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Alaska

Date produced:

Filmmaker(s):

Sidney N. Laverents

Description:

"Sid and Charlotte take a trip to Prudhoe Bay, the Alaskan pipe-line, and other points of interest in Alaska." UCLA Film & Television Archive.


Albert and the Lion

Date produced: 1940

Filmmaker(s):

A. Scott Moorhouse

Description:

"Devotees of the hilarious poem about the Lancashire couple and their son Albert would not fail to delight in Albert and the Lion, filmed by A. Scott Moorhouse. It portrays the misadventures of young Albert and his parents on their holiday at Blackpool, an English seaside resort. The story of how the objectionable young Albert, who carried a stick with a " 'orse's 'ead 'andle,'' was eaten by the lion is told in a highly satisfying manner. The scenes of the outlandishly costumed trio and their tribulations are timed to accompany a recitation of the poem. The characters are perfectly chosen and also outfitted to perfection. Although filmed at a Toronto zoo, the movie might well have been taken at the famous English resort of the poem. Mr. Moorhouse's handling of the players was masterly, and he made the best of his filming opportunities." Movie Makers, Dec. 1940, 601.


Animal World, The

Date produced: 1935

Filmmaker(s):

Reginald Rigby

Description:

"In this delightful pictorial record, amateur filmmaker Reginald Rigby takes a close look at the animal world. From a wobbly young owl discovering how its wings work to elephants from Bertram Mills Circus enjoying welcome free time in the fresh air; from an extremely enthusiastic lamb to some decidedly unimpressed cattle, this film casts a humorous eye upon aspects of animal and avian behaviour." (BFI Player)


Animals In Motion

Date produced: 1968

Filmmaker(s):

John Straiton

Description:

"Between 1877 and 1885, an English photographer, Eadweard Muybridge, conducted detailed experiments analyzing human and animal motion using rapid photography. In 1968, John Straiton took the published works of Muybridge and created from them a fascinating and hilarious film. A tribute to the serious maker of the first nudie before the invention of movies." Canadian Filmmakers Distribution Centre.


Animules

Date produced: 1950

Filmmaker(s):

Louis Shore

Description:

"Animules are imaginary animals which may be constructed from such common materials as wet paper, paste, wire, string, and paint. A class of junior high students show how to make animules. A base of wet newspaper is tied around a thin piece of wire and paper mache is then added and molded to the desired shape. A coat of paste gives a smooth surface which may then be painted. Odds and ends pasted on for decoration" Library and Archives Canada.


Antzar Eguna [Day of the goose]

Date produced: 1984

Filmmaker(s):

Miguel Ángel Quintana

Description:

Documental sobre la Fiesta del Ganso en Lekeitio. Dentro de las fiestas y tradiciones de Euskalherria, el Antzar Eguna de Lekeitio destaca por su gran poder de convocatoria. Las cuadrillas de mozos acompañados de charagas que amenizan el acto, conducen a la popa de sus botes al líder de cada grupo hasta el ganso, que amarrado por sus patas cabeza abajo, cuelga de una soga que cruza el puerto. Mediante tirones de esta soga, los mozos agarrados al cuello de los gansos, son izados una y otra vez hasta arrancar la cabeza del animal o caer al agua agotados. Esta singular e insólita fiesta ha despertado gran polémica entre sus detractores y seguidores. Actualmente los gansos que se emplean están muertos o son de plástico.
Texto de Miguel Ángel Quintana

Documentary about the Goose Celebration in Lekeitio. Among the celebrations and traditionsof Euskalherria, the Antzar Eguna of Lekeitio is one of the most attractive events. The troops go accompanied by musicians, and they lead the group leader towards their boats' stern until reaching a goose that is tied upside down by its legs, hanging from a rope that crosses the port. By pulling the rope, the participants hang on to the gooses neck, and are raised over and over again until they tear the goose's head or they fall to the water exhausted. This singular and unusual celebration has produced controversy between followers and detractors. Currently the gooses employed are either dead or made of plastic.
Text by Miguel Ángel Quintana.


Asteazkenez Ordizian [Every Wednesday in Ordizia]

Date produced: 1982

Filmmaker(s):

Miguel Ángel Quintana

Description:

Todos los miércoles en Villafranca de Ordizia se celebra una singular feria que, en muchos aspectos, marca la tendencia de los precios y estimación de los productos del campo, ganado, etc.

Every Wednesday in Villafranca de Ordizia, there's a singular fair that, in many ways, marks the trend for prices and estimation of country goods and cattle.


Awakening

Date produced: 1942

Filmmaker(s):

Herman Bartel

Description:

"Most movie makers look about for suitable music for a picture, only after it has been completed. Herman Bartel, who produced Awakening, scores his films just the other way around. He listens to a composition that he likes until he thinks of picture material that will express its mood. Since Mr. Barters appreciation and selection of music are above reproach and since his ability to take a camera and a roll of film and make them sing is well known, we can only add that this is his finest film to date. It is very difficult to explain a Bartel picture. You can say that the subjects are flowers, trees, animals and the other common manifestations of nature, but what you must see to believe is that they have never been filmed in quite his way before. Mr. Bartel does not use parts of records and change from one to another with abrupt shifts in themes. Instead, he uses each record in full. In this film, the blend of picture and music is so matched that, in some scenes, reeds and bushes sway to the rhythm of the music. Needless to say, the camera work in this picture is superb. Other color films may be exposed as well, but they will never be exposed better because here is more than perfect exposure and lighting. Mr. Bartel has taken what existed and has made it say what he wanted it to say through skillful control of the devices at hand." Movie Makers, Dec. 1942, 489, 506.


Backyard Birding

Date produced: 1952

Filmmaker(s):

Herbert D. Shumway

Description:

"Trim, tightly knit and altogether engaging, Backyard Birding presents, with affectionate attention to detail, a nature-loving father and his small son searching out the common and uncommon birds of their New England neighborhood. The film's pleasant music and informed but unassuming narrative are in sympathetic harmony with the pictorial whole. In it, with apparent purpose, Herbert D. Shumway has employed a cloudy-bright lighting throughout. Thus, the countless closeups of his bird neighbors, as they build their nests and rear their young, are in soft, true and unshadowed color — as so befits the film's gentle theme. And, just in case you're wondering, these superb scenes (on 8mm. film, remember) are beautifully sharp, despite the wider lens apertures which must have been used." Movie Makers, Dec. 1952, 324, 337.


Backyard Horizons

Date produced: 1946

Filmmaker(s):

Roy C. Wilcox

Description:

"There is an easy, effortless quality about Backyard Horizons, by Roy C. Wilcox, which tends to belie the fine competence of its work with telephoto lenses and extension tubes. The birds, bugs, bees and rabbits which parade across the horizon of the Wilcox pastures seem to be friends of the family — and they are treated as such in the unpretentious narrative which accompanies them. The sound on film track, combining simple musical selections and a restrained volume of comment, was itself produced by Mr. Wilcox, and it records his own voice, pleasingly." Movie Makers, Dec. 1946, 486, 488.


Total Pages: 17