1 January 2004 - Thunder Bay
Members of the local film community have teamed up with faculty and students from Lakehead to pay tribute to one of the most important episodes in the history of film in Canada.
"The Fatal Flower" is a feature length silent film that was shot in 1929, but not completed. It is now being finished in Thunder Bay as a collaborative effort--and it will be the first silent film produced in Canada in seventy years. Flash Frame, a local film and video cooperative, has its hands on the entire body of original work by the Port Arthur Cinema Society from the 1920s. The Society went bankrupt in 1930 during the Depression, but managed to produce two complete feature-length amateur films--the first feature-length films in Canada. They were written by Dorothea Mitchell, perhaps the first independent female film maker in Canada. She was a remarkable, well-traveled, literary figure of the early 20th century - and of Thunder Bay and region.
In 1929 the Port Arthur Cinema Society came together to make films. They became part of the Amateur Cinema League and they produced dramas, popular for the period, but movies not associated with Hollywood The 45-50 minute films were intended to be shown in movie houses. They were professional films with sets and actors that now speak to an era, and to an important part of Thunder Bay's history. The Port Arthur Cinema Society aimed to see their community, and stories made by real people, on film. Their films document Thunder Bay's history and heritage as well as the buildings, local people and actors of that era. "A Race for Ties" was their first film, a drama involving a family needing to save themselves financially by winning a contract for railway ties. "Sleep Inn Beauty" was a slapstick comedy framed around a beauty contest, filmed at Surprise Lake, involving forty women of the day, a boat chase and a quick wedding ceremony. "A Race for Ties" is well-known, but "Sleep Inn Beauty" has not been seen in public since 1930. The Port Arthur Cinema Society's final film, before going bankrupt, was "The Fatal Flower," a murder mystery about a Police Chief and his daughter. The original footage from that final film was left unfinished. One and a half rolls of scrambled clips have been salvaged--but with no idea of what the intentions were for the story. The Port Arthur Cinema Society dissolved after that third film, as a result of the Depression as well as due to the emergence of 'talkies', but Dorothea Mitchell had the foresight to donate the silent footage to the National Archives of Canada, preserving it forever.
The current group of local filmmakers has taken the original footage from "The Fatal Flower," written a story, and the film now becomes the first silent feature film in over 70 years in Canada. The group aims to preserve the spirit of the original filmmakers, using local talent and involving the local film industry--and to finish a job that was started in 1929. They started three years ago by obtaining rights to the films, tracking down the Society's family members for permission to use the films and subsequently the release of the films from the National Archives. Next came converting the 16mm film to Beta tapes, editing with modern equipment, writing a story based on the scrambled clips, producing artwork and music, and packaging and marketing the films. They aim to complete the final product for release in February 2004, when there will be an opportunity for local community to view the film...and to find out how the Fatal Flower mystery ends!
The second component to the project was an application to Audio-Visual Preservation Trust (AV Trust), for funding of an educational film package. AV Trusts works to preserve Canada's audio and visual heritage and The Fatal Flower Project is the 2003 recipient of a Feature Film Education & Access Program Grant. The project was also awarded the Canadian Film Institute's Burrit/Thompson Award for 2003. The film group has secured funding to package all films produced by the Society and to produce an educational package about amateur silent films for use by schools. Schools currently teach a media component in their curricula and the group aims to garner an appreciation of silent films in students. They will provide elementary, junior and high school students with an appreciation of silent film through educational tools such as a website, classroom activities and a "How-To" package appropriate for grades 1-12 in differing levels of complexity on the production of a silent film. The educational package will enable educators to work with Canadian films and use them in the classroom. Producing "The Fatal Flower" has been a team effort and the final product is "as good as any other silent film of that period," according to Dr. Ron Harpelle (History), the project manager and producer.
The group has immersed itself into the period, pulling together all the details necessary to produce an authentic silent film. Kelly Saxberg is the editor/director of the production, working with a team of people from Lakehead and the community: Noreen Ivancic (Distance Education) is the curriculum development specialist, packaging the film for schools; Michel Beaulieu (formerly of History) is the group's researcher; Peter Raffo (History) is the writer; Danny Johnson is responsible for producing a musical score appropriate to the period; Donald Delorme (Confederation College film program) is the technical hand; Allyson Kailik is responsible for design of titlecards and artwork; Anne Clarke (Visual Arts) is in charge of the design of a period poster for the film. The final result is a "part of Thunder Bay's history that's important and one that no one knows exists. There are no other examples of film like this... and we have it all," says Dr. Harpelle. "It is the only complete body of amateur work available from that period and from the first amateur film society in Canada. That first society allowed others in Canada to blossom afterwards." The film project is one of local resonance, with national significance, says Dr. Harpelle. "It challenges conventional thinking on film in remote communities. And it is significant to Canada, because it was done in Thunder Bay, in the 1920's and we were there first. And now we're the first group in 70 years to be doing it again."
Look forward to the release of "The Fatal Flower" and the re-release of "Race for Ties" and "Sleep Inn Beauty" later this winter!
Finnish Communities in North America and the Soviet Union in the Depression Era, (Aspasia Books/Journal of Finnish Studies),edited by Ronald N. Harpelle, Varpu Lindström and Alexis Pogorelskin. The articles in the book are drawn from a conference organized by the Department of History last spring. The book contains an introduction written by Dr. Harpelle, and articles written by Dr. Peter Raffo (History) and Dr. Raija Warkentin (Anthropology). In addition, the book contains articles by leading Canadian, U.S., Finnish and Russian scholars in the field.