# Candid Eye

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***Candid Eye*** is a [Canadian](/source/Television_in_Canada) documentary television series which aired on [CBC Television](/source/CBC_Television) in 1958 and was expanded into 1961.

## Production

[Wolf Koenig](/source/Wolf_Koenig), [Terence Macartney-Filgate](/source/Terence_Macartney-Filgate), and [Stanley Jackson](/source/Stanley_Jackson_(filmmaker)) filmed *The Days Before Christmas* in December 1957, and the [Canadian Broadcasting Corporation](/source/Canadian_Broadcasting_Corporation) and [National Film Board](/source/National_Film_Board) requested six more episodes after seeing it. *The Days Before Christmas* was later released in December 1958, while *Blood and Fire* aired as the first episode on 26 October 1958.[2][3]

[Tom Daly](/source/Tom_Daly_(filmmaker)) served as the executive producer. Multiple names were suggested for the show, including *The Roving Eye*, but *Candid Eye* was selected, despite fears that it would be confused with *[Candid Camera](/source/Candid_Camera)*.[3]

*Candid Eye*, influenced by British Free Cinema films[4] and the work of [Henri Cartier-Bresson](/source/Henri_Cartier-Bresson), was one of the NFB's very first experiments in [Cinéma vérité](/source/Cin%C3%A9ma_v%C3%A9rit%C3%A9). The films were observational, shot on location using the NFB's new mobile, light-weight equipment. Only *Festival in Puerto Rico* had a script, and *Pilgrimage*, *The Days Before Christmas*, *Police*, and *Blood and Fire* involved large crowds. *The Back-Breaking Leaf* and *Country Threshing* were shot in fields; *The Cars in Your Life*, using [slow-motion](/source/Slow-motion) and pop-on-pop-off photography, was shot, in part, on a highway. The series has been credited as helping to inspire the Cinéma vérité documentary movement.[5]

The show was successful--*Blood and Fire* won a [Canadian film award](/source/11th_Canadian_Film_Awards) and an American television award.[6] (Later, *The Back-Breaking Leaf* would win the Eurovision Grand Prix at the [Cannes Film Festival](/source/Cannes_Film_Festival).) Six additional episodes were requested, although they would air under the name *[Documentary '60](/source/Documentary_'60)* after the CBC asked the NFB to rebrand *Candid Eye*, *Frontiers*, and *[The World in Action](/source/The_World_in_Action)* into one show.[3] The *Candid Eye* is now classified as one 14-film series.[7]

## References

1. Evans 1991, p. 73.

1. Evans 1991, pp. 72–73.

1. ["Watch The Candid Eye, Our Seminal Documentary Series"](https://blog.nfb.ca/blog/2018/04/24/candid-eye-series/). *[National Film Board](/source/National_Film_Board)*. 24 April 2018. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20221025054536/https://blog.nfb.ca/blog/2018/04/24/candid-eye-series/) 25 October 2022 at the Wayback Machine.

1. ["Candid Eye"](https://cfe.tiff.net/canadianfilmencyclopedia/content/films/candid-eye). *cfe.tiff.net*. Canadian Film Encyclopedia. Retrieved 6 March 2023.

1. Aitken, Ian (27 October 2005). [*Encyclopedia of the Documentary Film*](https://books.google.com/books?id=JdSNAQAAQBAJ&dq=NFB+cinema+verite&pg=PA168). Routledge. p. 168. ISBN 978-1579584450.

1. ["Blood and Fire"](http://onf-nfb.gc.ca/en/our-collection/?idfilm=11764). *onf-nfb.gc.ca*. National Film Board of Canada. Retrieved 6 March 2023.

1. ["The Candid Eye"](https://www.nfb.ca/series/candid-eye-television-series/). *nfb.ca*. National Film Board of Canada. Retrieved 6 March 2023.

## Works cited

- Evans, Gary (1991). [*In the National Interest: A Chronicle of the National Film Board of Canada from 1949 to 1989*](https://archive.org/details/innationalintere0000evan). [University of Toronto Press](/source/University_of_Toronto_Press). ISBN 0802027849.

## External links

- Allan, Blaine (1996). ["Candid Eye"](https://web.archive.org/web/20150924012734/http://www.film.queensu.ca/CBC/CBC.html). [Queen's University](/source/Queen's_University_at_Kingston). Archived from [the original](http://www.film.queensu.ca/CBC/CBC.html) on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
- [*Candid Eye* at the National Film Board of Canada](http://www.onf-nfb.gc.ca/eng/collection/resultat.php?ids=171739&nom=Candid%20Eye&type=liste-serie)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Candid Eye](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candid_Eye) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candid_Eye?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.