This 1952 black and white film about the adventures of being a long-haul truck driver was written and directed by Arthur Cohen, and narrated by Ed Herlihy. Various 1940s and 1950s semi-trucks pass the camera, with a close-up of rolling tires of the 1950s White 3000 Cabover Tractor Trailer, shown for much of the film. The driver in the cab wears a white shirt, tie, and brimmed hat (:29-:54). A view of an interstate is shown (1:02). A traffic officer directs at a downtown intersection (1:22-1:31). A New Jersey Highway 17 sign is shown (1:32). A woman with a steaming car engine flags the semi down, who uses a fire extinguisher to put it out (2:00-2:33). The camera rides parallel to the cab (2:35-2:40). A woman in a 1940s Ford convertible is out of gas on the railroad tracks. The dashboard is shown close-up. The semi pushes the car to safety just before a passenger train crosses (2:42-3:30). The car ahead of the semi is driving erratically as the driver falls asleep. The driver pulls the horn cord and the horns are shown (3:36-4:05). A car barely passes the semi before oncoming traffic. Another passing car doesn’t make it and the crash is shown. The truck driver gets out and pulls a man out. The road sign says “Drive Careful Death Rides the Curves” (4:12-4:55). The trucker illegally passes on a curve, which is recorded on a car dash video camera by a hired security service to record first-time drivers and shown to the driver (4:57-6:00). The American Trucking Associations sponsors a driving competition at a fairgrounds. A semi drives through pegs and poles spaced barely wider than the tires, and backs into a framed space to win the trophy (6:02-7:11). The sleepy driver pulls into the Reinauer Brothers Truck Stop. He writes a wake-up call time on the chalkboard at the door for bunks and showers. A line of bunk beds has one already occupied by a snoring driver. He shakes him somewhat awake and pushes the man in his underware through a “Snorers Hall” door (7:30-9:19). The semi pulls into a 50-ton scale, with the weights shown inside the office (9:38-10:07). The driver enters a diner, where the waitress also waits on drivers at the counter (10:14-12:05). The driver stops at a rotary phone booth to call the State Patrol to report a suspected truck hijacking. The uniformed Officer in his office calls the report out. Two Officers in a 1940s State Patrol car screech onto the highway and pull the truck over. The real driver is tied up in the back. The Officers handcuff the hijacker and put him in the patrol car (12:13-14:28). The driver, going down a steep hill, pumps the brakes multiple times and pulls the emergency brake but they don’t work. Ahead, school children get off a bus and cross the road. The driver chooses to drive the truck into the trees and emerges safely (15:00-16:34).
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit www.PeriscopeFilm.com
8 май 2018
