Turkey Reborn
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Synopsis
The following scenes show the country of Turkey, emphasizing changes following the ascent to power of President Kemal Ataturk. At Istanbul, St. Sophia's and the Blue Mosque are shown. The old quarter of the city, with stores, bazaars, cafes and restaurants is shown. Scenes of the waterfront, new factories and modern Turkish architecture are presented. The use of the Latinized alphabet is shown, as are Turkish shadow-puppets and scenes from a 400-year-old Turkish comedy and Shakespeare's Macbeth . Turkish and Balkan folk dances at a festival are presented. President Ataturk is shown working his gardens, swimming, having lunch and romping with his adopted daughter at his "Sea Home" at Florya, twenty miles from Istanbul. Ataturk is also shown presiding at a session of the cabinet and leading his ministers in studying the origins of the Turkish language. At Ankara, the capital of the country, the State agricultural institute is shown, as is a modern hospital, old fortresses, modern architecture, an artisans' training school, a girls' school for the domestic arts and sciences, and a business school. At Izmir, a fair is shown, as are scenes of the cultivation of tobacco, figs and raisins, Turkey's three main export crops. Scenes of peasant life near Izmir are presented. At Kayseri, the new textile mills, which employ 3,500 people are shown, as is the Eskishihir sugar refineries.
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Although no confirmed release date has been found, evidence indicates that the film May have been released in 1938. This film was part of an illustrated lecture program by documentary filmmaker Julien Bryan, in which he would speak for ten minutes preceding the film and then supply live narration to the motion pictures. According to a booklet on Bryan, he was invited to spend two days at President Kemal Ataturk's villa and thus became the first filmmaker to make a "complete series of candid photographs and motion pictures" of Ataturk. The booklet states that Bryan showed this film to President Franklin Roosevelt, who, according to a New York Times article, then wrote to Ataturk, "I saw a few days ago at the White House a movie reel recently taken by Julian [sic] Bryan in Turkey. I would like to express to you all the enthusiasm I felt on seeing the numerous and marvelous things you have accomplished in a space of time so relatively brief. I was particularly pleased to see on the screen pictures of your distinguished self-at home, on the beach playing with your little daughter." According to New York Times, Ataturk, in reply, invited Roosevelt to visit Ankara. Eleanor Roosevelt, in a column in the New York World-Telegram, reproduced in the booklet on Bryan, wrote, "These Turkish pictures are extremely interesting for they show what has been done in a very few years to change a country which had remained apparently untouched by modern ways or machinery into a mechanized nation. Let us hope that it will mean greater happiness for the people. They certainly seem to have taken to modern clothes and modern buildings with extreme rapidity. Mr. Bryan seems to me to be making a real contribution to world understanding through his pictures and talks. I think that is one of the great contributions that can be made to the future peace of the world." According to the booklet, the Vol. 3, No. 7 March of Time newsreel used footage from this film. A two-reel film entitled Turkey, which was copyrighted on May 11, 1938 (MP8501) by Eastman Kodak Co., Teaching Film Division (Julien Bryan, author), May have had some footage in common with this film. For further information about Bryan, please see entry above for Russia Today.
