Singing Wires (1951)

★★★★★ · rural u.s.a. · cashel · 2003-12-02

A fine documentary told in b/w sound and using non-actors. Far from hollywood,and 50 years ago,this film is factual drama of the effects of bringing electricity to a farm .In many areas, electricity was not commonplace and its arrival received with gratitude and wonder ,

★★★★ · There's Power in Power · Dodsworth the Cat · 2024-07-07

Poor mom slaves away. Dad laboriously does everything by hand. Bob has a disadvantage trying to win 4-H Blue Ribbons for his chicken. Why? Because their farm seems to be the only place that doesn't have electricity. People have it in town. Their neighbours in the sticks have it. You can guess what happens. After a lot of rural folksiness on the screen, Bob's farm gets juice and all is well. It's never explained why they never connected to the power grid before this. The "singing wires" were on side of the road all the time. Electrical World magazine of Jan. 25, 1947 revealed the film…

★★★★ · Wonderful Footage · Seto-Kaiba_Is_Stupid · 2009-04-20

This film is very useful for stock footage on the early 1950's. I disagree with a previous review, the fifties kitschen here looks quite nice. The previous kitchen may look "warm", but resulting in limited food options. The early 1950's kitchen allowed meals like Jell-O and cakes to be made more often. Which is the general appeal of the film, showing how electricity was indeed making life easier.

★★★★ · Imagine! Electricity! · donwert · 2013-01-12

What's remarkable about this film is that as late as the early '50s, when this film was made, there were so many farms without electricity that this film was thought to be necessary. When WWII started, most farms were not electrified. It wasn't until the late '50s that the great majority of farms were hooked to the grid. BTW, the major impetus behind rural electrification in the U.S. was a New Deal program and the creation of the Rural Electrification Administration. Private electric utilities had not found it economically feasible to build the infrastructure required to service…

★★★ · "Hey, let's get some electricity!" · Spuzz · 2005-06-05

Bob and his family wishes that his farm would get electricity just like his girlfriend's family does. Now, when I mention this, you would think this could happen, oh about 1912 right? But no, according to this film, and for some odd reason, this was a large pill to swallow, that some farms didn't have electricity in 1951! This is, believe it or not, very similar to some Jam Handy films on here, aka proving that something is wonderful, and proving to your parents to go for the idea. I find it very difficult to believe that Dad and Mom never thought of electricity before, and that it took Bob…