"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.
"Item is a film production of Dr. and Mrs. Willinsky's trip to Lima, Peru to attend the 5th International Assembly of the International College of Surgeons. Footage of assembly delegates, landmarks and the local population are interspersed with captions added by Dr. Willinsky. Included are scenes of assembly delegates near Lima's Workman's Hospital, Sadie visiting the home of the assembly's chairman and entering the palace of Peru's president for a luncheon, sights along the streets of San Martin, cathedrals, shots taken from a moving train, and images of the Ricmac River from a nearby road." Ontario Jewish Archives.
"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.
"J. Fred Muggs, a chimpanzee, undertakes to make and bake a pizza pie, and then eats it. Mr. Muggs at work may remind some of us of one or more events in the hazy past. He goes at the pie making with considerable proficiency although he is a bit of a comic. Like many cooks, he samples the ingredients as he works. Laughs enough for all" PSA Journal, Oct. 1961, 49
"We open with a little boy standing on a box in a telephone booth; his little friend is too busy or not of a receptive mood for the boy friend. Hurt as he is, he goes into the park and laments his failure to lure the young lady. He is about to resolve a life without women when a young (very young) girl comes into his perspective. His agile mind responds and he sets about to make an impression using many approaches of demure and sophisticated charm. His success was not exactly complete. Finally she visits the "girls" room. Her long delay is too much for the young man, so he makes another telephone call and hurriedly leaves the scene. The commentary is enhanced by the sophisticated French voice. This will be included in the Package" PSA Journal, Oct. 1962, 34.
"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.
"Pipe Dreams, by Joseph Dephoure, ACL, and Edward Atkins, ACL, is ranked among the year's ten best because of its considerable triumphs over dramatic and technical difficulties. Through the imagination of its producers, a small cast, simple settings and moderate footage have been used to tell a big story, rich in pictorial effect. Dreaming that he has murdered his unfaithful wife, a young man sees in prospect the swift and fearful course of his life to the waiting gallows. The murder, the trial, the death cell and the hanging are represented in large part only by the imaginative and striking use of shadows of the real scenes. Occasional straight shots are heightened in effect by unusual angles and dramatic lighting. Sensitively planned, smartly executed and deftly cut, Pipe Dreams makes its simple story exciting and forceful." Movie Makers, Dec. 1933, 500.
"Plato in Amerika deals with the new life a young fellow from the Old Country finds in America. From working as a waiter in a restaurant to shooting dice with his friends, we see him dancing, brawling, wenching, and embarrassing his parents. When at last he is forced to marry one of his girl friends and later is seen romping with his children, he smiles at the camera and decides "this is life" PSA Journal, Sept. 1965, 51.
Total Pages: 38
Amateur Cinema