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= Vancouver Motion Pictures Ltd. =

Vancouver Motion Pictures Ltd. was a commercial film production company that operated in Vancouver, British Columbia from 1928 to 1946. It was founded by Roger Bourne and Charles Lambly, initially to provide film processing and technical services.It was closely associated with another company, Motion Skreenadz Ltd., founded in 1920 and operated by J. Howard Boothe and Harry Rosenbaum. Skreenadz mainly produced short theatrical advertising trailers, but later expanded to make promotional shorts and travelogues for the local market.

Leon Shelly
Leon Curtis Shelly (1906-1987) was a son of W. C. Shelly, a onetime Member of the BC Legislative Assembly (1928-33) and provincial finance minister. The elder Shelly was also co-founder of Shelly Brothers Ltd., a successful commercial bakery in Vancouver. In the early 1930s, Leon Shelly was involved in managing and developing the Grouse Mountain Resort in North Vancouver, another of his father's business ventures.In 1936-37, Leon C. Shelly assumed control of both companies. Under Shelly's leadership, Vancouver Motion Pictures emerged in the 1930s and 1940s as an active and busy production house, creating dozens of sponsored promotional and industrial shorts. The company and its staff played an important early role in the development of a the Vancouver film industry.

In 1936, Shelly assumed control of two existing motion picture service companies in Vancouver. Motion Skreenadz Limited (founded 1920) specialized in the production of theatrical advertising trailers or "screen ads". Vancouver Motion Pictures Ltd. (founded 1928) provided film laboratory and technical services. The companies both had offices in the film exchange building at 1216 Burrard (at Davie) in downtown Vancouver.

With the help of cinematographer and technical wizard E. Wallace (Wally) Hamilton, Shelly updated the facilities and equipment necessary for filmmaking, including optical sound recording, an essential component for commercial production. By the late 1930s, Shelly was producing quality industrial and sponsored films for the BC market, eventually combining the operations of the two companies under the name Vancouver Motion Pictures.

Vancouver Motion Pictures
Shelly produced sponsored films for a number of British Columbia clients during the Second World War. Notable clients included the BC Government Travel Bureau, BC Packers, Kelly Douglas Limited, and the Powell River Company.

Shelly's operation brought professional colour film production to Vancouver, adopting the Cinecolor bi-pack (two-negative) colour process. On three bigger-budget 35 mm films produced for the Travel Bureau in 1940-42, intended for theatrical distribution to US audiences, he hired experienced crew members from Hollywood, including cinematographer Ray Fernstrom, narrator Gayne Whitman, and editor Ed Taylor (who stayed on in Vancouver).

The regular staff working at Vancouver Motion Pictures included many people who would play important roles in the development of a the Canadian film and television industry. They included directors Oscar C. Burritt, Lew M. Parry, and Ed Taylor; cinematographers Oscar C. Burritt, Wally Hamilton, Ernie Kirkpatrick, Don Lytle, and Mel Parry; editors Maureen Balfe and Hellen Semmens; and titling artist/art director/animator Marguerite Roozeboom (nee Goulding).

In 1942-43, VMP began filming BC sequences for the National Film Board of Canada, which used the material in films for its propaganda series Canada Carries On and World In Action. In spring 1943, a film industry trade journal reported that the company "working full blast these days in commercial and government work." By 1946, Shelly had made half a dozen complete documentaries for the NFB. The war years at Vancouver Motion Pictures Ltd. proved critical in the establishment of a Vancouver film industry.

Shelly Films (Toronto)
At the end of the Second World War, Shelly renamed Vancouver Motion Pictures as "Shelly Films" and moved the operation to Toronto, Ontario. Much of the VMP staff went east to work there. However, Lew Parry stayed in Vancouver and started his own production company, eventually becoming BC's most prolific filmmaker. Marguerite Roozeboom was art director and animator on many of Parry's films, and eventually founded Pageant Productions with her husband, cinematographer Bill Roozeboom.

Based in Toronto, Shelly was able to expand his clientele base to include interprovincial and national companies. One of his productions, Beans of Bounty (1948), was co-winner in the Non-Theatrical category at the first Canadian Film Awards in 1949.

Shelly Films discontinued film production in 1956 to focus on laboratory work and the release printing of Hollywood feature films.

Motion Skreenadz Ltd.[edit]

 * Why? (Pacific Milk advertising trailer, ca. 1937) - Rare extant example of a Motion Skreenadz trailer with sound track
 * The Story of Canadian Salmon (Motion Skreenadz Ltd., ca. 1939, for BC Packers Ltd.)

Vancouver Motion Pictures Ltd.[edit]

 * Behind the Headlines (for the Vancouver Daily Province, 1938-39)
 * Beautiful British Columbia (for the BC Government Travel Bureau, 1940) - Lost
 * Coffee for Canadians (for Nabob Foods/Kelly Douglas Limited, 1940)
 * British Columbia Sports [aka Evergreen Playland] (for the BC Government Travel Bureau, 1941)
 * North of the Border (for the BC Government Travel Bureau, 1942)
 * Apple Valley (for BC Tree Fruits Ltd., 1942)
 * Coffeeland to Canada (for Nabob Foods/Kelly Douglas Ltd.)
 * Banshees Over Canada (for the National Board, 1943) - British Columbia sequences only
 * Road to Tokyo (for the National Board, 1943) - British Columbia sequences only
 * Tomorrow's Timber (for the National Film Board/Dept. of Mines and Resources, Canada, 1944)
 * River of Paper (for the Powell River Company, 1944)
 * Salmon for Food (for BC Packers, ca. 1945)
 * The Herring Hunters (for BC Packers, ca. 1945)
 * Limbs to Order ( (for the National Board, 1945)
 * Road to Recovery`(for the National Board, 1945)
 * Of Japanese Descent`(for the National Board, 1945)

Shelly Films[edit]

 * Salmon Run (for the National Film Board, 1945)
 * Valiant Company (for General Motors of Canada, 1945)
 * Land of Sky Blue Waters (for BC Tree Fruits Ltd., 1946)
 * Jasper (for the National Film Board, 1946)
 * Niagara the Powerful (for the Hydro Electric Power Commission of Ontario, 1946)
 * Motoring in the Maritimes (for Imperial Oil [?], 1947)
 * Search Unending : The History of Oil Operations in Canada (for Imperial Oil, 1947)
 * Royal Winter Fair (for the Imperial Tobacco Company of Canada Limited, 1948)
 * Something to Chew On (for the National Film Board/Dept. of National Health and Welfare, 1948)
 * Beans of Bounty (for Victory Mills, 1948)
 * Oil for Canada (for Imperial Oil, 1949)
 * Farm Forestry (for Department of Lands and Forests Ontario, 195-)
 * Vacation in Quebec (for Imperial Oil, 195-)
 * Shop Talk (for Robert Simpson Co., ca. 1952)
 * The Wealth of the Nation (for Abitibi Power and Paper Company, 1952)
 * A Good Place to Live (for Thompson Products, 1955-56)