Yesterday's Witness

Directed by Christian Blackwood

With Lowell Thomas, Ed Herlihy, Harry von Zell, Jack Shaindlin and Norman Alley

For the first 50 years of film history, the newsreel was a fixture in American movie theaters. From 1911 to 1967, these shorts proved an influential source of information – and misinformation – for generations of American moviegoers. Television news and public affairs programs became a great improvement over the scanty information offered by the newsreels. This documentary offers insight into a medium which has disappeared.