Pro Football (1934)

• 66%
• 1934
• Documentary
• Ray McCarey
• Pete Smith
• William 'Link' Lyman
• George Musso

Famed grid plays that gave many star football players national renown in the football world are seen again as depicted by Harold 'Red' Grange and other greats, which features the world's champion pro-football team, the Chicago Bears. Old 77 Harold 'Red' Grange will demonstrate in slow motion how easy it was for him to make All-America with his famous dashes for touchdowns right from the kickoff. In 1924, Grange, then the "Galloping Ghost" of Illinois, made several sensational field runs for touchdowns against Michigan, and he performs the same feat in the picture, this time in slow-motion photography so that the play may be analyzed. Bronko Nagurski, of Minnesota '29, is shown crashing through the line, falling down, getting back on his feet, and continuing for a touchdown. In 1929, Nagurski achieved collegiate fame, when, in the memorable game against Iowa, he ran 49 yards for a touchdown, and again in the same year, against Wisconsin, when he made a sensational crash through the line for the scoring touchdown. Jack Manders, Minnesota '32, is shown in a spectacular spinner play inside of tackle. This is the same maneuver that Manders mastered against Wisconsin in 1931, when he ran 85 yards for the final and winning touchdown. These and many other baffling plays, which have elevated the Chicago Bears to the top rung of the pro-football ladder, make "Pro Football" what is considered one of the most unusual short subjects of the year. The plays were taken both in slow motion, and with rapid fire action, and the dialogue was supplied by that witty off-screen commentator, Pete Smith.