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Category Archives: Genre

Sons of Steel (1934)

07 May

65m; U.S.

Director: Charles Lamont

Cast: Charles Starrett, Polly Ann Young and William Bakewell

Synopsis (IMDB): Chadburne Steel is run by two brothers, old men. They each have different plans for their sons. Curtis (Holmes Herbert) has put Ronald (William Blakewell) through college in style, and gives him a cushy executive job at the plant. John (Walter Walker) has a more twisted plan. He has given his son away at birth to a machinist and his wife. Phillip (Charles Starrett) has worked his way through college tending the furnace and doing rich kids laundry. Upon graduation, he puts Phillip in the lowest paying job possible , with the plan of promoting him to the executive branch in one year.

Both plans are terribly flawed and lead to an industrial accident and a general strike by the steelworkers.

 
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Posted by on May 7, 2012 in Drama, Strikes-Strikebreaking-Lockouts

 

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Souls Without Borders – The Untold Story of The Abraham Lincoln Brigade (2006)

07 May

52m; U.S./Spain

Director: Alfonso Domingo, Anthony L. Geist

Synopsis: A wealth of archival footage illuminates this stirring tribute to the International Brigades, an assortment of volunteers who traveled from over 50 countries to fight against fascism in the Spanish Civil War. Particular attention is paid to the 2,800 Americans who joined in the struggle while still reeling from the Great Depression. –http://www.siff.net/festival/film/detail.aspx?id=24141&fid=32

Contact: View here – http://www.albavolunteer.org/2010/05/souls-without-borders-documentary-online/

 
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Posted by on May 7, 2012 in Communism/Socialism, Documentary, Labor History, War

 

Sounder (1972)

07 May

105m; U.S.

Director: Martin Ritt

Cast: Cicely Tyson, Paul Winfield and Kevin Hooks

Synopsis (IMDB): The Morgans, a loving and strong family of Black sharecroppers in Louisiana in 1933, face a serious family crisis when the husband and father, Nathan Lee Morgan, is convicted of a petty crime and sent to a prison camp. After some weeks or months, the wife and mother, Rebecca Morgan, sends the oldest son, who is about 11 years old, to visit his father at the camp. The trip becomes something of an odyssey for the boy. During the journey he stays a little while with a dedicated Black schoolteacher.

 
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Posted by on May 7, 2012 in Blacks, Drama, Farm & Food, Labor History, Legal System, Working Class

 

The Southerner (1945)

07 May

92m; U.S.

Director: Jean Renoir

Cast: Zachary Scott, Betty Field and J. Carrol Naish

Synopsis (IMDB): Sam Tucker, a cotton picker, in search of a better future for his family, decides to grow his own cotton crop. In the first year, the Tuckers battle disease, a flood, and a jealous neighbor. Can they make it as farmers?

 
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Posted by on May 7, 2012 in Drama, Environment, Farm & Food, Working Class

 

The Spanish Earth (1937)

07 May

52m; U.S./Spain

Director: Joris Ivens

Cast: Manuel Azaña, José Díaz and Dolores Ibárruri

Synopsis (IMDB): This documentary tells of the struggles during the Spanish Civil War. It deals with the war at different levels: from the political level, at the ground military level focusing on battles in Madrid and the road from Madrid to Valencia, and at the support level. With the latter, a key project was building an irrigation system for an agricultural field near Fuentedueña so that food could be grown to feed the soldiers.

Narration and writing done by John Dos Passos, Jean Renoir, and Ernest Hemingway.

 

 
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Posted by on May 7, 2012 in Communism/Socialism, Documentary, Labor History, War

 

Spare Parts (2003)

07 May

87m; Italy

Director: Damjan Kozole

Cast: Peter Musevski, Aljosa Kovacic and Primoz Petkovsek

Synopsis (IMDB): Embittered widower, Ludvik, spends his nights transporting illegal refugees in his van from Croatia, across Slovenia, and into Italy. The young and inexperienced Rudi acts as his helpmate. Together they become a well-trained duo who almost every night convey “spare parts” to Italy. Of course the story of their illegitimate exports into Europe ends tragically, for everyone. The whole idea of this account is that everyone – including ourselves – is looking for happiness: the “spare parts” because of the misery they are plunged into without, and our characters because they can’t find it inside

 
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Posted by on May 7, 2012 in Drama, Immigrants/Immigration, Legal System, Migrant workers

 

Spare Time (1939)

07 May

15m; U.S.

Director: Humphrey Jennings

Synopsis (IMDB); A look at how industry workers spend their time when they are not at work.

 
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Posted by on May 7, 2012 in Documentary, Industrial/Mine/Manufacturing, Working Class

 

Spartacus (1960)

07 May

184m; U.S.

Director: Stanley Kubrick

Cast: Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier and Jean Simmons

Synopsis: This sweeping epic, set in the 1st Century B.C., stars Kirk Douglas. An enslaved army deserter and gladiator, he escapes and recruits 120,000 followers who defeat several Roman legions before finally losing. Stellar cast includes Laurence Olivier, Tony Curtis, Jean Simmons, Charles Laughton and Peter Ustinov. Screenplay by blacklisted Dalton Trumbo, from also black-listed Howard Fast’s novel. ‘Who is Spartacus?’ ‘I am Spartacus!’ (Rochester Labor Film Series)

 
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Posted by on May 7, 2012 in Drama, Slavery, War

 

Special Pass (2009)

07 May

24m; Singapore

Director: Vicknesh Varan

Synopsis: A documentary about a group of foreign workers in Singapore who attempt to seek shelter and support themselves while out of work. This is the lesser-known story of foreigners who receive little support in a country that, ironically, was built by the work of immigrants.

 
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Posted by on May 7, 2012 in Documentary, Immigrants/Immigration

 

Stand Up for Journalism

07 May

3:30m; 

Synopsis: Widespread cuts in jobs and budgets are seriously damaging the media industry, increasing the strain on journalists, publishing and media workers and compromising the quality and standards of the news and information. Casualisation, increasing concentration of media ownership and profiteering are affecting the ability of journalists and publishing workers to maintain professional standards, with damaging consequences for our democracy. The film is part of a campaign of the International Federation of Journalists, calling on media owners to stop cutting jobs, pay, and resources and start investing more in quality media.

Contact: IFJ 2009 Geneva Labour Film Shorts Festival

 
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Posted by on May 7, 2012 in Documentary

 

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