A short excerpt of the film survives, showing a wedding celebration in Złaków Borowy, Poland. The film also circulated with the title, "Une Noce a la Campagne."
"Film record of the procession along Parliament Street before the Coronation ceremony of George VI, the activities of the spectators in Parliament Street during the ceremony and the procession in Parliament Square following the ceremony, prefaced by footage of street scenes in London the day before the Coronation and concluded by a shot from outside Buckingham Palace." (EAFA Database)
"Documentary: Depicts experiences of a new missionary as he gains self-confidence in his work in the Belgian Congo where the people are suspicious and only slowly accept the mission." National Archives.
"The Texas Forest Service was faced with a grave problem. Large parts of Texas were being devastated and deforested by numerous fires. The fires were caused by the idle fancy and carelessness of backwoodsmen. Which He Hath Planted was produced for the Service by Larry J. Fisher, ACL, as part of the campaign to lead these woodsmen into more constructive paths. It is a striking example of how, with imagination, a motion picture can be constructed to fit the needs of a very special situation. Mr. Fisher and the Forest Service had to find a common ground on which to base their appeal against the pyromaniacal instinct. Realizing that, however uneducated, most people from the backwoods have both acquaintance with and veneration for the Bible, they decided to peg their entire film on quotations from the Scriptures. What they have produced is a beautiful welding of applicable Biblical passages, both spoken and sung, to forest scenes, the end result tending to promote the idea that trees are rich and wondrous manifestations of God and are not intended by Him to be destroyed by man's casual whim. The lesson is well taught. But the film imparts a sense of beauty and reverence that far outlives the immediate lesson. For that, Mr. Fisher's blending of music and word and image is responsible." Movie Makers, Dec. 1946, 486.
"With While the Earth Remaineth, Hiram Percy Maxim Memorial Award winner for 1945, Frank E. Gunnell crowns a long and distinguished career in the history of personal motion pictures. Beginning ten years ago with Adirondack Adventure, a Ten Best winner on 400 feet of black and white film, this career now embraces no less than ten award winners in nearly every category of amateur movies. Mr. Gunnell's chef d'oeuvre is a stirring and splendid climax to these efforts. The film is based upon the twenty second verse of the eighth chapter of Genesis, wherein the Lord pledges that He shall never again smite the earth, as He had done in the recent Deluge: For while the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heal, and summer and ivinter, and day and night. shall not cease. Beginning with this great and noble theme, Mr. Gunnell doubles back in his production to show the creation of this Earth which the Lord has blessed. Here, used interpretively rather than for itself alone, Mr. Gunnell's superb craftsmanship with the camera rises to new heights of power and dignity. His sequences suggesting the formation of the cosmos and the first coming of light to the new planet are among the most stirring and purely creative passages in the history of amateur movies. His use of already existing scenes — a geyser or boiling springs of mud — to suggest the primordial genesis are imaginative editing at its highest plane. Flowers, fruits and the fowls of the air take on new beauty in Mr. Gunnell's moving testament to God's handiwork. As befits such a splendid theme, While the Earth Remaineth is scored with music of great stature. Presented with the picture are passages from Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony; the Symphony in D Minor, by Cesar Franck; Robert Schumann's Third Symphony; Harold in Italy, by Berlioz; the Deems Taylor suite, Through the Looking Glass; Omphale's Spinning Wheel, by Saint-Saens. and the Symphony in D Major, by Haydn." Movie Makers, Dec. 1945, 477, 494.
"Members of the Morley family are seen walking through the countryside and a forest area. They are seen relaxing on a beach. Includes shots of the children paddling in the sea; making sand castles and watching a Punch and Judy Show. Continues with various activities talking place around a harbour. A group of fishermen are seen standing on the quayside - smoking, talking and securing their boats. Also features scenes of the countryside around Whitby and the lakes. Concludes with footage of a little girl playing on a homemade swing hanging from a tree; stroking a donkey in a field; playing pitch and putt golf and dancing around in circles with a woman; as they walk along a country lane" (NWFA Online Database).
"Whither Flowing," depicts the nervous evils caused by parents in the thoughtless upbringing of children. The drama was compactly told, well acted and directed, and was marked by unusual photography." Photoplay, Nov. 1929, 67. "...Whither Flowing is a psychological study of hysteria.... Dr. Heise's Whither Flowing won second award in the dramatic division of the recent Photoplay Magazine contest...” Movie Makers, Feb. 1930, 104.
"Amateur filmmaker, cinema historian and railway engineer H.A.V. Bulleid presents a comedy of manners featuring a mysterious arrival from a distant land. A family endure a group photograph, taken by their maid, but are interrupted by the arrival of a letter announcing the imminent visit of an Australian cousin named Kit, and his companion, named only as 'Pilkington'. The daughter speculates over the identity of Pilkington, hoping for a notorious Australian bushranger, but Cousin Kit arrives accompanied only by a large cardboard box. Inside is the answer to all their questions - a dog - the very same Mr. Pilkington. But will Kit and Pilkington upset the normal balance of the family? Or will the family only upset their Antipodean cousins? And will Kit achieve his aim of finding an English wife?" (EAFA Database)
"The Will and the Way is a simple story of '"little people" — but it looms large in its appeal to the human heart. There are, in its tender adventures, the laughter of sympathy and the tears of pathos. From these, as from any great expression of beauty, there comes the genuine and ennobling uplift of the spirit which is so rare in a workaday world. Chester Glassley has been equal to his task. His photography, both indoors and out, is as nearly flawless as skill and patience will permit. His camera treatment is marked by a wise concentration on close views, a dramatic selection of angles and a fine sense of matching and contrasting color values. Good cutting, paired with a brilliantly executed montage sequence, rounds out the technical achievements. But his greatest production triumph lies in the casting and direction of the two lead players, who bring to the amateur screen its most genuine and sensitive acting to date. A young wife is to have a baby. Because of a harsh experience with a rum sodden doctor, she turns blindly toward the thought of going only to a specialist, a great obstetrician, famed both for his fine care and his $1000 fees. Her young husband's reaction as he learns of this feeling is the simple theme of the entire story: "I don't know where we'll get the money, but if that's the doctor you want, then that's the doctor you're going to get!" From then on. life for the young couple is a race against time, punctuated for the husband by a frantic search for cash, which leads him through the indignities of a pie eating contest, the insults of '"amateur night" and the bruises and battering of a vastly unequal prize fight. But the baby wins in the end. The harried father collects only three hundred dollars of the specialist's fee, a sum he begs the great doctor to accept as a down payment. This the physician does, only to return the entire amount later — with a receipted bill — as his tribute to the boy's courage. The Will and the Way is a short, unassuming film, made technically with the simplest tools provided by the craft. But, in its unfailing imagination, its moving tenderness and. above all. in its deep understanding of the human heart, this film is a proud peer among its colleagues of the Hiram Percy Maxim Award." Movie Makers, Dec. 1940, 576-577.
"Out of his own experience and happy recollections, Sidney Moritz presents in telling terms a warm and affectionate recounting of the marriage and honeymoon. A bright sun filtering through the stained glass of the church lights the solemn exchange of vows amidst swelling organ tones. The scene dissolves to preparations for the honeymoon, the contentment of a pastoral setting, the first months of life together, the small details that contribute to gracious living, and finally a fond recalling of the beginnings — the stained glass and sunlight, two people in love, the music and the prayer. A sympathetic scoring complements this sincere and moving record film." Movie Makers, Dec. 1948, 496.
Total Pages: 29
Amateur Cinema