News on Screen

'Newsreel’ Wong was a freelance cameraman based in Hong Kong. In September 1937 British Paramount News ran a controversial item in No.682 entitled ‘FIRST PICTURES OF THE BATTLE FOR SHANGHAI,' and according to Norman Fisher [qv] of Movietone, this footage was supplied by Wong, ‘who was working for Metro News at that time.' British Paramount News defended its action, noting that ‘the pictures show the results of the use of high explosives against civilians; they are the only actual pictures’: ‘Trimming or faking was out of the question. Either they had to be shown as they were or suppressed. Few will quarrel with Paramount’s decision to release them.' During the Second World War Wong worked for Gaumont British and for Fox. In March 1945 Oscar Bovill [qv] of Pathe noted that ‘Newsreel Wong’ was filming with him in Burma, working for News of the Day. His two surviving credits are for laster stories, ‘FIRST BRITISH PRISONERS BACK TO FREEDOM’ in British Paramount News No.2346, and an unititled piece in British Paramount News No.2347, both of August 1953.

Sources

To-day’s Cinema, 14/9/1937), pp.1, 11, ‘News reels give anti-war lead’: Sight & Sound, Autumn 1937, p.116 ‘News of the quarter: China war newsreels’: BUFVC, British Paramount News files, Issue Number 1463 (F. O. Bovill’s rota dopesheet, 1/3/1945): L. Pontecorvo ‘The British Newsreel Companies: Staffing 1910-1945,' in J. Ballantyne (ed) ‘Researcher’s Guide to British Newsreels’ (BUFVC, 1983), p.93: J. Ballantyne (ed) ‘Researcher’s Guide to British Newsreels: Vol.III’ (1993), p.25: NoS Number 44554; British Paramount News Number 2346; Date released 24/8/1953: NoS Number 44562; British Paramount News Number 2347; Date released 27/8/1953.