Customer Reviews

The Nell Shipman Collection: A Girl from God's Country

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This silent classic has been restored from two surviving prints of the international hit and earliest surviving feature film shot (partially) in Canada and starring Nell Shipman. Its contemporary electronic and traditional musical instrument score by English composer Lindsay Cooper assist in making the film completely accessible and meaningful for today's audience.

DVD bonus features include the story of the film's recovery and restoration by Canadian archivist D. J. Turner and also include the award-winning television documentary "Awe Gee, Forgetting Me...Nell Shipman" by Patricia Phillips. "Aw Gee..." illuminates not only the life and times of an amazing woman filmmaker, but also outlines the history of film and Shipman's newly-discovered role in that history.

Born in the Canadian province of British Columbia in 1892, Nell Shipman was a producer/director, writer, actress and animal trainer. She retired from film in 1926; was the mother of screenwriter Barry Shipman and grandmother of actress Nina Shipman. Nell Shipman died in California at age 77.

BACK TO GOD'S COUNTRY is the most successful silent film in Canadian cinematic history. Features Miss Shipman bathing nude under a waterfall. (Or is she?)

SYNOPSIS--
Delores marries Peter after her dad is murdered. On an Arctic sea voyage, Nell meets her father's killer, who is also the ship's captain. He eliminates her husband and Nell must rescue herself once the ship docks. She does so with the help of an Eskimo reincarnated as a husky dog. Includes some breathtaking footage of Arctic wilderness.

(DVD is supplemented by a documentary on this pioneering filmmaker.)


For more Nell Shipman, check out: FROM LIONHEAD LODGE and THE SHORT FILMS.


Parenthetical number preceding title is a 1 to 10 viewer poll rating found at a film resource website.

(6.7) Back to God's Country (silent-Canada-1919) - Nell Shipman/Charles Arling/Wheeler Oakman/Wellington A. Playter (uncredited: Charles Murphy/Roy Laidlaw/Kewpie Morgan/William Colvin)