The Paper People
The Paper People is a Canadian dramatic television film, directed by David Gardner and released in 1967.[1] The first television film ever produced entirely in-house by CBC Television without an outside coproducer,[2] the film centres on Jamie Taylor (Marc Strange), an artist working on a project in which he builds papier-mâché models of people and then films the models being set on fire, and Janet Webb (Marigold Charlesworth), a journalist profiling Jamie in a documentary.[1] The cast also included Lucy Warner, Kate Reid, Brett Somers and Robin Ward.
| The Paper People | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | David Gardner |
| Produced by | Ted Zarpas |
| Written by | Timothy Findley |
| Starring | Marc Strange Marigold Charlesworth |
| Music by | John Coulson |
| Cinematography | Ernest Kirkpatrick |
| Edited by | M. C. Manne |
Production company | |
Release date |
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| Country | Canada |
| Language | English |
The film was shot in the summer of 1967, in Toronto and Oakville, Ontario.[3]
The film aired on December 13, 1967 as an episode of the anthology series Festival.[1] It received mixed reviews, with Sheila Keiran of The Globe and Mail panning it as pretentious, arty and boring,[1] while Lorne Parton of The Province called it one of the better films to be released in any format, television or theatrical, that year.[4] The broadcast sparked some controversy, however, with some commentators stating that the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation should not be investing in films that would clearly only appeal to a limited audience.[5]
References
- "The Paper People: pretentious, sickeningly arty-- and boring". The Globe and Mail, December 7, 1967.
- "Paper People: a step up". The Globe and Mail, October 7, 1967.
- "Start on CBC colour feature film". Ottawa Citizen, August 26, 1967.
- "CBC's Paper People pleases". The Province, December 16, 1967.
- "The Perfection of Gesture: Timothy Findley and Canadian Theatre". Theatre Research in Canada, Volume 12, Number 1 (Spring 1991).