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Gordon Sparling was born when film was still a new medium Between 1919 and 1923 he attended Trinity College at the University of Toronto where he became involved with amateur theatre He joined the Ontario Motion Picture Bureau in 1924 which was at the time the largest government run film office in Canada and later spent a year with the Canadian Government Motion Picture Bureau in Ottawa Sparling became a director writer and producer after a brief period as assistant director on films including the rare 1928 Canadian feature emCarry on Sergeantem He briefly lived in New York and when he came back to Canada he worked on what were then called sponsored films with Associated Screen News ASN in Montral He insisted that while employed there he could still work on his own short films for theatrical release While at ASN Sparling launched the Canadian Cameo series of short films Most ran about 10 minutes and looked at a variety of themes including music First Peoples sports drama and history Sparling produced 85 emCanadian Cameosem between 1932 and 1954 You will note the gap in his career during the war years thats when he supervised the production of newsreels and training films for the Canadian Army Following the war he rejoined ASN in 1946 and remaining until its production department closed in 1957 For the NFB he directed shorts like emRoyal Riverem in 1959 and emThe Queen in Canadaem in 1964 Following his retirement Sparling spent his time researching and writing about the history of Canadian film In 1974 he was interviewed for the NFB film emDreamland A History of Early Canadian Movies 18951939embrbrAlso see a hrefhttpwwwnorthernstarscagrowingupinhollywoodnorthGrowing Up in Hollywood Northabrbrbr
Features & TV Movies:
VR indicates Direct-to-Video Release
Carry on Sergeant (assistant director, 1928)
Forward Canada! (1930)
Miracle at Beauharnois (1931)
Grey Owl’s Little Brother (1932, documentary, short)
The Pathfinder (1932)
Back in ’22 (1933)
Shadow River (1933)
Back in ’23 (1933, documentary, short)
Rhapsody in Two Languages (1934, short)
Grey Owl’s Strange Guests (1934, documentary, short)
Did You Know That? (1934)
Taming the Wild (1935, documentary, short)
House in Order/La maison en ordre (1936)
Crystal Ballet (1937 documentary, short)
Ornamental Swimming (1937, documentary, short)
Wings Over the Atlantic (1937)
Sky Fishing (1938, short)
Music from the Stars (1938, short)
Return of the Buffalo (1938, short)
Kingdom for a Horse (1938, documentary, short)
The Kinsmen (1938)
Cold Facts (1938)
Top of the World (1939)
The Bright Path (1939)
Royal Banners Over Ottawa (1939)
The Mapleville Story (1946)
Spring Comes to Niagara (1949, documentary, short)
Spotlight No. 2 (1951, documentary, short)
Spotlight No. 3 (1952, documentary, short)
Circus on Ice (1954, short)
Spotlight No. 5 (1954, documentary short)
Royal River (1959, documentary short)
Building in the North (1961, documentary, short)
The Water Dwellers (1963, documentary, short)
Canada: Fibres, Yarns and Fabrics (1963, documentary, short)
Landfall Asia (1964, documentary, short)
The Queen in Canada (1964, documentary, short)
Better Housing for the Atlantic Provinces (1965, documentary short)
Credits as a Screenwriter:
Rhapsody in Two Languages (1934, short)
Taming the Wild (1935, documentary, short)
House in Order/La maison en ordre (1936)
Crystal Ballet (1937 documentary, short)
Ornamental Swimming (1937, documentary, short)
Return of the Buffalo (1938, short)
Kingdom for a Horse (1938, documentary, short)
The Water Dewellers (1963, documentary, short)
The Queen in Canada (1964, documentary, short)
Better Housing for the Atlantic Provinces (1965, documentary short)
Northernstars.ca is published by the Canadian Independent Visual
and Digital Media Association – A nonprofit corporation.
Toronto, Ontario, M4X 1X7
First published as Northernstars.net February 1, 1998
ISSN 2563 4895
