Ralph Metcalfe

Every year, top athletes set new world records. But are today’s record holders really better than those of the past? Or do modern athletes get their edge from their high tech gear? Top sports scientist Steve Haake sets off on a journey to investigate. He travels to Canada, the USA, and Germany to meet five champions. Each athlete demonstrates how their modern training and equipment enhances their performance, and then Steve challenges them to compete against a legendary athlete using old-school vintage gear. Each experimental matchup has a surprising result.

Starting with a long and lyrical overture, evoking the origins of the Olympic Games in ancient Greece, Riefenstahl covers twenty-one athletic events in the first half of this two-part love letter to the human body and spirit, culminating with the marathon, where Jesse Owens became the first track and field athlete to win four gold medals in a single Olympics.

The mass murder of Jewish people by the Nazi regime is chronicled, with a warning that anti-Semitism is on the rise and the events of the Holocaust could happen again. The history of European Jewish culture and events before and during the Holocaust are seen in newsreels, photographs, and animated segments. The words of the victims of the era are read, and footage from the liberation os a concentration camp is shown.

U.S. Army training film about avoiding venereal disease, intended primarily for Black servicemen.

"This unfinished civil rights-era film details how segregation affects the daily lives of African Americans, and includes portions of interviews with James Farmer, Roy Wilkins, Whitney Young, and Ralph Metcalfe. Farmer, Wilkins, and Young were considered to be among the “Big Four” leaders in the U.S. civil rights movement, along with Martin Luther King, Jr. The film also describes the strides and challenges faced by African Americans in the areas of voting, housing, and education. The film was written by Louis Lomax, produced by Willard Van Dyke, directed by Graeme Ferguson, and narrated by Charles Gordone" (US National Archives).