Mr. Bell
Mr. Bell is a short film from 1947 released on 16mm. It is held in the Prelinger Archives collection.
Shows Alexander Graham Bell working with his deaf pupils and experimenting with the telephone and the wax cylinder record for the phonograph. His wide interests, which included aeronautics and the National Geographic Society, are also described.
"In the hundredth year since the birth of Alexander Graham Bell and the seventy-first since the invention of the telephone the Bell System presents" MR. BELL "The story of his bequest to all (?) history without an ending"
This dramatic reenactment of Mr. Bell's daily life during the days of his historical invention of the telephone portrays him as a highly respected, hard-working and charitable character. He is a leader in his community, speaking out against injustices being caused to the deaf and frequently speaking out prophetically about the telephone: "And then I see its lines and poles marching thousands of miles, connecting the head office of every city in the land to the head office of every other city. And then I see perhaps, in the next century, the tiniest, farthest, hamlet, woven into the wire fabric, doctors summoned, disasters met and overcome."
Close-up of newspapers, stacked on a table Man sitting down at a grand piano with a candelabra on top of it, dramatically playing the piano and singing, a young woman in fancy gown, clutching flowers, watches admiringly Man lecturing, pointing to a large model of an ear Man lecturing in front of an outline of the human head, with nasal and vocal cavities Man excitedly enters a room to speak to the other man, the two men laugh, shake hands and one man pats the other's shoulder Double exposures of rippling water, a silhouette of a telephone-like apparatus, circular camera pans of early telephones Close-up of a circuit board Close-up of a telephone pole Telephone wires Two men standing around a small museum display of a biplane A man with white hair and a full white beard and mustache speaking in front of an assembly of men in suits The man lecturing dramatically with papers in one hand, gesticulating with the other Close-up of the face of the lecturer Shot of the rear of the assembly, the men in suits stand, applauding Three men sitting in front stacks of machinery Radar and sonar satellites, spinning on rooftops A machine with symbols scrolling across, a woman standing in front of a microphone -- a machine that turns spoken words into symbols for the deaf to read Stacks of telephone company circuitry A man climbing down a telephone pole Women sitting in a line at a busy circuit board Close-up of circuits being connected
Three-quarter profile shot of a heroic man in dramatic lighting| Mr. Bell | |
|---|---|
| Produced by | RKO-Pathe, Inc. |
Production companies | RKO-Pathe, Inc. |
| Distributed by | RKO-Pathe, Inc. |
Release date | 1947 |
Running time | 29:39 |
| Language | English |
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