Sponsored Films

And So They Live (1940)
Sponsor: Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Production Cos.: Educational Film Institute, New York University; University of Kentucky. Directors/Producers: John Ferno, Julian Roffman. Writers: John Ferno, Edwin Locke, Julian Roffman. Music: Lee Gron. Editor: Irving Lerner. Narrators: George Tiplady, House Jamison. Transfer Note: Scanned from a 16mm print held by the Library of Congress. Running Time: 25 minutes.

Stark, realistic documentary showing poorly educated “mountain peoples” living in poverty and stricken with disease. Their solace comes in strong family bonds and the prospect of improved educational opportunities.

Note: Shot in Kentucky, the film was made in conjunction with The Children Must Learn. John Ferno had been a cameraman for Joris Ivens and Henri Storck. Irving Lerner had a lengthy career as a producer, editor, and director; see Thomas J. Brandon, “Irving Lerner: A Filmography and Bibliography,” Cinema Journal 18 (Autumn 1978): 53–60.

Resources
Association of Documentary Film Producers, Living Films: A Catalog of Documentary Films and Their Makers (New York: Association of Documentary Film Producers, 1940), 27; Educational Film Guide (New York: H.W. Wilson Co., 1949), 340; Department of Audio-Visual Instruction, National Education Association, Guide to Films in Economic Education (Washington, DC: National Education Association, ca. 1951), 2; Film Forum Review staff, “And So They Live,” in Ideas on Film, ed. Cecile Starr (New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1951), 158.