New Prisons-New Men

16mm sound, b/w, 20 minutes, 1945. Produced by RKO Radio Pictures Inc. Lease from RKO Radio Pictures Inc., $90. Rent from 16mm film libraries.

Film Summary Illustrates the treatment of convicts at the Southern Michigan State Prison by following two such convicts, Jim and Joe, from their entrance into prison to Joe's parole and release. Shows how prisoners' preferences and capabilities are analyzed and their work and educational opportunities adjusted to individual needs and how a feeling of self-respect is fostered and encouraged.

Committee Recommendation One of the "This Is America" series, New PrisonsNew Men is interesting and provocative. Its portrayal of humane and enlightened treatment of criminals, while somewhat optimistically presented, is an excellent example of the democratic concept of respect for the integrity and welfare of the individual. For high-school, college, and adult audiences.

A Place To Live

16mm sound, b/w, 18 minutes, 1941. Produced by Documentary Film Productions Inc. Purchase from Brandon Films Inc., $72. Rent from Brandon Films or from other 16mm film libraries.

Film Summary Portrays a family living in the slums of Philadelphia; follows the 12-year-old boy on his way home from school, his lunch at home, and his afternoon search for firewood up and down the alleys and streets. The boy stops to watch construction work on a new housing project and imagines his own family living in one of the new apartments.

Committee Recommendation This film presents one of the more important problems of today, but it is more than a “housing” film. Its skillful and moving presentation of the dilemma of a single family—and of the human dignity of the members of that family—is a reminder of the basic democratic concept of respect for the dignity and welfare of the individual. The film is highly recommended for adult group discussion by the Institute of Adult Education.

Problem Children

16mm sound, b/w, 21 minutes, 1948. Presented by the Division of Mental Hygiene, Ohio Department of Public Welfare in cooperation with Ohio State University and University High School. Purchase from Pennsylvania State College, $50. Rent from PSC or from other 16mm film libraries. Borrow, in Ohio only, from Ohio State Department of Public Welfare.

Film Summary Focuses upon two boys in the 7th grade, Roy and Jimmy, one aggressive and extrovertive, and the other shy and intro

vertive; shows their behavior in school and explains how their different home backgrounds have made them what they are; emphasizes the importance of individual differences and demonstrates how teachers and parents helped Roy and Jimmy.

Committee Recommendation

While this film is intended primarily for teachers, it does illustrate the democratic recognition of differences among individuals and the dignity and worth of each individual. As such, it has a wider usefulness although its specialized quality must be recognized in using it with general audiences. Recommended for adult group discussion by the Institute of Adult Education.

Public Education for All

As Our Boyhood Is

16mm sound, b/w, 18 minutes, 1943. Produced by the American Film Center. Purchase from Brandon Films Inc., $50. Rent from Brandon Films or from other 16mm film libraries.

Film Summary Portrays conditions in a one-room Negro school in an impoverished southern community and contrasts this school with the facilities of the Bruiton Heights Consolidated School in Williamsburg, Va. Shows Negro students learning machine shop skills and home economics in this high school, and closes with scenes at a Negro university.

Committee Recommendation This film, like Better Schools for Rural Wisconsin and School House in the Red, raises the question of educational opportunities in rural areas. It is recommended for adult group discussion by the Institute of Adult Education.

Better Schools for Rural Wisconsin

16mm sound, color, 29 minutes, 1948. Produced by the University of Wisconsin. Purchase from the University of Wisconsin, $165. Rent from the Bureau of Visual Instruction, University of Wisconsin, and from other 16mm film libraries.

Film Summary This film is a pictorial report of a committee established in Wisconsin to study the needs of rural education, and consists primarily of contrasting the facilities in a one-teacher rural school in Wisconsin with those of a centralized school in New York, with the conclusion that centralization leads to improvement in educational opportunities. Portrays one day's activities in the one-teacher, one-room school and the responsibilities of the teacher, Miss Martin; then shows her wishing for the services and facilities of a centralized schoolspecialized teachers, groups of children of the same age, health services, laboratories, library, gymnasium, etc.

Committee Recommendation

While not everyone will agree with the conclusion reached in this film, it does portray one of the important problems of American education, that of improving rural schools. For college and adult groups.

A Better Tomorrow

16mm sound, b/w, 24 minutes, 1945. Produced by the U. S. Office of War Information for its overseas information program. Made available by the U. S. Department of State to the U. S. Office of Education for domestic use. Purchase from United World Films Inc., $30.84.

from 16mm film libraries.

Rent

Film Summary Shows children and youth at school in New York City-drawing, reading, and having morning milk in an elementaryschool class; a boy receiving vocational guidance from his high-school principal; a social-science class studying fire prevention in the school community. Emphasizes the facilities and opportunities of the public schools open to all.

Committee Recommendation A survey of educational opportunities in a large city, this film points up the basic democratic concept of free public education for all the people. Its primary usefulness is with adults, and it is recommended for adult group discussion by the Institute of Adult Education.

The Children Must Learn

16mm sound, b/w, 13 minutes, 1940. Produced by the Educational Film Institute of New York University and Documentary Film Productions Inc. in cooperation with the University of Kentucky. Purchase from New York University Film Library, $75. Rent from NYU or from other 16mm film libraries.

Film Summary According to its foreword, this film documents a study in community living made by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. As such, it focuses attention first, upon a family and their home in the Kentucky mountains-their poverty, malnutrition, and ignorance; and second, upon the children in school study ing lessons that have little meaning to them. Yet, the commentator points out, the adults in this community are set in their ways and it is the children who must learn to conserve the soil, farm more productively, improve diets, and generally raise the social and economic level of the people.

Committee Recommendation Although Children Must Learn was made 9 years ago and conditions have improved since that time, it is still an excellent presentation of a serious problem in our democracy. This film is highly recommended for adult group discussion by the Institute of Adult Education.

Freedom to Learn

16mm sound, b/w, 17 minutes, 1945. Produced by the U. S. Office of War Information for its overseas information program. Made available by the U. S. Department of State to the U. S. Office of Education for domestic use. Purchase from United World Films Inc., $23.54. Rent

from 16mm film libraries.

Film Summary Portrays some of the educational activities and opportunities at the State University of Iowa and emphasizes the democratic nature of the services offered by this public university. Included in the film are pictures of Iowa and its people, University students in scholastic and social activities, services of the University Hospital, and students publishing their newspaper, The Daily Iowan, and broadcasting over the University radio station, WSUI.

Committee Recommendation This picture of the State University of Iowa illustrates the basic democratic concept of "freedom to learn" and should be so used in high-school and college classes and with adult audiences.

School

16mm sound, b/w, 21 minutes, 1945. Produced by Julien Bryan for the Office of Inter-American Affairs. Made available by the U. S. Department of State to the U. S. Office of Education for domestic use. Purchase from United World Films Inc., $27.12. Rent from 16mm film libraries.

Film Summary Describes one day's activities in an elementary school in Mount Vernon, Ohio the janitor opening the school building, the principal arriving at 8:30 and conversing with the janitor, the children on their way to school through the first snowfall of the year; the first grade studying reading, writing, and arithmetic, playing at recess, then returning to nature study, science, and art; the sixth grade studying geography; a P. T. A. meeting in the evening, a Thanksgiving play by the children, and the audience singing a Thanksgiving hymn.

Committee Recommendation This film is one of a series of five pictures on an Ohio town produced for showing to Latin American audiences. While all five films are sympathetic portrayals of American life, the one on the school merits special attention in this bibliography because of its emphasis upon the democratic concept of free public education for all children. As such it can be used in social-studies classes in high school and college, and particularly with P. T. A. and other adult groups.

Schoolhouse in the Red

16mm sound, color, 41 minutes, 1947. Produced for the W. K. Kellogg Foundation by Agrafilms Inc. Presented by the Kellogg Foundation.

Donated to the University of Chicago. Purchase from Encyclopaedia Britannica Films Inc., $194.75. Rent from EBF or from 16mm film libraries.

Film Summary Portrays a problem faced by the citizens of one rural community-whether to continue their 1-teacher, 12-pupil school or to consolidate with the town school. Shows the differences of opinion, a meeting of parents and school officials, their visit to a consolidated school, discussion of the problem, and finally a community vote to decide the question.

Committee Recommendation Like the film, Better Schools for Rural Wisconsin, this picture presents one of the problems of education in a democracy—that of equal opportunities for all-and shows how the citizens of a rural community in Michigan worked together democratically to solve their problem. For college and adult audiences.

The Teachers' Crisis

16mm sound, b/w, 17 minutes, 1947. Produced by March of Time (Forum Edition). Purchase from MOT, $55. Rent from 16mm film libraries.

Film Summary Pictures some of the problems of teachers too heavy workloads, low salaries, job insecurity, and community discrimination and presents the national problem of a teacher shortage and its effect upon the education of children and youth.

Committee Recommendation While this film, made in 1947, contains some scenes already dated, the problem it presents is still serious and one which must be solved if we are to continue to have free public education. For grades 10-12, college, and particularly adult audiences. Highly recommended by the Institute of Adult Edu

cation.

The Wilson Dam School

16mm sound, b/w, 20 minutes, 1943. Produced by the American Film Center for the Tennessee Valley Authority and the Alabama State Department of Education. Purchase from DeLuxe Laboratories upon authorization by the Tennessee Valley Authority. Borrow from TVA. Film Summary Wilson Dam School is a photographic survey of the activities and curriculum of this elementary school during the time, 1933-41, that it was operated by the TVA under the guidance of the Alabama State Department of Education. As such, the film shows many activities of the children with emphasis, the commentator stresses, upon the full development of each individual child.

Committee Recommendation This film description of Wilson Dam School is a challenge to educators, parents, and other American citizens who are genuinely interested in democratic education and in the democratic concept of welfare of the individual. Rated "acceptable" for adult group discussion by the Institute of Adult Education.