Destination Earth
About Destination Earth
A Martian is sent to Earth to learn why the United States is prosperous. The cartoon's answer is oil, and a free market that turns petroleum into everyday goods. John Sutherland made the short for the American Petroleum Institute. Carl Urbano directed.
Cast & crew
More about Destination Earth
Funded by the American Petroleum Institute as a promotional cartoon, not as a theatrical entertainment short. John Sutherland produced. Carl Urbano directed. Released in 1956.
Themes
Background
A 1956 industry film that ties American living standards to oil and to private enterprise, using a space visitor as the pupil.
Making
Sutherland's unit specialized in sponsored cartoons for corporations and trade groups. This one was paid for by the oil institute.
Notes
- The sponsor is the petroleum industry's trade association, and the lesson is the industry's own.
- The traveler is a Martian, used so the pitch can be staged as a discovery.
- It explains petroleum products in daily life as well as the market argument.
Scenes
- The Martian traces U.S. prosperity to oil and to markets rather than to a state plan.
Also available
- Internet Archive (4050_Destination_Earth_01_47_33_28)
