Film Record: Race for Ties, A

Production Still via The Thunder Bay Historical Museum Society.

Identifier:

• 1969-0023 (Source: http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/film-video-sound-database/Pages/item.aspx?IdNumber=234333)

Date produced: 1929

Filmmaker(s):

Dorothea Mitchell

Production credits:

• Harold Harcourt, Director
• Fred G. Cooper, Photography
• Dorothea Mitchell, Writer

Languages:

English

Duration:

00:56:00

Length:

1600 ft

Format:

16mm

Colour:

B&W

Sound Notes:

Silent

Sound:

With English intertitles.

Description:

"A Race for Ties" tells the story of a sawmill owner, Joe Atwood, and his race against a large timber company, headed by U. Cheetem, to sign an exclusive contract for railway ties. In addition to a plot driven by one of the region’s staple industries (the lumber industry), the film highlights the scenic nature of the region" - Michel S Beaulieu, Women Film Pioneers Project.

Resources:

A Race for Ties is authoritatively stated to be the first feature-length movie made in Canada entirely by amateurs. To read about the project from Mitchell herself visit The Thunder Bay Historical Museum Society and The Lady Lumberjack.

Movie Makers, September 1929, pp. 607-8.

Locations:

• Thunder Bay, Ontario (Filming)

Club Affiliation:

Amateur Cinema Society of Port Arthur

Subjects:

• North America
•      Canada

Genre:

• Comedy

Form:

• Feature

Tags:

Repository:

The Dorothea Mitchell Collection, Library and Archives Canada

Screenings:

• Premiered on May 31, 1929 at the Lyceum Theatre, and was screened there again on June 1st and 3rd 1929.: Port Arthur, Ontario

Video Link:

• Streamable on Vimeo via Shebafilms

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