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Date produced: 1934

Filmmaker(s):

Edmund Zacher

Herbert H. Johnson

Country of Production:

United States

Languages:

English

Length:

800 ft

Format:

16mm

Colour:

B&W

Sound Notes:

Silent

Sound:

With musical and narrative accompaniment via double turntable system.

Awards/Recognition:

ACL Ten Best 1934

Description:

"The World's People, production of Edmund Zacher, II, ACL, and Herbert Johnson, ACL, with musical accompaniment and incidental sound effects by the record and double turntable method and with a narrative presented by Mr. Johnson through the sound system, offers a combination of visual and aural entertainment that is marked by a finish and perfection in cinematography and an interest and liveliness in accompaniment. The film describes a visit to the Century of Progress exposition in Chicago, featuring as its theme the many races and nations of the world represented there. The cinematography of Messrs. Zacher and Johnson is effortless and of uniformly high standard, is playing with intelligent restraint the effects used by professional cameramen. The combination of long shots, medium views and closeups leaves no beholder unsatisfied in any scene presented. There is a decidedly human character in the whole footage and the people are never overshadowed by architecture or machinery. In one place, two somewhat indignant ladies are seen in vigorous and disapproving conversation, for example, yet they are entirely unconscious actors. In continuity planning and execution, in cinematographic perfection and in a satisfying and informing use of excellent narrative, music and sound effects, The World's People sets a high standard in starting out to do a thing and doing it with sureness and real success." Movie Makers, Dec. 1934, 546.

Resources:

A Century of Progress was a World's Fair held in Chicago in 1933 and 1934.

Herbert Johnson writes on filming at World's Fairs in "The Fair's Second Year" (Movie Makers, 1934, 240, 254).

Locations:

  • Chicago, Illinois (Filming)

Subjects:

Genre:

Form:

Tags:

Screenings:

  • Screened by the Cinema Club of the Oranges in 1935: Montclair, N.J.
  • Screened by the Metropolitan Motion Picture Club in 1935: New York City, N.Y.
  • Screened by the Movie Group of the Telephone Camera Club in 1935: New York City, N.Y.
  • Screened by the Cinemat Club of Mt. Kisco in 1936: Mt. Kisco, N.Y.
  • Screened by ACL President Stephen F. Voorhees for the committee of the New York World's Fair of 1939 in 1936: New York City, N.Y.

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