I have been clicking away on my computer trying to find something about the Canadian Film and Photo Unit and came up with zilch, except for a review on the DVD "Shooters" which of course I followed the link to purchase and had no luck.
Anyhow, can anyone recommend a book or website? If not, does anyone know anything about this unit...I have a few questions.
I was on the website for SHOOTERS and they had a direct link to the museum webstore in Ottawa, but it's not listed. I will call the 800 # provided for the museum to enquire further.
In the meantime I had a few questions:
1) Were they regular soldiers first? i.e basic training etc. How did they become what they were? i.e. volunteer??
2)Were they "attached" to any other unit or a unit onto their own?
3) Where they armed?
4)Did they really do their work up close and personal?
They were trained first as soldiers and when the unit was formed those with film background were transferred into the unit.
Many retained their old Cap insigna with the CFPU flash and appropriate formation badges.
Yes they were armed and yes they filmed up at the 'pointy end'. The CFPU set the standard for Allied combat photography in WWII. The first images of the Normandy Invasion, the soldiers leaving the LCA on JUNO Beach was CFPU footage. Get the DVD and look for the books Mike mentioned, they really show what this unit achieved.
in the Summer 2005 issue of "Canadian Military History", Vol 14, No.3 is an article by Sarah Klotz "Shooting The War" which should answer all your questions that you have just posed and more.
Call (519)884-0710, extn 4594 to order the issue at $8.00 plus postage. See www.canadianmilitaryhistory.com.
You undoubtedly know about Canadian Army Cartoonist Bing Coughlin, and his character "Herbie". Bing took a bemused look at most aspects of the life of the Canadian soldier in WWII England and Europe ... and official photographers didn't escape. When I saw your post, I thought you might be interested in this cartoon, the caption for which read:
"PICTURE OR NO PICTURE, I'M NOT RUNNIN' PAST THAT OPEN SPACE AGAIN FER NO PHOTOGRAPHER!"
I am new to this post and have an interest background with early Canadian film history (I am a film technician at the Library-Archives of Canada).
I am also doing research into the Canadian Army Film Unit and am in the process of building a portion of my website devoted to the men and women who made up these units; http://www.canadianfilm.com/cafu/canadian_army_film_unit.htm
There is an interview with James O'Regan and links to the DVD 'Shooters'.
In the near future I will also be selling t-shirts of the Canadian Army Newsreel and if anyone is interested please let me know and I will make sure they are provided a link to the store when they are ready for sale. I am hoping to offer them with a custom bookmark, and military dog-tag.
Although my research at the moment is spotty on the CAFU I highly recommend O'Regan's DVD.
Looking forward to sharing more information on the film unit in the coming months.
Hi - there are a couple of postings for the Ken Bell book - The Way We Were on eBay at the moment.
I was able to find a copy of it in a used bookstore. I highly recommend it over his other title; Not In Vain. Not In Vain is smaller, the quality not as good and for the most part all of it is contained in the larger book (Way We Were).
Howdy - the Shooters DVD is worth it. It has the landing footage on Juno Beach in its entirety - very rare.
By the way there is some frustration in ordering the DVD thru ; http://www.customflix.com/206927
I recommend using their 1-800 number to place the order;
1-800-853-6077
I reserved the two afore mentioned copies of Mr. Bell's books on the Canadian Film & Photograph Unit and hubby is gonna pick them up today. I also order the Canadian Military History back issue publication that was suggested re: this group from the university and next step is to contact the museum to enquire about the DVD. When I do research I really do it.
Remember, all of these sources are secondary, to really get to the heart of the topic you need to delve into the primary source material held at LAC, CWM, and DHH.
Very good point but at this point this is not official research for the purpose of writing a book or anything; I only have a personal, general interest in the subject.
...not worth the money I paid for it. My credit card was ultimately charged 50 dollars (including international shipping - for a Canadian movie?)
Unless I am missing some secret menu, all you get is a 49 minute movie (which starts immediately - no menu). I can get three hour Hollywood movies for 15 dollars, I think the price on this is excessive, especially since more could have been added - extra features that would have been nice to see would include
a) a catalogue listing of all the newsreels produced, with numbers and titles
b) why not include the actual newsreels themselves, or at least some of them; even a stills gallery or a DVD-ROM component with photos would have been good - they claim 1 million photos were taken so why not put some of the more unknown ones "out there"? Like the colour photos Bell took of D-Day? (I also don't think the remark that Bell's photos were the "only" colour photos of D-Day were accurate, but am not sure; I've seen colour photos taken shortly before D-Day of US Rangers after embarkation for example, and G.R. Stevens of the Americans shot colour motion picture footage, some of which has been reproduced as stills - so maybe Bell did have the only colour stills from that day?)
As for the production itself, some really good interviews with guys who were there. O'Regan could have made this whole thing a love letter to his father but didn't, which is admirable. The presentation was well balanced and informative. Some good facts and figures and some brief bios of important figures.
I understand the costs of putting together an independent product like this, hence the price tag and offshore printing, but have to believe with a little bit extra effort in obtaining some extras, this product would be a lot easier to sell.
Anyone else have a similar reaction?
EDIT - just reread the interview with O'Regan again. 25 dollars a second for stock footage is steep, but surely this doesn't apply to the Canadian stuff? I noticed some US footage in the film, which I thought odd, but am betting the colour D-Day films were Stevens' (he had a crew on the Commonwealth beachs, also) which is probably where the expense came?
Not to put down the excellent research and documentation job O'Regan did, but I think the low number of sales (56 copies from the CWM at the time of the interview) might be explained by that.
This message has been edited by dorosh on May 4, 2006 9:11 AM
Just ordered above DVD from Cyberboutique of the Cdn Museum of Civilization
and The Canadian War Museum - total cost $61.64. NICE!!! As a former cine-
cameraman with CFPU, I was attached to 4th Armoured Division, so I was really interestedin ordering the DVD. I'm 90 so there can't be many of us left.
EX-- Sgt.'Cam' Campbell
