Beating Time

Beating Time Produced by General Electric. On the need for rapid production of defence material. Grandfather clock chiming & special effects of shadow of pendulum over spinning globe, moving in to map of Europe & covered w/ flames. “Time, there’s none to spare.” 09:25:24 Montage: two men in office; family at dinner table; radio studio; outdoor speaker & audience; FDR standing before Congress. Clock pendulum swinging & ticking. 09:25:58 Industry montage: pouring steel, welding, power lines, overview of large GE factory, superimposed w/ crowd of workers arriving or leaving. Low angle shot of heroic worker against clouds. CU lathe & man’s hands. Time clock & men. Factory shots w/ large machinery. Clock ticking. “His enemy: Time!” 09:27:04 Montage: CU alarm clock goes off & hand, man out of bed, shaving, brushing teeth; CU eggs frying, reads newspaper, CU lunch box, out door to work. 09:27:33 Montage: traffic passing, overhead shot of cars, dissolve to car park, workers enter gates past guard. 09:28:05 Int. of plant, men at lathes, Tom takes over from last shift. Huge boring mills, forming presses,l foundry & pouring castings, drop forge on steel ingot. Man forming clay. 09:29:03 Large room, draughtsmen & engineers w/ calipers & slide rule. Research scientist in laboratory. Managers confer, crowded office. New workers , medical exam; orientation lecture, training. 09:30:12 Excavation & construction work, bulldozer, blue prints, large factory. 09:30:39 Signs: Restricted areas. Aviation instruments tested, electric flying suit manufactured, turbo superchargers, planes in flight. Radio equipment assembled, Howitzers tested, portable power plants & searchlights, auxiliary turbine generators for ships, reduction gears, and turbines from crane shot. Ships launched. Montage of workers in different factories, different electrical equipment. Ticking clock. 09:33:43 Steam whistle for shift change. Heroic Tom on way home after shift. Pan over industrial area & GE factory. Low angle of Tom against sky. The End. WWII Home Front Propaganda; Military armament production; 1940s; 1941;