International Review of Educational Cinematography (Jan-Dec 1930)

73 In the questionnaires addressed to the Governments, certain questions, naturally, have particular reference to the institution of offices ad hoc, to officially recognized institutions, subsidies for the purpose from government departments, publications, censorship, etc. As we have had occasion to point out in previous issues, a great number of answers have come in, while the Institute's competent office is busy carefully examining a mass of very interesting and varied material on the subject. It is obvious, as already stated, that America offers a vast field of study and the most valuable documentary records, and the Institute is in correspondence on the subject, not only with the State departments concerned, but also with 26 of the foremost industrial, scientific, and educational associations, etc. as, well as with many outstanding personalities interested in the question The information in our possession shows that a great number of interesting films dealing with vocational orientation, the prevention of accidents in workshops, and the application of scientific methods of labour, have been published in America, by various institutions. These films contain a mass of very instructive matter for all countries, and the Institute is studying them with great care, so as to be able to deduce therefrom what are the essential features of a model educational labour film. The American Society of Mechanical Engineers of New York is doing excellent work in this field by the exhibition of films illustrating industrial problems and works connected therewith. A big catalogue published by this Society, listing all the most important films connected with labour, enables us to place before our readers the description of a number of these films bearing on matters of scientific management. Building New York's newest subway. — A veritable trip along the line of construction, showing the various engineering problems and how they are solved. The age of speed. — Presents the story of grinding and the part it plays in many industries. It has many thrilling scenes depicting the high speed of the age. The arteries of industry. — This film illustrates the manufacture of pipe from the ore to the finished product. The Island of sugar. — Shows the world's greatest achievement in the can sugar industry, how one hundred and ten thousand acres of dense forest were transformed into a modern plantation, and the largest sugar mill in the world built and put in operation in ten months. Conquest of the forest. — This film depicts in a realistic and instructive manner logging and other operations necessary to convert trees into lumber. Big deeds. — Depicting a few scenes of the following subjects : Pouring the largest casting ever made in our foundry. Construction of the largest armoured cable in the world which will supply electric power to the industries of Shanghai, China. Melting steel with water. Building a skyscraper. — The remarkable growth of a 32 story skyscraper. The story of asbestos. — The reels show the mining operations in Canada and Arizona and the manufacture of the various forms of asbestos products. Anthracite and bituminous. — These films show the early days of the industry, and portray the methods employed when the mines were first opened more than a century ago and the mining and preparation of this natural resource by modern methods. The various systems employed in mining the coal, such as shaft, slope, and draft mining are also presented, so as to give the spectator a better understanding of the industry. Something about switch-boards. — The reel shows in some thirty different scenes many of the unusual processes in manufacturing and installing the equipment which gives a telephone exchange its unique and highly centralized position of importance in modern business. The Panama canal. — Construction completion of the Panama Canal. and