Areas of Promise (1957)

Duration: 28:31:00

Year Published: 1957

Sound: sound

Description: Presented by Dresser Industries, this 1950s industrial film surveys the company’s varied oil and gas operations. Told as a narrative rather than a documentary, the film follows a young man named Scotty as he leaves college and begins a job at Dresser. Before Scotty arrives at the company’s headquarters in Dallas, he joins supervisor Ben Randall on a number of service calls around the country. Along the way, Scotty sees firsthand how Dresser and its subsidiaries supply essential products for everything from oil drilling and seismic exploration to housing utilities and aeronautics. Dresser Industries was a multinational company that primarily provided equipment and services for oil and gas exploration, drilling, production, and refining. It merged with Halliburton in 1998. The company separated three years later, after which it was acquired by General Electric. Robert Yarnall Richie, who produced and directed this film, was a freelance industrial photographer and filmmaker who worked with various large corporations in Texas and around the globe.