"Christmas Nuts, presented with a sound on film recording on a separate 16mm. film, produced by Paul Braun and Howard Goodman, is not only an interior color picture of exceptional beauty and impeccable technical quality but is also one of the best puppet films thus far created. With a camera technique paralleling that of the latest theatrical, animated talkie cartoons, the story of a wolf "hijacking" Santa Claus and the consequent near calamity for the two squirrels is unfolded in a completely cinematic fashion. The camera moves freely from medium shot to closeup, the mechanics of the sets are not obstrusive and the puppets move with agility and grace. The sets, which were designed and constructed with great care, are very handsome and exquisitely finished so that no imperfections are revealed in the enlarged picture of them on the screen. The sets, in combination with the colored lights used in part to illuminate them, embody the producers' theory of "created color." That is, no attempt is made to simulate nature, but rather to produce pleasing, vivid color combinations, as in the illustrations of a child's story book. A cleverly compiled dialog, song and music accompaniment has been synchronized with the picture, although recorded, at present, on a separate film." Movie Makers, Dec. 1935, 534.
"A man is practicing for a part in a play by covering his eyes with bandages and going through his daily life pretending to be blind." Sacramento Public Library.
"Oscar H. Horovitz had, obviously, a certain amount of influence aiding his production of Follow the Girls, a motion picture study of the Gertrude Niesen musical comedy. This fact, however, does not explain the secret of his success. Others before him have had influence behind their filming of such dramatic spectacles as the circus, indoor ice carnivals, pageants and assorted stage shows. The influence did not help; their filming remained but a record, immobile and inanimate between the confines of a proscenium arch. Not so in Follow the Girls! Although executed with brilliant technical ability, the paramount triumph of this picture is its prevailing and sure sense of genuine cinematics. The cameraman seems to have been everywhere — on stage and off. Scenes of an ensemble or of a single singer cut in complete confidence from long shot to medium to closeup, without missing so much as a shoe tap. Follow the Girls, besides being lively and colorful entertainment, should serve as a model for all future personal movies of its kind and as an important record of this era of entertainment." Movie Makers, Dec. 1944, 477, 494.
"Two theatrical agents, clearly averse to work, take pleasure in ridiculing the various performers who come to show their talents. The comedy turns slapstick as the agents unceremoniously dismiss the artistes, and even more so when the artistes subsequently take their violent revenge on the agents. The cine club shows its versatility by experimenting with a few camera tricks: at the beginning, with a spinning straw boater against a black background and later, during the sequences featuring 'Ricardo' the conjurer" (EAFA Database).
"Jello Again is an entertaining film, produced entirely by animation, that stands by itself even when the special work necessary to produce it is discounted. This Kodachrome subject, filmed by Carl Anderson, is made entirely in stop motion with puppet actors, an exceedingly difficult job. The excellence of the handling of the puppets and accessory properties, together with the imaginative quality of the settings, makes the subject an outstanding one. Here and there throughout the film, there are certain indications of unevenness in exposure on the "over" side, but, because of the real achievement embodied in the film as a whole, this very slight flaw may well be overlooked. The models used in the action were most cleverly constructed and colored, and the variety of camera angles employed was especially appropriate to the subject from the point of view of presenting the material advantageously." Movie Makers, Dec. 1939, 634.
"The construction and performance of marionettes are skillfully pictured in Life Hangs By A Thread, by Paul R. Elliott and Joseph Dephoure. Aided by skillful lighting, a fine sound track perfectly harmonized with the action and an intelligent script, interest is closely held from the time a marionette is a lump of putty to its moments of glory when, in the hands of an experienced operator, it seems to take on a life of its own. Perhaps the most impressive thing about Life Hangs By A Thread is its careful step by step planning, indicating the sound belief by its producers that a movie should tell as much as possible pictorially, with the commentary used only to enhance the visual appeal." Movie Makers, Dec. 1948, 475-476.
"Silent amateur film shot by John V. Hansen, engineer and member of the Amateur Cinema League, of a performance of Tyrone Guthrie’s Hamlet at Kronberg Castle, Elsinore, Denmark with Laurence Olivier as Hamlet. The first title card states that ‘the oldest metropolitan daily Berlingske Tidende of Copenhagen presents the Old Vic at Kronberg’. The second title states ‘snappy colour-shots from different angles of Scenes from Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’'. Film shows audience, cast getting ready and shots taken throughout the play" The Human Studies Film Archive via the British Universities and Film Council.
"Brief 1938 film of family and friends descending stairs into the cellar, followed by pan across the seated audience." oldfilm.org
"If you are engaged in any phase of little theatre work, Prelude to Performance is certainly your picture. However, even if you are not engaged in any phase of little theatre work, Prelude to Performance is also your picture. That fact of universal appeal is the true measure of this movie's success. Made by John W. Jones with the cooperation of the London Little Theatre, in Ontario, Canada, the primary purpose of this picture was to outline (and, if possible, teach) the basic steps of putting a play together. This it most certainly does, from the inception of the idea down to the rise of the opening night curtain. But in the process — through a sound sense of cinematic treatment and smoothly integrated subtitles — the picture maintains a lively and appealing interest for all." Movie Makers, Dec. 1951, 412.
"In Traum Im Karneval, 1000 ft., 35mm., a distinctly new technique in cine puppet drama has been beautifully and conclusively demonstrated. Working with puppets free of distracting threads and controlled entirely from below the line of camera sight, Dr. Goldschmidt has brought to his film the fluidity and cinematic smoothness essential to a genuine photoplay. Gone are the proscenium arch and the unavoidably static feeling of photographed "theatre." Here the camera has moved freely from near shot to closeup or semicloseup as the action demands. Inserted scenes from real life, used with symbolism significant to the mood of the story, have served only to heighten the cinematic illusion, while the unusually graceful miming of the puppets amazes one with a feeling of uncanny and fantastic life. Traum Im Karneval is delicately conceived, sensitively directed and superbly photographed. Of brilliance equal to Dr. Goldschmidt's technique was the unfailing mastery of his collaborator, Richard Teschner, eminent European puppeteer." Movie Makers, Dec. 1931, 685.
Amateur Cinema