America Today (1934)

One of the key works in creating the American social documentary film this 1934 newsreel compilation crams a lot of information into just 11 minutes Skillfully edited the picture captures a panorama of international events centered on the labor movement Scenes include Mussolini Hitler and FDR preparing for war Nazi soldiers persecuting German Jews a political strike in Paris the Scottsboro demonstration in Washington DC police violence against striking steelworkers in Pennsylvania and union members stopping scab workers from delivering milk during a dairy farmers strike in Wisconsin Under the direction of pioneering documentarian Leo Hurwitz the images are edited together to create a powerful image of a world that in his view desperately needed radical change