To Each Other (1943)

This promotional film sponsored by the United States Steel Company promotes the idea that the steel industry was contributing greatly to the World War 2 war effort by making the weapons, munitions, and tools that soldiers needed to fight and survive. Though the film is a blatant attempt to win support for U.S. steel, it offers some precious glimpses of the history of steel making and the history of the steel industry. Oscar-winning character actor Walter Brennan plays a steelworker who claims to support his WWII soldier son (also a former steelworker) by working in the U.S. steel industry. As a World War Two steel manufacturer, Brennan’s character explains to his son the new technology and modern advances made possible by the steel industry in order to protect him while he is abroad fighting. Steelworkers that toiled in mills across the nation had a major impact on World War II, and this short film captures that effort.