Royal Journey

Royal Journey

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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.

The visit to Canada by Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh in 1951 was captured by the NFB on 35 mm colour film. What made this unique was that for the first time ever Eastmancolour film stock was used. This film stock, at the time not yet on the market, was affordable compared to Technicolor. It differed from standard film stock by not needing bright sunshine to render rich colours and could be used in cloudy weather, rain or snow.

Albert Ohayon
From the playlist: The 1950s: Television and the Move to Montreal

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Royal Journey, David Bairstow, Gudrun Parker & Roger Blais, provided by the National Film Board of Canada

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Credits
  • director
    David Bairstow
    Gudrun Parker
    Roger Blais
  • producer
    Tom Daly
  • script
    Leslie McFarlane
  • camera
    Osmond H. Borradaile
    Grant McLean
  • sound
    Joseph Champagne
  • editing
    Ronald Dick
    Victor Jobin
    Betty Brunke
  • sound editing
    Kenneth Heeley-Ray
  • narrator
    Elwood Glover
  • music
    Louis Applebaum

  • Appaloosaone

    This is a very good film, I highly recommend viewing. Very entertaining, wonderful views of Canada by air and especially train routes across Canada. It's nice to see the smoke trailing past from the train engines smoke stack. It should have received some kind of award or recognition in 1951.

    Appaloosaone, 23 Sep 2010
  • cjmeetham

    I only heard the commentaries on this royal visit on the BBC radio - it was very inspiring to a young girl. It is great to see this very colourful movie

    cjmeetham, 2 Jun 2010
  • leswill

    Very interesting look at Canada in 1951.

    leswill, 5 Feb 2010

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