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Why Your Dollar Buys Less

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Film Identifier: F.2006-10-0102
Run Time
0h 1m 5s
Format
35mm
Color
B&W
Sound
Optical
Date Produced
1936
Abstract
Theater commercial criticizing the economic policies of Franklin D. Roosevelt's government. The spot was sponsored by "The Crusaders on the Screen," most likely produced by the Jam Handy Organization for the Republican Party in 1936.
Description
The film begins with footage of pigs being herded into a trough, followed by a shot of cattle also at a farm. An omnipresent voiceover states that the government slaughtered thousands of animals causing their market prices to jump exorbitantly, in the form of food, leather goods, and so on. The narrator continues to state - against a backdrop of wheat fields - that the government seized national wheat production while making the drastic decision to nonetheless import in order to meet local demand.

This section is followed by an infographic featuring a market basket, comparing and contrasting its size and contents with that which the consumer was able to purchase in 1933 versus 1936. The argument being made is that before these governmental decisions were made within the agricultural sphere, consumers were able to purchase more goods for their money in 1933 as opposed to the current state of affairs.

Following this brief sequence is some text running onscreen across an image of the Statue of Liberty stating that "Every one of us is today paying the bill for Economic Follies;" it continues to further state that the United States should be a land of plenty for its citizens.

Final shot features title card: ' "The Crusaders on the Screen" Film just shown paid for by The Crusaders - not sponsored in any way by this theatre.'
 
Related Place
United States (represents)