Still image from Life Hangs By a Thread in Movie Makers, July 1950, 265.
English
00:18:00
500 ft
16mm
Kodachrome
Optical
Sound on film.
"The construction and performance of marionettes are skillfully pictured in Life Hangs By A Thread, by Paul R. Elliott and Joseph Dephoure. Aided by skillful lighting, a fine sound track perfectly harmonized with the action and an intelligent script, interest is closely held from the time a marionette is a lump of putty to its moments of glory when, in the hands of an experienced operator, it seems to take on a life of its own. Perhaps the most impressive thing about Life Hangs By A Thread is its careful step by step planning, indicating the sound belief by its producers that a movie should tell as much as possible pictorially, with the commentary used only to enhance the visual appeal." Movie Makers, Dec. 1948, 475-476.
Both of the filmmakers share details about the film in "The Reader Writes" (Movie Makers, Jan. 1949, 6). A production still is also shown.
The film was first prize winner in the "Special" class of a Smoky Mountain Movie Club amateur movie salon in 1949 (Home Movies, Nov. 1949, 590).
"Shows how marionettes are made and operated by experts. Includes details of the construction, painting and manipulation of a clown marionette with a papier-mache head, and the macabre dance of a skeleton marionette." Educational Film Guide, 1953 Edition, 804.
Do you know where this film is? Get in touch with us at amdb@ucalgary.ca.
Amateur Cinema