Canadian Film Weekly Year Book of the Canadian Motion Picture Industry (1953)

National Film Board man, 51, president of the University of New Brunswick and a member of the Board of Governors of the National Film Board, was appointed National Film Commissioner as successor to W. Arthur Irwin. Irwin, who came to the post three years ago from Maclean’s magazine, of which he was editor, left it to become High Commissioner to Australia. In March, 1953, “The Ottawa Citizen,” in an editorial called “Arthur Irwin and The Film Board,” reviewed the 14year history of the NFB and observed: “Under Mr. Irwin’s regime, the public film enterprise has consolidated the gains achieved by its first two chairmen, and is making further advances in the broad field of documentary films about Canada.” The first NFB head was the famed John Grierson of Great Britain, considered by many to be the father of the documentary, who organized the government film agency, and his former deputy, Ross McLean, was the second. McLean, a Canadian, is now with UNESCO in Paris. During Irwin’s regime the continuing criticism of the NFB from various directions abated somewhat, although private producers still maintain that the Board should not be a production organization but one devoted to planning and purchasing. In the face of this the Government approved plans for a $5,000,000 studio project that will move the NFB from Ottawa‘to Montreal. For a history of the National Film Board and a review of its aim and purpose, see the previous edition of the Year Book. The NFB completed 213 film projects during the 1951-52 fiscal year, compared with 187 during the previous 12-month period and also showed gains in almost every other phase of activity. Its report, offered by Irwin and tabled in the House of Commons by the Honorable Robert H. Winters, Minister of Resources and Development, stated that a L: MAY, 1953, Dr. Albert W. True 127 surplus of $35,377 was transferred to the Receiver General. The Board’s total income was $3,511,465, of which $2,662,333 was a direct vote of Parliament, $540,876 was from sales to government departments and $308,256 from other sources. Other highlights of the report: The Laboratory processed 10,736,578 feet of film in 1951-52, compared with 11,278,011 in 1950-51. The Board produced 98 film-strips, compared with 45 in the previous year. Non-theatrical audiences for NFB films in Canada totalled 11,610,232, compared with 10,110,789 the previous year, an increase of 14.8 per cent. Non-theatrical audiences for NFB films in foreign countries totalled 11,111,976, compared with 9,663,794 the previous year, which amounted to an increase of 15 per cent. Theatrical bookings of NFB films in Canada and abroad totalled 18,020, compared with 15,641 the previous year, an increase of 15.2 per cent. Television bookings of NFB films totalled 2,401, compared with 1,523 the previous year. NFB projects won 30 honors in Canadian and international competitions and festivals during the year. The Board produced Royal Journey, its first full-length feature film, using a new color process. Board technicians perfected a new dual-language sound track process. Staff at the end of the fiscal year totalled 543, compared with 533 the previous year. National Film Board Ottawa, Canada (Phone 2-8211) Operates under the Department of Resources and Development and Senior Officer is Hon. Robert H. Winters, Minister of Resources and Development. BOARD MEMBERS Dr. A. W. Trueman, Chairman, Ottawa; L. Dana Wilgress, Under-Secretary of State for External Affairs, Ottawa; Charles Stein, Under-Secretary of State, Ottawa; Mrs. A. L. Caldwell, Saskatoon, Sask.; Stuart Keate, Publisher, Victoria, BC;