Born in Freedom: The Story of Colonel Drake

1954
30m

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Born in Freedom: The Story of Colonel Drake (1954)

In 1857 Edwin L. Drake is sent to investigate an oil seep in a creek near Titusville, Pennsylvania. After conferring with Dr. Brewer (the land owner) and Joel D. Angier (who devised a method... Read allIn 1857 Edwin L. Drake is sent to investigate an oil seep in a creek near Titusville, Pennsylvania. After conferring with Dr. Brewer (the land owner) and Joel D. Angier (who devised a method of collecting oil using baffles), Drake reports back to James M. Townsend (Pennsylvania R... Read allIn 1857 Edwin L. Drake is sent to investigate an oil seep in a creek near Titusville, Pennsylvania. After conferring with Dr. Brewer (the land owner) and Joel D. Angier (who devised a method of collecting oil using baffles), Drake reports back to James M. Townsend (Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company, New Haven, Conn.) that it should be feasible to increase the yield beyond... Read all

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IMDb RATING

6.8/10

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4User reviews

See production info at IMDbPro

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Trivia
The first color program showed on the DuMont television network.

Quotes
Joel D. Angier: I don't care what you think, mister. There's no way to increase that oil. I've tried every way there is and most of it still gets away. SO I'm telling ya, there just ain't no way.
Colonel Edwin L. Drake: I think it is possible.
Joel D. Angier: To increase the quantity of the oil?
Doctor Brewer: And collect enough to make it commercially practical?
Colonel Edwin L. Drake: Yes. It may take time. But a way can, and will be, found.

User reviews4

Review

Featured review

10/10

The film is a dramatization of Col. Edwin Drake's discovery of oil in Titusville, Pennsylvania in 1859

The film has a copyright date of 1954 and it was produced for the American Petroleum Council and was distributed free of charge to schools and community groups. I acquired a retired print in 1974 and occasionally one pops up on ebay.

The character of Uncle Billy was played by Andy Clyde. Alan Hale, Jr. played one of the hired hands hired by Drake, and is almost drowned as water escapes into a hole that the diggers were excavating to find the oil.

In as much the film is accurate to the story, it was filmed, I am told, in California and not in Pennsylvania. The film was an incentive for me to visit the Drake Museum site a number of years ago.

The film was a true Hollywood production with no expense spared. Using an original musical score, Technicolor, the film still holds an audience's attention and is an outstanding production in the industrial film genre.