The Back-breaking leaf

Duration: 30

Year Published: 1959

Creator: Museum of Modern Art

Format: 16mm

Color: B&W

Sound: sound

Description: This graphic portrait of the tobacco harvest in southwestern Ontario is presented from the points of view of the transient field workers who move in for a brief bonanza when the leaves are ripe and of the farmers who depend solely on this crop. Employing a jazz score blended with indigenous music played by the pickers, the film captures the flow of work with its relentless stooping, picking and bundling in hot, airless rows.

Complete Record: Smokers say it’s relaxing, but tobacco harvesters call it “the back-breaking leaf.” Here is a graphic picture of the tobacco harvest in southwestern Ontario, presented from points of view of the transient field workers who move in for a brief bonanza when the leaves are ripe, and of the farmers who depend solely on this crop. A 1959 black and white production. Camera by: Terence Macartney-Filgate, Music by: Eldon Rathburn, Commentary by: Stanley Jackson. (Awards: Cannes; New York; Antwerp.)

Online Copy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxVjAqd2hc4

Metadata Source:YouTube