Sponsored Films

Edit Screening room Printable film description

Decision for Chemistry (1953)

Download a copy of the film

Film Description

Decision for Chemistry (1953)
 Sponsor: Monsanto Chemical Co. Production Co.: MPO Productions Inc. Director: Sidney Meyers. Writer: Burton J. Rowles. Camera: Michael Nebbia. Music: Alex North. Transfer Note: Scanned from a 16mm print held by the Library of Congress. Running Time: 36 minutes.

Film surveying the role of chemistry in American life and the central role of the people, products, and plants of Monsanto. Intended for nontheatrical use and broadcast, Decision for Chemistry is structured around questions asked by a young boy.

Note: Also released in 33-minute nontheatrical and 28-minute television versions. A 16-minute version was shown in 1954 on NBC’s Omnibus. The film was selected as one of 20 contemporary American documentaries to be shown at New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 1954. Sidney Meyers also directed the acclaimed documentary The Quiet One.

Resources
“Audiences Decide for Monsanto,” Business Screen 15, no. 1 (1954): 130; S.P., “The American Scene,” New York Times, Feb. 7, 1954, SM20; Mildred Weiler, “Monsanto’s 50 Films Soft-Pedal and Sell,” Industrial Marketing (Mar. 1956): 92–96.