Whaling: British Columbia's Least Known and Most Romantic Industry (1916)

Directed by

Arthur D. Kean

Genre

documentary film, silent film

Country

Canada

How it feels

This silent black-and-white documentary shows steam whaling along the coast of British Columbia in the early 1900s. It captures the work of hunters and the process of harvesting whales on the water and at shore stations.

historicalobservationalslow-pacednostalgicinformativequietarchivalearthy

What happens

Whaling: British Columbia's Least Known and Most Romantic Industry is a silent black-and-white documentary film produced by Vancouver filmmaker A. D. Kean in the years 1916–1919. It is an early example of Canadian documentary filmmaking, and is the most complete of Kean's surviving productions. It is probably the earliest extant film to depict steam whaling on the west coast of North America. The original release version (1916) was promoted under the titles Whaling in Northern British Columbia and The Great Whale Hunt. The surviving version (with its much longer title) was presumably released in 1920 or 1921 by the British Columbia Patriotic and Educational Picture Service. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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