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The Beaver People

Accession number: 
1928.0039
Production Years: 
1928
Film Properties: 
Length (feet): 
776 (35mm), 290 (16mm)
Length (minutes): 
9
Holding Institutions: 

Library and Archives Canada: 35mm, 16mm, VHS.
"This film about beavers shows Grey Owl and his wife Gertrude Bernard (Anahareo), conservationists, with beavers in one of Canada's National Parks. Intertitles explain the popularily of the beaver as a national emblem of Canada, its place in Canada's history, threats to the beaver population due to "ruthless greed and slaughter". Grey Owl is shown paddling a canoe and beckoning a beaver to swim to him. There are also close-ups of beavers eating branches and other food, swimming and carrying branches. Also shown is a beaver grooming and using its feet to squeeze water out of its coat. Gertrude Bernard plays with a beaver. There is a close-up of a beaver dam. Grey Owl and Gertrude Bernard, wearing backpacks, leave a clearing as the interittle explains that they are leaving the beavers in the autumn as the beavers prepare for winter."

Bibliography: 

Peter Morris, Embattled Shadows: A History of Canadian Cinema, 1895-1939, McGill-Queen's University Press, 1978.