Watching 1935 unfold in The March of Time

If you're looking for a breezy Friday night watch, stay away. But if you have a weird obsession with how history gets repackaged, this 1935 newsreel—The March of Time, Vol. 1, No. 9—is surprisingly heavy stuff. It's probably for the nerds who spend too much time on Wikipedia at 2 AM. Everyone else? You’ll likely be bored to tears by the narrator’s booming, breathless delivery.

The whole thing starts with the Townsend plan. It’s wild to watch these old clips of people basically fighting for a $200 monthly pension. The film treats it like a national emergency. You can really feel the panic of the Great Depression era in every frame.

Then, suddenly, we’re hunting heroin smugglers in the South. It feels like a precursor to a gritty noir, maybe something you'd find in Ann Vickers, but with a much stiffer upper lip. The way the narration talks about "dope-smuggling rings" is almost comical today, but they play it so straight it hurts.

The Manchuria Segment

The segment on Japan is where things get really uncomfortable. It tries to sell "civilizing activities" in Manchuria, and you can see the propaganda machine working overtime. It’s blatant, messy, and deeply chilling to witness that kind of framing without any modern filter.

• The narrator sounds like he’s trying to win a shouting contest with his own shadow.
• The transitions are non-existent. It just cuts to the next story like a frantic radio DJ.
• The grainy footage of the smugglers is so dark you’re mostly guessing what’s happening.

It’s not as polished as the stuff in Madeleine, but it has this raw, unhinged energy. You aren't watching a movie; you're watching a relic try to tell you how to think. It doesn't quite work, which is why it’s so fascinating to watch now.

There is this one shot of a crowd listening to a speech that lingers for way too long. People just standing there, looking vaguely confused, scratching their noses. It’s those tiny, unscripted human moments that make these old newsreels worth digging up. It’s like, hey, those were real people, even if the voiceover is trying to turn them into statistics. 🎞️

It isn't a masterpiece. It isn't even really 'cinema.' It’s just history, screaming at you to pay attention. I’m not sure I’d recommend it to anyone normal, but if you like seeing the cracks in the past, it’s worth a look.