"A schoolboy in need of material for a geography theme launches Five Days From Home, as Dad gets out the movie projector and shows Son the cine harvest of his summer holiday. Among the points covered in a whirlwind auto trip from New York to Canada are Quebec City, Montmorency Falls, a Canadian pulpwood mill and Ausable Chasm, in New York State. Mannie Lovitch's handling of these subjects is always competent, occasionally excellent. His inquiring camera found many scenes of quaint charm in the old St. Lawrence city, and his full scale visual treatment of the pulp mill is sustained in interest by a superb bit of scoring with modern music by Virgil Thompson. Of especial note is Mr. Lovitch's mobile cross-cutting of the three to four themes which make up his coverage of the usually difficult Ausable Chasm." Movie Makers, Dec. 1948, 493.
"Florida, a documentary film of that state, made in Kodacolor by H. W. Voss, ACL, has been given Honorable Mention because of the freshness and charm of its component subject matter. Replete with human interest material, such as sequences of wild turkeys, new born calves and clumsy, appealing puppies, the picture is a bright and amazing mine of simple entertainment. Though Mr. Voss slips occasionally from a uniformly high technical standard of color work, he need bow to no one in the warmth and charm which he finds and records everywhere in the life about him." Movie Maker, Dec. 1934, 546.
"Choosing one of the most common sites of seasonal move making, Benjamin Crocker has by the sheer virtuosity of his production methods come up with an attractive and entertaining travel short. Here are, to be sure, Marineland, Miami, Silver Springs, Cypress Gardens and all the rest, tied neatly together with an animated map and a lively commentary. But with his clean camera work, fresh viewpoints and incisive editing, Mr. Crocker covers them in a tight ten minutes of unflagging good fun. To these same subject other amateurs have devoted twenty, forty or even-sixty minutes, and, all too often, have encountered the inevitable law of diminishing returns, Florida Vacation Fun dances where others have dawdled" PSA Journal, Jan. 1955, 48.
"Well known for its attainments in the commercial film field, the T. W. Willard Motion Picture Company sets a new high in its publicity productions with Follow the Plow. To technical excellence they have added sound sequencing; into a record of vocational education, they have instilled beauty and human interest. The subject matter concerns the training given to selected city boys in the fundamentals of farming at the Bowdoin Farm, operated by the Children's Aid Society of New York City. Tracing the course of these boys from the sidewalks and streets to the fields, at New Hamburg, N. Y., the location of the farm, the film expands with the glorious color of the autumn country and becomes a living essay of the pleasures of farm life. Constantly changing angles and intelligent titling lend pace to the production. Despite the limited interest in the specific subject of plows and cows, the appeal is made universal through magnificent color scenes and competent treatment." Movie Makers, Dec. 1938, 618.
"Ghost Town" was highly appreciated by those directors and cameramen sitting on the judging board who had once worked in New Jersey. This picture shows all of the deserted movie studios in New Jersey." American Cinematographer, Feb. 1936, 73.
"The refreshing story of a voyage by river into the Canadian wilds, presented by F. R. Crawley in Glimpses of a Canoe Trip, is really deserving of a less modest introduction than that implied by the word, "glimpses." Here, within one reel, is as comprehensive a movie tale of a trip by canoe as one could desire. The entertaining continuity, based on the natural sequence of events, is not loaded with unimportant detail; instead, footage is conserved for the more interesting episodes involved in paddling and portages. These are given a well rounded treatment that has genuine entertainment value coupled with a freshness of approach born of the enthusiasm of the maker. This sort of thing communicates itself to the audience, especially when photography, editing and titling are as well handled as they are here." Movie Makers, Dec. 1937, 629.
"After studying the early history of the West, fifth grade students and their teacher at the University School, Lexington, Ky., donned the costumes of Western pioneers and filmed Gold! Gold!! Gold!!!, the story of an early pioneer who crossed the frontier into California. Lillian E. McNulty was the cameraman" Movie Makers, October, 1941, 470.
"In Grand Adventure Louise Fetzner presents a lively record of a daring run through the wild rapids of the Colorado River, as it courses the Grand Canyon from Lee's Ferry to Lake Mead. While thrilling scenes of the intrepid boats and boatmen provide the film's drama, Mrs. Fetzner has not overlooked human interest sequences on the small daily activities of these hardy adventurers. Generally good in photography and editing, the film falls off in pace somewhat in its latter portions. And perhaps the frequent inserts of a title-map of the Colorado are more hindrance than help in what is essentially an action picture." Movie Makers, Dec. 1952, 340.
"Among the films awarded honorable mention is The Grand Teton Country, carrying with it a breadth and sweep of all outdoors, a Kodacolor film by H. W. Voss, ACL. This picture is, first of all, an eloquent and colorful reply to those who do not believe that long shots can be taken successfully by this process. Time and again, in viewing this film, one is astonished by the clarity and detail of distant mountains, rearing their majestic, snow capped heads up into the cold blue of the sky, while the foreground is shown in all of its true colors. Mr. Voss has proved to skeptical Easterners that Rainbow Falls really lives up to its name. His Kodacolor camera, skillfully handled so as to produce a dark background for the rainbow formed by the sun shining on the spray, reveals perfectly that faint, tenuous beauty which is all the more remembered because evanescent. But solid, palpable colors are pictured here, too. Mountains and canyons, lakes that are mirrors, desert flowers and all the glowing colors that are part of the West, are arranged on Mr. Voss's film palette. Especially well considered was his continued use of the various neutral density filters in order to give distant shots their correct value in the brilliant sun and the inclusion of interesting action in each scene." Movie Makers, Dec. 1932, 560-561.
"To impart life and interest to a film about growing alfalfa requires more than ordinary patience and perseverance. Mildred J. Caldwell has supplied these in her picture, Green Gold. Filmed throughout the year, it shows the plowing, seeding, mowing, bundling and threshing, to create a story with depth and perspective. There were times when the movie maker had to climb on stacks of baled alfalfa or ride on a lumbering machine while it performed some vital operation in the culture of alfalfa. Hemet Valley, in California, was the setting, providing pleasant scenic backgrounds for the different operations." Movie Makers, Dec. 1947, 537-538.
Total Pages: 18
Amateur Cinema