Trans-Canada Express (1944)

This short documentary from the Canada Carries On series celebrates the contribution of Canada’s railroads to the war effort. The film includes a sequence from Buster Keaton's 1926 silent comedy The General, as well as a re-enactment of Lord Strathcona driving the final spike into the Canadian Pacific Railway Line.

Date of release
1944-03-14
TMDB
8.0 / 10 (1)
Runtime
19m
Genres
Documentary, War
Director
Stanley Hawes

Casting

Interesting facts

Trans-Canada Express is a 20-minute 1944 Canadian documentary film, made by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) as part of the World War II Canada Carries On series. The film was produced by Sydney Newman and directed by Stanley Hawes. Trans-Canada Express documents the importance of the railroad in Canada, emphasizing the use of rail transport during World War II. The film's French version title is D'un océan à l'autre.

Production

Trans-Canada Express was part of the wartime Canada Carries On propaganda short film series. The film was produced with financial backing from the Wartime Information Board for the Director of Public Information, Herbert Lash.

Typical of the NFB's series of morale-boosting films, Trans-Canada Express used the format of a compilation documentary, relying heavily on newsreel material, including a sequence from Buster Keaton's The General (1926), as well as a re-enactment of Lord Strathcona driving the final spike into the Canadian Pacific Railway Line. .

Along with other narration, the deep baritone voice of stage actor Lorne Greene was featured as a narrator in Trans-Canada Express. Greene, known for his work on both radio broadcasts as a news announcer at CBC as well as narrating many of the Canada Carries On series. His sonorous recitation led to his nickname, "The Voice of Canada", and to some observers, the "voice-of-God".

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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