Ford Motor Company

An animated short made for Ford.

Cliche-ridden rural/urban improbable romance concocted to promote Ford tractors.

The history of American transportation from the horse and buggys of yesteryear to the progression of the motor car.

Seminal piece of documentary filmmaking by New Wave director Karel Reisz following the daily activities of members of the Lambeth Youth club in late-1950s London.

To popularize the idea of automobile travel, Ford Motor Company produced Ford Educational Weekly, a film magazine distributed free to theaters. One 1916 series featured "Visits to American Cities." In this episode, Los Angeles is featured at the very beginning of the boom created by oil, movies and aircraft. On the occasion of its centennial in 1953, Ford donated its film to the National Archives and Records Service; this copy derives from a fine grain master printed from the Archive's preservation negative. Music by Frederick Hodges.

This short 1919 cartoon, produced by Ford Motor Company, shows a farmer Uncle Sam braining a huge rat branded with "I.W.W." (Industrial Workers of the World) before it can eat the grain.

This documentary film from the 1950s explains how the citizens of a small midwestern town restore community spirit through a 4-H club.

Ford Educational Weekly No. 164, produced by the Ford Motor Company about prefabricated houses. A new idea in house building in which the parts of the house are made in the factory, all ready to be assembled on the lot. Inspired Buster Keaton's first solo film entitled One Week, a parody borrowing events from the plot and following the narrative structure that divides the action into days of the week marked by pages falling from a calendar.

In this one-minute animated short done by Ford Motor's industrial film unit -- Ford was a major producer of films for many a decade -- Lady Liberty keeps opening the chest, revealing the name of various wartime Liberty Loan drives and good old Uncle Sam does a striptease and tossing clothes into the effort.

Women shown helping the war effort by doing jobs that at the time were traditionally associated with men.

This vintage 1926 Christmas short produced by the Ford Motor Company, a partial adaption of the classic “A Visit from Saint Nicholas” (aka: “The Night Before Christmas”), comes from the Ford Historical Film Collection and was recently digitized by our colleagues in the Motion Picture Preservation Lab.

Christmas Thoughts is a short promotional film produced by the Ford Motor Company in 1920. Distributed to Ford dealers, it aimed to encourage charitable initiatives such as the Goodfellows Clubs, which provided food and gifts to families in need during the holiday season. The story follows a group of businessmen who decide to deliver a festive meal and presents to a struggling family. The film concludes with heartwarming scenes of children meeting Santa Claus and receiving gifts, emphasizing generosity and community spirit.

History and exploration of Ford's plant in Michigan. Great historical footage of old time manufacturing of Ford cars.

The animating of an early American political cartoon.

This is the 1952 launch film for the new E100A Ford Anglia and Prefect range. Shot in 35mm, this film has some lovely shots of Ford's design studios, the factory at Dagenham, the prototypes undergoing testing, and finishes with the new cars being used by delighted families.

This short was paid for by Ford Motors in an attempt to improve the lot of the working people through advocating social services.

A documentary short on rehabilitating returning World War I veterans

This short film from the Ford Motor Company visits the islands of Hawaii in 1924. The trip covers subjects like Japanese businesses and the extensive plantations that came to dominate Hawaii. You can also see customs like the preparation of poi, canoeing, and surfing, as well as the continuous destructive and regenerative powers of volcanoes.