Watching The March of Time: A Weird, Fast-Paced History Lesson

Is this for you?

If you like old-school journalism or just have a weird obsession with how people in the 1930s thought the world worked, you’ll dig this. If you want a slow, relaxing watch, run away. This thing moves at the speed of a caffeinated squirrel.

I didn't expect to be so glued to the screen, honestly. It’s not a movie in the way Blake of Scotland Yard is a movie. It’s more like being pinned to a wall while someone explains the geopolitical tensions of the decade at 100 miles per hour.

The Voiceover is a Lot

Westbrook Van Voorhis has that booming, authoritative voice that makes every single sentence sound like the sky is falling. Everything is a crisis. Everything is a turning point.

I found myself laughing when he’d pivot from a serious political discussion to some dramatic reenactment that looked like it was filmed in a backyard. The tonal whiplash is real.

Oddly Specific Details

• The reenactments have that stiff, stagey quality that makes them feel way more surreal than the actual news footage.
• Basil Zaharoff pops up, and the way the film treats him is just... intense. It’s like they’re trying to build a myth in about three minutes flat.
• Huey Long shows up too. The editing on his segment is so choppy it almost feels like a modern TikTok edit. Someone clearly had a lot of film and no patience.

It makes you realize how much of 'history' we consume is just a collection of curated clips. It reminds me a bit of the frantic energy found in Streets of Algiers, just with more suits and fewer shadows.

Final Thoughts (or whatever)

The whole thing is barely long enough to finish a bag of chips. It doesn’t try to be deep or academic, which is exactly why it works. It just shows you stuff, yells at you for a bit, and then kicks you out the door.

Is it a masterpiece? No. Is it weirdly addictive? Yeah, kind of. It’s a messy, loud, and surprisingly honest look at a time that felt like it was constantly on the verge of exploding. 📽️