Coal Miner (downloaded from Google Video). [Category: Industrial]

This late-70s film, made by Bethlehem Steel, gives a profile of coal mining as a career. It shows a particular coal miner at home, at work, and in the community, letting him speak in his own voice about how he feels about his job, and about being a coal miner. Mostly, it’s very positive feelings about following in his father’s footsteps, making a good living and providing for his family. Later in the film, his fellow miners also talk about their experiences with mining, and again, it’s mostly very positive. Unions are not mentioned, risks are downplayed, and miners are shown living comfortably with their families in nice houses, implying good wages. Of course, this is what you’d expect by a film made by the Company. Still, the miners speak in their own words, and you get a feeling of sincerity from them, which makes the film at least somewhat believable and very interesting to watch. Most surprising is a scene of the miners cleaning up after work in a gang shower and engaging in very mild horseplay. The whole film seems pretty sanitized, yet enough sincerity comes through to make it an interesting portrayal of the life of coal miners during the late 70s.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.

Dateline: Tomorrow (film #398 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Industrial]

Now this is an industrial film! It not only has lots of excellent factory tour footage, but it shows how little metal tags off things are made, a real fascination of mine. It also shows all kinds of neat-looking aluminum products, such as hardware, kitchen utensils, office furniture, architectural details, bottle caps, aluminum foil packaging, and license plates. All of this stuff is accompanied by narration that says how modern and futuristic it all is, while the designs, when looked at from today’s perspective, are all charmingly retro. I guess this film proves that the future has officially become the past. I only wish it was in color, so that we can see brightly-colored aluminum tumblers in all their glory, and that it had a Mr. Product, like Aluminum Man in Aluminum on the March.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.

Copper Mining and Smelting (film #379 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Industrial]

This is, as you might suspect, a straightforward film about how copper mining and smelting is done. It’s actually pretty interesting considering its dry subject, since it sticks to the basics and doesn’t dwell too much on technical details. Fans of explosives will enjoy the scenes of ore being blown up real good with dynamite, and fans of hell will enjoy the scenes of the fiery furnaces. Unfortunately, the print is not in very good condition, being dark and hard to see in a lot of spots. Still, that makes the scenes of molten copper even more dramatic. And it has a cool ending card, with “The End” over streams of molten copper, making you think the end of hell is at hand.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.

Artificial Respiration (film #5 on AV Geeks). [Category: Industrial]

A very 70s film made for miners on artificial respiration. It’s pretty straightforward for the most part, though there are a few campy moments where they show examples of situations where artificial respiration may be required, such as showing drowning person as a hat floating on the surface of the water (Bing Crosby––oh no!!) or showing an incredibly stupid auto mechanic working on a running car in a closed garage until he becomes overwhelmed by carbon monoxide. Mouth-to-mouth resuscitation was the standard by the 70s, so it’s surprising to see several older methods demonstrated, though briefly. Mostly, though, this is your standard first aid film, with surprisingly little mining content.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.

California Cotton Mills (in the Ephemeral section of Open Video Project. Also, film #1803 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Industrial]

Silent footage, probably from the 20s, of cotton being unloaded, spun into thread, and woven into cloth in a big mill. It’s mildly interesting factory footage with some historical value.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.

Bridge for the Yaque (film #248 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Industrial]

Boring film about building a bridge in the Dominican Republic. Those who are really into bridge-building might enjoy this, though, as the process is described in detail. And since the film was sponsored by U.S. Steel, no opportunity was missed to point out how strong and what a great material in general the steel used to build the bridge was.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: *. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: **.

Aluminum on the March (film #325 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Industrial]

This lush 50s film, sponsored by Reynolds Aluminum, may be the quintessential industrial film. It tells us everything we'd ever and never want to know about aluminum, its production, and its uses. Aluminum bars, ingots, and products of various types march in stop-motion animation at various points in the film, led by a little Reynolds Aluminum guy made from aluminum bars. Lots of very well-shot scenes of aluminum production and manufacturing are shown, which should satisfy factory-tour fans. And the scenes of all the different types of aluminum products are a 50s populuxe-lover's dream, with 50s cars, appliances, household products, an extended scene of a 50s housewife in a bright red dress and a chiffon apron in a 50s kitchen using aluminum foil in many different ways, and another long scene of a whole bunch of 50s brand-name grocery products that used foil in their packaging. This is all shot in glaring 50s color and with a bombastic, triumphant soundtrack. I especially love the stop-motion animation, the Reynolds Aluminum guy, and all the 50s grocery products. This is an essential film for industrial film collectors.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: *****.