Radium City is a documentary film which premiered in 1987. The topic of this film is a dark chapter of US history. For many years it was virtually unknown to the public:
The radium girls had an unusual job: they painted the dial of clocks and watches with radium. The clock and the watch would glow in the dark, but the radium used to paint the dial was dangerous to the workers who came into close contact with it.
The young women who worked in American radium factories did not know the truth about this substance. They were told it was harmless, perhaps even beneficial. The truth is they were slowly poisoning themselves.
The owners of the factories knew the substance was dangerous, but they did not inform their workers. They kept it a secret. They did not ask the workers to take precautions when working with radium.
When a worker was taken ill, the managers claimed they had no responsibility for what was happening. The managers did not care about the health and safety of the workers as long as the company was making a profit.
In the US, there were at least three radium factories, located in three different states:
** In Ottawa, Illinois
** In Orange, New Jersey
** In Waterbury, Connecticut
This film is about the factory located in Ottawa,
Illinois. This factory was active for more than fifty
years under two different names and in two different locations.
The first name: The Radium Dial Company (1917-1936).
The second name: Luminous Processes (1934-1978).
Here is some basic information about the film:
** Director and producer: Carole Langer
** Cinematography: Luke Sacher
** Music: Timmy Capello
** Scientific advisor: Vilma Rose Hunt (1926-2012)
** Run time: 105 minutes
This film is very uneven. Some parts are interesting and informative, while other parts are irrelevant. Why are irrelevant scenes included?
The people who are interviewed are not properly introduced or identified. Why is that? We want to know who they are and why they were chosen to be interviewed.
Watching this film, I have to say it feels like a first draft which needs to be edited by a professional filmmaker.
Having listened carefully to what is said in the film and having searched the internet for additional information, I can name the following persons who appear in the film:
** Marie Becker Rossiter (1905-1993)
** Charlotte Nevins Purcell (1906-1988)
** Ken Ricci
The two women used to work at the Radium Dial Company, while the man is a local activist who has a Geiger counter.
Armed with his Geiger counter, Ken walks all over town in order to see where the Geiger counter will give a response. He discovers that it happens in many places! There are traces of radium all over town, even though the factory was closed and the building was demolished many years ago!
The mayor of Ottawa appears in one scene and he makes a statement, but his name is not given!
After a search on the internet, I can reveal that his name is James M. Thomas and he served as the mayor of Ottawa for twenty years (1967-1987).
What do reviewers say about this film? On IMDb it has a rating of 88 percent which corresponds to 4.4 stars on Amazon.
I cannot understand how this film can get such a high rating.
I know it covers an important topic, but the rating is not about the topic; it is about the quality of the product.
The film has a message: the radium factory was a horrible business. I agree with the message, but this is not the point. The question is this: how is the message presented? The answer is: not very well.
If you ask me, this film does not deserve a high rating.
I suspect some viewers decided to offer a high rating in order to show respect for the victims of the radium factory (although no reviewer seems to have offered such an explanation). If my suspicion is true, it means these viewers do not understand what a rating means.
A rating is not about the topic or the message. It is about how well the topic and the message are presented to the audience.
The radium girls deserve a film which is focused on the topic and a film where the talking heads are properly introduced and identified.
As it is right now, I cannot offer more than two stars (40 percent).
PS. In 2011, a memorial for the radium girls was unveiled in Ottawa, Illinois. The memorial is created by sculptor William Piller whose daughter Madeline Piller became aware of the issue in 2006.
Madeline contacted some local politicians (including the mayor), suggesting that the city should have a public monument to remember the radium girls. Amazingly, they agreed with her point of view. A suitable site was chosen and an artist was chosen (her father). In 2011 the memorial was unveiled.
REFERENCES
Articles available online
** Janet Maslin, “A View of the Radium Dial Horror,” New York Times, 26 September 1987.
** Michael Wilmington, “Movie Review: Radium City Paints Incredible Horror Story of the Atomic Age,” Los Angeles Times, 9 January 1988.
** Shelley Schlender, “Deadly Glow Recalls Worker Tragedy, Triumph,” VOA News, 3 January 2011.
** Tara McClellan McAndrew, "The Radium Girls: An Illinois Tragedy," NPR Illinois, 25 January 2018.
Books
** Mass Media and Environmental Conflict by Mark Neuzil and Bill Kovarik (1996) – chapter 8 of this volume is about the radium girls.
** Radium Girls: Women and Industrial Reform, 1910-1935 by Claudia Clark (1997)
** Deadly Glow: The Radium Dial Worker Tragedy by Ross Mullner (1999)
** The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women by Kate Moore (2018)
** The Society of the Living Dead: The Illustrated History of Ottawa’s Radium Dial Scandal by Jim Ridings (2020)
Films
** The Poisoner’s Handbook – a documentary film which premiered in 2014. It is an episode of the long-running program American Experience (season 26, episode 01). One section of this film is about radium and the radium girls.
** Radium Girls - a historical drama (based on true events) which premiered in 2018 (now available on Netflix). This film focuses on the radium factory located in Orange, New Jersey.
*****
A poster for the film
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Radium painters working in a factory
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Carole Langer
Producer and director of Radium City (1987)
*****
Radium Girls Memorial
On the corner of Jefferson and Clinton
Ottawa, Illinois
Unveiled in September 2011
*****
The Society of the Living Dead:
The Illustrated History of
Ottawa's Radium Dial Scandal
by Jim Ridings
(2020)
*****
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