Moving Mountains
Moving Mountains
The necessary evolution of construction equipment, from ancient Egypt to modern (circa 1950's) time. A great, pointed and succinct overview of the struggles of labor. Also features great assembly line footage of Clark construction equipment; logging production for furniture and newspapers; white suburban family at picnic.
Moving Mountains
Opening montage of historical recreations / re-enactments of ancient Egypt and Rome: title announces that "the world's work had become an insufferable burden on the shoulders of man as early as 5000 years ago"; shots of ancient Egyptian male slaves breaking and moving large rocks while foreman cracks whip (nice shots of sweaty muscles, quivering sandaled feet as they struggle in this early hellhole construction site); dissolve to TLS two filthy male Roman plebians blowing glass the old fashioned way; TLS of patrician Roman princess drinking wine while her male slave fans her, a vestal woman entering and throwing herself at her royal feet, knocking over and breaking the wine glass (VO says that "a society based on oppression must eventually crumble and the Roman Empire fell to the barbaric hordes that supplied a large part of the slave labor").
Moving Mountains
Historical recreation (re-enactment) of The Middle Ages and Colonial Times: title says that "the world's work demanded flexible power-- muscle power. Animal muscle was too clumsy for most jobs, and human muscle, slave or free, proved too weak to keep pace with progress"; MS fief or serf tilling shady ground beneath tree, feudal lord castle in BG; MS of a Christian monk stoking fire, studying in a dark abbey; MS filthy men taking grain sacks and wooden barrels from warehouse as the boss looks on. Colonial times: MS/CUs frontersman outside cabin with musket and axe, preparing to cut logs for housing.
Moving Mountains
MS of male blacksmith, tattoo on his left arm, pounding a metal rod on an anvil inside a foundry, 1957. Cut to re-enactment MS of colonial woman and child weeping over grave of husband. Cut to re-enactment shots of early grain combines, some pulled by horses, harvesting in field. TLS of early industrial production equipment (enormous churning gears) in operation. Cut to 1957 MCU factory gears spitting out ball bearings. TLS of an early slat combine working in a grain field (recration). MS white men wearing white t-shirts pushing a large cart of white grain sacks down a dark aisle in a factory, 1957. MS man lifting a wood barel onto another one. MS of bare chested (shirtless) white man using a jackhammer. MSs white & black men lifting, tossing, sorting lumber and materials at construction site. Title says that "mechanization is linke dot the growth of leisure and abundance in the history of human dignity".
Moving Mountains
TLS tractor-mover moving large unprocessed lumber. MSs forklifts in warehouses. MSs man sliding box of glass ampules along metal rollers inside Abbott Laboratories warehouse. MS forklift lowering heavy newsprint paper rolls in warehouse. TLSs of large forklifts lowering and moving a huge palette of processed wood in a supply yard (railcars). TLSs crane lifting cement mixer to top of building at construction site. TLS/MSs of an airline ground crew driving carriers, loading up a United Airlines commercial airplane.
Moving Mountains
Aerials view of Clark construction company plants and factories located throughout Michigan. TLS/MSs inside steel foundry (sparks and molten metal), employees (all of whom are African-American) and machines shaping white-hot steel; pounding and cutting steel; white men weld steel. TLS/MSs hydraulic cyclinders, torque converters and other equipment parts being assembled and tested. Depiction and description of techniques used in manufacturing Clark machinery; phases of assembly; crane attaches tractor cab to its base.
Moving Mountains
TLS Clark tractor-dozer on flatbed, awaiting railroad delivery. MS forklift hauling wooden crate of soft drink in warehosue in Capetown, South Africa. More shots of forklifts being used in warehouse. TLSs tractor shovel picking up load of white sand in quarry, dumping load into truck. MS black station wagon pulling up to curb in suburbia, troupe of white businessmen in business suits get out and enter Clark facility. Shots of businessmen touring facilities, viewing forklifts. MSs men learning maintenance of new equipment, then watching AV show in classroom; MS of white man putting slide into slide projector; slides of illustrations of futuristic construction equipment. Title card says that "eficient machines sweep aside the need for brutal use of human muscle, shorten the days work and speed the flow of goods to meet human wants".
Moving Mountains
WLS of a rock quarry on a sunny day, pan L to see one of its walls leveled by TNT (dynamite) explosion. TLS crusher. TLSs tractor hauling aggregate and sand. MS white man getting off tractor while another man gets on; former man walks over to Chevy, drives off for home, his work day completed. TLS/MSs of working class white male coming home: drives bubbly green Chevy into suburban driveway, gets out, greets his young son who's wearing a baseball uniform, enters home. TLS/MSs of stereotypical 1950s white middle class family having a picnic in their backyard on a sunny day: Dad sits in wood lawn chair and reads the Seattle Record newspaper, son in baseball unform sits idly by, Mom and teenage daughter prepare and cook and serve food.
Moving Mountains
Montage of log processing from felled tree to finished chair: TLSs tall tree falling to ground in Pacific Northwest forest, logs placed onto loading truck, fed onto mill; shots of processed wood (lumber) being cut and drilled; EST shots factory. Cut to MSs white man sitting in wood lawn chair and reading Seattle Record newspaper. TLS tractors hauling pulp pine wood in forest in Canada; EST shot paper mill, raw wood pulp in FG; clamped forklift lowers large roll of newsprint from top of stack in warehouse. Great MCU metal mailbox ("US Mail" and "Mike Wellman" written on it) on post being opened, a newspaper being placed inside; blue sky BG. Panning MS of food on picnic table as white woman preps the meal; TLS white woman and teenage daughter taking burgers from grill and putting them onto buns. TLS tractor trailer zipping along highway. TLS tractor trailer filled with livestock (cows) pulling into "meat-packing center", otherwise known as a slaughterhouse. MS black man operating forklift, picking up palettes of grainsacks; MS sacks of rice (from India) being lowered via forklift. MS middle class white family eating at picnic table.
Moving Mountains
The concluding Clark construction equipment parade: high angle and ground level MS/LSs of white men wearing white labcoats riding all the colorful models of Clark forklifts, tractor shovels, timber handlers, scrapers, giant dozers and cranes in some absurd parade strangely evocative of May Day in Moscow.