Traces the development of machine power in the United States from 1850. Explains that the country’s mastery of machine power has enabled it to achieve great production, a large income and a high living standard. Educational film about economics, making the point that a healthyeconomy depends on vigorous use of new technology. Interesting asa period piece from the postwar economic boom, the film harpsincessantly about America’s high standard of living. Don’t missthe curious series of animated diagrams, in which a robust cartoonfigure of the typical American is contrasted to a Briton, aFrenchman and a Russian, standing next to anemic bar graphs oftheir respective economies. Another cartoon figure holds athrobbing plate of money.01:23:48:00 B/W 1949ws, ms Suburban neighborhood; EXT small generic house.01:24:06:00 B/W 1949vs Sequence showing a typical late 1940s or early 1950sfamily: Man on lawn chair reading magazine; teenage boy washingcar; housewife in kitchen fills pot with water, places pot onstove, opens refrigerator; 78 rpm record on phonograph, CU; teenagegirl sits on couch, turns on lamp; CU telephone; housewife arrangesflowers in vase.01:25:40:00 B/W 1949ws Midwest main street of 1940s town or small city (probablyEvanston, Illinois; bus passes by with “EVANSTON BUS COMPANY” onEXT); people window shopping (good shots); movie theater EXT;public library EXT (doesn’t read well).01:28:22:00 B/W 1949ms, cu Glass blower making bottle; these shots are contrasted tomodern bottle factory, VS bottles on conveyor belt.01:29:25:00 B/W 1949ms Montage of machines: tractor; concrete-paver; jackhammer;printing press; typewriter; sewing machine; steam shovel.(Industry / people at work)01:30:04:00 B/W 1949vs Long sequence, recreation of life in mid-19th century:Waterwheel, and grain mill, VS; horse-drawn wagon; variouscraftsmen in their workshops: blacksmith, shoemaker; farmer plowingfield with oxen.01:32:34:00 B/W 1949vs Historical 19th century recreation continues: woman cookingat fireplace hearth; young woman sewing; woman visits well, raisesbucket of water; woman emerges from cellar of log cabin withpitcher of milk; family at dinner table, father says grace, PAN tofood (note flies on food).01:36:14:00 B/W 1949vs Montage of energy sources: Freight train loaded with coal;coal mine, worker shovels coal onto chute; landscape of oilderricks, PAN; oil pump; vat of bubbling oil; hydroelectric dam(also at 1:43:13); generator; power lines.01:37:12:00 B/W 1949vs Montage of heavy industry, machinery: car factory INT WS;steel mill; huge metal press; factory workers; VS CU machiner;printing press; factory EXT, tall smokestacks (closer at 1:39:28).01:39:14:00 B/W 1949ms Businessmen in conference room looking at SALES TRENDSsales chart.01:39:20:00 B/W 1949ws Workers punch time clock.01:42:18:00 B/W 1949vs Sequence contrasting old-fashioned hand labor with modernmachinery: horse-drawn plow DISSOLVEs to tractor; black boy pickingcotton DISSOLVEs to harvester; old-fashioned streetcar DISSOLVEs tostreamlined modern streetcar; steam locomotive DISSOLVEs to moderntrain. (Changing times / modernization / contrasting “old” with”new”).01:43:28:00 B/W 1949CU, MS Montage, people at work, brief, idealized shots:Machinist; secretary typing; carpenter sawing; woman at sewingmachine; businessman on telephone; bricklayer; draftsman;truckdriver

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