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Clan Donald : A British Farm Colony

Accession number: 
1926.0003
Production Years: 
1926

Languages:

Film Properties: 
Length (feet): 
735 (35mm)
Holding Institutions: 

Library and Archives Canada: 35mm, digibeta, vhs.
"Film about the immigration to Canada of 100 families from Scotland. A year ago, according to the intertitles, the families were 'leading lives of drab prospect in Scotland'. Shot of prairie. Men on horseback, viewed from the back, look out over the land. The town of Vermillion Alberta, centre of the colony. Shows rough wooden shacks and dirt roads. View of Father MacDonell, who got the idea for the colony and who organized it. He helps a woman step down from the back of a cart. Women and children seated on the cart. Close-up of Father McIntyre, who manages the colony. Families standing a dockside. Men walk by carrying luggage. Man, woman and child walk up gangplank. View of ship at dock. Crowds at dock. View of city buildings from harbour, obscured by steam or smoke. Crowd of men, women and children on deck, waving to the camera. Views of the voyage across the ocean to Canada. People eating at small tables on deck. Close-up of woman and boy drinking tea. Smiling children run along deck toward camera as other people watch. People dancing on deck to music played by pianist. Close-up of pianist playing and singing. View of water, sunset and hills along horizon. Ship passing under bridge. Overhead view of the ship. The immigrants land at Quebec City and walk down the gangplank. An official directs the passengers as they leave the ship. Passengers filing through a building. The immigrants wave from a departing train. People inside a passenger coach. Archbishop O'Leary and other clergy walk out of a tent and greet the immigrants at the new colony. Brief close-up of O'Leary speaking. Crowd looks on. Piles of lumber ready for delivery to the colony to build homes. A farm home in the colony. Man drives a wagon in front. A girl and boy lead horses along a dirt road in the colony. Two women, another boy and a man follow behind them, leading more horses. Man and a small boy walk along. Close-up of a smiling man and young woman, who then laugh. More close-ups of the settlers, including young women and children. Man drives a plough in a field on the prairies. Cattle and horses by a pond. People stand beside a team of horses. Man stacks cans of milk. Settlers arrive by horse and wagon for open-air Sunday church service. Panoramic view of surrounding hills, wagons, horses, a few buildings and tents. Longshot of crowd next to some tents. Medium-shot of settlers kneeling in the grass, with some worshippers just visible inside the tent. Men, women and children seated in the grass, eating sandwiches. View of prairie and cattle. Men, a woman and children seated in the grass, eating sandwiches. View of prairie and cattle. Men, a woman and children look down at cattle in a valley. Closer shots of cattle in valley, grazing and drinking at a pond. Cattle shown in pens. Footage concludes with intertitle about stockyards in Calgary. "

Bibliography: 

Motion Picture Distributors and Exhibitors of Canada, Canadian Motion Pictures 1914-1932 (June 1932), 4.