21. Roads south (18:19)

Date:
1942
Summary:
The seventh in a series of a film about the Americas, this film shows the water, rail, motor, and air transportation routes of Latin America, tracing their development from early Spanish exploration to the 1940's.

22. Japs bomb U.S.A.! (10:23)

Date:
1942
Summary:
"Newsreel pictures of the attack of Dec. 7, 1941, on Pearl Harbor. Closes with America's ringing answer to the enemy challenge." (War Films Bulletin of the Extension Division Indiana University, February, 1943, 5). This American newsreel portrays the attack on Pearl Harbor and the aftermath of the strike. Includes footage of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's December 8th "Infamy" speech in front of a joint session of Congress.

23. Testing the I.Q. (16:18)

Date:
1942
Summary:
Demonstrates the administration of the revised Stanford-Binet intelligence test and the calculation of the I.Q. Gives a brief explanation of principles, and shows the administration of form L to a 5-year old child. Close-ups show the actual use of the testing material. Explains scoring standards and calculation of the I.Q.

24. High Over The Borders (19:35)

Date:
1942
Main contributors:
New York Zoological Society, National Film Board of Canada
Summary:
In their routes of migration, birds "mock the man-made lines by which nations separate themselves," as the narrator states in this film intended to foster goodwill between the nations of the Americas. Two boys, Richie in the North and Ricardo in the South, both feel ownership of the barn swallows that reside in their respective homes at opposite ends of migratory routes. Aerial photography follows Canada geese migrating from northern Quebec to the Chesapeake Bay. Technically advanced high speed photography reveals the beating wings of the ruby-throated hummingbird. The bird banding and migratory data-collecting work of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is explained. Animated maps of the hemisphere illustrate some of the long-distance bird migration patterns between North and South America.

25. Scraping flat surfaces (13:20)

Date:
1942
Main contributors:
United States. Office of Education
Summary:
Shows how surface plates are used to check the flatness of surfaces, types of scrapers, how to remove high spots, and how to determine when a surface is scraped flat.

26. The Soviet School Child (24:07)

Date:
1942
Main contributors:
British Ministry of Information, Soviet War News Film Agency, Central News Reel Studios, Moscow
Summary:
A Soviet-British co-production reporting to the Allied nations on the lives of children in the Soviet Union, providing "a glimpse of the Soviet child from infancy to high school." Portrays an idyllic and well organized system for educating and caring for the 35 million Soviet children of the day. The scholastic, athletic, and creative accomplishments of Soviet youth are shown.

27. You Can't Eat Tobacco (13:18)

Date:
1942
Main contributors:
Mary L. DeGive, Margaret T. Cussler
Summary:
A social issue film directed at the problems of public health and malnutrition among rural southern tenant-farming communities. The film points directly to exploitative practices of the tobacco industry and reliance on tobacco growing as a cash crop in these communities as the cause of an ongoing cycle of poverty and poor public health. "Here is tobacco land: land of lost hope, land of broken promises, land of broken lives" states the narrator. Urging farmers to turn away from this single crop system in order to improve their own lives and those of the community, they suggest "the remedy is so close at hand - in the land itself." Farmers raising their own food, it is suggested, will lead to better health; community agents will provide guidance in raising food, gaining income from selling farm produce, education for children, and home economics programs. The concluding message to these communities is to "Eat well and be well. Learn about it, read about it, talk about it."

28. The Airplane Changes Our World Map (10:48)

Date:
1942
Main contributors:
ERPI Classroom Films, Inc., Encyclopaedia Britannica
Summary:
Traces the history of mapmaking and representation of the globe on two-dimensional surfaces. Considers early problems of distortion in map projection, and reviews the projections of Mercator, Mollweide, and Goode. Uses animation to emphasize the concept of present-day map-making as influenced by the development of modern air transportation and the subsequent shrinkage in time-distance values. Narrator states "the airplane forces us to think of world travel and transportation in terms of great circle routes." These routes run independently of land and water and mark the shortest distance between points on the surface of the earth. The film shows that advances in human culture and technology transform our mapmaking and conception of space and distance.

29. Pan-American Bazaar (08:54)

Date:
1942
Main contributors:
United States. Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, R.H. Macy and Company, Inc.
Summary:
A Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs film reporting on a marketplace of goods from Latin American nations held at Macy's Department store in New York City's Herald Square. Promoting more than commerce between nations, both the bazaar and the film are intended to reinforce alliances between all the nations of the Americas during wartime. Showing the flags of the nations represented, narration states "21 symbols of American solidarity, 21 Republics firmly consolidated, to make up our western hemisphere." Color photography accentuates the beauty and exoticism of the displays. As shoppers are shown admiring the displays of art and culture and purchasing from each nation's vendors, the audience is told "they bought the goods that Latin America has to sell, money from merchandise, goodwill build on good trade relations, every sale a guarantee that the Americas mean business. Business that means friendship in the western hemisphere."

30. This Is Ecuador (17:52)

Date:
1942
Main contributors:
United States. Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, Borge Hansen-Moller : produced and directed by, Kenneth Richter : camera
Summary:
A Coordinator of Inter-American affairs film intended to foster alliance and educate U.S. audiences about the Ecuadoran nation. "All who live in our hemisphere know that it must be kept as a place of freedom" states narration, urging the alliance of all the Americas in the fight against the Axis. The role of Ecuador and its Galapagos Islands territory in the defense of the Panama Canal are emphasized. Ecuadoran natural resources in service of the Allied cause include balsa wood and oil. Narration characterizes the viewpoint of the Ecuadoran people as supportive of the U.S. in the war: "Ecuador can hope for its rightful and untrammeled place in the family of nations only through the triumph of the United States and its allies." Concurrently, U.S. viewers are assured, "it’s good to know in these days of war that here is a friendly nation, a land ready for cooperation, for mutual defense..."

31. Study of Government (14:40)

Date:
19uu
Main contributors:
Indiana U Instructional Support Services
Summary:
[motion picture] Orients students to the opportunities and experiences for the study of government at a typical college or university. Emphasizes that government cannot be taken for granted and that everyone is a part of the government. Demonstrates various areas of government for study: American government, politics, public administration, comparative and internal relations, and immediate controversial problems. Concludes with the generalization that the study of government is democracy at work.

32. A new fire bomb (08:46)

Date:
1942
Main contributors:
United States. Office of Civilian Defense
Summary:
Describes and provides information about methods of defense regarding a recently developed type of German explosive fire bomb. In dramatic reenactments, wardens and civilians are warned to keep away from bombs that have fallen in the street. Various methods are shown for attacking bombs that have fallen in houses. The film demonstrates ways of applying water while taking advantage of the protection of brick walls.

33. Basketball Fundamentals (14:07)

Date:
1942
Main contributors:
Coronet Productions, Bureau of Audio-Visual Aids, Extension Division, Indiana University
Summary:
Coach Branch McCracken and the Indiana University basketball team demonstrate in regular and slow-motion photography the fundamental skills involved in shooting, passing, dribbling, and defensive and offensive footwork. Coach McCracken appears briefly at the end directly addressing viewers.

35. Scraping flat surfaces (13:54)

Date:
1942
Summary:
Shows how surface plates are used to check the flatness of surfaces, types of scrapers, how to remove high spots, and how to determine when a surface is scraped flat.

37. The Great Lakes (21:34)

Date:
1942
Main contributors:
National Film Board of Canada, Crawley Films Limited
Summary:
A Canadian film production addressed to U.S. audiences, showing the industrial and commercial cooperation between the two nations as it occurs throughout the Great Lakes. "The Great Lakes are shown as a great industrial region with an immense amount of diversified cargo flowing along the shipping routes that lie between Canada and the United States. It is the shipping theme that links together short sequences on the industrial life of the Great Lakes: steel production, pulp manufacture, ship-building, grain storage, and the workings of the huge locks of one of the most vital canal systems in the world" (National Film Board of Canada catalog record http://onf-nfb.gc.ca/en/our-collection/?idfilm=17015)

38. Sundays in the Valley of Mexico (11:01)

Date:
1942
Main contributors:
United States. Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, Ralph E. Gray, A.C.L. : photographed and produced by
Summary:
A colorful travelogue of modern, urban life in Mexico City. "Shows scenes typical of modern Mexico, such as the tall buildings and wide boulevards of Mexico City. The canal leading to Xochimilco, with its fruit- and flower-laden boats, is pictured. Then describes a festival held in honor of the Vice President of the United States, Henry Wallace, when he visited Mexico City. It includes a bullfight and a parade of Mexican beauties. Ends with a pageant of old and new Mexican dances" (War Films Bulletin of the Extension Division Indiana University, February, 1943, 19)

39. Orchids and Other Flora of Tropical America (10:43)

Date:
1942
Main contributors:
United States. Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, The National Geographic Society
Summary:
Described as a film portraying "twenty types of orchids and other flora of South and Central America and the conditions under which they grow" (U.S. Government Films, U.S. Office of Education, 1954, 134), its underlying subject is enchantment with the projected image itself. The color palette of Kodachrome reversal film is on display, capturing the faces of young women posed with exotic tropical flowers. The natural riches of Latin America --cacao, mangoes, and coffee--are presented for the delectation of audiences to the north. One of many similarly-styled productions in the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs catalog of short, documentary subjects, this film contributes to the war era campaign to sway popular opinion toward a spirit of allegiance and neighborly-ness between the nations of the Americas.

40. Patagonian Playground (09:33)

Date:
1942
Main contributors:
United States. Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs
Summary:
Using color photography, this travelogue transports viewers in the U.S. to the exotic locale of Nahuel Huapi National Park, in the Argentine Andes. Showing the stifling mid-summer heat of Buenos Aires in January, the narrator explains city-dwellers' desire to escape to the cool, clean air of the mountains. The camera follows a group of young Argentines as they hike in the mountains, play with a herd of dairy cows, pick wild strawberries and prepare their yerba mate. Striking landscape photography shows glaciers, waterfalls, and captures an avalanche as it occurs. As with all Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs films, affinity between the nations of the Americas is encouraged by presenting foreign places to domestic audiences in an appealing, humanizing light.