Seeds of Destiny
About Seeds of Destiny
Signal Corps footage shows children in displaced-persons camps and in the rubble of liberated European cities, homeless and without parents. The short was made for UNRRA, the United Nations relief agency, and narrated by Ralph Bellamy. Money from its showings was pledged to civilian relief and repatriation.
Cast & crew
More about Seeds of Destiny
David Miller directed. The U.S. Army War Department produced it from Signal Corps film shot as areas were liberated or the enemy left. It was shown to UNRRA in 1946. Ralph Bellamy narrates. It runs 20 minutes.
Themes
Background
A 1946 U.S. Army short about children left homeless by the war in Europe, made while UNRRA was still running the camps.
Making
Army cameramen filmed the children on the ground. Miller cut that material into a short meant to keep attention on UNRRA's work.
Audiences
Showings are credited with raising more than $200,000,000 for war relief.
Look
U.S. Army Signal Corps cameramen filmed the camps and ruined streets. David Miller shaped the footage.
Music
Ralph Bellamy narrates.
Preservation
The Academy Film Archive preserved it in 2005.
Notes
- It won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject for 1946.
- The Academy Film Archive preserved it in 2005.
- The footage was taken in camps and in bombed streets, not on a studio set.
Awards
- Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject), 1946
Scenes
- Children are shown in camps and in the streets of bombed cities.
Also available
- Internet Archive (SeedsofDestiny)