Triumph Over Time: The American School of Classical Studies at Athens in Post-War Greece [+ DVD]

"In 1947, the American School of Classical Studies at Athens commissioned a color movie entitled Triumph over Time to accompany its fundraising campaign. Directed by the archaeologist Oscar Broneer and produced by numismatist Margaret Thompson With the aid of staff from Fox Studios, the documentary shows Greece rebounding from the horrors of World War II. Staff of the American School are shown resuming their research and preparing archaeological sites for presentation to post-war tourists. Footage of excavations at the Athenian Agora and Ancient Corinth are mixed with scenes from everyday agricultural life." "Famous people in the history of the School and Greece move in and out of the film's frames: King Paul and Queen Frederica attend a public lecture; Gennadeion librarian, Shirley Weber, shows donor Helene Stathatou some of the library's rare books; Homer Thompson, newly appointed director of the Agora excavations, displays treasures from the site. Such scenes from the American School's academic and social year show an institution at the forefront of Greece's march back, to normality after almost a decade of unrest." "In this booklet, Natalia Vogelkoff-Brogan, the American School's Archivist, describes the making of the movie, the historical background to its production, and its place In both the institutional history of the ASCSA and the political history of Greece. She presents excerpts from previously unpublished correspondence and memoirs, as well as contemporary photographs." The accompanying DVD was originally produced as a short film in 1947 by Fox Movietone.24p. bibliography + DVD in PAL format.Playing time 50 minutes