Land of Liberty is a 1939 American documentary film written by Jesse L. Lasky Jr. and Jeanie Macpherson. The film tells the history of the United States from pre-Revolution through 1939. The film was released on June 15, 1939, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. This film was produced by the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA-later MPAA) to be shown at the United States Government Building at both the New York World’s Fair and San Francisco Golden Gate International Exposition held in 1939 – 1940.

Director

Cecil B. DeMille

Writers

Jesse Lasky Jr.

Jeanie Macpherson

Stars

Gayne Whitman

Erville Alderson

Don Ameche

and many others

Originally designed for exhibition at the 1939 World’s Fair, Land of Liberty is a 137-minute compendium of filmclips from past American historical epics. The project was sponsored by the Motion Picture Producers & Distributors of America, Inc. and supervised by Cecil B. DeMille, who also edited the film with the assistance of his crack Paramount production staff. The narration was written by old DeMille hands Jeannie MacPherson and Jesse Lasky Jr. and spoken by a talented team of uncredited announcers (one of whom sounded suspiciously like old C. B. himself). Clips from such Hollywood productions as America (1924), Abraham Lincoln (1930), Alexander Hamilton (1931), Show Boat (1936), Man of Conquest (1939) and DeMille’s own The Plainsman (1936), The Buccaneer (1938) and Union Pacific (1939) are woven together into a chronological continuity, tracing American history from the Revolutionary War to the “present,” which is largely represented by newsreel footage of President Roosevelt, the TVA project, and other current personalities and events. In later years, Land of Liberty was redistributed on the classroom circuit, with new footage added from historical dramas of the 1940s and 1950s.