Power and the Land (1940). US Rural Electrification Administration. Held by the Internet Archive; public domain.
Power and the Land
Ivens, the Dutch documentarian, filmed the Parkinson family of St Clairsville working without electricity, then with it; Douglas Moore scored it and Stephen Vincent Benét wrote the commentary.
- Year
- 1940
- Made by
- US Rural Electrification Administration
- Directed by
- Joris Ivens
- Free to use because
- A work of the United States government — no copyright, anywhere
The note
A film about infrastructure that is really about labour: milking by lamplight, cooling cans in the spring house, the day the co-operative crew arrives. Benét's commentary is plain and unhurried, and Moore's score keeps out of its way. It is the quietest thing in this wing. Federal work, no copyright.
Power and the Land, 1940. US Rural Electrification Administration. Directed by Joris Ivens. This is the film’s soundtrack: narration, score and location sound, streamed from the Internet Archive’s master. No picture — the audio is the work. A work of the United States government, and therefore free of copyright anywhere it is used.
The soundtrack