Quote:
"To all of us freelancers [John] Grierson had been a godfather, just as he was to the staffers at the NFB. [...] The loss of Grierson's leadership at the NFB was an irreparable blow to the Canadian film industry, not only because he was nurturing it with intelligence and ingenuity, but because the winds of paranoia began to infect the NFB staff. [...] In 1947 we completed a 10-minute experimental film called The Loon's Necklace—the kind of production Grierson would have encouraged—an Indian legend presented on the screen through Indian masks. Ross McLean found it 'a nice little film,' but he didn't see how the NFB could use it. Was that simply an error in judgment or was it paranoia about the private sector? The film sat on the shelf for two years and finally we sold it for our costs to Imperial Oil, who released it through the Canadian Education Association and later Encyclopedia Britannica. It has since been seen by more people in the world than any other Canadian film except for the early Grey Owl films and Norman McLaren's films (another of Grierson's godchildren)."
-- F.R. (Budge) Crawley, Judith Crawley

Source:
Crawley, F.R. (Budge), and Judith Crawley. "Flick flack." Globe and Mail, November 11, 1978.