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FOUND: Historical Films of National Retriever Field Trial Championships

9K views 25 replies 23 participants last post by  Mary Lynn Metras 
#1 ·
Apparently the National Amateur Retriever Club had a professional film made of the very first National Amateur Retriever Field Trial Championship in 1957. The winner was NFC Major VI, making him the very first NFC-NAFC. 2xNFC King Buck was a finalist. Other notable dogs competing include NFC Cork of Oakwood Lane and the Chesapeake Rip.

I have located and purchased a copy of the film. To the best of my knowledge no one around today even knew it existed. It is 16mm and runs for approximately ninety minutes. It is in color, no soundtrack, very professionally produced. It has descriptions of the tests, and the names and background information of the dogs on the screen before they run.

I found out the seller also had copies of the 1956 National Open, and 1963 National Open. I have purchased those copies too.

The 1957 NAFTC has been converted to DVD. The copyright is owned by the NARC, and discussions have begun how to make it available to the retriever community. The films for the 1956 NFTC and 1963 NFTC were just sent off for conversion, I do not know the copyright status of those yet. The 1963 film is black and white, is shorter, and appears to lack the incredible production values that are on the 1956 and 1957 films. I suspect the 1963 film is a private film John Olin had made, whereas the National Clubs own the 1956 and 1957 films. But time will tell.

I was doing some further research from the seller making sure there were no others, inquiring where he got them? He was very open, one of the things he does is dumpster dive for things to sell. He found these films in "a pile of scrap metal and trash." Think about that.
 
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#4 ·
with the current advances in technology, I wish that the current NARC and NRC would video the current championships so twenty years from now we arent wondering what the current stars of today were like...something beyond a You Tube snippet
 
#7 ·
These films would be very cool to see, glad they were rescued.
 
#11 · (Edited)
Like I said, it is still in discussion how to get these out to the retriever community. Possibly for free online viewing.

Imagine seeing 2xNFC King Buck running with John Olin handling -- it is on there! The dog who was on the federal waterfowl stamp; The guy who owned Winchester ammunition.

Watch for announcements.
 
#12 ·
Cool!!!!!!
 
#14 ·
The other day I was flipping through a couple of old books James Lamb Free and one by Ralf W Coykendall Jr. The former had pictures of Nationals and the latter had a picture of King Buck. Sure would be great to see this dog in motion. The history and progress of the sport should be preserved for future generations.
 
#21 ·
What a cool find

Let me first thank you for finding and recognizing this treasure. I'm not sure where this film project stands, but I wanted to offer the help of Ducks Unlimited in having it transfered if it has not already been transfered.

We are presenting a short video on King Buck at our convention this year in St. Louis. and would love to be able to see/show some of this mazing and historical footage.

Brett Cantrell
Senior Video Specialist
Ducks Unlimited
bcantrell@ducks.org
 
#22 ·
Let me first thank you for finding and recognizing this treasure. I'm not sure where this film project stands, but I wanted to offer the help of Ducks Unlimited in having it transfered if it has not already been transfered.

We are presenting a short video on King Buck at our convention this year in St. Louis. and would love to be able to see/show some of this mazing and historical footage.

Brett Cantrell
Senior Video Specialist
Ducks Unlimited
bcantrell@ducks.org
This film has been captured on a DVD and is available from Retriever News. It was distributed at the National Amateur in 2013. I have written a detailed review of it which has been published in recent issues of Retrievers ONLINE and Retriever News. For the student of field trial history and for those wanting to get a better understanding of the era when our Rule Book was being refined and for those interested in early handling, tests, and big name dogs and people, it is truly a treasure.

How times have changed though!
 
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