Checking in on the 1930s with The March of Time

Is it worth your time?

Honestly? Only if you like history or those old-school, fast-talking newsreels they played before movies. If you want a slow, relaxing night in, skip this. If you enjoy seeing how people used to narrate the world like it was a horse race, you will dig it.

The pacing is absolutely relentless. They cram three massive topics into a tiny runtime. It feels less like a documentary and more like a fever dream of headlines. 🤯

The Dental Segment

The stuff about the new painless dentistry is genuinely funny. I mean, they act like it’s the greatest discovery in human history. The music swells up so hard during a scene about a drill, you’d think they were capturing the moon landing. It's so earnest it hurts.

Compare this to the gritty, quiet tension in The Silent Partner, and you realize just how much these old shorts wanted to yell at you. They don't want you to think; they want you to believe.

The Rest of the Mess

The segment on Father Divine is the most interesting part, even if it feels rushed. They treat it with this weird mix of fascination and confusion. It’s hard to tell if the filmmakers even understood what they were filming, but they kept the camera rolling anyway.

It’s not as well-put-together as The Good Provider, which actually lets a moment breathe. Here, the narrator just keeps going. He never stops for air. I felt tired just listening to him.

• That narrator voice—it's like he's trying to win an argument with a wall.
• The transition between Soviet factories and a dental office is pure chaos.
• The footage of the crowds is surprisingly sharp for the age.

It’s a strange little time capsule. It doesn't have the artistic weight of something like Der Berg des Schicksals, but it’s got a weird, frantic energy that’s hard to look away from.

Maybe watch it while eating dinner. Don't think about it too much. Just let the old-timey announcer yell at you for a bit and then move on. 🎞️