Perspective Season 2, Episode 15: Railroad Town

Back into the Sun

An illustration of the rather unique way in which the day hospital of the Allan Memorial Institute in Montréal helps patients back to mental and emotional health. Patients not requiring full hospitalization come for daytime treatment and return to their homes at night. The case presented is that of a young woman who is under severe emotional stress. Interviews with a psychiatrist and group therapy sessions reveal the root of her trouble and set her on the path to overcoming her problem.

29 min

The Cage

This short documentary from 1956 examines the phenomenon of "the gilded cage." Are the strain and tension worth the lifestyle a well-paid job provides? As we follow the story of Hugh Martin, a capable executive caught on the treadmill of our competitive society, we're forced to conclude that there must be another way. A film still as relevant today as the day it was made.

27 min

Canadians Abroad

This short documentary from 1956 catches up with several talented Canadians who have found a home in the entertainment or arts scenes of London and Paris. Among them are Toronto-born Beverley Baxter, a baronet and MP who claims that London has a history of being invaded (first the Romans, now the Canadians), and then-aspiring novelist Mordecai Richler, who feels he has a better chance of making a living in England than he does back home.

30 min

Chair of Gold

In this film, Jack Scott, a Vancouver newspaper columnist, visits Bolivia, South America, to bring us a report on conditions in that country and on the technical assistance program undertaken in the late 1950s by member countries of the United Nations, including Canada. We hear from Canada's Dr. Hugh Keenleyside, who headed a U.N. Commission, and from specialists from other countries who are helping to create a new economy for Bolivia.

30 min

The Deserter

This short drama highlights the work of the Family Welfare Service in its compassionate tale of a husband who abandons his wife and children. Part of the Perspective series.

30 min

Escape

This film indulges in some playful lampooning of the self-deluding tactics of the escape artist. A glib-tongued exponent of escapism, delivering a public lecture, illustrates his contentions with filmed episodes that show how clever people are at running away from reality. The mirror he holds up for us reflects some familiar faces; not our own, of course, but of people we all know.

30 min

Fighter Wing

In this short documentary, Fred Davis introduces us to Canadian Air Force operations in Zweibrucken, West Germany. Follow Green Section as they perform drills and explain what it takes to be a fighter pilot. Part of the Perspective series.

30 min

Go to Blazes

This short documentary from the Perspective television series examines the dangerous practices that can cause tragic and costly fires. The film follows Inspector Joe Fletcher as he investigates fires that have happened, are happening, or could happen. It shows how frequently fires are actually crimes of carelessness, which, if prevented, could have saved life and property.

29 min

The Longer Trail

A story about a young Indigenous man from a reserve near Calgary and the problems he faces when he finds himself thrust into the world of the white man. Joe Lonecloud contracts tuberculosis and is taken to the Charles Camsell Indian Hospital in Edmonton. There he learns that he will never be able to return to the vigorous activity of the outdoors. In learning a trade and getting a job he encounters prejudice, which makes his adjustment all the more difficult.

30 min

Man of America

This film brings a report from Jack Scott, a Vancouver newspaper columnist, about a United Nations-sponsored migration program in Bolivia in which icampesinos r--tin miners of the Andes mountains--are being moved from the desolate Altiplano to more fertile lowlands. We hear most of the story from one of the miners who describes the skepticism with which his people first met the ideas and what it eventually came to mean to them in terms of new dwellings, land to cultivate, and work to support their families.

30 min

Monkey on the Back

Based on the real-life experiences of a drug addict, this film shows the nature of addiction as both a social and human problem.

28 min

The Nativity Cycle

The Christmas story, presented in the form of a medieval York mystery, or miracle play, by a cast of junior school children. They follow the text, in verse and prose, used by strolling players five centuries ago when a miracle play meant the portrayal of the mystery of Christ's birth. The story is divided into scenes, with costumes and settings patterned after biblical times. Between acts a children's "angel choir" sings familiar Christmas carols to introduce each scene.

29 min

Night Children

This short drama presents the story of a case worker with a Children's Aid Society and the children she helps. Working round the clock, the Society receives appeals of every sort. The film shows how the Society follows through in the case of a little girl found wandering alone on downtown streets at night and in other cases of children abandoned, uncared for, the victims of their environment.

30 min

Our Northern Citizen

This short documentary illustrates the impact of new developments on the Inuit of Baffin Island, as well as the local reaction to the decision to move the settlement of Aklavik across the Mackenzie River.

30 min

Sable Island

This short documentary profiles the uniquely cloistered wildlife of Sable Island, known as the “Atlantic graveyard” due to its inhospitable conditions. Barren sands and endless gales proved too much for human settlement on this island off the coast of Nova Scotia. Only a small group of researchers and maintenance people occupy the island; horses run wild, seals and birds multiply profusely, and the Ipswich sparrow has found a fruitful breeding ground for itself. Sable Island provides a perfect opportunity to observe nature in an untouched, organic laboratory.

30 min

Saskatchewan Traveller

The film follows a grocery salesman as he calls on merchants in small prairie communities, showing some of the people and problems he encounters. His time-tested techniques are contrasted with those of his brash young understudy.

30 min

Arctic Essay: 1 - North of '60'

'60' refers to 60-degree north latitude, north of which is generally referred to as the Arctic in Canada in being the dividing geopolitical line in Western Canada between the "sub-Arctic" provinces and "Arctic" territories. General life in Arctic Canada is presented, it which is primarily populated by approximately ten thousand indigenous peoples, known at the time of filming as Eskimos. Non-indigenous persons of various stripes also live in Arctic Canada in interacting with the indigenous population for business, culture and/or other reasons. The geographical dominance of the Soviet Union and Canada over the Arctic, and the reasons for Canada's lagging development in Arctic concerns compared to all other Arctic countries are discussed.

30 min

Arctic Essay: 2 - Invasion from the South

Man's exploration of the Canadian Arctic was initially to discover the Northwest Passage, a shorter possible trade route between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans than had existed at the time. While many men died in that quest, the passage was eventually discovered and traversed in the early twentieth century. In many of the obstacles of Arctic marine travel having been overcome in subsequent decades, one of the last obstacles was making the trek via larger ships, the HMCS Labrador one of the first to do so. This film follows the Labrador on one of its more recent voyages, largely a research and fact finding mission to determine the viability of certain economic endeavors in the region, such as fishing. The expedition is also to establish infrastructure in the Arctic to make sailing its waters for the Labrador and other vessels easier in the future.

30 min

Arctic Essay: 3 - Our Northern Citizen

30 min