Synopsis
Note: this film is entirely in Hebrew. Anyone who wants to translate a bit of it for us and post details, is very welcome! One of fifteen films made by beloved author Joseph Krumgold working with Norman Lourie, ISRAEL HOUSE IN THE DESERT won a medal for best documentary at the Venice Film Festival in 1948. The film was used to raise money and awareness in the United States about the plight of Jewish settlers in Palestine as part of the United Palestine Appeal of 1947-48. The film shows the difficult task of converting desert lands into viable farmland through irrigation and careful farming techniques. Although somewhat dramatized, the film is fairly accurate in terms of showing the co-operative farming efforts of the period, with settlers living in tents ( 11:10 ) performing back breaking labor in their struggle to make the land useful. At ( 12:50 ) a shabbat service is seen, and at 14:20 Arab neighbors are seen with the Israelis. At 14:30, a water pipeline is shown that ensures further agricultural development of the desert lands. By the end of the film the situation is greatly improved and tractors are being used to develop farmland which is now bountifully producing crops. The author Jospeph Krumgold, who is most well known for his award-winning children's books, didn't turn to writing for this audience until mid life. He was born in 1908. His father Henry was a movie house operator and exhibitor and his older brother accompanied the silent films on organ. By the time…
Uploader's description on archive.org
Details
- Running time
- 25 minutes
- Language
- English
- Collection
- Ephemeral Films
Subjects on the Internet Archive
- Stock Footage