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Behind the Red Feather

Date produced: 1947

Filmmaker(s):

Walter Bergmann

Description:

"Made to support a Community Chest campaign, Behind the Red Feather shows how various social welfare agencies in a community help to forestall juvenile delinquency, care for the aged, the sick and the poor and, in general, make a town a better place to live in. As a connecting link between a necessarily episodic series of sequences, a red feather, the Community Chest symbol, floats into the opening scene of the activities of each agency. Walter Bergmann has recorded this community project with understanding and warmth, and Ralph Bellamy contributed his services in recording on disc an excellently written narrative." Movie Makers, Dec. 1947, 536.


Big City, The

Date produced: 1952

Filmmaker(s):

Richard Guetl

Description:

"Attempting to film a large city with its huge skyscrapers and teeming population through the lens of an 8mm. camera would seem to be an almost overwhelming task. However, boldly tackling such a gigantic project, Richard Guetl in his entry, The Big City, proves it can be done. This competent photographic work presents a good, clear coverage of Chicago, where Mr. Guetl resides. His angles are interesting and compositions pleasing. His street shots around the Loop and his camera treatment of the human derelicts on Skid Row are worthy of special commendation. While The Big City is not an epic, it is a capable, factual presentation with just enough skyscraper shots to make it authentic, enough stores and people to give it pulsating life, and enough pathos to arouse the emotion." Movie Makers, Dec. 1952, 340-341.


Birds of Washington

Date produced: 1952

Filmmaker(s):

J. Donald Sutherland

Ralph E. Lawrence

Description:

"You wouldn't think that just one movie maker could shoot all this footage (2400) on birds — no matter how interested and informed he was on the subject. And if that was the way you felt, you would be dead right. For Birds of Washington is the joint work of two men, J. Don Sutherland and Ralph E. Lawrence, who, because they customarily screen their films together, chose to submit them as one contest entry. Both, in any case, are highly competent movie makers and soundly informed students of bird life. For example, they preface briefly each new subject grouping with a pictorial survey of the type of terrain in which the birds will be found. Makes the film that much more informative. Outstanding, in our recollections, are their sequences on the American bald eagle and on an owl — whose family tree we regret we cannot recall." Movie Makers, Dec. 1952, 340.


Black Cat, The

Date produced: 1965

Filmmaker(s):

Lance D. Hayes

Description:

"The Black Cat is a 25-minute version of Edgar Allen Poe's story by the same name and concerns a man who does away with his wife in what he believes to be the perfect crime, only to be outdone in the end by the family black cat. This low key, well dramatized version is the only 8mm film among the top ten and also received the MPD Scenario Film Award" PSA Journal, Sept. 1965, 50.


Bluff Island Idyll

Date produced: 1947

Filmmaker(s):

George Mesaros

Description:

"It takes a true craftsman to catch all the intimate and informal scenes that make a first rate vacation film, particularly when his exposure problems are complicated by the sunlight and shadows of a thickly wooded lake shore. But George Mesaros has succeeded in producing the sort of vacation record that most filmers only dream about. Mr. Mesaros has mastered his technical problems with an expert's hand and has turned out a stunning, vital movie of a summer outing in the Saranac Lake region. Faced with non-cooperative fellow campers, he had to be prepared to set up his tripod at a moment's notice; but the candid air of the proceedings on the screen is ample recompense for his vigilance. Bluff Island Idyll is a vivid testament to the importance of human interest and to the appeal of simple, everyday activities when they are properly sequenced and edited." Movie Makers, Dec. 1947, 513.


Breath of Spring, A

Date produced: 1951

Filmmaker(s):

Donald W. Volkman

Description:

"Donald Volkman's film, A Breath of Spring, is a montage study of the vernal season in a city — in this case, Boston. But shots of the blowing skirt of a girl, the wind-whipped awning of a department store and the clothesline ballet of the Monday wash are universal. Mr. Volkman has truly brought imagination to his pictorial progression of spring, from melting snows in a churchyard to the full flowering of the sun-warmed earth and its people. His choice of musical accompaniment is especially notable, particularly with shots of running water in gutters and the Boston Pop's rendition of The Wearing of the Green with the sequence of a St. Patrick's Day parade. A Breath of Spring was created as a thesis in a course on motion pictures at Boston University, where Mr. Volkman is a student." Movie Makers, Dec. 1951, 411.


Bryce Canyon Trails

Date produced: 1947

Filmmaker(s):

Frank E. Gunnell

Description:

"In a land that abounds in colorful formations, Frank Gunnell's discerning camera has recorded in appealing detail the less usual, as well as the familiar, views of Bryce Canyon. This thorough coverage of a popular national park is enhanced by pleasant scenes of a pack trip, closeups of the darting antics of a chipmunk and a "running gag" of the hungry cameraman, whose equipment .cases carry edibles with film and filters. Bryce Canyon Trails provides the audience with a wholly entertaining tour of this famous and awesome natural wonder. Mr. Gunnell, as always, presents breath taking camera work in his integrated and admirable reproduction of a vast canvas." Movie Makers, Dec. 1947, 514.


Bulbs and Beauty

Date produced: 1952

Filmmaker(s):

Haven Trecker

Description:

"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.


By Sea To Florida

Date produced: 1931

Filmmaker(s):

Porter Varney

Description:

"By Sea To Florida, 400 ft., 16mm., made by Porter Varney of Bradenton, Fla., is a film record of a sea trip which derives its importance from the fact that the photography and choice of viewpoint are consistently exceptional. Parts of the ship, such as the rigging and cordage, the portholes, the lifeboat davits, etc., were used with rare artistry as aids to composition and effect. An expert use of filters produced exceptionally pleasing and truthful black and white rendition of the sea and the movement and sway of the ship. Continuity was effectually obtained by a shifting of the camera viewpoint, emphasizing the harbor, the high seas and the arrival in Florida. A startling climax to the film was given by a series of shots of an approaching hurricane captured by Mr. Varney 's intrepid camera." Movie Makers, Dec. 1931, 685.


Caineville

Date produced: 1953

Filmmaker(s):

Glen H. Turner

Description:

"In Caineville, Glen H. Turner has now turned his camera on a Western ghost town, and with moments of sheer movie magic, he has brought it to life again. The slow turning by the wind of the leaves of an abandoned school book, and the slow pan to initials carved on a schoolhouse desk, evoke as if he were alive the youngster who carved them. In another scene, done with consummate smoothness, Mr. Turner shows an abandoned street on which a schoolboy, with books over his shoulder, slowly materializes into solid form — and then dissolves again into thin air. Surrounding Caineville always are the brooding mountains and the ever-encroaching river which implacably seeks to destroy the last vestiges of the crumbling village. Caineville is a triumph of imaginative creation over static material." Movie Makers, Dec. 1953, 320.


Total Pages: 22