''Candid Eye'' is a

Canadian Canadians () 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 their being ''C ...

documentary television series which aired on

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV, or simply CBC) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcasting, p ...

in 1958 and was expanded into 1961.

Production

Wolf Koenig, Terence Macartney-Filgate, and Stanley Jackson filmed ''The Days Before Christmas'' in December 1957, and the

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is the Canadian Public broadcasting, public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a Crown corporation that serves as the national public broadcaster, with its E ...

and

National Film Board The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; ) is a Canadian public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary films, animation, web documentaries, and altern ...

requested six more episodes after seeing it. ''The Days Before Christmas'' was later released in December 1958, while ''Blood and Fire'' aired as the first episode on 26 October 1958. Tom Daly served as the executive producer. Multiple names were suggested for the show, including ''The Roving Eye'', but ''Candid Eye'' was selected, despite fears that it would be confused with '' Candid Camera''. ''Candid Eye'', influenced by British Free Cinema films and the work of

Henri Cartier-Bresson Henri Cartier-Bresson (; 22 August 1908 – 3 August 2004) was a French artist and Humanist photography, humanist photographer considered a master of candid photography, and an early user of 135 film, 35mm film. He pioneered the genre of street ...

, was one of the NFB's very first experiments in Cinéma vérité. The films were observational, shot on location using the NFB's new mobile, light-weight equipment. Only ''Festival in Puerto Rico'' had a script, and ''Pilgrimage'', ''The Days Before Christmas'', ''Police'', and ''Blood and Fire'' involved large crowds. ''The Back-Breaking Leaf'' and ''Country Threshing'' were shot in fields; ''The Cars in Your Life'', using

slow-motion Slow motion (commonly abbreviated as slow-mo or slo-mo) is an effect in film-making whereby time appears to be slowed down. It was invented by the Austrian priest August Musger in the early 20th century. This can be accomplished through the use ...

and pop-on-pop-off photography, was shot, in part, on a highway. The series has been credited as helping to inspire the Cinéma vérité documentary movement. The show was successful--''Blood and Fire'' won a

Canadian film award The Canadian Film Awards were the leading Canadian cinema awards from 1949 until 1978. These honours were conducted annually, except in 1974 when a number of Quebec directors withdrew their participation and prompted a cancellation. In the 1970s ...

and an American television award. (Later, ''The Back-Breaking Leaf'' would win the Eurovision Grand Prix at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...

.) Six additional episodes were requested, although they would air under the name '' Documentary '60'' after the CBC asked the NFB to rebrand ''Candid Eye'', ''Frontiers'', and '' The World in Action'' into one show. The ''Candid Eye'' is now classified as one 14-film series.

Episodes

References

Works cited

External links

* {{Cite web , url=http://www.film.queensu.ca/CBC/CBC.html , first=Blaine , last=Allan , title=Candid Eye , publisher= Queen's University , year=1996 , accessdate=7 May 2010 , url-status=dead , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924012734/http://www.film.queensu.ca/CBC/CBC.html , archivedate=24 September 2015
''Candid Eye'' at the National Film Board of Canada
CBC Television original programming 1950s Canadian documentary television series 1958 Canadian television series debuts 1958 Canadian television series endings Black-and-white Canadian television shows National Film Board of Canada documentary series