Tio Sam’s War Department presents ‘Tuesday In November’ (video)


Tuesday In November (1945, directed by John Houseman 16:54)

NARRATOR: It is early morning of the first Tuesday in November. This is an American city. A city that is not very large, not very rich, not very old. It is situated in the western part of the United States, in California. Its name is Riverton. The woman in the car is Mrs. Dawson, one of Riverton’s 15,000 residents. She is principal of Public School No. 2, but today there will be no classes held here. For this is Election Day.

Tuesday In November is a film in simple language made primarily for overseas audiences, many of whom did not enjoy the right to elect their own governments.

It dramatizes both the participation of citizens in the electoral process and the 1944 campaign for the Presidency, linking these two threads into a quasi-religious quest characterized by unchallenged belief, ritualistic behavior and culminating in a mass announcement before a large crowd.

The simplicity expressed in the understated narration and many of the images was a conscious choice dictated by the non-English-speaking intended audience, but for us now underscores the film’s stature as a morality play.

continued @ http://archive.org/details/Tuesday_in_November