The Way of Peace (film) explained

The Way of Peace
Director:	Frank Tashlin
Producer:	Wah Ming Chang Blanding Sloan
Starring:	Lew Ayres (narrator)
Music:	Eddison von Ottenfeld
Cinematography:	Wah Ming Chang
Editing:	Stuart O'Brien
Studio:	Christian Films East West Studio
Distributor:	Wartburg Press
Runtime:	18 minutes
Country:	United States
Language:	English

The Way of Peace is a 1947 puppet animation film, financed by the Lutheran Church in America, giving a Christian view of life in the Atomic Age.^[1] It was written and directed by Frank Tashlin, produced by Wah Ming Chang, and narration read by Lew Ayres. In 2014, the film was named to the National Film Registry as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".^[2]

Premise

The film is a Christian parable about the end of the world in the Atomic Age told with puppet animation. Its scope is broad, from the creation of the world to the birth of Christ to the atomic destruction of the Earth.

Production background

• Producer Wah Ming Chang was a well-known designer, and Lew Ayres was a famous actor who was a conscientious objector during World War II.
• The Reverend H. K. Rasbach, a frequent adviser on big-budget films such as The Ten Commandments (1956) and The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), provided technical supervision and story concept.
• The film premiered at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., with more than 2,700 in attendance, including members of Congress, representatives of the Supreme Court, and 750 leaders from various branches of government.^[3]

Television

This short premiered on WCBS-TV in New York on Easter Sunday, April 6, 1947, at 7:15 p.m.^[4]

See also

• Atomic Age
  • List of American films of 1947 Anti-war film

Notes and References

1. Web site: National Film Registry: 2014 additions. December 17, 2014. www.cbsnews.com.
2. Web site: The Way of Peace (1947); UCLA Film & Television Archive . www.cinema.ucla.edu.
3. Web site: Cinematic Treasures Named to National Film Registry. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA.
4. New York Herald Tribune, Apr. 6, 1947, pg. C9.