Work, Make, Move, Talk: Four from the Golden Age of Industrial Films

Presented by Rick Prelinger

(Films from 1936–1958, 96 mins. Digital and 35mm.) These rarely screened masterpieces from America’s industrial film producers offer insight into sophisticated techniques of corporate persuasion. Master Hands (Jam Handy Organization for Chevrolet, 1936) echoes Modern Times and Triumph of the Will (both made the same year) in its evocation of the grandeur and danger of the assembly line; American Look (Jam Handy Organization for Chevrolet, 1958) presents the Populuxe era in all its glory, showing examples of interior, industrial, graphic and product design in glorious widescreen Technicolor; In the Suburbs (On Film Inc. for Redbook Magazine, 1957), a rare woman-made industrial infused with more than a touch of the avant-garde, recalls post–World War II migrations from city to suburbia; and Long Distance (Audio Productions for the Bell System, 1941) traces the links between the buildout of the telephone network and American continental expansion.

Tickets: $15 ($11 seniors and students / $7 youth (ages 3–17) / free for children under 3 and Museum members at the Film Lover and Kids Premium levels and above). Order tickets online. (Members may contact [email protected] with questions regarding online reservations.)

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