Land of Liberty
Cast & Crew
Henry Carey
Arthur H. Debra
Cecil B. Demille
Oscar Hammerstein Ii
Francis S. Harmon
Jerome Kern
Film Details
Synopsis
Through the use of footage taken from Hollywood feature and short films, the history of the United States is traced and recreated. After hearing President Franklin Roosevelt call America "the land of the second chance," the picture shows new colonial settlers arriving in America, seeking an escape from European tyranny. In the English colonies, a revolt begins over repressive taxation, with Patrick Henry declaring, "Give me liberty or give me death!" The American Revolutionary War begins, lasting five years and ending in American independence. Without a strong central government, however, the new country begins to fall apart, and war hero George Washington is brought in for leadership. There is a call for a Constitutional Convention, which meets in Philadelphia in 1787. In 1789, the first Congress meets in New York, and the Bill of Rights is signed into law. 1801 sees greater westward movement, led by such explorers as Daniel Boone. With the Spanish defeat by the French in Europe, Napoleon takes control of the Louisiana Territory. President Thomas Jefferson, seeking a peaceful annexation of this area, sends James Monroe to France to negotiate its purchase. Told to spend only two million dollars, Monroe makes the Louisiana purchase for fifteen million, which adds fifteen more stars to the American flag. When the British begin kidnapping American seamen for its war against Napoleon, the War of 1812 erupts between the United States and England, which leads to the burning of Washington. After this war, the U.S.-Canadian border is disarmed to prevent further outbreaks. When Mexican government rejects Texas' request for representation, the Texans declare their independence, which leads to the battle of the Alamo. Following nine years of independence, Texas joins the Union in 1845. After a border war with Mexico, the United States gains California, as well as the Oregon territories. Gold is discovered at Sutter's Mill in California, leading to the Gold Rush of 1849. The dispute over slavery leads to the Civil War, as the Southern states seek to withdraw from the Union. During the Civil War, the Northern naval blockade of the South almost results in another war with England. After the war, Lincoln is assassinated, leading to the mistreatment of the defeated South during the Reconstruction period, which then encourages the formation of the Klu Klux Klan. In the West, the first Trans-Continental Railroad is completed, leading to more westward movement of settlers and the Indian wars, which include the battle of Little Big Horn. With the turn of the century comes the Spanish-American War, Walter Reed's cure for yellow fever in Cuba, and the great San Francisco earthquake. The Panama Canal is completed in 1914, as World War I breaks out in Europe. President Woodrow Wilson first declares the United States neutral, but with the sinking of the Lusitania by the Germans, two million Americans enter the war. After the war, the ill-fated League of Nations is formed, in hopes of world peace. The twentieth century sees America becoming the land of ingenuity, with inventors such as Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell, and such black luminaries as Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver. As the United States celebrates its 150th year of central government, the film proclaims that the great challenge of the time is peace. The film ends with a color montage showing American landmarks, such as Mount Rushmore and the Grand Canyon, while "Let Freedom Ring" plays in the background.
Crew
Henry Carey
Arthur H. Debra
Cecil B. Demille
Oscar Hammerstein Ii
Francis S. Harmon
Jerome Kern
Jesse L. Lasky Jr.
Jeanie Macpherson
Herbert L. Moulton
William H. Pine
James T. Shotwell
Samuel Francis Smith
Film Details
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The above summary was based on a print of the 1939 original version. The film begins with the following proclamation: "The motion picture you are about to witness constitutes the Industry's exhibit at the New York World's Fair and the Golden Gate International Exposition. It is composed exclusively of material taken from one hundred and twenty-six feature films and short subjects, as well as scores of newsreel clips and stock shots. Not a single scene was specially filmed for this production. The Motion Picture Industry is proud of the fact that in providing entertainment for the millions, it has drawn so frequently upon the dramatic events of American history for themes and background and that film material could be thus assembled in historical continuity." The film is also subtitled "A Cavalcade of American History Drawn from Film Classics Produced During the Past Quarter-Century." The film contains the following written prologue: "America's history is a saga of struggle and achievement by millions of men and women who courageously labored to build a home for Freedom....a Bulwark of Democracy......wherein all, regardless of race, creed, color or position, might continue to enjoy a priceless heritage..LIBERTY!" The end credits state the following: "This motion picture is composed of sequences from MOTION PICTURE ENTERTAINMENT FILMS produced for the theatre and made available by the following...Artcinema Associates, Inc.; Astor Pictures Corp.; Audio Productions, Inc.; Al. O. Bondy; Bray Pictures Corp.; Caddo Company, Inc.; Cinema Corp. of America; Columbia Pictures Corp.; Commonwealth Pictures Corp.; Cosmopolitan Corp.; Cecil B. DeMille Productions, Inc.; Eastman Kodak Company; Walt Disney Productions, Ltd.; Educational Pictures, Inc.; Electrical Research Products, Inc.; First National Pictures, Inc.; Fitzpatrick Pictures, Inc.; Fox Movietone News; Gaumont British Picture Corp. of America; Samuel Goldwyn, Inc., Ltd.; Grand National Pictures, Inc.; D. W. Griffith, Inc.; Inspiration Pictures, Inc.; Loew's, Inc.; The March of Time; Monogram Pictures Corp.; News of the Day; Paramount News; Paramount Pictures Inc.; Pathé Film Corp.; Pioneer Pictures Corp.; Principal Pictures Corp.; Progress Films, Inc.; RCA Manufacturing Company, Inc.; Reliance Pictures, Inc.; Republic Pictures Corp.; RKO-Pathé News; RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.; Hal Roach Studios, Inc.; Selznick International Pictures, Inc.; Edward Small Productions, Inc.; Stone Film Library, Inc.; Syndicated Pictures Exchange; Technicolor, Inc.; Terrytoons, Inc.; Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp.; United Artists Corp.; Universal Newsreel; Universal Pictures Company, Inc.; Vitagraph, Inc.; Vitaphone Corp.; Walter Wanger Pictures, Inc.; Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc. Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, Inc. acknowledges with appreciation the cooperation of all those individuals and organizations which contributed facilities, properties, time and creative effort to the making of this historical picture."
According to the Variety review and the program notes contained in the production files for the film at the AMPAS Library, the picture, which originally ran 138 minutes, was produced by the MPPA at the request of civic leaders and educators for exhibition at the New York World's Fair and the San Francisco Exposition of 1939. It had its premiere at both expositions in June 1939 and was shown daily throughout the expositions. According to modern sources, producer-director Cecil B. DeMille was asked to oversee the production without salary, as the film was originally budgeted at a modest $25,000. Variety notes that DeMille, his staff and Hays Office experts spent six months examining 2,000,000 feet of film from shorts, features and newsreels provided by fifty-three motion picture companies before choosing the footage that finally went into the film. Two months were then spent compiling the footage. According to modern sources, DeMille telegrammed Will Hays in October 1938, stating that the film needed to be restructured to "personalize our story." It was decided to incorporate new footage into the film of a "typical American family gathered around the radio listening to the history of America." At an additional cost of $27,658, Malcolm St. Clair directed this sequence for six days with a cast that included Spring Byington, John Litel, Lynne Overman, Virginia Grey, Billy Lee, Richard Cromwell, Florence Roberts and Mischa Auer. It was later decided, however, that this sequence did not work, and it was deleted in favor of existing footage and voice-over narration.
The program notes state that James T. Shotwell, the historical consultant for the film, was Bryce Professor of International Relations at Columbia University, Chairman of the American National Committee on Intellectual Cooperation and Director of Economics and History of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. To work on the film, Shotwell made two trips to Hollywood; the first was in January 1939, when he explained his ideas to the studios on the scope of the film's story. In May 1939, he returned to work with DeMille as DeMille edited and assembled the film. For its initial release at the New York World's Fair, the film included excerpts of notable performances by the following actors: Walter Huston in United Artist's 1930 film Abraham Lincoln; Clark Gable and Jeanette MacDonald in M-G-M's 1936 film San Francisco; Richard Dix and Irene Dunne in RKO's 1931 epic Cimarron; Anna Neagle in the 1937 RKO film Victoria the Great; Don Ameche and Henry Fonda in Twentieth Century-Fox's 1939 film The Story of Alexander Graham Bell; Robert Montgomery and Lewis Stone in M-G-M's 1938 film Yellow Jack; Bette Davis, Henry Fonda and George Brent in Warner Bros. 1938 film Jezebel; Paul Robeson in Universal's 1936 film Showboat; and Basil Rathbone in M-G-M's 1935 film A Tale of Two Cities.
After the film's opening, it was cut at various times for further showings in 1939 and 1940 at the fairs. For the 1940 showings, the first of which was its theatrical premiere at the Rialto Theatre in Williamsport, PA on November 12, 1940, clips from a number of recently released films were included. Also, the 1940 versions contained references to recent international events not mentioned in the 1939 versions. According to a news item in Motion Picture Daily, in 1941, the film was cut to 98 minutes and released nationally by Loew's, Inc. on a non-profit basis. The box office earnings from the film were donated to the Red Cross and other war relief agencies. A 1959 news item in Variety notes that Henry S. Noerdlinger, a longtime associate of DeMille's, was hired by Teaching Film Custodians, Inc. to re-edit the film. According to a Variety review, Noerdlinger's film was released as a 22-minute short by Teaching Films Custodians in 1959. Modern sources state that the film's final budget was approximately $100,000 and include the following additional credits: Narration Gayne Whitman; Music Rudolph Kopp; Editing Anne Bauchens, Ray Curtiss, Jerry Hopper, and George Dutton; and Technical James Wilkinson.
