The educational screen (c1922-c1956])

Page 118 The Educational Screen Below—West Point activities portrayed in the Castle film. "West Point- Symbol of Our Army" This is a meaningful and accurate title for a one-reel 16 mm film recently made and released by Castle Films, with the full cooperation of the Academy author- ities. Of the finished picture Col. Meade Wildrick had this to say! "Today, with millions of Americans serving in our armed forces, the training and philosophy of the leaders of our Army are matters of first importance and vital concern to the entire nation. This film represents a thoroughly up-to-date, fast-moving pictor- ial review of a West Pointer in the mak- ing." West Point has always been a synonym for efficient training, but its activities in these war times show added tension and concentration aimed at putting and keep- ing the Academy in high gear for the task ahead. We see the cadets at work in classrooms, laboratories, machine shops, at drawing boards and relief-maps of terrains—then in the field, putting into practice actual river-crossing, bridge- building, plane flying, troop maneuvers under bomb and gunfire conditions ac- curately simulating the war experience that awaits them all. And the film is still able to present the Academy's routine of living, the famous grounds, the color and glamour of the West Point that gave us Grant, Lee, Sherman, Pershing and Mac- Arthur—and will still give us more great ones as they are needed. (Available in sound or silent versions from Castle Films Inc., 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York City, or from visual dealers throughout tlic country.) N. L. G. ■ The Y. M. C. A. Motion Picture Bure.au, 347 Madison Avenue, New York City, is now distributing in 16 mm sound: Land of Liberty— 8 reels, rental $7.50. This famous film is a pictorial history of tlie progress of America's growth. It epitomizes more than a century and a half of American history. It is the work of the entire motion picture industry. His- torical sequences, composed of material taken from outstanding Hollywood pro- ductions, vividly portray the stories of men and women who struggled to attain and defend American liberties. More than a hundred top-ranking Hollywood stars appear as historical characters in the well-knit narrative. Episodes in our country's history become dramatic reali- ties. We see Washington, Franklin, Jef- ferson, Madison, Hamilton and others found this Republic. We hear Lincoln's stirring appeal for its preservation. We struggle with the pioneers as they win the West and link it to the East. We see the country grow and flourish by means of peaceful arts, industry and science. Land of Liberty reveals in human terms what democracy means to us. It shows what a stake each of us has in our coun- try at a moment when the American way is being challenged as never before. It deserves to be seen by every man, women and child in the country, because it will make them proud to be Americans. ■ Bell & Howell Company, 1801 Larch- niont Ave., Chicago, have acquired two new "lecture films" on Africa, made by Count Byron de Prorok, a noted arch- eologist and veteran of thirty inter- national expeditions, now engaged by the War Department to instruct Amer- ican soldiers on the conditions likely to be encountered in the African theatre of war. Ancient Trails of North Africa —1 reel, 16mm sound—traces the known From "Ancient Trails of North Africa" and conjectured history of ancient man back through Rome, Carthage and the Berbers, back to the troglodytes and their shadowy paleolithic predecessors. The work of the archeologist is fasci- natingly presented. Warriors of the Sahara —1 reel, 16mm sound—portrays the expedition that finally disclosed the remains of the fabled Tin-Hiiian, white queen of the Sahara, and incidentally shows inter- esting sidelights of the life of the Tuaregs, whose warriors wear veils and curl their hair.