Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Beware of Falling Canoes
Upon reading my last post, friend and colleague/boss Rick Miller pointed me in the direction of another Bill Mason NFB great, "The Rise and Fall of the Great Lakes." This 1968 short is new to me - either that, or I've forgotten it - but it's nonetheless delightful, with slapstick humour, some really terrific special effects, and an ecological message that resonates to this day. Mason's dynamic and colourful cinematrography is still very much in evidence, too. Also, it looks like the main actor in this film played the lighthouse keeper in "Paddle."
These films remind me of what a treasure we have in the National Film Board. Talk about a great return on our tax investment - decades of classic films of all kinds!
Does anyone else out there have fond memories of films and/or filmstrips they saw in school? Drop me a line in the comments, and a link to the film would be even better.
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3 rejoinders:
Poor Kelly MacUrpsalot. :-( His misery is our entertainment!
"To the vector belong the spoils." Love it! I'd never seen that one before. Thanks for the recommend.
The Big Snit and Log Driver's Waltz are old favourites of mine - in fact, I blogged about Log Driver just a couple of days before Sylvia broke her leg in 2007.
I remember Blackfly, too. They're just as bad in Manitoba; poor Sylvia was surrounded by them when I took her to see Leaf Rapids.
Oh wow - I'm watching Boogie Doodle now and the memories are rushing back. We saw this in grade school too, and it's as amazing now as it was then. The artistry required to draw the animation directly onto the 35 mm film is mind-boggling to contemplate.
STOP SAWING THE FURNITURE!
Shake your eyes here, shake your eyes there, why don't you join a, a, a shake-a-rock-n-roll band???
Thanks for the leads, Jeff!
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