"Sunstruck, by George Mesaros, is a bright genre study of the American beach scene at its colorful, everyday best. There are the sun bathers and the sand babies, the athletes and the antics, and, above all else, the incomparably lithesome and lovely American girl. Mr. Mesaros has caught them all. in sparkling cinematography and with a pleasing selection of camera viewpoints. He has added to these a brace of brief and farcical skits which are well played and well directed. Sprightly music, shrewdly keyed to the varied sequences, rounds out the film's effect. Sunstruck, as suggested in its own foreword, is "gay, glamorous and often goofy."" Movie Makers, Dec. 1944, 496.
"Donald H. Kelly has cast a comic strip character in Superman Goes West, integrating travel sequences and comedy with great success. While the magnificent cinematographic record of a Western trip is the most engaging factor of the film, the entertainment value of the Superman motif cannot be minimized. The fictional hero is shown to be the consuming interest of a small boy passenger on the trip. The lad proceeds to read Superman comics under varying conditions, despite a changing background of allegedly awe inspiring scenery. One dream sequence with a Superman flavor is a triumph of trick cinematography." Movie Makers, Dec. 1943, 478.
"Sweeping in its conception, stirring in its execution, Then Came the King is a vivid and beautiful epic of honest patriotism. In it, Earl L. Clark has examined the Western way of life, and he has found it good. With elaborate but never exhausting detail, the film traces the history of Canada — and more briefly her American neighbor — from 1800 to the present day. Then, in a world challenged by war and a Canada accused of waning fealty to the Empire, Then Came the King pictures with a magnificent climax the deep and unfaltering affection in which a loyal people hold their rulers. People of all classes and occupations are shown saluting Their Majesties. Sensitively planned and superbly titled, the film very definitely has something to say — and says it with distinction. Viewpoint after viewpoint strikes sensuously on the eye as exactly right for the effect desired. Sequence after sequence marches down the screen with the brave and stirring rhythms of epic poetry. On a few occasions, Mr. Clark's striking imagination has outstripped his straining technical skill, but. from his first frame to his last, the work is stamped unerringly with a fresh and genuine creative spirit." Movie Makers, Dec. 1939, 632.
"Edward F. Cross covered an extensive territory of national parks and vacation spots in the Southwest and Western sectors of the United States and has brought back an attractively filmed record of his tour. Unique rock formations have been pictured from well chosen vantage points to make the most of light and shadow. This Land of Ours is climaxed by particularly colorful units in a rodeo's grand parade and a dexterous camera handling of Indian dances. A full narrative indicates careful research to supplement the scenes on the screen." Movie Makers, Dec. 1947, 539.
Sub-title: "Galiano Island 1940" Summary: "Impressionistic record of a sojourn on Galiano Island over a Labour Day weekend, with Oscar Burritt, Dorothy Fowler [later Burritt] and Margaret Roberts." (British Columbia Archives)
"Film documents the Royal Visit of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in Toronto May 22, 1939. Film shows the royal party traveling through the city and at various locations including Union Station, City Hall, Queen's Park, and Exhibition Place. The Toronto Movie Club presents the film, which was shot by over 25 club members staged at different locations. "The Toronto Movie Club : Its first fifty years, 1934-1984" pp. 14, 15, provides additional details about this film including the fact that many copies of the film were sold and one copy was presented to the King and Queen." Archives of Ontario.
"Un-staged documentary footage shot and edited by Sallie Wagner. Sallie's description of the film: 'Trading post at Wide Ruins, "Trader Burnt Hat" - Bill Lippincott, Sallie, Antoinette Badgley - mother, baby, Sallie, group of three left to right - Gaddy, John Joe, and ? , Tom Big Gun - raising his arm quickly Hosteen Belahi. Little Woman - captive of [Kit] Carson [survived the Long Walk and Navajo incarceration at Ft. Sumner], John Joe's wife (gold skirt) and daughter, Mary Toddy and John Toddy, young children, Joe Toddy, Nashoshi Begay, Paul Jones in trading post trading with Bill Cousins, wife and child of Tom Big Gun, Lukachuka - also captive of Carson (Blackrock's brother - both medicine men). Navajo Refugee Site "Kinazin" (which means Standing House) near Wide Ruins, Pat Norton inside "Kinazin" ruins, Cliff Ruin in Canyon del Muerto, ceremonial jar washed out by rain, Bill Lippincott - Elvin Jonas and Jack Norton excavating the pot, climbing cliff at Canyon de Chelly - Larry Bell and Doyle Mulligan, Sallie and Bill looking at pictographs below Wide Ruins, pictographs near spring north of trading post, Navajo Fence at Wide Ruins, numerous sunsets'." New Mexico State Archives.
"It is spring in Brooklyn, and Leo J. Heffernan has found a multitude of trees there. He opens the film with a sombre shot of New York's waterfront and skyline, to indicate the tense activity of a large city. A title suggests that those who live in the midst of this turmoil can find solace not far away. The film proceeds to the bounteous display of flowering trees in a large public park. Glowing shots of heavily laden branches against blue sky are interspersed with scenes of Sunday strollers wandering through shaded walks and falling petals. Mr. Heffernan has used to good effect his fine technical skill, and his color transitions between scenes are smoothly accomplished. Trees That Grow in Brooklyn is accompanied by a rhymed narrative written especially for the film by Mr. Heffernan." Movie Makers, Dec. 1946, 489.
"In Two Weeks, W. W. Champion has contrived that rare and refreshing thing — a personal record picture implicit with general human interest. Telling the story of a fortnight's pack trip with friends through Yosemite, the film gets off to a flying start with a delightfully detailed sequence of camp preparations. With complete naturalness, we are made acquainted with each of the vacation party. When, in good time, they set off down the trail, we feel quite sure that these people will prove of more interest than the locales that they will visit. Mr. Champion does not disappoint us, as he continues with an adroitly spun pattern of personalities and places. Crisp, steady and effectively angled, the photography of the film, in both monochrome and color, is of able assistance to the imaginative treatment." Movie Makers, Dec. 1936, 542.
"The vivid pageantry and somnolent landscapes of Mexico assume a new grandeur as filmed by Ralph E. Gray, a cinematographer who has long been recognized as one of the most accomplished amateurs on the continent. The land of contrasts and contradictions is beautifully presented in Typical Times in the Tropics, for here is one of the few travel films that ignore the tourist penchant for flashy trivia, to reveal the spirit of a people and the pictorial splendor in terms of lasting values. Mr. Gray has lived in Mexico long enough to recognize what is really significant; consequently, his film — for all its 1400 feet — seems to be a distillation of the unique charm which continues to attract Americans on vacation. The Mexican's strange blend of religious sincerity and garish ceremony is evidenced in a ritual filmed in Cholula, in which the local livestock — besmeared with gaudy paints and dyes — are presented for the blessing of the village priest — to insure the animals' fertility. The bouganvillea and hibiscus that frame the vistas of sleepy Fortin are contrasted with a boisterous Cuernavaca carnival and the hard riding charros of Mexico City. The latter scenes give Mr. Gray an opportunity to display his technical prowess at its best, for his handling of exposure problems in filming sombrero shadowed faces, his revealing closeups of spectators and skillful following of the wild horses and steer roping are proof of his stature as one of our finest amateur filmers. One of Mr. Gray's most valuable assets is a keen eye for detail, whether it be in the embroidery of a shawl or the weird sculpture left in the path of a lava flow. Intelligent use of a polarizing filter heightens the tawny stuccos of the cathedrals and intensifies the architectural detail of the facades and bell towers; and a fine feeling for human interest gives his shots of a Tehuantepec celebration, the Tirada de Frutas, an added opulence. The cliff divers of Acapulco staged some hairbreadth scenes for Mr. Gray, and he has made the sequence even more breathtaking by cutting in shots of the rocky hazards which had to be cleared by these young daredevils. Saving his trump for a fiery finale, this second time Maxim Award winner winds up with a series of frames of Paricutin, smouldering under her own gray vapors. Sustaining interest throughout 1400 feet of film is no mean task, even when abetted by the natural resources of Mexico; but Mr. Gray has met his challenge with a maximum of taste, discrimination and a completely craftsmanlike approach to a subject that has seldom been presented with such polish and vitality." Movie Makers, Dec. 1946, 470-471.
Total Pages: 16
Amateur Cinema