Redes Film Published Literature

Controversy erupted almost immediately after this issue of Life Magazine was published.  Letters between Ned Scott and Gunther von Fritsch discuss the lack of recognition for Fred Zinnemann, Gunther, Ned Scott and the Mexican contributors to the making of the film.  Only Paul Strand received any recognition.   In a May 13 letter to Ned, Gunther pointed out that there was no excuse for Paul Strand to take all credit away from others who worked on the film.  “I would not care to ever be associated with him in business again”, wrote a disgruntled Gunther.

Life MagazineFilmotecaFilmoteca Document TwoFred Zinnemann AutobiographyB&WThe Americas – James KrippnerPaul Strand in Mexico

Life Magazine May, 1937

Filmoteca 1981-82

Augustin V. Chavez produced this Colophon in 1981-82, published by Filmoteca of the National University of Mexico, as intellectual grounding to support his program of selling modern day Redes prints which he developed from Ned Scott original negatives. Accompanying this Colophon are 32 such prints, mounted on oversize paper and contained in two oversize loose leaf binders. The Archive acquired this item recently through auction, with the help of the world wide web. Chavex inscribed this package to Gunther von Fritsch, the editor of Redes. The print list is detailed and attributes 20 prints, all platinum papers, to Paul Strand. The list attributes 12 prints to Ned Scott, all silver gelatin papers. However, as will be shown in this discussion, no Strand prints in fact are included. All 32 prints are developed from Ned Scott original negatives. Anthony Montoya, the director of the Paul Strand Archive during this time period, confirms this fact.

Filmoteca Document Two

This 1981 Filmoteca treatise deals with the early history of Mexican film making. Several Mexican films are featured, Redes among them. All Redes photographs which appear were created by Ned Scott on the original movie production in Alvarado some 50 years earlier. This treatise helps to lend artistic gravity to Redes due its unique position in the history of Mexican film.

Fred Zinnemann Autobiography, 1992

Director Fred Zinnemann recounts his personal Redes/Wave production experiences in his 1992 Autobiography. All photographs which appear in the chapter were created by Ned Scott as original prints from his own negatives and given to Fred before his departure from Mexico City in December, 1934.

B&W June, 2000

The June, 2000 edition of B&W magazine discusses the Redes production effort and publishes a sampling of Ned Scott’s stills from the film. Henry Rasmussen, the owner and publisher of B&W, visited the Ned Scott Archive in Louisville, Kentucky to gather material for the article. He was shown the original files of prints and letters, and it was he who selected the prints which the magazine subsequently published.

The Americas 63.3 (2007)

James Krippner, Professor of History at Haverford College in Pennsylvania, has written an essay on the work of Paul Strand in Mexico from 1932-34. “Traces, Images and Fictions: Paul Strand in Mexico, 1932-34” is the title of the essay. Facts revealed for the first time in this essay lay the groundwork for the future controversy surrounding Ned Scott’s negatives from the film, the fraudulent use of those negatives for financial gain, and the deliberate mis-identification of them as Paul Strand creations.

The essay was originally published in The Americas 63.3 (2007), pp. 359-383. It is reproduced here in full text form with the generous support and approval of both James Krippner and Eric Zolov, editor of The Americas 63.3.

Paul Stand in Mexico

With the blessing of the Aperture Foundation and the author, James Krippner, this complete chapter from the book dealing with Redes/The Wave is presented.  This work is the most definitive and complete discussion of the making of this important film ever published.