"The Panic Is On" DVD and CD on The Great Depression

[filfoster]

Anyone else have "The Panic Is On", the DVD and CD compilation by 'Shanachie.com'? Just got it after an Amazon search for 'Depression movies' and it captures an essence of the era, especially the CD. What great selections! Mind, I am grateful my judgement of 'an essence' is based on reading and my grandparents' and mother's stories, not first-hand experience!

So much humor, dark as it was, in the music! The sound quality was very good. I may have to get some Bessie Smith recordings, and Hezekiah Jenkins too.

The DVD's are mostly newsreel or 'propoganda' footage but very evocative and great pictures of 'everyman's clothing. The two "Mr. Zero" reels are a hoot. The guy was real but whoever really had that diction? Wow.

 

[filfoster]

The Panic is no picnic

While the set describe above is a 'documentary', there are also great movies that have become part of our cultural view of this time: "The Grapes of Wrath" being probably the best known and there are a dozen or so gangster movies that everyone knows.
The fun of the 'Panic' set is that you can take a 10 minute 'bite' of the DVD or CD and still enjoy it without committing to an hour or so of drama.

Anyone else seen any documentary movies of the Depression that aren't too
'classroom'? Riding the Rails is often mentioned but I haven't seen it.