One Film, Two Versions
The March as we know it today has evolved since James Blue completed his work in late 1963. Political conflicts and conservation technologies have made their marks on the film over time. Below, you can learn more about the different versions of The March, view both of them, and read a new transcript that expands our understanding of the film.
James Blue’s “Director’s Cut” (Late November or Early December 1963)
This is the original version of the documentary. The director’s cut does not include the Carl Rowan introduction, and because of the filming technology available to Blue in 1963, there are several minor distortions involving the alignment of the sound with the image. The director’s cut was viewed in January and February by President Johnson, several members of his cabinet, key senators, and the USIA Advisory Committee, and it was sent to US ambassadors for their judgments.
President Johnson’s Version (April 1964)
President Johnson decided the film needed a framing that celebrated the Kennedy and Johnson administrations’ support of the March and of civil rights. The vast majority of US ambassadors affirmed the quality of the film, with several expressing country-specific reservations. Carl Rowan, the Director of the United States Information Agency, created a one-minute introduction, which was added to Blue’s film in April 1964. The film was then re-distributed by the USIA to US embassies throughout the world.
Watch Carl Rowan's Introduction
A New Transcript of The March
Prior the launch of this exhibition, two primary transcripts existed for The March. The first was prepared by Randy Jacob and Gerald O’Grady of the James Blue Memorial Foundation in December of 1963 for the film’s release in France. This version features a side-by-side English/French transcription with minimal cues or stage directions. The text is taken from James Blue’s original script for The March prior its completion.
The second transcript was produced by the National Archives and Records Administration in 2013 after they acquired The March and completed a full restoration and digitization of the film. This version is nearly void of cues or contextual information beyond dialogue and speaker names, omitting sung dialogue in several cases.
These transcripts contained inaccuracies and errors both small and large. Small errors appear in the 1963 version because it relied predominantly on Blue’s preliminary script and not the actual dialogue in the film. The 2013 version included additional errors and omissions that further obscured the 1963 version. In not including much of the sung dialogue, this edition omitted significant elements of Blue’s film (as the eclectic collection of songs constitutes most of the dialogue in the film’s second half).
By simultaneously listening to the film audio and reading these transcripts, the team behind this digital exhibition was able to identify discrepancies in the 1963 and 2013 editions and create a new transcript truer to Blue’s documentary. Specific words, individual names, and song lyrics were re-transcribed to capture the exact verbiage of the film. This digital exhibition features both a transcript of the film’s dialogue, which you can read while watching the film above, and a “screenplay” that presents dialogue along with directorial cues, place names, and details relevant to the narrative, which you can read at the link below. Each has been carefully tailored to provide a more accessible written account of The March.
Edited by Liam Maher and incorporating research by David Frank and Liam Maher.
