Canadian Film Weekly (Dec 22, 1948)

Christmas Number CANADIAN FILM WEEKLY Page 33 much to-do has been made about Canadian film produc tion. Location shooting by a number of Hellywood companies has taken place in different parts of Canada. Some shorts have been made in this country. Sever4] feature motion pictures have been produced by Canadian companies. There are some, to be aimed at specialized audiences, peing made now. There are more studios in Canada than ever before. Several are not very active, one new one has an ambitious theatrical production program which has received much publicity, while others are noticeably successful in the industrial field. The National Film Board, of course, stands out in the dccumentary field, with some of its films being shown regularly in theatres. The Canadian Co-operation Project is supposed to increase American production in Canada but its benefits are still to be evaluated. But the surprising thing is that film production in Canada, from a theatrical standpoint, was much greater a quarter of a century ago. In those days the population was smaller, money wasn’t as easv to obtain as now and there were fewer Canadian writers, Yet film produiction did well, in spite of the field being used by con men. Much money was lost and several of the men responsible went to jail. With Canada currently het up about film production, this might easily happen again. The old-timer isn’t impressed with the fuss over domestic production. He’s heard it all before and seen some of it. iE the last couple of years REVIEW of Canadian motion picture production, which dates back more than four decades, is interesting. Although there were many attempts, no Single theatrical company was able to keep its enterprise alive. , Much capital and money went Into the Conistil studio at the western outskirts of Toronto but lack of both capital and experience was costly for public and promoter, A few years later Canadian International Films Limited was formed and Captain Bruce Bairnsfather, creator of the famcus World War I cartoon character, “Old Bill,” turned out “Carry On, Sergeant” in Trenton, Ontario. It wasn’t a success, disputes grew and the money invested in the company was lost. The Pacific Coast provided an unhappy experience for those who heeded two Hollywood promoters with the idea of making films with British players, The Lion’s Gate Cinema Studios Limited bought the old Haddon Hill property in West Vancouver. As the need for. more money became apparent a battle for CANADIAN FEATURE PRODUCTION Bonanza or Bunk ? (Who Can Tell) control began in which everyone was the loser, with the promoters going to jail for false pretenses. A number of other promotions also failed but there is an excellent record of successful production just the same. In 1914 the British American Film Company, Montreal, made “Dollard des Ormaux,” which depicted the battle of Long Sault and the World Film Company, New York and Toronto, produced “The Dollar Mark” around Cobourg, Ontario. Fruitful years in Canadian production were from 1919 to 1923 when Ernest Shipman, an outstanding producer with headquarters in Winnipeg and Ottawa, made some films of real boxoffice value. They included films based on such of the late Ralph Connor’s books as “The Sky Pilot,” made in Calgary, and ‘'The Man From Glengarry” and ‘The Foreigner,” both shot in Winnipeg. Other of Shipman’s Canadian-made pictures were “Blue Waters,” made in the Maritimes; “The Rapids,” a story of Sault Ste. Marie, and “Back to God's Country.” Robert Flaherty, whose current film is “Lovisiana,’’ made “Nanook of the North” around Hudson’s Bay in 1922, and Pathe, its distributor, later made and sold an RCMP serial, ‘Queen of the North,” in 1929. In 1921 Canadian Photoplay Productions Limited made “Power” and another picture, then in 1924 MGM produced “The Shooting of Dan McGrew.” In 1928 the company made “The Trail of ’98.” Canadian settings were used in a number of pictures made by the Famous-Lasky Film Company of Hollywood from stories by Dominion authors. From 1920 to 1927 the stories of such writers as Gilbert Parker and Arthur Stringer were made into films, as were some by James Oliver Curwood, not a Canadian, and such stars as Alice Brady and Thomas Meighen acted against Quebec, British Columbia and other native backgrounds. Another Canadian to provide basic material for films made in Canada was the famed historian, George M. Wrong, for in 1922 Yale University made “Gateway of the West” and “Wolfe and Mcntcalm,” both drawn from his “Washingten and His Comrades in Arms.” In 1926 “The Thoroughbreds” by the Toronto author, W. A. Fraser, became a film. And all the time Hollywood troupes were working on location in different parts of Canada. Milton Sills returned to his native Canada to make “The Knockout” in the Ottawa Valley in 1924 for First National. Canada was a favorite place to shoot RCMP and Yukon stories. In 1926 Universal made “The Calgary Stampede” with Hoot Gibson starring and the next year Fox made “The Country Beyond” in Jasper Park. qpee story of Canadian produc tion by native and visiting producers can be continued in detail and it would lead right up to the present. Part cf the story are the companies formed in several regions of Canada but which, after fine promises, made no films and cost much money. Canadian production has indeed too often been a boob trap. That is, theatrical production. Even in the old days government sponsorship, provincial and federal, carned Canada to be outstanding in the documentary field. Had it not been for the coming of soune Canada might have had its own large-scale production now. Recording apparatus limited shooting to interiors for years and even now there are still problems of outside pickup of sound. The requirements of sound-film making caused production to he concentrated in Hollywood at first but today dialogue can be recorded or dubbed easily. Perhaps Canada will get into the race again. Are Canadian films financially practicable? Yes, if they can be made with international exhibition value. Yet the most interesting economic fact about the much-talked about Canadian production is this: Few domestic theatre operators, large and small, have ever put money into it. They, more than any other group, know potential revenue of films. They have nothing against more personal revenue— yet they have never sought any from home-made films. Even Paramount, which for many years has dominated our native exhibition field, has not established a studio in Canada, Does this’ “You make ’em and we'll play ’em” attitude perhaps indicate that, in the minds of people who should know, feature film production in Canada is not a gocd investment? We should know soon enough. Quebec Productions’ Corporation’s $750,000 “The Whispering City,” a J. Arthur Rank release, is still in distribution. Another 1947 film, “Bush Pilot,’’ is said to have returned little of its $125,000 cost. “Sins of the Fathers,” a-VD feature which cost comparatively little to make, will likely return a profit. So much for profit and loss. Then there are the promises. In June this year two companies, Canam Film Productions and Carillon Pictures, announced that they would make theatrical features but nothing more has been heard from them. This summer Canadian International Screen Productions Limited was organized by Renaissance Film Distributors and Joseph Than and Leonard Fields. Renaissance studios, in Montreal, are regarded by many as Canada’s finest and were built through a public issue of stock. The CISP schedule calls for 10 films in two years for Monogram and Allied Artists’ release. Some six months have gone by since the announcement and since then Charles Korvin and Paul Henreid have stated that they would appear in features to be made by the company. Bui there is no outward sign of production from them or others. Meanwhile Hollywood companies are using Canadian locales. Films shot against Canadian backgrounds in the last two years include ‘Northwest Stampede,” “The Emperor Waltz” and “The Iron Curtain.” Such shooting was not uncommon in Canada before the Canadian Co-operation Project and is continuing, for ae RCMP stories are planned. Bet what about Canadian feature production by Canadians in Canadian studios as part of the Canadian motion picture industry? Your guess would be as good as anybody’s right now.