"The grace and beauty attained with advancing years is captured in this charming story, told with gentle wit and warm affection. Through the years, father has learned the wisdom of a slight deception to forestall a possible storm when he fails to follow orders, so is, instead, rewarded by his grateful wife. A memory-evoking addition to the family album of motion pictures" PSA Journal, Oct. 1963, 40.
" 'Oh, would some power the giftie gie us, to see ourselves as others see us.' In a sophisticated, fast moving satire, Fred Evans has struck at some of the blights of amateur movie making and screening. Turning his opening guns on tyros who ignore the instruction book which accompanies a new camera, Mr. Evans proceeds in a light, witty manner to poke cine fun at those movie makers who insist on learning the hard way. The picture continues on its farcical path, pausing now to watch invitations being telephoned for a screening of an as yet on-existent film and again to sympathize at the scene of frantic last minute editing. Home Movies has as its climax, of course, the fiasco of the screening, which should not be "tipped off" by a verbal preview. Compact and restrained, this movie offers meaningful as well as light entertainment." Movie Makers, Dec. 1946, 471.
(Catalan): Història d'un home que es creu important, que està carregat de prejudicis i que duu una màscara per mostrar una aparença de persona seriosa i culta. Però quan se la treu, en la intimitat, deixa de fingir i és feliç. Un dia, al tramvia, coneix una noia que l'ajuda a desprendre's de la màscara que porta gairebé sempre posada.
Story of a man who acts as if he is important and who wears a mask to show the appearance of a serious and cultured person. But when he takes it out, in the intimacy of the home, he stops pretending and is able to relax and be happy. One day, on the tram, he meets a girl who helps him get rid of the mask by cutting loose of all of his prejudices. [Description from the Filmoteca de Catalunya catalog]
"The Reverend Edward J. Hayes, assisted by his brother, Paul J. Hayes, has made an impressive film record in The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. All the details of the rite are shown simply and directly. The film was made at close range, and it affords the audience the celebrant's view of the altar. The excellence of the color in this Kodachrome work stresses the beauty of the vestments and of the religious articles. The understanding and devotion behind this effort are evident in the spiritual quality achieved." Movie Makers, Dec. 1943, 477.
"Holiday with the Heavers is one of those rare films that display sincere artistic sensitivity that is manifestly not the product of technical skill nor the "slick" application of the rules of composition and film planning. It is a picture that promises that its maker — Dr. W. Lynwood Heaver — with more cinematic experience, might produce the finest type of amateur motion picture. Holiday with the Heavers is not a record of a family jaunt, as its title would imply. Rather, it is a scenic study of fall, enlivened by the presence of a three year old who investigates a park and explores the autumn leaves. Included in the film are beautiful and eerie shots of the late fall, effective silhouettes and charming closeups of the small actor." Movie Makers, Dec. 1943, 478.
"Film record of a holiday in Kent, including footage of Eunice and Eustace Alliott, the activities of other holidaymakers, and sights encountered on the road" (EAFA Database).
"In Holiday in Dixie, Morton H. Read, a Yankee from Massachusetts, has so well understood the essence of the Old South that he has called back from its storied urns a breath which inspires the whole film so intimately that Southern hats should come off to him. His remarkable sympathy with the remains of the Cavalier era has made it possible for him to present them with conviction and fire. Mr. Read first shows us Washington with its dignity and spaciousness, by carefully chosen shots. He pauses for an inspection of the caverns at Luray, and then he goes on to study the lovely cities of Lexington and Williamsburg. We reach the deep South at Charleston and the Ashley River; it is in this part of the film that its maker establishes his vivid emotional identity with a past epoch. A sequence of Negro rural life is brilliantly handled, and the film comes to an amazing climax with scenes of the trees and flowers in the gardens of ancient estates. With music and with a narrative that sets a new standard in this newer phase of personal movies, the mood of the film is not only sustained, but amplified, so that, after the projection, one wonders which of the three — film, music or words — one will longest remember." Movie Makers, Dec. 1940, 599-600.
"Film is made up of a variety of short segments. Included is clip of a man fishing in an old mill stream, a New Year's Eve party, people toboganning and skiing, a time lapse of a cigarette burning, the Toronto skyline, and Niagara Falls" Archives of Ontario.
Total Pages: 299
Amateur Cinema