Fight for Life

The U. S. Government went into the movie business with a bang by producing three superb documentary films in four years. In 1936 came The Plow That Broke the Plains, in 1937 The River, in 1940 The Fight for Life. All three were directed by Pare Lorentz. The first dealt with the dust bowl, the second with flood control, the third probed childbirth mortality in U. S. slums. Even captious critics granted that its 69 minutes of clinical realism established Pare Lorentz as No. 1 U. S. director of documentary films.

In 1938 the group which made The Plow and The River was organized as the U. S. Film Service with Pare Lorentz as its head. Unlike other New Deal agencies, the U. S. Film Service never asked Congress for spending money. In March the Labor-Federal Security Appropriation Bill came before the House of Representatives. Its total of $1,021,639,700 contained an item requesting $106,400 to continue the U. S. Film Service after June 30. Before they paid out, legislators proposed to find out what they were paying for. They learned that:

> The U. S. Film Service had been created by executive order, had no legislated authority for existence.

> It had been financed out of emergency relief funds.

> To pay its administrative bills WPA had contributed $75,900, PWA $75,900.

> To pay for The Fight for Life, Ecce Homo (a film about unemployment now in production) and several shorts, WPA had provided $162,500 more.

The House Appropriations Committee found no existing law that would authorize the appropriation. Last week the bill reached the Senate. Gallantly Oklahoma's Senator Elmer Thomas led a fight for life for the U. S. Film Service, strove to get the $106,400 restored to the bill. Senators voted it down. It looked like a fade-out for the U. S. Film Service.

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