DISADA FIGHTS THE COLD WAR

DISADA FIGHTS THE COLD WAR

In the early 1970s we made a live-action documentary titled NIGHT
BEAT. It was the first film to go with the police on their late night
beat in the most crime-ridden parts of Montreal. For months we went
along with them on The Main and other areas every Friday night, which
they had said was the biggest crime period of the week. We had signed
papers absolving them from blame if we got harmed or killed.

There were some funny stories that came out of this production.
Usually we sat in the back seat of police cars as they did their
work, which included patrolling the downtown area. Montreal on a
Friday night was a very busy place. Sometimes at red lights ot just
parked, someone you knew would walk by, see you in the back seat of a
police car, assume you've been arrested and turn away. I'd hold up the
camera and point to it but by then they'd walked away quickly. Thank
goodness there was no social media back then or it would have been
reported I had been arrested, convicted and jailed by midnight.

One time the police we were with were going on their supper break.
They decided to go to their favorite pizza place. It was way across
town, far from their beat. I questioned if they could get there, eat
and back in time to resume their work. They laughed. They turned on
their sirens and we covered the miles in minutes. It was a wild ride,
and on film we have a scenic tour of Montreal in a couple of minutes,
though it's quite a bumpy ride.

Once the film was finished we got a letter from the Soviet embassy in
Ottawa. They wanted to purchase a copy of the film. I remembered what
happened to WEST SIDE STORY. A year or so after that film was
released, Russia bought it to show to its people. This was hailed as a
cultural warming of the cold war. What they actually did, I read in
Variety, was cut the film down, eliminating the songs and the story,
making a documentary short on the problems of gangs in the USA
terrorizing the population and showed that as propaganda to their
people. I was sure they wanted to see our film and buy it to edit into
a similar exercise about rampant crime in the West. I answered them
that this film was not available for export but our cartoons could be
part of a fine cultural exchange. Of course we never heard from them
again.