Huntingdon's Hero

HUNTINGDON'S HERO is a "local talent film" made in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. The good-natured and charming HUNTINGDON'S HERO was made in the eponymous central Pennsylvania college town by Donald Newland, an itinerant filmmaker active in the 1920s through the mid-1930s, who called himself "The Consolidated Film Producers of California". He may be heard directing the action in several places during this twenty-minute movie. According to Nathan Wagoner, a Juniata College faculty member who researched the movie in depth, Newland traveled the country, shooting essentially the same movie over and over in one town after another. Local newspapers were also involved in supporting and promoting Newland's films, that (at least in this case) also featured product placements from the local furniture store, Chrysler dealer, and watering hole.