BOOTLEG FILES 826: “The River” (1937 documentary produced by FDR’s Farm Security Administration).

LAST SEEN: On various Internet sites.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: In collections of public domain documentaries.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: A lapsed copyright.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: A 4K restored version would be wonderful.

In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal policies brought forth the Resettlement Administration, a federal agency designed to assist the nation’s financially struggling rural communities. By this point in the Roosevelt presidency, there were a growing number of critics who argued the New Deal programs were using taxpayer funds to finance lofty socialist endeavors.
Continue reading →