"The 246 year old Voorlezer House, believed to be the oldest elementary school building still standing in the United States, is located on Staten Island, N. Y. It has long been an interesting landmark, but it is now preserved for posterity in Kodachrome by the master hand of Frank E. Gunnell. On the occasion of the one hundredth anniversary of New York City's present school system, this site was selected for one part of the ceremonies, and eighteen girls and boys, in costumes designed from illustrations in Godey's Lady's Book, went through a typical day, recreated to appear as it might have been in 1842. Mr. Gunnell's technically superb nature films are well known, but in The Voorlezer's House there is much more than immaculate cinematography. There is lighting that fits the mood of days gone by, and there is a sensitive faculty in the direction of a group of children that is appealing. The film is simple in that the continuity is chronological, but the charm of the Gunnell touch was never more telling than in this picture. If ever a potentially dull film subject was made to glow and come alive, this is the time." Movie Makers, Dec. 1942, 506.
"Last, but by no means least on the list of honorable mentions, is Duncan MacD. Little's 'Voyageur's Trail,' a news film of a four-day canoe race in Canada. This film, photographed perforce under whatever conditions happened to obtain at the moment the action occurred, represents a remarkable achievement in amateur news filming, for which Little is to be commended in the highest terms." American Cinematographer, Feb. 1938, 78.
Educational short film showing farming in California, and several mines and ghost towns in Nevada.
"The praises of California's beautiful scenery, so often sung, rarely have been intoned as convincingly as in West Coast, by W. W. Champion. The high standard in the selection of scenes, to be noted first in the choice of shots around lovely Monterey Bay, in itself would make this picture exceptional. Added to that quality are artistic compositions and sequencing remarkable for its unstilted continuity. As the picture's subject shifts from the harbor to the town of Monterey and then down the coast to Carmel, the historical features of this section of California are brought out clearly, while the pleasures of country club and bathing beach add human interest. Smoothly and swiftly, by means of expertly executed transitional devices and fades, the story of life unfolds against a background that is colorful and charming." Movie Makers, Dec. 1938, 617.
"Western Holiday offered one of those thrills in the sequence of sunrise on Mount Robson. Here Kodachrome caught, with what seemed magic, the first rosy glow on the cold, blue snow, which the continuity of photographic motion permitted to increase, to blossom and, finally, to blaze into a chromatic crown of jewels. To see this on the screen is to enjoy a rare experience. Hamilton H. Jones, in the highly intelligent cutting of his train sequences, gave the student of continuity another of these thrills. Those who are charmed by double turntable accompaniment will recognize the perfection with which an almost impossibly difficult feat of lip synchronization with record scoring has been handled. These are some of the higher spots in a film of unusually high general average. Mr. Jones is a Kodachrome movie maker of proved ability, who has made editing a special art. The film chosen for the first Hiram Percy Maxim Memorial Award will be used by Mr. Jones in his work as a lecturer on the vacation advantages of the Dominion of Canada, although it was made as his own enterprise, entirely at his own expense and not for compensation from a client. It is a part of his professional equipment. Briefly reviewed, Western Holiday carries the audience, via Canadian National Railways, from Victoria, Canada's most westerly metropolis, across the Rocky Mountains back to the Eastern Seaboard. Beginning with city views in Victoria and Vancouver, with strikingly colorful parades of the famous Canadian Mounted Police, we visit tourist centers and make trail trips from them. The camera goes into the interior of a glacier, it finds mountain goats and sheep, it clambers over the Continental Divide on horseback. All through the trip, it studies the progress of trains, weaving in and out of tunnels and over bridges. In his personal presentations of this film, Mr. Jones manipulates effects, such as whistles, bells, train noises and other oddments, with something approaching wizardry. In the face of competition of the highest order, Western Holiday is its own justification of preferment." Movie Makers, Dec. 1937, 602.
"Edited footage of western scenery on a road trip to Yellowstone Park. Includes scenes of camping and numerous landscapes, Mount Rushmore and the various grounds of Yellowstone with their hot springs and geysers." Chicago Film Archives
"First Film and When the Cat's Away, a double header entry, which takes honors jointly because of the strong relationship between the two, is the production of the Cinema Club of Lowell Junior High School, at Long Beach. Calif., and of the club's faculty adviser, Helen Rees Clifford. First Film, largely the work of Miss Clifford, summarizes the Junior High School group's experiences in producing When the Cat's Away, which is entirely the achievement of the youngsters. Together, the two films present a clear and concise picture of the initial production of a film by a junior high school movie club, from scenario writing and movie planning to the completed opus, ready for its premiere. So, in these two reels, one sees how the job of teaching movie making technique to youngsters, of ages from eleven to fourteen, can be handled efficiently and happily, and one learns how clear and coherent a little picture can be produced as a starter. Few high school photoplay clubs have begun so well and with so little lost motion. Very few high school first films are as clear and competent as When the Cat's Away." Movie Makers, Dec. 1938, 618.
"There are clearly in Where the Americas Meet, by Esther and Morton H. Read, the same qualities which marked Holiday in Dixie, the award winning production made by Mr. Read last year. Here again is that intangible ability to evoke the feeling of past events, simply from pictures of their present landmarks. One can almost catch the glint of Spanish armor on ancient battlements, as Mr. Read's splendid cinematography and suave narrative study the fortresses of San Juan. Here again is that definite sense of research into the subject matter, before ever a foot of film has been exposed. Mr. Read piles detail upon detail with almost hypnotic elaboration, much in the manner of today's novelists in recreating the life of the Old South. If anything, the present film — like its predecessor — tells a tale too long, although speaking always with impeccable imagery and a wise use of words and music." Movie Makers, Dec. 1941, 567-568
"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.
Total Pages: 18
Amateur Cinema