"All of the players in this picture were boys in a summer camp who upon discovering that one of their members has a movie camera decide to make a motion picture. Like all youth they decide to imitate and based their story on Tarzan. The producers of this worked up a splendid bit of comedy, interjected a fine piece of melodrama with an Alger Jr. finish that rounded it out into a production that many of the judges felt would have been worthy of showing in any theatre. The acting, direction, story and handling as a whole was considered equal to many a professional comedy." American Cinematographer, Dec. 1932, 7.
"An honorable mention in the 35 millimeter division went to Thomas Fisher, of 410 Semple Street, Pittsburgh, Pa., for his grim and Barrymorish study of Poe's 'The Tell-Tale Heart.' Mr. Fisher played two parts, displayed no little skill in make-up and worked out an interesting, if gory, film." Photoplay, Jun. 1928, 137.
"These Bloomin' Plants, by Eugene L. Ritzmann, has been given Honorable Mention because of the striking technical tour de force which it represents. In it, Mr. Ritzmann has pictured, by means of a camera controlled by a mechanism of his own design and construction, the actual blossoming of some half dozen or more flowers. Through this device of time condensation, buds are seen bursting open before one's eyes, often in cascades of beauty which vividly suggest the magic of colored fireworks against a night sky. The technical management of this difficult and esoteric phase of photography was almost without flaw. In the opinion of the judges, however, Mr. Ritzmann failed to do full justice to his material, both in his editing and in his title treatment." Movie Makers, Dec. 1936, 551.
"An amateur film made by and starring the husband and wife duo, John & Evelyn Kibar. The Kibars are on a search for a hobby, and decide upon filmmaking. A domestic mishap by Mrs. Kibar results in their film being edited incorrectly. Title cards displaying dialogue are dispersed throughout the film." Chicago Film Archives
"Lon Wadman has done in This'll Kill You! what few movie makers who have tried it have achieved. He has filmed a farce that does not wander into other interpretive channels. His mockery of detective stories is accomplished with real humor, and the acting of the players is in like vein. The lighting is in proper melodramatic mood, but it leans toward underexposure. The film is presented with two phonograph records which were aptly chosen to supplement the theme. Mr. Wadman has kept his film brief, which is as it should be with this type of story." Movie Makers, Dec. 1945, 496-497.
"Interior footage of a woman playing the piano. A few shots also feature a young child sat on her knee whilst she plays. Includes close up shots of the woman's arms and hands, as she presses the piano keys" (NWFA Online Database).
"The Tombs Of The Nobles, 400 ft., 16mm., is distinguished both in its subject matter and technical triumph over seemingly insuperable photographic odds. In it Mr. Hansen has achieved a clear and valuable record of Egyptian art and history as he found them presented on the interior walls of countless Egyptian tombs. Only by a careful placing and manipulation of sheets and mirrors in the cramped space of each tomb was Mr. Hansen able to cast sufficient light from the doorways onto the hundreds of paintings which he photographed. The film's continuity has been planned and edited in a simple, documentary style, adapted for use as an informal lecture subject. Its technical accomplishment seems unparalleled in the annals of amateur filming and has been well employed in recording subject matter entirely different from the general amateur picture." Movie Makers, Dec. 1931, 658.
"Un-staged documentary footage shot and edited by Sallie Wagner. Sallie's description of the film: 'Trading post at Wide Ruins, "Trader Burnt Hat" - Bill Lippincott, Sallie, Antoinette Badgley - mother, baby, Sallie, group of three left to right - Gaddy, John Joe, and ? , Tom Big Gun - raising his arm quickly Hosteen Belahi. Little Woman - captive of [Kit] Carson [survived the Long Walk and Navajo incarceration at Ft. Sumner], John Joe's wife (gold skirt) and daughter, Mary Toddy and John Toddy, young children, Joe Toddy, Nashoshi Begay, Paul Jones in trading post trading with Bill Cousins, wife and child of Tom Big Gun, Lukachuka - also captive of Carson (Blackrock's brother - both medicine men). Navajo Refugee Site "Kinazin" (which means Standing House) near Wide Ruins, Pat Norton inside "Kinazin" ruins, Cliff Ruin in Canyon del Muerto, ceremonial jar washed out by rain, Bill Lippincott - Elvin Jonas and Jack Norton excavating the pot, climbing cliff at Canyon de Chelly - Larry Bell and Doyle Mulligan, Sallie and Bill looking at pictographs below Wide Ruins, pictographs near spring north of trading post, Navajo Fence at Wide Ruins, numerous sunsets'." New Mexico State Archives.
"In Traum Im Karneval, 1000 ft., 35mm., a distinctly new technique in cine puppet drama has been beautifully and conclusively demonstrated. Working with puppets free of distracting threads and controlled entirely from below the line of camera sight, Dr. Goldschmidt has brought to his film the fluidity and cinematic smoothness essential to a genuine photoplay. Gone are the proscenium arch and the unavoidably static feeling of photographed "theatre." Here the camera has moved freely from near shot to closeup or semicloseup as the action demands. Inserted scenes from real life, used with symbolism significant to the mood of the story, have served only to heighten the cinematic illusion, while the unusually graceful miming of the puppets amazes one with a feeling of uncanny and fantastic life. Traum Im Karneval is delicately conceived, sensitively directed and superbly photographed. Of brilliance equal to Dr. Goldschmidt's technique was the unfailing mastery of his collaborator, Richard Teschner, eminent European puppeteer." Movie Makers, Dec. 1931, 685.
"In Trees, whose subtitle describes it as a picture poem, we find what is generally admitted to be the masterpiece of that superb artist of the cinema, the late Ripley W. Bugbee, whose work so delighted his fellow members of the Amateur Cinema League and whose untimely death took from amateur cinematography one of its finest workers. This film is the realization of what Movie Makers has often counseled — setting film to music, instead of the course usually followed in theatrical pictures of setting music to film. The footage is planned to gear in with the musical setting of Joyce Kilmer's popular verse, but, since that setting is brief, other music, excellently chosen, is added to the scoring. The music of the poem is played once orchestrally, then other selections are offered, and the presentation concludes with a baritone voice singing the musical setting through completely. In this last part of the film, there is admirable synchronism, the scenes illustrating the words very accurately. Within the framework of this mechanism, Mr. Bugbee placed some of the loveliest 16mm. Kodachrome footage that has ever been accomplished. The motion is all that of nature, no persons appearing, but that motion has tempo and rhythm, as well as amazing beauty. There are trees in all kinds of movement, and to them are added scenes of clouds, moving water, grasses, flowers and birds. Without the record accompaniment, one would find, in Trees, Kodachrome footage of the highest order; with the musical addition, there is something that, within its limited scope, has never been bettered." Movie Makers, Dec. 1938, 597, 617.
Total Pages: 13
Amateur Cinema