Moving Pictures: In Canada, eh?

It was not until 1968, with the formation of the CRTC, that the Canadian government legislated Canadian content. However, it seems that such concerns had an early start in the Canadian film industry according to the 1925 July edition of Moving Picture World p.149, where it was reported that the Federal member of Parliament for Toronto, T. L. Church was to “bring up on the floor of the Canadian House of Commons a resolution prohibiting the showing of pictures in Canada which had been taken in the Dominion and which represented other countries”. This issue came to light in connection with the making of The Knockout (1925), a film about an injured boxing champ who takes a break from the ring, only to find himself battling a lumber boss in the timberland of “Maine”. Made with the co-operation of the Canadian Government Motion Picture Bureau and local lumbering interests, the shooting actually took place in the vicinity of Beauchene, Quebec. Astonishingly, the filmmakers were reported to have acquiesced to government demands, stating that the story, and all advertising and publicity would be been changed to indicate that the outdoor scenes were of Canada. Too bad The Knockout is a lost film, I would like to see if the producers were true to their word (Klaus Ming October 2016).

 

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