Sacrée montagne - La ligne 11, la nuit

Croisés sur le belvédère du mont Royal, une dizaine de passants ont accepté de réciter une prière dans leur langue et croyance respectives.

The Eye Witness series is a collection of short documentaries featuring Canadian news stories from the 1940s and '50s. This segment includes Prairie Harbour: The Port of Flowing Grain, a look at the lakehead cities of Fort William and Port Arthur, funnelling centres for western grain on its way to world markets. In Modern Miracle: Surgery is Safe, the appendectomy of patient Henry Brown demonstrates the advances in modern medicine. Co-Op Carpenters: Home-Made Community illustrates the principles behind the cooperative housing program for veterans in Carleton Heights near Ottawa.

This short documentary examines the complex range of issues affecting urban transport in developing countries. After examining cost and available technology, as well as the different needs of the industrialized middle class and the urban poor, the film proposes some surprising solutions.

A close-up of a snow-bound city, and the men, money and machinery it takes to dig it out.

Exercise Musk-Ox Finishes Three-Month Arctic Trek: A fifty-man team completes its research expedition to the Arctic. War-born Seaweed Industry Assures Peacetime Prosperity: In Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Irish moss is harvested and processed for use in the manufacture of a variety of products. Canada's Flying Wing Passes Flight Tests: Tests on the flying wing--an aircraft without motor or tail--are conducted in Ottawa by the National Research Council. Unique Design for Living Solves Housing Shortage: Veterans who are University of Saskatchewan students, and their families, live in barracks that have been converted into community apartments.

This short film from 1973 offers a report on Regina's successful experiment with dial-a-bus, a flexible service midway between a bus and a taxi. The idea is to provide passengers with door-to-destination transportation at an affordable cost.

This short film is a portrait of Montreal as seen from a local radio station's traffic helicopter. Freeways, interchanges, bridges and downtown arteries are laid out in miniature. A seething, teeming spectacle, this film presents a unique view of the city with comments by the traffic guide, Len Rowcliffe.

This short documentary features acclaimed author and activist Jane Jacobs' forthright, critical analysis of the problems and virtues of North American cities. Jacobs orients her fascinating observations around Toronto, to which she moved after leaving New York City because Toronto "is a city that still has options ... it hasn't made so many mistakes that it's bound to go downhill.” Her remarks, made in 1971, are prescient yet earnest and will interest all urban stakeholders. This colourful city film, accompanied by an upbeat, jazzy soundtrack, is a must-see for all civic and community groups—indeed, for all urban dwellers worldwide.

This feature documentary studies one of the city’s most visible yet most anonymous character: the taxi driver. Filmed by day and night, the film offers an entertaining and sometimes comical look at the drivers, fleet operators and dispatchers who are expected to deliver passengers, parcels… and even babies.

This short documentary is part of a series hosted by American historian, sociologist, philosopher of technology, and literary critic Lewis Mumford, who was particularly noted for his study of cities and urban architecture. This episode presents a study of an old but still-growing problem: how to ensure the city is accessible to all without allowing cars to make it congested and uninhabitable.

In a city the size of Montreal with thousands and thousands of motorized vehicles, traffic problems are difficult to solve. Here is a panorama of such problems. This film includes an interview with Mayor Jean Drapeau, when Montreal was still the metropolis of Canada.