Created in 1953, “The American Road” is an epic documentary that tells both the history of the automobile in America and the story of the Ford Motor Company. Drawing on the Company’s vast archive of films — Henry Ford spent a great deal of time and money having crews film life in everyday America — the movie shows how mass production of the automobile transformed life in America. The film was written by Joseph March, directed by George Stoney, narrated by Raymond Massey and one of the cinematographers is Robert Downey Sr. The film features images of Henry Ford, his wife Clara Ford, son Edsel, Henry Ford II, Benson Ford, Harvey Firestone, Barney Oldfield and others. The movie’s score was by Alex North, the famed composer. The modern end segment of the film showing highways and the Golden Gate Bridge — which here appears in black and white — was actually updated several times over the life of the film (this one apparently dates to the 1970s). You can see it in color elsewhere on this channel. We encourage viewers to add comments and, especially, to provide additional information about our videos by adding a comment! See something interesting? Tell people what it is and what they can see by writing something for example like: “01:00:12:00 — President Roosevelt is seen meeting with Winston Churchill at the Quebec Conference.”