# Please help me with an obscure short film **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 2, 2011, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-with-an-obscure-short-film/594972 "2011-09-02T16:06:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-with-an-obscure-short-film/594972/1 "2011-09-02T16:06:33Z")
For some reason there’s not much I remember from my childhood. A couple months ago, however, something reminded me of a short film we saw in elementary school. I haven’t thought about it in maybe 35 years but lately I’ve been thinking about it all the time, and I want to know more about it. I’d like to try and track it down for my kids. As I recall there was no dialogue. It was about a young boy, maybe 10-12, who carves a small boat out of wood. I think his father or grandfather showed him how. He also carved a Native American Indian sitting in the boat, which was about a foot long. He gouged out a groove in the bottom into which he poured something, probably molten lead, to keep it upright. He painted it. When it dried he took it outside; it was winter and he was at the top of a hill. He set it down in the snow and the camera followed it as it slid down the snowy slope, through trees and brush, eventually landing in a stream. We watched it bob and float along down the stream; here’s where things get hazy. I think we spent a lot of time watching it make its way down the stream, and possibly it eventually ended up in larger and larger bodies of water, maybe the ocean. I think it ended up with the boy somehow getting it back- either he found it himself, or someone recovered it and got it back to him- not really sure. It was such a cool little film. I really wish I knew more about it. So, Teeming Millions, does anyone have any idea what I’m talking about? ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-with-an-obscure-short-film/594972/2 "2011-09-02T16:09:08Z")
[Paddle to the Sea](http://www.nfb.ca/film/paddle_to_the_sea/) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-with-an-obscure-short-film/594972/3 "2011-09-02T16:11:42Z")
One of my faves in elementary school. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-with-an-obscure-short-film/594972/4 "2011-09-02T16:25:45Z")
Three minutes- you guys are unbelievable. Thanks,\*\* RA\*\*! ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-with-an-obscure-short-film/594972/5 "2011-09-02T16:35:06Z")
Other films we watched in elementary school include: [_Ring Of Bright Water_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_of_Bright_Water) [_Run, Appaloosa, Run_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0249129/) [_The Three Lives Of Thomasina_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Three_Lives_of_Thomasina) ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-with-an-obscure-short-film/594972/6 "2011-09-02T17:06:56Z")
Oh wow. I was in kindergarten when I was shown this. My memory of it is uncannily close to the OPs. From time to time this movie’s entered my thoughts, and a very vague, nostalgic and cloudy way. I’m gonna click on the link now, having not seen it about 33 years. Wow… ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-with-an-obscure-short-film/594972/7 "2011-09-02T18:08:47Z")
> [@corkboard](#): > > Three minutes- you guys are unbelievable. Thanks,\*\* RA\*\*! You’re welcome. I’m kinda surprised I was first, actually. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-with-an-obscure-short-film/594972/8 "2011-09-02T19:42:18Z")
I have the vaguest recollection of seeing this, like **cmyk** , probably over 30 years ago. (After watching the first few minutes, I remember the kid pouring the strip of lead in the bottom of the canoe.) Wild. I had forgotten all about this. Now, any other Michiganders around remember watching “The Rise and Fall of the Great Lakes”? That was a true classic; one of the few educational films that could make the whole class bust out laughing, and not even in an unintentional way. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-with-an-obscure-short-film/594972/9 "2011-09-02T19:49:05Z")
> [@Jenaroph](#): > > Now, any other Michiganders around remember watching “The Rise and Fall of the Great Lakes”? That was a true classic; one of the few educational films that could make the whole class bust out laughing, and not even in an unintentional way. I saw that one, too, and far from Michigan. I tracked it down online a while ago. _Why Man Creates_ was good (and is already the subject of another thread). The best may have been _Hemo the Magnificent_. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-with-an-obscure-short-film/594972/10 "2011-09-02T22:00:50Z")
> [@Jenaroph](#): > > Now, any other Michiganders around remember watching “The Rise and Fall of the Great Lakes”? That was a true classic; one of the few educational films that could make the whole class bust out laughing, and not even in an unintentional way. Huh. Lived and schooled in Michigan my whole life, and I think this one somehow slipped past me. Doesn’t sound familiar. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-with-an-obscure-short-film/594972/11 "2011-09-02T22:39:17Z")
[Here it is,](http://www.nfb.ca/film/rise_and_fall_of_the_great_lakes/) and whaddya know, it’s by the same guy who did Paddle to the Sea. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-with-an-obscure-short-film/594972/12 "2011-09-02T23:00:46Z")
> [@Jenaroph](#): > > [Here it is,](http://www.nfb.ca/film/rise_and_fall_of_the_great_lakes/) and whaddya know, it’s by the same guy who did Paddle to the Sea. _The Rise And Fall Of The Great Lakes_ is one I like even more than _Paddle To The Sea_. That poor canoeist! I might have that movie bookmarked. I’ll have to look. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmundex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19adc/32.png) [@Sigmundex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmundex)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-with-an-obscure-short-film/594972/13 "2011-09-02T23:12:08Z")
Anybody else remember, I think it was called… God’s Little Acre, or something like that? Maybe it was God’s Half Acre, I’m not sure. Funny to think of watching a movie with a name like that, but hey, it was the 70’s, things were different. I’d like to see that one again, all threaded up and with the lights turned off in the room, and my head on the desk, looking up… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-with-an-obscure-short-film/594972/14 "2011-09-03T02:28:04Z")
We were shown films about the correct way to drive a tractor around a hill. Paddle to the Sea would have been too avent (sp) garde. But I wish I’d seen it.