Donald Brittain

Never a Backward Step

Arthur Hammond, Donald Brittain

This feature documentary is a profile of Canadian press tycoon Roy Thomson, whose single-minded attention to business brought him riches, power, and even a baronetcy in England. A native of Timmins, Ontario, Thomson had a tremendous career as publisher, television magnate, financier, and owner of many newspapers, including leading London dailies. The film is a frank study of an equally frank man.

Family: A Loving Look at CBC Radio

Robert A. Duncan, Donald Brittain

Robert A. Duncan

Family offers a candid look at CBC Radio in action and the unique cast of characters who make up Canada's coast-to-coast radio family. The film brings home the enormous complexity of producing across six time zones, with the mandate to deliver quality programs, often live, throughout the country. Accomplished filmmaker Donald Brittain was able to capture critical moments of live radio in progress and documents the history and development of CBC Radio.

Canada's Sweetheart: The Saga of Hal C. Banks

Donald Brittain

The film was about Hal C. Banks, a controversial American labour union leader who came to Canada in 1949 to lead a sectarian fight between rival shipping unions. Banks left Canada in 1962 after being brought up on criminal charges.

The Champions, Part 3: The Final Battle

Donald Brittain

Pierre Elliott Trudeau, René Lévesque

The final instalment of this 3-part documentary series about Pierre Elliott Trudeau and René Lévesque spans the decade between 1976 and 1986. The film reveals the turbulent, behind-the-scenes drama during the Quebec referendum and the repatriation of the Canadian Constitution. In doing so, it also traces both Trudeau's and Lévesque's fall from power.

Memorandum

Donald Brittain, John Spotton

Bernard Laufer, Emil Bednarek

A Jewish Holocaust survivor travels through Germany recalling scenes from his memory.

Fields of Sacrifice

Donald Brittain

Douglas Rain

This 1964 documentary returns to the battlefields where over 100,000 Canadian soldiers lost their lives in the First and Second World Wars. The film also visits cemeteries where servicemen are buried. Filmed from Hong Kong to Sicily, this documentary is designed to show Canadians places they have reason to know but may not be able to visit. Produced for the Canadian Department of Veteran Affairs by the renowned documentary filmmaker Donald Brittain. (NFB)

King of the Hill

Donald Brittain, William Canning

Donald Brittain, Ferguson Jenkins

This feature documentary follows one of the greatest Canadian baseball players of all time, Ferguson Jenkins, through the 1972-1973 season. From the hope and innocence of spring training to the dog days of an August slump, the camera gets up close and personal at the home plate and records the intimate chatter on the mound, in the dugout and in the locker room. It provides a glimpse into the rewards and pressures of sports stardom and the easy camaraderie of the quintessential summer sport.

Dreamland: A History of Early Canadian Movies 1895-1939

Donald Brittain

The early history of Canadian film making before the establishment of the National Film Board of Canada.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Leonard Cohen

Don Owen, Donald Brittain

Leonard Cohen, Donald Brittain

A 1964 documentary portrait of Cohen in his pre-musician days as a poet and stand-up comedian.

The Champions, Part 1: Unlikely Warriors

Donald Brittain

Pierre Elliott Trudeau, René Lévesque

In Part 1 of this 3-part documentary series, director Donald Brittain chronicles the early years of Pierre Elliott Trudeau and René Lévesque. From their university days in the 1950s to 1967 when Lévesque left the Liberal Party and Trudeau became the federal Minister of Justice, Brittain attempts to get at the heart of what makes these men so fascinating.

Paperland: The Bureaucrat Observed

Donald Brittain

Donald Brittain

Bureaucracy shapes our lives and guides us from the cradle to the grave. This documentary lays bare the idiosyncrasies of bureaucracy, whether in Canada, Austria, Hungary, the Vatican or the Virgin Islands. It also attempts to make the functioning of the public service more comprehensible. The absurdities of bureaucratic behaviour are exposed with humour and irreverence.

Volcano: An Inquiry into the Life and Death of Malcolm Lowry

Donald Brittain, John Kramer

Richard Burton, Donald Brittain

This feature-length Oscar®-nominated documentary focuses on Malcolm Lowry, author of one of the major novels of the 20th century, Under the Volcano. But while Lowry fought a winning battle with words, he lost his battle with alcohol. Shot on location in four countries, the film combines photographs, readings by Richard Burton from the novel and interviews with the people who loved and hated Lowry, to create a vivid portrait of the man.

Canada Vignettes: Wop May

Blake James

Donald Brittain

This short animated film is about Wop May, one of Canada's leading bush pilots in the 1920s.

Bethune

Donald Brittain

Michael Kane, Lister Sinclair

A film biography of Dr. Norman Bethune, the Canadian doctor who served with the loyalists during the Spanish Civil War and with the North Chinese Army during the Sino-Japanese War. In Spain he pioneered the world's first mobile blood-transfusion service; in China his work behind battle lines to save the wounded has made him a legendary figure. This hour-long documentary film pieces together his remarkable career.

What on Earth!

Kaj Pindal, Les Drew

Donald Brittain

The Martians speculate on the nature of Earth's apparent dominant life form, automobiles.

Whistling Smith

Michael J.F. Scott, Marrin Canell

Bernie Smith, Donald Brittain

This film is a revealing portrait of a tough cop with a big heart. Sergeant Bernie "Whistling" Smith walks the beat on Vancouver's Eastside, the hangout of petty criminals, down-and-outs and a variety of characters. His policing is unorthodox. To many drug users, petty thieves and prostitutes in this economically depressed area he is more than the iron hand of the law, he is also a counsellor and a friend.