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Researching Newsreels pp 51–75Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Around the World: The First Norwegian Newsreel, 1930–1941

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Part of the book series: Global Cinema ((GLOBALCINE))

Abstract

This chapter deals with the development of an interwar newsreel in Norway, Verden Rundt (Around the World, 1930–1941), which was released weekly. This was an integrated news programme, consisting of edited Norwegian actualities and news items from the Nordic countries, as well as items with intertitles in Norwegian from the major international newsreel companies Paramount News, Fox Movietone News and the German newsreel company Universum Film AG (UFA). Of all the nearly fifty annual screenings that were shown during the years 1930–1941, not a single newsreel issue has survived in its entirety, meaning that it is impossible to represent the programme as it would have been seen in its original setting, the cinema at Paladsteateret in Oslo. This study seeks to reconstruct what this news channel offered to the Norwegian audience. The main question it addresses is the extent to which the newsreel Around the World can be considered to be an independent channel for both domestic and foreign news in Norway in the 1930s: should it be seen as a genuine newsreel in its own right or simply as a compilation of international newsreels from abroad with some Norwegian actualities? The chapter is organized into three main sections which deal with the establishment of the newsreel in Oslo, the content of the programmes and the audience. Around the World was the first newsreel in the Nordic region screened in its own dedicated cinema theatre. The study shows that Around the World had an editorial staff which evaluated, selected and edited film material, initiated the production of news stories, and featured compilation news content from the largest of the international newsreel companies. This study moves the date for the establishment of the first edited Norwegian newsreel back more than a decade, from 1941 to 1930.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Vande Winkel, R. (2006). ‘Newsreel Series: World Overview’ in Aitken, I. (ed.) Encyclopedia of Documentary Film Volume 3. New York: Routledge, pp. 985–991; Aldgate, A. (1979). Cinema and History: British Newsreels and the Spanish Civil War. London: Scolar Press, p. 18; Vaughn, S. (1980). Holding fast the inner lines: Democracy, Nationalism, and the Committee on Public Information. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press; Kennedy, D. M. (2004). Over Here: The First World War and American Society. Oxford, UK; New York: Oxford University Press.

  2. 2.

    The classic work on the newsreel genre during and after the Second World War, see Baechlin, P. and M. Muller-Strauss (1952). Newsreels Across the World. Paris: UNESCO.

  3. 3.

    Helseth, T. (2000). Filmrevy som propaganda: Den norske filmrevyen 1941–45. Oslo: Det historisk-filosofiske fakultet, Universitetet i Oslo Unipub forlag. nr 75, p. 33; Helseth, T. (2004). ‘Norwegian newsreels under German Occupation’, pp. 119–132 in Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television 24 (1).

  4. 4.

    Althaus, S. L. (2010). ‘The Forgotten Role of the Global Newsreel Industry in the Long Transition from Text to Television’, pp. 195–197 in The International Journal of Press/Politics 15 (2).

  5. 5.

    Setliff, J. S. (2007). The March of Time and the American Century. College Park: Faculty of the Graduate School, University of Maryland; Flo, I. (2016). Et ugjendrivelig bevis på nazistenes barbari. Rettsoppgjer, minneproduksjon og gjenreisning i Norsk Filmrevy 1945–1949. Oslo: Det humanistiske fakultet, Universitetet i Oslo, pp. 26 ff; Sørenssen, B. (1996). ‘The Voice of Reconstruction: The Norwegian Postwar Newsreel’, pp. 44–56 in R. Smither and W. Klaue (eds.) Newsreels in Film Archives: A Survey based on the FIAF Newsreel Symposium. Cranbury, USA: Associated University Press.

  6. 6.

    Fielding, R. (1972). The American Newsreel, 1911–1967. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press.

  7. 7.

    About German documentary film before the Second World War, see Zimmermann, P. and K. Hoffmann (2003). Triumph der Bilder: Kultur- und Dokumentarfilme vor 1945 im internationalen Vergleich. Konstanz: UVK; Zimmermann, P. and K. Hoffmann (2005). Geschichte des dokumentarischen Films in Deutschland: Bd. 3: “Drittes Reich”: 1933–1945. Stuttgart: Reclam; Vande Winkel, R. (2004). ‘Nazi Newsreels in Europe, 1939–1945: The many faces of UFA’s foreign weekly newsreel (Auslandtonwoche) versus Germany’s weekly newsreel (Deutsche Wochenschau)’, p. 7 in Historical Journal of Film Radio and Television 24 (1).

  8. 8.

    Baechlin and Muller-Strauss (1952), p. 9.

  9. 9.

    Solum, O. (2004). Helt og skurk. Om den kommunale film- og kinoinstitusjonens etablering i Norge. Oslo: Unipub AS.

  10. 10.

    Sørenssen (1996); Helseth (2000); Helseth (2004); Flo (2016).

  11. 11.

    Brinch, S. og G. Iversen (2001). Virkelighetsbilder: Norsk dokumentarfilm gjennom hundre år. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, p. 63; Oslo-Kinematografer (1951). Oslo Kinematografer gjennom 25 år, 1926–1951. Oslo: Kinematografene i Oslo, pp. 22, 30, 71–72, 82–83; Evensmo, S. (1992). Det store tivoli: Film og kino i Norge. Oslo: Gyldendal, p. 276; Totland, G. (1992). Fra filmavis til dagsrevy: En studie i fjernsynsnyhetenes historie. Oslo: Norges allmennvitenskapelige forskningsråd. nr 6/92, pp. 29–30.

  12. 12.

    Helseth (2000), p. 33.

  13. 13.

    The challenges of the source situation has been discussed in more detail in my earlier article on the topic, see Werenskjold, R. (2016). ‘“Begivenheter fra alle verdens kanter”. Norges første lydfilmavis, Verden Rundt’, pp. 19–24 in Mediehistorisk Tidsskrift 26. http://www.pressetidsskrift.no/tidsskrift/mediehistorisk-tidsskrift-nr-26-2016/.

  14. 14.

    Lutro, D. (Unknown). Rapport med oversikt over bevarte aktualitetsfilmer til Norsk filminstitutt. Oslo: Dag Lutro Filmproduksjon, pp. 1–50. The National Library, Oslo, Norway (hereafter NLN).

  15. 15.

    Werenskjold (2016), pp. 31–36.

  16. 16.

    Oslo-Kinematografer (1951), p. 73; Oslo Cinematographer’s Archive/Oslo City Archive (hereafter OCA/OCA), Board Minutes 1930–1931.

  17. 17.

    The political composition of the cinema board, see Werenskjold (2016), p. 24

  18. 18.

    OCA, Board Minutes: 1930–1931, Items of the Agenda 4/29/30, 24 September 1930.

  19. 19.

    Aftenposten Morning Edition, 3 March 1931, p. 5.

  20. 20.

    Solum, O. (2004); Pedersen, M. (2012). Forretning og fornøyelser. Stumfilmtidens kino i Norge 1910/1925. Trondheim: Det humanistiske fakultet, Institutt for kuns-og medievitenskap. Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet, pp. 124–127.

  21. 21.

    Oslo-Kinematografer (1951), pp. 61–62.

  22. 22.

    Norsk Filmblad no. 12 (1935), p. 20.

  23. 23.

    Aldgate (1979), pp. 59–60.

  24. 24.

    Werenskjold (2016), p. 49.

  25. 25.

    Aftenposten Evening Edition, 26 February 1935, p. 6.

  26. 26.

    OCA/OCA, letter to the film distributors signed by Aamot and Vetlesen, 27 February 1934.

  27. 27.

    Baechlin and Muller-Strauss (1952), p. 9; Helseth (2000), p. 96.

  28. 28.

    About Kristoffer Aamot, Evensmo (1992), pp. 160–170.

  29. 29.

    OCA/OCA, letter from T. Isdahl Jr., director of Fox Film A/S, signed 27 February 1933.

  30. 30.

    OCA/OCA, letter from Kristoffer Aamot to Dansk Film, 2 April 1938, Archive box no. 16.

  31. 31.

    OCA/OCA, letter with account of used film from director Kr. Aamot to Dansk Film in Copenhagen, signed November 1938.

  32. 32.

    Baechlin and Muller-Strauss (1952), p. 25

  33. 33.

    OCA/OCA, letter from Birger Biörnstad, director of 20th Century-Fox in Finland to Oslo Cinematographer, signed Helsinki 25 April. The letter was an answer to letter from Kr. Aamot and Vetlesen, signed Oslo, 19 April 1938.

  34. 34.

    Kinematograph Weekly, 15 November 1934, p. 5; cited in Aldgate, A. (1973). ‘British Newsreels and the Spanish Civil War’, p. 3 in Film and History: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Film and Television Studies 3 (1, February).

  35. 35.

    Aftenposten Evening Edition, 8 September 1931, p. 2.

  36. 36.

    Aftenposten Morning Edition, 8 April 1931, p. 4.

  37. 37.

    Meland, Ø. og S. Igdun (2001). Fiendtlig mot fremmed makt: Statens filmkontroll og den politiske sensur 1913–1933 (Hostile to Foreign Power: The State Film Control and Political Censorship 1913–1933). Kristiansand: Høyskoleforlaget.

  38. 38.

    The State film Control (hereafter SFC) Censorship card no. 26034, 1 July 1939; Censorship card no. 26701, 30 December 1939.

  39. 39.

    Sarpsborg Arbeiderblad, 25 July 1939, p. 4; Sarpsborg Arbeiderblad, 5 August 1939, p. 2; Sarpsborg Arbeiderblad, 14 August 1939, p. 2; Dagbladet, 11 August 1939, p. 3. Aftenposten Evening Edition, 27 October 1939, p. 4; Farmand no. 30 29 July 1939, pp. 1–2; Evensmo (1992), pp. 215–216.

  40. 40.

    Werenskjold (2016), p. 33.

  41. 41.

    The extent of censorship of newsreels, see Werenskjold (2016), p. 34.

  42. 42.

    The Cinema Act, https://lovdata.no/ (accessed 5 July 2016).

  43. 43.

    OCA/OCA, a letter from T. Isdahl in Fox Film A/S to Oslo Cinematographer, 14 July 1933.

  44. 44.

    Lie, H. (1934). Arbeidernes Oplysningsforbund: Agitasjon og propaganda. Håndbok for tillitsmenn i de norske arbeider-organisasjoner. Oslo: Arbeidernes oplysningsforbund; Ortega y Gasset, J. (1934). Massenes opprør. Oslo: Gyldendal; Hambro, C. J. (1937). Moderne mentalitet. Oslo: Gyldendal; Sørenssen, B. (1980). “Gryr i Norden”. Norsk arbeiderfilm 1928–1940 i internasjonalt perspektiv. Trondheim: Institutt for Drama, film, Teater, Universitetet i Trondheim.

  45. 45.

    Hoff, T. J. B. (1939). Politisk Filmcensur, pp. 1–2 in Farmand (30).

  46. 46.

    Mackenzie, A. J. (1938). Propaganda Boom. London: Right Book Club, pp. 328–339.

  47. 47.

    The different theories of the media effects, see McQuail, D. (1994). Mass Communication Theory: An Introduction. London; Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

  48. 48.

    Hoff (1939), p. 2.

  49. 49.

    Solum (2004).

  50. 50.

    An overview of the newsreel staff after the Second World War, see Flo (2016).

  51. 51.

    Diesen, J. A. og O. Gladtvet (1999). Filmeventyret begynner: Av og om filmpioneren Ottar Gladtvet. Oslo: Norsk filminstitutt, pp. 109–122.

  52. 52.

    Baechlin and Muller-Strauss (1952), p. 9; see also Flo (2016), pp. 55–63; Totland (1992); Totland, G. (2001). Fjernsynet før fjernsynet. NRKs prøvesendinger fra 1954 til 1960 (The Television before Televison. The Norwegian Broadcasting Company’s (NRK) test broadcasting 1954–1960), pp. 210–239 in Ø. Meland and H. G. Bastiansen (ed.) Fra Eidsvoll til Marienlyst: Studier i norske mediers historie fra Grunnloven til TV-alderen (From Eidsvoll to Marienlyst: Studies in Norwegian Media History from the Constitution to the Television Age). Kristiansand: Høyskoleforlaget.

  53. 53.

    Aftenposten Morning Edition, 5 September 1931, p. 4.

  54. 54.

    Aftenposten Evening Edition, 2 June 1931, p. 4.

  55. 55.

    The content based on categories 1930–1940, see Werenskjold (2016), p. 38.

  56. 56.

    Vande Winkel (2006), p. 987.

  57. 57.

    Werenskjold, R. (2011). That’s the Way it is? Protestene og mediene i 1968 . Oslo: Institutt for medier og kommunikasjon, Universitetet i Oslo, pp. 182–185; Bakke, M. (1973). Nyheter er mer enn fakta, in Tidsskrift for Samfunnsforskning. Bind 14; Nordenstreng, K. and T. Varis (1974). Television Traffic—A One-way Street?: A Survey and Analysis of the International Flow of Television Programme Material. Paris: UNESCO; Varis, T. and R. Jokelin (1976). Television News in Europe: A Survey of the News-film Flow in Europe. Tampere: University of Tampere.

  58. 58.

    Armero, J.-M. (1976). España fue noticia: Corresponsales extranjeros en la Guerra Civil Española. Madrid: Sedmay Ediciones: distribuidora Maydi; Aldgate (1979); Gogolin, W. (1982). Der Spanische Bürgerkrieg 1936–1939 im Dokumentarfilm. Bestandskatalog. Film-Archiv 3. Berlin: Staatliches Filmarchiev der DDR; Bucher, P. (1984/2000). Wochenschauen und Dokumentarfilme 1895–1950 im Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv (16mm-Verleihkopien). Koblenz: Bundesarchiv; Kowalsky, D. (2007). The Soviet Cinematic Offensive in the Spanish Civil War, pp. 7–19 in Film History 19 (1); Deacon, D. (2008). British News Media and the Spanish Civil War: Tomorrow May Be Too Late. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press; Preston, P. (2009). We Saw Spain Die: Foreign Correspondents in the Spanish Civil War. New York: Skyhorse Pub; Werenskjold, R. (2017). Haakon Lie og Spania-filmene. Bruken av dokumentarfilmer om den spanske borgerkrigen i Norge 1936–39, pp. 42–85 in Mediehistorisk Tidsskrift 27.

  59. 59.

    Skre, A. (2010). “En kostbar og farlig tid.” Den store vestvendingen i norsk presse 1947–1949, pp. 41–106 in Pressehistoriske skrifter 14.

  60. 60.

    Rowson, S. (1936). A Statistical Survey of the Cinema Industry in Great Britain, pp. 67–119 in Journal of the Royal Statistical Society 99; Aldgate (1979), pp. 54–55; The Ministry of Information (1943). The Wartime Social Survey, The Cinema Audience. London, pp. 1–24; cited by Aldgate (1979), pp. 56–57; Hogenkamp, B. (1976). Film and the Workers’ Movement in Britain, 1929–39, pp. 68–76 in Film Bulletin. London: British Film Institute. 45.

  61. 61.

    Street, S. (2000). British Cinema in Documents. New York: Routledge; Donald, J. and M. Renov (2008). The SAGE Handbook of Film Studies. London: SAGE Publications, p. 460; Church, R. A. and A. Godley (2003). The Emergence of Modern Marketing. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis, p. 113; Aldgate (1979), p. 61.

  62. 62.

    Aftenposten Morning Edition, 20 March 1935, p. 4.

  63. 63.

    Aftenposten Evening Edition, 16 May 1935, p. 2.

  64. 64.

    Bastiansen, H. G. (2001). Kampen om TV-opinionen: Partipressen og NRK-fjernsynet, pp. 257–279 in Ø. Meland and H. G. Bastiansen (ed.) Fra Eidsvoll til Marienlyst: Studier i norske mediers historie fra Grunnloven til TV-alderen. Kristiansand: Høyskoleforlaget; Bastiansen, H. G. (2009). Lojaliteten som brast. Partipressen i Norge fra senit til fall 1945–2000. Oslo: Pressehistorisk forening.

  65. 65.

    Aftenposten Morning Edition, 24 January 1931, p. 4.

  66. 66.

    Aftenposten Morning Edition, 19 May 1931, p. 8.

  67. 67.

    Aftenposten Morning Edition, 9 November 1932, p. 4.

  68. 68.

    Aftenposten Morning Edition, 18 April 1933, p. 3; Aftenposten Morning Edition, 25 April 1933, p. 4.

  69. 69.

    Aftenposten Evening Edition, 4 August 1934, p. 2; Aftenposten Morning Edition, 22 August 1934, p. 5.

  70. 70.

    Aftenposten Morning Edition, 30 October 1934, p. 7.

  71. 71.

    Aftenposten Evening Edition, 12 March 1937, p. 4.

  72. 72.

    Interview with cinema director Kristoffer Aamodt , Aftenposten Evening Edition, 17 January 1940, p. 3.

  73. 73.

    Statistisk årbok for Norge. 1939./Annuaire Statistique de la Norvége, 58iéme Année 1939. (Statistical Yearbook for Norway. 1939)

  74. 74.

    The North Vision (Nordvisjon) was established to exchange programs among the Nordic public broadcasting companies in Norway , Sweden, Denmark, Iceland and Finland in 1959. See Meland, Ø. (2001). Fra bytte til butikk. Nordvisjonens teaterutveksling 1960 til 1990, pp. 50–69 in Norsk Medietidsskrift 1.

  75. 75.

    Baechlin and Muller-Strauss (1952), p. 9; Aldgate (1979), p. 26.

  76. 76.

    Helseth (2000); Flo (2016).

  77. 77.

    Althaus (2010), pp. 193–218.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Volda University College, Volda, Norway

    Rolf Werenskjold

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Correspondence to Rolf Werenskjold .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Film and Screen Media, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland

    Ciara Chambers

  2. Department of Cultural Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden

    Mats Jönsson

  3. University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Roel Vande Winkel

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Werenskjold, R. (2018). Around the World: The First Norwegian Newsreel, 1930–1941. In: Chambers, C., Jönsson, M., Vande Winkel, R. (eds) Researching Newsreels. Global Cinema. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91920-1_4

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