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Union FilmsGreat Swindle, The (Part II) (1948)

Union recruitment film criticizing monopoly control of the U.S. economy and advocating union membership as a defense against corporate power.


This movie is part of the collection: Prelinger Archives

Producer: Union Films
Sponsor: United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers (UE), CIO
Audio/Visual: Sd, B&W
Keywords: Labor: Activism; World War II: Postwar issues

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

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Reviewer: Spuzz - - July 2, 2003
Subject: Bull!
At first, onbe might consider 'The Great Swindle' a great expressionustic work, for the first 10 minutes of this film features a man so confused about people's opinions of why prices are so high that he literally crunches his hand in his face. He then goes home to his son (?), both, curiously, are violinists (they do a duet in one scene). The son complains to Dad that none of this price fixing would go on if everyone was unionized. "Bull!" says the Father. (they say "bull" a lot in this film, oddly). The son figure convinces Dad to go to a Union Meeting. When they get there, they (and we_ see a movie. which is totally amazingly union propagandastic and uses some amazing images (love the mouth on the microphone bit). Although it seems there are two films (literally) here, it's easy to see which one is better put together as the father/son bits are badly edited, poorly lit and has poor dialogue. But still it's an oddball film, some of which (but not all) ring true today.

Shotlist

Harassed by shortages, Tom Grey votes for the removal of price control after reading propaganda issued by the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM). When prices rise, he views a Union film, "The Big Squeeze," which places the blame for high prices on monopoly control of our economy, and points out the advantages of membership in the Union.
MEMBERSHIP RECRUITING FILM FOR UERMWA/CIO PRESENTING VIEWPOINT THAT THERE IS NEED FOR ROLLBACK IN PRICES, HIGHER WAGES & PARTICIPATION OF LABORING MAN IN POLITICS.


UNION WORKERS LABOR WORK GRAPHS