"The story concerns an incident involving a psychopathic criminal at large. It is told by a radio narrator during his nightly program and through flashbacks of the action itself. All action takes place at night, which placed an added burden on the abilities of Cowart. Nevertheless, his lighting of the night shots, both indoors and out are as good as one sees in theatre films today. The closeups of the radio narrator could be cut a little tighter, thus speeding up the pace, but that is about the only serious criticism one can find with this unusual amateur production." American Cinematographer, May. 1952, 222.
"The film opens with an introduction to some of the animals and insects that may be found in the remote countryside, all enjoying themselves in the warm sun. Suddenly a storm gathers and the wild life begin to show anxiety a sort of expectancy as the trees respond to the winds. The fury of the story is upon us - lighting, thunder, wind, rain. The elements are present in full force. Soon it is spent and quietude is again part of the country. A simple episode of nature, but told with action, feeling, and sound, coordinated into a wonderful storm. This is will be included in the Package" PSA Journal, Oct. 1962, 33.
"Although there is no actual violence portrayed in this psychological thriller, Storm Due — in which a young wife discovers her husband to be a murderer — is instinct with mounting tension and terror. Francis J. Barrett's film is a potent combination of several related elements. Wedded almost as one are dramatic, hard-hitting camera angles and the visual stimulus of brilliant, low-key lighting. Acting of theatrical calibre by the young wife is accented by an off-stage voice which underlines her fears — a technique that suggests a loan from the best in modern radio. A taut continuity only hints at the story line as it hurries through this exciting evocation of violence. This very economy of dramatic exposition, in fact, will make Storm Due an unpopular and often misunderstood production. For these reviewers, however, it remains creative cinema of a very high order." Movie Makers, Dec. 1949, 454-455.
"Stop the Projector, I Want To Get Off features James Weatherburn as the bumbling projectionist who is trying to learn how to run one of the fool contraptions. His attempts are not quite all-out comedy, yet his antics are amusing, and anyone who remembers the day he first tried to run one of these complicated machines will be amused at someone else's interpretation of what the sensation is like" PSA Journal, Sept. 1966, 35.
"Our hero discovers a way to make 'clones' of himself and puts on a show – including four clones singing a barbershop quartet." Oldfilm.org
"The Stones of Eden is a documentary on the modern day life of a common wheat farmer in Afghanistan. Today he ekes out his living about the same as he did 2000 years ago. We see him fasten the yoke to his oxen and till the hard dry soil with a primitive plow. Five times a day he stops to kneel in prayer, no matter where he is. We see the grinding of wheat and the baking of bread. At the village the farmer exchanges his wheat for a few necessities, then leaves the village, his only contact with the 20th Century, for his fortified walls of stone to keep out wild animals, human enemies, and other fears. The film won the MPD Student Film Award" PSA Journal, Sept. 1965, 50.
"Stillborn, also winner of the MPD Student Film award for the best film made by a student enrolled in a college course in cinematography, is an experimental film at times abstract in its execution. It tells the story of a boy and girl who meet out in the middle of nowhere. As he looks upon the young girl's face he imagines what life with her might be like. His imagination runs wild as he thinks of the blissful episodes such as marriage would bring, as well as the entrapment he could suffer. At film's end he makes his decision. Use of the negative image for one sequence is extremely effective" PSA Journal, Sept. 1966, 34.
"Working still in the same lyric mood which inspired In The Beginning and Consider The Lilies (place winners of earlier years), Fred C. Ells has turned this year to the Twenty Third Psalm for the theme of Still Waters. In it, to use his own words, he has tried "to bring to mind some of the beauties of the natural world, and to make the spectator conscious in some small way of the mysterious, wonderfully planned creation in which we live. The picture is pure lyric from start to finish, with no more continuity than a love song." Mr. Ells has, on occasion, been thrillingly successful in fulfilling this high charge, bringing to the screen some of the most stirring beauty it would seem possible to recreate. The cumulative effect of the relatively short study, however, is weakened by imperfect technique in the preparation of the Biblical title wordings." Movie Makers, Dec. 1938, 620.
"The romance and color of a trip down the Ohio River on one of the Greene Lines few remaining flat bottomed passenger steamers are used to good advantage by Sidney Moritz in Sternwheeler Odyssey. The variety of the passing landscape, stops at wharves en route, with all the confusion of ropes, cargo and roustabouts, and general views of the stately river traffic plying the waterways gives this friendly little picture a touch of glamour. On board, the passengers and crew including "Ma" Greene, America's only woman river captain, present lively camera material. The churning paddle wheel, filmed from various angles, and the cascading waters that flatten into arcs of waves in the wake of the boat, become a motif that sustains the feeling of a ship in motion throughout the picture." Movie Makers, Dec. 1942, 508.
Total Pages: 299
Amateur Cinema