Catalogue of the National Film Library of Sixteen Millimeter Motion Pictures (1931)

CLASS 12 — Manners and Customs 97 COURTESY TITLE REEL NO. CLASS TWELVE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS Courtesy of THALHAMMER, LTD. 7500-2 HOUSES OF THE ARCTICS AND TROPICS How human being living under altogether different conditions adapt themselves to their environments in building their homes, is brought out in this picture, which was produced in cooperation with Harvard University's Department of Anthropology. Eskimos, inhabiting the bleak regions along the North Coast of North American Islands in the Arctic sea and the shores of Greenland, have no wood or stone to work with, so they make their houses of the material at hand, namely snow. Just how this is accomplished is brought out clearly. Drifted snow, packed hard by the wind is cut into blocks with an ivory knife. This implement is kept in condition by licking it, the saliva freezes instantly, coating the ivory with a film of smooth, sharp ice. The blocks of snow are carefully cut with tapering edges so as to form a dome, the principle of which was discovered in the Western Continent by the Eskimos. The first part of this picture closses with some intimate views of eskimo life that are as well done as those of that great Eskimo classic, "Nanook of the North." The observer is then transported to a vastly different location. The Fiji Islands, situated south of the Equator and east of Australia, are warm and well watered, teeming with vegetation. Here the houses are constructed of rattan woven like a basket over a framework of wood. This frame is covered with bundles of grass which is lashed to the cane by means of strips cut from the inner bark of a certain kind of tree. The roof is covered with palm leaves sewn to sticks and lashed into place like overlapping shingles. A split palm log fastened over the ridge pole completes the house and serves as an ornament. For real entertainment and unusual educational value this picture is heartily recommended. 2 Reels Courtesy of F. W. Reed COMPANY 7501 GRASS Faced with starvation because of the depletion of grass to feed the herds on which the people depend for their own sustenance, the entire Persian tribe of Bakhtyari, including over 50,000 human beings, travels for several hundred miles over rough, forbidden country, bringing with them their homes and all their possessions, including over half a million head of cattle, sheep, goats, horses and other animals. Crossing a wide and treacherous river without bridge or boat, climbing a forbidding, unmapped mountain 12,000 feet high, walking barefoot over glaciers and through snow drifts, surmounting perpendicular clifts, carrying their babies, old people and all their herds with them they finally reach their destination, Your Projector Is a Medium of Education, Use It Often