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Smugglers Cave

Date produced: 1936

Filmmaker(s):

Arundel

Description:

"The film-maker's three children - John, Mary and Anne Arundel, in a story of seaside treasure-hunting, with the familiar plot devices of an old map, inn, sea cave and rising water threatening to cut off escape" (EAFA Database).

"Not content with the typical family holiday bucket and spade film, Herbert Arundel from Longsdon in Staffordshire recorded his three children in a tense drama during a pre-war holiday in Cornwall. Its youthful protagonists and smugglers' treasure plot pre-dates the Famous Five by a good few years and culminates in a splendidly tense finale. Will the Arundel children return from the adventure victorious or will the evil local put a stop to their ways?" (BFI Player)


So Long Ago

Date produced: 1952

Filmmaker(s):

Margaret Conneely

Description:

"Margaret Conneely's film So Long Ago (c. 1950s) intercuts footage of children reading about dinosaurs with special-effects shots of dinosaurs, borrowed from a commercial film (perhaps The Lost World, 1925)" (Tepperman 335).


Somebody Goofed

Date produced: 1955

Filmmaker(s):

Ernest Frederick Attridge

Description:

"The film contains twelve short vignettes that incorporate several cinematic techniques to comical effect." Library and Archives Canada.


Speedy May

Date produced: 1954

Filmmaker(s):

Harold R. Platt

Description:

"Speedy May tells a pleasant tale about two boys who try to earn enough money to buy wheels for a new soapbox hot rod, a dreamboat which Dad has promised he will build for them if they will but supply the wheels. Failing in their financial efforts, the boys nevertheless are befriended by a neighborhood fireman who, with only two girls in his family, gives the lads four gleaming cart wheels he had been husbanding. The rest is up to Dad, and he fulfills his promise in a sparkling sequence of construction patterns filmed in his cellar workshop. Technically, this film is excellent, although its cinematic virtues are somewhat dimmed in its earlier passages by too deliberate a story pace. The appeal of the production, however, is more than assured by the sincere, natural portrayals of all hands, Harold Platt, the producer, plays his own role of father with ease and good grace. Dennis and Steve, the two youngsters, are artless and unaffected in their determined crusade for the new hot rod. And Captain Leonard Dobson as (and in fact) the fireman, tugs one's heartstrings with just the right appeal to make his son-less state seem credible. It is for his wife May that the new dreamboat - and this charmingly competent picture - are named" PSA Journal, Jan. 1955, 51.


Spreading the News

Date produced: 1954

Filmmaker(s):

Charles Woodley

Description:

"This film shows a newspaper delivery boy, Douglas Woodley, son of Charles Devenish Woodley, on his route." Library and Archives Canada.


Spy Scoop, The

Date produced: 1943

Filmmaker(s):

Arthur H. Smith

Description:

A group of children who film newsreels attempt to track down an escaped Nazi agent in their community.


Sredni Vashtar

Date produced: 1939

Filmmaker(s):

David Bradley

Description:

"In a few days of doldrums before being called for training in the Army Signal Corps, David S. Bradley, presiding genius of Bradley Productions, scenarized, cast, costumed, filmed and directed a screen version of Sredni Vashtar, a short story by Saki. running 800 feet of 16mm. monochrome, the picture is the eighth in the series to be produced by this unusual amateur unit of Winnetka, Ill. having been directly preceded by Peer Gynt and Oliver Twist. It will be Mr. Bradley's last production until after the war. Working with him on Sredni Vashtar was John Jameson, assistant director, with the small cast played by Mrs. Herbert Hyde, Lucielle Powell, Lois Northrop and Reny Kidd, all Bradley Production veterans", Movie Makers, Apr. 1943,158.


Staff of Life

Date produced: 1934

Filmmaker(s):

Frank H. Demarest

Description:

"This story of a loaf of bread begins with the plowing of the ground. It continues thru discing and harrowing. Then come fields of waving wheat; the harvest and the threshing; the journey to the grain elevator and the flour mills. Scenes in a modern bakery follow and from there the bread is sent to the retail store. Children eating bread and jam are representative of the 'ultimate consumer'." Educational Film Catalog, 1937 edition, 80.


Streetcar to Heaven

Date produced: 1946

Filmmaker(s):

Arthur H. Smith

Description:

"Filmed by Arthur H. Smith of San Francisco, the story opens with Jackie, a lad of 4 years, playing on the sidewalk near his home. Observing a kitten crossing the street, his natural inclination toward pets impels him to run into the street after it. An unseen car bears down upon the boy and the driver is unable to avoid striking him down. Jackie is rushed to the hospital where his life is saved with difficulty, although he will be permanently crippled. The doctor advises Jackie's parents that although he has survived the operation, the lad has only a short time to live." Home Movies, Dec. 1946, 749.


Susie Steps Out

Date produced: 1955

Filmmaker(s):

George Ives

Ron Doerring

Description:

"Short wide screen amateur film made by George Ives, a Chicago Metro Movie Club member, and edited by Kenosha Cine Club member Ron Doerring. A corresponding 1/4" audio reel for this title is also housed at CFA, but has yet to be digitally transferred" Chicago Film Archives.


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