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Classic Society to present
Children of Hiroshima premiere

NEXT Friday (November 8)
at the Y.W.C.A., 997 Duns-
muir Street; Classic Film So-
ciety presents an exciting cul-
tural event: the Vancouver
premiere of the celebrated
Japanese film, Children of
Hiroshima.

The film was based on a
“best seller” collection of let-
ters by school children of
Hiroshima; and raised the
book’s national success to an
international level. It was the
leading Japanese hit of 1952,
heading all critics’ lists; one-
third of -the population of
Hiroshima turned out to see
it.

Subsequently, it has enjoy-
ed comparable popularity
throughout Asia, but commer-
cial distribution in North Am-
erica and Western Europe has
been foresstalled.

Chjjdren of Hiroshima dis-
covers the martyred city
through the eyes of a young
school teacher who returns for
the first time, six years after

the bomb. It is not a horror
film larded with the shocking
sights it could have uncover-
ed; everywhere is remarkable
restraint.

The explosion itself is a poem
of death, selective in detail:
a crippled bird, a_ wilting
flower, a terrified baby — and
this very simplicity creates a
shattering emotional impact
beyond anything one could an-
ticipate. Nor does the film
point an accusing finger: it
doesn’t have to!

The film’s stature is greatly
extended by the humanitarian
conviction of its makers( most-
ly natives of Hiroshima),
headed by director - writer
Kaneto® Shindo, who avoided
commercial dilution by mak-
ing the film the possession of
the common people through-
out Japan. All finances were
raised by public subscription:
city councils, churches, trade
unions, individuals, all con-
tributing “according to their
means. +

In addition to its social com-
mentary, Children of Hiroshi-
ma achieves a new level of
realism in Japanese film art.
We are taken directly into the
homes and lives of contempor-
ary Japan with an unprece-
dented intimacy. ES

Children of Hir0shima, tells
a simple, moving, sincere story
about real people and what
the bomb has done to them.
Entirely implicitly in the
dramatic action, we are shown
the bomb’s shocking horror.
There is room for only one
conclusion: it must never hap-
pen again — anywhere!

Rie ee

Classic Film Society will
present,-in succeeding months,
Green Pastures, My Universi-
ties, Tit-Cog, Jeux Interdits
(Forbidden Games), Umberto

Until They Sail is adult film
on US. troops in New Zealand

ves THEY SAIL is a really
adult film that explores with
considerable sensitivity and
some depth the wartime
romances between occupying
soldiers and local girls.

The locale is New Zealand in
the last year of the Second
World War; the occupying
forces are the U.S. troops sent
to the Pacific Area to meet
the Japanese threat.

The basic frame—of premis-
ing four sisters who live alone
(their parents are dead) — is
somewhat mechanical, but it
makes for a unified story and
gives some continuity to the
narrative. :

But the. four romances born
of the situation are more than
typical; they illuminate the
sharply defined characters of
the four girls and they have
something valid to say about
human behavior in a war situ-
ation.

There is only one “casual”
girl among the four. .She is
played by Piper Laurie, who
makes a loveless marriage with
a local man because he was
“the only one around” — the
rest had gone to war.

The older sister (Joan Fon-
tain) is outraged by Piper’s
behavior, for once her husband
is called up she starts to live
it up with a series of U.S|
officers. ‘The middle sister
(Jean Simmons) has a newly-
married husband killed in ac-

tion; the youngest is only 14
when the story begins.

Incidentally, the film is not-
able in another respect: it ad-
mits quite frankly that men
and women have sexual rela-
tions ‘with each other, in and
outside of marriage. And that
they do this, not only because
they are hungry for “love” but
because they are lonely and
abandoned and feel that their
lives lack purpose.

One such incident is shown
in the film more frankly than
it has ever been seen on any
American screen. And that is
the time when Miss Laurie re-
ceives a phone call in the mid-
dle of the night and rises from
her hotel bed to answer it.

A male voice, from the bed,
says, “Let it ring.”

It would be unfair to the
fim to’ detail the course of
the four major love stories,
but while they may have
found their origin in the lone-
liness of the girls (and the
“eat, drink and make love”
philosophy of the GI's) they
develop into serious attach-
ments that are torn by tragedy
and exalted by genuine union.

It is doubtful that most such
war-time “romances” achieved
permanent union. They were
casual in origin and casual in
intention, and while they often
resulted in illegitimate child-
ren (and heartbreak), they

“il

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eRe ae itt oe BIE Se ey rs

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i
ie Se ea ae re h
rarely , survived the frenetic aust Leecher g q
situation that gave them their Bisotiee ee et ee ce een ee
original» impetus; “Eat, drink ADDRESS laa eee ee Taos ene ee
and make love, for tomorrow foe
we die.” at de pee aa Ce ae th
Miss Simmons, as_ usual, ISG ae ee eee
runs away with the picture. t
Aside from her physical ap- di 0 k a
peal, she is one of the most In icate ne Boo a
exciting artists on the screen : Fi
today and is equally at home [] Power Without Glory — Frank Hardy 1h
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