"Down Mexico Way, by Lester F. Shaal. is a pleasing combination of travel, education and simple, stirring beauty. Beginning at the Providence (R. I.) railway station (the producer's home city), the film takes us swiftly by train to Mexico, D. F., the country's capital. After a tour of that metropolis, one visits in turn such popular tourist meccas as Xochimilco, San Juan Teotihuacan, Cuernavaca, Toluca, Taxco and others. An attractive map of Mexico, in color, introduces these several journeys and makes clear the geographical relations of the different towns. Mr. Shaal's camera work is tripod steady throughout, his compositions are pleasing and his musical scoring is an effective supplement. Of outstanding beauty are his sequences on golden, sunny Taxco and of the ancient, so often cloud shrouded, twin volcanos." Movie Makers, Dec. 1944, 495-496.
"The immaculate camera work, incisive editing and attractive titling of Frank E. Gunnell have flowered into a new and superior beauty in Down Mexico Way. Here, in two full reels which seem like less, are all the standard Mexican Meccas — the capital city, the pyramids of Teotihuacan, Cuernavaca and the rest — each suavely sequenced and beautifully filmed. Added to these is a wealth of human interest, in smoothly planned records of such odd Mexican folklore as the self threaded needle cut from a maguey cactus, or the red dye concealed in the silvery cochineal wood louse. Mr. Gunnell's most superb triumphs, however, are in his moody and magnificent studies of Xochimilco and Taxco, Mexican communities which have beckoned to countless movie makers, but which only a few have answered with genuine eloquence and distinction." Movie Makers, Dec. 1941, 563-564.
"The film opens at the Atheneum Club where members are playing cards. They talk about a man named Pierpont who has an interest in the supernatural and has invited them to a séance the following day. At the séance Pierpont welcomes the visitors and introduces a man called Horace who will be the séance medium. Having set the scene by playing music and dimming the lights, Pierpont hypnotizes Horace and puts him into a wooden box. The séance continues with questions being asked to Horace in the box. When there is no answer, Pierpont opens the box and announces that Horace is dead. The horrified guests leave and find the police. On their return to the room, they find that the body is missing and Pierpont is questioned. Horace returns to the room alive and one of the guests remarks that this should be a lesson to them all" (MACE Online Archive).
"Twin boys wreak havoc on a park when their dad falls asleep on their picnic." Sacramento Public Library.
"Describes locking devices and other means by which citizens can protect their homes. Emphasizes protection and prevention, and shows consequences of failure to provide security for homes." via WorldCat.
"Science fiction film influenced by the style of inter-war European art cinema." East Anglian Film Archive.
"Each year the contest sponsored by the American Society of Cinematographers through this magazine seems to bring forth a surprise. For several years the 8mm cinematrographers have been setting the pace, but never has any of them reached the goal achieved this year by Miss Ruth Stuart. Miss Stuart has been a contributor to this contest every year for the past three years; in 1933 she was given the medal for travel pictures. Her 200 ft. 16mm subject 'Doomsday' was also awarded honors in the British Institute of Amateur Cinematographers. In the American Society of Cinematographers contest just closed she was given a recognition for the Outstanding picture, in photography and Documentary pictures. It will be surprising to many that this unusual honor should befall a woman. Photography, by the unwritten law, is supposedly the realm of male species. Miss Stuart, however showed such a fine understanding of the value of pictures that move, how to fabricate these moving photographs into an interesting document that would hold any audience anywhere in the civilized world. For a person who films she must have developed a stony heart in order to cut as judiciously as the picture indicates. There is a tempo to the production that is very seldom achieved by an amateur. There are no obvious pet shots or scenes. Each sequence, each scene, each picture was left in production for a purpose to give it atmosphere to help the story along." American Cinematographer, Jan. 1937, 25.
"Well photographed, well planned film dealing with the contrasted fears of town and country folk and their reaction to catastrophe" (IAC 1975).
‘A fantasy based upon a fear which has preyed upon credulous minds from the beginning of time' is the maker's description of this ambitious attempt to show how people react to the possibility of a catastrophe and then to the real event. The story hinges upon a cosmic event that upsets the Earth's equilibrium, causes an imbalance of weather conditions and other natural forces, resulting in widespread panic’ (EAFA Database)."
"Doodlin' Along by W. L. Barton, a PSA member of Dallas, Texas. Bills clever idea with a "gimmick" toy and a prism lens and a combination of a title with a musical selection made a real shorty. You'll have to look quick so as not to miss this 1-minute 8mm film that was awarded an Honorable Mention" PSA Journal, Nov. 1971, 41
"Loosely scripted film in which people at play in a park are interrupted by an authority figure who prevents them from enjoying themselves. The actors include many friend of the filmmakers, such as artists Michael Morris, Robert DiCastro and Sally Gregson. Images on negative stock are incorporated into the film" (Duffy, 94).
"Esta cinta se basaba en una idea de David Celestinos de enviar a diversos equipos de filmación a desarrollar historias sobre lo que ocurre un domingo en la Ciudad de México de manera simultánea. El resultado fue interesante, en la medida en la que muestra la cotidianidad dominguera de diversos personajes que provienen de distintas clases sociales: un borracho llega con su compadre a la casa de la vecindad y es recibido de mala manera por la mujer, un grupo de juniors pasa el día en Cuernavaca, un hombre solitario recorre las calles y parques del centro de la Ciudad de México, un velador se aburre en el edificio que custodia, dos sirvientas pasan el día en Chapultepec, una familia clasemediera que va a misa y a pasar un día de campo... La cinta sigue el planteamiento hecho por el neorrealismo italiano de no convocar actores profesionales para presentar historias sencillas, ligeramente dramatizadas" (Vázquez Mantecón, 2012.
"This film was based in an idea by David Celestinos of sending diverse filming crews to develop stories about what happens simultaneously on a Sunday in Mexico City. The result was interesting since it showed the Sunday everydayness of diverse characters from different social classes: a drunk man arrives at his friend's house in a poor neighborhood and is received in a bad way by a woman, a group of juniors that spend their day in Cuernavaca, a lonely man that goes through the streets and parks of Mexico City, a night watchman that is bored in the building he is in charge of, two maids that spend the day in Chapultepec, a middle class family that goes to mass and to have a picnic... The film follows the idea posed by Italian Neorealism of not using professional actors to present simple stories, slightly staged" (Vázquez Mantecón, 2012).
Total Pages: 299
Amateur Cinema