Blake (film)
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''Blake'' is a 1969
Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
short Short may refer to: Places * Short (crater), a lunar impact crater on the near side of the Moon * Short, Mississippi, an unincorporated community * Short, Oklahoma, a census-designated place People * Short (surname) * List of people known as ...
documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...
produced by the
National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...
(NFB). The film was directed by
Bill Mason Bill Mason was a Canadian naturalist, author, artist, filmmaker, and conservationist, noted primarily for his popular canoeing books, films, and art as well as his documentaries on wolves. Mason was also known for including passages from Christi ...
about his friend and fellow filmmaker Blake James, who pilots his own aircraft and lives by a unique code. ''Blake'' is Mason's cinematic testimonial to his friend and his "hobo of the skies" lifestyle."Collection: 'Blake'.
''National Film Board of Canada''. Retrieved: January 10, 2016.


Synopsis

In autumn 1969, artist and filmmaker Blake James is getting restless, and seeks to escape from his boring job at an advertising agency in Montreal. In his never-ending quest for freedom, Blake sets out for his cabin in the woods near
Meech Lake Meech Lake (french: Lac Meech) is located within Gatineau Park in the Municipality of Chelsea, Quebec, Canada. It is located about 20 km northwest of Gatineau. The lake was named after Reverend Asa Meech, an early settler in the area. Near the ...
, where he has parked his
biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...
. His friends have commented on his quirky behaviour, and yet describe him as sweet and intelligent, but almost naive. Feeling a restlessness, Blake begins to gather the materials for a long
cross-country Cross country or cross-country may refer to: Places * Cross Country, Baltimore, a neighborhood in northwest Baltimore, Maryland * Cross County Parkway, an east–west parkway in Westchester County, NY * Cross County Shopping Center, a mall in Yo ...
flight out of the jumble of items piled up in his cabin. Without a definite plan for where he is going, Blake flies during daylight hours, generally heading westward. He relies on the most rudimentary navigation, including maps and following train tracks and roads. His biplane does not even have a radio. When he wanders into the landing pattern of
Montreal International Airport Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pea ...
, Blake causes delays for the airliners in both landing and takeoff positions. Instead of getting into trouble, his impromptu landing brings out all the pilots and air traffic control personnel to see the unique biplane. The journey takes many strange turns, with Blake joining a flock of geese at one point. When he loses his map, after a vain attempt to retrieve it, he follows train tracks to a farm, where he lands and beds down for the night under the wings of his aircraft. A young boy, curious at the sight of an biplane in his family's farmyard, wakes Blake up and gets a chance to sit in the cockpit and wear Blake's flying goggles. Finally, with a throw of the propeller, Blake flies away, continuing his vagabond wandering.


Cast

* Blake James as Himself * Bill Mason (uncredited as the narrator) * Douglas Jackson (uncredited as a friend talking to the narrator) * Paul Mason as the boy


Production

Mason and James first met at a commercial art studio in
Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...
. They later worked together at
Crawley Films Crawley () is a large town and borough in West Sussex, England. It is south of London, north of Brighton and Hove, and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Crawley covers an area of and had a population of 106,597 at the time of th ...
, before both going to the NFB. James' film credits include an animated vignette on Canadian aviation pioneer Wilfrid R. "Wop" May.Blake, James
"Canada Vignettes: 'Wop May'."
''National Film Board of Canada'', 1972. Retrieved: January 10, 2016.
He also starred in Mason's acclaimed short film '' The Rise and Fall of the Great Lakes'' (1968). Aerial filming involved both Mason and James, with Blake's biplane equipped with film cameras on the wingtips and in front of the cockpit. Filming ''Blake'' was fraught with difficulty and was sometimes dangerous; on one occasion, Mason lost sight of James while filming from another aircraft. It was discovered that James had been forced to land on an island in the
St. Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connecting ...
after forgetting to switch on his main fuel tank. Because there was no radio in the vintage biplane, Mason and James resorted to using hand signals. With James being able to trigger the cameras on his aircraft, he tended to fly in an unorthodox pattern, looking for suitable aerial views of clouds or landscape, but often left Mason, following in a "camera aircraft", far behind. If they were too far apart, Mason would have to land and wait for James to come down; he simply called his friend "lost" on those occasions.


Release

''Blake'' was shown theatrically in Canada and acquired by an American distributor. The NFB had an arrangement with
Famous Players theatres Famous Players Limited Partnership, DBA Famous Players, is a Canadian-based subsidiary of Cineplex Entertainment. As an independent company, it existed as a film exhibitor and cable television service provider. Famous Players operated numerous ...
to ensure that Canadians from coast-to-coast could see NFB documentaries, with further distribution by
Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...
.Ellis and McLane 2005, p. 122. The film received widespread notice, as it was shown as an introductory film with '' MASH'' (1970), which became one of the "biggest" hits of the early 1970s for
20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...
.


Awards

Theatrical showings of ''Blake'' in the U.S. led to a nomination for an
Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film The Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film is an award presented at the annual Academy Awards ceremony. The award has existed, under various names, since 1957. From 1936 until 1956 there were two separate awards, "Best Short Subject, One- ...
. ''Blake'' received the Grand Prize (the "Golden Boomerang") at the 1971 Melbourne Film Festival."NFB production wins Aussie award."
''
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'' (
Canadian Press The Canadian Press (CP; french: La Presse canadienne, ) is a Canadian national news agency headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. Established in 1917 as a vehicle for the time's Canadian newspapers to exchange news and information, The Canadian Pre ...
), July 5, 1971, p. 5. Retrieved: January 10, 2016.
and was nominated for a
BAFTA Film Award The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTA Film Awards is an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to film. The cere ...
for Best Short Film.Ohayon, Albert
"Curator's comments: 'Blake'."
''National Film Board of Canada''. Retrieved: January 10, 2016.
Other awards included a 1970 Etrog Award (now known as a
Genie Award The Genie Awards were given out annually by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to recognize the best of Canadian cinema from 1980–2012. They succeeded the Canadian Film Awards (1949–1978; also known as the "Etrog Awards," for scu ...
) for Best Film Under 30 Minutes, and three
Golden Sheaf Awards Yorkton Film Festival (YFF) is an annual film festival held in late May in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, Canada. In 1947, the Yorkton Film Council (YFC) was founded and in 1950 the first international documentary film festival officially opened in we ...
, for Best of Festival, Best Direction and Best Social Science film, presented at the 1971 International Film Festival, Yorkton, Saskatchewan.Shaw. Ruth
"Major film award to NFB."
''
Regina Leader-Post The ''Regina Leader-Post'' is the daily newspaper of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, and a member of the Postmedia Network. Founding The newspaper was first published as ''The Leader'' in 1883 by Nicholas Flood Davin, soon after Edgar Dewdney, Li ...
'', October 23, 1971, p. 4. Retrieved: January 10, 2016.


References


Notes


Citations


Bibliography

* Buck, Ken. ''Bill Mason: Wilderness Artist From Heart to Hand''. Victoria, British Columbia, Canada: Rocky Mountain Books, 2005. . * Ellis, Jack C. and Betsy A. McLane. ''New History of Documentary Film''. London: Continuum International Publishing Group, 2005. . * Lerner, Loren. ''Canadian Film and Video: A Bibliography and Guide to the Literature''. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: University of Toronto Press, 1997. . *


External links


Watch ''Blake'' at NFB.ca
(requires
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) * * {{ACCT Short Films 1969 films 1969 documentary films Canadian aviation films Documentary films about aviation Documentary films about film directors and producers Films directed by Bill Mason Best Theatrical Short Film Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners National Film Board of Canada documentaries Canadian short documentary films National Film Board of Canada short films Quebec films Films set in Quebec 1960s short documentary films 1960s Canadian films