A group of 30 production stills from Pare Lorentz's The River. Silver prints, the images measuring 190.5x244.5 mm; 7 1/2x9 5/8 inches, and slightly smaller, and the reverse, the sheets slightly larger, an additional print measuring 95.2x120.7 mm; 3 3/4x4 3/4 inches, the sheet slightly larger, most with a "Scene from 'The River,' U.S. Government documentary film produced by the Farm Security Administration" hand stamp and a numeric notation, in pencil, in an unknown hand, and one with a typed caption label, on verso. 1938.
WITH--Pare Lorentz. The River, A National Drama in Pictures and Sound. With numerous reproductions from the film, including some of the images included in the set offered here. 4to, blue boards; dust jacket, worn. New York: Stackpole Sons, (1938).
This 1938 film chronicles the Mississippi River and its tributaries, documenting both the grit and determination to harness the massive river's power and strength, but also its destructive force and the unsustainable agricultural and logging practices that led to flooding and financial ruin. The film was funded by the Farm Security Administration, and received wide distribution. Pare Lorentz wrote and directed the film, with a score by Virgil Thomson. The companion book by the same name was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in poetry the year it was published.
