Canada Carries On

Canada Carries On (French: En avant Canada) was a series of short films by the National Film Board of Canada which ran from 1940 to 1959. The series was created as morale-boosting propaganda films during the Second World War. With the end of the war, the series lost its financial backing from the Wartime Information Board, but continued as an NFB series of theatrical shorts that included newsreels as well as animated shorts.[1]

The series was initially produced by Stuart Legg, who also directed many of the early films. The first film in the series was Legg's Atlantic Patrol, released in April 1940, about the Royal Canadian Navy's role in protecting convoys from Halifax to the United Kingdom from U-boat attack.[2] One of the most famous films from this series was his Churchill's Island, released in Canada in June 1941 and winner of the first Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject).[3][4]

The narrator for many of the films in the series was Lorne Greene, known for his work on radio broadcasts as a news announcer at CBC.[5] His sonorous recitation led to his nickname, "The Voice of Canada", and when reading grim battle statistics, "The Voice of Doom".[6]

The success of Canada Carries On inspired a second NFB series, The World in Action, which was more tailored to international audiences.[7]

  1. ^ Morris, Peter. [1] Archived 2014-08-19 at the Wayback MachineCanadian Film Encyclopedia(Film Reference Library). Retrieved: January 11, 2016.
  2. ^ Ellis and McLane 2005, p. 122.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Ohayon was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "Oscar Awards: Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject." Oscars. Retrieved: January 11, 2016.
  5. ^ Bennett 2004, p. 254.
  6. ^ "Bonanza's Canadian Lorne Greene." Bite Size Canada. Retrieved: January 9, 2016.
  7. ^ Ellis and McLane 2005, p. 123.