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Boston Globe

Land ho! Edwin Land, that is

Land (1909-1991) spent just one semester at Harvard before dropping out. That didn't keep him from earning more than 500 patents. His prowess as an inventor brought comparisons to Thomas A. Edison and made him a hero of Steve Jobs. The Polaroid of its '60s and '70s heyday has been likened to Apple: its technological innovativeness also put it on the cutting edge of design and style. Polaroid back then was as cool as a corporation could get and still be in the Fortune 500. Part of that coolness was Land's being nearly as talented as an entrepreneur and impresario as he was as an inventor. He understood, for example, that associating instant cameras, the company's best-known product, with art photography would give it cachet — and thus bring in more cash. (At its height, the company had revenues of $2 billion, and that was back when a billion was still a billion .) The first Polaroid Land camera, the Model 95, was introduced in February 1947. Soon after, Land hired no less a figure than Ansel Adams as a Polaroid consultant. Advertisement Betty Ford taking a Polaroid photograph at the White House. National Archives Advertisement Neither Polaroid's association with art photography nor the number of Land's patents is noted in 'Mr. Polaroid.' There's very little about him as a person. No mention is made, for example, of the story that it was his young daughter wondering why she couldn't see a photograph as soon as it was taken that inspired Land to invent instant photography. These are instances of a basic patchiness to 'Mr. Polaroid.' Segments are devoted to Land's openness to hiring women and giving them major responsibilities, almost unheard of in corporate American at that time and his commitment to hiring Black workers. Conversely, Polaroid sold its ID-2 camera system to the South African government for use in apartheid passbooks. Edwin Land demonstrating the Land Camera for the Optical Society of America, April 1947. Harvard University, Baker Library The politics of Polaroid matters, but the attention does seem disproportionate. Much of the wonder of the company was how it mattered in so many sectors: cultural, social, and artistical, as well as technological and financial. The hour-long 'Mr. Polaroid' is that rare documentary which might have gained from having more running time. It does have its virtues. The technical explanations are very good. The wealth of period photographs and news footage are great to look at. But the voiceover, read by the actress The SX-70 was the most famous Polaroid camera. The second most famous was the Swinger. Introduced in 1965, it was the company's first real pop sensation. The documentary includes a clip from one of the TV Advertisement Mark Feeney is a Globe arts writer . Mark Feeney can be reached at