ca. 1938-1948
Male
The name Angus Hanson appears as the credited creator of residue 2, an experimental collage film found among Oscar C. Burritt's possessions after his death by colleague Douglas S. Wilson. Wilson believed that "Angus Hanson" was actually a pseudonym used by Burritt.
At a screening on November 15, 1948, the Toronto Film Study Group (later renamed the Toronto Film Society) presented Sergei Eisenstein's Ivan the Terrible, Part 1. In the program notes for the screening, the society solicited viewers' comments about the film, requesting that they be sent to Dorothy Burritt (Oscar's wife, one of the TFSG organizers). In the December 15 edition of their program notes, they published a letter rather humorously critical of the film, supposedly received from Angus Hanson of Galiano Island, BC. It was the first response published, and it seems very likely that Oscar Burritt wrote it to be deliberately provocative, as a way to generate further discussion of the film by TFSG members.
The programme committee has received the following letter regarding Ivan the Terrible:
"While passing through Toronto I had the privilege of attending a meeting of your group in the Royal Ontario Museum Theatre. The feature was Ivan the Terrible, and as opinions as to its merits were asked for, I will venture to suggest that the quality of the film is appropriately expressed in the third word of the title. It was not a motion picture at all. Rather it was an historical pageant, with the actors performing in the fashion one rightly expects in such stage presentations, all right in its place but not as an alleged motion picture. As for the technical cinematic side there is reason to believe that a series of still pictures might have caught the spirit of the story better than the nearly static photographic recordings of the motion picture camera as used in this effect. On the whole the production might be correctly referred to as the most ambitious “lantern slide” production ever attempted. In spite of these views I must admit that the sincerity and enthusiasm of the makers did shine through and make parts of the film very moving.” -- Angus Hanson, Galiano Island, B.C.
More letters will accompany the programme issued for the next performance on January 24.
Dennis J. Duffy, "Report on the Film residue 2 by Angus Hanson," unpublished manuscript, 1990.
Toronto Film Study Group, film notes for 2nd Showing, November 15, 1948, 8:15 pm: http://torontofilmsociety.org/film-notes/ivan-terrible-part-1-1944/
Toronto Film Study Group, film notes for 3rd Showing, December 15, 1948, 8:15 pm: http://torontofilmsociety.org/film-notes/janosik/
Amateur Cinema