This black & white promotional/propaganda film was made to get people to join the Marine Corps Reserve. There is no copyright at the beginning or end of the film but based on research this is circa 1955.
Opening titles: The United States Marine Corps Presents ‘The Pride of Main Street’
(:06-:31). Main street in Rockford, IL featuring cars. Blackhawk Native American statue in granite stands in town. Shots of a river, industry, the valley of Rockford (:32-1:28). Many types of people, Swedes, Italians, and Polish make up the town, about 100,000 people. City downtown shots of people, cars, and places (1:29-2:00). Inside a factory where these are made: shots of socks, molten metal, farming equipment, stove parts, locks, & drills. A draftsman at work (2:01-2:29). Blackhawk park, factories, churches. People exit church, shots of a church steeple (2:30-3:09). Exterior shots of the training center for Company C, Marine Corps Reserve. Marine Corps Reserve men in formation. A marine works on a car in both his civilian and government job. Other Marines are shown at work doing various tasks. Shots of the men at work in civilian life and as Marines. Marines in a classroom. Marines look over a map (3:10-5:42). Marines in an amphibious vehicle land on a beach and storm it as part of a practice drill (5:43-5:56). A marine who is also a mailman is shown at work. The mailman walks through town dropping off the mail. Illinois National Bank. An inactive marine reservist is shown. Rockford College is a liberal arts college for women, many of the women that went there were reservists in WW2 (5:57-8:00). The Mayor’s office is visited by the mailman. Mayor Bloom hosts a meeting with youths. Youths play basketball. Toys for Tots is a program that is explained and shown. Marines fix toys and work on them. Industrial league baseball – the Marines play. More basketball shown (8:01-10:22). Rifle range – the marine reservists shoot at targets. Annual farewell dance. The band plays on. Men and women dance. A train comes in for transportation to summer camp for the reservists who are on their way to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina (10:23-11:38). Train rides the rails. Planes, battleships enroute. Many marines are on their way to the camp to practice. Marines out in the field do training exercises. Amphibious exercises are done. The marines land on a beach and storm it as part of a practice drill (11:39-13:04). Marines eat. Marines play on the beach during downtime. A marine writes a postcard. Marines in line for a movie (13:05-14:00). The last day of camp. Proud Marines stand at attention. Back at home downtown, the marines march in a parade. Many shots of the parade and of downtown Rockford, IL (14:01-15:16). Blackhawk statue in Rockford, IL. Aerial shots of Rockford (15:17-15:35). End credits (15:36-15:49).
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
