Moving Image:Deadline for Action

Deadline for Action is a short film from 1946 released on 16mm. It is held in the Prelinger Archives collection.

Argues that the American people need to be politically active to combat outside forces trying to influence the U.S. Congress.

Film about Bill Turner

07:16:07:26 CU disembodied hands drop ballots in locked ballot box; the United States capitol; MS worker using factory machine, large drill moving horizontally, text superimposed over shot This is the story of Bill Turner - his family- his job - his country.

07:16:38:04 Stock shot large World War II gun fires; explosions; soldiers running out of LVT landing vehicles; bombs dropping out of planes; soldiers firing machine guns; World War II urban warfare, battle in the streets; CU disembodied soldiers boots walk over swastika; sparks flying from saw of man work cutting metal in workshop; VS steel and metal workers White and African-American.

07:17:42:21 Camera zooms in on drawing representing an atom, cuts to nuclear explosion; enormous mushroom cloud; cuts to smokestacks of factory; workers African-American and White waiting in line to receive paychecks at factory; MS low-angle early 1950s worker outside of plant holding lunchbox under his army, pauses to count his money, 15 dollars; worker wearing hat carrying lunchbox under arm walks up sidewalk alongside brownstone houses, possibly Brooklyn, New York, man enters building.

07:18:24:04 CU disembodied little child s legs slowly walking down steps; cute little boy is picked up in father s arms, little boy grabs father s fedora hat revealing man s bald head, boy puts hat on his head, father carries boy upstairs.

07:19:06:04 CU disembodied man s hands grab bar of soap and wash hands in sink, camera pans up to man s reflection in bathroom mirror.

07:19:53:20 Early 1950s man wearing shirt with large collar walks out of brownstone building and lights his pipe; man walks into U.E.R. & M.W. of A Local 201 brick union building.

07:20:39:01 CU disembodied hand opens filing cabinet drawer and pulls file.

07:22:21:19 CU plaque for United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers of American C.I.O.; CU document from the United States Department of Agriculture, title of document reads National Survey of Liquid Asses Holdings, Spending, and Saving

07:23:07:24 CU disembodied hand opens filing cabinet drawer and pulls file.

07:23:27:10 Great shot Franklin D. Roosevelt speaking at podium into microphones from CBS, NBC, MBS among others.

07:23:48:09 MS U.E. president Fitzgerald reports no progress on wage negotiations.

07:24:38:16 VS stock footage WWI era army soldiers marching; crowded city street circa 1919, Army banner likely enlistment point in background; line of WWI army soldiers in street; workers walking down street through thick overcast, man behind movie camera on tripod filming; rioting in streets, police beating men, lots of old footage of police brutality and strike busting.

07:25:47:10 CU crystal ashtray with three burning cigars in it, disembodied man s hand enters frame and ashes cigar in ash tray.

07:25:52:29 LS the White House, camera zooms out to show white house through gates of bar.

07:26:11:14 CU pan over top of barbed wired fence with Closed sign; worker folded over himself asleep on bench; CU worker wearing cap digs through the garbage; woman rocking in chair on porch of house. 07:26:40:06 U.E. president Fitzgerald speaks to camera about the post-war condition and congresses aim to repeat 1919.

07:27:02:17 African-American man waits behind a woman at voting booth, man walks out of voting booth from behind curtain, CU man s disembodied hand places ballot in locked ballot box; woman exits voting booth, African-American man enters; disembodied woman s hand drops ballot into slit in ballot box.

07:30:41:20 MS bald (Bill Turner) at work behind machine.

07:31:49:11 CU 5, 100 dollar bills appear one by one along crack of sidewalk; man walks up sidewalk smoking cigar reading the newspaper, 1940s cars line street, man stops in front of camera and looks down, man s cigar falls from mouth as he sees 100 dollar bills running in a line up sidewalk; camera pans up line of $100 bills up sidewalk; CU man kneels down and begins to pick up $100 bills off sidewalk one by one, man begins to scramble to pick up money faster, man fills his hat with money, sits on curb, looks up and smiles.

07:36:31:27 CU essay by Henry R. Luce The American Century.

07:36:40:26 Low-angle shot man walks around corner inside house drying hands with a towel, man sees newspaper lying on counter; CU newspaper article headline British Using Jap Troops; 2d Town in Indonesia Razed.

07:36:54:16 Bald man walks into kitchen with pipe in mouth, wife wearing apron around waste hands husband letter; MS man sits down at table and opens and reads letter, pipe in mouth, city buildings in background outside window.

07:37:10:26 CU disembodied arms of soldier resting on table, one hand holding pencil writing a letter in cursive, the other holding burning cigarette.

07:38:05:13 CU Biennial Report of The Chief of State of The United States Army July 1, 1943, 50 June 30, 1945 to the Secretary of War, booklet is opened, camera zooms in on circled sentence: division of Eighth Army units to meet the political crisis in Greece disrupted these plans. Meanwhile the Germans had time to refit and strengthen their forces

07:38:30:19 Camera pans up from steps and railing to dome of Capitol building.

07:39:27:25 Workers from U.E.-C.I.O. local 201 picketing, signs read: Lynn Local 201 for a Decent Wage, Needed per day $2 more, Charlie Got His, We Want Ours; CU man Bill Turner smoking pipe picketing.

07:40:04:05 C.I.O President Philip Murray.

07:40:12:23 C.I.O. picketers; VS CU picket signs: UAW-CIO Chevrolet local Tarrytown, N.Y., Steelworkers on Strike Local 1256 USA-CIO, the United Packing House Workers of America On Strike, Western Union Workers On Strike, Farm Equipment Workers On Strike at International Harvester; VS workers marching in picket line, VS protests and picketers throughout America in 1940s.

07:42:26:13 CU newspaper headline in the Telegram-News reads Mayor Backs G.E. Union In Demand For Pay Raise , another article headline reads Curley Held, Two Freed ; camera zooms in on article text, pencil line appears circling sentence in article: Adequate buying power is necessary to sustain the business life of the community, to enable property owners to pay their taxes, to enable the city to conduct its municipal government on a basis of solvency and service. 07:42:57:25 Woman holding envelope marked UE Publication opens door with Publicity Dept. sign; CU disembodied hand pulls out UE pamphlets from envelope; CU woman typing onto UE letterhead; CU man reads large paper with header Eyes On Congress! ; CU Research Dept. sign on door; CU woman opens filing cabinet drawer.

07:43:12:01 Legal Dept. sign on door; CU disembodied hand removes book from bookshelf with title on spine American Constitutional Law, book is beside other books on labor law and unions; CU disembodied hand of woman types on Royal typewriter onto UE letterhead; CU disembodied hand wraps package of UE living wage pamphlets, African-American man weighs package on scale; CU disembodied hand lifts envelope marked UE Publications; CU typewriter ribbon printing letter on UE letterhead.

07:43:36:00 VS Jim Matles (James J. Matles), National Director of Organization speaks to camera.

07:44:44:24 VS workers picketing in Philadelphia, police line sidewalk monitoring UE protesters; UE protestors parade in Philadelphia and Camden; protesters marching up street led by American flag and sign reads G.E. Vets Local 119 U.E. C.I.O. ; protesters in parade standing with hats over their hearts, crowd together put hats back on their heads; great footage of strike march / protest parade turning into violent riot, shaky camera catches police on horseback breaking up protest, police arresting men, violence; police officers combing streets of suburban neighborhood.

07:47:09:11 U.E. General Secretary-Treasurer Julius Emspak speaks to camera.

07:47:32:19 CU sign for Sirloin Steak 57 cents per lb. inserted in steak is removed by disembodied hand and replaced with sign for 89 cents per pound; disembodied hand removes 55 cents per pound sign on boxes of State Brand butter and replaces it with sign for 87 cents; pan over factory smokestacks producing black smoke; pan over dreary industrial town.

07:48:33:12 CU disembodied hand places ballot in slit of locked ballot box; CU disembodied woman s hand knocks on door; hand drops ballot in ballot box; CU disembodied hand uses metal knocker on front door; Julius Emspak at his desk speaks to camera Millions of enlightened ballots must be cast, we must elect a progressive congress, prosperity and even peace itself depend upon it. But behind each ballot is a person, a woman, a man.

07:49:12:15 Pan down Capital Building; men and women walking up and down steps of Capitol.

07:49:28:29 Low-angle man throws down newspaper and jacket and sits down on grass, the Capitol building in the background, man takes off his shoe and massages his foot; VS the Capitol building; VS man walks up steps and into the Lincoln Memorial, man meditates on Lincoln, comparative cross-cut between Joe Turner and Abraham Lincoln; LS over man s should over the Capitol; bald man walks down steps of Lincoln Memorial directly into camera, cuts to LS Capitol building, zooms in on dome of Capitol

Deadline for Action
Produced by	Union Films
Production company	Union Films
Distributed by	Union Films
Release date	1946
Running time	36:43
Language	English

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https://archive.org/download/0747_Deadline_for_Action_07_15_43_00

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