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Audio ProductionsChicken of Tomorrow, The (1948)

How scientific agriculture changes the life and taste of the chicken.


This movie is part of the collection: Prelinger Archives

Producer: Audio Productions
Sponsor: Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company / The Texas Company
Audio/Visual: Sd, C
Keywords: Agriculture: Poultry

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

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Reviewer: Ja30fitz - - July 24, 2005
Subject: "Say, that makes me hungry!"
Lowell Thomas has a building named after him at a college in my hometown (Marist College- Poughkeepsie, NY). I don't think that narrating crap like this helped him earn that! This film has relatively high camp value however, and the 'Chicken of Tomorrow Queen' is a highlight from this film that I particularly enjoy...

Reviewer: trafalgar - - May 29, 2004
Subject: Chicken of Tomorrow...
Vomit of tomorrow night.
This film does everything possible to make chicken appear completely unappetizing. Bleccch.
Unfortunately, it's also really slow going. And the terrible script is an insult to Lowell Thomas' talents (and it sounds like he knows it).
Worth watching for the "ugh" factor, but prepare for some long, boring stretches...

Reviewer: Spuzz - - March 24, 2003
Subject: Definitely, not for everyone, but MAN! What a great movie!
Oh my god.
Too think I've seen it all on this site, I then have the pleasure of seeing 'The Chicken Of Tomorrow'. Trust me, this film will take you off your feed for a week. Narrated by Lowell Thomas. It starts out by him intoning "Did you know that poultry is the nation's third largest crop" in such a way that it's hard to figure out whether he's very bored or very excited. And THEN, the fun starts as we see chickens, dead and spread eagled on the production line in the hundreds. The whole film is about the farmer's never ending quest to find a better chicken, and we see a contest to see who can make a better chicken. From incubations (with cross section of eggs during that process ewww) to the birth, to growth, to shipping to the processing plant (the chickens being thrown into cages is really hard to watch) and finally to it's assembly.. better make that disassembly line as we see shots of chirpy (excuse the pun) females merrily ripping out chicken guts. (no really, why are they smiling?) Finally, the judging takes place, (the chicken pieces all look the same). Lowell THomas says "Dressed White Hocks representing Mrs H W Lindhart of Chillicoffy, Missouri had the best skin texture, the least dark meat, and the best covering of fat." Were they talking about Mrs. Lindhart's chickens? Or Mrs. Lindhart? Thankfully, this movie ends, as we all gag.
"Mmm. boy that makes me hungry!"
A MUST see on this site. But I'll probably won't see it again. :P

Reviewer: Christine Hennig - - October 19, 2002
Subject: Chicken of Tomorrow
Doesn't quite live up to its title (which is one of the greats), unfortunately. It's not so much about the chicken of tomorrow as it is about the poultry farmer of today ("today" being the 1950's) and how motor trucks powered with Texaco gasoline increase his profits.
Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***. Also available on Mystery Science Theatre 3000, Episode #702: The Brute Man.

Shotlist

No synopsis in Educational Film Guide. One copy (the one transferred for IA project) was prod. by Bay State Film Productions and runs 17:01 (the other version is said to run 22:00). It has NMT but bears no evidence of being sponsored by Texaco. Re-xfer another copy.
Ken Smith sez: This wonderfully-titled film won top prize at the 1949 World Poultry Congress in Copenhagen, and was ostensibly created to show poultry farmers the progress made in a three-year program to "build a better chicken." But interspersed with the facts and figures are a suspiciously large number of plugs for "quality petroleum products." Hmmm. Watch for the scene where the highly-trained poultry workers "sex the chicks."
00:40
Man feeds chickens. Chickens eating from trough.
1:14
Chickens being packed into crates. Farm workers
01:34
CU 3 eggs frying in pan.
01:44
CU chicken in roaster being basted.
02:00
Hands turn pages of chicken brochure
02:30
Large chicken ranch
02:40
Woman handling lots of eggs in incubator. Man handles many trays of eggs.
04:00
Cut away of chicken embryo forming in the egg shell.
04:40
Chick hatching from egg
05:50
Lots of baby chicks in trays
06:00
Man sexes baby chicks
07:00
Boxes of baby chicks being loaded into trucks.
07:30
Yellow poultry trucks
07:50
Two little children playing with baby chicks.
09:00
Free range chickens. Many chickens.
12:00
CU hand doing arithmetic on lined tablet. Fractions and equations.
13:00
Egg gathering, baskets of eggs.
14:50
Comparison shot (labeled) of: "The Chicken of Today" vs. "The Chicken of Tomorrow" raw and cooked (very good shots).
15:30
Knife and fork carving chicken
16:50
CU chicken auctioneer talking fast. Chicken auction (good sound).
17:30
Texaco gas station
17:50
Poultry trucks.
THE END