Lorentz, Pare

Lorentz, Pare

(1905– ) documentary filmmaker; born in Clarksburg, W.Va. A journalist and movie critic, he became the film adviser to the U.S. Resettlement Administration under President Franklin Roosevelt; for this he wrote and directed two classic documentaries: The Plow that Broke the Plains (1936) and The River (1937). As head of the new U.S. Film Service, he made The Fight for Life (1940); in 1941 he made some short subjects for RKO, then some documentaries for the military in World War II; and from 1946–47 he was chief of the film section of the War Department's Civil Affairs Division.