A co-worker found this movie so I rented it on Amazon today. We watched it as a team.
Dug it! This was as good a documentary as anyone could make about a fucking Linotype machine. Before computers, before photosetters, there were Linotypes. The machines revolutionized the printing industry about 100 years ago when a Ottmar Mergenthaler figured out how to automate hand composition of lead type. The machine was six times faster than a man. And could leap a building in a single bound.
You type, it composes a slug of type with matrices, it then casts that slug with molten lead, spits out your finished line-o-type, and then re-files the individual matrices into their original cases. BAM!
So, this doc (or doco, as I just found out they say in Australia) discusses the history of the machine. It portraits some old operators as well as new operators, craftsmen, museum curators, educators, printers and linotype mechanics alike.
It's a low-budget flick but it tells a compelling story. You can get into it even if you're not a designer. I think...
It's a human story and that trumps all.
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