Educational film catalog (1936)

EDUCATIONAL FILM CATALOG 248-299 Child of Bethlehem— Continued A presentation of the life of Christ from His birth until His twelfth year Guide 25c 248 Personal religion Mastership. 23min 16-sd-rent $5 Harmon found. 248 ALSO AVAILABLE FROM 16mm: B&H IdP "The picture was produced in England [in 1934j. It was filmed in the slum regions of the east end of London. The story centers around an English middle class family, restless and irritable because it lacks any satisfying goal in life. Members of the family attend an evangelistic service and listen to the message of the famous English missioner, Lax of Poplar. He preaches on the Mastership of Jesus. . , He relates several incidents in his ministry, each of which is dramatized as a part of the picture. After the service the family return home and come to the conclusion that they too can And a way out of their restlessness and dissatisfaction by accept- ing the great Master. For American audi- ences the film is somewhat handicapped by English accent. It was not always easy for the reviewer to follow the conversa- tional episodes. However the evangelistic message of the preacher is strong and fine; his manner is natural and wholesome, and his voice is clearly recorded. Though the picture lacks something in artistry, the total impression is good. It will be useful and profitable in any Sunday evening serv- ice, especially where an evangelistic appeal is desired." Int. jour, of religious educ. 266 Missions Story of Bamba. 45min 16-si-sale apply; rent $3.75 1939 Harmon found. 266 ALSO AVAILABLE FROM 16mm: B&H IdP RFC Available on life time lease at $30 a reel Photographed in Belgian Congo for the 1938 Africa Motion Picture Project by Ray and Virginia Garner. Shows how Bamba becomes a Christian medical worker through mission influences and how he is able to serve his people el-Jh-adult Guide 267 Associations YWCA, Harlem, New York. ISmin 16-si- $25; rent $1.50 1940 Harmon found. 267 Price given is for a lifetime lease A negro girl writes home to her mother of the opportunities and activities offered in the YWCA of New York's Harlem. For her mother she visualizes the cafeteria, the business machine training, activities of the dressmaking class and of the course in pressing and pleating. She writes of the course in beauty culture, of their classical dancing classes and dancing classes for the children of the neighbor- hood. She tells her of the practical nurs- ing course, and the course in domestic science. Such sports as swimming and archery are available and also various crafts. The "Y" also provides "beau" parlors for its girls Guide si - silent; sd - sound; f • inflammable; nf - safety; p c • college; tra'de 299 Shinto Shinto the wav of the gods. lOmin 16-sd- loan 1941 YMCA 299 Shinto the way of the gods is the original native Japanese religion evolved from cen- turies of ancestor worship. Through the centuries filial piety gradually grew into Emperor worship and consequently today Shinto is not only religion but patriotism as well. While every Japanese is a be- liever in Shinto he may at the same time belong to any of the 13 sectarian divisions of Shinto or one of the 11 Buddhist branches, or any of the many Christian denomina- tions. Views of some shrines and people going in and out of them. Also some views of the gardens around them. Greatest of these is one near the center of Tokyo. Here in Japan's Valhalla the spirits of all the war dead are enshrined. The chry- santhemum crest signifies that it is an imperial shrine, honored each year by a personal visit from the Emperor. At a stand a priest sells talismans and memen- toes to the devout. At the entrance to each shrine stands the purification foun- tain. Here a visitor washes his hands and mouth, thus symbolically purifying him- self in mind and body. At the shrine's opening he pulls the bell rope summoning the god's attention and bows his head in prayer. A priest blesses a group of boys who are about to start for the mountain. In naming a child, the father in his formal clothes writes the child's name on a sheet of white paper. This he places on the family shrine and makes his devo- tion. The infant is then carried to the shrine in the arms of its grsindmother. The priest puts the name, residence and other statistics in the record. The child is blessed and the bowl of ceremonial sake is passed around. The baby, too, is given some of this. In conclusion the priest presents the certificate and the baby is now an individual with a name of hor own. In the presence of a sick child Shinto becomes a ritual of solace and comfort. The mother vows to make a hundred visits to the nearby shrine to pray for the recovery of her little one. We see her as she walks along the road to the shrine and as she kneels in front of it. In her hand she holds a bundle of one hundred slender sticks. At each visit she will bend down one stick as a count. Her vow ful- filled, she bows her head in silent prayer. An occasion for Shinto ritual is the blessing of three, five and seven vear old children. The children are brought out for their first formal visit to a shrine. At the entrance to the shrine they remove their shoes. This festival takes place on the 15th day of November. The children are dressed in their very best finery for the ceremony. The priest waves over their heads strips of sacred white paper designed to purify them and exercise evil. The purification ceremony is a fundamental feature of Shinto. A Japanese wedding likewise calls for solemn Shinto ceremony. After purifying the couple the priest reads the ritual and then prepares the sake used at all cere- monies which the altar maidens present first to the groom and then to the bride. We see Fujiyama and on its summit stands another shrine to which a pil- grimage is made. In six weeks as many as 65,000 persons have made the climb in such unbroken lines as this. At the summit the Shinto priest purifies the pil- grims and thus the goal is achieved. Views of shrines and of some of their surround- ing ornaments and embellishments are seen. Crowds of people around a shrine as the film ends "Comparative religions." Collaborator el-Jh-sh-c-adult primary; el - elementary: jh - junior high; sh - senior hioh- "** - trade schools 43