Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1920 edition. Excerpt: ... FIGHTING WITH FILMS AS in the United States, motion pictures played a great part in the work of the Foreign Section, ranking as a major activity. To millions unable to read, to literate millions unreached by newspaper or magazine, to city audiences and village crowds, the screen carried the story of America, flashing the power of our army and navy, showing our natural resources, our industrial processes, our war spirit, and our national life. Our method of presentation was either to rent a theater outright, giving our own shows, or to rent the pictures themselves to exhibitors, although in many of the rural districts we put a projector on an automobile and traveled from village to village, delighting the rustic populace with "the wonders of America." War pictures, as a matter of course, gave the point to every program. A steady stream of wonderful "fighting stuff" was poured into our foreign channels, so that the eyes of the world followed America's war progress from the cantonment to the ship, from St. Nazaire to the firing-line, along the firing-line from Chateau-Thierry to the Argonne, and saw America's war preparations from the shipyard to the sea, from the factory to the great supply depots in France. Great feature-films like "Pershing's Crusaders" and "America's Answer" could stand alone, but the majority of "war stuff" had to be accompanied by contrasting material. Not only this, but it was also the case that we wanted the world td see America "at home." In the first days, Jules E. Brulatour, a pioneer in the motion-picture industry, and one of its fine, inspiring figures, came to the Committee as a volunteer, and it was his job to collect "educational stuff," meaning every sort of a movie that would show American cities, ...
