Film, Motion Picture

I Am Detroit

Color 16mm promotional film entitled "I Am Detroit," about the city made for Detroit Renaissance by the Tom Blanchard Company. The film's narrator, WJBK's Bob Murphy, speaks in the first person as a personification of the city. He discusses Detroit's assets and recent activity in the city, as a montage of related images--sometimes edited in time to music--appears on screen.

The film begins with the narrator briefly covering the region's history including the formation of the Great Lakes, and the Battle of Lake Erie. This is accompanied by visuals of water, a palisade fort, and cannons firing.

Contemporary shots of downtown Detroit begin with a zoom-out from the Spirit of Transportation statue. An introductory montage follows that includes shots of the skyline, pedestrians, a bride and groom crossing the Porter Street overpass above the John C. Lodge Freeway with Most Holy Trinity Church in the background, children swinging on a playground in Lafayette Park, swimmers at a Lafayette Park pool, and a crowd at an event in Kennedy Square.

The next section of the film focuses on Detroit's role as a transportation hub. Footage of freighters, the riverfront, train yards, trucks, and airplanes are featured. Then the film turns toward the city's industries including pharmaceuticals, steel, and meat packing...

The narrator then covers the city's role as a major financial center, and home to the GM Tech Center, "world's largest design center", and the "world's largest architectural firm," Smith, Hinchmen and Grylls Associates, Inc.

Aerial shots of downtown give way to shots of people in parks, a couple visiting the Detroit Public Library's Main Branch, an exterior shot of Henry Ford Hospital, and shots representing banks--the National Bank of Detroit Building, and the Michigan Bank sign on the side of the Guardian Building.

The film also mentions the region's educational institutions. Wayne State University, the University of Detroit, and a University of Michigan extension center are all shown.

The next segment features a montage of shots of residential neighborhoods, as the narrator notes that the city has the "highest percentage of home ownership in the world," and is marked by an above average income, and the highest productivity of its workers.

After shots of traffic and expressways, the film covers the role of the city's automotive industry during World War II over wartime footage of soldiers in a jeep. The film also mentions the contemporary involvement of the auto industry in rocketry and NASA's Apollo program.

The theme of technology and automotive manufacture continues with a section about computers being used to coordinate custom car orders over shots of the computers and auto workers.

A short montage about the impact of the car includes shots of cars, the Uniroyal Giant Tire, and the Shorecrest Motel.

After transitioning with a pan of downtown from the top of the Penobscot Building, the film turns toward dining. The interior of the Top of the Flame restaurant in the Michigan Consolidated Gas Company Building and the interior of the Restaurant la Mediterranean in the Pontchartrain are both shown. The film also features quick shots of the London Chop House exterior, diners inside of Le Bordeaux, and the exterior of the Caucus Club. This segment ends with quick shots of beer glasses and a belly dancer.

In the portion of the film dealing with other attractions, Boblo Island is represented by a shot of the Boblo boat COLUMBIA, several scenes of Greenfield Village are included, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra is shown performing at the Michigan State Fair band shell, and a ballet performance at Meadowbrook is featured. There is also mention of tours of the Vernor's and Stroh's factories, as well as of an unidentified television studio. The region's museums are listed over shots of the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Detroit Historical Museum, and the money museum in the lobby of the National Bank of Detroit Building.

The film also cover's the city's sports with shots of the Detroit Lions, the Detroit Tigers, the Detroit Pistons, the Detroit Red Wings, a Gold Cup hydroplane race, sailing, fishing, a child playing backyard baseball, players on a public tennis court, a youth football team, skiing, and ice fishing

The film acknowledges the city's problems with shots of abandoned buildings, before moving into a montage showcasing work being done to remedy this. The narrator mentions rebuilding programs, public housing, and new high end apartments, and the montage of new construction includes a Michigan State Housing Development Authority sign. The film then features a scroll up the side of the Book Tower. Construction continues to be the theme as the montage then features shots of construction workers working on Hart Plaza and on the Internal Revenue Data Processing Center at 1300 John C. Lodge Drive.

The film then mentions the formation of Detroit Renaissance, before the film moves into a montage heavily featuring modern buildings. The Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Building, the Jeffersonian Apartments, an upward moving shot along Griswold Avenue through the financial district, a bike wheel in the foreground of a shot of the City-County Building, the 411 West Lafayette Building, and Cobo Hall are among those featured.

Many of the previous shots of the film are revisited in a concluding montage over which the narrator discusses the city's resources.