Louis Applebaum

Features clips from 21 documentary and animation film classics, interviews with NFB filmmakers past and present, and incisive commentary from film critics and historians on the role and influence of the NFB during its first half century of existence.

A boy's carved boat travels through the Canadian wilderness until it reaches the ocean.

A young archaeologist believes he is cursed by a mask that causes him to have weird nightmares and possibly to murder. Before committing suicide, he mails the mask to his psychiatrist, Dr. Barnes, who is soon plunged into the nightmare world of the mask.

A young archaeologist believes he is cursed by a mask that causes him to have weird nightmares and possibly to murder. Before committing suicide, he mails the mask to his psychiatrist, Dr. Barnes, who is soon plunged into the nightmare world of the mask.

A film profile of Healey Willan, composer, conductor, choirmaster, organist and teacher. In this film you see Dr. Willan at his favourite organ in the church where he is choirmaster, at work in his study, and dropping in for a visit with students at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto.

The story of Oedipus' gradual discovery of his primal crime, killing his father and marrying his mother, filmed by the famed British theatrical director Sir Tyrone Guthrie. This elegant version of Sophocles' play adds a brilliant stroke: the actors wear masks just as the Greeks did in the playwright's day.

This short film depicts Canada as it was a hundred years ago, as seen through the paintings of artist and adventurer Cornelius Krieghoff. The changing seasons, the Quebec countryside, village life — all were an unending inspiration to Krieghoff.

This short film depicts how a small Canadian city, bearing the name of Stratford and by a river Avon, created its own renowned Shakespearean theatre. The film tells how the idea grew, how a famous British director, international stars and Canadian talent were recruited, and how the Stratford Shakespearean Festival finally became a triumphant reality.

This slim documentary commissioned by the US Information Service concerns Hispanic shepherds in New Mexico. The makeshift narrative centers on Miguel, a boy on the cusp of puberty who wants nothing more than to go to the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and help tend to the sheep like his father and older siblings. It's evocatively shot with a striking sense of place and a good feel for farm life. The film was obviously shot on the cheap (voiceover narration is used in lieu of dialogue, and the film seems to have been fully post-dubbed, sometimes badly), but it's an engaging peek into a rural lifestyle few of us would otherwise experience.

A short glimpse into the world of painter Frederick Varley.

An FBI agent works with a refugee scientist and the Coast Guard to crack a Soviet spy ring in Boston.

This short documentary journeys to Baffin Island. For four months in the summer, the Arctic has continuous daylight. During this time, provisions must be made for the long dark winter ahead. Idlouk, an Inuit hunter, recounts his experiences living in this northern land, where he hunts seal, walrus, whales and polar bears, among other animals. His wife, children and elderly parents each have their own work to do in their unending struggle to survive in this harsh land.

A newly promoted plant supervisor finds himself in the position of having to announce a layoff of his fellow workers.

An Italian war bride has problems dealing with her husband's possessive mother.

Early abstract 3D film by animation master Norman McLaren and collaborator Evelyn Lambart.

Early abstract 3D film by animation master Norman McLaren and collaborator Evelyn Lambart.

A light-skinned African-American family are "passing" in an all-white New England town. When the truth comes out, the more prejudiced neighbors demand their expulsion from the community.

An attempt to bring the work of surrealist artists to a wider public. The plot is that of an average Joe who can conjure up dreams that will improve his customer's lives. This frame story serves as a link between several avant-garde sequences created by leading visual artists of their day, most of whom were emigres to the US during WWII.

An attempt to bring the work of surrealist artists to a wider public. The plot is that of an average Joe who can conjure up dreams that will improve his customer's lives. This frame story serves as a link between several avant-garde sequences created by leading visual artists of their day, most of whom were emigres to the US during WWII.

This short film showcases the city of Montreal on a summer's night. What was once a small Indian village is presented as a pot-pourri of contrasting sights and sounds. It is North America's second largest port and, after Paris, the world's largest French-speaking city. With its warehouses, offices, homes, clubs and amusement parks, the city serves as a bright backdrop for a happy couple out on the town.

This short traces the cooperation between nations that resulted in the development of atomic weapons, and how they were used to end World War II. It also makes the case for cooperation between nations in order that the further development of nuclear weapons will not spiral out of control and endanger the safety of the world.

This short documentary is part of the Canada Carries On series. The secret winter manoeuvres of the British Army's Lovat Scouts took place in the Canadian Rockies during the winters of 1944 and 1945. In combined operations with the Canadian Army, these elite mountain commandos tested themselves and their equipment in temperatures of -50°F.