Speed Graphic Film and Video | Scenes of American Railroading in the 1930's - Lorentz/Crosby - Volume 2 @SpeedGraphicFilmVideo | Uploaded May 2021 | Updated October 2024, 10 hours ago.
Another collection of Lorentz/Crosby mystery shots from the National Archives.
In the late 1930's, director Pare Lorentz (The Plow that Broke the Plains, the River) and cameraman Floyd Crosby (the River, High Noon) hit the road to take documentary footage for a planned feature film. The film was never made, and the hours of footage they took ended up in the U. S. National Archives.
Unfortunately, there is no information in the Archives about where or when any of it was shot. All the descriptive information below is based on what's in the film itself.
0:00 Unknown location. The locomotive seen at the end of the shot appears to be lettered for the New York Central System.
1:34 Unknown location.
2:39 Unknown location. The factory in the background has a sign that says BRIGGS BODIES. Briggs Manufacturing made automotive bodyshells at various locations in the upper Midwest. A truck loaded with new bodies can be seen in the distance.
4:50 Driving north on Indianapolis Blvd. in Whiting, Indiana, the camera catches an Elgin, Joliet & Eastern locomotive and train in front of the Standard Oil refinery.
5:41 Another beautifully-framed Floyd Crosby shot. Unknown location.
6:11 An extended sequence of shots as Grand Trunk Western 0-8-0 No. 8380 does some yard work. Notice also at the long row of workers' houses that front on the railroad yard. Remarkably, the 8380 has survived and is at the Illinois Railroad Museum.
If you have additional info about any of these shots, leave a comment and I will update this description. Thanks to Oren Helbok for his identification help.
The original 35mm footage is silent. The National Archives has done an excellent job digitizing the original film. I've added some music, but feel free to mute it if it's not to your taste.
Another collection of Lorentz/Crosby mystery shots from the National Archives.
In the late 1930's, director Pare Lorentz (The Plow that Broke the Plains, the River) and cameraman Floyd Crosby (the River, High Noon) hit the road to take documentary footage for a planned feature film. The film was never made, and the hours of footage they took ended up in the U. S. National Archives.
Unfortunately, there is no information in the Archives about where or when any of it was shot. All the descriptive information below is based on what's in the film itself.
0:00 Unknown location. The locomotive seen at the end of the shot appears to be lettered for the New York Central System.
1:34 Unknown location.
2:39 Unknown location. The factory in the background has a sign that says BRIGGS BODIES. Briggs Manufacturing made automotive bodyshells at various locations in the upper Midwest. A truck loaded with new bodies can be seen in the distance.
4:50 Driving north on Indianapolis Blvd. in Whiting, Indiana, the camera catches an Elgin, Joliet & Eastern locomotive and train in front of the Standard Oil refinery.
5:41 Another beautifully-framed Floyd Crosby shot. Unknown location.
6:11 An extended sequence of shots as Grand Trunk Western 0-8-0 No. 8380 does some yard work. Notice also at the long row of workers' houses that front on the railroad yard. Remarkably, the 8380 has survived and is at the Illinois Railroad Museum.
If you have additional info about any of these shots, leave a comment and I will update this description. Thanks to Oren Helbok for his identification help.
The original 35mm footage is silent. The National Archives has done an excellent job digitizing the original film. I've added some music, but feel free to mute it if it's not to your taste.
