Produced by Transfilm, this 1947 color installment of the Ford Motor Company’s “Americans at Home” short subject series depicts the Great Smoky Mountain range in North Carolina and Tennessee, highlighting local people and nearby landmarks (TRT: 17:52). The film was written by Burton Rowles, Jr. and directed by Lawrence Madison.
Opening titles: “The Ford Motor Company is proud to present a close-up of a people deeply rooted in America’s finest traditions…” and credits (0:06). An extended panorama of silhouetted trees in the Great Smoky Mountains. Misty treetops and green mountainsides (1:01). A late 1940s automobile (which appears to be a hardtop convertible with a distinctly 1950s design) rounds a bend in a road that winds through autumn trees (1:40). A waterfall running into a clear, icy creek (2:06). Blossoming trees and colorful flowers. A trail cut through a rural, agricultural area with scattered log cabins (2:24). Men process timber in a logging operation. Bark is sawed away at a mill. Farmers shovel hay using pitchforks (3:07). A classroom scene. A teacher dismisses a class of boys and girls in 1940s dress. Another panorama of the Smokies (3:37). A young boy runs toward a dock. The boy fishes with a fishing rod. Another boy in overalls walks past a cluster of chickens, playing with a slingshot. Another boy with a baseball mitt plays catch with himself (4:09). A young girl feeding chickens, another girl carrying a pail of water. A boy helps a woman with laundry. A man in a hat splitting logs with an axe (4:36). A horse pulls a plow. A wide shot of plowed fields. Women doing laundry against mountain backdrops (5:03). Walking farmers survey their land (5:37). Hands play a York piano. People in a congregation sing a hymn during a church service (6:31). Men split logs with a young boy at their feet. The young boy runs away clutching himself as though he’s been spanked (8:07). A horse-powered sorghum press. Sorghum cane is fed into the steaming press, which produces white liquid sweetening. Logs burn in a hearth (8:39). A male carpenter whittles a chair, and a woman covers it. An elderly woman dyes a hank of yarn and hands it to a younger, red-headed woman (10:09). Another elderly woman works weaving at a loom, while a girl watches (10:44). Spectators, participants, and a string band at a square dance. Fiddlers play and ruffled dresses sway as youngsters look on (11:07). A hydroelectric dam. A sign: “Community Power 2,300 Volts” (12:16). Women cooking in a kitchen. A woman peels apples and a young girl steals an apple from behind her (12:49). A motorized tractor plows a field. A tobacco farmer bundles a large bushel of leaves (13:18). A large log is pushed through a motorized saw mill. Stacks of freshly milled boards (14:41). The picture car returns, parking near a young girl at play. The teacher from the school meets with an elderly woman (15:11). A man sitting on his porch. Rolling hills and valleys. A family eating corn at mealtime (15:57). A woman in a fireside rocking chair. An elderly man in overalls sings a ballad to a young girl (16:32). End titles: “The End, A Ford Motor Company Presentation.”
This sponsored film was produced by Walter Lowendahl, written by Burton Rowles, Jr., and directed by Lawrence Madison for Transfilm as part of a series that ran from 1947-1949.
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