Two Films of France

Travelogues are, as a rule, pretty dreary stuff, with an off-screen commentator reading a script copied out of the World Almanac. Only seldom does a travel short even try to show the "natives" as people rather than as models for picturesque costumes. But Songs of the Auvergne, made by Miles Morgan '50, not only tries but succeeds impressively.

Songs of the Auvergne does not have any commentator at all. Instead, it has the voice of soprano Phyllis Curtin, singing some beautiful and sophisticated folk songs to the accompaniment of members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The versatile Mr. Morgan, who is both director and photographer, also conducts these musicians.

The film is as much a pleasure to see as it is to hear. Hardly a single routine shot of rolling countrysides deaden the 20 minutes running time. Morgan and his associate Richard Harris have concentrated on details: a few chickens shaking the water of a rainstorm form their feathers, the closeup of a ringing church bell, a frog in a pond. And then there are the people of Auvergne themselves, their faces caught haggling over the price of a bill at the fair and their hands weighing out fish in a market-place. Although Songs of the Auvergne is photographed only in black and white, the camera-work in it is unusually striking.

Anybody who wants to see the whole show at the Exeter can stay to watch the main feature, Holiday for Henrietta. A fairly amusing if rather light-weight French comedy, the picture relates the agony of a couple of script writers trying to grind out a scenario for a new movie. Each idea they dredge up is shown acted out as if it were part of the finished production.

The two gentlemen have a good deal of trouble finding a plot, but they finally settle on a story about a young dressmaker, played by Dany Robin, who becomes amorously involved with Michael Auclair, a small-time crook with, we are told, a brilliant mind. Hildegarde Neff is also around, as a circus rider. both she and the pony are bare backed.

If the story of Holiday for Henrietta seems confused most of the time, the cracks of the characters and the writers are enough to keep the movie amusing. And then, there is always that bedroom scene with Hildegarde.