“This Land of Ours: The State of Connecticut” (1947) is a color documentary-short by Carl Dudley Productions as part of his Screen Book of Knowledge and This Land Of Ours series. This film highlights the various historic sites and major industrial and cultural centers of the state of Connecticut from New Haven and Hartford to the tobacco farms in the Connecticut River Valley. Connecticut, known as the nutmeg state, was one of the 13 original states and is today the 3rd smallest state in the Union after Rhode Island and Delaware.
Carl Dudley was born in Little Rock, Arkansas in the early 20th century and went on to become a film director and producer. In 1944, he founded the Dudley Pictures Corporation and produced thirty documentary shorts in the This Land of Ours series.
Opening credits: young boy opens larger-than-life size book to reveal title page for film (0:10). Colorful illustrated map of the United States, camera closes in on Connecticut as narration begins (0:32). POV from car driving along Merritt Parkway, pass under brick road bridge, scenic countryside vistas: red barn house, red and yellow leaves of fall foliage (0:55). Historic graveyard (1:17). Defender’s Monument in New Haven (1:33). Nathan Hale Monument (1893) by Frederick MacMonnies (now at City Hall Park, New York City) (1:43). Grounds of abolitionist John Brown Farm State Historic Site and resting place (2:01). Grounds of the Homesite of Lyman Beecher, birthplace of Henry Ward Beecher, Harriet Beecher Stowe in Litchfield (2:14). Camera pans industrial center: tall warehouse and telephone polls in foreground (2:33). Interior of various factories: men and women on assembly line working on appliances, fabrics, furniture etc. (2:39). Interior of fabric mill working with cotton, wool, silk (3:09). Close-up of threads inside woolen mill machine (3:11). Aerial view of Hartford – Connecticut State Capitol Building (3:19). Pedestrian traffic on busy downtown shopping street in Hartford (3:24). Connecticut’s Old State House (3:29). View of the Travelers Tower, first skyscraper in Connecticut (3:32). View of Connecticut State Capitol Building and Corning Fountain in Bushnell Park (3:39). Camera pans New Haven skyline (4:00). Yale University Campus (4:17). Harkness Tower (4:35). University of Connecticut Storrs Main Campus, Wilbur Cross Building (4:36). Camera pans New London Harbor on the Thames River (4:54). General Dynamics Electric Boat submarine building shipyard in Groton (5:06). Farmer steers horse-drawn rake through field, red barn contrasts blue sky in background (5:14). Boy walks up to cows on farm (5:28). Holstein or Guernsey Cattle graze grass in pen, some enter white barn house (5:38). Field hands tend to tobacco plants under tented area offering shade; Connecticut Shade Tobacco grown in Connecticut River Valley (5:49). Horses in field (6:09). Montage old barns converted into eating establishments (6:22). Summer Stock Theatre, red barn converted into performance space (6:36). Sunbathers and swimmers dot coastline of Ocean Beach Park on Long Island Sound, sailboats on the Atlantic (6:48). Return to illustrated map of the United States, camera zooms out from Connecticut as narrator reviews information covered in film (7:28). Parking lot filled with cars of commuters at train station (8:53). Men on horses play polo (8:59). New Haven Five Mile Point Lighthouse (9:11).
