Rexford Tugwell’s office to submit his resignation. Film techniques In order to engage the audience, Lorentz had to condense the history of the Great Plains into a simplified “ecological drama” that would elicit a strong emotional response. Lorentz wrote the script following filming, with narration in a free verse that utilized a Walt Whitman-like repetition of words and phrases to create a mood of judgement. The expository commentary for the film consisted of only 700 words so as to not bombard the viewer with information and put more emphasis on picture technique and the musical score which Lorentz thought could speak louder than words. Soundtrack Virgil Thomson and composition Lorentz interviewed twelve composers and only Virgil Thomson agreed to work on the film following an offer of no more than $500 dollars to write a music score. Thomson and Lorentz agreed that the film should be rendered through the folk music of the Plains people and produced 25 minutes of music in less than a week. After viewing the rough cut of the film, Thomson composed a score that was divided into six movements: Prelude, Pastorale (Grass), Cattle, Blues (Speculation), Drought, and Devastation. The soundtrack was a patchwork of dances, hymns, neo-medieval counterpoint, and chorale-like passages with wide-spaced harmonies, with interludes of familiar folk tunes like "Streets of Laredo" and "Git Along, Little Dogies". During the war sequence, Thomson accompanied the scene of the phalanx of tractors coming over a hill like a battalion of tanks on a battlefield with American troops marching to the song, "Mademoiselle from Armentieres." The final scene sequence's music is a tango which accompanies the narrator's call to action directed at the audience. Recording The New York Philharmonic recorded the musical score under the direction of conductor Alexander Smallens, while Metropolitan Opera baritone Thomas Chalmers recorded the narration. Thomson scored his accompaniment for a standard orchestra, plus saxophones, guitar, banjo, and harmonium. Because Lorentz had so little money left in his budget, on the day that the score was recorded he forced the session to stop at midnight because he could not afford to pay the New York Philharmonic members overtime. The musicians decided to complete the recording session for free. Following the completion of the final score, Lorentz re-cut sections of the film to accommodate the music. Reception The Plow That Broke the Plains had its first showing at the White House in March