Lots of interesting footage, but what's the point?
“Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” combines newsreel footage and movie clips from the Great Depression through World War II. Written and directed by Philippe Mora, the documentary is an intriguing collection of vintage material. Some of the clips are fun, others interesting, still others downright dull, all tacked into a jumble of cultural, political, and historical images with no narration whatsoever to tie them together and nothing but chronology to help us make sense of them.<br /><br />The movie opens with a montage of period views of New York City, a cattle drive, dancing showgirls, incarcerated prisoners, subways, King Kong scenes, and numerous clips of James Cagney from assorted Warner Brothers movies, as Rudy Vallee sings the title song. A sort of anthem of Depression-era America, the song is repeated later in versions by Bing Crosby and Al Jolson. Winston Churchill, on a visit to New York, comments stoically that “we’re all under the pressure of events.” The Busby Berkeley production number “Remember My Forgotten Man” is interspersed with footage of breadlines, dance marathons, Gen. Douglas McArthur and troops confronting striking workers in Washington, D.C., and regular folks awkwardly offering their opinions about the country’s hard times.<br /><br />The documentary is rich in Hollywood celebrity appearances besides Cagney. Humphrey Bogart, Shirley Temple, James Stewart, Orson Welles, Spencer Tracy, Fredric March, Charlie Chaplin, Clark Gable, Fred Astaire, Cab Calloway, W.C. Fields, Billie Holiday, Gary Cooper, and Joan Crawford are featured in private-life moments.<br /><br />The soundtrack contains characteristic period tunes and folk songs, including “Big Rock Candy Mountain,” “Every Man a King,“ “We’re Out of the Red,” “Bei Mir Bistu Shein,” “Nobody Loves You When You’re Down and Out,” “When the Blue of the Night Meets the Gold of the Day,” and “We’re In the Money.”<br /><br />Franklin D. Roosevelt gets considerable screen time. We see him in excerpts from his first two Inaugurations, Fireside Chats, and his “Day of Infamy” declaration after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Some of his campaign speeches are also shown.<br /><br />Vintage footage of Hollywood includes Graumann’s Chinese Theatre, the famous Paramount Studios gate, and the Brown Derby Restaurant. These are contrasted with grim images of the dust bowl, J. Edgar Hoover, an account of John Dillinger’s death, and a speech by Huey Long in which he brags about his scandalous political career.<br /><br />A few of the images seem to be odd choices. Cecil B. DeMille is shown chastising a female extra at length from atop a camera crane because her hair style doesn’t match the time period of the film he’s directing. Both of Joe Louis’ fights with Max Schmeling are included although only the second match, in which he knocked Schmeling out in the first round, should have been enough.<br /><br />Other sequences go on too long, such as Al Jolson’s speech supporting the National Recovery Administration, Orson Welles talking to the press about the public reaction to his radio broadcast of “The War of the Worlds,” and a Hollywood version of a Ku Klux Klan induction juxtaposed with an actual Klan rally.<br /><br />As a time capsule, “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” is a valuable compilation of the sights, sounds, and events that shaped the nation from 1929 through World War II. Events post-World War II through the 1974 swearing in of Gerald Ford as 38th President of the United States are included in a very brief segment at the end of the film.<br /><br />A documentary should have a point of view or at least a theme. The scattershot approach in “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” is lazy. It stuffs as much footage as possible into its two-hour running time without regard to significance and relies entirely on chronology. Without narration, the movie is a stream-of-consciousness retrospective that raises more questions than it answers. Viewers may well wonder, “What’s the point?”<br /><br />Bonus materials include 26 Pathe Newsreel clips.
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 {"Genre": "Special Interests", "Format": "Anamorphic, NTSC, Widescreen", "Contributor": "Fred Astaire, Charlie Chaplin, Katharine Hepburn, James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Philippe Mora, Clarke GableFred Astaire, Charlie Chaplin, Katharine Hepburn, James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Philippe Mora, Clarke Gable   See more", "Language": "English", "Runtime": "1 hour and 43 minutes", "MPAA rating": "PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)", "Product Dimensions": "0.7 x 7.5 x 5.4 inches; 2.26 Ounces", "Director": "Philippe Mora", "Media Format": "Anamorphic, NTSC, Widescreen", "Run time": "1 hour and 43 minutes", "Release date": "October 1, 2019", "Actors": "James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Clarke Gable, Charlie Chaplin, Katharine Hepburn", "Studio": "Vci Video", "Number of discs": "1"}

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