American Portrait

About

Tells the story of improvements and better ways of life which have come into being during the last one hundred years. The story centers around a life insurance agent as portrayed by Alan Ladd.

06:27:10:22 CU grandfather clock reads 12:00; camera pans down to woman dropped off by boyfriend wearing suit, woman tries to sneak upstairs past grandfather working at desk but trips on staircase; grandfather walks up to young woman smoking pipe; girl mockingly says to grandfather

“What are you doing up at this hour of the night?”

“What are YOU doing up?”

06:31:07:14 Horse-drawn carriage pulls up in front of camera; salesman opens up side of carriage with hand painted sign “Marvel of the Age Coal Oil Lamps”; salesman of the 1880s tries to sell woman at door a coal oil lamp, husband comes to door and stubbornly tells salesman off.

06:33:49:02 Man in late-nineteenth century suit smoking cigar.

06:34:43:15 Man rides up on horse to talk to farmer about buying life insurance; farmer angrily sands man away.

06:40:17:25 CU pocket watch with American flag carved into the cover held in disembodied hand; hand opens watch, watch reads 8:32.

06:40:30:26 CU date October 5, 1882 printed on calendar pages removed by disembodied hand to show next day.

06:40:37:14 CU date printed on calendar reads January, 2 1887.

06:40:46:00 Pages of calendar from July of 1895 blow off table.

06:40:53:28 Disembodied hand pulls away calendar page with date November 9, 1899.

Archive

Internet Archive, in Prelinger Archives

Licence or status

The Internet Archive states none for this item.

Credit

Wilding Picture Productions

Subtitles

Automatic captions

Who can watch

The archive gives no rating. Invisible Network shows it to Teens profiles and older, judged from its collection and subjects. How films are placed