ie L J

\s an old time movie enthus-
last I follow our cinema
pn in these anguished days,
I do so without apology.

Téecall in a time of utter-
‘st stress, the jammed Ma-
ao Movie that showed Chap-
i Gold Rush even though
io Shells were exploding
py the street and Franco
‘ across the Manbanares
4, Virtually a stone’s throw
ww The arts afford sanc-
Ty in times of crisis.

a the past few months I
i Sat entranced before
4 films. as Melville’s Moby
k, Tolstoy’s War and Peace.
x T have heard high praise
by eana Ferber’s Giant, the
lb on Van Gogh, and
™ Centre.

. Seems to me the evolu-
1 of the Hollywood film, at
bi to this moment, is heart-

8. Of course the perennial
doilers, with all their taw-
€ntertainment, aren’t the
4, table par. But I believe
Ive aforementioned pictures
by al Something that merits
€r examination.

mes taken with much of
be Y¥ Dick even though I was
tly disappointed in the
ty Yal_ of Captain Ahab.
ly, V8S a faint echo of the
thea giant of a man Melville
Ne ved. There was at least
t, “Nest effort to catch, on
oye luloid, a classic; and
ti § the author’s ideas were
ae the rolling seas we saw
by, Ave attempt that should
Mand approbation.

higctt the movie-makers were

‘hy Rare successful in War

hy fence Though some of

lit ‘ends were disappointed,

ty therwise, They expected

Mage Uch, I believe, at this
°f film development.

i Could the film capture
the “tality of Tolstoy’s epic?
ake of the novel are not

°f the movie; reading is

& The new popularity of square

0 TT i

still the mother of all the arts.

Of course much of Tolstoy’s
grandeur ‘of concept, or its
subtlety, were lost. I have
never yet seen a film based on
a classic that: gave the viewers
what the novel gives them.

In various degrees this is
true in the story of the war-
ring emperors of Texas, and of
the Mexican peasants in Giant,
in the librarian of Storm
Centre.”

* * *

If so, what is happening in
Hollywood? It seems to me the
reasons are multiple: first of
all the altered political atmos-
phere has allowed some great-
er freedom to the enormous
creative talents we know are
there.

Simultaneously, the audi-
ence film-goers is more dis-
criminating, and demanding,
revolting, in its way, against
the thread-bare boy meets girl
fare.

Thirdly we see the influence
of the foreign films, especially

dancing has brought thousands of groups into being
across the country. One of the best known, shown above, is the Totem Dancers here.

Are these pictures indication
% renaissance in Hollywood?

the Italian, British and Japan-
ese, as well as retrospectively,
that of the Russian and the
French.

And we cannot overlook
Hollywood’s need to meet the
appeal of the television box,
which allows the family to
stay at home and get its en-
tertainment which is, more
often these days than it was
in the past, superior.

Unless events of the past
few weeks turn the clock back,
one can foresee a time when
Hollywood will come again to
the fore as a pacesetter of the
world’s film, as once it vied
with the best when it pro-
duced Grapes of Wrath, Juar-
ez, Mr. Smith Goes to Wash-
ington, Dr. Pasteur, Chaplin’s
works, and the others that
gave us more than a promise
of the grandeur the film can
achieve.

JOSEPH NORTH

Central museum seen
as centennial project

Hor should Vancouver spend
the $540,000 that will be
set aside for construction of a
permanent memorial to mark
the 100th birthday ‘of British
Columbia?

The Vancouver Committee
of the Labor - Progressive
party, over the signature of
its secretary, Maurice Rush,
this week proposed that the
money be spent to build an
historical museum in a central
location.

Rush, in his letter to the
Vancouver Centennial Com-
mittee, ‘said:

“Tt is our opinion that the

building of an historical mu-
seum in a central location ac-
cessible to‘ all sections of the
city would serve to lift the
cultural life of Vancouver, and
play a great educational role
as well as provide a showplace
for B.C.’s history. Such a pro-
ject would; stand as a perman-
ent institution uniting our
past with our future.”
Vancouver Centennial Com-
mittee has a number of pro-
posed projects before it, in-
cluding a marine museum at
Kitsilano to house the historic
Arctic patrol vessel, St. Roch;
a centre at Little Mountain;
and a centennial square.

BOOKS

Fine biography of
great labor leader

t ao name of Tom Mann will

stand out bold and clear
for all time in the history of
the socialist and trade union
movement. :

His example of leadership
and burning sincerity will in-
spire successive generations.

A dynamic personality, he
was one of the greatest org-
anizers and propagandists that
the international working class
movement has ever known.

He had tremendous Vitality
and he used it unsparingly in
the struggle to defend the
working class against the in-
justices of capitalist society
and lead the workers forward
to a better life. He died at the
age of 85 on March 17, 1941.

Nobody was more suited to
write the biography of Tom
Mann than that notable Brit-
ish historian of the working
class movement, Dona Torr.

Her outstanding qualities as
a writer and research worker,
combined with her advantage
of a personal friendship with
Tom Mann during the 20 years
of his life, have enabled her to
produce the really brilliant
work, Tom Mann and his
Times, Vol. I (obtainable in
Vancouver at the People’s Co-
op Bookstore, 337 West Pen-
der Street, price $3.50).

I know from my personal
association with Tom Mann
that this splendid book was
in preparation before he died,
and his biographer spent many
hours with him compiling his-
torical data relating to his life.

n xt x

What a colorful, useful and
exciting life it was! Few men
in this world can equal it. He
was not only a British leader,
but an international leader of
the working class movement.
He travelled the world preach-
ing international solidarity.

He was deported from sev-
eral countries in Central Eur-
ope and from British Domin-
ions, and sentenced to terms
of imprisonment in Britain
and abroad for his passionate
agitation and his practical ac-
tivities on behalf of the work-
ers.

Although he was an ad-
vanced political thinker he
realized that parliamentarian-
ism alone was not sufficient
to win emancipation. He de-
voted his main energy to in-
dustrial struggles and never
accepted the old trade union
policy of “defense not defi-
ance” which the main body
of trade union leaders advo-
cated during the second half
of the 19th and the beginning
of the 20th century.

He believed in challenging
capitalism and replacing it
with socialism. It was that
burning faith, coupled with
his extraordinary vitality and
ability, that made him such a
powerful fighter. Even his
enemies paid tribute to his
courage and sincerity.

On his 80th birthday in

April 1936, the London Even-
ing News spoke of him as “that
stout - hearted revolutionary
who has agitated and fought
in half the countries of the
world.”

It went on to declare: “His
life-long crusade has been
against poverty, the poverty
that nearly crushed his early
years. He has spent his life
speaking for the cause and for
means, to make poverty im-
possible.”

Tom Mann stormed against
poverty. He saw it as a soul-
destroying disease that need
not exist, but which resulted
from the robbery of the work-
ers under capitalism.

Firm and passionate in the
Class ‘struggle, he was a most
lovable and jovial character
among friends and an exceed-
ingly kind and generous per-
son to friends and to strangers.

I remember an occasion in
London during the _ thirties
when he gave something to
every beggar whom he passed
in the street and on reaching
Charing Cross Station hadn’t
enough money to pay his rail
fare home.

bes bes $e

The outstanding quality of
the book lies not only in Dona
Torr’s lucid and interesting
style and careful portrayal of
Tom Mann’s early life.

She has also succeeded in
weaving the historic events of
the period into a comprehen-
sive account of the social, in-
dustrial and political develop-
ment of the British working
class.

Her aim has been, above all
to illuminate the times of Tom
Mann by the study of his life,
showing the material and in-
tellectual forces which mould-
ed his character, and also the
force of his own personal ac-
tivities in the political and
industrial development of the
working class movement.

Dona Torr has spendidly
achieved her aim. Her book is
one of the most absorbing and
interesting that I have ever
read.

The first volume of what
promises to be a really monu-
mental work, this book covers
the period of Tom Mann’s
life from his birth in 1856 to
the great strike of the dockers
for the “tanner an hour,”
which he led in 1889 along with
Ben Tillett and John Burns.

Dona Torr’s illness prevent-
ed her from completing the
later chapters of this volume,

but at her request, and from ,

her. own voluminous notes,
the work was completed by
two notable writers, Chris-
topher Hill and A. L. Morton.
The whole work will be com-
pleted in two more volumes
based on Dona Torr’s notes,
and I am sure that everyone
who reads this first brilliant
volume will eagerly await the

others.
WAL HANNINGTON

NOVEMBER 30, 1956 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE — PAGE 13