British Columbia for the Empire (1916 film) explained

British Columbia for the Empire was a Canadian feature-length silent documentary film released in 1916 by Vancouver filmmaker Arthur D. Kean, through his company Kean's Canada Films. It was a compilation film, assembled from his short films (made in 1914-1916) that depicted various British Columbia battalions in training and departing for service in the First World War.^{[1] [2]}

Kean began filming the activities of BC military units immediately after the war began. The departure of battalions and regiments to join the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) was always reported in local and regional newspapers, and Kean's presence with his camera was often noted. Screenings of the completed films were well-advertised and promoted in the same newspapers.^[3]

Publicity for the film describes it as either three to four reels in length (approximately 3,000 to 4,000 feet of 35mm film), and its running time would probably have been between 44 and 66 minutes. It was circulated and shown in Vancouver and the BC Interior in a few different versions. For many years, the only known reference to the film by title was in the film industry trade journal The Moving Picture World, February 12, 1916. Another reference, from a screening in Kamloops, has since been found.^[4]

Like most of Kean's other productions, British Columbia for the Empire has long since been lost or destroyed. However, a few of the component films (about individual units) have survived.^[5]

Notes and References

1. Moving Picture World (1916). "'B. C. for the Empire' Films." Feb. 12, p. 1000.
2. Morris, Peter (1978). Embattled Shadows: A History of Canadian Cinema, 1895–1939 (Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press; reprint edition, 1992), 90.
3. Duffy, Dennis J.; Mattison, David (1989). "A. D. Kean: Canada's Cowboy Movie-Maker". The Beaver. February–March, 69:1: 30-31.
4. Inland Sentinel [Kamloops] (1916). "Opera House Tonight" [ad]. Feb. 16, p. 4.
5. The Canadian Feature Film Database defines a feature film as an audio-visual document "irrespective of content, running more than 60 minutes," and continues as follows: "Exceptions include: some silent films whose true original running time is impossible to determine . . ."
6. An important example is Kean's ten-minute film The North British Columbians, "Warden's Warriors," 102nd Battalion, CEF, Historic Departure. Another Kean short, included in an archival reel known as [University of British Columbia], shows Company "D" of the 196th (Western Universities) Battalion training at UBC's Fairview Campus at Vancouver in 1916. Both titles are preserved at Library and Archives Canada.

   This film is listed in the Canadian Feature Film Database^[5] at Library and Archives Canada, under the title B.C. for the Empire. Its place within the chronology makes it one of the earliest Canadian feature-length films, and the first made in British Columbia.

   References