John K. Rooke

Inside Newfoundland

Canada's tenth province--its people, its resources, its way of life. The camera shows us St. John's, the capital city; Cornerbrook, pulp and paper centre; and Bell Island with its iron mine. The greatest wealth of Newfoundland is her people, and a visit with Fred Greeley, inshore fisherman and his family, introduces us to our fellow Canadians. Finally the importance of Newfoundland's airports is stressed, and we visit Gander, where international air travellers come and go from the four corners of the globe.

Silks and Sulkies

This short documentary from 1950 captures the thrill of harness racing on Prince Edward Island. We follow Bellhop's career as a pacer, from his unwilling introduction to harness through trials with a bicycle sulky (or 2-wheel cart) to his first big race. The film culminates with scenes of trotters and pacers at Charlottetown's Old Home Week.

A Capital Plan

This short documentary features a portrait of Ottawa in the mid-20th century, as the nascent Canadian capital grew with force but without direction. Street congestion, air pollution, and rail traffic were all the negative results of a city that had grown without being properly planned. French architect and urban designer Jacques Gréber stepped in to create a far-sighted plan for the future development of Ottawa. With tracks moved, factories relocated, and neighbourhoods redesigned as separate communities, Ottawa became the capital city of true beauty and dignity we know today.

Pay-Off In Pain

The personal and social tragedy of drug addiction with its evil accompaniment, drug traffic. Over the side of the silent liner in the darkness slips the package of smuggled narcotics, introducing us to the complex problem which involves all races and classes of man. We see many aspects of addiction - the addict preparing an injection, a group waiting tensely for their dope peddler; agents preparing and adulterating the illegal product; the police catching a pusher red-handed. International and national authorities are working from two angles - suppression of the illicit traffic; and where possible, rehabilitation of the addict.

Science in Bloom

Montreal’s Botanical Gardens are a storehouse of the wonders of nature. From all over the world scientists have gathered a living collection of plants and flowers, providing delight for the casual visitor and rich material for the student of botany. The actual process of plant growth is revealed for us by the time-lapse camera. We see a practical result of the botanist’s work in British Columbia’s important seed industry. Children, too, at the Montreal Botanical Gardens, cultivating their own plots of ground, take part in the quest for the secrets of nature.