Long Distance
Long Distance is a short film from 1941 released on 16mm. It is held in the Prelinger Archives collection.
Abundance of sound-bites from heroic narrative about telephones, telegraphs, and the triumph of the coast to coast communication network. Many images female telephone operators. Great visuals of every aspect of telecommunications, its history, and technical aspects (machinery, tools etc.).
17:40:35:28 Pan long row of female long distance operates manually patching calls on switchboard.
17:41:03:20 VS CU female operators patching long distance calls.
17:41:42:29 MS Clock with two levers. Woman s hand passing card through it and pulling lever stamping call card.
17:42:30:18 CU woman s hands with painted nails flipping through cards; call catalogue. Call logs: New York to Seattle; Cleveland to Key West; Dallas; New York; Fordham to Albany.
17:42:36:19 VS scenic country landscape, rural, forests, desert, rivers, mountains with telephone poles and lines running through them. Nice iris out and wipe transitions. Great narration.
17:43:59:28 Great topographic map of United States with animation illustrating US expansion west beginning by filling in original colonies by 1783, Gulf Coast 1810-19, land acquired in Louisiana Purchase 1803, Texas 1845, Pacific Northwest 1846, West Coast 1848, Southwest 1853. Lists major western exploration and expeditions on map.
17:46:03:00 VS pioneers and frontiersmen moving west by horse and carriage. Audio tracks to instrumental version of Oh! Susanna.
17:46:46:27 VS pony express. Horses in gallop pulling carriage carrying three men with guns. Cowboy riding on horse firing pistol while being pursued.
17:47:46:28 Pretty shot of line of large tractors laying first underground telephone cable. Superimposed over tractor shot 1941 graphic fades in to front of screen. CU newspaper headline superimposed over tractor shot First All-Cable Telephone Line Soon to Span Nation. Tractor-Drawn Plows laying long Western Section Underground. First underground cable to connect Atlantic and Pacific coasts.
17:48:16:27 Pan long distance operator woman at switchboard with headphones on.
17:48:21:17 Pan of switchboard dispatch stations number with three lights 110 London , 111 Bermuda , 112 Buenos Aires , 113 Rio de Janeiro.
17:48:38:07 VS men in row working on large machine or switchboard. Man plugging in wires, reading dials, pressing buttons. Metal coils.
17:49:19:11 Men working on machines, pressing buttons, looking at dials, turning nobs, plugging in cables.
17:49:45:15 Men playing orchestral instruments in strange mists. Three men bowing basses or cellos. One man playing violin or viola. CU trombone. Harp. Conductor conducting orchestra.
17:49:56:06 Pan men in row working on switchboard and other equipment fade to map Wire Network for a Presidential Broadcast.
17:50:19:00 Great VS male operators at telephone switchboards and other equipment with prominent clock in background.
17:50:37:19 Pan women at switchboard patching telegraphs.
17:50:50:07 Great CU woman typing out telegraph message printed on thin strip of paper. CU paper of telegraph coming out of teletypewriter machine.
17:50:59:15 VS men reading telegraphs and working on teletypewriters and. Stacks of paper everywhere and men intensely reading and writing on typewriters.
17:51:38:17 CU paper with police report typed out. Stolen Car, Black Sedan 1940 Model with Slight dent right rear fender.
17:51:50:06 VS of NY State police car and motorcycle driving down empty town roads. Elevated shot white 1940s NY state police car pulls over black sedan. two officers approach driver.
17:53:16:24 Sign Federal Bureau of Investigation on outside of FBI building. CU glass door with Federal Bureau of Investigation Communications Section Private. Man walks through door.
17:52:37:21 Great CU typewriter writing police report from bank robbery includes notes complexion dark and he is dangerous.
17:52:59:21 Plane flying just above clouds.
17:53:27:24 CU document from Signal Corps, United States Army dated Washington DC 9AM Jan 27 1941.
17:53:35:02 Great long montage of everything covered in film. Picturesque shots of telephone lines in the American landscape, tractors plowing underground lines, female operators at switchboard, male operators on other machines and switchboards, men erecting telephone poles.| Long Distance | |
|---|---|
| Produced by | Audio Productions |
Production company | Audio Productions |
| Distributed by | Audio Productions |
Release date | 1941 |
| Language | English |
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