Irish Free State

How Ireland turned herself into a self-sufficient powerhouse - plus a study of the "lunatic fringe" in US politics.

Beautiful hills and fields on the Emerald Isle give way to smoking factories. This report looks back on 14 years of dominion status for the Irish Free State, and the industrial revolution brought about by the politician Eamon de Valera - who the film seems to support. De Valera had also engaged in an economic war with Britain - but March of Time was nothing if not a lover of controversy.

Indeed, in its second item, this magazine film gives a platform to the far-right US politician Gerald LK Smith - or at least, an actor playing him. Employing actors to deliver lines from the notable personalities of the day - no matter how dubious they might now seem - March of Time strived at all times to create dynamic characters. And here, the director Jack Glenn achieves a particularly visceral example. A third item returns to the economic theme - looking at Franklin D Roosevelt's New Deal - but not before treating the viewer to a tour of the White House.