E-mail us: amdb@ucalgary.ca

Some of the records in our database link to videos that you can watch. Click on the films below.


Typical Christmas . . . a Fable, A (Chris Cummings)

"This parody of a silent film was made for the El Paso Junior League to promote their Holiday Provisional Bash at the El Paso Club. Using black and white film and intertitles, the parody follows the Rich family’s Christmas morning where Rico Rich gives Rhonda Rich the same gift she gets every year - manure. When the couple attends the Jr. League Provisional Bash, a “Eureka!” moment occurs, providing the moral of the story: If you don’t want your husband to keep giving you that same old manure every Christmas . . . Come to the Provisional Bash” Texas Archive of the Moving Image.

Watch: via Texas Archive of the Moving Image


Une Noce a la Campagne (Ing. Tadeusz Jankowski, 1938)

The English language translation of the film is A Wedding in the Country.

Watch: Excerpt via YouTube


Vanishing Cream (, 1945)

A married couple is hosting another couple for dinner. Before the dinner, the husband gives his wife a container of "vanishing cream," which they both use believing it to be a skincare product. When the dinner guests arrive, people and pets that contact the cream vanish from sight.

Watch: via the G.R.A.M.C. Film Library


Vermont State Guard In World War II (Harold Bailey, 1944)

"Filmed in color during the war years of 1941-1944, this silent film shows the Vermont State Guard holding muster at the Tunbridge Fairgrounds and at Camp Wills, which later became Camp Johnson in Colchester, Vermont. The film also shows a bond rally on the steps of the Statehouse in Montpelier, and maneuvers at the airfield in Berlin, Vermont, and at a camp in Moscow, Vermont. The State Guard began as Company H, 1st Regiment, Infantry in 1941 and was re-organized in 1943 as Company H, 2d Battalion. This film is an important documentation of the State Guard's early history and Vermont's home front activities during World War II. Although silent, intertitles are inserted with an explanation of the scenes to follow, as well as scrolling text of explanation at the beginning and end of the film." Vermont Historical Society.

Watch: via Archive.org


Virgin Islands, The (Robert Davis)

Travelogue exploring the history, sights, and people of the Virgin Islands.

Watch: via Chicago Film Archives


Vorkapich Home Movies (Slavko Vorkapich , 1940)

"Playful family montage by the experimental filmmaker who headed the USC School of Cinematic Arts from 1949 to 1951" centerforhomemovies.org

Watch: Slavko Vorkapich Home Movies


Walk with Me Beneath a Tree (Warren Thompson, 1965)

"A journey from bustling Chicago to the fall foliage and winter landscape of rural Wisconsin." Chicago Film Archives.

Watch: via Chicago Film Archives


We Are All Artists (Alon Bement, 1936)

"We Are All Artists, traces our experience of the aesthetic in the everyday; it begins by considering the related categories of beauty, art, and craftwork before moving on to suggest some of the many ways that modern art and design have made our world more beautiful. Offering a broad definition of art as any "skillful or purposeful endeavor," the film suggests that we are all artists to the extent that we exercise aesthetic judgement through a range of quotidian activities. The film presents a montage sequence showing a woman cleaning, men painting a wall, a letter being typed, and activities in gardening and pottery and then concludes by proposing that even "exercising the powers of selection" —as in purchasing a hat—makes use of some attributes of the artist" (Tepperman, 237-238).

Watch: We Are All Artists, 1936


Wealth of the Land (Arthur H. Smith , 1937)

Educational short film showing farming in California, and several mines and ghost towns in Nevada.

Watch: via Archive.org


Welcome San Francisco Movie Makers (Frank S. Zach, 1960)

"Welcome San Francisco Movie Makers opens with a montage of classic San Francisco sights, setting the backdrop for the first meeting of the San Francisco Movie Makers Club. After an introduction of the club’s members and its activities, filmmaker Dr. Frank S. Zach, along with his wife Helga, proceeds to demonstrate the proper use of 8mm and 16mm cameras and film sound recording techniques. Shot, scripted, edited, hand titled and over dubbed with music by Dr. Zach, this film seeks to encourage, teach, and recruit image makers." centerforhomemovies.org

Watch: via National Film Preservation Foundation


Westward Whoa (Fred Strauss , 1948)

"Edited footage of western scenery on a road trip to Yellowstone Park. Includes scenes of camping and numerous landscapes, Mount Rushmore and the various grounds of Yellowstone with their hot springs and geysers." Chicago Film Archives

Watch: chicagofilmarchives.org


Whalewatching Adventures in Baja California (Robbins Barstow , 1986)

"In January 1986, Dr. Robbins Barstow of Wethersfield, Connecticut, filmed a two-week cruise circumnavigating Mexico's Baja Peninsula. The trip included close encounters with seven different species of cetaceans -- Gray, Humpback, Bryde's, and Blue Whales, three kinds of dolphins, and giant elephant seals." Archive.org

Watch: via A/V Geeks (Archive.org)


What’s the Matter With Kids Today? (Robert Zemeckis, 1971)

"The film depicts a Boy Scout's walk through a rural setting. He's later joined by a group of children who follow him through meadows and corn fields." Chicago Film Archives

Watch: chicagofilmarchives.org


Wheels Across America (Julian Gromer , 1968)

"2 part edited travelogue following young men on a bicycle trip cross country (San Francisco to New York City) with Wandering Wheels, a faith based organization. Along with the noteworthy locations they visit, such as the Four Corners and New York City, this film includes much documentation of their down time and visits to Native American and small town communities to sing and meet with the people." Chicago Film Archives.

Watch: Part 1 via Chicago Film Archives

Watch: Part 2 via Chicago Film Archives


Wheels Across Europe (Julian Gromer , 1971)

"In 2 parts, the film depicts a cycling journey around central Europe through Belgium, France, Switzerland, Italy, Yugoslavia, West Germany, and the Netherlands. Tourist scenes includes shots of Venetian canals, the leaning tower of Pisa, and Dutch windmills.In 2 parts, the film depicts a cycling journey around central Europe through Belgium, France, Switzerland, Italy, Yugoslavia, West Germany, and the Netherlands. Tourist scenes includes shots of Venetian canals, the leaning tower of Pisa, and Dutch windmills." Chicago Film Archives.

Watch: Part 1 via Chicago Film Archives

Watch: Part 2 via Chicago Film Archives


When the Frost Is On the Punkin (, 1955)

Film treatment of the poem "When the Frost Is On the Punkin" by James Whitcomb Riley. Intertitles with text from the poem are interspersed among images that match the themes and content of the poem. The scenes include shots of harvest work, fall scenery, turkeys, and pumpkins.

Watch: via the G.R.A.M.C. Film Library


Why Do Oysters Perspire? (Sidney Shurcliff , 1937)

Watch: via Northeast Historic Film


Why Whales? (Robbins Barstow , 1992)

"In October 1992, Connecticut Folksinger Donald Sineti visited Heidelberg, Germany, with global whale advocate Dr. Robbins Barstow, to sing for whales in a German-American cultural exchange program. Enjoy song concerts in castles, campus, city streets, and countryside." Archive.org

Watch: via A/V Geeks (Archive.org)


Wilderness Alps of Stehekin, The (David Brower, 1960)

"A story of the natural wilderness, people, and mountains 200 miles from the sea, the wilderness alps of Stehekin in the North Cascade country. Brought into its scenic grandeur through the ages never the same, yet not to be changed by man. There are the wild gardens and glaciers high above the sea but far below the icecaps on Mt. Rainier, from time preceding us. A beautiful, relaxing retreat with a narration to be remembered for its refreshing call to the wilderness" PSA Journal, Nov. 1960, 42.

Watch: Via The Sierra Club


With Notebook in Hand (Frank L. Kreznar, 1959)

"Edited film is the story of the Kreznar family vacation to Florida created by Frank Kreznar, an award winning amateur filmmaker and engineer. The youngest daughter is instructed by a teacher to keep a notebook of her experiences in Florida which include visiting a Florida visitor center, setting up camp in a park, watching a water skiing performance, visiting a marine animal park where they watch a dolphin show, touring the Everglades on an air powered boat, riding on a glass bottom boat, viewing bird and animal wildlife and swimming at a beach. Sound is the daughter's narration of their experiences," via the Human Studies Film Archives, Smithsonian Museum.

Watch: With Notebook in Hand Clip 1

Watch: With Notebook in Hand Clip 2


Wooden Face of Totonicapan (Ralph E. Gray, 1942)

"“Wooden Face of Totonicapan” is a [1942] color film covering the art of making wooden masks in Totonicapan, Guatemala. The film was made under the auspices of the "Good Neighbor" film project, run by the Office of the Co-Ordinator of Inter-American Affairs in New York as part of the WWII war effort. It was produced by Ralph E. Gray." Periscope Film.

Watch: via Periscope Film, Archive.org


Work and Contemplation (Kenneth F. Space, 1941)

"On college student work campers from the Hartwick Seminary and the farmers' cooperative movement in Cooperstown." National Archives.

Watch: via National Archives


World of ‘68 (Charles Braverman, 1969)

Produced by Pyramid Films, the film was originally shown on the Smothers brothers comedy hour television program and is a kinestasis film using kaleidoscopic views of still pictures to summarize the year 1968 (Archive.org).

Watch: World of '68 via Archive.org


World Through a View Finder, The (Part I) (Edwin Mayer)

"This amateur film captures Edwin and Minnie Mayer’s worldwide adventure across Australia, Asia, Africa, and Europe in the 1950s. This segment documents stops in Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, the Philippines, and Malaysia" Texas Archive of the Moving Image.

Watch: via Texas Archive of the Moving Image


World Through a View Finder, The (Part II) (Edwin Mayer)

"This amateur film captures Edwin and Minnie Mayer’s worldwide adventure across Australia, Asia, Africa, and Europe in the 1950s. This segment documents stops in Thailand, India, Egypt, Greece, Vatican City, Italy, the Netherlands, and England" Texas Archive of the Moving Image.

Watch: via Texas Archive of the Moving Image


XVIth Olympiad: Melbourne, Australia, 1956 (H. Lee Hansen, 1956)

Documentary covering the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia.

Watch: via UC San Diego Library


XVth Olympic Games: Helsinki, Finland, 1952 (H. Lee Hansen, 1952)

"Olympic summer games Helsinki, Finland, 1952." UC San Diego Library.

Watch: via UC San Diego Library


Yes, Lucy (, 1948)

"After a day of domestic squabbling, an imposing wife and bumbling husband have their furniture appraised. When two men show up as assessors the confusion begins, ultimately giving the husband a chance to prove himself." Chicago Film Archives

Watch: chicagofilmarchives.org


Ymir and the Yankee Girl Gold Mine (Lester G. Morrell, 1940)

"The town of Ymir and the nearby Yankee Girl gold mine. [COLOUR:] Mining concentrator building (with aerial tramway) beside the Salmo River. Mine site, high on mountainside; buildings; small electric train of ore cars; dumping tailings on hillside; dumping ore into aerial tramway; tramway buckets descending very steep hillside to concentrator, and emptying into hopper there. B&W: interior shots (some dark): ore on conveyor belt; refining processes [cyanidation and flotation]; etc. COLOUR: bridge across river for ore cars. B&W: interior of assay office; staff with instruments, performing tests, etc. COLOUR: May Day celebrations: baseball game; rock-drilling contest; presentation of prizes; May Queen pageant and crowning; children maypole dancing." (BC Archives)

The extant reel concludes with footage from elsewhere in the Kootenay Lake Region (Kootenay Lake, Nelson and Kettle Falls), which seems unrelated to the Ymir and... title. This item was part of an apparent series assembled by Morrell under the overall title British Columbia Sketches. Since the series title precedes the item title as shown above, this film was described by the BC Archives as British Columbia Sketches : [reel 8].

Watch: Edited excerpt from Ymir and the Yankee Girl Gold Mine


You and Me (Paul Newell , 1970)

"This collaborative student film follows a confused young man throughout his day, as he navigates various environments (church, neighborhood streets, parties, etc), never seeming to fit in. Beatles songs featured prominently throughout." Chicago Film Archives

Watch: chicagofilmarchives.org


Total Pages: 10