"Film opens with a shot of a camera and projector. Following scenes include family footage of two girls dancing in a garden; shots of a birdbox, beehive and female beekeeper; snowy street scenes; a child playing with a lamb; women participating in an outdoor gymnastic display and brief footage of a cricket match at Ashley." (NWFA Online Database)
"A record of local events in Burnley from 1932 through to 1950. Features a 1932 Hospital Carnival, a Burnley v Luton football match from 1935 and the last tram to run in the town on 7th May 1935. Wartime footage includes the activities of the Burnley Home Guard and a 'Wings for Victory' parade along Colne Road in 1943. King George VI visits Burnley on 8th March 1945 before newspaper headlines announce the end of the war and there are shots of street parties, dancing outside the Town Hall, fires being lit, a thanksgiving service at St Peters Church and an outdoor concert and ceremony at Towneley Park. The film ends with footage from the 1950 General Election at which local Labour MP Wilfrid Burke retains his seat." (NWFA Online Archive)
A documentary film demonstrating how learning and education in the classroom can be supported by an engagement with the local community and natural history.
"In spite of the almost insurmountable difficulties in using feet to portray much of the action and most of the emotion in a movie, E. H. Sparks has managed to make Doghouse Blues completely comprehensible. A delightful farce of a bibulous fisherman, the story makes judicious use of the angler's big toe to denote thirst, hunger and any other emotion which might master a man on a solo weekend. Colorful scenes of inlets and bays, as well as attractive sequences of fishing craft, imbue the film with a flavor of authenticity. In satiric repetition, his indignant wife trails the tippling angler to the secluded spot where his boat rides at anchor, there to find him "taking the long count." A rude awakening for the errant husband and an eminently suitable final scene close the picture." Movie Makers, Dec. 1946, 471.
"Twin boys wreak havoc on a park when their dad falls asleep on their picnic." Sacramento Public Library.
"East Coast, produced by the Rockville Cinema Club, is a picture that keeps the most jaded critic interested in its outcome. Carefully staged and convincingly acted, this story of the eternal triangle has an original twist. The production shows painstaking attention to story detail and photography, that leaves with the audience the feeling of having seen a finished picture. The acting was far above the average and shows the result of the club's previous experiences in making this type of picture. The sets were largely laid out of doors, but, both indoors and out, the exposure and lighting were handled in a most finished and competent manner. Smooth and logical, the scenarization, editing and titling represent a vast amount of careful preparation." Movie Makers, Dec. 1936, 542.
"In Fishers of Grande Anse, Leslie P. Thatcher, ACL, has compiled a vivid and crystal clear cinematic document of cod fishing in a little village in northern New Brunswick. This picture is a restrained work of art that depicts the austere beauty of toil. Repairing boats and nets, catching and cleaning the cod, salting and storing the fish for market and the fishermen leaving for home are the raw material from which this black and white production draws its rugged and satisfying beauty. Close shots and closeups (never affected or forced) comprise the simple devices whereby the irrelevant and possibly distracting material is excluded and whereby the magnificent compositions are achieved. The technical quality of the picture is superb, but probably Mr. Thatcher's greatest accomplishment is in his choice of camera viewpoint." Movie Makers, Dec. 1935, 550.
"Scenes from a football match at Maine Road are followed by views of a charity parade through the Ancoats area of Manchester in 1936. Brief shots of trams at Ardwick Green conclude." (BFI Player)
A short comedy about a couple who are unable to decide on a sporting activity to do together.
documentary fragments
Total Pages: 12
Amateur Cinema