Valley of The Tennessee
Valley of The Tennessee is a short film from 1945 released on 16mm. It is held in the Prelinger Archives collection.
One of a series of films made for the Office of War Information primarily for propaganda purposes abroad, this film employs a narrative structure in explaining the role of the Tennessee Valley Authority in overcoming the prejudices and suspicions of the residents, reclaiming the Valley and "harnessing nature."
| Valley of The Tennessee | |
|---|---|
| Produced by | U.S. Office of War Information |
Production company | U.S. Office of War Information |
| Distributed by | U.S. Office of War Information |
Release date | 1945 |
| Language | English |
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Shot List
16:01:39:22 Great shot from underneath boat plane as it takes off out of water along shore of big city skyline off in the distance.
16:01:54:08 VS Mainliner commercial plane flying over San Francisco Bay; CU Mainliner 1940s commercial plane.
16:02:02:10 Aerial of oil drills of coastline.
16:02:16:18 Aerial Tennessee Valley
16:02:27:00 Two boys enter poor rural schoolhouse in the Tennessee Valley.
16:02:32:04 VS poor rural Southern school children, most boy in overalls, in poor rural schoolhouse taking their seats; VS CU poor white rural children�s faces.
16:03:23:25 VS CU poor rural farmer with weather worn faces.
16:04:36:27 CU low-angle poor farmer in hat looking up at ominous dark rain clouds.
16:04:56:05 Poor farmer in hat waits in door way of house during rain storm.
16:05:17:10 VS flooding in the Tennessee Valley during a bad storm; houses underwater, families evacuating in horse drawn carriage; sandbagging; aerial of flooded city in the Tennessee Valley.
16:06:25:17 Great shot of railroad tracks completely upturned and twisted after bad storm.
16:06:38:02 CU map of southeastern United States ; hands encircles the general area of the Tennessee Valley on the map.
16:06:44:19 MS James P. Pope in a meeting TVA with hand on map pointing at the Tennessee Valley.
16:06:52:13 Harcourt Morgan of the TVA in front of chalkboard map of the Tennessee Valley.
16:07:00:09 David Lilienthal of the TVA in meeting.
16:07:07:08 MS George Norris of the TVA.
16:07:18:24 Animated map showing the rivers and the plan to build a series of dams.
16:08:21:23 CU architect drawing on blueprint with triangle ruler, camera pans up to large room filled with architects working at draught tables.
16:08:42:12 Man monitoring with clipboard wall of various clock-like dials in a power plant.
16:08:43:29 VS man working on scaled model of a large dam.
16:09:26:17 Stock shot of President Roosevelt in 1933 announcing the formation of the Tennessee Value Authority (TVA) into NBC microphone.
16:09:34:14 Poor Southern farmer seated in shade sharpening his scythe; decaying farmhouse in background.
16:10:51:16 Great LS rural boy in the distance running up a steep hillside; VS rural southern boy in overalls running up hill through the wilderness.
16:11:46:00 Great shot pans down following barrel-shaped object being lowered by crane into dam construction site.
16:12:06:24 Three construction workers precariously perched on steel frame hundreds of feed above the ground in dam construction site. VS construction workers in hardhats working on building a dam, cross cut with little boy watching attentively from an elevation. Workers with hammers, tractor shovels, cranes.
16:14:53:09 VS poor old rural farmers in classroom being instructed about erosion on blackboard by man in suit. CU old man with weathered face puts on glasses.
16:15:28:10 VS high angle pan over flooded, eroded, and sandy and barren land in the Tennessee Valley.
16:16:11:05 CU one older poor Southern farmer covering his mouth whispers something to another poor Southern farmer.
16:16:25:10 VS CU poor old southern farmers with weathered leathery faces.
16:16:52:16 VS dynamite explosion for building dam.
16:18:01:14 CU hand signing contract with signature �Henry.�
16:18:35:02 Farmer being instructed in the principles of contour farming with a plow pulled by two horses.
16:19:48:01 Farmer throwing phosphate fertilizer onto the soil.
16:19:55:00 Bags of phosphate fertilizer supplied by the TVA. CU bag reads �Tennessee Valley Authority Concentrated Phosphate Fertilizer.�
16:20:33:15 CU POV shot of farmer�s hands adding up his bills, stops to look at advertisement for a new tractor. Extreme CU farmer�s pensive face.
16:21:41:12 Great shot of construction worker in helmet straddling and hammering into steel beam at extreme elevation working on dam in the Tennessee Valley.
16:21:44:23 VS field of tobacco and man cutting tobacco harvest and hanging the leaves up to be dried out.
16:23:19:18 Farmer bends down to run his hands through grain running out machine threshing the grain.
16:23:24:00 VS CU tractors sowing land.
16:23:42:04 Pan over field of grain.
16:24:01:24 Nice shot of farmhouse surrounded by corn stalks and a filed with haystacks.
16:24:27:24 VS proud farmer pulls up to poor farmer on side of dirt road in his new tractor. Poor farmer eyes down the tractor, then looks at the farmer driving it. The farmer smiles and rives off.
16:25:09:29 Rich businessman at desk takes pen out of its holder, camera pans right to poor farmer who receives the pen and signs his name.
16:25:55:01 VS of interracial group of school children looking at model of TVA dams in the Tennessee Valley in their classroom; pan over model of TVA dams.
16:26:08:12 Map of Tennessee valley animated so that dams appear then the rivers slowly filling with sparkling water.
16:26:36:10 pan up from river to VS enormous TVA dams: Douglas, Guntersville, Cherokee, Wilson, Pickwick Landing, Chickamauga, Hiwassee, Fontana, Wheeler, Appalachia, and Norris dams. CU plaque for Norris Dam which reads �Built for the people of the United States of America by the Tennessee Valley Authority�
16:27:19:17 VS man pulls lever, General Electric Co. dial�s hand moves from �Start� to �ST-BY�, CU hand turns switch to �Slow�, VS Dam waters begin to run down dam; VS men pulling levers.
16:27:44:14 VS inside hydroelectric power plant; transformers.
16:27:59:07 Fertilizer pours onto conveyor belt.
16:28:01:04 Long sheet of aluminum moves down conveyor line.
16:28:10:25 CU goat watches hand plug cable into socket.
16:28:51:01 VS children running past large distribution sub-station transformers onto the dam; children looking down at the gushing dam waters.
16:29:27:00 Camera zooms to CU of blond girl with only one of her front teeth in looking out in the distance with interest.