Other titles:STRENGTH FOR THE FREE WORLD (Series Title)
MARSHALL PLAN FILMS [Allocated Series Title]
Summary:An account of the efforts being made to increase coal production in the Ruhr, and of the problems being tackled by the West German government with the help of Marshall Aid - particularly the problem of providing better housing for the miners. Two versions are offered; long and short.
Description:[Long version] The film, part of the Strength for the Free World series (developed to illustrate to audiences in the United States the activities taking place as a result of funding from the Marshall Plan), presents the coal mining region along the river Ruhr and the labour conditions there. A number of political and bureaucratic figures appear, including; Michael Harris, Chief of the Mutual Security Agency (MSA) mission in West Germany; Konrad Adenauer, chancellor of West Germany; (believed to be) Russell Whalen, the United States' Chairman of the Coal Control Group; Ludwig Rosenberg of the Confederation of German Trade Unions (Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund, DGB); André François-Poncet, French high commissioner to West Germany; and John J. McCloy, the US high commissioner. The film stresses the coal wealth of the Ruhr, and is filmed largely in Duisburg. While the mines could make Europe self-sufficient in coal, imports are still arriving from the United States. The mines of the Ruhr must be deeper and narrower than their US equivalents, making it impossible to make extensive use of machine extraction. Instead, it must be hewn by hand. Many of the miners employed are refugees from East Germany, with one, Franz Hertel, serving as the film's guide to the worker's conditions. Here, the film emphasises, Franz may join a free and powerful trade union. He must live in a dormitory with other miners, due to the severe lack of housing in the region. This housing shortage splits families and discourages miners from seeking work there. The film stresses a relationship between housing, mining, the wider economy, and the continent's ability to resist communism. In a rejuvenated Ruhr, mining companies will be kept small to stop the emergence of monopolies and mine workers, rather than mine owners, will own houses the miners live in. François-Poncet, Adenauer and McCloy then speak in turn on the Schuman plan, and its importance to a peaceful and industrious future for Europe. The film ends with a montage promoting the Strength for the Free World series.
[Short version] The shorter version of the film does not feature the various political figures and instead concentrates on both the significant wealth of the coal fields of the Ruhr and the housing problem as it affects the miners. Similar themes emerge on these two topics; the need for extraction to increase to avoid continued reliance on United States, the purchase of which is absorbing useful European Recovery Program funds; and the importance of current projects to address the housing shortage in the region to the economy and security of Europe. In this form it is not part of the Strength for the Free World series.
Alternative Title:STRENGTH FOR THE FREE WORLD (Series Title)
MARSHALL PLAN FILMS [Allocated Series Title]
Production Details:Mutual Security Agency (Sponsor)
Cinetone Studios, Amsterdam (Production company)
Pike, Edgar N (Production individual)
Harley, Maurice (Production individual)
Hopkinson, Peter Richard Gunton (Production individual)
Mackie, Philip (Production individual)
Personalities, Units and Organisations:
Keywords:
Physical Characteristics:Colour format: B&W
Sound format: Sound
Title language: English
Soundtrack language: English
Technical Details:35mm - Footage: 2673 ft; Running time: c. 30 mins - Long version
