Still from Western Holiday in Movie Makers, Jan. 1938, 15.
United States
English
2500 ft
16mm
Kodachrome
Silent
With music and sound effect scoring for double turntable presentation.
"Western Holiday offered one of those thrills in the sequence of sunrise on Mount Robson. Here Kodachrome caught, with what seemed magic, the first rosy glow on the cold, blue snow, which the continuity of photographic motion permitted to increase, to blossom and, finally, to blaze into a chromatic crown of jewels. To see this on the screen is to enjoy a rare experience. Hamilton H. Jones, in the highly intelligent cutting of his train sequences, gave the student of continuity another of these thrills. Those who are charmed by double turntable accompaniment will recognize the perfection with which an almost impossibly difficult feat of lip synchronization with record scoring has been handled. These are some of the higher spots in a film of unusually high general average. Mr. Jones is a Kodachrome movie maker of proved ability, who has made editing a special art. The film chosen for the first Hiram Percy Maxim Memorial Award will be used by Mr. Jones in his work as a lecturer on the vacation advantages of the Dominion of Canada, although it was made as his own enterprise, entirely at his own expense and not for compensation from a client. It is a part of his professional equipment. Briefly reviewed, Western Holiday carries the audience, via Canadian National Railways, from Victoria, Canada's most westerly metropolis, across the Rocky Mountains back to the Eastern Seaboard. Beginning with city views in Victoria and Vancouver, with strikingly colorful parades of the famous Canadian Mounted Police, we visit tourist centers and make trail trips from them. The camera goes into the interior of a glacier, it finds mountain goats and sheep, it clambers over the Continental Divide on horseback. All through the trip, it studies the progress of trains, weaving in and out of tunnels and over bridges. In his personal presentations of this film, Mr. Jones manipulates effects, such as whistles, bells, train noises and other oddments, with something approaching wizardry. In the face of competition of the highest order, Western Holiday is its own justification of preferment." Movie Makers, Dec. 1937, 602.
The film was made for Canadian National Railways (Movie Makers, Mar. 1937, 128).
"A feature length remake in color of the black and white Canadian Capers, the picture was regarded by many as revealing for the first time the full technical and artistic capacities of Kodachrome." Movie Makers, Dec. 1950, 449.
Western Holiday was the first film to win the Hiram Percy Maxim Memorial Award. Jones discusses winning the prestigious award and shooting his film in "Winning the Maxim Award" (Movie Makers, Jan. 1938, 15, 36-38).
Jones discusses the film and train shooting in "Train Trails" (Movie Makers, Aug. 1939, 419, 429-430). Numerous still images from the film are also shown in the article.
"Reaching 10,226 people in forty two separate screenings during the month of December, Hamilton H. Jones, ACL, of Buffalo, N. Y., claims a new record for his latest publicity film, Western Holiday." Movie Makers, Mar. 1937, 128
Jones' article in Ciné Kodak News (vol. 15, no. 1, March - April 1939) states "More than 150,000 people have seen Mr. Jones' 16mm. Kodachrome movies in the better than 250 shows he has given."
The Canadian Statesman, March 3, 1938, 3.
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Amateur Cinema