Bill Mason: Beyond the wild, beyond the paddle

Bill Mason looked at securing film rights to the book Paddle to the Sea by Holling C. Holling as early as 1960. It was originally intended for the non-theatrical (educational) market, but was eventually blown up to 35 mm and distributed theatrically, which led to an Oscar nomination in the best short subject category. Parts of the film were shot near Mason’s home at Meech Lake.

The film was conceived and produced for the educational market. It was to be on the evolution of the Great Lakes (the working title was Evolution of the Great Lakes) and man’s impact on them. Mason agreed to a lighter approach for the film but was disappointed when the producer made several changes to his finished work. Test screenings proved to be very successful with children and teachers, who appreciated the humorous approach to the subject. The feedback was so positive that the film was blown up to 35 mm for theatrical distribution. Nevertheless, Mason was not happy with the finished product, feeling he had lost creative control over it.

Bill Mason and Blake James had a long history together, first meeting at a commercial art studio in Winnipeg. They later worked together at Crawley films before both moving to the NFB. In Blake, Mason wanted to show the world how his good friend marched to the beat of a different drummer. The filming was often dangerous. On one occasion Mason was filming Blake from another airplane and lost him. He searched for him for a great many nervous minutes before discovering that Blake had landed on an Island in the St. Lawrence. Blake had forgotten to switch on his main fuel tank and was forced to land wherever he could. The film was shown theatrically in Canada and bought by an American distributor. Theatrical showings stateside led to an Oscar nomination in the live-action short category.

A qualified box-office hit, Cry of the Wild, would eventually gross over $5 million in North America. Not bad for a documentary! Bill Mason had already made a TV documentary on wolves a few years earlier entitled Death of a Legend. The success of this film encouraged Mason to try and capture the wolf on film in its natural habitat so he decided to take his camera to the Northwest Territories over three consecutive winters. He interspersed this with some footage he shot near his Gatineau Hills home in a special outdoor enclosure where he kept several wolves that had been raised in captivity. The feature documentary was to be released in Canada on a small scale.

At a showing in Edmonton, the NFB was approached by an American distributor very interested in releasing it in the USA. The company bought the North American rights and released it in New York City by renting out several theatres outright and showing the film on a continuous basis. This formula, known as “four-walling,” was so successful that Cry of the Wild eventually grossed $1.8 million in New York City alone. The film was released subsequently all over the U.S. and throughout Canada (along with a non-NFB short film on the legendary Bigfoot) and played to full houses everywhere. Well over 30 years after its release, it remains a big seller in the home video market.

The film was shot in April 1973 at the aptly named Icy Cape in Alaska, an abandoned Inuit village once known for spring whaling. The World Wildlife Fund sponsored the expedition, which included several American scientists and was originally going to include four Soviet biologists working in tandem with the Americans. For some unexplained reason, the Soviets pulled out at the last minute. Bill Mason, acting as director/cameraman, and soundman Chester Beachel were added to the group to document the event.

While the divers were prepared for shooting in the frigid waters, they never anticipated that the visibility underwater would be so poor. Nonetheless, they managed to get some spectacular footage of the whales from above and below the ice. The film was shown on TV and enjoyed great success in the non-theatrical market. It also won several wildlife film awards.

Mason had envisaged shooting three instructional films on canoeing and one on canoe-camping. The instructional series would eventually be expanded to four films (Path of the Paddle) and Mason would work with his wife and children to make Song of the Paddle to share their love of canoe-camping. The film won three Etrogs (the Canadian film awards precursor to the Genies) in the non-feature film category for direction, cinematography and sound editing. Mason would also release a book bearing the same title, which the press dubbed “a philosophical guide to outdoor living.”

In Waterwalker Mason was aiming for a visual poem on his love of nature and canoeing. The NFB was interested in a documentary for television but Mason was against this, deciding instead to shoot more footage and bring the film up to feature length for theatrical distribution. Some of the money had to come from a co-producing agency, IMAGO films, because many at the Film Board didn’t feel the film had enough potential. Even when shooting was finished, Mason had a great deal of trouble convincing his producers that his film had enough structure to make it interesting. Mason re-worked the film and wrote a new narration to complement what he had tried to capture visually. Bruce Cockburn was interested in the project and signed on to write and record the musical score. The result is a haunting work that blends seamlessly with the strong visuals. The film can best be described as an ode to the majesty of nature (Lake Superior in particular) and an affirmation of Mason’s strong religious beliefs.

Mason canoes throughout Lake Superior and stops occasionally to paint a spectacular waterfall or other scene, all the while talking about spirituality in nature and humans. Unfortunately at the time of Waterwalker’s completion, the NFB was still only interested in selling the film to television. Consequently Mason resigned and bought the distribution rights himself. After premiering it at the 1984 Montreal World Film Festival, Mason rented a movie theatre in Ottawa and released the film commercially. It had an extended run in Ottawa and became a local hit (6 weeks). The film would eventually play commercially across the country. The film was also a huge success on the home video market and on television. It remains to this day (in my opinion) his greatest film and continues to be one of the NFB’s biggest sellers on DVD.