraging genuinely empathetic attitudes.

Among postgraduates the films provoked a fascinating discussion con- cerning the nature of newsreels as historical evidence and their relationship to radio and newspapers in the 1930s. The suggestion was made (which we hope that the Historical Association will pursue) that, as well as the Notes for Teachers, the films should be accompanied by newspaper cuttings and radio transcripts relating to the events shown in the films. The reactions of both the sixth-formers and the students suggest that the compilers’ claim that they are suitable for General Studies and for similar broadly-based courses is realistic.

Two practical points. In the present economic climate the films seem ex ensive especially as their approach must represent a detour, albeit a

courses. Secondly, we would have found them much easier to use if they had been available on video-cassette.

In summary we found them most useful and illuminating for older and abler pupils; for the 13 to 16 age-group an important pioneering effort from which later compilers will learn much.

va P uable one, from the main routes of 16-plus and 18-plus examination

D