Ange ou démon

This short doc is a novel look at driver safety and the consequences of a change from Jekyll to Hyde behind the wheel of a car. A truck driver explains why this transformation threatens everybody on the road. He points out that the people responsible for traffic accidents may be mild-mannered on the sidewalk, but that they turn into reckless speed demons on the road. To prove his point, he takes us on a breathtaking ride with one such driver.

This short animated film takes an amusing look at city dwellers' obsessive dependence on the automobile. Just as he does every morning, a man is preparing to jump into his car and head off to work when the remote control gizmo refuses to cooperate. The key won't unlock the door! Some helpful passersby suggest several solutions, but our stubborn hero turns a deaf ear. Will he get to work on time?

This short film from 1960 highlights some of the modern navigational aids that have alleviated some of the problems in arctic navigation. With increased interest in northern resources, there's renewed interest in devising safe and efficient methods of exploration and transportation.

These vignettes from 1951 covered various aspects of life in Canada and were shown in theatres across the country. Subjects included here are the S.S. Lurcher, an anchored boat that serves as both lighthouse and weather station; a 3-day celebration in Windsor, Ontario, to commemorate the freeing of American slaves; and British Columbia’s fabulous Sullivan Mine, where vast quantities of lead and zinc are being blasted from the belly of a mountain.

October, November ... rough driving days ahead. Winter Driving: Keep Your Cool presents helpful information on how to cope with winter-driving conditions. Starting with the assumption that people are familiar with such general safe-driving habits as fastening seatbelts and maintaining their cars in good working order, a series of winter-driving dos and don'ts clearly put the driver on the right track.

This film shows a complicated three-year engineering project leading to the destruction of Ripple Rock, a deathtrap in the shipping lane between Vancouver Island and the mainland. Also shown are tunnelling beneath the ocean floor of Seymour Narrows, the placing of the explosives and a close-up view of the successful explosion in 1958.

This 30-minute short takes you on adventures of discovery in the company of outstanding scientists and humanists, each of whom discuss and explain their particular field of research. Directed by David Bairstow in 1959.

This short film features the adventures of a group of businessmen who are forced into taking French lessons to stay competitive in their field. At first put out by this news, one by one they begin to realize that gaining fluency in another language has its benefits. Produced in 1965, the film, intended as a good-natured spoof, is definitely a product of its time.

This short documentary joins radio satirist Max Ferguson at the microphone as he creates his weekday-morning program for the CBC. Shot inside his broadcasting booth, the film watches and records as Max ad-libs his way through zany interpretations of news events, with only the morning paper and his wit to guide him.

A documentary account of the five-week visit of Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh to Canada and the United States in the fall of 1951. Stops on the royal tour include Québec City, the National War Memorial in Ottawa, the Trenton Air Force Base in Toronto, a performance of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet in Regina and visits to Calgary and Edmonton. The royal train crosses the Rockies and makes stops in several small towns. The royal couple boards HMCS Crusader in Vancouver and watches Native dances in Thunderbird Park, Victoria. They are then welcomed to the United States by President Truman. The remainder of the journey includes visits to Montreal, the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, a steel mill in Sydney, Nova Scotia and Portugal Cove, Newfoundland.

For more background information about this film, please visit the NFB.ca blog.

Chicago Black Hawks hockey star Stan Mikita visits his native Czechoslovakia for a family reunion in this 1968 documentary. The cameras follow him over the course of a day and evening as he and his wife and daughter travel to Prague and the small village of Sokolce, where he was born. We get a good glimpse of Czech life, and the enthusiasm that exists for the sport of hockey.