Socialism on Film is a digital product from Adam Matthew Digital (AMD), which is an independent subsidiary of the SAGE Publishing Group. For those unfamiliar, AMD focuses on publishing “unique primary source collections from archives around the World”. This review will focus on the first Socialism on Film module, which was made available in 2017, titled Wars and Revolutions. Two more modules are to be made available in 2018 (Newsreels and Cinemagazines) and 2019 (Culture and Society). The Socialism on Film project provides access to the ETV-Plato Films collection, which was collected and curated by Stanley Forman. Forman was a noted communist and film collector who used his extensive ties to the socialist cinema community to collect socialist produced films and then distributed English versions of them after the Second World War. The films range from documentaries to newsreels and were often previously only available on 35 and 16 mm reels. However, now the films are digitized and have accompanying transcripts (though some films in the collection are silent or contain no dialogue) through AMD’s digital product packaging.
Searching or navigating the resources held within Socialism on Film can be done in a number of ways. A general search bar for keyword searching is the first option; it should be noted that keyword searches do mine the film transcripts. An Advanced Search tab can be selected to increase a user’s search options. Instead of simply a keyword search, advanced search allows searching by Title, Director, Places, People, Subjects, Cast, Contributor, Country of Production, Film Subject Era and Language. Additional options include searching via word stemming, text proximity searching and limiting to secondary resources. The metadata included in this collection is quite robust, which allows a smooth and easy search process.
One can also directly browse the films either through sub-collections or simply by selecting the tab View All Films. The sub-collections consist of The Second World War & the Rise of Fascism; Lenin & the Russian Revolution; The Vietnam War & Southeast Asia; Global tensions & the Cold War; Nuclear War & Peace Movements; The Holocaust & War Crimes; Revolution, War, Conflict in China & Korea; Revolution in Cuba & Latin America; and The Spanish Civil War.
However, more unique navigation options included in Socialism on Film are an interactive Chronology and Map sections. Navigating through the Chronology section is essentially via a timeline. The first event on the scrollable timeline is 1818 and includes a clip about the birth of Karl Marx from a film within the larger collection entitled Glimpses of an Eventful Life. Further stops along the Chronology timeline include important events such as the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, Bloody Sunday, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk signing, Stalin’s rise to power, the Spanish Civil War, the Yalta Conference, the establishment of The People’s Republic of China, the Vietnam War, the launch of the Workers’ Film Association, the Velvet Revolution, Tiananmen Square protests and many more before ending in 1991 with the signing of the Alma-Ata Protocol, which dissolved the Soviet Union. Some of these events on the timeline consist of a short paragraph of background information while others are clips from films within the larger collection.
The Map section of Socialism on Film allows the user to visualize the geographic scope of the film collection while also being able to zero in on specific regions, cities or nations and the films associated with those geographic areas. Furthermore, one can still use filtering options such as publication date, sub-collection, genre and film subject era while exploring the map.
As to viewing a film, the video player within the product allows the ability to change the speed of playback, jump back and forth by 15 s, view the films full screen and change video quality. Once the user creates an account and registers with AMD, the user can then create a playlist and create and store clips in My Archive. A useful accompanying feature to the films/clips is the option to receive an embed code either via URL or an embedded player in a Learning Management System or website. The option to export citations for EndNote, RefWorks and Zotero is also available, as well as the provision of a simple text citation.
Another useful addition to the overall product is the inclusion of case studies and essays. The case studies are four short videos featuring academics highlighting aspects such as propaganda usage, film techniques and production as they relate to certain films in the collection. In addition, there are four essays that provide background information on the entire collection. These case studies and essays are provided by just some members of the Editorial Board for Socialism on Film. The Board is made up of numerous academics representing international institutions such as the University of Chicago, Leicester University and Leeds Trinity University.
With regard to accessibility, AMD does provide a Voluntary Product Accessibility Template. Additionally, one can view the product in either high contrast or large text. Closed captioning is available for films as well. AMD also provides an extensive section discussing copyright issues with relation to this product. Also included is a section about AMD’s privacy policies relating how AMD treats users’ personal information.
Overall, Socialism on Film is an exceptional product. The collection of films, ease of navigating the platform, accessibility focused inclusions, robust searching capabilities and metadata, inclusion of useful supplemental materials and the extensive help sections that provide transparency and useful information with regard to copyright and privacy are highly commendable. Purchasing this product from AMD is recommended to any higher education institution where there is an emphasis on utilizing primary source materials for research and learning.
