"With the use of a time lapse device, S. G. Lutz has made, in The Heavens Declare the Glory of God, a highly competent record of clouds in motion. Although the subject, treated in a different manner, might easily become too static actually to constitute a true movie. Mr. Lutz has achieved a sure continuity and a sense of artistry that is unusual. In many instances, the film presents sequences of such an unusual kind as to be highly exciting and almost awe inspiring. Speeding the motion of the clouds creates, from the commonplace, a sense of eeriness and weird beauty. In many of the storm sequences, the motion is so greatly dramatized as to impart a nearly terrifying sense of impending disaster." Movie Makers, Dec. 1944, 496.
"Norman McLaren and Helen Biggar’s urgent work of animated agit-prop utilises a mixture of film forms (from found footage to title cards and staged action) stitched together with rapid editing to create an incisive and disorienting polemic against government armament spending. Made in 1936 as fascism was on the rise throughout Europe, the film was the result of collaboration between animator McLaren and sculptor Biggar, made during their tenure at the Glasgow School of Art. The idea was to use a rapid succession of violent images to jolt the viewer into demonstrative action against a new war, decades before such Brechtian techniques were employed by artists like Jean-Luc Godard. The result is one of the most striking and memorable of all animated political films" British Film Institute.
"An amateur film made by and starring the husband and wife duo, John & Evelyn Kibar. The film documents the couples’ struggles to make and complete a travelogue film of their travels to Colorado. Title cards with dialogue are dispersed throughout the film." Chicago Film Archives
"This time the Lawlers have produced a short-family picture in several parts. Each part is filmed to the interpretation of a poem recited by a very young voice, undoubtedly a member of the Lawler clan. The stories include the Shoemaker, the Bath, the Party, the Counterpane, snow (sleigh riding) and Hiding. A pleasing picture of the children accompanied by the voice of the little girl" PSA Journal, Nov. 1959, 48.
An amateur club adaptation of Alfred Noyes poem The Highwayman. A "ballad of love and murder" that "emphasizes atmosphere and explores the sympathetic relationship between natural and dramatic elements". The poem "narrates the highwayman's secret meeting with his love Bess, a landlord's daughter, their discovery by a group of soldiers who hold Bess as bait for the highwayman, and her grisly death by musket...Throughout the poem the natural settings play an important role in amplifying its supernatural and dramatic content...Like its use of natural settings, a natural acting style was employed to set this film adaptation apart from its source materials and its rival media. Finally, the film's use of double exposure in order to create the impression of ghostliness in the tragic couple's final reunion marks a particularly cinematic solution to the problem of visual representation" Tepperman, 244-245. Title credits name Tedd Briggs as the director and Alan Moorhouse as the Producer, "under the auspices of the Toronto Amateur Movie Club".
" 'Oh, would some power the giftie gie us, to see ourselves as others see us.' In a sophisticated, fast moving satire, Fred Evans has struck at some of the blights of amateur movie making and screening. Turning his opening guns on tyros who ignore the instruction book which accompanies a new camera, Mr. Evans proceeds in a light, witty manner to poke cine fun at those movie makers who insist on learning the hard way. The picture continues on its farcical path, pausing now to watch invitations being telephoned for a screening of an as yet on-existent film and again to sympathize at the scene of frantic last minute editing. Home Movies has as its climax, of course, the fiasco of the screening, which should not be "tipped off" by a verbal preview. Compact and restrained, this movie offers meaningful as well as light entertainment." Movie Makers, Dec. 1946, 471.
"Hooked, an 8mm. comedy by the Grand Rapids Movie Makers, was intended as a straight drama of the trout streams. It has ended, however, as a delightful farce of a movie club trying desperately to complete such a picture — and is probably the better because of this mid production metamorphosis. For, although the first and original section of the picture is wholly charming and well photographed, it is in the latter section that the film picks up spirit, sparkle and definite dramatic power. It is in this part that the producers have conceived and executed a number of cinematic coups, climaxing them with a stunning multiple exposure sequence probably never before equalled or even approached in this medium. Walter Mills, ACL, L. Thorny, ACL, M. P. Gamber and Wendell Patton, of the Grand Rapids club, continue and enhance, with this film, their rightful reputation as most able advocates of 8mm." Movie Makers, Dec. 1934. 534.
"Simplicity and directness mark How to Use Filters, made by Kenneth F. Space for the Harmon Foundation. A teaching film must be free from overburdening theory. Mr. Space knows when to forget the deep dark secrets of theory and when to speak out about the actual, practical facts. His film was well filmed, and the subject matter was chosen to present the case clearly and in an interesting fashion. The user of a movie camera will learn more about filters from seeing this film than he can gain from reading many pages on the subject. It tells just what to expect from various filters and stresses the results obtained from their use more than it does the reasons why they work. Mr. Space's movie is one of the few educational films which are simple enough to be effective." Movie Makers, Dec. 1940, 604.
"A milestone in the pedagogy of personal movie making, How to Use Your Camera, produced by the Harmon Foundation and photographed by Kenneth F. Space of that organization's staff, is a simple and straightforward exposition of the fundamentals of camera operation. This picture, reel one in a forthcoming series of releases to be entitled You Can Make Good Movies, is marked by attractive and technically superior photography. The remarkable restraint exercised in planning and directing the picture is its outstanding virtue because, although the principles of camera manipulation covered are elementary and brief, they are crystal clear. It would have been easy to have covered too much ground in a one reel film of a technical procedure, and, in restricting the scope of the picture, the producer showed astonishing understanding of both the movie medium and of the technique of teaching movie making. The photography is beautiful, the sequencing and editing exquisite gems, in themselves examples of good technique, and the titling is excellent. Movie Makers will be impatient to see the companion reels in the series, and the Harmon Foundation deserves acclaim for its pioneering work." Movie Makers, Dec. 1938, 618.
"doc. a fantasia"/avant-garde documentary
Total Pages: 14
Amateur Cinema