Watch A Day in the Life of a Coalminer

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A COALMINER is a bit of a misnomer as this short from the Kineto Production Company (which specialized in actualities and educational films) economically assays a day in the life of a coal mine. Bookended by a coalminer leaving his cottage for work and a middle-class family sitting around the fireplace warmed by the product of his labor, the film moves through various stages of the mining process. It is quite touching to see the workers aware of the camera filming them and revelatory to see the "Belles of the (Black) Diamond Field," as the intertitle calls them, and children performing hard, manual labor. The irony of the final scene, though likely unintentional, may give modern audiences pause. - Marilyn Ferdinand