Customer Reviews

The Plow That Broke the Plains & The River / Gil-Ordonez, Post-Classical Ensemble

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Pare Lorentz's two groundbreaking 1930s documentaries, paid for by the US government and making no apologies for their propagandist intentions, are here presented with the evocative scores by composer Virgil Thomson played in modern sound by the Post-Classical Ensemble with Angel Gil-Ordóñez conducting. There are unnerving modern resonances in these two films, one about the plow's partial destruction of the great plains that led to the Dust Bowl (reminding us of the modern near-depletion of the Ogalalla aquifer in that same area), and the other about upstream flood control containment by dikes and levees of the Mississipi for 1000 miles of its length, touted as a great marvel of man's taming of Nature but as we now know contributing to such things as the awful destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina.

The black-and-white films themselves are visually beautiful. The cameramen sent to photograph scenes used in the film included such luminaries as Paul Strand. The narration, written by Lorentz, is poetic.

Thomson's music is simple-sounding and triadic in the extreme, making use as it does of such tunes as the Doxology ('Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow', scored differently and aptly at different points in 'The Plow') and 'Go Tell Aunt Rhody.' And it is both esthetically and emotionally satisfying. The DVD makes use of a modern re-recording of Thomson's scores, and the new recording of the original voice-over narration is nicely done by Floyd King. There is, however, the option to play both films with the original scores' 1930s soundtrack music conducted by Alexander Smallens. We also get a couple of interviews with George Stoney, later himself a distinguished documentarian but in the 1930s a PR person for the government; he showed the films to groups of citizens in the Southeast and recalls many details about the films' origins and their initial reception. Joseph Horowitz talks with composer Charles Fussell, a student of Thomson's, about the scores. (It might be noted that there has been a recent CD on the Albany label that presents both Thomson's and Fussell's cello concertos, and very nicely done, too.) There is a 1979 audio-only interview with the late Virgil Thomson in which he talks about the two films and about film-scoring in general.

I had been familiar with the scores of these two films for many years. As I grew up in the Dust Bowl area, I remember many stories of that awful period and had been particularly interested to see 'The Plow'. (As a small bit of irony, I now live in the Vermont town where the inventor of that plow, John Deere, learned the blacksmithing trade.) I must say that I was thrilled with both films. These are important documents restored to their original luster.

Enthusiastically recommended.

Scott Morrison

These stark and dark films are accounts of the land misuse which led to two of the nation's greatest environmental disasters. I found "The Plow That Broke the Plains" especially riveting. The black and white presentation further lends barrenness to these accounts and focuses the viewer more closely on the mechanized devastation. The films demonstrate to what extent the federal government involved itself in national environmental crises in the 1930's, an involvement which may not be possible to repeat today in spite of a much higher environmental awareness across the population. Conservationists, environmentalists, and political historians should enjoy and learn from these documentary films.

This complemented "The worst of hard Times Book" which helped me under stand how I was raised In Nebraska,
the reason for Social Security and the Path Our country has followed. Our parents and ancestors had it rough but perseved.

Film Schools regard these Lorentz documentaries right up there with Flaherty. Must see! Must hear! The score is fantastic!

In the late 30s the federal government supported artists. The documentaries revived in this DVD were filmed by Pare Lorenz and gave vivid life to problems of the era. The score by Virgil Thompson is memorably re-created by this ensemble. I was immediately transported back 70 years as I watched and listened to this item. If only it could inspire some similar contemporary efforts!

If you have read "The Worst Hard Times" you MUST get this video. It is referenced in the book and gives you a visual experience of the awful dust storms that started in the early '30's when the vast expanses of land in Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado and Kansas were unfortunately stripped and planted. Hard to believe what the video reveals and what you read in the book, but the video gives the sad 'spin' that was promoted at the time. This is a wonderful companion to the book.

I recently read "The Worst Hard Time," a books about the Dust Bowl years that mentioned this Depression-era, government-funded movie. One of the book's recurring characters, Bam White, also appeared in the film -- playing himself, a farmer trying to coax life from a parched, dusty earth. The film is pedantic by today's standards, as it tells the story of the cattlemen and farmers who made a living from the Great Plains. It takes us from the boom years of the First World War, when high wheat prices encouraged settlers to populate the plains, to the post-war years when overfarming caused the soil to blow off the farms. That makes "Plow" fascinating, in that it did not shy from showing the plain truth that individuals can be affected by government policies and world events that are beyond their control.

"The River" tells a similar story about the deforestation and flood control along the Mississippi. The lumber industry in Minnesota and other northern states stripped the land of its water-holding power, which resulted in loss of topsoil and increased flooding downriver. The last part of the film is a paean to New Deal efforts to correct the damage, including efforts by the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) to replant denuded acres, and by the Tennessee Valley Authority to tame the river's precarious nature and generate electricity.

Great period films with a somewhat heavy handed message, but great first-hand photography about an important era in American history. The film's video and audio have been restored, and won't detract from the experience of those with modern audio-visual expectations.

Most people alive today do not remember, or even know about, the hard times this country suffered from 1929 to 1939 during that era known as the Great Depression.

The "Plow that Broke the Plains" is a black and white classic that returns the viewer to the dust bowl of the Great Plains during that time, and documents the migration of people in search of jobs primarily in the Western United States.

"The River" chronicles natural disasters that befell other parts of the country, and shows how nature was eventually harnessed to benefit all.

Highly recommended for US history buffs and anyone interested in that time in world history. With musical scores by Aaron Copeland, and Virgil Thompson.

Great documentary produced by Farm Home Administration. I b0ught it to replace a VCR tape at Hannon Library at Southern Oregon University. The added commentaries are a means of establishing the historical context and the audience reaction at the time of their production

I got this cd because there was no soundtrack available for the 1983 movie "The Day After". The score from the 1937 documentary "The River" is the same music.