On Jan. 30, the Screen Actors Guild presented Ernest Borgnine with the 2010 Life Achievement Award, putting him in the company of such past recipients as Gregory Peck, James Cagney, Katharine Hepburn, and Clint Eastwood. In preparation for the ceremony, the Guild went looking for Borgnine’s first feature film. As it happens, that film came out exactly 60 years ago, and it was shot right here on the Seacoast.

The Newington Historical Society will offer a rare screening of “The Whistle at Eaton Falls” on Wednesday, April 20. A panel of experts will introduce the groundbreaking 1951 film, which was produced by local legend Louis de Rochemont and featured Borgnine in his first role. Portions of the movie were filmed in Newington, Portsmouth, Dover, Exeter and other Seacoast communities.

In addition to its local roots, the movie has timely relevance. It takes place in the fictional New Hampshire town of Eaton Falls, where a labor dispute grips a plastics factory. Union leader Brad Adams (Lloyd Bridges) is appointed president of the factory and inherits the task of easing tension between angry union workers and management. 

According to filmmaker Gary Anderson, who worked for de Rochemont and will serve on the panel in Newington, no previous film had focused on the issue of unions—a topic now stirring heated debate across the country.

“There weren’t films earlier than this that dealt with issues such as unionization as a central theme element,” Anderson said.

Borgnine plays Bill Street, a union worker upset about a management plan to install new machinery that would dramatically reduce staffing levels. At the time, Anderson said, few would have imagined this gap-toothed everyman would go on to become an international celebrity. Borgnine did not fit the traditional Hollywood mold. 

“There was a real-person look about him,” Anderson said. “He didn’t have movie star looks.”

Nevertheless, Borgnine’s career flourished. Four years after “Whistle,” he took home an Academy Award for Best Actor for his starring role in “Marty.” He has since earned numerous awards for his turns in films and TV series, including “McHale’s Navy,” “All Quiet on the Western Front,” and “ER.” 

In its search for “Whistle,” the Screen Actors Guild reached out to de Rochemont’s grandson, Madbury resident Shaler McReel. He directed the organization to Keene State College, where de Rochemont’s film archive is kept. The movie is long out of print and not available on DVD, but Anderson helped transfer the old footage to video in time for the ceremony, making the screening in Newington possible.

Just as Borgnine was an unconventional movie star, de Rochemont was a highly unconventional filmmaker. Often referred to as the “Father of the Docu-drama,” the long-time Newington resident built his name as the producer and writer behind the monthly newsreel series “The March of Time,” which ran in theaters from 1935 to 1951. With his feature films, de Rochemont shunned the flashy, dance-happy style that dominated the 1930s, instead focusing on gritty, noir, real-life storylines. 

“Louis was always on sort of the edge of Hollywood. He wasn’t mainstream,” Anderson said. “He wanted to do his own thing.”

He often filmed on the Seacoast and used local people as extras (family lore has it that Anderson’s mother was an extra in 1949’s “Lost Boundaries,” although he hasn’t been able to pick her out of the crowd). “The Whistle at Eaton Falls” includes shots of many local landmarks, including town halls, church steeples and mill buildings. 

And, although it was directed by Robert Siodmak, “Whistle” bears the distinct stamp of a de Rochemont film. He worked with many directors over the years but never failed to put his own mark on every film he made.

“Even though they were directors, they were influenced by Louis’ filmmaking style much more than you’d consider a director being influenced by a producer today,” Anderson said. “Louis had his fingers in all aspects of the production, and they really did have a Louis de Rochemont feel.”

The other panelists at the film screening will include Larry Benaquist, former head of Keene State College Film Studies; Barry Steelman, Red River Theatre filmographer; and Rodney Obien, Keene State College Archivist. A late addition to the panel was actor Carleton Carpenter, who co-starred in “Whistle.” A Q&A session will follow the film.       

Those who can’t make it to Newington still might have an opportunity to see “The Whistle at Eaton Falls” before long. Anderson said work is underway to get the movie on DVD with a full slate of bonus features.

The event begins at 7 p.m. on April 20 at Newington Town Hall, 205 Nimble Hill Road, Newington. For reservations, call 603-436-7640.