The best Pete Smith’s documentary movies
If you love cinema, you will share this ranking of the best Pete Smith’s movies, although you may have ordered them differently. In any case, we hope you love it and with a little luck discovering a movie that you still don’t know about Pete Smith.
The Tree in a Test Tube
4.6/10
Stan and Ollie are stopped by narrator Pete Smith for the purpose of showing the audience how much wood and wood by-products the average person carries. Stan and Ollie then begin to open their pockets and briefcase, pulling out a variety of things that derive from the tree. The narrator talks all the way through this short film (about 7 minutes long). The idea is that scientists can put everything that comes from the tree into one test tube.
Weather Wizards
6.3/10
Modern meteorology and a hard-working government weather team put their science and organization to work as a cold front moves from Alaska toward the citrus groves of Southern California. First, the scientists predict the storm's course, giving several days' warning to farmers and growers. The growers, typified by the Morgan family, prepare the oil-burning pots throughout their grove. Then, as the temperature dips below freezing, they light the pots. The cold snap continues as oil-supplies dwindle; the smoky air slows traffic, including trucks bringing more oil. The scientists strive to predict how long freezing temperatures will last: can the Morgans hold out?
Ice Aces
6.3/10
This Pete Smith Specialty short provides a behind-the-scenes look at the Ice Capades practices with ice skating favorites of the time.
Swing High
6.6/10
The Flying Codonas, fourth generation of a family of trapeze artists, practice and perform amazing feats high in the air. Close-up and slow motion photography show how it's done.
Strikes and Spares
6.2/10
This short features professional bowler Andy Varipapa. He first shows the correct way to grip a bowling ball and the proper form for delivering the ball down the alley. He then performs several trick shots.
Fancy Answers
6.1/10
In this Pete Smith Speciality, the audience is asked a series of multiple-choice questions on various subjects.
The Story of the Jonker Diamond
6/10
Re-enactment of how the 726-carat Jonker diamond was discovered in South Africa in 1905 by the family of Jacobus Jonker; how it was sold to Harry Winston; and how it was cut by Lazarre Kaplan.
Snow Birds
6.1/10
This Pete Smith Sports Champion short visits Southern California where it quickly moves from orange orchards to the mountain snow playground at Big Pines L.A. County Camp for some winter sports including sledding, skating, and ski jumping.
Romance of Radium
6.2/10
This short film tells the story of the discovery of radium and how it is used in medicine.
Quicker'n a Wink
7.1/10
In this Pete Smith Specialty short, Dr. Harold E. Edgerton demonstrates stroboscopic photography, which he helped develop. This process allows us to see in slow motion what happens during events that occur too fast to be seen by the naked eye. Examples shown here include a bullet in flight as it shatters a light bulb, the moment of impact when a kicker kicks a football, and the motion of a hummingbird's wings as it hovers.
Water Trix
6/10
In this Pete Smith Specialty, cameraman Charles T. Trego films water skiing champion Preston Petersen, as he and two unnamed female skiers perform various tricks and feats of skill in their sport.
Lions on the Loose
5.9/10
In this Pete Smith Specialty short, two lion cubs escape from the zoo and go on an adventure.
Audioscopiks
5.7/10
After the audience is instructed how to use the 3-D glasses they received, demonstrations of three-dimensional films are presented. Various objects move towards the camera, including a ladder being shoved out a window, the slide on a trombone, a woman on a swing, and a thrown baseball.
Color Scales
5.9/10
This short film shows various species of tropical fish at the Steinhart Aquarium in San Francisco, California.
Harnessed Rhythm
6.1/10
This Sports Parade series entry follows the life of Dixie Dan, a harness racehorse, from birth through age three.
Hollywood Scout
5.7/10
This short film focuses on a day in the life of a Hollywood talent scout assigned to cast animals.
Treasures from Trash
5.8/10
This short film presents an unusual Beverly Hills store called the Patio Shop, where trash is turned into art.
Marines in the Making
5.7/10
This short film shows U.S. Marines in training at a number of unidentified bases, with a focus on hand-to-hand combat.
Roping Wild Bears
5.9/10
Wild bears that bother livestock are captured with ropes and shipped to zoos.
