The films in this list were used in the making of the film Virtual Memory.
They are films made in the twentieth century, to explain and illustrate the new technologies that were changing society.
They were all found in the Internet Archive, a wonderful repository of media history in the making.
SOUND AND RADIO
How radio broadcasting works.
WJR: One of a Kind [ca 1966]
Story of radio station WJR, Detroit. Many shots with local radio personalities in studio and people listening to the radio at home, in the ballpark at work and outdoors. Excellent, clear color film with good sequences and shots
Sound Recording and Reproduction [1943]
Explains the mysteries of sound recording on film.
Sound and the Story [1956]
How vinyl records were made.
Sound Waves and Their Sources [1933]
Sources of sounds and characteristics of sound waves, shown by means of oscilloscopes and animated diagrams.
TELEVISION
Television Remote Control Tuner [1961]
Early technology to enable the channel-surfer.
Magic in the Air [1955]
How TV works and the promise of its youth.
The Reasons Why [1959]
Television manufacturing at RCA’s New Jersey plant. Includes scenes of design, engineering and quality control. Great scenes of TVs with flickering test patterns.
Television: An RCA Presentation [ca 1939]
Early promotional film introducing TV to the American public, probably coordinated with the rollout of scheduled broadcasting at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. Shows scenes of television production at the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) studios at Rockefeller Center, New York City, using equipment manufactured by NBC’s corporate parent RCA.
The Story of the Television [1956]
RCA‘s corporate history of pre-1956 developments in television.
A Welcome Guest in the House [ca 1957]
Tribute to television as servant of the public in the Cold War era.
COMPUTERS
The Information Machine [1958]
Applies graphic sensitivity to medium in cartoon form, and traces the history of storing and analyzing
information from the days of the cavemen to today’s age of electronic brains.
Logic By Machine [The Computer and The Mind Of Man]
“The purpose of computers is insight, not numbers…”
On Guard! The Story of SAGE [ca 1956]
Innovations in computer technology as weapons in the Cold War.
FILM/MOTION PICTURES
How to Use Classroom Films [1963]
How to choose, preview, present and discuss classroom films.
Facts About Projection [1975]
Seventies-era students watch a film projected by a student projectionist. Shows that constant maintenance of equipment is necessary for satisfactory and successful film projection.
Your Movie Camera and How to Use It [1948]
Instructional film.
How Motion Pictures Move and Talk [1940]
Explains the basic principles of motion pictures and, by animation, shows how sound is recorded on a strip of film.
Finding His Voice [1929]
Cartoon showing how sound motion pictures work, produced by a company that was an innovator in the field. Story by W.E. Erpi (pseudonym for Western Electric, Electrical Research Products Inc.). Directors: F. Lyle Goldman and Max Fleischer.
The Old Family Album Goes Modern [ca 1930s]
A promotional film for the Marquee’s home movie service. As an example we see the development of a baby boy, from his newborn stage to around eighteen months of age.
The Alchemist In Hollywood [1940]
Explains chemical processes used in the motion picture laboratory. Diagrams and demonstrations of exposure, photochemical reactions, development, and printing.
PHOTOGRAPHY
Photography [1946]
Careers in photography and cinematography.
Polaroid Dealer Announcement [1964]
Introduces Polaroids marketing campaign for the year 1964, including TV commercials. Produced for dealers.
TELEPHONE
The Town and the Telephone [ca late 1950s]
Employee orientation film for telephone company workers explaining structure and corporate values of the Bell System. With excellent footage of communications workers and everyday life, in Technicolor.
The Nation at Your Fingertips [1951]
How direct long distance dialing made the U.S. a smaller place, and how instantaneous direct communication between Americans without operator assistance became possible.
COMMUNICATIONS
A Communications Primer [1953]
This is a classic Eames film and a great introduction to their creativity that spanned many industries.
How developments in transportation and communication are hastening globalization.
Communication: A Film Lesson In General Science [1927]
Venerable educational film showing technologies of communication, circa 1920s.
CULTURE AND SOCIETY
The City [1939]
The Regional Planning Association of America’s plea for community chaotic cities and urban sprawl. Directors: Ralph Steiner and Willard Van Dyke. Script: Henwar Rodakiewicz, from an outline by Pare Lorentz. Commentary written by Lewis Mumford.
Man and His Culture [1954]
Shows, in the imaginative form of a “report from outer space,” how the ways of mankind might appear to visitors from another planet.
Destination Earth [1956]
In this corporate-sponsored cartoon, Martian dissidents learn that oil and competition are the two things that make America great.
When You Grow Up [1973]
Film for middle-school children about vocational choices and opportunities in the U.S. Great shots of early 1970s children and adults pursuing everyday activities. Most of the shots are quick and take place in and around the city of Los Angeles.
ELECTRICITY AND ELECTRONICS
Freedom and Power [1952]
This opulently produced film defines freedom as the abundance of electric power, and reviews U.S. history from an electrocentric viewpoint. With animation.
Electronics at Work [1943]
Explains the six basic functions of electronic tubes and shows how each type of tube is used in industrial and military applications.
MISCELLANEOUS
Design for Dreaming [1956]
Set at the 1956 General Motors Motorama, this is one of the key Populuxe films of the 1950s, showing futuristic dream cars and Frigidaire’s “Kitchen of the Future.”
Classic Television Commercials [1948]
Basic Typing, Part I: Methods [1944]
Demonstrates correct posture for typing; proper fingering of the keys; use of the shift key, back spacer, tabulator, carriage return lever, etc.; and differences between manual and electric typewriters.
Hands [ca 1944]
Impressionistic film promoting total war mobilization, showing only human hands.
Mount Tamalpais Gravity Railroad [1917]
Railroad transporting tourists to top of Marin County’s highest peak.
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