movies_creation

American Movie Archives (美國電影檔案)

Title
River, The (Part II)
Year
1937
Abstract
Classic documentary history of the exploitation of the resources of the Mississippi River Valley and the work being done to rehabilitate and reclaim the area. Director and writer: Pare Lorentz. Narrator: Thomas Chalmers. Photography: Willard Van Dyke, Stacey Woodard and Floyd Crosby. Editor: Leo Zochling. Music: Virgil Thomson.
Notes
Produced: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Resettlement Administration
Sponsor: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Resettlement Administration
Run Time: 15:29
Audio/Visual: Sd, B&W
Keyword
New Deal: Conservation;Rivers: Mississippi;Infrastructure;Rivers: Mississippi;Infrastructure
Theme
Environmental problems featured
Review
Marvelous movie. Reflects the employment of skilled writers and artists by the New Deal during the 1930's. Wonderful photos, grand background music and blank verse dialog. Presents environmental problems of the Mississippi valley in historical context. Only the then popular solution of multiple damns built by government under the Tennessee Valley authority rings false today. The pictures of poor southern sharecroppers are especially moving and recall Phillip Agee's photos in Let Us Talk Of Famous Men. A famous book also from the 30's.
(Reviewer: fsvan)
Location
A/V room, 2/F