"Behind the Scenes was filmed by Mildred J. Caldwell while the Long Beach Cinema Club was making Fire From the Skies, a civilian defense movie. This production skillfully presents an entertaining record of the problems and the confusion that beset amateur motion picture activities, and it shows how a successful picture can be produced in spite of them." Movie Makers, Dec. 1943, 477.
"Made to support a Community Chest campaign, Behind the Red Feather shows how various social welfare agencies in a community help to forestall juvenile delinquency, care for the aged, the sick and the poor and, in general, make a town a better place to live in. As a connecting link between a necessarily episodic series of sequences, a red feather, the Community Chest symbol, floats into the opening scene of the activities of each agency. Walter Bergmann has recorded this community project with understanding and warmth, and Ralph Bellamy contributed his services in recording on disc an excellently written narrative." Movie Makers, Dec. 1947, 536.
"Behind the Headlines tells us, in wide screen, how a newspaper is put together. Well paced" PSA Journal, Aug. 1967, 37.
"To produce a clear explanation of just how the modern dial telephone works is a task that would tax any movie maker's ability, or even the united capabilities of any two filmers. Yet, when Kenneth Bloomer and Robert Orr. jr., pooled their movie making and telephone engineering knowledge to make Behind the Dial, they produced one of the most competent technical films that Movie Makers staff has ever seen. Clear, flawless photography, combined with a script that was worked out with infinite care, makes the story interesting and complete. Particularly effective are the sequences of the operation of the automatic machinery of the dial systems, in which shots of the encased mechanisms dissolve into scenes of the same mechanisms after the cases have been removed. The camera achieves the effect of an X-ray in revealing what actually happens within a maze of machinery to make the dial system possible. The film represents a tremendous amount of labor and planning, for much of the equipment shown had to be filmed at the telephone office late at night when the traffic was very light. This is a documentary film of both educational and entertainment value." Movie Makers, Dec. 1937, 628-629.
"Paul Thompson's Behind the Bale would be an amazing performance for a large studio, equipped with many facilities and numerous staff members, and this is true by reason of the exceedingly careful collaboration between the film editor and the comment writer. For a small producer of industrial pictures, Behind the Bale is a triumph in the technique of post recording, as well as a beautifully made picture that would stand on its own feet without narration and with relatively few titles. A Northwest brewer wishes to make it clear that the quality of hops has much to do with the quality of beer. Therefore, Mr. Thompson shows us the Yakima (Wash.) Valley briefly and then gets down to the special crop which the film pictures. We follow hops through planting, growing, picking and baling, in a Kodachromatic exposition that has rare beauty, and we end with four men enjoying the beer of Mr. Thompson's client. In the entire course of this fine piece of cinematography, there is a wizardry of cutting the film to fit the narration — and the reverse — that produces exposition timed with scene in a fashion that would do credit to the best industrial filmers anywhere." Movie Makers, Dec. 1941, 564.
"Amateur filmmaker H.A.V. Bulleid spins a web of intrigue in a feature-length tale that pits British secret servicemen against Russian agents desperate to obtain a top secret document. When Agent Malloon (Michael Kitchin) is given the task of protecting top-secret plans of utmost international importance, Jim Weston (Stephen Bostock) and Vernon Stone (Sinclair Loutit) - Malloon's closest friends - are busy competing for the affections of his sister, Jill (Carrie Hopkinson). Seemingly a hapless idiot, Weston is in fact a secret service detective, acting the fool in order to dupe Stone, a Russian super-spy. And when Stone and his Russian associates beat Malloon unconscious and steal the documents, it is up to Weston to lead the charge as car chases and deadly fist fights ensue. But can Jim Weston retrieve the papers, save the nation and - most importantly - finally conquer Jill Malloon's heart?" (EAFA Database).
"Produced several years before the historic Stonewall uprising for LGBT rights in 1969, director Nikolai Ursin's gently-activist short Behind Every Good Man (c. 1967) provides an illuminating glimpse into the life of an African-American trans woman. In strong contrast to the stereotypically negative and hostile depictions of transgender persons as seen through the lens of Hollywood at the time, the subject of Ursin's independent film is rendered as stable, hopeful and well-adjusted. The resulting intimate portrait serves as a rare cultural artifact of transgender life and African-American life in the U.S. at the mid-century," UCLA Film & Television Archive.
After celebrating his fourth wedding anniversary, a man becomes obsessed with building a homemade weapon of mass destruction. The man's efforts reach a breakthrough after the couple celebrates their fifth anniversary.
"When the schooner yacht Enchantress put out from San Pedro for a five weeks' marlin fishing cruise in the Gulf of Lower California, fortunately James H. McCarthy was on board with camera, Kodachrome and a filming plan. The result was Before the Wind, as happy a movie yarn of a pleasure cruise as we have ever seen. A spirit of jollity and a general good time pervade this chronicle, which is adequately strung on the thread of a series of entries in the ship's log of the Enchantress. This casual continuity is entirely sufficient, for each episode is beautifully sequenced, and the whole film reflects a consistent happy go lucky holiday spirit. Exquisite shots of the schooner in translucent California Gulf waters, numerous studies of ship life, handsomely lighted interior views in cabins and engine room are all technical accomplishments in this picture. The sequences of marlin fishing and of clam digging on the Mexican shore are gems of good film planning and good cutting. The movie is presented with an intelligently planned musical accompaniment that really fits the film, but it is the natural handling of sequences of people on a carefree sea vacation that makes this picture superb entertainment." Movie Makers, Dec. 1940, 577.
Total Pages: 299
Amateur Cinema