"An achieved simplicity in presenting a complex idea is the outstanding accomplishment that wins for the National Oil Products Company an honorable mention for its film. This picture presents the necessity for Vitamin "D" in the food of children and gives the highlights of preparing the Nopco product containing this essential food element. This picture, directed by Ralph Wechsler and photographed by Arnold M. Hill, ACL, follows the safely conventional presentation of industrial film messages in its continuity methods, its use of animated diagrams and its description of ultimate consumer usage. Working within this pattern, the makers of the picture have done extraordinarily well whatever they attempted. The continuity flows so smoothly as to be unperceived unless by a critically inclined observer; the animated diagrams are clear, well executed and strictly limited to the bare necessities of making the idea entirely evident; the photography is unexceptionable in nearly one hundred per cent of the film. This product of the joint efforts of an intelligent director, a very capable cinematographer and a fully cooperating industrial concern shows how perfect a practical film may be if real care is devoted to its making." Movie Makers, Dec. 1933, 522-523.
Scientific documentary
Symbiosis and protective systems of decapods
È un film scientifico che nella cornice di visioni di suggestiva bellezza, dei fondi marini, tratta dei sistemi di protezione e delle simbiosi di alcuni decapodi. È il primo film scientifico a passo ridotto che sia stato finora realizzato su questo argomento.
Questo film è stato realizzato nella Stazione Zoologica di Napoli, in tre mesi di assiduo lavoro e con ore ed ore di paziente attesa, subordinata alla capricciosa volontà di questi interessantissimi attori.
This is a scientific film that, within the frame of visions of suggestive beauty, of the depths of the sea, deals with the systems of protection and with the symbiosis of some decapods. It is the first scientific small-gauge film that has been made on this subject until now.
This film was made in the Zoological Station of Naples, in three months of assiduous work and with hours and hours of patient waiting, subordinated to the capricious will of these interesting actors.
—Notizario delle sezioni cinematografiche dei gruppi universitari fascisti a cura del ministero della cultura popolare, September 1938 p. 11
"doc. scientifico"/scientific documentary
"a soggetto"/fiction
Vita, regia di Enrico Parnigotto e Fernando De Marzi. L'azione del film ha luogo in un'officina, e la trama e imperniata sulla figura di un operaio la cui moglie attende di essere madre. Egli va al lavoro come ogni mattina ma appare piuttosto preoccupato fino a ehe gli giunge la notizia della nascita di un maschio e il direttore della azienda gli concede libera uscita. L'azione è narrata con molta semplicita, e pur procedendo in taluni punti con qualche incertezza, non manca di qualche inquadratura efficace.
Vita, directed by Enrico Parnigotto and Fernando De Marzi. The action of the film takes place in a workshop, and the plot hinges on the figure of a worker whose wife is waiting to be a mother. He goes to work as every morning but appears rather worried until he gets the news of the birth of a boy and the director of the company grants him leave. The action is narrated with much simplicity, and while proceeding at some points with some uncertainty, does not lack some effective framing.
—Il ventuno 26 (Review of the G.U.F. of Venice) March 1935
"The visitor gains entrance to use the telephone. He is a person of strange power. Everything in the house feels and responds to his ghostly presence. After much apprehension, the housewife persuades him to leave; the spell is broken" PSA Journal, Nov. 1960, 42.
"It is a late fall day, blustery and bleak, just before the first snow. The visit by the Angel of Death is heralded by the blowing leaves and the lonesome cry of the starlings. Dramatic camera work and original music scoring create the suspense and drama of this story in a setting of an old New England state in the early 1900s. This highly imaginative film by John Riley was awarded the MPD Student film Award" PSA Journal, Oct. 1963, 41.
Total Pages: 299
Amateur Cinema