Here's another of the industrial films made by Jam Handy for the Chevrolet division of General Motors. Ford had its own film-making unit, but GM farmed out the work.
Like many of the films that were by by GM, there was little in it to indicate that's it's meant to huckster the company's products. Instead, it starts by talking in general terms about how Americans make great products -- this was 1960, recall -- and then shows the evolution from the individual craftsman to a vignette about how Eli Whitney invented the assembly line. With a constant barrage of glassware and rifles, the movie is almost two-thirds over before we see anything resembling an auto part. It's another four minutes before we see a GM marque, with the script design then current for the Impala logo. This modesty, this coyness was meant to convince the audience that this wasn't about GM, but the audience; Chevrolet simply embodies the American ideal.
Like many of the films that were by by GM, there was little in it to indicate that's it's meant to huckster the company's products. Instead, it starts by talking in general terms about how Americans make great products -- this was 1960, recall -- and then shows the evolution from the individual craftsman to a vignette about how Eli Whitney invented the assembly line. With a constant barrage of glassware and rifles, the movie is almost two-thirds over before we see anything resembling an auto part. It's another four minutes before we see a GM marque, with the script design then current for the Impala logo. This modesty, this coyness was meant to convince the audience that this wasn't about GM, but the audience; Chevrolet simply embodies the American ideal.
