movies_creation
American Movie Archives (美國電影檔案)
- Title
- Freedom of the American Road (Part II)
- Year
- 1955
- Abstract
- Henry Ford II introduces this film designed to encourage private citizens to unite and support road improvement. Part of the lobbying campaign that culminated in legislation authorizing the Interstate Highway system in 1956, this film shows community efforts to improve and increase safety on the Bayshore Highway in the San Francisco Bay Area; congestion in Pittsburgh and the Golden Triangle redevelopment area; the economic benefits of Boston's circumferential highway, Route 128; and safety education in St. Joseph, Missouri. Narrator: Westbrook van Voorhis.
- Notes
-
Produced: MPO Productions, Inc.
Sponsor: Ford Motor Company
Run Time: 10:35
Audio/Visual: Sd, B&W - Keyword
- Infrastructure: Roads and highways;San Francisco: Infrastructure;Manifest destiny;San Francisco: Infrastructure;Manifest destiny
- Theme
- It's Bloody Bayshore Day!
- Review
-
In this grand expose of why the roadways of America are in need of repair, RIGHT NOW! Henry Frd II sweatily introduces us to the film, Ford, who BADLY reads from cue cards, introduces us to the real star of the show, "the traffic safety and highway improvement reporter" Wesbrook Van Vorheen (????), a man who's face and body clearly doesnt match the voice. In his deep basso nova voice. 4 "actual" scenarios are reported on, each seemingly more duller then the first. The first report, about the mayhem and carnage on the Palo Alto Bayshore highway, is clearly the most interesting. Shots of plenty' o banged up cars are shown, a letter from the governor is written, and soon, the community springs into action, with petitions being signed, speed limits being brought down (from 45 to 35!) and even, in a CLASSIC moment, a declaration of a "Bloody Bayshore Day: (The mind reels..) Soon after, the road gets so safe, as the newspaper editor says in classic double-speak the death and injury rate in sixty days "dropped from 67 to 38". What this means is anybody's guess. The rest of the scenarios, about various other safety measures in cities and towns, aren't as interesting as the first segment, which clearly is demented. Check it out.
(Reviewer: Spuzz) - Location
- A/V room, 2/F