FDR's moviemaker : memoirs & scripts
In the depths of the Great Depression, the U.S. Government produced a series of films about the pressing problems facing the nation--drought, flood, poverty, and slums. Starting with a minuscule initial budget of $6,000, Lorentz, a young film critic from New York who had never made a motion picture, was hired to head the project. The first fruit of his labor, The Plow That Broke the Plains, was a moving and dramatic account of the Dust Bowl which met with immediate public and critical acclaim. Lorentz followed up his first film with The River, a history of the Mississippi River Basin and the effect of the Tennessee Valley Authority on the area. Both films demonstrated the potential of the documentary as a powerful impetus to social change, prompting widespread discussion not only of the problems they presented but also of the documentary form itself
eBook, English, ©1992
University of Nevada Press, Reno, Nev., ©1992