Synopsis
A stuntman plans to launch a small plane o0ff the roof of a speeding car. The local newspaper sends a photographer to cover thee event, but also sends a truck with a new technological device that will enable the photographer to send his photos to the newspaper almost immediately: device that can transmit photos over telephone wire. The mechanics of that process are then explained to the viewer.
Synopsis from TMDb
Details
- Studio
- Jam Handy Organization (JHO)
- Released
- 1937-11-25
- Running time
- 9 minutes
Reviews on the Internet Archive
★★★★★ · News, out of the box! · uniQ · 2011-04-21
Jam Handy film that manages to touch on xerography, television, modems, talkies and telephony in the 1930s! If someone back then had expanded on this in just about ANY direction they would have produced some office machine or process that's considered standard today. The makeshift telephone hookup is great, but watch out for the acoustic modem set for the candlestick telephone!
★★★★★ · Amazing · Classic_TV_and_Radio_Fan · 2008-11-13
As previous reviewers note, it's amazing just how much this film correctly predicts the future, even though it didn't mean to. Facinating to watch, and with great footage of 30's life styles as well.
★★★★ · Very informative!!! · jsa78 · 2004-07-11
I like this film because, having grown up around computers most of my life, sometimes it's difficult to fathom how something like this was done before modern computers, fax machines, digital scanners, and the internet. I also found it interesting the use of a "modem" to transmit the data over a phone line as well as the application of a neon light much as one would use a laser today. The only way it would have been more impressive to me is if the process would have been digital instead of analog. Plus, I'm sure that this process was what opened the door for Xerographic photocopying, fax…
★★★★ · Interesting - a proto-fax machine. · djansing · 2003-04-06
This reminds me of some stuff I read about mechanical television. I had no idea anyone had the capability of sending faxes back in the 1930's, but once you study pre-CRT television, it makes perfect sense. Interesting and informative.
★★★★ · "Your cat did WHAT?" · Spuzz · 2005-06-19
TThis is a fun overview of the (then) new science of transmitting photographs over wire. The film begins in a newsroom, where they're taking calls that I'm sure happen every day, stories about non-behaving cats etc. Suddenly, a call comes in aboiut a car equipped with a plane! And that plane was going to take off while the car was moving! Why that's crazy! Send someone out there! They all react like this was front page news. So someone goes out there, and takes a picture, and because of newfangled technology, they can send it over wires! This is then explained to us, but thankfully, since Jam…
