"Porpoise Oil presents a cleverly planned and charming story that shows how the Indians of the upper St. Lawrence region live today and how their ancestors obtained oil from the porpoise of the neighboring bays. Dr. Leighton was fortunate enough to find an old Indian who, in his younger days, had been a champion porpoise hunter and the picture tells in Kodachrome how the fish was shot and the oil tried. This constitutes an important document of Indian craft that, otherwise, in time would be lost to the world. A touch of humor throughout and a surprise ending serve to spice the film and to make it the excellent study that it is instead of a routine record film. The continuity is well developed and the photography is of good quality." Movie Makers, Dec. 1937, 630.
"a soggetto sonoro"; filmed with the recently released Italian camera from Novati and the soundtrack was also made with the Milanese company Novati's devices made by the engineer Dollari.
"Oltre a questi ve ne sono altri che apparirebbero soggetto ma la trama è così tenue e poco chiara che noi non esitiamo a porli fra i documentari (La prora incatenata; Zoo; Cacciatori delle Alpi o 65 O.M.)"—Cinegiornale, 1936
"In addition to these there are others that would appear subject but the plot is so tenuous and unclear that we do not hesitate to place them among the documentaries (The Chained Bow; Zoo; Hunters of the Alps or 65 O.M.)"-Cinegiorniale, 1936
"Semi-professional documentary made in a romantic style as a tribute to Sydney Harbour and the different types of vessels that cruise on it." NFSA.
"JAMES A. SHERLOCK, S.A.C, Sydney, Australia, with his "To the Ships of Sydney," is the winner of the grand prize of $200 in the American Cinematographer's 1937 International amateur competition for 8mm and 16mm films. Under the terms of the gift of $100 in merchandise by Bell and Howell, to go to the maker of the film which in the opinion of the judges was the best in photographic technique of those films made entirely with Bell and Howell cameras, the man Down Under automatically comes in for a second award." American Cinematographer, Jan. 1938, 26.
"Another Happy Day" was the winner in the home movie classification, the prize going to T. Lawrenson of Dundee, Scotland. Mr. Lawrenson is a member of the Institute of Amateur Cinematographers of London. Also is he a veteran of the American Cinematographer's contests, having been one of the three major prize winners of 1935. Also is the chief actor in the home movie a veteran, a child who now has reached seemingly the mature age of four years, and who of course was but two when he made his debut on the home movie stage in 'Happy Day.' He is a black-eyed, camera-unconscious and personable youngster, who proceeds on his lawful occasions in complete indifference to a live lens." American Cinematographer, Jan. 1938, 27.
"The prizewinner for color, 'This Side of Paradise,' was in Kodachrome and entered by A. Scott Moorhouse of Toronto, a member of the Toronto Amateur Movie Club. The locale of the subject was the Italian and Swiss mountains and lakes. The decision on color or rather the reaching of it constituted one of the committee's chief headaches. There were some remarkable examples submitted. Mr. Moorhouse has a right to feel proud of his product." American Cinematographer, Jan. 1938, 27.
"'Japan and Its People,' Dr. Roy Gerstenkorn's educational class winner, was a pictured visit to the homes and temples of Japan. Ignoring the cities in his search for the story of the Japan that is not known to the average visitor the doctor penetrated the towns and smaller communities. His picture was awarded a high rating on its photography as well as on his treatment of the subject. After the showing of this picture before the Los Angeles Motion Picture Forum last summer the local school authorities requested and received permission from the doctor to make a duplicate of it for school purposes." American Cinematographer, Jan. 1938, 27-28.
"The 'prize winner' of the title of course was just a goat who had pulled down for its owner a ten-dollar bill as a prize at the county fair, a sum which its owner promptly had sunk in the nearest bucolic palace of chance. The committee disregarded any possessive tendencies of its own in the goat line and decided the entrant really did know his onions when it came to making pictures. But of course every one even on the fringe of the amateur world knows J. Kinney Moore is one of the tops among the amateurs." American Cinematographer, Jan. 1938, 28.
"'Europa Touring,' winner in the scenic class, was a 'honey' in any man's language. It was the film handiwork of Ellis M. Yarnell and C. Y. Kimball of Redondo Beach, Cal.; and was the story of a tour of Northern Europe, where the summer grass, as in northern countries, really is green — which last remark of course tells you the subject was in color. The two men have been making amateur motion pictures for seven years. Yarnell is a member of the Delta Kappa Alpha, Cinema Fraternity, U.S.C., and Kimball of the Amateur Cinema League." American Cinematographer, Jan. 1938, 28.
Total Pages: 299
Amateur Cinema