Customer Reviews

History of Westinghouse - An American Industrial Powerhouse DVD

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I've heard the Westinghouse name before of course, but I had no idea they were such a huge and powerful corporation or that they have been around so long. These films are clearly older but they make the point that Westinghouse is a huge company that makes all types of t hings that I had never associated with them. The scenes on the factory floor are the best because they show how massive an operation Westinghouse is. This was a real learning experience.

What I presumed was going to be a documentary history of Westinghouse, complete with narration, is nothing more than silent raw footage taken in 1904 of subjects randomly picked out of context. You get do be a deaf fly on the wall while women perform the tedious task of winding armatures or just filing out after a shift. They take you on a train ride around the Westinghouse factory complex and someone put a movie camera on a dolly and panned backward on a warehouse floor. In another clip we see sections of an electric dynamo being assembled. All of the video is set against a continuous loop of monotonous background music.
These snippets are fascinating in themselves as bits of moving picture history but hardly instructional if you want to know more about George Westinghouse and the great company he built.

This is a set of silent film clips that were filmed in the various factories of Westinghouse at the time. While the background music is somewhat annoying, it is better than nothing at all as in "The Westinghouse Works Collection - A 1904 Tour of the Westinghouse Air Brake Company, the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company and the Westinghouse Machine Company (DVD)" which has the exact same film clips. This version (with background music) has been cleaned up a bit and has nicer title frames for each segment. Another drawback to this one is the horrible advertising from A2ZCDS.COM

If you really want a history of Westinghouse, then purchase the "Westinghouse DVD". This one is very good.

What do you get your 84 year old father for his birthday? This DVD was the perfect gift! My Dad worked for Westinghouse for more than 30 years and has always been proud of his career with the company. When I found this DVD on Amazon, I just knew he would enjoy it. I was right, he found it fascinating. The old archive footage is amazing. So if you know someone with a Westinghouse connection, this DVD might be the perfect surprise gift!

I've always heard of westinghouse and seen westinghouse product around the house but for some reason I never really thought of them as a "big company" before. But I mentioend seeing this DVD on sale to my parents and my father started talking about how their products changed the world so I figured I'd learn a little bit more about them. Wow! Their factories were huge. And they build just about everything. These films are from the 1940s and 1950s but they give a great overall sense of the company and its place in america. You learn something new everyday.