Other Canadian film producers concentrated their efforts on short Productions, mostly in government or commercial companies such as Associated Screen News of Montreal. The works of Gordon Spalding, Bill Oliver, and Albert Tessier are discussed in this context. Morris concludes with the founding of the National Film Board which, under the dynamic guidance of John Grierson, was to breathe new life into a moribund industry. In a postscript Morris explores some of the reasons for the unique development of Canadian film making -- particularly its use of natural settings and documentary when virtually the rest of the world's industry was following the Hollywood pattern of studio location and fictional plots -- and examines the relationship of the early industry to later developments in Canadian film making. At a time when Canada's cultural industries are struggling to survive in the wake of the Free Trade Agreement with the United States and under the threat of Free Trade with Mexico, Embattled Shadows makes essential reading.

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"Embattled Shadows is first rate, well written, well illustrated, well documented and backed up with a useful chronology of film in Canada ... Morris' book not only brings the history of early Canadian cinema vividly to life, it also reveals the strange and wonderful workings of the Canadian psyche and culture with startling clarity ... Page after well-researched page it becomes discouragingly clear that the failure of our present-day provincial and federal governments to fully support a film industry, especially a feature film industry, is just a repeat performance of a sell-out which has been going on since the beginning of the twentieth century." Robin Spry, Report. "Embattled Shadows is invaluable for the perspective it supplies, for its academic scrupulousness, and for its occasionally lively anecdotal material; it is, in other words, a solid history, the one by which all future histories of the period will be judged ... Morris [describes] the past very well, with authority ... Although the present lies outside his purview, Morris makes it obvious that those shadows are still up against the wall." Jay Scott, Globe and Mail.