Production
Stanley Kubrick’s debut documentary, following Irish-American middleweight boxer Walter Cartier on April 17, 1950—the day of his bout with Bobby James. The film traces Cartier’s quiet morning rituals, training, and anxious hours before the match, culminating in his swift victory that night in Newark. Opening with a brief history of boxing, Kubrick’s tightly crafted short captures the discipline, isolation, and tension behind a fighter’s daily routine.
Short news featurette produced by Pathe-RKO after the Russians launched the first orbiting satellite, Sputnik. It is a patriotic 'call to arms' from the threat posed by this and the need for Americans to spend more on education in general and a college education in particular. A visit to the University of Buffalo highlights its science programs and the need for more graduates from all technical disciplines if America is to rise to the challenge. It bemoans the fact the PhDs earn less than a mechanic and the need to re-order priorities.
This short shows the important role played by members of the U.S. Air Force Reserve in the USA's defense against enemy attack.
Detectives investigate the Central Park murder of a young woman with a Marine Corps tattoo.
This short goes inside government research laboratories to showcase some of the products that will be used in the near future. Some are for general use, such as computerized assembly lines, nuclear energy and solar powered batteries, and industrial uses for television. Others are consumer products, including video telephones, videotape to make instant home movies, irradiated food, and fully automated kitchens.
The film tells of the Armand Denis/Lewis Cotlow expedition that had the two men cover 22,000 miles through Tanganyika, Belgian Congo, and British East Africa. The high points of their ten-month trip are an impressive elephant hunt by the Pygmies of Belgian Congo, the crowning of King Mbofe Mabiashe and the capture of a rhino.
Compilation of footage from three Frank Buck films about his adventures capturing animals for the world's zoos: "Bring 'Em Back Alive" (1933); "Wild Cargo" (1934); and "Fang And Claw" (1935).
This short shows how the city of Reading, Pennsylvania would implement civil defense procedures to help residents survive a nuclear attack. Through a network of volunteers, makeshift hospitals would be set up, auxiliary police officers would maintain order, and other elements of the civil defense program would be put in place.
A showcase of bullfighting in Portugal, explaining how the country's version of the sport differs from those in Spain and Latin America and helps define the national character. After showing the training techniques for the bulls and horses, a bullfight is presented.
Restored Film released in 1943, directed by Jay Bonafield
This short film looks at the history of gold, and how the less expensive gold filled process is used to bring glitter to the masses.
A short film about Mardi Gras in New Orleans from the point of view of those who make Carnival happen.
This Sportscope looks at wild geese hunting (shooting and killing of) while Chesapeake Retrievers retrieve the dead birds from the icy-ponds, marshes and snow-covered fields they fall into.
A true film account of a three-month safari in the big game hunting areas of the Dark Continent, undoctored with any faked plot or contrivance.
This RKO-Pathe short film produced with the assistance of the United States Air Force is about the construction of the DEW Line, the Distant Early Warming System, a string of radar stations built across Alaska and the Canadian north as part of NORAD, the North American Air Defense Command. These are isolated outposts, many of which are only accessible by air. Buildings, roads and landing strips had to be built from scratch. There's a visit to Barrow Village, Alaska the most northern point of US territory.
Helen Young sings, and Johnny Long leads his orchestra as they perform a song.
