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 healthy economy depends on vigorous use of new technology. Interesting as a period piece from the postwar economic boom, the film harps incessantly about America’s high standard of living. Don’t miss the curious series of animated diagrams, in which a robust cartoon figure of the typical American is contrasted to a Briton, a Frenchman and a Russian, standing next to anemic bar graphs of their respective economies. Another cartoon figure holds a throbbing plate of money. 01:23:48:00 B/W 1949 ws, ms Suburban neighborhood; EXT small generic house. 01:24:06:00 B/W 1949 vs Sequence showing a typical late 1940s or early 1950s family: Man on lawn chair reading magazine; teenage boy washing car; housewife in kitchen fills pot with water, places pot on stove, opens refrigerator; 78 rpm record on phonograph, CU; teenage girl sits on couch, turns on lamp; CU telephone; housewife arranges flowers in vase. 01:25:40:00 B/W 1949 ws Midwest main street of 1940s town or small city (probably Evanston, Illinois; bus passes by with “EVANSTON BUS COMPANY” on EXT); people window shopping (good shots); movie theater EXT; public library EXT (doesn’t read well). 01:28:22:00 B/W 1949 ms, cu Glass blower making bottle; these shots are contrasted to modern bottle factory, VS bottles on conveyor belt. 01:29:25:00 B/W 1949 ms Montage of machines: tractor; concrete-paver; jackhammer; printing press; typewriter; sewing machine; steam shovel. (Industry / people at work) 01:30:04:00 B/W 1949 vs Long sequence, recreation of life in mid-19th century: Waterwheel, and grain mill, VS; horse-drawn wagon; various craftsmen in their workshops: blacksmith, shoemaker; farmer plowing field with oxen. 01:32:34:00 B/W 1949 vs Historical 19th century recreation continues: woman cooking at fireplace hearth; young woman sewing; woman visits well, raises bucket of water; woman emerges from cellar of log cabin with pitcher of milk; family at dinner table, father says grace, PAN to food (note flies on food). 01:36:14:00 B/W 1949 vs Montage of energy sources: Freight train loaded with coal; coal mine, worker shovels coal onto chute; landscape of oil derricks, PAN; oil pump; vat of bubbling oil; hydroelectric dam (also at 1:43:13); generator; power lines. 01:37:12:00 B/W 1949 vs 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 1949 ms Businessmen in conference room looking at SALES TRENDS sales chart. 01:39:20:00 B/W 1949 ws Workers punch time clock. 01:42:18:00 B/W 1949 vs Sequence contrasting old-fashioned hand labor with modern machinery: horse-drawn plow DISSOLVEs to tractor; black boy picking cotton DISSOLVEs to harvester; old-fashioned streetcar DISSOLVEs to streamlined modern streetcar; steam locomotive DISSOLVEs to modern train. (Changing times / modernization / contrasting “old” with ”new”). 01:43:28:00 B/W 1949 CU, MS Montage, people at work, brief, idealized shots: Machinist; secretary typing; carpenter sawing; woman at sewing machine; businessman on telephone; bricklayer; draftsman; truckdriver