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Frontiers of the Future (A Screen Editorial With Lowell Thomas)

19379 min 57 sec35 shots

In this 1937 film, Lowell Thomas asks where Americans can find opportunity after the nation’s geographic frontiers have closed, then identifies industrial research and invention as the new frontiers. Scenes of oil fields, laboratories, farms, factories, and manufactured goods accompany accounts of how petroleum, chemicals, cotton, coal, and other materials can become useful products. The film connects each successful product with the creation of industries, jobs, and payrolls.

Much of the discussion centers on chemistry and its possible effects on transportation, agriculture, clothing, food, housing, and health. Thomas lists plastics, synthetic fibers, television, unbreakable lenses, soil-free farming, and other new or experimental products, mixing existing developments with speculative forecasts. He closes by calling industrial scientists and engineers modern pioneers and urging viewers to look toward continued technological progress rather than accept pessimism about America’s future.

Provenance and rights

Original producer: Audio Productions, Inc. in collaboration with National Industrial Council
Collection: Prelinger Archives
Original title: Frontiers of the Future (A Screen Editorial With Lowell Thomas)
Date: 1937
Original link: Open on Internet Archive
Rights: public_domain