Educational screen & audio-visual guide (c1956-1971])

beginning, but the weathered old men who sit along the main street talk of the "good old davs." In the summer of 1898. 40.000 souls were here in this botimtown of the Klondike Gold Rush. Still photographs made at the time of the Cold Rush furnish the visual material for the IxmIv of the film. One iees streams of heavily laden men ilimbing 45 degrees through the snow to reach Chilkoot Pass as Berton's father had done. On the shores of lake Bennett at the head of the Yukon River. 20.000 men built 7.000 !x>ats of hand-hewn logs to take them in freshlv thawed waters to Dawson Citv. When they arrived, most of the :1a ims had been taken bv those who rt-ere there 18 month* before. Those with claims had to dig through permafrost to find a paystreak. Some who found fortunes were the iubject of legends about the lavish manner of living. .-Vt an inflated price, ;old would buv anything, "from ovscrs to opera glasses." Gold would buv Aomen, too. Despite the citv's bawdiness. the jtople were very law-abiding. There were no murders nor major thefts. The ;aloons were closed on Sunday and the iii/ens were even forbidden to chop iheir own wood on that holy day. But here was celebrating on July 4th — 1 combination Dominion Day and Independence Day when the flags of Canada and the United States flew side by side. .Although the place was Nortliwestern Canada, the adventurers who went there were mostiv .\mer A]>praisal This vignette of .American history on foreign soil gives the viewer a realistic feeling for gold rush conditions that is easily transferable to other times and places. The still photographic images preserved on glass plates come alive with judicious camera movement and Eldon Rathburn's descriptive musical score that features among other instruments the tinnytoned piano, the banjo, and even the jewsharp. Producer-editor Tom Dalv's visual transitions from live to still materials and back again are almost imperceptible, a feat that was facilitated by the unusual clarity of the old photographs. The lyrical j)eak of this outstanding work of filmic art was reached in the sequence of quiet, enigmatic faces of the people who watch the July 4th parade. Here the music becomes muted and reflective as the narrator wonders what they were celebrating. Why elation when so many made no attempt to seek gold? Yet they seem to have found their El Dorados — a new beginning. They seem to feel strangely ennobled by just being there. City of Gold has already been exhibited widely in the commercial theatres of this country. Now it will be welcomed by film societies for their programs. High school and college history teachers would find the film useful in portraying conditions during the gold rush era. Since the Klondike Cold Rush is directly related to the settlement of the Canadian West, students of Canadian history and historical geography will find the film even more pertinent. When a high school teacher previews this film, he will decide whether the fashionably dressed "ladies" from "Paradise .■Mley" and paintings of Victorian nudes will disqualify the film for his use situation, or whether these aspects of the film are "facts of life" in a gold rush community presented subtly and inoffensively to a sophisticated audience. — Ledford Carter PRINT WITH A BRAYER (Bailey Films, Inc., 6509 De Longpre .Avenue, Hollywood 28, California) 8 minutes, 16mm, sound, color, 1958. S75.00. Teacher's guide available. Description Print with a Brayer demonstrates important new CORONET FILMS lor classroom use Each of the films described below represents Coronet's efforts to enlarge upon textbook presentations of those subjects which gain a new dimension on film. All are correlated to units of instruction in major texts and contain an additional number of imp)ortant teaching values to help improve instruction. Each film is available in either full, natural color or black-and-white. riioi Shipbuilding and Sea Trade tl Intermediatt. L". S. History Traces he development of the l-ih-century iiipbuilding industr)' in New England. ■lelpen in Oyr Commvnity < 1 reel ) ■*rimary. Social Studies. Shows how the nterdependence of workers makes a nore efficient community. t Human Body: Nervous System (Un 'Is) Junior and Senior High, Biology. Details the functioning of the human lervous system by means of exciting cinenatographic techniques. inq the Most of Yoar Face < 1 reel ) unior and Senior High, Guidance. Dis■usses problems of good facial grooming, llcluding varying hair styles to fit indiidual face structures. >ar Family Worlis Together ( 1 reel ) *rimary. Social Studies. Clarifies the im>lications of work performed by family embers in creating a happy home. Who Should Decide? (Areas of Parental Authority) il reel) Junior and Senior High. Guidance. Open-end presentation of parents* and children's points of viewon who should decide important teenage problems. To Preview These Films for Purchase Consideration: Merely send us a list of films you would like to preview for purchase. \f^e shall furnish them to you at no obligation, except for return postage. We shall also be happy to send you on retfuest a copy of our new 20th Anniversary catalog containing descriptions of 860 fine teaching films and information on how you may purchase or rent them. CORONET FILMS Oept ES-2S9, Coronet Building Chicago 1, Illinois Please send me your new 1959 Anniversary Catalog NAME . SCHOOI ADDRESSCITY _ZONE__STATE_ idScreen Cr AV Guide — February, 1 959 89