General Hugh L. Scott seated on a chair demonstrates Indian sign language. General demonstrates sign Froze-to-Death-Creek, for eleven crows who perished there long ago.
Film opens with bongo drummer playing and other Cuban musicians playing instruments while dancers in fetching costumes dance and enjoy themselves. Scene shifts to view from water of Havana skyline and then to automobile traffic on a busy street in a commercial district of the city. A Busy street crowded with pedestrians on sidewalks. Cuban workers leaving an industrial plant at shift end. Smoke pouring from three tall smoke stacks in background. Large machines employed in a factory. A construction worker in the cab of earth moving equipment. A field worker rotating a long wooden boom by hand. Men cutting sugar cane with machetes. A farmer opening gate to allow water into an irrigation network. View of water rushing into the irrigation ditches and entering the area of crops. A farmer using cattle to pull his plow. Cattle entering a stockyard. Shoppers at an open-air market filled with all kinds of fruits, vegetables and other agricultural products. Families of poorer people in rural areas outside of Havana. They live in shacks ahd are photographed with their small children. Next, two uniformed members of the Cuban National Police (Policia Nacional de Cuba) are seen. (The narrator mentions that Cuban people lived for 60 years under a succession of corrupt and often dictatorial leaders.) View of men in a line being monitored by a National policeman. Fulgencio Batista y ZaldÃvar is seen next to his wife, Marta Fernández Miranda, as they cast ballots in the 1952 Presidential election. Glimpse of several Cuban National Police lined up looking over a wall. Next, members of Fidel Castro's resistance movement are seen silhouetted against the sky, as they walk, carrying arms, in the mountain regions of Cuba. Fidel, himself is silhouetted as his men walk past him. Views of Castro's men moving through the rugged mountain terrain as shots are being fired. The combat becomes more intense. The views are from the Castro forces as they engage in fire fights with Batista forces (unseen). Machine guns are heard, and an explosion occurs. More views of the Castro forces using a machine gun and small arms. Scene shifts to a public square in Havana as it fills with people celebrating the downfall of Batista on 1s of January, 1959. Crowds surround Fidel Castro as he arrives in Havana. The crowds cheer him wildly. as the hero, and liberator of the Cuban people. Castro addresses the crowds from a balcony, promising them elections, land reform,freedom and the rights guaranteed under the Cuban Constitution of 1940. Glimpse of a copy of that document. View of Manuel Urrutia raising his hands to acknowledge the crowd, when he was named President on January 3rd, 1959. Fidel Castro arriving in New York City and greeted as a Cuban Nationalist hero. Castro waving to crowds of admirers. In Washington,DC, he is seen placing a memorial wreath at the Statue of Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln memorial. Castro speaking at a press conference in Washington,DC. Speaking from a podium, in English, he states emphatically that he is not a communist. Castro is seen later, back in Havana at a large political gathering, where he and Che Guevara along with other revolutionaries, engage others in publicly broadcast discussions and debates. A barefoot boy is brought into the center of the proceedings, where he points an accusing finger toward someone (not clear who that person is). View inside a newspaper printing plant, as Narrator states Castro began attacks on the Press resulting in the demise of the Free Press, and its takeover by government run newspaper "HOY." View of Hoy sign in front of a newspaper building. Communist propaganda seen dominating papers and magazines at a news stand. Small bust of Lenin seen for sale.
Hotel Riviera in Havana. The staff at the hotel entrance. Hotel Capri. The deserted reception. Prime Minister Fidel Castro hosts his own television program called 'The Television World Asks'. Castro looks at a passport. He speaks over a microphone, points to a paper, makes long speeches. Evidence of sabotage on the table. The audience. Castro seated at the table. He responds to people's questions. He launches an attack on the Spanish ambassador. The ambassador reaches the studio and accuses Castro of slandering. Castro's men try to control him. Castro orders the ambassador out of Cuba. Castro's supporters follow the ambassador and shout slogans against him. People demonstrate with banners and boards. The Government takes control of all media and implements censorship. Workers inside a printing press. The Radio Continental building. The Ministry of Labor takes over the nation's tobacco and cigarette industry. The Cuban flag hung from a building. Cuba's Farm Minister arrives at an airport to meet Communist leaders. A large crowd gathered. Reporters take down notes. A man and a woman look at a fruit. A photographer clicks pictures. Women in a market. Women pack cartons. Sergei Kudryatsev chosen as the new Soviet Ambassador to Cuba. Czechoslovakian, Polish, Chinese and other Communist delegations in Cuba. They survey a housing complex under construction, and visit factories and industries.
September 1960: Fidel Castro disembarks from an airplane at New York airport, surrounded with people. He gets into car and departs. A small group of people greets him from behind the fences. Castro stops to meet them but New York police men stop him for security reasons and he goes. Prime communist leader of Soviet Union Nikita Khrushchev arrives at a hotel to meet Castro. Castro welcomes Nikita as his car arrives down town, at hotel, on street. The United Nation's meeting spot building. Castro arrives at the 15th meeting of the United Nation's General Assembly. He comes forward for speech. He gives the longest speech in general assembly of the United Nations meeting, 4 hour long speech. Fredrick Henry Boland, President of the General Assembly interrupts him when he attacks the United States Presidential Candidates. Castro supports soviet ideology and Chinese admission to the UN. Fidel Castro meets Nikita Khrushchev. Nikita embraces Castro.
Eastbound I-278 in Staten Island New York City. Eastbound Staten Island (Clove Lakes) Expressway. POV through windshield of car driving as overhead direction signs read 'Kennedy Airport' and 'Brooklyn Queens Expressway/Long Island Expressway/Manhattan'. Vehicles approach toll plaza and cross Verrazzano Narrows Bridge into Brooklyn. Vehicles passing under the tower arches of the bridge. Vehicles pass Shore (Belt) Pkwy connectors, onto Gowanus Expressway. Excellent views of bridge towers and views of Brooklyn.
A map of Connecticut, on which Director Bert Schnikel points regional centers such as Hartford, New Haven and the Seaside Regional Center Waterford, on the Long Island Sound. Mr Fred F Finn, Director of Seaside Center points out the importance of family in a mentally disabled person's life. Volunteers take care of children. A volunteer helps a girl to take medicine. The volunteer strokes the face of the child. And the child makes faces. Children play outside on a tractor ride. People get into a car and the car drives away. Mentally disabled children from Mansfield and Southbury come to "Seaside Regional Center for the Mentally Retarded" to prepare for community life. A boy puts on a television and sits down to watch it. A woman hands things to a girl. Volunteers help children to walk. A mentally disabled girl holds a book in her hands. A postcard sent by a normal sibling of a mentally disabled boy. Children play in snow. A boy sits on a seat while a man bends. A mentally disabled boy plays with his brothers. A couple talks about their mentally disabled child while he sits nearby.
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