Steel: A Symphony of Industry (1936)

★★★★★ · No Chance for injury on THIS job!! · Spuzz · 2005-06-21

Simply amazing portrait on how steel is made. After a great Russian-style-montage type beginning, (I honestly hoped that there was going to be no narration) the narration starts, and takes us step by step, to how steel is made. Although this subject has been done before to death by Jam Handy, I am quite surprised to say that this film is the best of the lot I've seen so far. Great shots of molten steel, and it's many processes. There is a curious focus on the safety of the men in this plant, which leads me to believe that this film was made for anti-union purposes. Hmmmm... That leads me to…

★★★★★ · How Steel is Made · Chipmaster · 2004-11-26

Factual short on how steel is made, all the way from iron ore to a variety of finished products. Good footage of steel making operations. The narration is typical bombastic 30's, glossing over the safety hazards of mill operations in that era. But the film is quite instructive about the essential phases of steel production, a process that is probably a complete mystery to most modern consumers of steel products. Especially since so many steel mills have disappeared from the American landscape. The three major steel making processes of the time are depicted: Bessemer converter, electric…

★★★ · Kneel to Steel: Making America Real · Dodsworth the Cat · 2023-03-13

Alas, this short started with a symphony, and an attempt to marry music to pictures, but denigrated into Alois Havrilla's usual overly-insistent narration, the kind where the script is talking directly to the viewer, but Havrilla is shouting with perfect diction. (The music vanishes altogether). The shots are excellent and the film is well-edited. Remember: steel is responsible for your standard of living. Note the animated patriotic steel glob at the end.