Ancient survival vid - Early man caught on film

[Shewie]

Well it's not that old, in fact some of you were even on this planet when it was made.


1954 I think

It's a Canadian Film Board flick about what to do if you get lost in the bush.

It's quite entertaining even if it's just to chuckle at the snooty 50's accent. Why did everyone used to speak like that anyway, it's not as though it's that long ago when you think about it ?

http://www.nfb.ca/film/survival_in_the_bush/

You might want to change the quality to Standard rather than High, my 8mb b'band kept bombing out while it buffered.

 

[rancid badger]

That looks a bit odd to me Rich,
Looks like Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse might pop up any minute.
I like it regardless
atb
Steve

 

[SimonM]

HOW did you find that gem?

Superb!

Simon

 

[Nagual]

heh The presenter reminds me of Ewan MacGregor a bit. I was impressed when the camera man got in to the water with a solid plop and the camera didn't some how managing to float along with them as before.. Bear G maybe got his production values from these guys.. lo still the essence of what is being put across is good.

 

[Toddy]

It's quite entertaining even if it's just to chuckle at the snooty 50's accent. Why did everyone used to speak like that anyway, it's not as though it's that long ago when you think about it ?

We were taught to speak like that so that our accents didn't get in the way of our being understood anywhere within the old British Empire. It meant that regardless of origins our English was understandable anywhere else. Didn't matter if you were rich or poor, the accent, and that calm, unflappable attitude, was considered 'appropriate' behaviour and approvingly regarded.

Up here we were belted in school if we replied to authority figures using any other pronunciation. It was considered disrespectful and punished accordingly.
By the late 60's early 70's it was all changing.

It had a point, but I do like our regional variations. However, I struggle nowadays to understand some of the English spoken by incomers and I'm sure they struggle with ours.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[The Cumbrian]

We were taught to speak like that so that our accents didn't get in the way of our being understood anywhere within the old British Empire. It meant that regardless of origins our English was understandable anywhere else. Didn't matter if you were rich or poor, the accent, and that calm, unflappable attitude, was considered 'appropriate' behaviour and approvingly regarded.

Up here we were belted in school if we replied to authority figures using any other pronunciation. It was considered disrespectful and punished accordingly.
By the late 60's early 70's it was all changing.

It had a point, but I do like our regional variations. However, I struggle nowadays to understand some of the English spoken by incomers and I'm sure they struggle with ours.

cheers,
Toddy

My ex-neighbour ( from The Wirral ) struggled with the West Cumbrian accent.

He's since moved to Vietnam, and latterly El Salvador, where he finds the locals easier to understand.

Cheers, Michael.

 

[hammock monkey]

what an amazing site - thanks for letting us know about it,
great to see song of the paddle on there


cheers

 

[Shewie]

what an amazing site - thanks for letting us know about it,
great to see song of the paddle on there


cheers

Yeah those loads of good viewing on there, and if your French is up to much then there's even more

 

[spoonophosese]

Angus is very skillful, even thought it's an old film.

 

[mayfly]

Interesting films! Many thanks, Chris

 

[MartinK9]

Great find Chris - thanks

 

[forestwalker]

Yeah those loads of good viewing on there, and if your French is up to much then there's even more

Yes, "Cree Hunters of the Mistassini" is defintely recommended. Now I just have to figure out how to download it...

 

[Chinkapin]

Thank you so much for finding these and sharing them with us. Ya gotta just love those old 50s documentaries. Actually, this one was quite good, particularly for the 50s. I've already watched two of the other films. Thanks again Shewie.

 

[Apac]

was is neccasery to kill the bear?

 

[Cobweb]

It was a good documentary for the 50's, it's is a shame they killed the bear, especially as it was a mother.

 

[Gailainne]

They killed the bear because it now knew where the camp and an easy food source was, including them if nothing else was available.

 

[Chinkapin]

Bears are real opportunists, once they find an easy meal, they are going to come back every day. You might scare them off a time or two but they are just going to get bolder and bolder. Not to even mention the fact that they are a dangerous wild animal. Since this bear had a cub she would be even more hostile to any threat, such as people. If this film was portraying a true situation and not a made up one, these men had nothing to eat except the fish that they had caught over a several day period. They could not let this continue to happen. They could not move camp because they were to be picked up there in three weeks if they did not come out on their own. Plus, they had, at that point, an unfinished canoe to lug around. The only possibility would have been to suspend the the next catch of fish in a tree, but it needed to hang close to the smoke of the fire. Although the film never showed it, I suspect they used the bear meat to live on until they left for civilization.

 

[Sisyphus]

Up here we were belted in school if we replied to authority figures using any other pronunciation. It was considered disrespectful and punished accordingly.
By the late 60's early 70's it was all changing.

Well kids in my primary school constantly got told off if they spoke in a local dialect, and that was in the mid 80's. I'm glad of it aswell, it's terrible how people advocate teaching scots "doric" as being acceptable to kids who are meant to be able to function in a modern global society that is vastly different from when everyone was largely confined to villages where everyone had the same surname.

 

[Chinkapin]

Here in the U.S., in the early days of radio, someone made a decision that the Midwest dialect was the closest to standard English and the least offensive to listen to to the majority of listeners. Consequently, this has been responsible for a certain "leveling" of regional accents. I was raised in Michigan, Oklahoma, and Arkansas and never talked "right" no matter where I was. In school, I frequently heard myself and others corrected for incorrect grammar but never for regional accent. (the teachers had the same regional accent, lol.) The southern accent, of which I am most familiar, seems to me to be getting more and more pronounced rather than fading away. A sociologist could make a career here, I think. There are real differences in these accents based on socioeconomic level also, I don't know if you get that aspect or not. Would be interested to hear.

 

[Sisyphus]

There are real differences in these accents based on socioeconomic level also, I don't know if you get that aspect or not. Would be interested to hear.

That is definately the case here in scotland and I'm sure in the rest of the UK. The stronger accents and regional dialects are far more prevalent in areas of social and economic deprivation, it's actually incredibly divisive and the two ends of the spectrum don't often interact atall.