The Plow That Broke the Plains (1936)

★★★★★ · The Plow that Broke the Plains · friedrich · 2006-04-10

This is an important historical document on several levels. It shows the state of the art in the documentary and the political orientation of government civil servants of its day. It includes some of the best raw footage of the environment and agricultural practices in the American West. The soundtrack by Virgil Thomson connects the otherwise dry narration with many important themes and trends in American society. "The Plow that Broke the Plains" connects the booming World War I economy to the environmental crisis that followed. I therefore find showing this film helpful in teaching the…

★★★★★ · Dust Bowl · jtyroler · 2012-12-01

I've seen this before on TCM, but just watched it again after watching Ken Burn's "The Dust Bowl" on PBS. This was premiered in, I think, Dalhart, Texas and was not well received by many of the area residents because they didn't want to acknowledge that their farming techniques had caused this huge problem. The Dust Bowl was a man made disaster. Unfortunately, it could happen again because many farmers of the Great Plains are using water from the major aquifer that provides water for the area to grow crops that require much more water than is supplied by rainfall. At the end of Burn's…

★★★★ · This is a must see · agfsp1 · 2011-04-21

Thank you for making this available. I second the suggestion that upon seeing this you owe it to yourself to read "The Worst Hard Time" by Timothy Egan. This is an important piece of american history that is little taught, although I suppose that may be my impression growing up on the west coast. It may be well taught in the plains states. The ties in this tale to manifest destiny are clear, important, and, I believe, still relevant today. The dot-com boom, the real estate boom, you name it, we're no different today from the wheat speculators of the 20's and 30's. It's enmeshed in our…

★★★ · Yes, And?? · Spuzz · 2005-03-09

I saw the first inclination of this short last year, and refrained to put a review up, as it was ONLY part I, and it didn't really resolve anything. Well, guess what? I finally saw the whole thing, (Part II was only 2 mins?) and it STILL doesnt resolve anything. The story of the modern wheatfield is told here, from the wild west frontier where cows grazed freely, to the great migration out west, to war production, then to the dust bowl problem. Problem is, the film totally ends abruptly, with nothing to say what is being done, what the farmer has to do, or anything. This sort of has a Grapes…