Alex Philip and his wife have been credited with initiating tourism in the Whistler ski resort area after they opened a lodge in the Alta Lake area. Set in a logging camp in Cheakamus Valley, Alex Philip's The Crimson West (Toronto: Thomas Allen) is one of three romantic potpoilers he wrote during the Twenties and early Thirties. The Crimson Tide formed the basis for Canada's first talking film, The Crimson Paradise, made in Victoria in 1933, and now declared lost. According to Wikipedia, the film was very popular when it ran at the Victoria's Capitol theatre, partly due to strong promotional efforts by the Bristol-born theatre manager Ivan Ackery who persuaded Famous Players to allow him to screen the made-on-Vancouver Island feature. The film was produced by Kenneth Bishop's Commonwealth Productions.

BOOKS:

The Crimson West (Toronto: Thomas Allen, 1925).
The Painted Cliff (Ottawa: Graphic, 1927).
Whispering Leaves (Ottawa: Graphic, 1931).

[BCBW 2007] "Fiction" "Movie" "1900-1950" "Forestry"