"One comes from a screening of Primitive Patzcuaro, by Ralph E. Gray, with an overwhelming impression of pure beauty. Here, in compositions which often echo the Old Masters in their warmth of color and satisfying balance, an amateur movie maker has turned his camera on the simple life about him and found it pleasing. One after another, the magnificent scenes and sequences bring from the spectator that involuntary expression of deep pleasure which is ambrosia even to the great of amateur movies. In Primitive Patzcuaro, Mr. Gray has portrayed, with leisure, the life of the Tarascan Indians, remote from civilization in a rarely visited section of Mexico. Although magnificent in its color studies, the film is abundant in human interest as well; in portions devoted to the bright native dances and religious ceremonies, it presents a series of tableaux that are breath taking in their effectiveness." Movie Makers, Dec. 1937, 626-627.
"It is a platitude that there is more in Mexico than meets the eye. In Quaint Old Mexico, however, Guy Nelli proves that there is far more in Mexico than usually meets the camera. Mr. Nelli presents the gradual awakening of Mexico, as the farmers drive their produce to market, with a startling sense of early morning atmosphere; market scenes are developed lucidly and effectively. The high peak of the film is reached with a most remarkable sequence of religious festival shots, as virtually an entire village re-enacts the Stations of the Cross. The intense religious emotion evident in these scenes has rarely been caught for the screen. Mr. Nelli's film is outstanding for its fresh approach and, above all, for the natural and casual quality of its shots." Movie Makers, Dec. 1946, 488.
"A Race for Ties" tells the story of a sawmill owner, Joe Atwood, and his race against a large timber company, headed by U. Cheetem, to sign an exclusive contract for railway ties. In addition to a plot driven by one of the region’s staple industries (the lumber industry), the film highlights the scenic nature of the region" - Michel S Beaulieu, Women Film Pioneers Project.
"Rainbow Fantasy, in the words of Charles C. Hammack, is "an attempt to produce — not a conventional travelog — but more a story of adventure, a hiking adventure to what is probably one of the least visited of our national monuments, Rainbow Bridge, in southeastern Utah." In achieving this goal, Mr. Hammack has been largely and creditably successful. For him and his young wife, Rainbow Bridge takes on the aura of a lost horizon, a Shangri La protected from the outside world by the blistering desert heat and the brutal desert rocks. He brings this overtone of feeling to his film, both through his imaginative camera treatment of the subject and the intentionally dramatic acting of the two travelers. Mr. Hammack's is a new name in Ten Best competition, but it is one which we believe will be heard again."Movie Makers, Dec. 1943, 478.
"Alan Probert has confined his study of Mexico to the primitive Otomi Indians. With startling clarity and a fine cinematic eye for detail, he presents the tribal group in a series of sketches that reveal the age old customs of their forefathers still in daily use — sowing and reaping, spinning and weaving, trading and worshipping. Remnants Of The Past is an expertly filmed factual account of the subject, which would have gained considerably from greater unity and a stronger ending." Movie Makers, Dec. 1948, 494.
"The story, older than the craft of lobster fishing, of a ten year old boy earning his own first few pennies is told beautifully and sensitively in Riches from the Sea, by T. J. Courtney. As simple and human as the life of those it pictures, this film captures the spirit of the young fisher boy as he goes about his work of baiting and dropping lobster pots. They are his own, just given by his father. The money he makes from selling the lobsters he catches, some of which he boils on the beach, is also his own. Finally, when the last one is purchased by tourists along the dusty road and the boy races to the village, clutching his coins, to buy the coveted store window toy, the picture swells to its climax, fully equal to the importance of the occasion in the youngster's life. Lovely angles and expert composition bring beauty in black and white to the photography, and the acting, by Philip Boutilier and his little sister Lorraine, of Seabright, Nova Scotia, is unaffected and agreeable. This photoplay illustrates how completely the locale and life of an interesting community can be conveyed by threading it on a simple story of human nature." Movie Makers, Dec. 1938, 597.
"To love a place so well that you can film it so well that the result becomes commercially sought is not the happy fortune of every movie amateur. Waldo E. Austin's Richmond Under Three Flags was paid for by the Morris Plan Bank of Virginia, in Richmond, and is distributed by the Virginia Conservation Commission. Here, a man of culture and a filmer of exceptional care and refinement has given us his own home, lovingly and interestingly presented, with a happy quota of cinematic ornaments. The pace of this accomplishment is leisurely, as was the Old South, yet its manner is modern, as is the new Richmond. In the title wordings, Mr. Austin is especially fortunate, avoiding banality on the one hand and '"fine writing" on the other, with just enough rhetoric to give the flavor of one of the country's most rhetorical centers. The interior scenes of public buildings have been accomplished with an apparent effortlessness that conceals a great deal of effort. Here is the publicity film in its most suave expression." Movie Makers, Dec. 1937, 627-628.
"A. M. Zinner has performed not only a labor of love in Romance of the Hybrid Orchid, but he has made an important contribution to the available information about orchid growing. Given the run of Shaw's Garden, the famous botanical park of St. Louis, he has traced the life of hybrid orchids from seed to full flowering, with especial study of the behind the scenes events in the hot beds and potting rooms. Outstanding is the section of the film devoted to the care and exact technique that must be used in handling seeds while they germinate. With this work of several years, Mr. Zinner takes his place in the ranks of significant amateur naturalists who have provided exhaustive records of some special field. In offering his carefully planned and detailed footage, Mr. Zinner also gives some very lovely flower pictures, including the rarest of the world's orchids. Beautiful camera work and expert sequencing mark the picture." Movie Makers, Dec. 1943, 474.
"What we have all wished a newsreel presentation of an important event could be has at last been brought to actuality by T. J. Courtney in his fine Kodachrome film Royal Visit — Halifax 1939. Let us hasten to add, also, that this film, besides being the apotheosis of the newsreel presents a carefully connected story of the events of the long anticipated day of the Royal visit in his city. Chiefly outstanding is the skillful and always appropriate use of closeups and atmosphere shots made with great care before, during and after the event and cut in with real skill to heighten the effect. But, most of all, the film is remarkable for its pace and sincere interpretation of public feeling; the early preparations for the Royal visit; the breathless expectation; the high enthusiasm at the time of Their Majesties' appearance, the promise of long remembrance at their departure — all these are clearly shown by Mr. Courtney's cinematic commentary. The complications that must have confronted him on this exciting day must be considered in our approval, too. He succeeded admirably in picturing the general excitement and enthusiasm, but at no time did his camera desert its steady support and accurate framing of the principal subject. The natural, close shots of the King and Queen are unsurpassed." Movie Makers, Dec. 1939, 632.
"Home movie film record of the 1939 royal visit by King George VI, showing preparations on the streets of Vancouver and the vicinity of the Hotel Vancouver, a parade, and the royal motorcade" British Columbia Archives.
Total Pages: 16
Amateur Cinema