I saw this John Nesbitt's Passing Parade short on TCM, and it's rather unusual. The video footage is actually from a 1939 documentary titled "The City", which promotes the future planned suburban communities and superhighways as a wonderful successor to filthy factory towns and overcrowded metropolises. John Nesbitt added new narration which still espouses this idea, but also ties in a war morale theme for the current WWII effort.
The narrator starts by telling us that we are going to see a "battle picture that shows no uniform or tank or gun", and he is correct. Although this short is intended as a war morale film, there's not a single shot of anything military. He continues by discussing the evolution of the Ameican city starting with the colonial small farming village, which our forefathers liked so much that they fought a war to obtain freedom for them. However, the American desire for "something better" led to the industrial revolution, and while it made the factory owners and others wealthy, it forced many to live in cramped, filthy towns next to the factories. The continued desire for something better eventually led to the modern high-rise metropolis, which is much more beautiful than a factory town, but it comes with the price of constant hustle and bustle and the problem of heavy congestion of people and traffic. And the current American desire for something better leads to the glorious wonders of the future planned suburban community and its superhighways. However, if Americans want to achieve their world of tomorrow, there is a war that must be won today.
This short is rather watchable, but a bit uneven. And that's somewhat due to being a city planning promo film turned into a war morale film by bookending the city planning info with a war morale message. I also found it odd that the disadvantages of a factory town were shown in a dark, almost horror like fashion, whereas the disadvantages of a metropolis were shown in a comic fashion, at least up until... spoiler.
Overall... unusual, but watchable war morale/city planning promo short.
The narrator starts by telling us that we are going to see a "battle picture that shows no uniform or tank or gun", and he is correct. Although this short is intended as a war morale film, there's not a single shot of anything military. He continues by discussing the evolution of the Ameican city starting with the colonial small farming village, which our forefathers liked so much that they fought a war to obtain freedom for them. However, the American desire for "something better" led to the industrial revolution, and while it made the factory owners and others wealthy, it forced many to live in cramped, filthy towns next to the factories. The continued desire for something better eventually led to the modern high-rise metropolis, which is much more beautiful than a factory town, but it comes with the price of constant hustle and bustle and the problem of heavy congestion of people and traffic. And the current American desire for something better leads to the glorious wonders of the future planned suburban community and its superhighways. However, if Americans want to achieve their world of tomorrow, there is a war that must be won today.
This short is rather watchable, but a bit uneven. And that's somewhat due to being a city planning promo film turned into a war morale film by bookending the city planning info with a war morale message. I also found it odd that the disadvantages of a factory town were shown in a dark, almost horror like fashion, whereas the disadvantages of a metropolis were shown in a comic fashion, at least up until... spoiler.
Overall... unusual, but watchable war morale/city planning promo short.
