"Scenes of various arrangements and exhibits at Bramhall flower show in 1934. Interior shots of the exhibition marquees, show table displays being judged by show ground officials. The film also includes footage of the flower shows at Southport and Mottram in 1932. Various livestock classes are judged in the competition ring. The winners of each section are seen standing with their owners in front of the camera." (NWFA Online Database)
"Bulbs and Beauty reveals in painstaking detail the planting, cultivating and harvesting of gladioli in the vast fields surrounding the town of Momence in the state of Illinois. In this elaborate undertaking, Haven Trecker unfolds in well planned and profusely close-upped sequences the many colorful aspects of this popular plant in the life of flower-loving America. The harvesting sequence is followed by somewhat generous footage of a flower festival, the big annual affair in glad-minded Momence; and the festival in turn is followed by a seemingly endless parade in tribute to these bounteous blossoms. Bulbs and Beauty, accompanied agreeably by magnetic sound on film, appears to have been made for informative and record purposes. It fulfills these functions in a lively and competent manner." Movie Makers, Dec. 1952, 337, 339.
"In Consider The Lilies, Fred C. Ells, producer last year of the beautiful In The Beginning, continues his tender and loving examination of the natural world. When, at the close of this year's competition, his entry of 200 feet of 16mm. Kodachrome was viewed by the judges, it was found to be just that and nothing more. The lead title assembly, which was to be completed before the Ten Best deadline, had not arrived. But, in the half reel of chromatic flower studies which the judges were able to review, Mr. Ells has distilled a delicate beauty and lyric worship of flowers of the field which are breathtaking in their perfection. Seldom has the motion picture transmuted such pure loveliness from field to fireside." Movie Makers, Dec. 1936, 549.
"Miss Luther has brought forth a delightful yet simple episode involving a little girl, a little boy, and a bouquet of daisies in the hand of each. We watch them as they walk across the meadow, play in the streams, give attention to the small animals and their attention to each other. Grandmother is ready with the kind of reward little children expect" PSA Journal, Oct. 1961, 47.
"We remember Jack's Prelude to Spring a few years ago in which he dealt with time lapse photography. In Floral Capers he introduces the equipment he uses in time lapse photography and how he does it in one easy lesson. We watch flowers go through the opening cycle, vines racing up a pole, grasses, plants, and flowers racing ahead in their growth, split frame emphasizes the stimulation of light on the growth of plants. We watch many interesting events in the life of plants, and some amusing ones" PSA Journal, Nov. 1960, 40.
"Isabelle's next door neighbors - three bachelors - are asked to carry on for her, when she is stricken and hospitalized, in entering her prize orchid in the Garden Show. Their well-meaning but bumbling attempt to help her win the prize results in hilarious antics and a heart-warming conclusion to this delightful comedy" PSA Journal, Oct. 1963, 41.
"Garden Closeups, by W. T. McCarthy, ACL, demonstrates its right to be placed among the ten best films because of the painstaking care and time expended in its preparation and because of the exceptional results achieved. The film covers a subject which is almost entirely in miniature, but which, in its motion picture interpretation, reveals a whole new world which only the eye of a discriminating filmer and a nature lover could catch. Here are excellent closeups of the common varieties of garden flower, pictured so skillfully that the technique used is forgotten and the actual, living flower seems revealed on the screen, sometimes swaying gently in the breeze, sometimes rifled by a gigantic bumblebee pictured in alarming closeup. Another sequence will show the honeycombed intricacies of a wasp's nest, a time condensation technique showing its gradual cessation of activity as the winter comes on. An outstanding achievement in closeup technique showed the praying mantis in the very unprayerful act of devouring its victim. The film was made almost entirely with the aid of a telephoto lens with special extension, which enabled the patient cameraman to capture his flower and insect subjects from a moderate distance. Focus and exposure alike show the result of painstaking care in Garden Closeups." Movie Makers, Dec. 1932, 560.
"Harrison and Harrison's offer of the firm's color meter in leather case, with six 1 1/4 -inch meter-matched filters in leather filter fold, was awarded Eugene L. Ritzmann of Berkeley, Cal., for his 'Garden Life.' The entrant has been making amateur movies for nine years, and his skilled work in putting on the screen in color by means of controlled timing the blooming of flowers demonstrated that his period of apprenticeship has long since expired. If a word of suggestion and distinctly not of criticism might be offered it would be the film would have greater value for the uninformed if titles should be inserted identifying the various flowers. The subject caused some tough eggs of the male persuasion to sit up and take notice. What it will do to the world of womankind it is not hard to imagine." American Cinematographer, Jan. 1938, 28.
"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.
Total Pages: 6
Amateur Cinema