Back to Jobs

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Back to Jobs
Back to Jobs.jpg
Title frame
Produced byNicholas Balla
Narrated by Lorne Greene
Production
company
Distributed by Columbia Pictures of Canada
Release date
  • November 1945 (1945-11)
Running time
9 minutes, 35 seconds
CountryCanada
LanguageEnglish

Back to Jobs is a nine-minute 1945 Canadian documentary film, made by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) as part of the postwar Canada Carries On series. [1] The film describes soldiers in the Second World War returning home and back to a civilian life. The French version title of Back to Jobs is Nos soldats reviennent (Our soldiers are coming back.).

Contents

Synopsis

In 1945, with the end of the Second World War, many Canadian veterans are welcomed by friends and family. Once back home, the veterans face the inevitable return to civilian life and seeking employment in a new, postwar economy.

Although seven percent of the returning veterans will find work in the resource sector in agriculture, fisheries, forestry and mining, 68% of returning workers will find jobs in industries that were created in urban centres. For 1/3 of the veterans, before they re-enter the workforce, some form of education in an academic or professional field or retraining in a technical- or trades-related field will be required.

Over 25,000 veterans will require medical treatment or therapy to restore them to health before returning to work as "productive citizens". There will be a pressing need to provide specialized care in new programs that could help injured or physically disabled war veterans learn and utilize new work skills. The responsibility to undertake such initiatives lies in cooperation between veterans' communities, government and industry.

The transition for returning veterans between war and peacetime activities will involve the collaboration of industry, government and communities to make postwar Canada work.

Production

Immediately after the war, the Canada Carries On series changed its focus to a nation at peace. Founder John Grierson left the NFB in 1945 and while his message of "national unity through information was still present", a major shift away from wartime "propaganda" films to works of art with the filmmaker's point of view clearly present, took place. [2] [Note 1]

New postwar NFB short films such as Back to Jobs described Canadian contributions in science, industry, art and culture. Typical of the NFB's documentary style in wartime, the film was a compilation documentary that relied heavily on newsreel footage, edited to provide a coherent message. Along the same themes of returning to a postwar world, the NFB produced Safe Clothing (Habits sans danger) (1946) and Careers and Cradles (Carrières et berceaux) (1947). [4]

The deep baritone voice of stage actor Lorne Greene was featured in the narration of Back to Jobs. Greene was known for his work on radio broadcasts as a news announcer at CBC , as well as narrating many of the Canada Carries On series. [5] His sonorous recitation led to his nickname, "The Voice of Canada", and to some observers, the "voice-of-God". [6] When reading grim battle statistics or narrating a particularly serious topic, he was known as "The Voice of Doom". [7]

Reception

Back to Jobs was produced in 35 mm for the theatrical market. Each film was shown over a six-month period as part of the shorts or newsreel segments in approximately 800 theatres across Canada. The NFB had an arrangement with Famous Players theatres to ensure that Canadians from coast-to-coast could see them, with further distribution by Columbia Pictures. [8] Bookings for the Canada Carries On films continued in Famous Players theatres and other cinemas throughout Canada. Some films were also sold to individual theatres periodically. Columbia Pictures continued to distribute the series, with France Films handling its French counterpart, En Avant Canada, in Quebec and New Brunswick. [3]

After the six-month theatrical tour ended, individual films were made available on 16 mm to schools, libraries, churches and factories, extending the life of these films for another year or two. They were also made available to film libraries operated by university and provincial authorities. A total of 199 films were produced before the series was canceled in 1959. [3]

In his book, Filming Politics: Communism and the Portrayal of the Working Class at the National Film Board of Canada, 1939-46., historian Malek Khouri analyzed the role of the NFB documentaries including Back to Jobs. Khouri noted: "In general, all NFB films dealing with the war veterans' return echoed themes proposed by the Communist left, particularly in the way they stressed the government's responsibility in dealing with the unemployment issue." [9]

Related Research Articles

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<i>Now — The Peace</i> 1945 Canadian film

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<i>Our Northern Neighbour</i> 1944 Canadian film

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<i>Everywhere in the World</i> 1941 Canadian film

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<i>Women Are Warriors</i> 1942 Canadian film

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<i>Inside Fighting Russia</i> 1942 Canadian film

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<i>The Battle for Oil</i> 1942 film

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<i>Letter from Aldershot</i> 1940 Canadian film

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<i>Soldiers All</i> 1941 Canadian film

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<i>The Gates of Italy</i> 1943 Canadian film

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<i>Trans-Canada Express</i> 1944 Canadian film

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<i>The Voice of Action</i> 1942 Canadian film

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<i>The War for Mens Minds</i> 1943 Canadian film

The War for Men's Minds is a 21-minute 1943 Canadian documentary film, made by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) as part of the wartime The World in Action series. The film was produced by Stuart Legg. The film describes the impact of propaganda from the Axis powers in 1943, during the Second World War. The French version title is À la conquête de l'esprit humain.

<i>Letter from Overseas</i> 1943 Canadian film

Letter from Overseas is a 15-minute 1943 Canadian documentary film, made by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) as part of the wartime The World in Action series. The film describes the training and operational use of Canadian Army soldiers in 1943 during the Second World War.

<i>Pincer on Axis Europe</i> 1943 Canadian film

Pincer on Axis Europe is a 20-minute 1943 Canadian documentary film, made by the National Film Board of Canada as part of the wartime Canada Carries On series. The film describes the Allied invasion of North Africa in 1942 during the Second World War.

<i>Quebec – Path of Conquest</i> 1942 Canadian film

Quebec – Path of Conquest is an 11-minute 1942 Canadian documentary film, made by the National Film Board of Canada as part of the wartime Canada Carries On series. The film was directed by Radford Crawley and produced by Raymond Spottiswoode. Quebec – Path of Conquest describes the importance of the province of Quebec to Canada and the Allied war effort during the Second World War. The film's French version title is Québec, tremplin stratégique.

References

Notes

  1. ↑ Postwar filmmakers at the NFB demanded that their names be included in credits on their films. [3]

Citations

  1. ↑ Lerner 1997, p. 1051.
  2. ↑ "Transition to peace: New films and new methods for a post-war Canada, Wartime cinema series." Archived 2016-03-22 at the Wayback Machine Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA), May 21, 2011. Retrieved: March 16, 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 Ohayon, Albert."“Canada Carries On” and the postwar years: the National Film Board in transition." National Film Board of Canada, May 14, 2014. Retrieved: March 16, 2016.
  4. ↑ Morris, Peter. "Film Reference Library: Canada Carries On." [ permanent dead link ]Canadian Film Encyclopedia. Retrieved: March 16, 2016.
  5. ↑ Bennett 2004, p. 254.
  6. ↑ Rist 2001, p. 84.
  7. ↑ "Bonanza's Canadian Lorne Greene." Bite Size Canada. Retrieved: March 16, 2016.
  8. ↑ Ellis and McLane 2005, p. 122.
  9. ↑ Khouri 2007, p. 161.

Bibliography

  • Bennett, Linda Greene. My Father's Voice: The Biography of Lorne Greene. Bloomington, Indiana: iUniverse, Inc., 2004. ISBN   978-0-595-33283-0.
  • Ellis, Jack C. and Betsy A. McLane. New History of Documentary Film. London: Continuum International Publishing Group, 2005. ISBN   0-8264-1750-7.
  • Khouri, Malek. Filming Politics: Communism and the Portrayal of the Working Class at the National Film Board of Canada, 1939-46. Calgary, Alberta, Canada: University of Calgary Press, 2007. ISBN   978-1-55238-199-1.
  • Lerner, Loren. Canadian Film and Video: A Bibliography and Guide to the Literature. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1997. ISBN   978-0-8020-2988-1.
  • Rist, Peter. Guide to the Cinema(s) of Canada. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2001. ISBN   978-0-3132-9931-5.
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