An industrial documentary about Tobacco farming.
"A combination of time lapse cinemicrography and shooting huge factory interiors presented William Schanzenbach, ACL, with the gamut of technical difficulties in the photography of the four reel picture, The Commercial Production of Yeast. The interior shots of huge tanks and other machinery were not only adequately exposed but also were shot from attractive angles without extreme consciousness of camera angles. The laboratory sequences, in which time lapse technique was combined with work at the microscope to show the growth of yeast over a period of time, were well handled. Careful planning and clear titles add to the virtues of this exceptional industrial film." Movie Makers, Dec. 1935, 551.
"The coho and spring salmon trolling industry of Vancouver Island's west coast. Includes footage of boats, types of tackle, catching and cleaning fish, buying stations, delivery to the wharf, etc. The packer Co-Operator II is shown." (BC Archives)
The film was shot between 1941 and 1946.
Additional credit: "Produced by the British Columbia Provincial Fisheries Dept."
Additional credit: "This picture was produced with the kind co-operation of the Kyoquot Trollers Co-operative Association."
"The Eyes Of Science, 3000 ft., 35mm., planned and photographed by J. S. Watson, Jr. and Melville Webber, is exceptional for continuity treatment and photography alike. Conceived primarily as an industrial film of a very high order, the final result is a veritable tour de force in the technical accomplishment of film exposition. Telling the story of lens making and culminating in representation of the impressive and complicated optical machinery which plays an important part in modern art and industry, the smoothness of the continuity is plainly the result of careful calculation of the interest value of the whole as well as of every small part. Multiple exposures, lap dissolves, color and microcinematography, as well as a number of surprising photographic effects, give this film a technical interest much above the average. Of these, some of the exceptional examples are the photography of light rays passing through prisms and lenses; a recording of the phenomenon of Newton's Rings in color; a scene showing a subject, together with its image on the ground glass of a camera; strains in a structure revealed by polarized light and many other remarkable shots. In short, the combination of cinematic art and skill with which this film is composed places it well in the front rank of all existing industrials regardless of the source of their production." Movie Makers, Dec. 1931, 657.
"Made in collaboration with Melville Webber for Bausch & Lomb Optical Co. Included: glass making, grinding, and polishing lenses and prisms, manufacture and principles of operation of microscopes, telescopes, and other optical instruments" (Unseen Cinema, 114).
"Depicts the year-round activities of the Machias Lumber Company on the Machias River in Washington County, Maine. Includes scenes of winter logging in the forest with hand tools and horses, as well as the spring log drive, with loggers using peaveys to break up log jams on icy rivers as the logs are moved from the forest to the mill. Includes footage of lumber loaded onto schooners in Machias for transport to New York and schooner being towed to sea by sardine boat." oldfilm.org
"Frozen Flame, 400 ft., 16mm., photographed by Edward H. Marsh and directed by Thomas J. Perry, is a dramatic industrial film featuring the Electrolux gas refrigerator. The picture details the experiences of a man and wife in buying and using the refrigerator and illustrates its sales points. The photography is remarkably good throughout and, although the treatment is simple and direct, it is extremely clear. Perhaps this picture's most outstanding quality is its continuity excellence. A well prepared scenario was so expertly followed that there are scarcely any of the minor flaws usually found in amateur dramatic pictures." Movie Makers, Dec. 1931, 658, 684.
"Burnford's picture was not only good from the documentary angle, but was very well photographed. It showed the lumbering industry in England starting with the felling of trees and then through the mills and then to the things built of wood, showing the most dramatic incidents." American Cinematographer, Feb. 1937, 73.
"Opens with various mature trees shown in full leaf. Men remove the bark from lower part of mature hardwoods and fell them with axes and long, two-man saws. Montage of falling trees. Bark prised from the fallen trunks. The torn-out root-base is sawn off and the trunks dragged from the forest by a team of heavy horses. The team drags the trunks onto the cart with the chain and the very largest trunks taken on a five-horse cart. At the lumber yard a large bandsaw divides the trunks in half and these are sliced. Men are show playing darts with the resulting, shaped, dartboards. SUB-TITLE - Harvest from over the seas. A ship - 'Karin Thorden' - docks, her decks stacked with timber already cut. Cranes transfer timber to barges, rafts and lorries. SUB-TITLE - For joinery. At the woodwork shop, specialised machines divide the wood into still smaller pieces and cut mortises and tenons and window frames are assembled. SUB-TITLE - For building. Workmen, on site, put up the roof timbers of a house. SUB-TITLE - For paper. Slow mixing of wood pulp. Smoothed out and rolled, dried and calendared. The large, wide rolls progress through the huge machines and sheets are slid off. SUB-TITLE - For music. Violin and Cello makers at work with hand tools, then a finished violin is played. SUB-TITLE - For flying. A bi-plane takes off. At the aeroplane factory, sections of the wooden wing frames are assembled, wing coverings doped. SUB-TITLE - For sailing. Large, J-class yachts tacking. J KI 7 featured. Finally, there are shots of mature, forest trees" (EAFA Database).
"In From the Sea, produced by Fenno Jacobs for Todd Shipyards Corporation, establishes a precedent this year, for it is the first 16mm sound film, directly recorded in this medium, to be offered for Ten Best consideration in the Special Class. But the fact that this film carries its own directly recorded sound is only one of its many unusual qualities. It tells an interesting and dramatic story of the manifold activities that make up a working day in a great shipyard, where the monster ships are hauled from their native element without ceremony and attacked by a swarm of workers who specialize in every known form of ship repair. By handling this material with great technical facility and by fine editing tempo, excellent choice of camera viewpoint and a flair for cinematic effectiveness, Mr. Jacobs has succeeded in creating an industrial picture which has a high general interest. Among the many noteworthy sections of this film is the sequence which shows the workers' lunch hour. It is outstanding for its fine cutting and for the dramatic pause which creates a respite from the Titanic activities of the working hours. Interesting also is the sound accompaniment which is an integral part of the film and which, in addition to a spoken commentary and spot recording of shipyard sounds, includes well chosen excerpts from Stravinsky's suite, The Fire-Bird, to establish a modern mood." Movie Makers, Dec. 1937, 627.
"Keeping in Touch, planned to indicate how printer and ink maker alike must keep in touch with fundamental research which is revolutionizing the graphic arts, was produced by Willard Pictures for International Printing Ink, a division of Interchemical Corporation, in New York City. A complex technical subject, involving such problems as spectrophotography and the effective filming of many gleaming machines, the production has been handled smoothly and clearly. In a pictorial argument where accurate color renditions of many differing materials were of paramount importance to the client, Willard Pictures has given its customary first class account of technical ability. The development of the film is well paced, and the use of music and narrative intelligent." Movie Makers, Dec. 1939, 636-637.
"This fascinating film records the steelworks at Irlam in Salford, which became part of the Lancashire Steel Corporation in 1930. We see the loading yard, the mine arch plant and foundry, where men carry out their hazardous work in the heat and smoke from the molten steel. Then a respite - a look into the drawing office and template room, before returning to the factory floor and heavy machinery." (BFI Player)
Total Pages: 4
Amateur Cinema