New Americans

Private Smith of the U.S.A.

Private Smith of the U.S.A. is a 1942 American short documentary film directed by Slavko Vorkapić. Produced by RKO Radio Pictures, it was nominated for an Academy Award at the 15th Academy Awards for Best Short Subject, Two Reel. This is part of This Is America Series.

Vorkapich Montage Sequences (1928-1934)

[Vorkapich Montage Sequences] (1928-1934) are clips from Hollywood feature films designed by Slavko Vorkapich: sequences from Manhattan Cocktail (1928), The Wolf of Wall Street (1929), Sins of the Fathers (1928), and the Furies sequence from Crime Without Passion (1934).

The Wolf of Wall Street

A ruthless stockbroker sells short in the copper business and ruins the life of his friends by ruining their finances. A lost film, only a nine second fragment survives.

Sins of the Fathers

A married restaurant owner is persuaded to become a bootlegger by a beautiful young girl. When he starts making money at it, she steals it, then runs off with another man. His wife finds out what happened. Complications ensue.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

After the death of a United States Senator, the idealistic Jefferson Smith is appointed as his replacement in Washington. The naive and earnest new senator soon finds himself battling political corruption.

Manhattan Melodrama

The friendship between two orphans endures even though they grow up on opposite sides of the law and fall in love with the same woman.

Millions of Us

Millions of Us (1935) is an early example of American labor-left filmmaking that experiments with enacted forms, anticipating Frontier Films’s renowned People of the Cumberland (1938) and Native Land (1942). Produced surreptitiously in Hollywood in 1934-5, the film dramatizes the plight of millions of unemployed workers amidst the Depression. This message is filtered through the story of a single “forgotten man” who walks the streets in desperate search of a job. Driven by hunger, he contemplates becoming a scab. A union man intervenes, coaching him to recognize common interests with his brethren. He is ultimately converted to the cause of trade unionism.

Dancing Lady

Janie lives to dance and will dance anywhere, even stripping in a burlesque house. Tod Newton, the rich playboy, discovers her there and helps her get a job in a real Broadway musical being directed by Patch. Tod thinks he can get what he wants from Janie, Patch thinks Janie is using her charms rather than talent to get to the top, and Janie thinks Patch is the greatest. Steve, the stage manager, has the Three Stooges helping him manage all the show girls. Fred Astaire and Nelson Eddy make appearances as famous Broadway personalities.

What Price Hollywood?

Sassy and ambitious waitress Mary Evans amuses and befriends amiable seldom-sober Hollywood film director Max Carey when he stumbles into her restaurant. Max invites Mary to his film premiere and, after a night of drinking and carousing, Mary is granted a screen test. A studio contract follows. Just as Mary finds her dreams coming true, Carey’s life and career begins its descent.

Boys Town

Devout but iron-willed Father Flanagan leads a community called Boys Town, a different sort of juvenile detention facility where, instead of being treated as underage criminals, the boys are shepherded into making themselves better people. But hard-nosed petty thief and pool shark Whitey Marsh, the impulsive and violent younger brother of an imprisoned murderer, might be too much for the good father's tough-love system.

David Copperfield

A young man journeys from a difficult childhood to maturity, exploring social injustice, personal development, and the complexities of human relationships.

They Gave Him a Gun

With no other prospects, a World War I veteran puts the skills they taught him in the War to use.

Marie Antoinette

The young Austrian princess Marie Antoinette is arranged to marry Louis XVI, future king of France, in a politically advantageous marriage for the rival countries. The opulent Marie indulges in various whims and flirtations. When Louis XV passes and Louis XVI ascends the French throne, his queen's extravagant lifestyle earns the hatred of the French people, who despise her Austrian heritage.

The Prisoner of Zenda

A kingdom's ascending heir, marked for assassination, switches identities with a lookalike, who takes his place at the coronation. When the real king is kidnapped, his followers try to find him, while the stand-in falls in love with the king's intended bride, the beautiful Princess Flavia.

The Good Earth

China, during the rule of the Qing Dynasty. The arranged marriage between Wang Lung, a humble farmer, and O-Lan, a domestic slave, will endure the many hardships of life over the years; but the temptations of a fragile prosperity will endanger their love and the survival of their entire family.

Joan of Arc

In the 15th Century, France is a defeated and ruined nation after the One Hundred Years War against England. The fourteen-year-old farm girl Joan of Arc claims to hear voices from Heaven asking her to lead God's Army against Orleans and crowning the weak Dauphin Charles VII as King of France. Joan gathers the people with her faith, forms an army, and conquers Orleans.