"Local newsreel on events in Thetford filmed by Ben Culey, showing the Palace Cinema, which he owned and where people came to see his local news films." (EAFA Database)
"Amersham and the surrounding countryside in different seasons." (EAFA database)
"Edward F. Cross covered an extensive territory of national parks and vacation spots in the Southwest and Western sectors of the United States and has brought back an attractively filmed record of his tour. Unique rock formations have been pictured from well chosen vantage points to make the most of light and shadow. This Land of Ours is climaxed by particularly colorful units in a rodeo's grand parade and a dexterous camera handling of Indian dances. A full narrative indicates careful research to supplement the scenes on the screen." Movie Makers, Dec. 1947, 539.
"A documentary what will keep on film those disappearing landmarks of fond childhood memories. Members of the family reenact those wonderful memories. The children are vehicles of a flash back, at play, caring for dolls and pets. The energies of little boys and girls doing things that we may relive as we watch the Tapps' other years. A delightful family picture" PSA Journal, Nov. 1959, 47.
"Morality tale about the corrosive effect of money." (EAFA database)
"Family scenes outside a house in Greenbank, Keswick as two of the party prepare to leave. The car, a Trojan, reverses out of the garage." (NWFA Online Database)
‘Camera pans over cottages in the village of Tolleshunt D’Arcy. Paintings of the coronation are shown followed by a photo of Queen Elizabeth II. A shot of the church with two old men sitting on a bench by the road. Another shot of the church followed by a sign post for the village and the Union Jack flag flying. A man goes into a telephone box in the middle of the village as a bus drives past. Flags and bunting decorate the village. Two women come out of a shop. One woman gets onto a bike and the other walks away. There is a shot of Tolleshunt D’Arcy Post Office and the postmistress, Miss Blaxhall, comes out under the filmmaker Joyce Allingham's direction. The baker puts up coronation decorations outside his shop and people put decorations on string around the village. A little girl waves a Union Jack flag. Close up of a girl and boy decorating pots using red, white and blue ribbon. Shots of people decorating their gardens. Two people come out of a Co-operative store and a little girl walks down the street carrying a basket. Mr and Mrs Emeny come out of the Thatcher’s Arms and another couple walk out of the front door of their cottage and smile at the camera. A woman wraps red, white and blue ribbon around her bird table and another woman carries a crown on a pillow. Camera pans across the street to show the villagers decorating. Children play in the street and a father lifts his little girl up to the camera and they both wave. People stand in a group and look at the camera. Miss Jessie Bacon looks through the window of Salter Lodge. Shot of the decorated D’Arcy Motors garage. The owner stands outside the garage where the Castrol oil and Esso petrol is sold. The proprietor, his wife and dog stand outside the Red Lion pub. Joyce’s sister, Margaret Allingham, and Margaret's husband, Philip Youngman Carter, stand outside their home in the main street. They then pose by the front door of D’Arcy House. Shot of a dog sitting in the garden. Close up of a woman hanging her washing on the line. Various shots of villagers going to church. A woman and her two children stand outside their home looking at the camera. A man climbs up a ladder to put up some bunting. Various villagers pose for the camera outside their homes and shops. One man cuts a rose and smells it. A car drives along the road followed by a shot of people coming out of a village shop. Shot of people looking out of the windows of the Queens Head pub and standing outside the tobacconist shop. Various shots of villagers standing outside shops and houses. A poster introducing the Tolleshunt D’Arcy Coronation Celebrations, June 2nd 1953 at the grounds of D’Arcy House. The poster states that there is a television in the village by Radio Vision, Maldon. It gives the line up of events for the day: Parade meet at The Maypole at 1.40pm followed by 3.45pm Sports; 4:30pm Sit Down Tea For Children; 5.00pm Running Buffet For Everyone; 5.40pm Sports Continued; 7.15pm Presentation of Prizes; 8.30pm Dancing in The Village. The procession of decorated lorries, vans, prams, cycles and fancy dress is shown. Camera pans over the people in the crowd dressed up in costumes. Close ups of the carnival floats driving past the camera. Children participate in various relay races. The film ends with scenes of a pram race with men dressed as women and the adult 'babies' drinking pints of beer’ (EAFA).
"Opens with footage of a man, two women and a girl in a garden. Some footage shot through a gap in a wall and some closer up. They are seen playing with a dog. The film continues with footage of the Tower Circus elephants being bathed in the sea at Blackpool. A crowd watches as the elephant's keeper controls them whilst riding one. Members of the crowd pet the elephants before they are seen leaving the beach. This is followed by footage from Stanley Park in Blackpool. Two girls are seen walking through the park and relaxing by a bowling green. The film ends with footage of Stanley Park lake, thick with boats, shot from a moving boat." (NWFA Online Database)
"Un-staged documentary footage shot and edited by Sallie Wagner. Sallie's description of the film: 'Trading post at Wide Ruins, "Trader Burnt Hat" - Bill Lippincott, Sallie, Antoinette Badgley - mother, baby, Sallie, group of three left to right - Gaddy, John Joe, and ? , Tom Big Gun - raising his arm quickly Hosteen Belahi. Little Woman - captive of [Kit] Carson [survived the Long Walk and Navajo incarceration at Ft. Sumner], John Joe's wife (gold skirt) and daughter, Mary Toddy and John Toddy, young children, Joe Toddy, Nashoshi Begay, Paul Jones in trading post trading with Bill Cousins, wife and child of Tom Big Gun, Lukachuka - also captive of Carson (Blackrock's brother - both medicine men). Navajo Refugee Site "Kinazin" (which means Standing House) near Wide Ruins, Pat Norton inside "Kinazin" ruins, Cliff Ruin in Canyon del Muerto, ceremonial jar washed out by rain, Bill Lippincott - Elvin Jonas and Jack Norton excavating the pot, climbing cliff at Canyon de Chelly - Larry Bell and Doyle Mulligan, Sallie and Bill looking at pictographs below Wide Ruins, pictographs near spring north of trading post, Navajo Fence at Wide Ruins, numerous sunsets'." New Mexico State Archives.
"The vivid pageantry and somnolent landscapes of Mexico assume a new grandeur as filmed by Ralph E. Gray, a cinematographer who has long been recognized as one of the most accomplished amateurs on the continent. The land of contrasts and contradictions is beautifully presented in Typical Times in the Tropics, for here is one of the few travel films that ignore the tourist penchant for flashy trivia, to reveal the spirit of a people and the pictorial splendor in terms of lasting values. Mr. Gray has lived in Mexico long enough to recognize what is really significant; consequently, his film — for all its 1400 feet — seems to be a distillation of the unique charm which continues to attract Americans on vacation. The Mexican's strange blend of religious sincerity and garish ceremony is evidenced in a ritual filmed in Cholula, in which the local livestock — besmeared with gaudy paints and dyes — are presented for the blessing of the village priest — to insure the animals' fertility. The bouganvillea and hibiscus that frame the vistas of sleepy Fortin are contrasted with a boisterous Cuernavaca carnival and the hard riding charros of Mexico City. The latter scenes give Mr. Gray an opportunity to display his technical prowess at its best, for his handling of exposure problems in filming sombrero shadowed faces, his revealing closeups of spectators and skillful following of the wild horses and steer roping are proof of his stature as one of our finest amateur filmers. One of Mr. Gray's most valuable assets is a keen eye for detail, whether it be in the embroidery of a shawl or the weird sculpture left in the path of a lava flow. Intelligent use of a polarizing filter heightens the tawny stuccos of the cathedrals and intensifies the architectural detail of the facades and bell towers; and a fine feeling for human interest gives his shots of a Tehuantepec celebration, the Tirada de Frutas, an added opulence. The cliff divers of Acapulco staged some hairbreadth scenes for Mr. Gray, and he has made the sequence even more breathtaking by cutting in shots of the rocky hazards which had to be cleared by these young daredevils. Saving his trump for a fiery finale, this second time Maxim Award winner winds up with a series of frames of Paricutin, smouldering under her own gray vapors. Sustaining interest throughout 1400 feet of film is no mean task, even when abetted by the natural resources of Mexico; but Mr. Gray has met his challenge with a maximum of taste, discrimination and a completely craftsmanlike approach to a subject that has seldom been presented with such polish and vitality." Movie Makers, Dec. 1946, 470-471.
Total Pages: 29
Amateur Cinema