An introduction of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Washington DC. A reenactment of FBI agents during prohibition fighting against gangster criminals on the streets. Reenactment of the famous Kansas City Massacre. Next, newsreel scenes shows the Lindbergh baby with his mother. Lindbergh murder trial in session in 1932. Bruno Richard Hauptmann in a court and view of FBI commission under Hoover in session. Reenactment shows FBI agents firing at John Dillinger on a street and behind cars. Also reenactments of FBI agents firing at Baby Face Nelson, capture of Machine Gun Kelly, and a shootout with Pretty Boy Floyd.
Famous passengers aboard ocean liner SS Manhattan (later USS Wakefield during World War II) in the United States. Flashbacks show the USS Manhattan being christened by Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt on 5th December 1931. It is seen being launched from New York Shipbuilding Corporation in Camden New Jersey. View of maiden voyage on 10th August 1932, with passengers boarding the ship. It leaves a port for her first trip to Ireland, England, Germany and France. Couples dance aboard the deck of the SS Manhattan. Passengers including Babe Ruth, Jimmy Walker, Glenn Cunningham, and aviator Douglas Corrigan ("Wrong Way Corrigan") seen aboard the ship.
A crowd of many thousands of Germans, including Communists and National Socialists (Nazis) demonstrating against one another, on May 1st, 1932, in the Lustgarten, Berlin, Germany. Police have difficulty keeping the groups from rioting. Glimpse of Adolf Hitler making an impassioned speech in the tumult. Various views of the densely packed crowd. Scene shifts abruptly to a Nazi rally at Zeppeiin Field in Nuremberg, where thousands of Nazi SA Stormtroopers (Sturmabteilung) render Nazi salutes. Another shift of scene shows a German Youth rally for workers and the Führer being held in a city square.
Berlin citizens are seen on an ordinary day in Berlin, Germany. People, cars, and a horse drawn wagon on a street in front of a park. A Berlin policeman is among the pedestrians. View of the Berlin Cathedral (Berliner Dom) on on Museum Island in the Mitte borough. Pigeons flying all about the dome. A newspaper being printed on a belt-driven press. Two men hawking numerous newspapers and magazines at a newsstand. A woman looking at a publication, nest to a display containing womens' magazines, including The Saturday Evening Post (September 24, 1932 edition) and Vogue, among others. A busy intersection with cars, a bus, cyclists, and pedestrians.
Film begins showing a waterfront Ford Motor Company factory viewed from a boat (unseen) moving past it A large freighter ship is seen nearby, with the name "Runstroom" on her bow. Closeup of waterfront crane and nearby flag labeled "Ford." Scene shifts to factory with sign on top in Dutch reading: "Nederlandsche Ford Automobiel fabriek" (Netherlands Ford automobile factory). Location shifts to cars driving on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, near the Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile. One appears to be a 1932 Ford Roadster. heading toward the camera. Scene shifts to a large barge on a river, viewed from an overlooking domed structure. The next scene shows a European farmyard and horses with sheep circling around a Ford roadster. The remainder of the film shows Ford plants in the U.S. and abroad.
Momentary opening scene shows a modern building on a rugged dirt road in low mountainous terrain. Two new Ford cars are passing in front of the building and , in the background, three more are traveling rapidly downhill on the dirt road towards the building. Several persons are standing in front of the building, watching the cars speed past. (Note: Because it is only about one frame, this scene is visible only in the first still photo accompanying this video.) Next, a man is seen riding a burro along the roadside, as the three cars coming downhill approach him. The scene shifts to a 1932 Ford Roadster climbing the dirt road now running uphill along the side of a mountain. It is followed closely by a sedan.