''Morning on the Lièvre'' is a 1961 short film, directed by

David Bairstow David Leslie Bairstow (1 September 1951 – 5 January 1998) was an English cricketer, who played for Yorkshire and England as a wicket-keeper. He also played football for his hometown club Bradford City. He is the father of England internation ...

for 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 ...

. The film depicts two men canoeing on the

Lièvre River The Lièvre River (french: Rivière du Lièvre; ) is a river in western Quebec which flows south from the Mitchinamécus reservoir and empties into the Ottawa River at Masson-Angers. The river is long and drains an area of . The river's name is ...

near Notre-Dame-de-la-Salette, Quebec. Five poems by the Canadian poet Archibald Lampman –''Solitude'', ''After Mist'', ''Ambition'', ''A Dawn on the Lièvre'', and the 1888 classic ''Morning on the Lièvre'', are read by broadcaster and poet

George Whalley George Whalley (25 July 1915 – 27 May 1983) was a scholar, poet, naval officer and secret intelligence agent during World War II, CBC broadcaster, musician, biographer, and translator. He taught English at Queen's University in Kingston, On ...

. The poems give a detailed description of the forest, providing a narrative timeline progressing from dawn to full day. ''Ambition'' closes the film by asserting Lampman's rejection of contemporary society and his choice to remain in nature. The scene was inspired by Lampman's friendship with civil servant and poet

Duncan Campbell Scott Duncan Campbell Scott (August 2, 1862 – December 19, 1947) was a Canadian civil servant and poet and prose writer. With Charles G.D. Roberts, Bliss Carman, and Archibald Lampman, he is classed as one of Canada's Confederation Poets. A care ...

; Scott had introduced Lampman to camping and the appreciation of nature, while Lampman inspired Scott to begin writing poetry. Due to poor weather and spoiled footage, Bairstow shot the film over two seasons, and in autumn, rather than in the spring, when Lampman actually took the trip that inspired the poem. He wanted the scenes to be linked by a recurring musical motif and commissioned original work from

Eldon Rathburn Eldon Davis Rathburn (21 April 1916 – 31 August 2008) was a Canadian film composer who scored over 250 films during his thirty-year tenure as a staff composer at the National Film Board of Canada. Known as "the dean of Canadian film composers",< ...

. He took the advice of assistant director Stephen Greenlees, who had commented that the original footage was "monotonous", and added staged footage of the river's

rapids Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. Rapids are hydrological features between a ''run'' (a smoothly flowing part of a stream) and a ''cascade''. ...

. He also emphasized the colours of the leaves, which are a defining element of the landscape tradition of the

Group of Seven The Group of Seven (G7) is an intergovernmental political forum consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States; additionally, the European Union (EU) is a "non-enumerated member". It is official ...

; the images in the film specifically recall paintings by the Group, such as ''The Red Maple'' by

A. Y. Jackson Alexander Young Jackson LL. D. (October 3, 1882April 5, 1974) was a Canadian painter and a founding member of the Group of Seven. Jackson made a significant contribution to the development of art in Canada, and was instrumental in bringing toget ...

J. E. H. MacDonald James Edward Hervey MacDonald (1873–1932) was an English-Canadian artist, best known as a member of the Group of Seven who asserted a distinct national identity combined with a common heritage stemming from early modernism in Europe in the ear ...

's ''Falls, Montreal River'', and

Tom Thomson Thomas John Thomson (August 5, 1877July 8, 1917) was a Canadian artist active in the early 20th century. During his short career, he produced roughly 400 oil sketches on small wood panels and approximately 50 larger works on canvas. His w ...

's ''In the Northland''. The choice to adapt ''Morning on the Lièvre'' to film was a significant departure from the NFB's previous literary adaptations, but it was a familiar poem to students of the time and fit the board's mandate to make educational films that could be used in classrooms, and that were visually artistic and experimental.

Awards

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

: Silver Bear, 1961 *

Edinburgh International Film Festival The Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) is a film festival that runs for two weeks in June each year. Established in 1947, it is the world's oldest continually running film festival. EIFF presents both UK and international films (all ti ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, Scotland: Diploma of Merit, 1961 *

14th Canadian Film Awards The 14th Canadian Film Awards were held on May 26, 1962 to honour achievements in Canadian film. The ceremony was hosted by Andrew Stewart, Chairman of the Board of Broadcast Governors. For this year's awards, there were 137 entries from 39 produ ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

: Best Theatrical Short, 1962 * Boston Film Festival,

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

: Award of the Jury "For excellence in successful creative exploration of the film medium", 1962 *

Columbus International Film & Animation Festival The Columbus International Film + Animation Festival is a Columbus, Ohio, United States annual film festival which is designed to encourage and promote the use of film and video in all forms of education and communication. It is the first and o ...

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...

- Chris Statuette, 1962 * Festival of Tourist and Folklore Films,

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

: Prize of the General Commission of France, 1963

References

External links

''Morning on the Lièvre''
at the

* 1960s English-language films Best Theatrical Short Film Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners National Film Board of Canada short films 1961 short films Films based on poems Canadian poems Quebec films 1960s Canadian films {{1960s-Canada-film-stub