{{for|the song by Paul Robeson titled "Native Land"|Wide is My Motherland}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2026}} {{Infobox film | name = Native Land | image =
| caption = | director = Leo Hurwitz<br>Paul Strand | writer = Leo Hurwitz<br>Ben Maddow | producer = Leo Hurwitz | starring = Paul Robeson (Narrator/Vocalist)<br>Fred Johnson | cinematography = Paul Strand | editing = Lionel Berman<br>Leo Hurwitz<br>Bob Stebbins | music = Marc Blitzstein | studio = Frontier Films | distributor = Frontier Films | released = {{Film date|1942|05|11|df=yes}} | runtime = 79 minutes | country = United States | language = English }} '''''Native Land''''' is a 1942 docudrama film directed by Leo Hurwitz and Paul Strand.<ref>Grant, Barry Keith and Jim Hillier. ''BFI Screen Guides: 100 Documentary Films'', Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009. pp. 147–148.</ref>
==Synopsis== A combination of a documentary format and staged reenactments (influenced by the cinematic works of Sergei Eisenstein and Aleksandr Dovzhenko), the independently produced film depicted the struggle of trade unions against union-busting corporations, their spies and contractors. It was based on the 1938 report of the La Follette Committee's investigation of the repression of labor organizing.<ref>[https://www.criterion.com/films/814-native-land The Criterion Collection]</ref><ref>[https://leohurwitz.com/movie/native-land/ Leo Hurwitz]</ref>
Famous African-American singer, actor and activist Paul Robeson participated as an off-screen narrator and vocalist.<ref>[https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2007/dvd/paul-robeson-portraits/ Paul Robeson: Portraits of the Artist (Criterion) – Senses of Cinema]</ref><ref>[https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/26485/paul-robeson-portraits-of-the-artist-criterion-collection/?___rd=1 Paul Robeson: Portraits of the Artist - Criterion Collection - DVD Talk]</ref>
==Cast== * Paul Robeson as Narrator and vocalist (voice) * Fred Johnson as Fred Hill, a farmer * Mary George as Hill's wife * John Rennick as Hill's son * Amelia Romano as Window scrubber * Houseley Stevenson as White sharecropper * Louis Grant as Black sharecropper * James Hanney as Mack, Union president * Howard Da Silva as Jim, an informer * Art Smith as Harry Carlyle * John Marley as Thug with crowbar
==Legacy==
===Restoration and re-release=== A restored version of the film was released in 2011. The film was restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive, funded by the Packard Humanities Institute.<ref name=UCLA>{{cite web |url=http://www.cinema.ucla.edu/events/2011-03-26/native-land-1942 |title=UCLA Film & Television Archive: ''Native Land'' (1942) |accessdate=2011-11-07 |author=Jan-Christopher Horak}}</ref>
The new print was made “from the original 35mm nitrate picture negative, a 35mm safety duplicate negative, and a 35mm safety up-and-down track negative.”<ref name=UCLA/>
The restoration premiered at the UCLA Festival of Preservation on March 26, 2011<ref name=UCLA/> and was screened at other North American cities in 2011, including Vancouver.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cinematheque.bc.ca/recent-restorations-treasures-from-the-ucla-festival-of-preservation/native-land |title=Recent Restorations: Treasures From The UCLA Festival Of Preservation » Native Land |accessdate=2011-11-07 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120331195048/http://www.cinematheque.bc.ca/recent-restorations-treasures-from-the-ucla-festival-of-preservation/native-land |archivedate=2012-03-31 }}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{IMDb title|id=0035112}}
{{Paul Strand}}
Category:1942 films Category:1942 documentary films Category:Black-and-white documentary films Category:1942 drama films Category:American black-and-white films Category:Documentary films about labor relations in the United States Category:Paul Robeson Category:American drama films Category:American docudrama films Category:1942 English-language films Category:1942 American films Category:1940s independent films Category:English-language drama films