Deadline For Action

Year Published: 1946

Creator: Union Films

Format: 16mm

Sound: sound

Description:

DEADLINE FOR ACTION (1946, sound, 40 min, b&w, 16mm)

Sponsor: United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America. Production Co.: Union Films. Producer: Carl Aldo Marzani. Resources: Copyright not registered; “How Unions Pack Punch into ‘Sales’ Films,” Mod Ind 13 (Feb. 15, 1947): 115–18; J.A. Livingston, “Economist Says CIOBuilds Wage Backfire,” Wash Post, Mar. 23, 1947, B3; Charles J. Lazarus, “Quebec Censors,” NYT, Sept. 28, 1947, X4; Ec Ed, 11; Raymond Spottiswoode, “Deadline for Action,” in Ideas, 199; EFG (1951), 285; “Interview with Carl Marzani,” Cineaste 7 (Spring 1976): 33–35; Selling, 47. Holdings: LC/Prelinger.

Influential union film arguing for political action through the ballot box. The film traces the story of an ex-serviceman who joins the picket line against his antilabor employer but also learns the importance of fighting big business through democratic elections. In explaining the rationale behind the post–World War II strikes against General Electric and Westinghouse, Deadline for Action uses footage of police suppression of the picketers and animated sequences depicting corporate dominance of the American political system. Wrote J.A. Livingston, “It’s worth seeing, both as a technical tour de force and as a masterful piece of propaganda. There’s no doubt about this job—it was not done by amateurs. But there might be some doubt whether it was made in America.” note: Also released in a 21-minute version. Business responded by producing the film Crossroads for America (entry 100). Viewable online at Internet Archive, www.archive.org/details/Deadline1946. 

Complete Record: DEADLINE FOR ACTION (1946, sound, 40 min, b&w, 16mm) Sponsor: United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America. Production Co.: Union Films. Producer: Carl Aldo Marzani. Resources: Copyright not registered; “How Unions Pack Punch into ‘Sales’ Films,” Mod Ind 13 (Feb. 15, 1947): 115–18; J.A. Livingston, “Economist Says CIOBuilds Wage Backfire,” Wash Post, Mar. 23, 1947, B3; Charles J. Lazarus, “Quebec Censors,” NYT, Sept. 28, 1947, X4; Ec Ed, 11; Raymond Spottiswoode, “Deadline for Action,” in Ideas, 199; EFG (1951), 285; “Interview with Carl Marzani,” Cineaste 7 (Spring 1976): 33–35; Selling, 47. Holdings: LC/Prelinger. Influential union film arguing for political action through the ballot box. The film traces the story of an ex-serviceman who joins the picket line against his antilabor employer but also learns the importance of fighting big business through democratic elections. In explaining the rationale behind the post–World War II strikes against General Electric and Westinghouse, Deadline for Action uses footage of police suppression of the picketers and animated sequences depicting corporate dominance of the American political system. Wrote J.A. Livingston, “It’s worth seeing, both as a technical tour de force and as a masterful piece of propaganda. There’s no doubt about this job—it was not done by amateurs. But there might be some doubt whether it was made in America.” note: Also released in a 21-minute version. Business responded by producing the film Crossroads for America (entry 100). Viewable online at Internet Archive, www.archive.org/details/Deadline1946.