FILMING NEW ZEALANDERS AT WAR

New Zealand Listener, Volume 13, Issue 327, 28 September 1945, Page 6

FILMING NEW ZEALANDERS AT WAR

Newsreel Cameraman Returns With Some Good Stories AMONG the shiploads of. New Zealanders who came home the other die was a cameraman, wearing the green "War Correspondent" shoulder tabs, who had been with the Division in Italy, Trieste, and Austria, making films to be shown in the Dominion in the Government Film Unit’s Weekly Review.. His name is Roger Mirams, and he had a story-or several stories-to tell when we interviewed him a few days after he landed. People who make films don’t sort out all the component parts of the finished product and film them in the order they will finally take. They have to capture one scene or one incident at a certain moment, irrespective of whether what goes before has been done. And when we talked to Roger Mirams (whose photograph is shown on the right) we found he had a mental habit of the same pattern. He might interrupt any story at any point to tell another, simply because something had reminded him of it. And afterwards, when it came to putting himon paper for our readers, it seemed best to leave it this way, so in this account we let him talk to ourreaders as he talked to us.

E got talking at first about some of the films Mr. Mirams had made and we had seen ourselves. We wanted to know whether it was a hard thing to get New Zealanders to be matural in front of the movie ‘camera.gThe answer was yes, but a qualified yes. Kiwis as Actors "You can usually go into a room and pick out an unselfconscious type, the tough-looking ‘typical New Zealander,’ the ‘bloke’ type. I found after a while I could tell the kind of chap who would say yes from the kind who would say mo. Say I might want a chap to open @ patriotic parcel-some would be absolutely hopeless, and some would be perfectly natural. I had a funny experience in the New Zealanders’ Club in Venice. {It was the finest hotel in the city, all the crowned heads of Europe were supposed to have been there, but we’d get a bed, in the Royal suite maybe, for 6d, and a meal for 6d. The meal was "ordinary army rations but disguised by -the chefs of the pub, and their camouflage was really amazing I can tell you. Well, I wanted a shot of men going up to the desk of a hotel to book insimple enough, as you'd think. I wanted ‘lighting equipment for the shot, and I ‘had to load all that on to a boat-no cats in Venice-and bring it round to the hotel, and then I had to get a special power-line brought into the building to carry the extra load. After I'd gone to all this trouble I got two chaps to do their stuff at the desk all right, "but then I wanted the other chap just to walk across the field of view and away from the caméra. Do you think I could get him to do it naturally? Look, he walked like this (and here we saw a sort of grotesque exaggeration of the ‘Citizen Kane gorilla-walk), and I’ll guar"antee ‘no man ever walked that way. "The trouble with Egyptians or Italians was to stop them all gathering -round for a group whenever I wanted to film something. Sometimes I had to shoot from a moving car; but that’s -never satisfactory. In Italy, it was the hardest thing to set up my gear and not have a crowd round. And as soon as you have a crowd you have the risk of a Tiot. "Watch the Birdie!" "I was just saying about the way people expect you to take a group photo.

I remember up in Austria, not far from Vienna, I wanted to get shots of some of our prisoners conting back through the Russian lines after the Russians had let them out. We weren’t allowed through the Russian lines at all, as the Russians were very suspicious of us, but I was allowed as far as the border, and I wanted to film some Russians. Immediately they formed themselves into a stiff group, stuck out their chests and sat bolt upright, without a movement! I didn’t know. how to tell them what I wanted. Howéver, there was an Australian who spoke: German, and one of the Russians spoke German, so eventually we got it across to the Russians that it was a movie, and then of course they went off to the other extreme, gesticulating and mouthing, and all the \old silent film :stuff!" "Did the Russians maintain their exclusive attitude all the time?" "All the time I was there anyway. They wouldn’t allow us past the border at all. They were very scared of any propaganda except their own. The Yugoslavs were the same. In Trieste, I wanted to get some shots to convey the tension ‘in the city. You’d see a bridge with British and Yugoslav guards facing each other, the Yugoslav armed with a British Bren-gun. Or on one intersection of streets, you’d see guards on opposite corners, with Bren-guns facing each other. I wanted to get a film about the "Yugoslav army. It was amazing to me how they did what they did with the stuff they had-all horses and carts. "Our intelligence people told me I had no show. However I went on ask-

ing, and in the end I was talking to General Freyburg about it, and told him what I wanted

to do. Actually I’d have liked to go down and get a shot of Tito himself in Belgrade. The General said ‘Yes, yes: Go by all means. The only. thing isyou mightn’t get back.’ In Yugoslavia "What I did see was very interesting. They had a hospital right on top of a mountain. You had to go up a ravine to it, and the path was all mined. There was no such thing as Red Cross protection in their war. And there were grenades tied on all the trees. The country’s not unlike New Zealand really. That part reminded me of the Eglinton Valley. In Ljubljana itself lots of

people spoke to me in English. They were all learning it. They seemed to think it was essential for getting on in the world and they learnt it at home with gramophone records. Several people said I was the first English speaking person they’d spoken to. ""But my word, it really was a people’s

war for the Yugoslavs. A hundred men in the Partisan ‘army might be on the move and wanting to spend the night somewhere. They'd reach a little settlement and there might be five houses in it. It would be a case of ‘You take 20 men in your house, and you take 20 in yours.’ Each family would have to feed and shelter them, and there’d be no compensation. There was no fund to take compensation from. "Actually the Yugos really thought the New Zealanders wanted a part of Trieste. A woman said to me, ‘What do you New Zealanders want Trieste for?’ And they really don’t know where New Zealand is. I met a doctor though, in the Partisan forces, who was very anxious to find out all about New Zealand, how we lived and so on. Another thing, the Yugos had honestly thought New Zealanders would be black." Our conversation found its way back to making films. We were curious to

know how Mr. Mirams went about deciding what and where he would "shoot." His

routine for this, he told us, was similar to that of the newspaper War Correspondents. "We'd go to Geoffrey Cox, Chief Intelligence Officer for the Diyision, and the General’s right hand man, and he’d show us a map, and say, ‘You can go up this road as far as there, ther take a jeep over to there, and from there there’s a track, and there’s a view of enemy positions from that house.’ We all worked that way. "I remember Faenza. There was nothing much to see outside but an odd tank here and there, but I got some good dramatic stuff inside the town. I: went in with the first company. It’s a funny 1

feeling when you know someone else has got a gun with a telescopic sight and. you’ve only. got a camera with a telephoto lens. I often got the feeling when I was shooting film that the whole show was just being staged for me, It was very queer. I was all right as long as I had something to do-if I was actually shooting film, as I say, I'd feel it was all being staged for me-but if I stopped to think that I had nothing to shoot back with I’d be wishing I was out of it pretty quickly." "Then you didn’t carry arms at all?" "Actially we did in some places. In Austria we carried arms because the Russians would think we were plain silly if we didn’t. And in Yugoslavia we carried them because no one knew quite what was going to happen. That reminds me of a story I must tell you. Dash It All! "There was a British repatriation unit going into Austria at the time of the capitulation there, and there was one of these Tommy officers with a coloured scarf. Oh yes, they’re great on the loud scarves-Old S¢hool Tie touch. Well, these fellows lended near Wolfsburg, where ‘Stalag XVIIIA was. I heard about it from one chap who was with them. The unit was flown over-four of them-and they all parachuted down. There were six German divisions in the area, including two S.S. Divisions, real bad blokes. And the first thing ~ this Tommy officer with the coloured ‘starf said when they got together was, ‘Dash it all, do you know? I’ve forgotten to bring my jolly "old pistol!’ And’ there were thousands of S.S. troops round. However, he started telling the German officers that it was all right, the war was over there, and they’d all be looked after. "Tt wasn’t long after that when they invited the Russians down to discuss (continued on next page)

A **Listener’"" Interview |

’ (continued ‘from previous Page) swapping Russian POW’s for our chaps, gd things were actually a bit strained. he officers’ mess was entertaining’ some "of the Russians, and somehow or other someone had put salt out instead of sugar. They stirred in this salt and then one of the coloured scarf boys tasted his tea. Of course he had an awful thought -that these Russians might think it was an insulting practical joke. So he raised his hand and tried to stop them drinking. But the Russians smiled and one of them said, ‘No, no, Tea! Tea!’ and tossed it off very bravely-and looked as if they liked it!" A Tale of Four Tyres In a moment the conversation suddenly switched away, and we were talking about looting. Had there been a very strict check on looting, in Italy for in-~ stance?

"No, it was more or less open slather, for a while. The Allied Military Government revalued the lira in the hopes of establishing a reasonable rate of exchange, but it had the opposite effect, and prices of things to buy went soaring. So the chaps used to find ways of making money to meet the situation. One-of our drivers came in with four tyres one day. He’d taken them off an abandoned vehicle, and of course they were worth a good deal. He said he’d had a narrow escape bringing them in, beca he passed some redcapsBritish" officers-on the way. I said:

"Yes, and what would you have done if they’d asked you what you were doing with the tyres?’ He said: ‘I’d have told them we needed them for our watercart.’ So I said: ‘That’s all very well, but what if they wanted to see the water-cart?’ And he said: ‘Hell, give a fellow a chance; we’ve got the tyreswe haven’t got the water-cart yet!’ "Actually for miles and miles on the roads there was abandoned stuff-Ger-man rifles, hand-grenades, big trucks just driven over the bank. The Yugos were arming themselves to the teeth with all this stuff and we couldn’t do anything about it. The Real Thing "But I’m not telling you about film," Mr. Mirams reproached himself. "I must tell you a bit more about the job I. was trying to do. You see, I wanted to. show the personal side of Army life in action, not rows and rows of tanks orsoldieré on parade. I’d have liked to give'’a complete picture of the ordinary soldier’s life-getting out of bed, shaving, eating, gétting letters and answering them, and so on. It was often hard to doespecially in forward positions, where I couldn’t get lighting equipment for interior shots. But I always felt these were the things people back home wanted to see. "For instance, there was one item . called ‘Feeding the Front Line.’ Food was cooked in Faenza and sent by jeep three miles to the front twice a day. Up near the front line there was a notice saying that from there on the road was in view of the enemy. Well, I wanted shots of the daylight trips of jeeps with the big thermos arrangements going past this point, and it was in win-| ter, with snow all round.-I got shots showing the notice and the jeeps passing it, and then I.was doing the part where the men come out in white snow suits te meet the jeeps. There was always the (continued on next page)

CAMERAMAN AT WAR (continued from previous page) danger that Jerry might send one over just for fun if he saw us. Anyway, everyone had been warned that a cameraman was coming, and in due course out came the chaps in their snow suits, but my God, one of ‘them was wearing a black bowler hat! That’s just how they react to the whole idea. If there’s a camera around, they think it’s worth the risk to act the goat like that. And it’s hard to make audiences at home, who are used to Hollywood battles, realise that this is what real war is like. The nearer you get to the front line the less there is to show. "That was one thing I noticed in Italy-the Kiwis had an amazing fondness for any sort of headgear but the authorised one. I once saw a convoy coming along the road and there were fellows in it wearing straw hats, bowlers, borsolinos (things with feathers in them), berets, and even one top hat. In the end, as a matter of fact, the General had to object. : The Making of a Film "There was one interesting film I made which had quite a story behind it. I wanted to get a tie-up with Australian and New Zealand co-operation, and show the Australians doing close support bombing for the Kiwis. The Air Operations Officer gave me a map of our positions, and showed me where there was a house in our hands that would give me a good view of an enemy-held house that they could bomb for me. So I set up my gear in this house, and had a sort of porthole place to work through. I waited two days for the weather, then we arranged by "phone for the planes from the ‘cab-rank’ to come over and strafe the house. It was

about lunchtime, and 12 planes came |. over and gave it hell. I’m afraid some poor Jerry had his lunch spoiled, but it looked great on the screen. They offered to put 112 planes in the air for me, but I said I wasn’t trying to outdo Hell’s Angels. Then I got shots on the airstrip showing the bombers taking off, and spent hours getting shots of men, a duck, and a dog, looking upwards, to make a sequence that would indicate thé flight of the planes from the airstrip to the enemy lines. Then I went up in a bomber and gave my own instructions for what the rest of the formation was to do. On the way back I got shots of bombs being dropped from the other planes. They let go 24 five-, hundred-pounders into the sea for one shot from my camera! They told me afterwards the bombs were worth about £ for lb. and not to tell the Quartermaster! "One interesting thing about films of this kind-the sound is all put in here, and I’ve been amazed to discover how well it was done. I wanted the sound of a flame-throwing tank, and I suggested a sort of low hissing sound. I found when I got back that they’d got exactly the sound of a flame-throwing tank, and all with ersatz studio technique." Film Publicity for New Zealand One last thing Roger Mirams was particularly anxious to say--abeut the need for publicity films of New Zealand for exhibition in other countries. (continued on next page)

(continued from previous page) "I found over there, as I told you when I was talking about Yugoslavia, that people are very keen to know more about New Zealand, and we ought to be making films for them. They’ve got a sort of vague ‘Paradise of the Pacific’ notion about us, and they’ve heard of our advanced social legislation, and so on. But they want to see films of people, not scenery. They don’t want Maoris in grass mats-but if we do show a Maori in a grass mat we should also show a Maori as a doctor or schoolteacher. They want to know what sort of homes we live in, how Social Security works and so on, and I think we could show the world a thing or two with our Rehabilitation scheme. I} met Charles Martin in Cairo, who sends a regular film out from Cairo for the British Ministry of Information. It goes out in 14 different languages, to Greece, Yugoslavia, Chungking, Palestine, Turkey, all over the East and Near East. He told me he could use all the New Zealand stuff he could get. Quite apart from this particular channel, we ought to be telling the world about ourselves; and if they're going to be told about us, then they should get our version."