"Our Friendly Enemies: This unique title has its origin in the fact that the Seminoles are the only native American Indians who have never signed a peace treaty with the government. Ralph E. Gray has chronicled in color with his 16mm Cine Special camera the contemporary life of the Seminoles living in Florida, picturing their activities against the backdrop of modern-day living and habits. Gray's reputation for camera and good editing has resulted in very professional results on the screen. Narration and sound effects on the recorded track round out the superior treatment of this better than average amateur effort." American Cinematographer, May 1951, 190.
"When movie makers turn to movie making itself as the subject of a picture, sometimes they are a little self conscious and heavy handed — more particularly if the approach is humorous. This fault, the Dallas (Texas) Cine Club has successfully avoided in Out to Win, an opus that displays the adventures of a new convert to filming. The hero of the tale observes that everybody has a movie camera and that he is out of things. So his trombone and the equipment of other hobbies go to the "hock shop" to finance the purchase of a new cine camera. His wife isn't particularly sympathetic to movie making, and here the real humor enters, for Mrs. Movie Maker is not antagonistic; she is just oblivious to the real importance of movies. She walks in on her husband when he is developing titles, she tramps through film clips when he is editing; but, when the movie maker receives an incredible sum for a newsreel scoop (well handled airplane wreck sequence) and, in consequence, gets a check that enables the pair to buy a new car, Mrs. Movie Maker's attitude changes. In the last scene, she is proudly using a camera. The actors are excellent: they do not overplay their roles, and so the film is really funny." Movie Makers, Dec. 1939, 634-635.
"What happens behind the scenes is always of interest to curious people — and most of us are curious. Remembering the delighted boys who sometimes get odd jobs in the backyard of the circus, Guy Nelli elected to let us see what they have seen, in Outside the Big Top. Not once are we shown the performance for which the whole effort is made, since Mr. Nelli very properly stays outside with his camera. Beginning with interesting and well filmed scenes of the circus in its early morning arrival, Mr. Nelli shows us how the Big Top is set up and carries us along until the show has ended. Odds are that he is a persuasive talker as well as a fine movie maker, because he got some of the best portrait and "candid" scenes of the performers that one will meet in many a day." Movie Makers, Dec. 1945, 496.
"Scenes from Croston village pageant, Saturday May 26th, 1951 - adults and children are seen in medieval dress, acting out scenes from the area's history. A number of 'Coffee Day' parades from 1937 to 1970 are shown, with Church groups and floats passing through the streets. The film ends with a man and two women in the garden of a house in Steyning, West Sussex." (NWFA Online Archive)
"With its first, full dress training film for Scoutmasters, the Visual Education Service of the Boy Scouts of America embarks, in The Patrol Method, on a new pedagogical path. Instead of presenting the perfect method for emulation, the movie records what happens when Scoutmasters and patrol leaders, with more enthusiasm than shrewdness, do things in ways that invite difficulty. The wiser course is pointed out tactfully, but indirectly, in the film. Here is an unusual employment of the movie medium, but the United States Army and Navy found that it worked in war training. The film is intended for use with a printed outline, and verbal conferences will follow its showings. Directly designed to accomplish a specific teaching task, The Patrol Method does it admirably." Movie Makers, Dec. 1945, 498.
"In Peasants, Konstantin Kostich, ACL, has produced a sympathetic and withal entertaining picture of the people of village and farm land in Czechoslovakia and Roumania. Expert photography, an understanding choice of camera angle and workmanlike sequences mark this interesting film study and serve as a vehicle for its outstanding quality — a sincere and attractive presentation of the people as they are, not as they might be made to appear for the sake of motion picture cleverness. Mr. Kostich needs rely only on his own skill and can afford to neglect making a point of what, in dress or custom, might appear to be a strange peculiarity to another people. Unlike many professional travel photographers, he can avoid these obvious aids to sustain interest and can present his peasants on the friendly basis of real understanding. This does not mean that he does not tell a real story; it simply means that he tells it fairly and sincerely and, hence, beautifully." Movie Makers, Dec. 1934, 534.
"Pets, 350 ft., 16mm., filmed by Dr. F. S. O'Hara, won its position on the list of special mention because of the many remarkably well composed closeups of family pets that it contains and because of the cameraman's patience and skill in securing many delightfully natural bits of action. Included in the film is a sequence of a cat and dog playing together. The film offers much grace and photographic beauty as well as that amazing attractiveness animals always possess on the screen." Movie Makers, Dec. 1931, 686.
"Irwin Sharpe and Cye Landy have gone back to film beginnings in composing their engaging little etude, Picnic. The fundamental of their selection is the old reliable device of the chase sequence. Beginning quietly with a simple family picnic, the producers soon overlay on this bucolic subject a mysterious kidnapping and its resultant chase. The cutting, camera positions and tempo of this climactic sequence show a true understanding of cinematic expression." Movie Makers, Dec. 1947, 538-539.
"Pinch Hitter, a photoplay by Charles J. Cafbonaro, has been given Honorable Mention because of its continuously sustained technical brilliance in the face of many problems of cinematic story telling. A suave situation comedy, it presents the dilemma of a girl who is asked once too often by her roommate to substitute for her on a temporarily undesired date. In time, the pinch hitter goes to bat for herself, knocks out a home run and leaves her roommate caught flat footedly out. In presenting this comedy of manners, Mr. Carbonaro has been helped by good acting from his players but hindered by not quite a light enough touch in the film's pace and direction. The lighting and camera work, which are genuinely of top flight quality, go far but not quite far enough in disguising this one weakness." Movie Makers, Dec. 1936, 550.
"To those filmers who have had the dubious honor of trying to direct a group of young, obstreperous children who somehow seem to persist in shyly gazing into the camera lens, Harlan M. Webber should be able to give some sound advice. Charming, but not cunning, Pinocchio's Jack-O'-Lantern seems to solve all the usual deficiencies which attend a film starring children. With a sure camera sense, Mr. Webber uses sparkling lighting and imaginative camera viewpoints to bring out the Peter Pan quality which pervades the Halloween party given by his son. The picture opens with startlingly clear shots of the small boy reading a Halloween book and continues with him helping his mother prepare the refreshments for the coming party. In a spirit of understanding and finesse, the filmer follows the antics of the disguised children through the party itself and on to the usual doorbell ringing, where they heinously blackmail the neighbors for candy, cookies and cake. Nostalgically provocative, the film exhibits a buoyant naturalness which would delight any audience." Movie Makers, Dec. 1946, 486.
Total Pages: 28
Amateur Cinema