Fwd: Cold War internationally

From: Leo Enticknap <[email protected]>

 Denise J. Youngblood writes:

> ...in my book with Tony Shaw,
Cinematic Cold War: The American and Soviet Struggle for Hearts and
Minds (2010).

Shaw also wrote a book on British cinema and the Cold War
(I.B. Tauris, 2006).

Related to which, there were literally dozens of
16mm civil defence training films commissioned by the British government
between roughly 1955-75 (example -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ea9xqXEWco ), many of which are similar
in purpose to 'Duck and Cover', but devoid of the humour that derives
from hindsight and anachronism. That's probably why they eventually
inspired Peter Watkins's 'The War Game' (1965) rather than anything like
'The Atomic Café'. It's quite spooky looking on the opening credits of
many of them, and seeing a long list of people who began their careers
during the final phase of the Documentary Movement 1-2 decades
earlier.

I don't know of any obvious British fiction film that
addresses Cold War ideology (i.e. attacks communism or the polarisation
of western and Soviet-bloc ideology) explicitly from the mid-c20, though
a number of low-budget science fiction films do so implicitly, notably
the Quatermass series. Rather than a film, I would probably recommend
John Christopher's novel 'The Death of Grass' or Nevil Shute's 'In the
Wet' to students to cover this. The former has been filmed (under the
title with which the book was published in the US, 'No Blade of Grass',
1970, dir. Cornel Wilde), but as far as I'm aware is not available on
DVD or BD.

The other British film that is perhaps worth a mention is
'Seven Days to Noon' (1950, dir. John Boulting). In some ways it's
interesting, speaking to public opposition to British involvement in the
Korean War in general, and overwhelming opposition to the continuation
of compulsory national service in particular (two significant factors
behind Labour's 1951 election defeat). Sadly, it is let down by some of
the most dreadful acting you're ever likely to see in a single movie (it
would make most quota quickie performances look Shakesperean), which
totally destroys what would otherwise have been a tighly scripted,
atmospheric sci-fi thriller with some almost neo-realist location
cinematography. The BFI restored it in the mid-'90s, and I remember the
audience at the National Film Theatre in howls of laughter at the mad
scientist, flat-footed policeman and salt-of-the-earth Cockney
stereotypes. The fact that the landlady of the fugitive scientist (nicks
an atomic bomb, which, conveniently enough, fits in his briefcase, and
goes to ground in the London suburbs, threatening to nuke the city
unless the government disarms unilaterally and makes friends with the
commies) is played by an actress (Joan Hickson) who, three decades
later, would become a household name playing an Agatha Christie
detective in a long-running TV series doesn't help, either.

On the
other side of the Iron Curtain, the feature documentary 'East Side
Story' (1998, dir. Dana Ranga & Andrew Horn), on Eastern Bloc musicals
promoting communist ideology is useful in that it includes extensive
clips from a number of films that remain totally unavailable in the
west. None of them relate the Cold War in the sense that they attack
capitalism or the west (though the film argues that the popularity of
this essentially Hollywood genre before the Iron Curtain came down in
effect forced Eastern European and Soviet filmmakers to adapt it in
order to satisfy audience demand), but rather promote communism in a
more general sense. It was published on DVD by Kino for a long time, but
I gather is now out of print (a colleague I recommended it to some time
back could only find second-hand copies for $120). Certainly worth a
look if you can find it.

Leo

---
Leo Enticknap
Institute of
Communications Studies
2.35, Clothworkers' Building North
University of
Leeds
LS2 9JT
United Kingdom
Tel. +44 (0)113 343 5853 - office, direct
line
Fax +44 (0)113 343 5808
Skype: leo_enticknap
Web: Leo on the
UoL/ICS Website [1] | on academia.edu [2] | personal website [3]
NEW
BOOK: Film Restoration [4] (forthcoming, Palgrave Macmillan)


Links:
------
[1] http://ics.leeds.ac.uk/people/leo-enticknap
[2]
http://leeds.academia.edu/enticknap
[3] http://www.enticknap.net
[4]
http://www.palgrave.com/products/title.aspx?pid=344520

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-- 
Ken Nolley
Professor of English and Film Studies
Willamette University
Salem, OR 97301
Phone:  503-370-6280
Fax:  503-370-6944

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