Writing
Navy Commander Alan Roberts is assigned to lead an expedition to Little America in Antarctica to investigate reports of a mysterious warm water inland lake discovered a decade earlier. His helicopter and its small party, including reporter Maggie Hathaway, is forced down into a volcanic crater by a fierce storm. They find themselves trapped in a lush tropical environment that has survived from prehistoric times.
Comprised of eight unrelated episodes of inconsistent quality, this anthology piece of American propaganda features some of MGM Studios' best directors, screenwriters and actors; it is narrated by Louis Calhern. Stories are framed by the lecture of a university professor. In one tale a Boston resident becomes angry when the census forgets to record her presence. Another sketch chronicles the achievements of African Americans while still another pays tongue-in-cheek tribute to Texas.
Just as church services are letting out, a shabbily-dressed stranger is run over by an automobile in front of the church. The stranger is helped mentally and physically by the minister and congregation members, who help him regain his self-confidence and also to accept the death of his wife as she was about to embark from Europe, as a displaced person, to join him in America.
A small-town newspaper editor risks everything to expose a corrupt sheriff.
A light-skinned African-American family are "passing" in an all-white New England town. When the truth comes out, the more prejudiced neighbors demand their expulsion from the community.
Driving safety film sponsored as a public service by oil companies. Of five drivers who leave home in the morning, only four return, and we wait to learn who the victim is. The film gives considerable discussion to careless driving habits and depicts Angelenos from different walks of life as well as their homes, neighborhoods, streets, and freeways.
