Just about every reviewer on this board calls this a propaganda film, but that word carries a highly negative connotation to me. I found this more in line with what I'd call a documentary style narration that happens to feature one of the funniest comedy duos of all time - Laurel and Hardy. At a mere five or six minutes, this doesn't give you much except for a quickie education on the wonder of wood products, and in that respect is an eye opener even today. For example, Stan's hat band utilizes tan bark and wood fiber, and a host of products we consider primarily plastic contain such things as cellulose fiber and wood pulp. The picture, made during World War II, was produced by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and commends the U.S. Forest Service for the work done by it's product laboratories in developing products made from wood. Not the most interesting of subjects to be sure, made somewhat annoying by the narration of Pete Smith. But fans of Laurel and Hardy will certainly want to catch the duo in their only color footage, even if their wordless performances, excuse the pun, are somewhat wooden.
Review of The Tree in a Test Tube
