Double Heritage (1959) User Reviews

Very Well Done Short on Northern Flight

[stevergy2000 · 7/10 · 23 September 2022]

Canada's northern territories are almost tailor-made for conquering by the airplane, as this extensive National Film Board short shows. Sparsely populated, and mostly treeless and flat, there is no economic viability for road construction, while it only takes a little grading to create a serviceable runway.

This is what was done throughout the 1920s and well on through the period of the Second World War, as 'bush pilots' essentially knitted together far flung communities by carrying mail and other cargoes of necessities.

A couple of interviews intersperse the almost continuous shots of plans landing and taking off, almost always against a snow-covered if not a snow-falling background.

One is with a farmer who became a flight instructor even though he had only minimal time aloft as an actual pilot. The need during the war was so great, that they dropped the requirement to a mere 30 hours.

The other interview was really fun: the flyer here bought his plane in rather beaten-up shape for $200: which was 'a lot of money at that time'. Fixing it up, and seeing the lake was frozen solid, he took it out for a 'practise taxi'. Finding he had both gone faster than he'd intended and was at the same time running out of lake, he found himself taking to the air. Thus commenced his first flight.

The NFB is best at focusing attention on little known elements of Canadian history, and this short film is an excellent representation of this being done in a truly commendable manner.

Period footage lets you see the history

[ecapes · 8/10 · 10 May 2023]

It is the actual period footage that makes this short history of aviation in Canada special. Most of the film shows us the actual planes, and sometimes footage from those planes, interspersed with a few modern anecdotes from pilots who had flown in the early days. Double Heritage is part 2 of a three part National Film Board (of Canada) series called collectively Salute to Flight.

The film begins and ends with dramatic cockpit footage from World War II, then goes back to early aerial survey flights of the Canadian wilderness in the 1920's. The focus is on flying in the northern part of the country in often harsh conditions. We also see the departure of the Byrd expedition to the North Pole in 1926 and footage implying cooperation with the USSR to survey that pole in the 1930's.

Although the film was made in 1959, it ends with the development of the industry during the Second World War. It is a good choice as the going further would have seemed anti-climatic after viewing bombing raids from the cockpit. The history lesson does continue in the third film The Golden Age (1959).

This doc will appeal if you are a fan of history or a fan of aircraft. It succeeds because it sits back and gives you the footage to see for yourself.