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The SaddlemakerGrant Crabtree 1961 16 minFrom Alberta's cowboy country, a story of a young girl's first love, a saddle. Every saddle that leaves Felmer Eamor's shop becomes a proud possession. In this film you sympathize with a fourteen-year-old girl's wish to have such a saddle, and the bluff she pulls to get it. -
Mathematics at Your FingertipsJohn Howe 1961 27 minIn today's classrooms various new ways are being tried to put children more at ease with numbers. This film shows one such system developed by a Belgian schoolmaster, Georges Cuisenaire. He carefully designed sets of coloured sticks to help children grasp simple mathematical relationships. (Originally released under the title Numbers in Colour.)
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The Embryonic Development of FishJ.V. Durden 1961 27 minA science doc on marine life. Using a microscope and time-lapse speeds, it illustrates the development of a zebra fish from fertilization to hatching. When released in 1961, it was one of the most complete accounts of fish embryology ever recorded.
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People of the RockClarke Daprato 1961 13 minThis film follows an Inuit family's journey to the North Rankin nickel mine. How the hunters became bulldozer and machine operators is explained.
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Dance SquaredRené Jodoin 1961 3 minThis film is an encounter with geometrical shapes, which children can readily understand and enjoy. As the title suggests, Dance Squared employs movement, colour and music to explore the symmetries of the square. Every movement of the square and its components presents an opportunity to observe its geometrical properties in a way that is intriguing to young minds.
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Yukon Old, Yukon NewJohn Howe 1961 19 minThe old spirit of the Yukon returns as Dawson City prepares for its Discovery Day celebrations. Witness a round of nostalgic scenes: a main street parade, refurbished saloons, the can-can. Time recedes as the film explores the hazardous mountain passes and the golden creek of Eldorado.
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One Sunday in CanadaGilles Carle 1961 27 minOne Sunday in Canada visits an Italian community in the northwest sector of Montreal, where about half of the city's 150,000 Italians live. In the new suburbs where they are settling, the streets may have names like Venice, Naples, Genoa; and wherever men and women gather, there is the ebullience characteristic of the Latin. This is a Sunday on which special observances are held at the Italian church of Madonna della Difesa, and it is also the Sunday when Montreal's Cantalia soccer team challenges Toronto's Italia. A very human story of people adapting to life in a new environment.
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Sea SpritesRoger Blais 1961 5 minA group of young women at Québec City display the synchronized swimming that made them Canadian champions. All amateurs, swimming for exercise, fun and relaxation, these balletic mermaids have an impressive collection of trophies.
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Journey from ZeroRoger Blais 1961 13 minA journey northward from Mile Zero, where the Alaska Highway begins, through mountain wilderness. This film covers the route of the travelling library van, a free book service of the Public Library Commission of British Columbia. To oil towns, army bases, mining camps and scattered settlements, the bookmobile delivers a wide assortment of reading material.
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The Global Struggle for Food1961 28 minA progress report on efforts to find new ways of feeding the Earth's swelling population. Water control, land redistribution and agricultural advances of all kinds are shown as examples of gains being made to stem the tide of hunger.
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France on a PebbleClaude Fournier & Gilles Groulx 1961 29 minThe 4,000 inhabitants of the archipelago of Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon describe it as a caillou—a tiny rock on which they live, lost in the shadow of Newfoundland. There is something mysterious and inexplicable about this extension of faraway France. In broad strokes, the film paints a picture of this insular population, revealing their history, daily lives and singular character.
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Charles Tupper: The Big ManMorten Parker 1961 28 minThis short historical reenactment is a portrait of Canadian Father of Confederation Charles Tupper. The film harks back to a time when the idea of a federal union was still hotly debated, when it was unclear whether Nova Scotia would come in or remain out. It studies a bigger-than-life politician who won over both his bitterest opponent, Joseph Howe, and the people of this Maritime province, to finally lead Nova Scotia into the Canadian Confederation in 1867.
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Cattle RanchGuy L. Coté 1961 19 minThis short documentary offers a portrait of life on a cattle ranch, for both its human and animal inhabitants. Featuring sprightly music by folk singer Pete Seeger and narration by theatre actress Frances Hyland, the film is shot through the seasons on a large Canadian cattle ranch near Kamloops, British Columbia. With hundreds of cows and calves on the ranch, there’s no shortage of work to be done: soil cultivation and crop maintenance are taken care of by seasonal ranch hands while the resident cowboys—“anxious guardians”—brand and breed their bovine charges.
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Festival in Puerto RicoWolf Koenig & Roman Kroitor 1961 27 minThis short documentary features Canadian contralto Maureen Forrester as she sings at the Festival Casals, a musical event founded by the great Spanish cellist and conductor Pablo Casals and sponsored annually by the Puerto Rican government. Part concert film, part tourism film, Festival in Puerto Rico offers viewers candid glimpses of mid-20th century Puerto Rico intercut with performance footage of Forrester and her husband, violinist-conductor Eugene Kash.
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Morning on the LièvreDavid Bairstow 1961 13 minThis short film offers a picturesque tour through the maple-wooded hills alongside Québec's Lièvre River in autumn to the accompaniment of acclaimed poet Archibald Lampman’s poems including Morning on the Lièvre. Trees are ablaze with colour, and their splendor is reflected in the mirrored surfaces of the water, offering a glimpse of the landscape Lampman knew so well through the poet’s eyes and words. Lampman’s poem is read by broadcaster and poet George Whalley, with accompanying score by composer Eldon Rathburn.
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New York Lightboard RecordNorman McLaren 1961 7 minThis short documentary is a film about a film. In 1961, Norman McLaren produced a record of New Yorkers watching his short animation New York Lightboard in action in Times Square. The film within this film was produced as a promotion of travel and tourism in Canada. New York Lightboard Record depicts the reactions—awe, confusion, amusement—of onlookers and passersby.
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New York LightboardNorman McLaren 1961 9 minThis short animation of linear symbols made from paper cutouts was created as a Canadian tourism publicity clip. Projected in New York's Times Square, the large signboard was made up of thousands of light bulbs activated by the film images. The film promotes the attractions of the country: the Montreal Jazz Festival, the Calgary Stampede, winter sports, the Canadian Rockies and more, all in McLaren's signature irreverent and playful style.
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Self-Portrait: Part 4Guy Glover 1961 31 minThis short compilation, the fourth of a five-part series, features excerpts from memorable NFB films produced from 1939 to 1960. Commentary between excerpts notes the significant characteristics of each film's style and subject. Included in this volume are excerpts from Corral, The Grievance, Jolifou Inn, Monkey on the Back, Blinkity-Blank, World in a Marsh, Canadian Profile, The Sceptre and the Mace and City of Gold.
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John A. Macdonald: The Impossible IdeaGordon Burwash 1961 27 minThis short fiction film tells the story of John A. MacDonald’s rise to power. Canada’s first Prime Minister and one of the Fathers of the Confederation, MacDonald didn’t enjoy an easy political career. When he first shared his vision of a Dominion reaching from sea to sea – an audacious proposal regarded as uncertain even by his supporters – his opponents derided him. “The fox is out of tricks," they taunted. "Bankrupt of ideas, he offers us clouds." This film offers us a memorable flashback
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Babine River Story1961 6 minThis short documentary illustrates the work of the Department of Fisheries in combatting the problems caused by a rockslide in British Columbia’s Babine River during the annual salmon run.
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Joseph Howe: The Tribune of Nova ScotiaJulian Biggs 1961 28 minThis short drama is a portrait of Nova Scotian journalist and politician Joseph Howe (1804-1873) and his battle for freedom of press. When, in 1835, Howe was accused of seditious libel, no lawyer dared defend him. Choosing to defend himself, he addressed the jury for over 6 hours, urging jurors to leave an unshackled press as a legacy to their children. Though the judge instructed the jury to find Howe guilty, jurors took only 10 minutes to acquit him - a landmark event in the evolution of press freedom in Canada.
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Of Sport and Men1961 58 minThis feature documentary is all about sports. Here, sport is seen as a lesson in courage and discipline, and a peculiar form of beauty. The film covers 5 great sporting events. Part 1 covers the Tour de France bicycle race, the sports car race at Sebring, Florida, and the Spanish bullring. Part 2 covers British soccer and Canadian hockey.
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Angkor, the Lost CityRoger Blais & Morten Parker 1961 12 minA pictorial essay on the ruins of the ancient city of Angkor. The greatest assembly of sculpture the world has ever known--a whole metropolis of palaces and temples, recovered from the jungle. Six hundred monuments, picture-tapestries in stone, and Angkor-Vat, a mile-square temple of grey sandstone, reveal the glories of the Khmers, ancestors of today's Cambodians.
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Lord DurhamJohn Howe 1961 28 minThis short drama is a portrait of colonial administrator, Governor General and statesman Lord Durham (1792-1840). When Durham recommended self-government in Canada, he closed the door on his own political success. But in the end, the policies he declared for Canada became the pattern for self-rule in the rest of the Commonwealth.
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Louis-Joseph Papineau: The Demi-GodLouis-Georges Carrier 1961 26 minThis short drama is a portrait of Quebec lawyer and politician Louis-Joseph Papineau (1786-1871). A proud, defiant man, skillful in parliamentary debate, and Speaker of the Lower House, his heart was with the people being pillaged by the business elite. When legislation became the instrument of private advantage, Papineau brought government to a standstill.
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Opening Speech: McLarenNorman McLaren 1961 6 minIn this short film, Norman McLaren is literally caught by his own film tricks. As he attempts to welcome an audience, he is frustrated by an animated microphone with a will of its own.
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William Lyon Mackenzie: A Friend to His CountryJulian Biggs 1961 28 minThis documentary short is a portrait of Scottish-born journalist, politician, and rebellion leader William Lyon McKenzie. The first mayor of Toronto, he was an important leader during the 1837 Upper Canada Rebellion. This film portrays his election, his later defeat, his exile, and his fight for responsible government.
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WrestlingMichel Brault , Claude Jutra , … 1961 27 minA candid-camera view of professional wrestling as seen in the Montréal Forum, where some of the biggest bouts are staged, and in back-street wrestling parlors where the warriors practice their art. Nothing escapes the probing camera as well-muscled tyros grapple, punch, squirm, roar and grimace, adding their own variations of showmanship to amuse and excite the crowd.
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Robert Baldwin: A Matter of PrincipleJohn Howe 1961 31 minThis film is a reconstruction of Robert Baldwin’s involvement in the Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837. Though bound to the cause of constitutional reform by principle, Baldwin’s heart was with the rebels and in the midst of armed revolt, he withdrew to fight a lonely battle with himself.
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River with a ProblemGraham Parker 1961 28 minA film on water pollution, using the Ottawa River as an example of what happens when a river is used as a dumping place for municipal and industrial waste. Colour animation illustrates exactly what happens to river water as it becomes polluted. Engineers, health authorities and civic officials voice concern over this urgent problem.
