THIS HONORABLE COURT
THIS HONORABLE COURT
Unedited version of "This Honorable Court". Regards the history of the United States Supreme Court. Originally shot on film. Some archival footage in B&W, duly noted in segments.
THIS HONORABLE COURT
Portrait of Chief Justice JOHN MARSHALL. Color illustration of steamboat landing with thousands of bales of cotton being loaded; detail of painting showing black slaves working on docks; VO says deepening division over slavery was the next issue of the courts.
THIS HONORABLE COURT
TLS of tugboat pushing barge on Mississippi River, zoom out to LS of Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri, zoom in to old courthouse with domed roof. Shot of oil painting depicting slace auction on courthouse steps. Shot of famous oil portrait painting of DRED SCOTT. MS of PAUL DUKE inside restored Courthouse in St. Louis, narrating events of Dred Scott case. Shot of illustrations of violent conflict in Kansas Territory, and of fistfight on floor of U.S. Senate.Shot of old newspaper, front page bearing Dred Scott story. Engraving of Chief Justice ROGER TANNEY. MSs of restored judge's bench in former Supreme Court chamber. MS PAUL DUKE narrating the Court's decision that Dred Scott was legally the property of his owner, explosive aftermath of decision.
THIS HONORABLE COURT
Engraving of Civil War battle, detail shows ABRAHAM LINCOLN holding flag in middle of the fighting. MCU unidentified African-American woman discussing Lincoln's changes to Supreme Court.
THIS HONORABLE COURT
DO NOT USE Still of battaloion of Union soldiers marching toward Capitol Building in Washington, DC. Portrait still of Chief Justice ROGER TANNEY. Portrait still of Abraham Lincoln peering into camera. VO discusses Lincoln's defiance of the Court.
THIS HONORABLE COURT
MCU unidentified African-American woman discussing the need to purge U.S. of slavery as nation moved toward industrial economy.
THIS HONORABLE COURT
DO NOT USE Archival still of men standing in ditch, viewing smashed cart and dead horses. Archival photo of wounded Union Army soldiers including amputees. VO says Scott reversed by three consitututional amendments. Archival still photo of black woman standing by small rural house in middle of small fields.
THIS HONORABLE COURT
Industrial Age montage, 1900-1910s, all in B&W: Low angle MS smokestack of locomotive, billowing coal-smoke, train whistle blows. Archival MSs black and white railroad workers laying railroad ties and tracks, hammering spikes. TLS inside rubber tire factory, billows of steam blowing. MCUs light bulbs being turned in machine, woman taking finished bulbs and placing them in boxes. TLSs of large locomotive speeding past camera, speeding through town. Traveling shot along bustling Manhattan street, crowded sidewalks, pedestrians cross streets avoiding Ford Model T cars and a trolley streetcars; MS white policeman directing traffic; TLS busy intersection, white couple trying to cross road; TLS elevated train running over a tenement district. VO describes new problems of industrial economy.
THIS HONORABLE COURT
DO NOT USE Archival still of very young girl operating massive power loom in textile mill (child labor laws). Still of child laborers, male & female. VO says Congressional attempts to regulate capitalism, most courts protected business interests. Illustrations of a judicial bench, Supreme Court Justices presiding over case. VO says 14th amendment applied to corporations as persons, protection of property rights, striking down by Court of anti-discrimination acts of Congress.
THIS HONORABLE COURT
MS of unidentified African-American woman saying turn-of-century Supreme Court was unwilling to engage in debates over equality. Leads to PLESSY vs. FERGUSON (1896), "separate but equal". B&W Illustrations of railroad travel, prominent are minstrel caricatures of black passengers.
THIS HONORABLE COURT
DO NOT USE Archival still of Chief Justice MELVILLE FULLER.
THIS HONORABLE COURT
MCU unidentified black woman discussing Plessy as foundation of Jim Crow.
THIS HONORABLE COURT
Archival still of late 1800s Supreme Court Justices. Engraving portrait of Justice JOHN MARSHALL HARLAN, lone dissenter in Plessy v. Ferguson case.
THIS HONORABLE COURT
Archival B&W high angle LS from hilltop overlooking smoking industrial mill and concentrated slum area beyond; TLSs of giant smokestacks and industrial refineries. VO describes the Courts' protection of trusts and monopolies. B&W high angle LS urban canyon in Manhattan, pan down to ant-like crowds in street below. MSs of wild party, white male business tycoons dancing and carousing with scantily-clad dancing girls (1920s; Jazz Age; flappers; loose morals; celebration). MS engraved sign, New York Stock Exchange; MSs trading floor, traders waving and yelling and selling and buying; CUs traders in frenzy of activity, using telephones, dispatching messengers, writing orders. Stock Market Crash of 1929.