"Seventeen hundred feet of 16mm. color is a lot of footage through which to sustain audience interest. But, so help us, that is exactly what Lester F. Shaal has done in Colorado Diary, and we don't quite understand yet just how he did it. Perhaps it was the diary-entry continuity device he used, which, with the entries being made in situ on a Colorado dude ranch, permitted a refreshing infusion of flash-back sequences amid the day-to-day activities. ("The flight out here was glorious," notes the attractive diarist, and some superb air footage lends variety to the routines of the corral.) Perhaps it was the side trips from the ranch to ghost mining towns — or to Durango and the narrow-gauge railway country. Whatever the secret, Mr. Shaal has mixed it well with his usually impeccable camera work. Seldom have the vitality and majesty of the West been portrayed more movingly than in Colorado Diary." Movie Makers, Dec. 1951, 410.
"Dr. Numa P. Dunne has accomplished in Colorful Yosemite what hundreds of other amateur movie makers have failed to accomplish — the production of a simple, well planned and charming scenic of Yosemite National Park. Here was a subject selected by scores of itinerant cameramen before him, yet "muffed" almost invariably through lack of care. Dr. Dunne found no scenic advantages in the great park not offered to others, but he obviously brought to the setting something more than the usual confused and slightly awestruck interest. Tripod steady camera work, well rounded sequences, pleasing compositions and imaginative title wordings all contribute to make up a satisfying whole." Movie Makers, 1938, 618.
"A five minute abstract film using live action, slow motion and shots showing the interplay of lights on coloured paper. Although the film was silent, its accompanying gramophone record married so well that the film was perceived as a sound film" ("McLaren and Grierson: Intersections").
A film about the introduction of trousers instead of skirts for women who work for the postal service. Jean Cameron was the postal service woman who requested the trousers, which became known as 'Camerons.'
"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."
"On camera techniques. Illustrates poor photographic scenes, what caused them, and how to avoid them." National Archives.
"Concerto, by Warren Doremus, is a sensitive and touching story of young love, following a couple from the joy of their graduation and marriage to the anguish and pain of the man's recall to war service in Korea. The telling of this simple tale has been done with such warmth that the observer cannot help being caught up in the current of emotions which fill the film. The performances of Sallie Dunn and George Harrison as the young couple convey the right mood for each scene with complete sincerity and heart, while Mr. Doremus's direction is forceful and yet restrained. Accompanied by and an interpretation of the Warsaw Concerto of Richard Addinsell, Concerto, the film, may truly be styled a cine tone poem." Movie Makers, Dec. 1953, 332.
"The feature length photoplay produced in Siam by Nai Bernard Juangbhanich is one of the best of the serious dramatic efforts produced by amateurs. The story deals with the profligacy of a young Siamese who has been educated in Europe. Feeling superior to an ordinary business career, the young man determines to write, with the consequent search for "experience and atmosphere." In the succession of romantic episodes that follow, the theme of the tale is developed with extraordinary skill and, in spite of the manifest satire in several of the sequences, the picture includes many sincere glimpses into the social life and customs of the upper classes of Siam. Completely blinded and embittered as the result of his folly, the protagonist finally comes to terms with himself and actually does succeed as an author. Although this plot follows a familiar outline, Mr. Juangbhanich again proves that it is not the essential plot but the treatment that counts. The picture includes flaws both in photography and continuity but they appear unimportant in view of the general photographic quality and the epic nature of the treatment. It was recently screened for the staff of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences." Movie Makers, Dec. 1930, 759, 787.
Total Pages: 203
Amateur Cinema