"Unsung Heroes, produced by The Calvin Company, has just about everything that a good industrial film ought to have. It is entirely in color, and the exposures are excellent, particularly in many shots of technical operations in the plant, which are ordinarily considered difficult. The subject embraces the manufacture, testing and rigid inspection of the component parts of a modern electric refrigerator. It is presented in a smooth, comprehensive way, with well delivered commentary and good incidental music,specially arranged to point up the action. The opening sequence, which shows a lip synchronized effect on a traveling outdoor shot, is unusually well done. However, the relation between this sequence and the rest of the film should have been more closely established." Movie Makers, Dec. 1941, 568.
"Unsung Heroes tells of the extreme care used in manufacturing electric refrigerators and of the exacting tests for durability, accuracy and silence of operation. Although the film is based on the familiar "trip through the factory" pattern, it has great interest for consumer audiences." Movie Makers, Jan. 1942, 8.
"a sogg. lungh. norm."/feature-length feature film
“Uno della Montagna è l’esaltazione della lotta dell’uomo contro la natura. La montagna (è questa la leggenda) colpisce con la morte tutti quelli che tentano conquistarla. A valle gli uomini e gli animali vivono nella più catastrofica miseria, mentre al di là della sommità vi è un “Alpe” intatto: è necessario trovarne il valico. Esso offrirà alle popolazioni affamate nuove e più fertili,. Due giovani animosi, attraverso non poche peripezie, tentano l’impresa ed uno di essi, più coraggioso e più generoso dell’altro, che abbandona il compagno in un momneto difficile, porta a termina la scalata fra l’esultanza dei valligiani. La vicenda è animata da una delicata storia d’amore.”
“One of the Mountain is the exaltation of the struggle of man against nature. The mountain (this is the legend) punish by death all those who attempt to conquer it. In the valley, men and animals live in the most catastrophic misery, while beyond the summit there is an intact “Refuge”: it is necessary to find the pass. It will offer new and more fertile land to the starving populations. Two courageous young men, through many vicissitudes, attempt the enterprise and one of them, more courageous and generous than the other, who abandons his companion in a difficult moment, completes the climb to the exultation of the valley dwellers. The episode is animated by a delicate love story."
—Notizario delle sezioni cinematografiche dei gruppi universitari fascisti a cura del ministero della cultura popolare, September 1938 p. 10
"This was a story by animated drawings. It was of the fairy tale type, but well executed, well handled and convincingly portrayed. Sakamoto deserves special commendation for his patience and for the splendid completion of a very difficult task." American Cinematographer, Feb. 1936, 73.
"The Unexpected, by Ernest H. Kremer, is that rara avis of the amateur movie world, a perfectly produced and universally entertaining family film. It is no secret, surely, that taking pictures of one's family outranks all other reasons prompting a home filmer to buy his camera. It is an equally open secret that the results, generally, are those that only a mother could love. Judged impersonally and by even the simplest movie standards, the technique is sloppy, camera treatment dull and continuity non-existent. But now, with The Unexpected, family film making takes on new stature and its apostles may speak with new pride. The picture tells a simple tale: A man arrives home and finds a note from his wife. Unexpectedly, she writes, she has been called to the city, but there is food in the icebox, et cetera, etc. Later that evening, after a suavely developed interlude of husbandly miming, the wife returns and announces that she expects a baby. The rest of the rewardingly short reel records early activities in the life of the infant, capped by a swift and comic climax. A simple tale, but superbly told. Mr. Kremer's technical skill, developed through years of competent 8mm. work, is more than a match for this, his first 16mm. production. Perhaps most outstanding among the picture's many fine points is its admirable economy of footage. Running a scant 325 feet of film, it has a sense of pace regrettably rare in amateur movies. Mr. Kremer, for example, recognizes the lap dissolve as a spatial transition, not a specious ornament — and he uses it as such with telling effect. His editing is crisp, his camera treatment incisive and his continuity planned and purposeful. The Unexpected, in proving that excellence can join hands with the hearthside, should be a ringing challenge to all family filmers." Movie Makers, Dec. 1948, 474-475.
"The current and widespread revival of interest in cycling is the subject of Under Your Own Power, by Sidney Moritz. Carefully planned, attractively photographed in color and neatly edited, the production is a pleasing and happy record of bright days in the summer sun. Mr. Moritz has shrewdly remembered in his film the predominant human interest of this leisured sport, as well as the lovely scenic vistas to which it leads, and has embroidered both of these subjects with distinctive angles and some successful "effect" shots framed by cycle wheels. Amusing, effective and well worded titles in color round out this highly entertaining etude of modern wheeling." Movie Makers, Dec. 1937, 630.
"Under the Maple Leaf, a new version of the perennial Canadian travel study by Hamilton H. Jones, ACL, is more beautiful and even more satisfying than its forerunners. Ineligible for current Ten Best, because of the fact that a small part of the present material has been viewed and listed in previous selections, the new release is included in the Honorable Mention category as a tribute to the dexterity with which the material, old and new, has been combined and the high quality of the added color sequences. The same flawless photography and clever sequencing which marked previous versions are again present. The disc sound accompaniment (in revised form) is deftly handled, making a thrilling addition to the film. Color is interspersed successfully with black and white sequences in a way that seems to obviate criticism of the mixture." Movie Makers, Dec. 1935, 553.
"Under the Maple Leaf, by Hamilton H. Jones, ACL, is a partially refilmed and entirely reedited version of last year's award winner, Canadian Capers. A splendid picture a year ago, its new and additional sequences now bring to the film a photographic beauty plainly of the very first rank. A sequence of the morning mist rising from a lake deserves particular mention. Mr. Jones's considerable skill with his camera has increased in stature and may not yet have reached its full flowering. For this accomplishment his work has been given a place of honor in these selections. In the reluctant estimation of the judges, however, the editing and cutting of Under the Maple Leaf so far lagged behind its generally matchless beauty as to rob the film of its fullest emotional power. This factor only prevented Mr. Jones from repeating this year his full triumph of a year ago." Movie Makers, Dec. 1933, 523-524.
"Under the Kurrajong tells the story of a professional man who takes a day off to enjoy his favorite avocation, painting, in the nearby woods. Deep in the forest be stumbles upon an old grave and from the inscription he imagines the action that might have taken place more than a half century before" PSA Journal, Sept. 1966, 34.
"Under Sheltering Skies reminds us that the Africa of today will not exist much longer because of the many forces of change working against it. Poaches are attacking the abundant wild life, and the civilization is remolding village huts and village life. Here, then, is a look at the Africa today from the village to the wild life sanctuary where wild animals still roam. Flawless photography gives this film a unique charm and judicious cutting lets us see only the finest shots of numerous animals still roaming "under sheltering skies" PSA Journal, Sept. 1964, 50.
Después de que su padre parte al trabajo, un pequeño niño debe llevarle pan y vino. Sin embargo, el niño se toma mucho tiempo vistiéndose y jugando con una botella en un lago. Su madre le pide apurarse y en el camino el niño bebe el vino y rellena la botella con agua, se esconde para ver a una pareja besarse, le da a su padre el pan y después interrumpe a unos niños jugando. Mientras juegan a esconderse, él se lleva a una niña lejos y la besa, para después seguir huyendo y esconderse en un establo momentáneamente. Al caminar hacia las vías del tren, piensa en todo lo que ha hecho, y se acuesta ahí con los ojos vendados pero al reflexionar sobre sus acciones decide regresar a casa con su madre.
After his father leaves for work, a little kid has to bring him bread and wine. However he takes his time getting dressed and playing with a bottle in a lake, then his mother prompts him to hurry and on the road he drinks the wine and re-fills the bottle with water, he watches a couple kissing, then he gives his father the bread and interrupts some kids playing, then while playing hide and seek he takes a girl far away and kisses her and he keeps running away, staying hidden in a barn for a while. Then he walks to the train tracks and starts thinking of all he has done, so he lays there with his eyes blind folded but after thinking about his doings he goes back home to his mother.
Total Pages: 299
Amateur Cinema