Panorama Ephemera

★★★★★ · Sentimental? · xTom · 2004-11-27

Many of these films date from the '40s and '50s. This time is often sentimentally thought of as a simpler and safer period. After watching this film, I have to wonder if this sentimental view is any more "realistic" than the clips presented in this film. Could it be that these clips and many others like them, have become the sentimental "reality"? It makes one realize just how much media shapes what we consider "reality". Just as '40s and '50s media could be considered an overly simplistic and positive representation of the world, could the media of today be considered an overly pessimistic…

★★★★★ · Wonderful clips · someguy2 · 2005-11-02

I love these old propaganda clips. They really shed light on what one should look for in modern subliminal messages. They put a lot of effort into engineering our perceptions with embarrassingly obvious ploys back then, so what must they be doing today? ('the Power of Nightmares', perhaps) Then again, conspiracy theorists will have fun looking for the REAL agenda whose subtlety is burried under these obvious ploys.. Not to spoil the 'plot' here: The clip 'You should clean up your yard and paint your house just in case theres a nuclear war.' Was this a public service to minimize firestorms, or…

★★★★★ · What a great time, what a great flick · dancestoblue · 2005-12-29

So much fun. We Americans are such a strange people, and we were such a strange people, and many of the wishes and/or fantasies of 'right behavior' of this strange people are laid out here, sewn together into a garment that surely does fit, a warm garment of laughter and pathos. Where in the world did they find all these documenteries to get all these great clips from? Who in the world laid them out, clip after clip, a montage of humor, unintentional comedy bits turned into comedy by this arrangement. I love movies, most especially independent movies, I don't like Hollywood, I don't need…

★★★★★ · The Collection Used by the Collector · Eva Vikstrom · 2007-07-26

I'm not sure that this film makes foreigners like me understand America better, but I'm quite sure that it will be increasingly valuable, because the collector himself gives hints to how films in this great collection might be used as sources to American self-knowledge.

★★★★★ · Message · barticle · 2013-07-29

Why does everything need to have a message? This is just slices of reality in American life. I am baffled by Ed Jr's remark about propaganda. Propaganda for or against what? Just watch the movie, forget opinions. Five stars for great collage work.

★★★★ · Breathtaking · FromAztlan · 2006-07-21

. . . in its scope. There is a thread here and it is the assembly-like quality of American life and the uncertainty that some Americans live with every day. Discussions are serious. People are pensive, thoughtful. There is a sense of brooding and at times a pretense of mysticism about people, land and technology. It's a jumble of thought and faces and random philosophies. A truly great film about ... life. At times bland and emotionless and at times naive and innocent. The people who populate this film were looking to Joe Dimaggio long before Simon & Garfunkel asked that monumental question.