"Christmas at our House reflects the joy that Mrs. Olaf M. Olsen must have experienced in making it. It is an utterly sincere and delightful record of old Norwegian Christmas customs, carried over and observed in the United States by second generation Americans. It presents, in minute detail, the elaborate cookery and decorations of Christmas in Norway. The recipe for each dish and the kitchen utensils required are shown in closeup at the beginning of the individual sequences. Each step in preparing the particular food is then presented in orderly fashion from start to finish. This pattern may sound prosaic, but there is a charm about this film that defies any feeling of monotony. The choice of camera viewpoint and the lighting and exposure in this movie leave nothing to be desired. In fact, the camera handling is so fine that mechanical factors cease to exist, and the spectator feels as if he were actually present within the scene, to watch the action. This movie's titles, done in color, are most attractive, while the editing of the entire picture is smooth and interesting." Movie Makers, Dec. 1941, 541, 563.
"The recipe for a film like Dad and I Took a Walk sounds simple enough. You take equal parts of Father and Son, add a cupful of scenery, season with judicious pinches of natural science — and cook till done. The secret, apparently, lies with the "cook till done" section; so much depends on the cook. But W. W. Vincent, jr., is a good chef, to judge by the results from his cinematic oven. In clean cut, tripod steady Kodachrome, he and his son are seen roaming the pleasant Wisconsin landscape, with nicely timed pauses to point out, one to the other, a nesting robin, a praying mantis or a bright snake asleep in the warming sun. As the two men discuss their finds, spoken titles are double exposed against appropriate backgrounds or the pages of a bird manual are inserted naturally in full frame closeups. Dad and I Took a Walk is an attractive blend of personal filmdom's most popular subjects — field, family and fauna." Movie Makers, Dec. 1942, 508.
"To make a family film of youngsters that is entertaining to a stranger is quite an achievement, but to make a family picture that is, at the same time, an almost perfect record of the really human qualities of children and parents is a truly notable accomplishment. This is what John Martin has done in his picture, A Day with the Young Martins. His theme is the "from dawn to dusk" story of the Martin family, and he wisely has avoided emphasizing the clock or other obvious methods of holding the picture together. Instead, the story seems to tell itself, and the little episodes that must have been planned, or they could not have been caught with the aid of lighting equipment and camera, have a natural, sincere quality that is very welcome. The picture rates chiefly because of its delightful treatment, but technically it is entirely adequate." Movie Makers, Dec. 1936, 542.
"Dear Boys is a personal motion picture which might have been made in many an American home this past year. Looking about him, C. Manley DeBevoise found his two sons in the Army and his once lovely flower garden changing into a Victory vegetable patch, well tended but mundane. It was from these materials, mixed with imagination and technical competence, that Mr. DeBevoise compiled his film. Mother is discovered (as the picture begins) writing the familiar greeting to her service sons. Her comments during the course of the letter provide the subtitles and the continuity for this attractive record of domestic doings, while Mr. DeBevoise's carefully sequenced scenes tell the story. Dear Boys is simple, sincere and a family film story which any movie maker would be proud to produce — and to own." Movie Makers, Dec. 1943, 477.
"Family footage of two children and a toddler running around a garden naked. Includes a shot of the older children sat in the undergrowth and paddling in a pond with a man who has his trousers rolled up" (NWFA Online Database).
"In July 1956, the five-member Barstow family of Wethersfield, Connecticut, won a free trip to newly-opened Disneyland in Anaheim, California, in a nationwide contest. This 30-minute amateur documentary film tells the fabulous story of their fun-filled, dream-come-true, family travel adventure, filmed on the scene at Walt Disney's 'Magic Kingdom' by Robbins Barstow." Archive.org
"An amateur documentary film about the arrival of a Chinese-Vietnamese family to Deerfield by way of a refuge camp in Hong Kong. The Zion Lutheran Church of Deerfield sponsored the family’s arrival." Chicago Film Archives
"Family scenes in a garden in Stretford. Includes footage of a woman doing a forward roll in front of the camera; interior shots of a baby being bathed and a woman sitting in the living room with a dog" (NWFA Online Database).
"Esta cinta se basaba en una idea de David Celestinos de enviar a diversos equipos de filmación a desarrollar historias sobre lo que ocurre un domingo en la Ciudad de México de manera simultánea. El resultado fue interesante, en la medida en la que muestra la cotidianidad dominguera de diversos personajes que provienen de distintas clases sociales: un borracho llega con su compadre a la casa de la vecindad y es recibido de mala manera por la mujer, un grupo de juniors pasa el día en Cuernavaca, un hombre solitario recorre las calles y parques del centro de la Ciudad de México, un velador se aburre en el edificio que custodia, dos sirvientas pasan el día en Chapultepec, una familia clasemediera que va a misa y a pasar un día de campo... La cinta sigue el planteamiento hecho por el neorrealismo italiano de no convocar actores profesionales para presentar historias sencillas, ligeramente dramatizadas" (Vázquez Mantecón, 2012.
"This film was based in an idea by David Celestinos of sending diverse filming crews to develop stories about what happens simultaneously on a Sunday in Mexico City. The result was interesting since it showed the Sunday everydayness of diverse characters from different social classes: a drunk man arrives at his friend's house in a poor neighborhood and is received in a bad way by a woman, a group of juniors that spend their day in Cuernavaca, a lonely man that goes through the streets and parks of Mexico City, a night watchman that is bored in the building he is in charge of, two maids that spend the day in Chapultepec, a middle class family that goes to mass and to have a picnic... The film follows the idea posed by Italian Neorealism of not using professional actors to present simple stories, slightly staged" (Vázquez Mantecón, 2012).
"Twin boys wreak havoc on a park when their dad falls asleep on their picnic." Sacramento Public Library.
Total Pages: 19
Amateur Cinema