"Attempting to film a large city with its huge skyscrapers and teeming population through the lens of an 8mm. camera would seem to be an almost overwhelming task. However, boldly tackling such a gigantic project, Richard Guetl in his entry, The Big City, proves it can be done. This competent photographic work presents a good, clear coverage of Chicago, where Mr. Guetl resides. His angles are interesting and compositions pleasing. His street shots around the Loop and his camera treatment of the human derelicts on Skid Row are worthy of special commendation. While The Big City is not an epic, it is a capable, factual presentation with just enough skyscraper shots to make it authentic, enough stores and people to give it pulsating life, and enough pathos to arouse the emotion." Movie Makers, Dec. 1952, 340-341.
"Scenes at Billinge Scar (near Blackburn), the Birtwistle family home, including some rather dark interior shots" (NWFA Online Database).
"It takes a true craftsman to catch all the intimate and informal scenes that make a first rate vacation film, particularly when his exposure problems are complicated by the sunlight and shadows of a thickly wooded lake shore. But George Mesaros has succeeded in producing the sort of vacation record that most filmers only dream about. Mr. Mesaros has mastered his technical problems with an expert's hand and has turned out a stunning, vital movie of a summer outing in the Saranac Lake region. Faced with non-cooperative fellow campers, he had to be prepared to set up his tripod at a moment's notice; but the candid air of the proceedings on the screen is ample recompense for his vigilance. Bluff Island Idyll is a vivid testament to the importance of human interest and to the appeal of simple, everyday activities when they are properly sequenced and edited." Movie Makers, Dec. 1947, 513.
"...in which flow fast visions of the Virgilian city, temples monuments palaces frescoes particular and total, boats on the Mincio and aquatic flora" "...in cui scorrono veloci visioni della città virgiliiana, templi monumenti palazzi affreschi particolari e totali, barche sul Mincio e flora acquatica" —Ermes Cavassori, "I film della Mostra," Il popolo del Friuli, Dec. 12, 1942
"Donald Volkman's film, A Breath of Spring, is a montage study of the vernal season in a city — in this case, Boston. But shots of the blowing skirt of a girl, the wind-whipped awning of a department store and the clothesline ballet of the Monday wash are universal. Mr. Volkman has truly brought imagination to his pictorial progression of spring, from melting snows in a churchyard to the full flowering of the sun-warmed earth and its people. His choice of musical accompaniment is especially notable, particularly with shots of running water in gutters and the Boston Pop's rendition of The Wearing of the Green with the sequence of a St. Patrick's Day parade. A Breath of Spring was created as a thesis in a course on motion pictures at Boston University, where Mr. Volkman is a student." Movie Makers, Dec. 1951, 411.
Travelogue exploring British islands. Includes footage of "harpist Catriona Maclean McKinnon playing along the shores of the Isle of Skye in the early 1970s" (Chicago Film Archives).
"B&W: views of Arrow Lakes scenery from a sternwheeler; arrival; the "Minto" at dock. Two men travelling by packhorse in the Lardeau. The steam tug "Beaton". Sequence on gold mining in the Cariboo, with footage of a hydraulic mining operation. COLOUR: Vancouver; Lions Gate Bridge and Stanley Park approach; city skyline. Trip on the steamship S.S. "Catala": views at sea; approaching settlement; people meeting the boat; log boom and sawmill adjacent to the dock. Alert Bay: views of village, store, homes, etc.; Indian children at play; schoolgirls in red sweaters [from St. Michael's Indian Residential School]; steamboat arriving; many shots of totem poles, graveyard, etc. Fishing fleet in harbour, preparing nets, and heading out to sea. Fishboat crew hauling in net full of thrashing salmon, and brailing them onto boat. Other fishboats setting their nets, hauling in salmon. Fishboat crew unloading salmon onto conveyor; shots of cannery wharf, female cannery workers. Savary Island: family vacation scenes; lodge; children at play; adults playing golf on beach at low tide; departing on a boat trip." (BC Archives)
"This fascinating film from the early 1930s is all the more remarkable because it was made by a woman filmmaker, Enid Briggs. First we meet the Mullett family in Hythe before seeing early footage of the Romney. Hythe and Dymchurch Railway. Then we see family and friends on the pier at Deal, on a steamer to Margate and at play on the sands at Joss Bay. This is followed by horse-riding scenes around Broadstairs, on quiet streets still unaffected by cars. We also get a glimpse of a coastal tram" (BFI Player online).
"Short sequences of film taken during a trip to Würzburg" (EAFA Database).
Total Pages: 43
Amateur Cinema