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Still image from Life Hangs By a Thread in Movie Makers, July 1950, 265.

Date produced: 1948

Filmmaker(s):

Paul R. Elliott

Joseph Dephoure

Languages:

English

Duration:

00:18:00

Length:

500 ft

Format:

16mm

Colour:

Kodachrome

Sound Notes:

Optical

Sound:

Sound on film.

Awards/Recognition:

ACL Ten Best 1948

Description:

"The construction and performance of marionettes are skillfully pictured in Life Hangs By A Thread, by Paul R. Elliott and Joseph Dephoure. Aided by skillful lighting, a fine sound track perfectly harmonized with the action and an intelligent script, interest is closely held from the time a marionette is a lump of putty to its moments of glory when, in the hands of an experienced operator, it seems to take on a life of its own. Perhaps the most impressive thing about Life Hangs By A Thread is its careful step by step planning, indicating the sound belief by its producers that a movie should tell as much as possible pictorially, with the commentary used only to enhance the visual appeal." Movie Makers, Dec. 1948, 475-476.

Resources:

Both of the filmmakers share details about the film in "The Reader Writes" (Movie Makers, Jan. 1949, 6). A production still is also shown.

The film was first prize winner in the "Special" class of a Smoky Mountain Movie Club amateur movie salon in 1949 (Home Movies, Nov. 1949, 590).

Locations:

  • Washington, D.C. (Filming)

Subjects:

Genre:

Form:

Tags:

Screenings:

  • Screened by the Hartford Cinema Club in 1948: Hartford, CT
  • Screened by the Brooklyn Amateur Cine Club in 1949: Brooklyn, N.Y.

Viewing Notes:

"Shows how marionettes are made and operated by experts. Includes details of the construction, painting and manipulation of a clown marionette with a papier-mache head, and the macabre dance of a skeleton marionette." Educational Film Guide, 1953 Edition, 804.


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