The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-11-16
WORLD ofbe
MOVIES
A Reply to Michael Gold
By DAVID PLATT

National Secretary Film Photo Leagues
MICHAEL GOLD is correct when
Ih he states in his column in the
Daily Worker, issue of November s.
that "our Film and Photo League
has been in existence for some years
but outside Of a few good newsreels.
hasn't done mucn to bring this
great cultural weapon to the work
ing class.
This is very true and no one
knows better how true it is than
the Film and Photo League itself,
which has been struggling for years
TO produce films on a budget and
with forces that would have wrecked
3 similar bourgeois organization
right at the start, and most Of them
have been wrecked right at the
start.
The Film and Photo League at
the beginning, it must be under
stood, was faced with the insoluble
problem of exploring a new and
difficult medium, a medium which
became newer and more difficult
every day, being the youngest of
the arts, and the most hopeful in
possibilities as well as the most
easily accessible to pitfalls and er-
rors. 1t was faced with the task
of finding the proper organizational
structure to quicken production Of
films and photos, a task made more
burdensome by lack Of good organ
izers and directors. Those few or
ganizers we had were also our best
cameramen or writers. It was con-
fronted with the problem of han
ding a membership not always
technically or theoretically equipped
or inclined to avail itself of the op-
portunities latent in the class strug-
gle for film and photo produc-
ton. Above all it was raced with
the lack Of knowledge, attention and
interest of those cultural workers
who might have been of enormous
value in the production Of we'll
rounded films Of and for the work
ing class.
DUT times have changed. Today
y there is a significant ferment in
the field Of the film which may yet
result in bringing this great cul-
tural weapon to the working class.
New people are coming into the
Film and Photo Leagues demanding
work to do and getting work to dc
or going elsewhere. Audiences are
springing up by leaps and bounds
for workers films. Unfortunately,
they spring back when there is
none.
However, they have a right to ex-
pect continuous production from a
medium which by nature is their
own. The film of all the arts is
the art of the masses, since it de-
ponds upon masses both within pro-
duction ana outside production for
its complete fulfillment. And the
camera, a medium of motion, is the
only medium fully capable of giving
expression to period wherein great
masses are in motion
In view Of this, it is not easy to
understand the tendency on the
part of many workers who could be
of value to the revolutionary film
movement, to consider the film
specifically a medium for camera
men and photographers, which, in
a sense, is analogous to limiting
the art of painting to the manuiac-
turers of paint-brushes only.
Comrade Gold says, The movies
can make the revolutionary move
ment seem real as rain or food to
workers. The movies are an ex-
perience. This is life itself, un-
forgettable, not an argument about
life And yet the many expert
enced writer's of the John Reed
Clubs, artists, poets, sound techni-
clans, directors, organizers that we
have in the movement and who
could stimulate the film movement
into continuous and productive ac-
tiyity, have up to now ignored this
vast UNEMPLOYED propaganda in
strument which may prove to be
the best organizing weapon in
machine country like America"
TO FIND a remedy for these weak
nesses in the revolutionary film
movement was the chief task of the
National Film Conference of the
Film and Photo Leagues held in
Chicago last month.
The CONFER ence unanimously
agreed that the major task ahead
of the Film and Photo Leagues of
America was the mass production
Of newsreels and documents of the
class struggle. That this has al
ready taken effect can be seen in
the recent reorganization of the n.
Y. Film and Photo League whose
three month plan of action ending
February includes completion of
Marine Strike" and Waste and
Want" and production of Harlem, -
wv. I. r., Taxi" Cigarette" and
one other enacted film.
GO, COMRADE GOLD, the out
y look is not as dark as it seems.
This coming year will undoubtedly
mark the turning point OF the revo-
lutionary film moveemnt in the
right direction, let us hope.
Not long ago in the Soviet Union,
writers and artists were urged to
throw their resources behind the
motion picture to increase the quail
ity and tempo of production. The
same necessity holds good for the
American workers film movement
When the Film and Photo Leagues
become overlooking with serious
workers, cameramen, technicians
artists, professional and amateur
all working tremendously on this
greatest of collective arts known to
history, we can expect feature film
production and mass audiences for
our productions that viii ultimag-.,
hIa CT tho hodi-cenic movie industry