People of the Cumberland
Encyclopedia
People of the Cumberland is a 1937
short film directed by Sidney Meyers
and Jay Leyda
and produced by Frontier Films. The film is designed to support the U.S. labor union movement and it mixes non-fiction filmmaking and dramatic re-enactions.
, where communities have experienced economic and environmental devastation created by the coal mining
industry. The introduction of the Highlander Folk School
in 1931 by educator Miles Horton and the movement to bring labor union representation to the region are shown as means of empowering the population. Efforts are made to stop the union activities with the murder of a local organizer, but eventually the union movement is able to take root with the local workforce.
filmmakers who focused on subjects relating to political and economic hardship. Frontier Films originally begin in 1931 as the New York Film and Photo League before changing its name in 1937. The collective focused on short films and disbanded in 1942 after producing its only feature-length production, Native Land.
People of the Cumberland had two directors, Sidney Meyers
and Jay Leyda
, who used the pseudonyms “Robert Stebbins” and “Eugene Hill” for their screen credit, and Elia Kazan
served as assistant director.
The film used actors to recreate the April 30, 1933, murder of Barney Graham, president of the local United Mine Workers
. Other events depicted in the film, including square dancing at the Highlander Folk School and a Fourth of July rally at La Follette, Tennessee
, used the actual residents of the Cumberland region.
dismissed it by calling it “a propaganda film–rather than a documentary...it doesn’t carry much conviction as propaganda and not much weight as a film.”
Film historian Russell Campbell, in his book Cinema Strikes Back: Radical Filmmaking in the United States 1930-1942, criticized the film's People's Front ideology and argued that "square dancing and hog calling, delightful as they are, are no substitute for serious political thinking.”
1937 in film
The year 1937 in film involved some significant events, including the Walt Disney production of the first full-length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.- Events :*April 16 - Way Out West premieres in the US....
short film directed by Sidney Meyers
Sidney Meyers
Sidney Meyers was an American film director and editor.Sidney Meyers is best known for two documentary films: The Quiet One, which he wrote and directed, and for which he was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay; and British Academy of Film and Television Arts winner The Savage Eye,...
and Jay Leyda
Jay Leyda
Jay Leyda was an American avant-garde filmmaker and film historian, noted for his work on U.S, Soviet and Chinese Cinema. His The Melville Log was a day to day compilation of documents which he had painstakingly collected on the life of Herman Melville. He was a member of the Workers Film and...
and produced by Frontier Films. The film is designed to support the U.S. labor union movement and it mixes non-fiction filmmaking and dramatic re-enactions.
Plot
The film takes place in rural TennesseeTennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
, where communities have experienced economic and environmental devastation created by the coal mining
Coal mining
The goal of coal mining is to obtain coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content, and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United States,...
industry. The introduction of the Highlander Folk School
Highlander Research and Education Center
The Highlander Research and Education Center, formerly known as the Highlander Folk School, is a social justice leadership training school and cultural center located in New Market, Tennessee. Founded in 1932 by activist Myles Horton, educator Don West, and Methodist minister James A. Dombrowski,...
in 1931 by educator Miles Horton and the movement to bring labor union representation to the region are shown as means of empowering the population. Efforts are made to stop the union activities with the murder of a local organizer, but eventually the union movement is able to take root with the local workforce.
Production
People of the Cumberland was part of a series of motion pictures created by Frontier Films, a collective of documentaryDocumentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
filmmakers who focused on subjects relating to political and economic hardship. Frontier Films originally begin in 1931 as the New York Film and Photo League before changing its name in 1937. The collective focused on short films and disbanded in 1942 after producing its only feature-length production, Native Land.
People of the Cumberland had two directors, Sidney Meyers
Sidney Meyers
Sidney Meyers was an American film director and editor.Sidney Meyers is best known for two documentary films: The Quiet One, which he wrote and directed, and for which he was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay; and British Academy of Film and Television Arts winner The Savage Eye,...
and Jay Leyda
Jay Leyda
Jay Leyda was an American avant-garde filmmaker and film historian, noted for his work on U.S, Soviet and Chinese Cinema. His The Melville Log was a day to day compilation of documents which he had painstakingly collected on the life of Herman Melville. He was a member of the Workers Film and...
, who used the pseudonyms “Robert Stebbins” and “Eugene Hill” for their screen credit, and Elia Kazan
Elia Kazan
Elia Kazan was an American director and actor, described by the New York Times as "one of the most honored and influential directors in Broadway and Hollywood history". Born in Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, to Greek parents originally from Kayseri in Anatolia, the family emigrated...
served as assistant director.
The film used actors to recreate the April 30, 1933, murder of Barney Graham, president of the local United Mine Workers
United Mine Workers
The United Mine Workers of America is a North American labor union best known for representing coal miners and coal technicians. Today, the Union also represents health care workers, truck drivers, manufacturing workers and public employees in the United States and Canada...
. Other events depicted in the film, including square dancing at the Highlander Folk School and a Fourth of July rally at La Follette, Tennessee
La Follette, Tennessee
LaFollette is a city in Campbell County, Tennessee, United States. Its population was 7,926 at the 2000 census. It is the principal city of the La Follette, Tennessee Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Campbell County, and is a component of the Knoxville-Sevierville-La Follette...
, used the actual residents of the Cumberland region.
Reception
When People of the Cumberland had its New York theatrical premiere in 1938, film critic Frank S. Nugent of The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
dismissed it by calling it “a propaganda film–rather than a documentary...it doesn’t carry much conviction as propaganda and not much weight as a film.”
Film historian Russell Campbell, in his book Cinema Strikes Back: Radical Filmmaking in the United States 1930-1942, criticized the film's People's Front ideology and argued that "square dancing and hog calling, delightful as they are, are no substitute for serious political thinking.”