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Apartment C

Date produced: 1951

Description:

"What happens when a pair of jewel thieves masquerading as house painters get into a lady's apartment to elude the police is entertainingly told in this club production by the 8mm. group of the Seattle Amateur Movie Club. John F. Herman, the director, keeps the action moving, while the players discharge their roles for the most part with good humor. J. W. Crock and George Hayden contribute ably as the cameramen. Although the cutting, as with so many amateur dramas, is not as swiftly paced as one might wish, Apartment C is an engaging example of cooperative filming." Movie Makers, Dec. 1951, 411.


Chronicle

Date produced: 1934

Filmmaker(s):

Frances Christeson

Perle Eddy

Emanual Goldman

Harry Merrick

Description:

"The producers of 'Chronicle' must be commended for a novel treatment. They employed the hands only to show the life of a boy from his third birthday until maturity. Into this novel treatment they spun a story of the boy's downfall until he is found guilty of murder and is incarcerated. All of it was interior and was well photographed." American Cinematographer, Jan. 1936, 40.


Crímen del póker [Poker crime]

Date produced: 1943

Filmmaker(s):

Julio Pelissier Fehrmann


Cup of Fear

Date produced: 1949

Filmmaker(s):

John Harms

George A. Valentine

Description:

"'Cup of Fear' produced and entered by the Stamford (Connecticut) Cinema Club and photographed by John Harms, is a well directed, acted and photographed 'whodunit' in which one of several office employees who have been passed up in a company promotion, murders the hapless executive promoted to the vice-presidency. A cup of wine, antidote for poison supposedly fed the murderer at a dinner, proves his undoing. All shots are interiors and save for one or two, are excellently lighted and photographed. Many professional touches, such as dolly shots, dramatic camera angles, and story-telling closeups highlight the picture. Harms used a 16 mm. Bolex camera and Kodak Super-X panchromatic film." American Cinematographer, Apr. 1950, 146.


Driftwood

Date produced: 1934

Filmmaker(s):

Cliff West

Description:

"A tale of greed, murder and passion set in a French provincial town in the 1930s. The focus is a tawdry basement drinking and gambling club. Rejecting the violent advances of a man who returns to her rooms with her, a local girl kills him and is assisted in the disposal of the corpse by her regular beau - a cynical, louche cardsharp. A vigilant detective brings her to court for murder. Witnesses take the chance to blacken her name by giving false testimonies but she is acquitted. Her freedom is soured by her lover's rejection of her and she returns to the streets" East Anglian Film Archive.


Gangster Chileno o un Rapto Audaz, El [The Chilean gangster or a daring kidnapping]

Date produced: 1942

Filmmaker(s):

Julio Pelissier Fehrmann


Great Perham Jewel Robbery, The

Date produced: 1926

Filmmaker(s):

Bernard Kemper

Description:

"A short amateur narrative, featuring locals in cameo roles, about a husband who tries to teach his wife a lesson by staging a fake robbery." filmpreservation.org


Guarida, La [The Lair]

Date produced:

Filmmaker(s):

José Ramón Aguirrezabal

Eloy González Gavilán

Description:

Un hombre vaga por las calles de un pueblo buscando tabaco en botes de basura o en el camino. Al entrar a un bar, un hombre nota que está buscando algo, por lo que lanza tabaco al suelo y cuando el primero se agacha a recogerlo, el otro lo tira al suelo mientras todos en el bar se ríen de él. Al regresar al cuarto en el que vive, otro hombre se encuentra ahí descansando. Los hombres tienen una breve conversación sobre cuándo se irá el otro, mientras que este da una excusa y le pide algo de tabaco al primer hombre. El primero se niega y le dice que el tabaco es muy difícil de conseguir, provocando la ira del segundo, quien decide asesinarlo apuñalándolo por la espalda. Después de enterrar su cuerpo, vuelve al cuarto donde se siente culpable y después de llorar por un rato, decide suicidarse.

A man wanders the streets of a town looking for tobacco in trash cans or the road, he enters a bar and a man notices that he is looking for something, he throws some tobacco on the floor and when the first man tries to reach it, he shoves him to the floor while the rest of the men in the bar laugh at him. When he goes back to the room he lives in, there is another man there resting. They have a small conversation about when the man lying down will leave, he gives an excuse and then asks the other for some tobacco. The first man refuses and tells him it is too hard to get, provoking the anger of the second one who then he chooses to kill him by stabbing him in the back. After burying his body he goes back and feels guilty, after crying for some time, he chooses to kill himself.


How to Catch a Burglar

Date produced: 1950

Filmmaker(s):

Donald James

Description:

"British cine amateur Donald S. James aided by Maureen Cottle has produced a tightly-knit comedy depicting three methods of capturing a burglar. In each episode, the same burglar enters the same home, but in each case, different methods are taken by the householders to effect his capture. The low key lighting is very effective and good editing has resulted in very professional results on the screen. Narration and sound effects on the recorded track round out the superior treatment of this better than average amateur effort." American Cinematographer, May. 1951, 192.


In the Leprous Hands of Lust

Date produced: 1931

Filmmaker(s):

S. Winston Childs

Description:

"The story is a burlesque of the anti social activities of a vice ring. The film contains some excellent interior lighting and is remarkably well edited." Movie Makers, April 1931, 224.


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