Occupation/Type of Work | THE LABOR FILM DATABASE

When Tomorrow Comes (1939)

90m; U.S.

Director: John M. Stahl

Cast: Irene Dunne, Charles Boyer and Barbara O’Neil

Synopsis: Washington Post columnist and American Prospect editor Harold Meyerson is one of the most incisive political commentators in the United States. Harold has also written about movies and entertainment (He is author of the book “Who Put the Rainbow in the Wizard of Oz?” about the lyricist Yip Harburg) so I asked him to write about anything he wanted to related to movies and politics. Harold can write authoritatively about almost anything. His fascinating review of the 1930s movie When Tomorrow Comes – a film he calls the “Lefty-est Thirties studio movie you’ve never heard of,” can be found at http://www.politicsfilm.blogspot.com/ Hope you enjoy this look back in film history which is an implicit critique of the state of filmmaking today. Kelly Candaele

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Posted by iwwggrandson on June 13, 2012 in Drama, Romance, Service Workers, Strikes-Strikebreaking-Lockouts, Women

Tags: Food Service Industry

Where Do You Stand? Stories From An American Mill (2003)

13 Jun

63m; U.S.

Director: Alexandra Lescaze

Synopsis: Cannon textile workers (Kannopolis, North Carolina) contract fight to win one of the largest industrial union contracts in the South.

Contact: http://www.wheredoyoustand.info alexandra lescazemightyff@mac.com 845-353-2855 or 917-696-2494 / http://www.newsreel.org/nav/title.asp?tc=CN0169

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Posted by iwwggrandson on June 13, 2012 in Documentary, Organizing, Textile Industry

Who Needs Sleep? (2006)

13 Jun

75m; U.S.

Director: Haskell Wexler
Stars: David Agus, Netta Bank and Annette Bening |

Documentary highlights the deadly combination of sleep deprivation and long days of work.

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Posted by iwwggrandson on June 13, 2012 in Documentary, Entertainment Industry, Safety & Health

Wild River (1960)

13 Jun

110m; U.S.

Director: Elia Kazan

Cast: Montgomery Clift, Lee Remick and Jo Van Fleet

Synopsis (IMDB): A young field administrator for the TVA comes to rural Tennessee to oversee the building of a dam on the Tennessee River. He encounters opposition from the local people, in particular a farmer who objects to his employment (with pay) of local black laborers. Much of the plot revolves around the eviction of an elderly woman from her home on an island in the River, and the young man’s love affair with that woman’s widowed granddaughter.

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Posted by iwwggrandson on June 13, 2012 in Blacks, Drama, Organizing, Public Sector

Tags: Power Generation Industries

The Wilmar 8 (1981)

13 Jun

55m; U.S.

Director: Lee Grant

Synopsis (IMDB): Risking jobs, friends, family and the opposition of church and community, eight unassuming women begin the longest bank strike in American history.

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Posted by iwwggrandson on June 13, 2012 in Documentary, Finance, Strikes-Strikebreaking-Lockouts, Women

Winstanley (1975)

13 Jun

95m; U.K.

Director: Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollo

Cast: Miles Halliwell, Jerome Willis and Terry Higgins

Synopsis: Dramatized history of a Reformation-era religious sect called the Diggers. A nonviolent aggregation, the Diggers are devoted to tilling the soil that has been neglected by the British bluebloods. It isn’t long before the landowners send their minions to burn out and kill the Diggers.

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Posted by iwwggrandson on June 13, 2012 in Communism/Socialism, Drama, Farm & Food, Labor History

Winter Story (Dong tian de gu shi) [2007]

13 Jun

102m; China

Director: Zhu Chuan-ming

Cast: Mao Mao, An Qi

Synopsis: Broad, realistic love story set in a cold winter in a poor outer suburb of Beijing. In the middle of the bustle and the crowds, a clothes seller and a prostitute find each other. But will it make them any happier?

Contact: International Film Festival Rotterdam Production Department: production@filmfestivalrotterdam.com

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Posted by iwwggrandson on June 13, 2012 in Romance, Sex Industry/Sexuality, Working Class

With These Hands (1950)

13 Jun

40m; U.S.

Director: Jack Arnold

Cast: Sam Levene, Arlene Francis and Joseph Wiseman

Synopsis (IMDB): Film produced by the International Ladies Garment Workers Union — featuring several well-known Broadway actors — recreates Triangle Fire of 1913 and compares working conditions of the 1910’s with the 1950’s.

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Posted by iwwggrandson on June 13, 2012 in Drama, Labor History, Textile Industry, Women

Witness to the Harvest Pilgrims (2009)

13 Jun

10m; Canada

Director: Vincenzo Pietropaolo

Synopsis: A short documentary featuring the work of acclaimed photographer and social activist Vincenzo Pietropaolo, who has spent the last 25 years capturing images of farm workers and their struggle for justice, diginity and respect.

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Posted by iwwggrandson on June 13, 2012 in Documentary, Farm & Food

Tags: Journalism