"A propaganda film, made in the early days of the Second World War. Opening with footage of a giant Empire Youth Rally at Brockton Point Oval, the film illustrates Canadian democratic values, institutions and ideals which are now threatened by fascism and war -- farming, industry, the home and family, education, racial tolerance, elections, and religious freedom. Also includes footage of First World War memorials in Vancouver and Victoria, cemeteries, Remembrance Day ceremonies and parades, and veterans. Canada's contribution to the war effort is shown through shots of recruiting stations, marching recruits, military parades, warships, etc. One lengthy sequence uses model airplanes, dramatizations, stock shots, photographs, and footage of local civil defence drills to simulate the impact of aerial attacks on British cities during the Blitz (including civilian casualties and damaged or burning buildings)" British Columbia Archives.
A woman is tempted with thoughts of another man after her husband disappoints her on their anniversary. Will she follow through with the act, or will she remain faithful to her husband?
"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].
"Portrait of Calhoun School, founded in 1892, and its vocational work among rural African Americans of Lowndes County, Alabama. The film shows the living conditions of the poor and illustrates how the school makes a difference in health education, agriculture, and road construction." The Field Guide to Sponsored Films.
"On methods and devices used to make correctly exposed pictures. Explains use of photo-electric cell exposure meters." National Archives.
"Educational film surveying the instruction of the fine and performing arts at leading African American institutions, including Calhoun, Dillard, Fisk, Hampton, and Howard. The film argues that exposure to theater, music, dance, and the fine arts produces well-rounded students and enriches their lives." National Film Preservation Foundation.
"The Will and the Way is a simple story of '"little people" — but it looms large in its appeal to the human heart. There are, in its tender adventures, the laughter of sympathy and the tears of pathos. From these, as from any great expression of beauty, there comes the genuine and ennobling uplift of the spirit which is so rare in a workaday world. Chester Glassley has been equal to his task. His photography, both indoors and out, is as nearly flawless as skill and patience will permit. His camera treatment is marked by a wise concentration on close views, a dramatic selection of angles and a fine sense of matching and contrasting color values. Good cutting, paired with a brilliantly executed montage sequence, rounds out the technical achievements. But his greatest production triumph lies in the casting and direction of the two lead players, who bring to the amateur screen its most genuine and sensitive acting to date. A young wife is to have a baby. Because of a harsh experience with a rum sodden doctor, she turns blindly toward the thought of going only to a specialist, a great obstetrician, famed both for his fine care and his $1000 fees. Her young husband's reaction as he learns of this feeling is the simple theme of the entire story: "I don't know where we'll get the money, but if that's the doctor you want, then that's the doctor you're going to get!" From then on. life for the young couple is a race against time, punctuated for the husband by a frantic search for cash, which leads him through the indignities of a pie eating contest, the insults of '"amateur night" and the bruises and battering of a vastly unequal prize fight. But the baby wins in the end. The harried father collects only three hundred dollars of the specialist's fee, a sum he begs the great doctor to accept as a down payment. This the physician does, only to return the entire amount later — with a receipted bill — as his tribute to the boy's courage. The Will and the Way is a short, unassuming film, made technically with the simplest tools provided by the craft. But, in its unfailing imagination, its moving tenderness and. above all. in its deep understanding of the human heart, this film is a proud peer among its colleagues of the Hiram Percy Maxim Award." Movie Makers, Dec. 1940, 576-577.
"When the schooner yacht Enchantress put out from San Pedro for a five weeks' marlin fishing cruise in the Gulf of Lower California, fortunately James H. McCarthy was on board with camera, Kodachrome and a filming plan. The result was Before the Wind, as happy a movie yarn of a pleasure cruise as we have ever seen. A spirit of jollity and a general good time pervade this chronicle, which is adequately strung on the thread of a series of entries in the ship's log of the Enchantress. This casual continuity is entirely sufficient, for each episode is beautifully sequenced, and the whole film reflects a consistent happy go lucky holiday spirit. Exquisite shots of the schooner in translucent California Gulf waters, numerous studies of ship life, handsomely lighted interior views in cabins and engine room are all technical accomplishments in this picture. The sequences of marlin fishing and of clam digging on the Mexican shore are gems of good film planning and good cutting. The movie is presented with an intelligently planned musical accompaniment that really fits the film, but it is the natural handling of sequences of people on a carefree sea vacation that makes this picture superb entertainment." Movie Makers, Dec. 1940, 577.
"Whatever that intangible thing called atmosphere may be, Harold E. Remier has created it — out of airy nothings, to judge by what he says — in his astounding photoplay, Diary. Here, in all its hues, in all its beauty, in all its tradition of courtesy and profound courage is the America of the late Nineteenth Century, told through the medium of a woman's devotion. A Southern mansion is the first setting, then the frontier. Fortunes rise and fall as the war flames. Costumes and settings of the 1890's are recreated with fidelity. Wagons collapse in the wilderness; stone houses are built; a silver mine is uncovered. And the cost, for this epic achievement, exclusive of the 8mm. film, was the staggering sum of ten dollars! Diary is particularly noteworthy for naturalness of its lighting. However he managed it, Mr. Remier. with two large flood bulbs, somehow succeeded in making each scene appear to be illuminated by the hand lamps and chandeliers visible within it. The moonlight elopement is glamorously effective; and even candlelight is simulated with success. So, in all, the picture is a distinguished achievement — a portrayal, not only of a past century, but of a part of our American heritage." Movie Makers, Dec. 1940, 577.
"In Fluffy, the Kitten, a kitten tells her own story about herself — the things that she likes to do, the way she spends her day, the things she eats and the way in which her mistress takes care of her, to make her a happy companion. In designing and filming this continuity, Grayce and Kenneth Space have created the most natural and expressive movie of a pet that we have yet seen. Interpreted with titles, written in the first person, as if the kitten were speaking, this film presents interior lighting and camera work without blemish. The cutting is masterly, and the whole unit is as smooth as Fluffy's silky fur. The intention of the filmer was to create a new, direct and simple type of teaching film that would convey its message efficiently and entertainingly to children. This purpose was completely achieved; you cannot look at Fluffy, the Kitten without learning important things about cats and you cannot look at it without being delighted. Most amazing of all qualities in this film is the uncanny success of the producers in controlling the kitten actor. Fluffy appears to play each scene like a trouper. Unlimited patience and extraordinary skill were involved in making this picture. Movie Makers, Dec. 1940, 577, 599.
Total Pages: 299
Amateur Cinema