Motion Picture MP64-14

The American Road

Administrative Information

Footage
1549 feet
Running Time
38 minutes
Film Gauge
16mm
Sound
sound
Color
Black & White
Produced by
MPO Publication
Restrictions
Undetermined
Description
The film traces the development of Ford cars and their influence on life and transportation in the United States. The film was made and donated to Harry S. Truman by the Ford Motor Company. It is Narrated by Raymond Massey.
Date(s)
1953

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This item does not circulate but reproductions may be purchased.

To request a copy of this item, please contact truman.reference@nara.gov​​​​​​​

Please note that this video belongs to a different video collection than the items available to be borrowed by teachers, from our Education Department.

Moving Image Type
Motion Picture

Shot List

    Reel 1
00:00 Introduction – credits; Horse and buggy on a muddy road.
01:09 Scenes of a man and woman, who are leaving the hardship and isolation of the country for the city.
03:16 Couple waits at rail station. They are leaving the farm because the man is interested in machinery.
04:24 Scenes of city; crowds walking, horses, buggies, streetcars, fire houses, horse-drawn fire engines, city people long to leave heat and noise.
05:47 Scenes of ocean, bay, amusement park, beach.
06:22 Bicycle riding popular pastime, but pavement ended shortly outside of town, so bicyclers had to turn around.
07:12 In Detroit, Ford developed a quadracycle which used gasoline.
08:04 Ford developed his “horseless buggy.”
09:08 Use of cars developed slowly because of poor roads
09:59 Scenes of sail wagon.
10:12 Ford developed a gasoline engine of a racing car, 999
10:55 October 5, 1902, 999 could do a mile a minute
11:10 1903 – Ford Motor Company founded. Cars were becoming a more common sight.
11:37 Model A cost $850.00 and went thirty miles an hour.
12:32 Farmers were left out of transportation revolution until Model T, which could stand up to rough country driving, came along. It had four cylinders, twenty horsepower.
13:47 Ford wanted to reduce the cost of the Model T. He tried using an assembly line.
15:56 Mass production was more efficient. The price of cars dropped. A car was produced every forty seconds, the price was reduced to $300.
17:57 The cheaper price allowed more people to have their own car. Scenes of a family taking a drive in the country.
19:25 Use of car brought about demand for better roads. Two lane paved roads developed.
20:42 Improved transportation helped city and country people get to know each other better.
21:45 Model T became part of American scene, it saved time and speeded up business.
22:22 The automobile brought about filling stations and a whole new gas and oil industry.
22:42 With cars, people could travel inexpensively across the country. Scenes of Yellowstone Park and Redwoods.
24:29 The nation loves the Model T. Hollywood comedians had a field day with it.
25:52 Model T becomes a symbol of the industrial revolution. Mass production created new skills and jobs. Goods mass produced could be purchased cheaply.
26:31 Pictures of Henry Ford at home, with family, tinkering with machine, tractor, in his office, Edsel Ford, Henry Ford II as a baby, of Ford and wife on quadracycle, camping, of Thomas Edison.
31:24 Last Model T Ford developed was made in 1927, the Lincoln.
33:40 Scenes of cars in the twenties and during the Depression. Scenes of jeeps being used in World War II.
35:25 Advent of automobile brought about interstate highway system. Machines have taken over burden of work. People could live in suburbs away from their work and drive to work. Automobiles gave people the freedom to go anywhere at any time. In fifty years the automobile changed the American way of life.
38:14 End.