Produced by the Ford Motor Company, “Valley of Light” is a circa 1950 documentary on Yosemite National Park. It opens with a shot of famed photographer Ansel Adams as a title card reminds viewers in the opening seconds that his “photographs of our scenic parks are classic interpretations of a priceless American heritage.” We see Adams in his studio at mark 00:35 admiring some of his countless images. He strokes his beard as a voiceover remarks how he has pointed his camera at the wonders that surrounds him tens of thousands of times. But among the most beautiful spots has been “this Valley of Light — Yosemite.” The picture switches from black-and-white to color at mark 01:26 when the viewer is taken to the national park and scenes of a majestic waterfall. We see Yosemite Valley at mark 02:15 — a scene that greets visitors to the park — and we learn a bit of its history. (In 1851 as part of the Mariposa Wars intended to suppress Native American resistance, a United States Army battalion entered the west end of Yosemite Valley, marking the first documented reports of ethnic Europeans in Yosemite Valley.) Others who followed included South African naturalist John Muir and other conservationists who considered it a sacred place. It was dedicated a national park in 1890. The camera slowly pans across the landscape, showing us Bridalveil Falls at mark 03:35. Families are shown camping or staying in hotels, but all who visit wish to commune with nature. Small deer and families in car observe each other at mark 04:30 and wonder at the giant sequoias. We visit fields of flowers and boulders and rocks, and at mark 07:15 stand in a meadow and look up toward the mountains with its breathtaking colors of gray, bronze, and gold. Visitors take Mist Trail to Vernal Fall at mark 07:48 as Adams waxes poetic about the scenes, and we wonder at the snow-capped Sierra Nevada mountain range at mark 09:55. Riders on horseback visit hard-to-reach areas starting at mark 11:04 on the way to see more waterfalls “pounding down slick granite” and another view of the Sierra Nevada Mountains at mark 13:37. The film closes as a full moon “shines upon this Valley of Light — Yosemite.”