"In The Alpine Vixen, a dramatic story based on folklore legend, Anchor 0. Jensen has raised 8mm. color filming to a level that movie makers in any width would do well to emulate. Particularly in the double exposed sequence of the Titian haired girl in a cave of crystals does he prove his skill with the camera. Mr. Jensen also achieves unusually pleasant outdoor lighting, both in close shots and more distant scenes. The film is accompanied by a narrative, to clarify the pictured story, interspersed with a folk tune played on an accordion, all of which is recorded on a sixteen inch disc. One might have hoped for more somber music to match the menacing mood of the early part of the film, but the accordion tune is in keeping with the climactic scenes of the festive villagers. Infelicities of modern accouterments which would have marred the spirit of the legendary tale have been judiciously avoided." Movie Makers, Dec. 1945, 494.
"Title onscreen indicates that the footage shows an outing of the Munich amateur film club to Dachau, 1942. . . . They arrive at the station and begin filming in the residential/commercial areas of the town (NOT the camp)." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
"America, among the three films given special mention, is an ambitious scenic epic being compiled by William H. Barlow. The plan is to cover all of the prominent beauty spots of this country, building the sequences of them into a monumental film document. Yet each reel is so planned and titled that it can be separately screened. The reels that have already been completed present a combination of beautiful photography, intelligent planning and editing and skillful titling that has not been surpassed in similar professional work." Movie Makers, Dec. 1930, 788.
"The present fate and possible future of the southern share-cropping farmer have been pictured in dramatic and authentic detail by Alan S. Hacker, ACL, in a five reel, 16mm. film recently completed under the sponsorship of the Sharecropper Film Committee, New York City. Made to aid the Southern Tenant Farmers' Union, the production illustrates the agricultural despotism and destitution which have resulted in the formation of that group bargaining organization. Farms and families of Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi appear in this documentary record, which kept Mr. Hacker three months in the field. Lee R. Hays. an Arkansan, served him as liaison officer with the union and its supporters, while Gardner Jackson, of the film committee, contributed to the production's planning. Narrative comment and a musical background are scheduled additions to the pictured story, in preparation for screenings before school and civic groups interested in the success of the Southern Tenant Farmers' Union." - "Practical Films," Movie Makers, March 1937, 128.
Una mujer camina por el paisaje entre ruidos. Hace fuego para calentarse un poco de comida pero un sonido la invade. Se encuentra con un soldado muerto dentro del bosque.
A woman walks through a landscape while noises are heard. She makes a fire to warm some food but a sound overcomes her. She finds a dead soldier inside the woods.
"Celebrate the wedding of Amy Norman, visit Belle Vue Zoo,and meet the Powell family, with their own animals, in their garden. A view of Manchester Central Library and the Town Hall Complex precedes cricketing scenes at Bowdon, and finally, a family trip (in colour) to Nefyn in North Wales, where young and old alike enjoy the sun and sea. The Powell family lived in East Didsbury in South Manchester.Manchester Central Library was quite new when this film was shot. It was opened in 1934 by George V, and in 2014 re-opened after refurbishment for its 80th anniversary." (BFI Player)
"When Ernest Kremer wanted to make a film which would include his family and, at the same time, be entertaining to outsiders, he devised An Anaesthetic Fantasy, an ingenious tale of the nightmare of a dental patient under laughing gas. The patient imagines that he returns home, and there things begin to happen that confound him and the audience, too. Clever trick work, dissolves and stop motion are used to create this section of the film. Mr. Kremer has proved that the 8mm. worker need not bow to his 16mm. brothers when it comes to producing cine illusions. The film was presented with a delightfully appropriate selection of musical records played on a dual turntable outfit." Movie Makers, Dec. 1940, 601-602.
"In An Apple a Day, F. Radford Crawley has epitomized, in color, the story of a Canadian apple orchard. He shows, in perfectly exposed Kodachrome scenes, how the trees are grafted and pruned, how the orchard is mulched with straw and how the trees are sprayed. He shows the apple pickers at work in attractively chosen angle shots and, without interrupting the flow of action, he introduces the different varieties of apples grown in Canada. Horse drawn carts carry the apples to the packers, and there follows a tightly edited sequence of the ring pack method, culminating in a brilliant closeup of the top of an open basket of apples. In an epilogue, the basket is opened in a home, and children bob for apples at a Halloween party. Ingeniously managed upward angles show the children's faces bobbing for apples floating in the water above the camera. (The method of producing these shots was described in The month of plenty, by Mr. Crawley in the October, 1938, Movie Makers. The execution of the plan is perfect in the film.) Brilliant close shots of beautifully colored fruit stud this film like jewels, and especially satisfying are the subtitles, made by double exposing white lettering on a scene of an arched branch of an apple tree, filmed against a dark, late afternoon sky." Movie Makers, Dec. 1939, 634.
"Filmmaking brothers Sidney and Harold Preston present a beautifully shot record of time and place, taking us to the great Lancashire seaside resort in the interwar years. Whether enjoying the bird's eye view from the top of the tower, trying out the Pleasure Beach rides, or just befriending the donkeys on the beach, the three generations of the Preston family are clearly having a grand day out." (BFI Player)
El filme muestra las Salinas de Añana en la provincia de Álava, una mágica visión de terrazas de madera bañadas del blanco de la sal, lugar del que se obtiene el material con métodos transmitidos de generación en generación. Fueron los romanos quienes comenzaron a explotar las minas de forma metódica, hace más de 2000 años. Los salineros de Añana, hombres y mujeres, jóvenes y ancianos, trabajan en sus terrazas blancas de mayo a septiembre para obtener una abundante cosecha de sal.
Texto de Miguel Ángel Quintana
The film depicts the Salt Valley of Añana in the province of Álava, a magical vision of wooden decks bathed in white salt and the place where it is obtained through methods taught from generation to generation. It was the romans who began to exploit the mines in a methodical way, over 2000 years ago. The salt workers of Añana, men and women, young and elderly, work in their white decks from May to September, to obtain an abundant salt harvest.
Text by Miguel Ángel Quintana.
Total Pages: 203
Amateur Cinema