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Still Waters

Date produced: 1938

Filmmaker(s):

Fred C. Ells

Description:

"Working still in the same lyric mood which inspired In The Beginning and Consider The Lilies (place winners of earlier years), Fred C. Ells has turned this year to the Twenty Third Psalm for the theme of Still Waters. In it, to use his own words, he has tried "to bring to mind some of the beauties of the natural world, and to make the spectator conscious in some small way of the mysterious, wonderfully planned creation in which we live. The picture is pure lyric from start to finish, with no more continuity than a love song." Mr. Ells has, on occasion, been thrillingly successful in fulfilling this high charge, bringing to the screen some of the most stirring beauty it would seem possible to recreate. The cumulative effect of the relatively short study, however, is weakened by imperfect technique in the preparation of the Biblical title wordings." Movie Makers, Dec. 1938, 620.


Stillborn

Date produced: 1966

Filmmaker(s):

Jeff Strickler

Description:

"Stillborn, also winner of the MPD Student Film award for the best film made by a student enrolled in a college course in cinematography, is an experimental film at times abstract in its execution. It tells the story of a boy and girl who meet out in the middle of nowhere. As he looks upon the young girl's face he imagines what life with her might be like. His imagination runs wild as he thinks of the blissful episodes such as marriage would bring, as well as the entrapment he could suffer. At film's end he makes his decision. Use of the negative image for one sequence is extremely effective" PSA Journal, Sept. 1966, 34.


Storm Due

Date produced: 1949

Filmmaker(s):

Francis J. Barrett

Description:

"Although there is no actual violence portrayed in this psychological thriller, Storm Due — in which a young wife discovers her husband to be a murderer — is instinct with mounting tension and terror. Francis J. Barrett's film is a potent combination of several related elements. Wedded almost as one are dramatic, hard-hitting camera angles and the visual stimulus of brilliant, low-key lighting. Acting of theatrical calibre by the young wife is accented by an off-stage voice which underlines her fears — a technique that suggests a loan from the best in modern radio. A taut continuity only hints at the story line as it hurries through this exciting evocation of violence. This very economy of dramatic exposition, in fact, will make Storm Due an unpopular and often misunderstood production. For these reviewers, however, it remains creative cinema of a very high order." Movie Makers, Dec. 1949, 454-455.


Story of Bamba, The

Date produced: 1939

Filmmaker(s):

Ray L. Garner

Virginia Garner

Description:

"The Story of Bamba is a drama filmed in Africa by Ray L. Garner for the Harmon Foundation in New York. This reviewer calls the production a film drama advisedly, for, although it is made as a report of the medical work of a missionary group in Africa, the picture is, in itself, an entertaining photoplay. The boy, Bamba, is the nephew of the tribal witch doctor who cures sickness with his fetishes. Bamba is to become the medicine man's successor, but he falls ill with the fever and is deserted by the tribe when they hurriedly flee their village to rid themselves of a plague. Rescued and cured by the native representative of the missionary medical center, Bamba is sent to school so that he too, can cure in the white man's way. An adult, he returns to his own tribe, where he meets and finally overcomes the resistance of his uncle. Thus, the plot unfolds clearly and entertainingly, yet the story does not interfere with a complete exposition of the medical work of missionaries. Skillful handling of native actors is apparent in every scene, for there is scarcely an unconvincing piece of business in the whole film. Camera treatment is matter of fact but adequate." Movie Makers, Dec. 1939, 637.


Strategist, The

Date produced: 1962

Filmmaker(s):

Evelyn Kibar

Description:

"An amateur film made by and starring the husband and wife duo, John & Evelyn Kibar. John is frustrated with Evelyn’s hat shopping habits. To distract John’s frustrations, Evelyn surprises John with a cake. Title cards with dialogue are dispersed throughout the film." Chicago Film Archives


Streets of Peace

Date produced: 1939

Filmmaker(s):

Lewis B. Sebring

Description:

"In Streets of Peace, Lewis B. Sebring, jr., presents a manifold accomplishment in film. Here is a record of the New York World's Fair 1939, but a record which, because of its selectivity, gives the impression of completeness in setting forth a single theme, although the material is both voluminous and varied. Here, also, is an interpretation of the epic idea behind the foreign participation in this great American exposition, the vision of peace, which has since been so rudely interrupted. Mr. Sebring takes his camera through the streets of peace, literally, and we see one after another of the foreign buildings and exhibits at the Fair; we also look at the different national celebrations in the Court of Peace. The visit of the King and Queen of England is recorded in considerable detail. After a scene of children of many lands uniting in a gathering in the Children's World, we find the pointed query as to what these youngsters will make of the "world of tomorrow," and the picture closes with distinguished shots of the United States Building, with its flag and the word "Peace," which appears on its façade. Mr. Sebring's titling is admirable, both in wording and in execution. His Kodachrome exposures have less good moments, but his camera handling is otherwise pleasing. Here is a workmanlike and finished recording of a great international event." Movie Makers, Dec. 1939, 635-636.


Strokets Kavalerer

Date produced: 1954

Filmmaker(s):

Mathis Kverne

Description:

"Mathis Kverne returns to the winner's circle with another delightful and imaginative animated cartoon, Strokets Kavalerer—which has been translated for us "Main Street Romeos." This time we meet two boy paint brushes who try, with varying degrees of success, to win the hand of an attractive girl brush. One, a wordly boulevardier, plies her with costly presents, while the other, a real booby, offers her naive, if presumptuously intimate, gifts. When the lady has at last been won—by the booby, of course—we follow the happy couple through their marriage and the birth of their first born, a yellow brushlet of undetermined sex. Although this film may not captivate the viewers as completely as did Mr. Kverne's Muntre Streker (Ten Best 1952) that picture's promise is more than fulfilled. The animation here is smoother in all respects, the development of the story line more definite and the personalities of the individual characters more precisely realized. The result is a film of lighthearted charm which will enchant one and all. And puzzle them too, for the animated methods used by Kverne are still his own secret!" PSA Journal, Jan. 1954, 49.


Study in Reds, A

Date produced: 1932

Filmmaker(s):

Miriam Bennett

Description:

"A Study in Reds, that women's club film of a sovietized America, has been successfully completed and the club, a very pillar of society in its community, has been made safe, by the experiment, for Democracy. The Five Year Plan called for the production of ten eggs a day, so that there was none left for the onetime owner of the chickens; children seemed to get mixed on their return from the communistic nursery; and the police ate all the tidbits from the workers' lunches, so that in the end the good ladies of the club returned contentedly to the stultifying, but more reassuring, banalities of private ownership. Miriam Bennet, ACL, of Wisconsin Dells, was the director and cameraman of this reversal of the customary Sovkino drama" Movie Makers, Aug. 1932, 361.


Suite Two: A Memo to Oscar

Date produced: 1947

Filmmaker(s):

Dorothy Burritt

Stanley Fox

Description:

"Produced as a gift to Dorothy Burritt's husband, filmmaker Oscar Burritt (who was working in Toronto at the time), this is an offbeat study of life at their Vancouver apartment -- suite 2, 1960 Robson Street. The camera explores the apartment and the household memorabilia, and Dorothy is seen sitting for a portrait by painter Peter Bortkus. Later some friends drop by for a screening of Sacha Guitry's film Pearls of the Crown, followed by a party. Among the guests are Moira Armour, film editor Maureen Balfe, UBC student Stanley Fox, photographer Peter Varley, and an unnamed figure wearing a bird costume. Most of the people shown would have been involved with the National Film Society of Canada (Vancouver Branch). Suite Two won honourable mention (amateur category) at the first Canadian Film Awards in 1949." (BC Archives)

The film was restored in 1986 by the British Columbia Archives.


Summer Wedding Party

Date produced: 1920

Filmmaker(s):

Dubbins

Description:

"Scenes of a wedding party held in a large garden. There is a large marquee, the bride and groom are mingling with guests and there are a large number of bridesmaids. Some of the guests are extremely well-dressed - furs and big hat for one woman - and the priest is shown talking to some of the guests. As the couple depart, the guests assemble on the house steps to throw streamers. Other scenes show a family in the garden, with the children playing ring-a-ring-a-roses." (NWFA Online Database)


Total Pages: 34