American History - The Great Depression Filmography
updated (3/05)
feature films

Against the odds the artists of the Harlem Renaissance. 1995. 1 videocassette (60 min.). Documentary, based on the Newark Museum exhibit of the same name, tells of the struggle of Black visual artists in the 1920s and 1930s to show and sell their work. It describes the influence of the Harmon Foundation in creating an artistic home where Black visual artists flourished and developed a wide range of talent. Features more than 130 rarely seen paintings, prints, photographs, and sculptures by black artists and also archival footage of these artists at work. VHS 4984.

Animation in the 30's. 1978. 1 videocassette (57 min.). Crosby, Colombo and Vallee: A tribe of Indians complain about the three paleface crooners who have stolen away the hearts of all their papooses, while a boy and girl sing and frolic in the woods with a group of funny animals, including a bear that does a Rudy Vallee impersonation and a babbling brook that sings Crosby's 1931 hit, "Many happy returns of the day." -- Three's a crowd:  Book-cover characters climb off their volumes and come to life. Alice in Wonderland turns on the radio to hear a crooner performing the title song, as dozens of books characters get up and dance, including Robinson Crusoe, Omar Khayyam, and Uncle Tom. Then Mr. Hyde comes along and tries to kidnap Alice, but luckily Tarzan, the Three Musketeers, Robin Hood, and other literary heroes are on hand to rescue her. Hollywood capers: Beans sneaks into a Hollywood studio, plays with the props, accidentally revives the Frankenstein monster and wreaks havoc on the sound stages. -- Betty in Blunderland: Betty Boop dozes off while working on a jigsaw puzzle. The characters inspired by "Alice in Wonderland," come alive and Betty walks into an enchanted world of bizarre characters. -- Let's sing with Popeye: Popeye sings his theme song and invites the audience to sing with him. -- Happy you and merry me: Betty Boop and Pudgy the pup take care of a kitten. --  Grampy's indoor outing: Grampy comes to the rescue when Betty Boop and Little Jimmy can't go to the carnival. VHS 140

Artists at work a film on the New Deal art projects. 1981. 1 videocassette (35 min.). An in-depth survey of the federal programs for support of visual artists during the depression. Several artists recount experiences with WPA's art project and other programs. Shows works of art created during the New Deal era and discusses the destruction and loss of many works of art produced then. VHS 1019

Black Georgetown remembered. 1989. 1 videocassette (40 min.). A documentary based on the recollections of the Black community of Georgetown from the 1930s to the 1950s. VHS 1579

Bright like a sun. I'll make me a world. 1999. 1 videocassette (ca. 60 min.). Presents the history of African-American arts through the depression and World War II, when artists were expanding their creative visions, producing work with new energy and autonomy. Paul Robeson, the legendary singer and star of stage and screen, uses his artistry and fame to fight for social justice in the US and abroad. Sculptor Augusta Savage builds a vibrant art school in Harlem where young African-American talent can be nurtured, although she risks her own career to do so. An on the music scene, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker and other young musicians begin to play bebop, the innovative jazz style that becomes the hallmark of American "cool," and a recognized musical genre. VHS 5843

Coming apart nothing to fear. Century: events that shaped the world. 1999. 1 videocassette (42 min.). In the early 1930s mass unemployment, widespread hunger, and a mood of fearful pessimism and simmering unrest were Herbert Hoover's legacy to American's new chief executive. This program spotlights the early days of Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency, where he scrambled to transform the New Deal from a campaign slogan to nothing short of a social revolution--while staving off attacks by those who viewed him as a dictator and his reforms as a threatening turn to the left. VHS 5929

Dorothea Lange. Against the odds. 1988. 1 videocassette (13 min.). The story of photographer Dorothea Lange.  Trained as a society photographer, she began documenting the effects of the Depression on ordinary Americans in the 1930s. Her images spoke eloquently of the plight of the poor and brought the distress and desperation of the Depression into the consciousness of the public. VHS 1416

FDR. 1994. 2 videocassettes (270 min.). Perhaps the most important American leader of this century, Franklin Delano Roosevelt served as president longer than anyone before or since, and led America through the two greatest crises of this century, the Great Depression and World War II. Center of the world: covers Roosevelt's early years and early political successes. -- Fear itself: begins with Roosevelt's bout with polio at age 39 and ends with his election to the presidency. Segment also details Eleanor's rise in public life. -- Grandest job in the world: explores FDR's response to the Great Depression. The juggler: portrays FDR's leadership of the American people in the face of war until his death. VHS 3100

Film & Photo League. 1999. 2 videocassettes (ca. 75 min.). Workers Newsreel unemployment special: Uses still photographs and commercial footage to look at conditions in the U.S. when one-third of its populations was living in poverty -- Detroit workers news special/Ford massacre: Shows the march to Grand Circus Park through bitter cold and snow to petition for unemployment relief and oppose President Hoover and Mayor Murphy's "starvation program." -- Hunger: the national hunger march to Washington 1932:  Reports the December 1932 march to Washington by 3,000 delegates from the National Unemployment Councils. National Hunger March 1931: In the Winter of 1931 with over 12 million unemployed, the Unemployed Councils of the United States, representing the nation's militant jobless, votes to march to Washington to protest unemployment and to demand immediate Winter Relief and unemployment insurance. On November 29, 1931, delegates start a seven day cross-country march -- America Today: Shows: Police attack on New York workers at North German Lloyd pier protesting arrival of Hans Weidemann, Special Nazi emissary from Germany; demonstrators protesting cruel and unreasonable jail sentences given striking pickets by Judge Auerelio; workers from New York, Baltimore, and Washington picketing the Unites States Supreme Court against frame-up of nine Scottsboro boys; clips of scenes in both the U.S. and abroad  filmed by commercial newsreel companies. -- Bonus March 1931: veterans of the First World War demand jobs and payment of their bonus, voted by Congress in 1925. The marchers are met by the regular Army under the command of General MacArthur who drives them out. VHS 6153

The Great Depression. 1993. 7 videocassettes (339 min.). This 7-part series on the Great Depression uses newsreels, archival photographs and footage, Hollywood films, and eyewitness accounts to re-create the time, from the end of the Roaring Twenties to the outbreak of the Second World War, when economic forces, political change, and social turmoil transformed the nation. VHS 2451 - 2457

A Job at Ford's. Great depression. episode 1. 1993. 1 videocassette (60 min.). Just before the advent of the Great Depression, Henry Ford controlled the most important company in the most important industry in the booming American economy. His offer of high wages in exchange for hard work attracted workers to Detroit, but it began to come apart when Ford hired a private police force to speed up production and spy on employees. After the depression hit in 1929, these workers faced a new, grim reality as unemployment skyrocketed. VHS 2451

The Road to rock bottom. Great depression. episode 2. 1993. 1 videocassette (60 min.). As the Great Depression progressed economic collapse took its toll on rural America. Crops went unsold, farm mortgages were called in by banks, hungry farmers protested, and robberies increased dramatically. The U.S. Army was called in to defend the nation's capital from veterans who were demanding that President Hoover and Congress pay a bonus for their services in World War I. The film ends with Franklin Roosevelt's landslide election to the presidency. VHS 2452

New Deal/New York. Great depression. episode 3. 1993. 1 videocassette (60 min.). In his first one hundred days in office, in a effort to stem the effects of the Great Depression, President Roosevelt created many new federal agencies giving jobs and relief to people and transforming the American landscape with public works projects. Nowhere was this transformation more apparent than in Mayor Fiorello La Guardia's New York City. Together Roosevelt and La Guardia expanded and redefined the role of government in the lives of the American people. VHS 2453

We have a plan. Great depression. episode 4. 1993. 1 videocassette (60 min.). By 1934 challenges to the New Deal came from both sides of the political spectrum. In California Socialist Upton Sinclair ran for Governor promising to turn idle land and factories into self-governing cooperatives. Sinclair's campaign ended in defeat, but one year later President Roosevelt's signing of the Social Security Act signaled America's emergence as a modern welfare state. VHS 2454

Mean things happening. Great depression. episode 5. 1993. 1 videocassette (60 min.). In the American democracy of the 1930s two visions of liberty collided as working men and women battled landowners and factory managers for the right to join a union. On the tenant farms and in the steel factories working people asserted their citizenship in the midst of great economic turmoil and a tide of government reform. VHS 2455

To be somebody. Great depression. episode 6. 1993. 1 videocassette (60 min.). Many Americans, struggling to survive the Great Depression, were determined to help build a better America through direct action in the courts, in the Congress and in everyday life. At a time when lynchings, segregation, and anti-semitism were commonplace, black heavy-weight champion, Joe Louis became a symbol of national strength. In very different ways Louis and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt challenged America to live up to its promise of justice and opportunity for people of every race and faith. VHS 2456

Arsenal of democracy. Great depression. episode 7. 1993. 1 videocassette (60 min.). By 1939 Americans were still struggling to end the Great Depression. Their dreams of peace and prosperity were celebrated at World's Fairs in New York and San Francisco, but prosperity did not come in peacetime. Millions fled the "dust bowl" states to finally find work in new defense industries. While the New Deal changed America forever, it was war that ended the Great Depression. VHS 2457

The Great Depression and foreign affairs. Between the wars. 1978. 1 videocassette (26 min.). Series uses original newsreels, soundtracks and rare archival footage to document the years between World War I and World War II. This segment looks at America during the Depression and how the economic collapse changed America's outlook on the world. VHS 625

The Helping hand. A walk through the 20th century with Bill Moyers. 1984. 1 videocassette (57 min.). Uses archival film footage, interviews, and narration to present a picture of life in the U.S. during the Great Depression. Describes ways the government tried to help destitute and jobless persons, and tells of attempts to educate the general public toward a higher living standard. Discusses the Work Projects Administration, Civilian Conservation Corps, and other programs. VHS 4753

The History of the comics. Comics, the 9th art vol. 1. 1990. 1 videocassette (84 min.). After the beginning of the 20th century the growth of the press into a mass medium provided a framework within which cartoons and illustrations were forged into an art form to be known as the comics. The program highlights early comic book characters which were popular during the years bracketing the turn of the century plus those that became famous during World War I, the twenties, and the Depression. Includes the Katzenjammer Kids, Betty Boop, Little Orphan Annie, Popeye, Tarzan, Gasoline Alley, Dick Tracy, Flash Gordon, and the Phantom. VHS 3861

I remember Harlem Part 2 The Depression Years. 1991. 1 videocassette (58 min.). Four part documentary on the 300 year history of Harlem, with many personal interviews of civic leaders and residents. This segment explores Harlem's ethnic heritages, looking at the area's development against the background of the Depression. Uses rare film footage, still photographs, and interviews to examine the effect of the Work Progress Administration movement, the numbers' game ritual, and the heroic reputation of such figures as boxer Joe Louis. VHS 5112

Mount Rushmore. 2002. 1 videocassette (ca. 60 min.). Chronicles the story of the massive public works project, which took place in the midst of an economic depression, and relates the story of dozens of ordinary Americans who suddenly found themselves suspended high on a cliff face with drills and hammers, and examines the hyperactive, temperamental Danish artist whose talent and determination propelled the project. VHS 7104

Native land. Cinema of the New Deal. 1994. 1 videocassette (88 min.). Combining documentary form with staged reenactments, this film leads the viewer on an emotional tour of the U.S. and its freedom-based ideologies (just prior to World War II), as well as an unflinching look at the forces threatening to undermine its strengths from within: greedy capitalists, professional strikebreakers, and the Ku Klux Klan. VHS 2763

The Plow that broke the plains. 1978? 1 film reel (ca. 25 min.). Traces the social and economic history of the Great Plains from the settlement of the prairies by farmers and cattlemen through the World War I boom to the Dust Bowl drought and depression of the 1930s. VHS 2676

The Promise fulfilled and the promise broken . America, a personal history of the United States. 1972. 1 videocassette (52 min.). Deals with the promise of unlimited prosperity after World War I, the boom of the 1920s, the  Great Depression, and the New Deal. VHS 2000

Seabiscuit. 2003. 1 videocassette (ca. 141 min.). While not looking the part, Seabiscuit was one of the most remarkable thoroughbred racehorses in history. In the 1930s, when Americans longed to escape the grim realities of Depression-era life, four men turned Seabiscuit into a national hero. Based on a true story. A half-blind ex-prizefighter and mustang breaker team up with a millionaire and his rough-hewn, undersized horse, Seabiscuit. The men bring Seabiscuit to incredible heights, helping to turn a long shot into a legend. Eventually, Seabiscuit earns Horse of the Year honors in 1938. VHS 7392

Seeing red stories of American Communists. 1984. 1 videocassette (100 min.). An informed look at the individuals who made up the American Communist Party from the 1930s through the 50s, including their fight for unionization, unemployment and Social Security benefits, and the eight-hour day.  Includes critical assessment of the party's connection with the Soviet Union and its lack of internal democracy. VHS 820

The Speeches of Franklin D. Roosevelt. 1988. 1 videocassette (40 min.). Franklin D. Roosevelt was one of our country's most extraordinary leaders. Be it campaign speech, state address, fire-side chat, or wartime exhortation, the speeches of FDR are filled with an ease of confidence, a sense of manifest destiny. Program focuses on Franklin Roosevelt as a public orator using excerpts from these speeches. VHS 1210

Streamlines and breadlines. American visions episode 6. 1997. 1 videocassette (ca. 60 min.). An eight part series presenting American history through its visual art, painting, sculpture, architecture and monuments. This sixth segment examines the mythic images of the 1920s and 30s as skyscrapers rise in New York and the rural heartland is idealized by Regionalists like Thomas Hart. Artists of the WPA celebrate the worker as hero, while Jacob Lawrence tells stories of black America, and ambitious New Deal projects like Hoover Dam project self-confidence in hard times. Also examines the work of Raymond Hood, Edward Hopper, Stuart Davis, and Grant Wood. VHS 4576

Surviving the dust bowl. 1998. 1 videocassette (60 min.). Uses poignant interviews with witnesses, archival film footage and photographs to tell the story of the determined people who clung to their homes and way of life for nearly a decade (1931-1939) while enduring a series of almost Biblical scourges, from drought and famine to a plague of jackrabbits. VHS 5193

Swing pure pleasure. Jazz episode 5. 2000. 1 videocassettes (ca. 90 min.). "In the mid 1930s, as the Great Depression stubbornly refuses to lift, jazz comes as close as it has ever come to being America's popular music. It has a new name -- Swing -- and for the first time musicians become matinee idols. Benny Goodman finds himself hailed as the 'King of Swing,' but he has a host of rivals, among them Tommy Dorsey, Jimmie Lunceford, Glen Miller, and Artie Shaw. Louis Armstrong heads a big band of his own. Duke Ellington continues his own independent course. Billie Holiday emerges from a childhood filled with tragedy to make her first joyous recordings and begin her career as the greatest of all female jazz singers. Benny Goodman demonstrates that in a rigidly segregated country there is still room in jazz for great black and white musicians to play side by side onstage. The episode's finale takes place on May 11, 1937, when 4,000 people gather at the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem to witness what is billed as 'The Music Battle of the Century,' a showdown between Goodman and the indefatigable Chick Webb, a man who hates to lose." --from container. VHS 7659

Swing the velocity of celebration. Jazz episode 6. 2000. 1 videocassettes (ca. 105 min.). "In the late 1930s, swing is still a national craze that keeps on growing despite the Depression, although commerce sometimes leads to compromise and the individual expression at the heart of jazz is too often kept under wraps. But in the middle of the country -- in black dance halls, roadhouses and juke joints -- a new kind of music has been incubating. Pulsing, stomping and suffused with the blues, it is played by men and women seasoned in cutting contests that sometimes go on all night. It will fall to Count Basie and Lester Young to bring its healing power to the rest of the country. Meanwhile, Louis Armstrong finds true love. Benny Goodman takes his hot sound to Carneige Hall and then is forced to rebuild the most popular band in America. And Chick Webb, in a bid to reach a national audience, takes a chance on an 'ugly duckling,' a teen-aged singer named Ella Fitzgerald -- and before tragedy strikes achieves all that he has hoped for. Billie Holiday finds a musical soulmate, travels with two of the best bands in the country, and then expresses her pain and indignation at racism in America in one anguished song, 'Strange Fruit.' In 1939, Coleman Hawkins records a familiar tune in a way so daring and so beautiful that it eventually helps lead to a musical revolution in jazz, while Duke Ellington undertakes a triumphal tour of Europe and sees for himself that World War II is only weeks away." --from container. VHS 7660

Times ain't like they used to be early rural and popular American music, 1928-1935. 1992. 1 videocassette (70 min.). Depression-era musicians filmed by newsreel crews of that era and commercial shorts. HOME USE COLLECTION VHS 6373

The True welcome. Jazz episode 4. 2000. 1 videocassettes (ca. 120 min.). "America is mired in the Great Depression, the worst crisis since the Civil War. With the economy in tatters, jazz is called upon to lift the spirits of a frightened country. In Harlem, as dancers Frankie Manning and Norma Miller recall, people are finding solace in a new dance, the Lindy Hop, and in the big band music played by Chick Webb and Fletcher Henderson. At the same time the pianist Fats Waller and Art Tatum spread their own very different brands of musical joy. Both Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington are prospering in spite of the Depression: Armstrong defies one of America's most-feared gangsters and revolutionizes American singing, just as he has already transformed instrumental playing, while Ellington's sophisticated music and elegant personal style help change the perceptions -- and expectations -- of an entire race. Meanwhile, Benny Goodman forms a big band of his own, broadcasting hot swinging music every Saturday night on the 'Let's Dance' radio show. When the show is canceled, Goodman, struggling to hold his band together, embarks on a disastrous cross-country tour in the summer of 1935. But at the Palomar Ballroom in Los Angeles young people go wild when Goodman's men begin to play the jazz they love -- and the Swing Era is born." --from container. VHS 7658

Union maids. 1990. 1 videocassette (50 min.). Looks at the American labor movement in the 1930s. Relates the personal experiences of three militant women who tried to organize laborers in Chicago in this period. Each recalls the Depression and the intolerable conditions through which they lived and worked. They discuss the role of women in labor unions, then and now, the relationship to the Women's Liberation Movement, and the future of labor unions in the United States. VHS 4421

American History - The Great Depression Feature Films

Bonnie and Clyde. 1983. orig. 1967. 1 videocassette (105 min.). A mixture of comedy and brutal violence, this film is based on the exploits of the notorious American outlaws of the 1930s, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow who embarked on a series of increasingly violent crimes during the darkest days of the Depression. Feature Film. DVD 1605, HOME USE COLLECTION VHS 1040

City girl. Classic silent movies. 1996. orig. 1930. 1 videocassette (90 min.). A wheat farmer's son marries a waitress from the city, amidst depression, hailstorm and family problems in this 1930 film. Feature Film. VHS 4033

Cradle will rock. 1999. 1 videodisc (134 min.). A kaleidoscopic look at the extraordinary events of 1930s America, from high society to life on the streets in Depression-era New York City. Feature Film. DVD 140

Dead end. Leading men. 1992. orig. 1937. 1 videocassette (92 min.). The poor and the rich are pitted against each other in this bare-knuckled saga of life on the streets and in the tenements of New York's lower East Side during the Depression. Feature Film. VHS 3359

The Front page. 1996. orig. 1931. 1 videocassette (101 min.). A fast-paced story of Depression-era journalism. Earle Williams, a convict about to be executed, escapes and throws the Criminal Court Building into chaos. A young reporter and the managing editor of a newspaper hide the convict in a roll-top desk in the press room in their obsessive search for a sensational story. Feature Film. VHS 4303

The Grapes of wrath. 1982. orig. 1940. 1 videocassette (128 min.). The Depression brought hardship all across the United States, but perhaps the area hardest hit was the drought-ridden region that came to be called the Dust Bowl. This American masterpiece tells the story of the Joad family who set out from their dust-bowl farm in Oklahoma in hopes of a new life in California. Feature Film. DVD 1659, HOME USE COLLECTION VHS 82

Inside Daisy Clover. 1992. orig. 1965. 1 videocassette (129 min.). Depression-Era movie moguls and an adoring public can't hear or see enough of the tomboyish movie star, 15-year-old Daisy Clover. But there's a catch: they insist Daisy always be the girl on the screen instead of herself, which only shows they don't know Daisy, who's determined to be heard in her own right. Feature Film VHS 7250

Ironweed. 1987. 1 videocassette (135 min.). It's winter, 1938 in Albany, New York. The soup kitchens and flophouses are overflowing with homeless street people seeking food and refuge from the unforgiving cold. Francis Phelan (Nicholson) wanders the streets, back in his hometown after 22 years, an aimless vagabond ready to confront the family he abandoned long ago. While sharing his whiskey with longtime "pal" Helen (Streep), Francis reveals the dark secrets of his past, the painful memories from which he once tried to escape ... but now must reconcile. Feature Film. VHS 1954

My man Godfrey. 1985. orig. 1936. 1 videocassette (95 min.). Socially conscious screwball Depression era comedy contrasts the wisdom of the poor to the frivolousness of the affluent. Godfrey Parke (Powell), a "gentleman" impoverished by the crash, is hired as a butler by socialite Irene Bullock (Lombard). The "butler" then proceeds to change the socialite and her family's life. Feature Film. VHS 698

O brother, where art thou? 2001. orig. 2000. 1 videodisc (103 min.). Loosely based on Homer's "Odyssey", this is the story of three convicts-- escapees from a prison farm in Mississippi-- and their adventure as they travel home in hopes of recovering buried loot before it's lost forever in a flood. Feature Film. HOME USE COLLECTION DVD 271

Of mice & men. 1985. orig. 1981. 1 videocassette (150 min.). Best friends and migrant workers, Lennie and George find themselves unemployed in Depression-era California, unable to keep jobs because of Lennie's diminished mental capacity. Then, after getting steady jobs at a ranch, their world is ripped apart by tragedy when their supervisor's wife becomes the victim of Lennie's compassion. Feature Film. VHS 426

Our daily bread. 1980. orig. 1934. 1 videocassette (75 min.). Sequel to Vidor's "The Crowd." Drama set during the American Depression centers on an unemployed city couple who join forces with an out-of-work farmer and turn a neglected farm into a successful venture. Film's climax is the fight to build a 2 mile irrigation ditch on the farm. Feature Film. HOME USE COLLECTION VHS 5070

Paper moon. Paramount directors' series. 1995. orig. 1973. 1 videocassette (114 min.). Set in Kansas of the 1930s. Moses Pray (Ryan O'Neal), a smooth-talking con man who sells over-priced Bibles to widows, is persuaded to take Addie (Tatum O'Neal), a nine-year-old orphaned girl, to her aunt's house in Missouri. During their journey Addie becomes part of his con - and part of his life. Feature Film. VHS 5439

Pennies from heaven. 1991. orig. 1981. 1 videocassette (108 min.). The story of a young sheet-music salesman during the Depression who is doomed forever to believe in the lyrics of the songs he sells. Feature Film. VHS 6758

Sounder. 1993. orig. 1972. 1 videocassette (105 min.). The story of a black sharecropper family living in Louisiana during the Depression. The father steals food for his family and is sent to prison. While he is in jail the mother provides love, security and strength at home. The oldest son bravely becomes the man of the house until his father returns home. Feature Film. VHS 301

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