Who is Gerald Pratley and why is he saying those things about the CBC?
He was the CBC’s first film critic in 1948, went on to teach film history and be recognized with The Order of Canada.
Way snootier than Geoff Pevere.
The Public Broadcaster in Love with Commercials
Published February 26, 2009 1:47 am
1 Comment
Um… Fall 1998 and a note at the bottom of Prattle’s article saying ” Last edit 19 November 2002 – kinema@watarts.uwaterloo.ca “
Stale as always.
So it’s the old retainer scolding the CBC when they cast him aside and the founded is own Toronto Cinematheque to seem important.
Another ex-pat who hated the colonies but couldn’t go back to Blighty
from TheCanadianEncyclopedia.com
“Pratley, Gerald Arthur
Gerald Arthur Pratley (b at London, Eng 3 Sept 1923). A noted film critic and commentator, he is the founder-director of the Ontario Film Institute, established in 1968, an organization with a mandate to preserve, catalogue, publish and exhibit world cinema. He came to Canada in 1946 and 2 years later became the CBC’s first film critic, writing and broadcasting The Movie Scene, Music from the Films and Pratley at the Movies between 1948 and 1975. During this time he was active with the Toronto Film Society, the Toronto and District Film Council, the A-G-E Film Society. From 1970-75 he was the director of the Stratford International Film Festival, and from 1969-76 the chairman of the International Jury of the Canadian Film Awards. He has published extensively in a number of international journals and written books on the cinema. One of the first defenders of a strong, indigenous cinema for Canada, he has tirelessly worked in the cultural arena to make this a possibility. In 1984 Pratley was made a Member of the Order of Canada. He is an adjunct Professor of Film at Ryerson Polytechnic University.
Author PIERS HANDLING”