Australian
Screen

an NFSA website

The Hungry Miles (1955)

play
Email a link to this page
To:
CC:
Subject:
Body:
clip Wealth and poverty

This clip chosen to be G

Clip description

This clip contrasts the wealth of the shipping industry business executives and their partners with the workers who struggle to get a larger share of the profits. In a dramatised sequence, a group of affluent people are on their way to an extravagant banquet. The voice-over narration describes them as 'human crabs that eat their kind’. Unemployed workers demonstrate in the streets during the Depression of the 1930s. Men on the wharves and union organisers band together against shipowners and the government as a parliamentarian is superimposed on the banquet scene.

Curator’s notes

by Poppy De Souza

The build-up to this scene (clip two) shows the hard times of the Depression and the waterside workers who had to battle for an income. The decadence depicted in the staged banquet scene (with shipowners played by wharfies) is deliberately caricatured to emphasise the gap between the working classes and industry. It is a good example of how propaganda constructs a political argument. The film unit never meant their films to be apolitical or neutral, and were always biased in favour of the workers – they were, after all, a workers’ film unit.

Thanks to the generosity of the rights holders, we are able to offer Wealth and poverty from the documentary The Hungry Miles as a high quality video download.

To play the downloadable video, you need QuickTime 7.0, VLC, or similar.

You must read and agree to the following terms and conditions before downloading the clip:

australianscreen is produced by the National Film and Sound Archive. By using the website you agree to comply with the terms and conditions described elsewhere on this site. The NFSA may amend the 'Conditions of Use’ from time to time without notice.

All materials on the site, including but not limited to text, video clips, audio clips, designs, logos, illustrations and still images, are protected by the Copyright Laws of Australia and international conventions.

When you access australianscreen you agree that:

  • You may retrieve materials for information only.
  • You may download materials for your personal use or for non-commercial educational purposes, but you must not publish them elsewhere or redistribute clips in any way.
  • You may embed the clip for non-commercial educational purposes including for use on a school intranet site or a school resource catalogue.
  • The National Film and Sound Archive’s permission must be sought to amend any information in the materials, unless otherwise stated in notices throughout the Site.

All other rights reserved.

ANY UNAUTHORISED USE OF MATERIAL ON THIS SITE MAY RESULT IN CIVIL AND CRIMINAL LIABILITY.

This clip is available in the following configurations:

File nameSizeQualitySuitability
hungrymi3_pr.mp4 Large: 16.4MB High Optimised for full-screen display on a fast computer.
hungrymi3_bb.mp4 Medium: 7.7MB Medium Can be displayed full screen. Also suitable for video iPods.

Right-click on the links above to download video files to your computer.

Thanks to the generosity of the rights holders, we are able to offer this clip in an embeddable format for personal or non-commercial educational use in full form on your own website or your own blog.

You must read and agree to the following terms and conditions before embedding the clip:

australianscreen is produced by the National Film and Sound Archive. By using the website you agree to comply with the terms and conditions described elsewhere on this site. The NFSA may amend the 'Conditions of Use’ from time to time without notice.

All materials on the site, including but not limited to text, video clips, audio clips, designs, logos, illustrations and still images, are protected by the Copyright Laws of Australia and international conventions.

When you access australianscreen you agree that:

  • You may retrieve materials for information only.
  • You may download materials for your personal use or for non-commercial educational purposes, but you must not publish them elsewhere or redistribute clips in any way.
  • You may embed the clip for non-commercial educational purposes including for use on a school intranet site or a school resource catalogue.
  • The National Film and Sound Archive’s permission must be sought to amend any information in the materials, unless otherwise stated in notices throughout the Site.

All other rights reserved.

ANY UNAUTHORISED USE OF MATERIAL ON THIS SITE MAY RESULT IN CIVIL AND CRIMINAL LIABILITY.

Copy and paste the following code into your own web page to embed this clip: