Comprised of eight unrelated episodes of inconsistent quality, this anthology piece of American propaganda features some of MGM Studios' best directors, screenwriters and actors; it is narrated by Louis Calhern.
The story, told in eight episodes, covers different facets of the American Spirit, from racial and religious tolerance to the dangers of self-centeredness and myopic reasoning. The parables represent a broad cross-section of the American experience: the elderly woman whose pride is injured when she's forgotten in the latest census; the novice minister more pleased with the sound of his own voice than with the needs of his congregation; the mother who confronts the illogic of racial intolerance when she meets the best friend of the son she lost to war; and the enigma that is Texas. Episode titles are: 1) Interruptions, Interruptions; 2) Census Taker; 3) Negro Story; 4) Rosika, the Rose; 5) Letter from Korea; 6) Lone Star; (7) Minister in Washington; 8) Four Eyes; a further episode, titled Load, directed by Anthony Mann, with 'Jean Hersholt' (q.v.) and 'Ann Harding' (q.v.), was filmed but deleted.—Chris Stone <[email protected]>
Eight separate stories on the theme of diversity in America and what it means to be American are told. In episode one which takes place on a New York departing cross-country passenger train, one passenger who wants to chat won't leave another passenger alone, the second man who just wants to sit in peace to read. A question the reader asks in response to the first man leads to that first man truly thinking about the general pleasantries which he spouts so easily about America. In episode two which takes place in Boston, elderly Irish-American Mrs. Brian Patrick Riordan, all alone in the world, reads a rather innocuous story in The Morning Post newspaper, the story which nonetheless makes her feel excluded as an American. She makes her displeasure known to the newspaper's managing editor Mr. Callaghan. Callaghan takes steps solely to placate her and make her go away, but which end up taking a life of their own in truly addressing her concerns. In episode three, a roll call of distinguished black Americans is presented. In episode four, a story of race relations is told in that Hungarian-American Rosa Szabo, a secretarial student, meets and falls mutually in love with Icarus Xenophon, a Greco-American ice cream parlor owner, the two who want to get married. She knows a problem will be her pepper growing/paprika manufacturing father, Stefan Szabo, who views only Hungarians as good enough husband material for any of his six beautiful daughters, with the Greeks being on the bottom rung of the ladder. In episode five, Sergeant Maxie Klein, a newly decommissioned Korean War veteran, decides to stop in to see Mrs. Wrenley, the mother of Jack Wrenley, his best friend in the army, he who died of his injuries sustained in battle, to pass along some words in a letter Jack wrote to him, the last letter Jack ever wrote. Mrs. Wrenley's view of her visitor changes over the course of their short encounter. In episode six, an off screen narrator speaking of Texas is interrupted by a Texas cowboy, who gives his Texan-centric view of Texas and Texans in comparison to other Americans. In episode seven, young Reverend Adam Burch has been hired for the summer to preside over the church that the President attends when he's in the nation's capitol. In carrying out his duties, Burch feels he has to preach of messages related to and concerning the President, forgetting the reasons that congregants in general attend church, including the President. And in episode eight, Miss Coleman, an elementary school teacher, notices that one of her students, Joey Esposito, probably needs glasses. His Italian-American immigrant father Joe Esposito's old world view that no one in his family will ever need to wear glasses, he fearing the taunt of four eyes or sissy, may lead to tragic consequences.—Huggo
