"Although Made in Heaven, by Jesse Geisler, is a carefully planned and sequenced film of the preparations for a wedding and the wedding itself, it gives the effect of complete realism, tinctured with good humor and the joy of life. The preparations are gay, as the bride's friends help her to dress, producing "something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue" in the traditional way. The Jewish orthodox ceremony is handled with simple dignity and then, with the section presenting the wedding party, the film resumes its lighter treatment. Transitions from one sequence to another are excellently handled, and the scenes of the wedding party represent an outstanding accomplishment, for it is not easy to make good movies at such an occasion." Movie Makers, Dec. 1943, 478.
"Documentary chronicle about the Littoriali of Snow and Ice 1938—Notizario delle sezioni cinematografiche dei gruppi universitari fascisti a cura del ministero della cultura popolare, September 1938 p. 11"
"Mag the Hag" is a 1925 amateur fiction film shot and edited by Hiram Percy Maxim (1869-1936), founder of the Amateur Cinema League. It is one of the earliest amateur fiction films shot on 16mm in Northeast Historic Film's collections. It features Maxim's daughter, Percy Maxim Lee, in the lead role of Percy Proudfoot. oldfilm.org
A man is late for his anniversary dinner after getting drunk at an "amateur magician's club." He attempts to make up for it by surprising his wife with gifts, but the gifts turn out to be magic tricks which further infuriate her. The man's magic tricks are accomplished via trick photography.
"The Magic Bottle is a fantasy type of story with real life people acting out the parts. A crippled girl attending a beach party is seen by a drunk who, upon finding a lone bottle in the sand, is told that by finding the bottle he may have one big wish. His wish - that the girl may once more walk again" PSA Journal, Sept. 1966, 35.
"Magic Boy received the special citation for combining animation with live action. A small boy is watching a comic book or drawing board and what he sees comes to life before him. Whether Filmer Falco is a real life artist or not, he did a good job with the cartooning, but a really superb job in combining the boy with the animated character" PSA Journal, Sept. 1964, 51.
"Alexander Black imagines his grandchildren appearing around him in a swirl of double-exposed trick cinematography." UC Berkeley Library.
"In The Magic City, Virginia Rodarmor shows a warm and winning appreciation of a child's love for fairy tales. After a delightful opening scene in which Mother pantomimes the end of a bedtime story to her three young ones, we see them being tucked away for the night. The film then pictures the children enacting, in a dream, the tale their mother has just related. A regrettable lack of steady camera support is offset by the sensitive unfolding of the story, keeping it unerringly on a level of pure fantasy. A delightful and characteristic conceit is the sequence in which the witch is transformed into a pure white cat — complete with miniature black mask and peaked hat. The role is played by the family pet with superb and feline aplomb. The Magic City is a rewarding adventure into the difficult realm of motion picture fantasy." Movie Makers, Dec. 1948, 495.
Total Pages: 299
Amateur Cinema