Produced by "March of Time" maven Louis de Rochemont,
Whistle at Eaton Falls
is docudrama concerning a labor dispute in a small New Hampshire town. Union leader Lloyd Bridges is reluctantly promoted to the presidency of Eaton Falls' plastics plant. Now in a management position, Bridges must lay off several of his old friends in order to cut down costs. He tries to do this as painlessly as possible, but his union-boss successor Murray Hamilton public derides Bridges' methods. The potent problems posed by the film are solved in too-slick Hollywood fashion when the plant is saved by a huge government contract and the introduction of cost-efficient machinery. Dorothy Gish makes one of her rare talking-picture appearances as the widow of the plant's former owner in
, and if you look closely you'll spot Lloyd Bridges' infant son Jeff in his movie debut.