"September Peace, Robert P. Kehoe will tell you, is a film which not only made itself but named itself. It is, patently, a product of this world at war, the unconscious reaction of a sensitive spirit too long abraded by the rough edges of conflict. In it, Mr. Kehoe has found again the lyric loveliness of field and flower, the beneficent sturdiness of great trees, the warmth and beauty of the slanting sunlight. Unusually effective scoring plays its part in creating this moving attestation to the joys of peace." Movie Makers, Dec. 1943, 478.
"Donald H. Kelly has cast a comic strip character in Superman Goes West, integrating travel sequences and comedy with great success. While the magnificent cinematographic record of a Western trip is the most engaging factor of the film, the entertainment value of the Superman motif cannot be minimized. The fictional hero is shown to be the consuming interest of a small boy passenger on the trip. The lad proceeds to read Superman comics under varying conditions, despite a changing background of allegedly awe inspiring scenery. One dream sequence with a Superman flavor is a triumph of trick cinematography." Movie Makers, Dec. 1943, 478.
"Nine times a place winner in seven years of Ten Best competition, Frank E. Gunnell has probably done his best work to date in Baie St. Paul. The film is a bright and sunny visit to the little French Canadian parish of that name, nestling in parochial contentment along the St. Lawrence. Central in this existence stands the baroque and inevitable church, while about it one finds the familiar family names of the village butcher and baker, doctor and dressmaker, recurrent along the cobbled highways. Here too is an intent, sharp featured little woodcarver, a housewife coolly competent about her embroidery and an aloof mademoiselle who presides with dazzling beauty over an ancient spinning wheel. Packed with this essential human interest, Baie St. Paul was filmed with the sparkling competence that one has for years expected from a Gunnell production. Its editing fits shrewdly into the pastoral mood of the subject matter, while its titles, both in their wording and execution, are colorful and in good taste. Baie St. Paul should take a high and honored place in the Gunnell catalog of fine films." Movie Makers, Dec. 1944, 477.
"In Turf Tales, Leonard Bauer, jr., has tackled an acceptedly difficult subject for the personal movie maker — and has done well by it. The subject, as might be guessed, is professional horse racing. The setting of Mr. Bauer's study is the relatively ancient track of Pimlico, outside Baltimore, with the climax of the picture provided by a record of its traditional classic, the Preakness. But the strength of Turf Tales derives more from its highly competent sequences of human interest behind the scenes — the early morning time trials, the stable boys and their chores, the track farrier as he shapes the delicate racing shoes and the strange, unexplained mascots of the high strung thoroughbreds. A commendably restrained narrative, set against a musical background, accompanies the film on a sixteen inch disc recorded by Mr. Bauer." Movie Makers, Dec. 1944, 496-497.
"Meshes of the Afternoon is experimental in nature and exciting in its cinematic development. In it, the producers — Maya Deren and her husband. Alexander Hamid — have been concerned with the inner experiences of an individual. Although one sees on the screen the familiar backgrounds and impedimenta of physical existence, the events which transpire among them, through a summer's afternoon, portray subjective feeling rather than objective incident. Miss Deren's creative use of her camera to suggest these emotions blazes new and stimulating trails in pure cinematography." Movie Makers, Dec. 1945, 497.
Total Pages: 299
Amateur Cinema