Favourite Documentaries: 1896-1959
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- DirectorAuguste LumièreLouis LumièreStarsMadeleine KoehlerMarcel KoehlerMrs. Auguste LumiereA train arrives at La Ciotat station.
- DirectorWallace A. CarlsonStarsJohn Randolph BrayWallace A. CarlsonWallace Carlson walks viewers through the production of an animated short at Bray Studios.
- DirectorBenjamin ChristensenStarsBenjamin ChristensenElisabeth ChristensenMaren PedersenFictionalized documentary showing the evolution of witchcraft, from its pagan roots to its confusion with hysteria in Eastern Europe.
- DirectorWalter RuttmannStarsPaul von HindenburgThis movie shows us one day in Berlin, the rhythm of that time, starting at the earliest morning and ends in the deepest night.
- DirectorDziga VertovStarsMikhail KaufmanElizaveta SvilovaA man travels around a city with a camera slung over his shoulder, documenting urban life with dazzling invention.
- DirectorSergei EisensteinFootage of the aftermath of the January 14 1931 Earthquake in Oaxaca, Mexico.
- DirectorHugo LundStarsPete SmithA look at insect life through the lens of a microscope.
- StarsGayne WhitmanA look at the everyay life of Tahitian natives.
- DirectorHarry WattBasil WrightStarsArthur ClarkJohn GriersonStuart LeggShows the special train on which mail is sorted, dropped and collected on the run, and delivered in Scotland overnight.
- DirectorStuart LeggStarsLorne GreeneGérard ArthurWinston ChurchillThe people of Britain resist the German air force and navy with help from North America.
- DirectorFrank CapraAnthony VeillerStarsDouglas BaderArno BrekerWinston ChurchillThe official World War II US government account of Great Britain's stand against the Nazi war machine after the Dunkirk evacuation.
- DirectorGjon MiliStarsLester YoungGeorge 'Red' CallenderHarry EdisonCreated under the guidance of jazz impresario and Verve Records founder Norman Granz, this short captures the spontaneity of a jam session and is one of few film records of black jazzers of the day including tenor sax legend Lester Young.
- DirectorAlexander HammidMaya DerenTwo cats have a litter of 5 kittens and then nurse, teach and play with them.
- DirectorVan Campen HeilnerStarsKnox ManningBill McCormickGeorge PhillipsThis short documentary tells the story of Ontario, Canada's forest rangers who, with the aide of bush pilots, keep watch over the forests. Viewers see them fight a large forest fire that threatens the small village of Gogama.
- DirectorArthur BurrowsJean PalardyStarsRoger BauluJanette BertrandJuliette BéliveauA look at Montreal (in Canada), the world's largest French-speaking city after Paris, on a summer's night.
- DirectorPierre PetelStarsTherese CadoretteLucille CousineauGeorges Groulx-Documentary on Lafontaine Park in Montreal (Canada). There are black bears, foxes, wild cats, birds of prey; there are always children having fun under the watchful eye of parents, lovers and walkers. We meet people of all ages, all types, all genres, because every day all Montreal has appointment around the water of Lafontaine Park.
- DirectorJames H. SmithStarsJames A. FitzPatrickThis episode of Traveltalks visits the State of Virginia. In 1947, agriculture was the mainstay of economy. Tobacco, molasses from cane, and peanuts were the agricultural mainstays. The state capitol, Richmond, can boast the oldest legislature in the Western Hemisphere. There are many attractions including old caverns with beautiful rock displays.
- DirectorLeo HurwitzStarsAlfred DrakeMuriel SmithGary Merrill"Strange Victory" is about racial bias in post World War II America. Folowing "Native Land" in Leo Hurwitz' filmography, it uses some of the same techniques: dramatized scenes interspersed with scenes of compilation news reel footage, and scenes of evocative imagery. An epilogue about the civil rights movement, added in 1964 makes the arc of the film more complete.
- DirectorJacques Bobet
- DirectorDouglas Wilkinson
- DirectorThor HeyerdahlStarsThor HeyerdahlHerman WatzingerErik HesselbergA documentary about the Kon-Tiki expedition of the Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl.
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsDouglas EdwardsNat FleischerWalter CartierAfter a short study of boxing's history, narrated by newscaster Douglas Edwards, we follow a day in the life of a middleweight Irish boxer named Walter Cartier.
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsFred StadtmuellerBob HitePedroTwo days in the life of priest Father Fred Stadtmuller whose New Mexico parish is so large he can only spread goodness and light among his flock with the aid of a monoplane. The priestly pilot is seen dashing from one province to the next at the helm of his trusty Piper Cub administering guidance (his plane, the Flying Padre) to unruly children, sermonizing at funerals and flying a sickly child and its mother to a hospital.
- StarsJames A. FitzPatrickA Traveltalks entry visiting Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada. After checking into Jasper Park Lodge on the shore of Beauvert Lake, scenic areas are explored such as Mount Edith Cavell, Athabasca River and Glacier, and Maligne Lake.
- DirectorLeslie McFarlaneStarsJean BéliveauGordie HoweMaurice RichardThis film short from the NFB looks at Canada's national sport - hockey - and include footage from a game between the Montreal Canadiens and the Detroit Red Wings.
- DirectorRoman KroitorStarsPaul TomkowiczTommy TweedThe story of Polish immigrant Paul Tomkowicz, a railway switchman, narrated by himself.
- DirectorIrwin AllenStarsDon ForbesTheodore von EltzOscar-winning documentary based on Rachel L. Carson's pioneering study of ocean life chronicled in her award-winning and best-selling 1951 book of the same name.
- DirectorVittorio De SetaA documentary of Sicilian men spear fishing and women doing laundry.
- DirectorLarry O'ReillyStarsPeter RobertsThis short film examines the role in mid-20th century America of superstitions, personal rituals, taboos, talismans, and the black arts.
- DirectorVittorio De SetaA documentary about Sicilian fisherman tending their boats, nets, and catching some huge fish.
- DirectorHenri-Georges ClouzotStarsPablo PicassoHenri-Georges ClouzotClaude RenoirA filmed record of Pablo Picasso painting numerous canvases for the camera, allowing us to see his creative process at work.
- DirectorAlain ResnaisStarsMichel BouquetReinhard HeydrichHeinrich HimmlerThe history of Nazi Germany's death camps of the Final Solution and the hellish world of dehumanization and death contained inside.
- DirectorLionel RogosinStarsRay SalyerGorman HendricksFrank MatthewsBy focusing on the lives of three down-and-out alcoholic transients, the film creates a wrenching portrait of the tragic hopelessness of life on "The Bowery" in New York City.
- DirectorJames AlgarStarsWinston HiblerAn overview of the changing world of nature, focusing on plants, bees, sea creatures, and volcanoes. Nature's strange and intricate methods of perpetuating life allow for species survival.
- DirectorJacques-Yves CousteauLouis MalleStarsFrédéric DumasAlbert FalcoJacques-Yves CousteauA documentary about the undersea explorers and how they penetrate into the underwater world.
- DirectorWolf KoenigColin LowStarsPierre BertonAuthor Pierre Berton tells the history of his hometown of Dawson City at its heyday during the Klondike Gold Rush.
- DirectorDalton MuirStarsMichael Kane
- DirectorWilliam GreavesStarsFrank EdwardsDuring the fire season, look-out men keep constant vigilance for the first sign of smoke, scanning the territory for miles around. How they are trained for the work and how their efforts save many valuable stands of timber are illustrated at a fire tower in the Forestry Branch's Petawawa Forest Experiment Station in Ontario.
- DirectorColin LowStarsWilliam Shatner
- DirectorEdward BlandStarsGeorge WallerDorothea HortonMelinda DillonDiscussion of jazz and the role of African-Americans in the United States.
- DirectorWilliam GreavesStarsStanley JacksonThis 1959 documentary short is a frank portrait of the daily operations inside the Montreal General Hospital's emergency ward.
- DirectorWolf KoenigRoman KroitorStarsGlenn GouldBanquoMrs. Wm. DoolittleIn preparation for a recording session in New York City, Glenn Gould, as he usually does, first makes a stop at at the Steinway showroom to choose from among the many concert grand pianos available which he would like to use for the recording. Mention is made of his favorite piano on which to practice, namely the one at his recreational property on the shores of Lake Simcoe, his tastes in such not for the bells and whistles of newer instruments, said piano which is seventy years old with a tone and touch more reminiscent of a harpsichord. Mention is also made of his wish to retire from performing at age thirty-five, eight years away, to concentrate on composing. And while he is known primarily for performing the works of Johann Sebastian Bach, he favors more contemporary atonal music. He himself talks about among other things performing on stage versus in a recording studio, and why he doesn't attend concerts of other musicians.
- DirectorWolf KoenigRoman KroitorStarsGlenn GouldHoward ScottStanley JacksonToronto-based pianist Glenn Gould is in New York City to record Johann Sebastian Bach's Italian Concerto, four years after Gould made an international name for himself with his bestselling recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations. Gould will perform each of the three movements several times over the course of his stay in the studio in his perfectionism, he and the recording crew who will critically review each. That recording crew will have to deal with some of Gould's idiosyncrasies, some problematic, such as his tendency to hum when he plays, and some just humorous, such as he conducting himself when he has a free hand when he is playing. Gould will also have to deal with some of what he would consider necessary evils of the process, such as publicity, including having publicity photos taken. Away from the piano, he talks about his career, being in New York compared to his home in Toronto or anywhere else in Canada, and his very conscious decision, unlike many artists, not to live in the creative epicenter of New York.
- DirectorBert SternAram AvakianStarsLouis ArmstrongMahalia JacksonChuck BerryThe highlights of the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival.
- DirectorJack SmightStarsMiles DavisPaul ChambersJimmy CobbMiles playing with sextet and Evans orchestra. A TV program hosted by Robert Herridge, The Robert Herridge Theater from Studio 61, and recorded in New York in 1959.