''The Fallbrook Story'' (1952) is a short subject film that told the story of a water rights battle between the citizens of the Fallbrook, California area and the federal government. The government wanted to have exclusive rights to the water from the Santa Margarita river for the use of adjacent

Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton is the major West Coast base of the United States Marine Corps and is one of the largest Marine Corps bases in the United States. It is on the Southern California coast in San Diego County and is bordered by ...

, a U.S. Marine Corps base, in conflict with the established use by local ranchers. At the time film director

Frank Capra Frank Russell Capra (born Francesco Rosario Capra; May 18, 1897 – September 3, 1991) was an Italian-American film director, producer, and screenwriter who was the creative force behind Frank Capra filmography#Films that won Academy Award ...

served on the Board of the local water agency, the Fallbrook Public Utilities District ("FPUD"). He produced the short film (without on screen credit) to tell the story from the ranchers perspective, leading to front page publicity from the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

''. As a result, the federal government subsequently withdrew their claim on exclusive use of the water. The film was introduced on camera by Cecil B. DeMille. A copy of the 16mm film is in the archives of the Fallbrook Historical Society.

References

1952 films 1952 short documentary films Water and politics Documentary films about water and the environment Water in California American short documentary films 1950s English-language films 1950s American films English-language short documentary films {{environment-documentary-film-stub