Film of the 1930s and the Automobile

The following three images are from on of my favorite films, The Crowd Roars (1932)




From Burn Em Up Barnes

Filming on the Race Track and Soundstage


Filming the automobile in motion during the 1930s was much less involved than it is today, primarily because many of the scenes featuring cars were produced on a sound stage. One of the most interesting films dealing with auto racing during the 1930s was “The Crowd Roars” (1932), directed by Howard Hawks and starring James Cagney. Hawks, who had a personal interest in auto racing at that time, shot a number of remarkable racing scenes at Ascot Park in California and Indianapolis. Duesenbergs, Millers, and modified Ford speedsters are featured in this film about two brothers, a faithful friend, their women (played by Ann Dvorak and Joan Blondell), a fiery accident, fear, and redemption. “The Crowd Roars” provides a rare glimpse into the world of racing and the cars of the 1930s. According to one recent reviewer, footage from “The Crowd Roars” was removed and inserted in a later Warner Brothers film, Indianapolis Speedway (1939). Later, when the footage was reinserted, it contained some 1939 scenes, and so automobiles, racing announcers and the ambulance were not in the original version. Despite its weak plot and at times cheesy acting, this film contains an important historical record, including scenes with Indy winners Billy Arnold, Fred Frame, and Lou Schneider.47
The serial was part and parcel of American moviegoers during the Depression era, and one serial adventure that prominently featured racing cars and automobiles was the 1934 “Burn ‘Em Up Barnes.” It starred Jack Mulhall, Frankie Darro, Lola Lane and a host of evil characters that included Jason Robards Sr. Viewers watched 12 episodes filled with crashes, chases, races, and treachery, as two capitalists and their henchmen attempt to swindle “our” heroes out of land that contains a bonanza of oil underneath it.48 The 1930s brought out not only the best in Americans, but also the worst, if this film is at all a true reflection of everyday life and human motives and needs.
One immensely powerful film about the American automobile that was not seen in the local cinema during the 1930s was Master Hands (1936). Produced by the Jam Handy Organization, a firm that specialized in corporate-funded public relations, Master Hands used innovative cinematography similar to that in much more famous Leni Reifenstahl’s Triumph of the Will to portray the men and machines that made quality Chevrolets in Flint, Michigan. Opening with a score by Richard Wagner’s Die Walküre, it contained little narrative and many powerful images. After viewing this film, the question is “which was more important, the hands of factory workers or the machines which they work with?” The human beings in this film are portrayed as intense and almost devoid of emotions, like the machines they are charged to operate. Scenes from the foundry as fiery, molten metal is being poured into sand molds to cast engine blocks are both stunning and a reminder of the harsh work environment that many automobile workers faced back in those days. Master Hands is perhaps the single best example of cinematography depicting what assembly line work was like in the era before World War II.49

Filming the automobile in motion during the 1930s was much less involved than it is today, primarily because many of the scenes featuring cars were produced on a sound stage. One of the most interesting films dealing with auto racing during the 1930s was “The Crowd Roars” (1932), directed by Howard Hawks and starring James Cagney. Hawks, who had a personal interest in auto racing at that time, shot a number of remarkable racing scenes at Ascot Park in California and Indianapolis. Duesenbergs, Millers, and modified Ford speedsters are featured in this film about two brothers, a faithful friend, their women (played by Ann Dvorak and Joan Blondell), a fiery accident, fear, and redemption. “The Crowd Roars” provides a rare glimpse into the world of racing and the cars of the 1930s. According to one recent reviewer, footage from “The Crowd Roars” was removed and inserted in a later Warner Brothers film, Indianapolis Speedway (1939). Later, when the footage was reinserted, it contained some 1939 scenes, and so automobiles, racing announcers and the ambulance were not in the original version. Despite its weak plot and at times cheesy acting, this film contains an important historical record, including scenes with Indy winners Billy Arnold, Fred Frame, and Lou Schneider.47
The serial was part and parcel of American moviegoers during the Depression era, and one serial adventure that prominently featured racing cars and automobiles was the 1934 “Burn ‘Em Up Barnes.” It starred Jack Mulhall, Frankie Darro, Lola Lane and a host of evil characters that included Jason Robards Sr. Viewers watched 12 episodes filled with crashes, chases, races, and treachery, as two capitalists and their henchmen attempt to swindle “our” heroes out of land that contains a bonanza of oil underneath it.48 The 1930s brought out not only the best in Americans, but also the worst, if this film is at all a true reflection of everyday life and human motives and needs.
One immensely powerful film about the American automobile that was not seen in the local cinema during the 1930s was Master Hands (1936). Produced by the Jam Handy Organization, a firm that specialized in corporate-funded public relations, Master Hands used innovative cinematography similar to that in much more famous Leni Reifenstahl’s Triumph of the Will to portray the men and machines that made quality Chevrolets in Flint, Michigan. Opening with a score by Richard Wagner’s Die Walküre, it contained little narrative and many powerful images. After viewing this film, the question is “which was more important, the hands of factory workers or the machines which they work with?” The human beings in this film are portrayed as intense and almost devoid of emotions, like the machines they are charged to operate. Scenes from the foundry as fiery, molten metal is being poured into sand molds to cast engine blocks are both stunning and a reminder of the harsh work environment that many automobile workers faced back in those days. Master Hands is perhaps the single best example of cinematography depicting what assembly line work was like in the era before World War II.49