"Distinctive for its superb blend of old and new visual techniques coupled with an unusual sound track, the film was unanimously selected as the winning entry [in the amateur category at the Canadian Film Awards in 1950]" (Topalovich, 10).
"The film is credited to Evelyn, who captures her husband’s collecting habits of “everything and anything.” This time it happens to be driftwood. Title cards of dialogue are interspersed with images of John and Evelyn collecting driftwood along a Wisconsin beach." Chicago Film Archives
"Film about the Woodley’s at their place in the country." Library and Archives Canada.
"Film about how to make films." Library and Archives Canada.
"This is a film about a hobo who steals a pie from a windowsill." Library and Archives Canada.
A group of families takes separate vacations – the husbands go fishing, while the wives and children choose to hold a picnic. Both vacationing groups encounter obstacles that disrupt their plans.
"An impressionistic portrait of city life during a day off in the summertime, with poetic narration set opposite some very observant and intimate views of Vancouver and its inhabitants. These include numerous street scenes; departure of the passenger ferry 'Hollyburn'; shots of and from Interurban railway and streetcars; sequences on Chinatown, Kitsilano Beach, Stanley Park, Victory Square, and the downtown waterfront; and a glimpse inside a typical beer parlour. The film received honourable mention in the amateur category at the 1950 Canadian Film Awards." (BC Archives)
Opening credit reads: "The Vancouver Branch of the National Film Society presents..."
Additional credits (on 1986 restored version): "Restored 1986 by Dennis J. Duffy for National Film Week '86 in co-operation with Canadian Filmmakers Distribution West and the Provincial Archives of British Columbia. Restoration funded by BC Heritage Trust."
"Émile Gallet, ACL, a man of rare talents and infinite patience, treated us to a showing the other day of his 16mm. color cartoon, The Legend of St. Nicholas, which, with a six year interruption by the war, has been in the making since 1938. Based on an old French folk song of the 12th century, the cartoon relates the fairy tale adventures of three little children, a wicked butcher and kindly St. Nicholas." Movie Makers, Sept. 1949, 327.
"Neither the lead title nor the unpretentious opening scenes — as a small boy is seen building a crude toy boat — prepares the spectator for the pure enchantment of One Summer Day. For, almost unrealized even as it happens, the film melts with incredible smoothness from live action into animation and make-believe. The toy boat becomes a pirate galleon of old, a flower a maiden in distress and a twig her gallant suitor, as there unfolds a tale of romantic derring-do. Under cover of darkness, the pirates plot to kidnap the lady, whose protector, a humble fisherman, is away at his nets. He returns, only to be bested in the ensuing sword play, yet, undaunted, he still gives chase. With the help of a friendly whale, he overtakes the pirates, frees his lady and, as the galleon goes down in flames, the lovers return to shore, to live happily ever after. Then, as quietly as it all began, we are back at the edge of the sunlit pond. The boy lifts his boat from the water and turns homeward. And yet, through the true magic of the movies, we have entered for a brief moment childhood's enchanted world. Highly imaginative camera handling, technical skill and a keen sense of cinematic values make this an outstanding example of personal filming. The musical accompaniment and sound effects (including the cling-clang-cling of clashing swords) complement the picture perfectly. Glen Turner has added a new dimension to amateur filming with this simple story so superbly told in its brief 350 feet of 8mm. film." Movie Makers, Dec. 1949, 452-453.
"Warren Doremus might have made in his Escape just one more film about Niagara Falls. But he did not. Instead, with unerring instinct, he has blended music (Wagner's Liebestod) with emotional imagery to produce a very nearly perfect small work of art. His secret seems to be great brevity and even greater selectivity. In a film as short as this, flaws show up more strongly than in longer works. Escape has its flaws, particularly in a series of opening scenes presumably supposed to set the mood before the film proper begins. To these reviewers these shots do not seem quite suited to the main theme, and lack of musical accompaniment makes them a bit pointless. But Escape survives as a fresh and moving treatment of a very old subject." Movie Makers, Dec. 1949, 453-454.
Total Pages: 299
Amateur Cinema